PORTRAIT OF A PRINCESS

Written by Janae Hall

Executive producers: Olivier Dumont, Randi Yaffa, Cort Lane

Story editing by Gillian Berrow

Supervising direction by Will Lau

Transcribed by Alan Back (ajback@yahoo.com)

Prologue

(Opening shot: Pipp Petals’ section of the shared bedroom in the Crystal Brighthouse, seen through the camera of her cell phone. The bed and surrounding area are cluttered with pillows and assorted fashion accessories. A gold hoof reaches up into view to tap the screen and start a recording, followed by the rest of its owner. Morning sun is streaming through the stained-glass window behind her.)

Pipp: (singsong) Good morni-i-ing, Pippsqueaks! (Laugh; adjust the phone.) Okay, today is…

(She plunges out of view; a few items are hastily flung in all directions, and she comes up wearing a strand of pearls and a pair of sunglasses with heart-shaped lenses.)

Pipp: …Zephyr Heights’ Royal Princess Portrait Day! (Giddy squeal and laugh.) Okay, so this photo sesh isn’t until this afternoon, but you know I couldn’t get ready without you. Thoughts?

(“Sesh” = session. Approving emojis start to scroll up one edge, marking her fans’ reaction to this bit of news.)

Pipp: (gasping) Let’s see what Princess Zipp thinks about the combo!

(As she speaks, she swivels the phone away from herself to frame Zipp Storm, hovering and scrutinizing a document in her section right next door. The line ends with a cut back to the pink pegasus, no longer seen through the phone camera but pulling the device free from a stand and aiming it at herself. Sitting down, she discards the shades; cut to a close-up of Zipp’s phone, on whose screen a freshly taken photo of Pipp pops up, then to its owner.)

Pipp: (from o.s.) Zipp! (Who groans softly.) Did you get that photo I just Dewdropped to you? (To both as she finishes.)

Zipp: A little busy!

(The younger sister flies across the gap and comes to rest on the older one’s elevated bunk; the arm of the L-shaped desk below it displays a laptop and a taped-up map of Equestria.)

Zipp: (to herself) Who was she talking about? Gotta be something that I’m missing here.

Pipp: (flapping down to floor, phone in hoof) Come on, Zipp! Just a quick look.

(A phone camera-eye view of the pair.)

Zipp: I told you, I’m bu— (noticing camera, slamming laptop shut) Pipp! This investigation is private!

(She covers the lens with a hoof; back to them.)

Pipp: All right, all right.

Zipp: (pacing) How can you even think about Portrait Day when the mystery of that warning from Twilight Sparkle is still waiting to be solved? Who was this evil force she was trying to warn us about? (reopening laptop) How did she build protection around Equestria? She said we were in danger, Pipp!

(Referring to the message delivered in “Growing Pains.”)

Pipp: We are—in danger of looking awful in a portrait printed on the cover of Pegasus Weekly! (flying to a microphone in her section) And referenced by the media for all of time! (smiling slyly) Oh, oh, I know what will get you in the mood.

(It is the white/gold lucky one that Zipp retrieved for her in Chapter One. She pulls it loose from its stand, setting off a brief whine of feedback, and speaks into it. Her next three lines are amplified.)

Pipp: Let’s sing the Portrait Day song from when we were fillies!

Upbeat pizzicato string melody, brisk 4 (E major)

(With a disgusted eye roll, Zipp turns back toward her area.)

Pipp:                 Be still, ha, don’t move

Zipp: No song, Pipp. (She throws a pillow; cut to Pipp dodging it.)

Pipp:                 It’s easy to smile with you by my side

Zipp: (from o.s.) No song!

Song ends abruptly

(A second pillow catches the singing sister in the face, knocking her out of the air and causing her to drop both the mic and her phone. Snap to black.)

OPENING THEME

Act One

(Cut from the title card directly to a castle situated on a clifftop that overlooks a desolate plain cut by a winding river. Branches snake among the lower portions of the structure, and a tree has sprouted from the peak of the tallest tower. The sky is obscured by a thick blanket of dark foreboding clouds; what little natural light there is in this place carries an unwholesome greenish tint. A craggy mountain stands in the distance. Zoom in slowly; on the start of the next line, cut to a projection of Pipp’s phone video feed, playing above the pool in Opaline’s throne room—evidently this is a castle under her control. This angle catches the pink mare near the camera, holding up her microphone to make a silent “shh” gesture, while the white one is not immediately aware. Pipp is no longer wearing her pearls.)

