"hey Zipp, do you think you could look into this?" Sunny asked, walking over to Zipp's desk while holding the book CC had left behind.
"oh, sure" Zipp said, slamming the book she was currently reading shut.
"is that a romance novel?" Sunny questioned, glancing at the cover.
"no!" Zipp denied while pressing the cover against her chest, her cheeks tinted a light pink with embarrassment.
a few moments went by in silence.
"just show me the book' Zipp said, holding out her hoof.
"hmmm" Pipp hummed as she scrolled through her phone.
"can you stop? I'm using a hot glue gun right now and with my track record it needs my full attention" Izzy said, momentarily putting down the hot glue gun in her hoof.
"right, sorry" Pipp replied before going back to scrolling, this time without humming.
a bark then came from the window, followed by the sound of a scroll hitting the ground.
Pipp looked up to see Cloudpuff on the windowsill and a scroll on the floor below him.
"ugh mom, learn how to text" Pipp mumbled to herself as she began flying over.
putting her phone away, she grabbed the scroll and opened it.
dear Pipp and Zephyrina
scrolls are appearing out of thin air near me almost daily
they're all addressed to a 'Flurry' from a 'CCake'
none of the guards could find anything on either of them
could you girls look into it?
-mom
"CCake?" Pipp muttered once she had read the letter.
"oh! CC!" Pipp cried out upon realizing who it was.
"Zipp! come down here!" she yelled, still flying off the ground.
"what?" Zipp asked a few moments later, coming down one of the ramps.
"mom's just sent a letter" Pipp explained, holding up the scroll.
"ugh, learn how to text mom" Zipp groaned.
"that's what I said!" Pipp replied.
"let me see" Zipp said, flying down.
she grabbed the scroll and quickly read through it.
"CCake? that sounds like a nickname for CC. and Flurry...I remember Sunny saying something about a Flurry heart yesterday" Zipp thought aloud.
"it must be them" Pipp replied.
"ow! for Celestia's sake!" Izzy yelled, accidentally burning her hoof with the hot glue gun.
Zipp knocked on the front door to CC's castle.
a few moments later, the yellow mare opened the door, revealing herself to have her mane and tail pulled back in shower caps while her coat was soaking wet.
"sorry if we were interrupting your shower, but we wanted to talk to you about your scroll sending" Zipp explained.
"how do you know I send scrolls to Flurry heart daily?" CC asked.
"because some of those scrolls end up going to our mom" Pipp replied.
a few moments of silence went by as CC pondered.
"oh! I forgot the spell sends the scroll to any ruler, not just alicorn ones. sorry, I'll specify where I want to send the scroll next time" CC apologized.
"hey, when I'm done with my shower, do you and the other elements of harmony want to come with me to visit Flurry?" CC asked.
"let me check first" Pipp responded before getting out her phone.
she wrote something out on the screen and sent it, causing a ding sound from Zipp's phone.
almost a minute went by before four dings went off from both Zipp and Pipp's phones all at the same time.
"they said yes" Pipp announced.
"great, meet me in the bedroom place of the brighthouse in an hour" CC replied before slamming the door on the sisters.
Sunny, Izzy, Misty, Hitch, Zipp and Pipp were sitting on their beds, except Hitch who was sitting in the middle of the room.
"a-a-a-achoo!" Sunny cried, sneezing as her horn and wings appeared randomly.
"seriously!?" she shrieked upon seeing her wings visible.
"yeah, get used to that" CC said, appearing at the edge of Zipp's desk.
"its going to be happening more often as your DNA changes" CC continued.
"my what changes!?" Sunny cried.
"anyways, the crystal empire is ruled by queen Flurry heart and her daughter, princess Aurora charm" CC announced, ignoring Sunny's question.
"when somepony comes into the empire, they turn all crystal looking and stuff, its because of the crystal heart. do not touch the crystal heart without supervision. talking to you Sunny" CC explained.
"me!? why me!?" Sunny asked.
"the last time an alicorn touched the crystal heart without supervision, ponies almost fricking died!" CC replied.