Zipp: We have to figure out what Twilight meant. It’s our top priority. (noticing Pipp, lunging toward phone) Are you still live-streaming? Give me that phone!

(The image jitters in time with her grab, then freezes as Opaline voices a frustrated groan and Misty paces behind her.)

Opaline: Meddling ponies! (Cut to the frightened unicorn; she continues o.s.) Always sticking their noses places they shouldn’t be! (Both again; she dispels the video.) And how is Twilight Sparkle still interfering with my plan? (pacing) We need to get rid of those two princesses as soon as possible! (sitting on throne; Misty exits) You’ll just have to lure them into a trap.

(The flunky enters a different room, set up as a library: globe on a stand at its center, full bookcases lining the walls, stacks of additional volumes littering the floor. Something lying among them catches her attention as the camera zooms out slowly; back to Opaline, idly inspecting a hoof.)

Opaline: Hmmm…what could entice them? (Misty returns and lays the item on one arm of the throne.)

Misty: Maybe this could help? Their annual Portrait Day is coming up.

(Close-up of it held by Opaline. It is a photo, apparently cut from a magazine, of a portrait of a younger Pipp and Zipp with Queen Haven—the same one briefly seen in the prologue of Chapter One. Tucked into both fillies’ manes are horn-shaped flowers, with petals that are blue on the outer surface and yellow on the inner.)

Opaline: (from o.s.) An ocean lily. (Draw a deep breath; zoom in quickly on the one worn by Zipp.) Childhood memories! (Cut to her and Misty.) Perfect!

(Flinging the photo aside, she bounds off the throne and kick-starts her horn to summon a roiling blanket of mist from the pool. A perfect copy of the flower emerges from this, its petals unfurling close enough to the camera to show the yellow surfaces mottled with blue spots. Opaline grips it; cut to Misty as it is passed to her, then to both on the next line.)

Opaline: Just one more thing—be extra-careful with the older one. She’s far too curious for my liking.

(Misty nods acknowledgement, clamps her teeth around the stem, and heads for the exit as Opaline chuckles richly to herself. Cut to the exterior of Mane Melody in Maretime Bay, zooming in slowly, then to Sunny Starscout excitedly pacing the red carpet inside. Behind her are three chairs and vanity mirrors; Pipp primps at one, an unenthused Zipp lounges in another, and the one between them stands empty.)

Sunny: Wow! Royal Portrait Day? What kind of portrait are we talking? (to Zipp) How long has this tradition been a thing? (to Pipp) Is the portrait used for anything specific?

Pipp: Avant-garde, way before we were born, and the picture shows up everywhere, even on our pegasi money.

(She emphasizes this last point by holding up a currency note that displays a simplified rendition of the royals front and center.)

Zipp: Come on, Sunny. You aren’t actually interested in this stuff, are you?

Sunny: Of course! (sitting in the unused chair) Who else gets to learn about royal pegasus traditions like this from actual royals? What’s not to like?

Zipp: Uh, everything? (She vacates hers and paces, wings flexing; zoom in slowly.) Getting primmed and pampered all day just to sit still for hours? My wings are twitching just thinking about it. Besides, there are more important matters at hoof. I mean, we all saw that Twilight Sparkle hologram thingie, right?

(As she finishes, the view dissolves to the translucent image of the long-gone Princess from the previous episode. Zoom in slowly.)

Twilight Sparkle: (reverberating slightly) If you’re seeing this, magic is now more powerful than it’s ever been. There are evil forces out there who will want to exploit it.

(Dissolve to a close-up of an irked Pipp in the here and now.)

Pipp: Zephyrina Storm!

Zipp: Only Mom calls me that. (Pipp crosses to her.)

Pipp: (relenting) You used to love this stuff when we were little. Why not recapture that feeling and just enjoy it, hmm?

(Dirty looks on both faces, whereupon Sunny jumps off her chair and inserts herself between the sisters.)

Sunny: A little relaxation to clear your head… (to Zipp) …just have fun today, okay?