"yeah, makes it kinda understandable why they wouldn't want ponies touching it after that" Izzy loudly mumbled.
"especially alicorns" CC responded.
"anyways, please respect the culture. don't disrespect the culture" CC stated.
"got it?" she asked.
"got it" all six of the ponies replied.
"then lets go! although be warned, the crystal heart blocks my teleportation magic for some reason so get ready for freezing temperatures!" CC exclaimed.
"wait what?" Misty asked before they all teleported away.
all six ponies and the one hybrid appeared at the edge of a light snow storm.
Zipp, Pipp and Sunny instinctively folded their wings over their fronts.
"follow me!" CC declared, seemingly unbothered by the cold.
she then ran into the snow storm, disappearing into the distance.
the ponies looked at each other before jogging after her.
"Aurora" a voice called.
a young alicorn stopped inspecting the crystal flowers in front of her and looked behind. she had a light teal coat and bright blue eyes. her mane was pink, fading to purple and had teal and blue streaks throughout. her mane was tied into a neat bun, the front half knotted into a braid. her horn and wings faded to a pale blue at the tips while her golden tiara shimmered with the same crystal effect across her whole body.
"yes mom?" Aurora asked.
"CCake and the elements of harmony are coming to visit. I'll unfortunately be very busy when they arrive. would you be good and greet them?" the voice asked.
"of course!" the alicorn happily replied.
"we're almost there!" CC cheered, the ponies having caught up to her in the snow storm.
"ta da!" she squealed, floating up in front of a shiny large crystal door frame in front of a crystal like force field so large none of them could see the entire side.
she floated through, disappearing from sight.
the ponies glanced at each other.
Zipp and Pipp walked through first, tucking their wings to their sides.
Izzy and Misty went next.
Sunny and Hitch looked at each other. he had brought Sparky along with him, who he was currently holding.
the pair then walked through, shocked as the same crystal effect on the force field appeared on them.
they looked around, only to realize the effect was on every pony, along with their manes having changed. CC's mane was in a lovely braid with crystal flowers sprinkled throughout. Zipps mane was tied back in a small ponytail with a star shaped hair piece. Pipp's mane was in a mix of a ponytail and a braid with tiny gems scattered all over. Izzy's mane was loose with crystal flowers knotted between the strands. Misty's mane was out of its usual braid and was now in a lovely bun, the dyed purple and pink replaced with light blue and light-ish teal. Hitch's mane was brushed to one side with a small flame hair clip at the front. Sunny's own mane was in tight curls and tied in a neat ponytail.
looking ahead of them, they all saw a light teal alicorn about a foot taller than Zipp, the tallest of the group by an inch.
"hello every pony, I am princess Aurora charm. I'm here to greet you and bring you to the castle" the alicorn explained.
"may I know your names before we go?" Aurora asked, gesturing towards them with her hoof.
"I'm Sunny, this is Hitch and Sparky" Sunny replied, gesturing to her and Hitch.
"I'm Zipp and this is my sister Pipp" Zipp stated.
"I'm Misty and this is Izzy!" Misty said, excitement clear in her voice.
"and of course you already know me from the scrolls and my previous visits" CC shrugged.
"now" CC said, slamming onto the ground.
"who's got a bugle horn!?" CC yelled.
"you're not getting a bugle horn. especially after the stunt you pulled last time" Aurora sternly replied, scowling.
"wait what happened last time?" Zipp asked.
Aurora's eyes then fell on the astral horn and wings belonging to Sunny.
she gasped, the hexagon highlights in her eyes becoming brighter and larger.
"another alicorn!?" she shrieked, teleporting only a few inches away from Sunny.
"wait..." Aurora mumbled, stepping back to process the sight properly.
"are you an alicorn? or an earth pony?" Aurora asked, gesturing to Sunny's wings and then her hooves.
"right now she's both, but she'll only be one of them in about a month or two" CC replied.
"okay, can you just stop saying stuff like that and give the full context?" Sunny asked.