(The athlete gets no further than a smile in response before the sounds of the opening front doors and an electronic chime interrupt. Cut to the entrance where Haven is making her way in, preceded by her guards Thunder and Zoom. These two briefly spread their wings and take up positions facing each other across the red carpet, then bow as she passes them. Her dog Cloudpuff is flying alongside.)

Haven: Girls! (The pooch hits the floor, barks, and flies toward them.) Oh, my hoofness, it’s been far too long. Quick! Hug Mother! (He ends up on Sunny’s back.)

Pipp: (galloping to her) Mom! (She fulfills the request.)

Sunny: (bowing) Good afternoon, Queen Haven.

Zipp: (woodenly) Hi, Mom.

Haven: That’s it? Just “hi”?

(Cut to Zipp on the end of this, who rolls her eyes at being called out but still smiles and crosses to lean in for an affectionate nuzzle.)

Haven: (laughing) Now that’s the Princess—oops, sorry—that’s the Detective Zipp I like to see.

(A tuft of hair springs loose from her carefully styled forelock and dangles down the bridge of her nose.)

Haven: Oh, dear. (She regards herself in a mirror.) It seems the trip over has done a number on me, Pipp. Flying through heavy wind, just dreadful on the mane.

(Jazz Hooves and Rocky Riff walk/fly over to her, respectively.)

Rocky: Don’t worry, Your Highness. Rocky Riff at your service. (The two usher her across the floor.) I can fix those flyaways in no time.

Sunny: (indicating the chair she had sat in) Here, Your Highness. Take my chair.

Haven: Oh, so sweet of you, Sunny. (She flutters into it.) Thank you. (Pipp takes the one to her left; she gestures to the one still empty.) And come on, Zipp. One more chair with your name on it.

(Cloudpuff has left Sunny’s back by this point. Cut to Zipp, heading out.)

Zipp: I was thinking maybe I’d skip the—

Haven: (from o.s.) Zephyrina Storm!

(If hearing that full name from Pipp threw Zipp off her groove, getting it from her mother is enough to root her hooves to the floor and make her rethink things in a hurry.)

Zipp: Uh, never mind.

(She gallops back along the red carpet. Cut to an extreme close-up of an open jar of a beauty product; one of Rocky’s hooves dips in for a load, and a longer shot frames him plastering it thickly onto Pipp’s face, her eyes hidden behind cucumber slices. On the next line, pan slowly to show Jazz filing one of Haven’s front hooves, then on to Zipp. All three royals’ faces are identically disposed, but Zipp pulls one slice away to shoot her mother a hairy eyeball as Cloudpuff hovers nearby. Haven’s crown has been removed.)

Haven: (sighing) You girls wouldn’t believe the week I’ve had. Can you believe the florist asked if we wanted twenty-four-inch roses instead of our usual twenty-three-point-five inch?

(Zipp towels herself clean with an impatient groan in close-up.)

Zipp: What even is this stuff? (Cloudpuff nips the slice on her other eye; all three on the next line.)

Haven: And beige throw pillows instead of white? Beige!

Zipp: (producing a pair of headphones) How about some calming music, Mom?

(She sets them in place over the queenly ears and taps the screen of a nearby phone to start a soothing melody; instantly the prickly edge is gone from Haven’s demeanor.)

Haven: Thank you, dear.

(Her chair is swiftly given a half-turn to face her away from the others.)

Zipp: Psst! (Pan to Pipp and Jazz; she continues o.s.) Hey, Pipp! (Jazz moves off.) So… (All three again.) …is this the time you’re finally gonna ditch this thing with me?

Pipp: Pssh! Of course not! I actually like taking time to be pampered. It’s my favorite thing, right after singing, spooky stories, aaaand… (Gasp.) …selfies.

[Animation goof: Jazz’s bandolier has suddenly disappeared.]

(She grabs up her phone and takes several in quick succession, to which Zipp lets off a weary, eye-rolling groan. A glance in another direction brings her back around to a smile, though.)

Zipp: Huh.

(Cut to the stage, where Sunny has sat down to do a bit of light reading; Zipp steps up to her.)

Zipp: Hey, Sunny. How well can you do an impression of me?

Sunny: (nervously) Uh…

(She snaps up to all four hooves and drops her voice into a lower, husky register.)