"later. right now, to Flurry we go!" CC cheered, floating up into the air again.
"who is that? like, I know she's the queen of this place, but what is she like exactly?" Hitch asked.
"honestly, she's kind of like Celestia around citizens but then acts like stressed Twilight around me and Aurora" CC explained as they began walking, and floating.
"I don't know who either of those ponies are" Hitch replied.
"eh, you'll know what she's like when you meet her" CC shrugged.
as they walked, and floated, they noticed all the buildings and streets were made of crystal. the flowers looked like they were made crystal, but were clearly not upon closer inspection. the food shimmered. everything in the crystal empire seemed to have a shine to it, including the ponies. every pony they walked past had the same crystal effect.
when they got to the tall castle, they saw a much taller alicorn speaking to a guards pony.
the guard looked at them, his eyes landing on Sunny as he stared at her in confusion.
"why is he staring at me?" Sunny asked.
"because here they still have the whole 'alicorn equals princess' thing but your clearly not entirely alicorn so his brain pretty much broke" CC calmly explained.
after a few moments, the tall alicorn noticed the guard was looking away and turned to see what he was looking at. she had a light pink coat and bright teal eyes. her mane was pink fading to purple with cyan streaks throughout, tied back in a tight bun by a golden headband. her large wings faded to a slightly darker pink at the tips while her blue gemstone crown rested right behind her horn.
she gave a welcoming smile upon seeing them, unbothered by any of their appearances.
"you must be the elements of harmony. I'm Flurry heart, the queen of the crystal empire. although CCake must have already told you that" she said.
"hi little cuz!" CC exclaimed, patting Flurry heart's head.
"I'm ten years older than you!" Flurry yelled.
"can somepony explain what exactly we are here to do?" Hitch questioned.
"oh simple, history lesson, fun, Sunny learning about alicorn stuff that might be useful for the future, sight seeing" CC replied, tapping her hoof as she went down the list.
"wait, what was that last one?" Pipp asked.
"sight seeing" CC responded, looking at the group.
"no, the one before" Pipp said, lightly shaking her head.
"oh look! the crystal heart!" CC said changing the topic.
she quickly floated down in front of the crystal heart, leaving no answers to the ponies questions behind.
"this is the crystal heart! Flurry heart destroyed it one time!" CC explained.
"what?" Sunny asked.
"I was a baby with crazy powerful magic. doesn't help that naturally born alicorns have 'sonic screams'" Flurry heart explained.
"is that like sonic rainbooms?" Zipp questioned.
"kind of, as babies it calms us down for a bit" Flurry shrugged.
"so what exactly does this thing do?" Sunny asked, walking closer to the crystal.
Flurry, Aurora and the guard flinched as she came closer.
"a-a-a-a" Sunny fidgeted.
in response, CC quickly made a force field around the crystal heart.
"achoo!" she cried, her horn and wings vanishing.
"oh good, just the alicorn episode thingy ending, we're fine everypony! false alarm!" CC said, taking down the force field.
"excuse me?" Sunny questioned.
Sunny sniffed lightly, her horn and wings flickering.
suddenly, the crystal heart fell out of place, with CC quickly catching it with her magic.
"aftershock" she whispered, floating it back into place.
"I'm just gonna, stay, over, here" Sunny nervously said, backing away to one of the pillars holding up the castle.
"understandable" Aurora replied.
"hey, off that topic, earth ponies have plant magic now! wanna see the crystal garden?" Aurora smiled.
"sure?" Hitch shrugged.
"wait is that a baby dragon you're holding?" Flurry asked, gesturing to Sparky with her hoof.
"uh, yeah?" Hitch replied.
the door near Sunny suddenly slammed open to reveal a toddler taffy and watermelon pink dragon.
"weeeeeeeeeeeeeeeh!" the toddler groaned, running up to Flurry and squeezing her back leg.
"what" Hitch stated while the other elements of harmony gasped in shock.
to be continued...
credits
writing: hanhanlovesbananas
inspiration: my little pony make your mark, my little pony a new generation, my little pony friendship is magic