Sunny: Is that a mystery over there? Cool, cool. (Sheepish grin.)

Zipp: (deflating) Yeah…maybe not. (She returns to her chair with a protracted groan.) Looks like I’m stuck suffering through another Portrait Day.

(Her boneless, resigned slump against one armrest is cut off by a blip and vibration from her phone, which she pulls out. Close-up of the screen, zooming in slowly; an icon for an incoming email message is displayed, then cut back to her on the following.)

Zipp: (exasperatedly) Really, Pipp? I’m right here! I don’t need to see your selfies!

(She whirls her chair through a half-turn on this last, after which the camera zooms out to frame the younger Princess—still placidly passing the time and with her phone nowhere in sight.)

Zipp: Huh?

(Now well and truly puzzled, she taps the screen to open the message and is met with a photo of a glimmering ocean lily growing from a patch of sand.)

Zipp: (awestruck) No way. (singsong, crossing to Pipp) Hey, Pi-i-ipp…

Pipp: (annoyed, pulling cucumber off one eye) What now? (Cloudpuff darts over and snags it.)

Zipp: (showing her the phone) Look!

(The pop star draws in an enormous gasp and grabs it away, sending the slice flying off her other eye and startling the dog into dropping his. Close-up of the screen, cutting back to the sisters on the following.)

Zipp: Wouldn’t this flower just be the most perfect accessory for a Ponygram selfie? (She ducks away.)

Pipp: Oh…my…gorgeous! Is that the rare ocean lily that only blooms once every decade? The only other time I’ve seen one is when we wore them in our manes for Portrait Day! (She whirls her chair to face Zipp and gasps.) Wow! (Grab a towel; wipe her face clean.) Who sent this to you?

Zipp: I don’t know, but it must mean the flower’s in bloom right now. (pacing toward doors) We have to go find it.

Pipp: (shakily, jumping off chair) But…but…Portrait Day… (Zipp stops.)

Zipp: (goading tone, taking her phone back) Oh. Oh, no, you’re right. Who needs a picture with the most Ponygram-able, once-in-a-decade flower there is, anyway?

(A rising moan marks the titanic struggle in the younger mare’s mind; she comes out of it by snatching Zipp’s phone to herself.)

Pipp: Okay—but we’ll be back to Zephyr Heights in time to sit for the actual portrait, right?

Zipp: I promise, we’ll get back in time. Hoof to heart.

(The promise is accentuated by the two each extending a front hoof to tap against one another, then pressing them to their chests. Pipp passes the phone over and throws a worried glance toward a still-blissed-out Haven.)

Pipp: What are we gonna tell Mom?

Zipp: I’ve got it covered.

(Cut to Sunny in an idle chair, flipping a cucumber slice into her mouth from a pile of them in front of the nearest mirror, and zoom out.)

Zipp: (from o.s.) Hey, Sunny. (The camera motion brings her into view.)

Sunny: (gasping happily, jumping down) Isn’t this so fun?

Zipp: We’re gonna take a little break from Portrait Day prep, so we’re gonna need you to cover for us. Okay, thanks. Bye. (She and Pipp turn to leave.)

Sunny: Uh, wait! What about Queen Haven?

Zipp: Keep the cucumbers going, and she won’t even notice we’re gone.

(Out on Mane Street, the sisters emerge to the sound of the closing doors and their electronic chime.)

Zipp: (groaning mightily, spreading wings) Finally! Out of that stuffy salon!

Pipp: (needled) Hey!

Zipp: I mean, great salon. (Embarrassed chuckle; she starts walking.)

Pipp: So where are we headed, anyway?

Zipp: (facing the Crystal Brighthouse) Well, I was thinking the first thing we should do is check out the crystal room and see if there’s anything we might have missed in regards to the hologram.

(She and Pipp both bring out their phones in response to a blip and buzz; this time Pipp is first to open the newly arrived email and find a fresh picture of the ocean lily. She throws Zipp an unamused look.)

Zipp: (hastily) Did I say “hologram”? I meant “ocean lily,” of course. (She stows hers under a wing.)

Pipp: (holding hers out) Look!

(She has brought up a different picture of the flower, one that shows a vertical rock face in the background. Zipp taps a spot to enlarge it; zoom in as she speaks.)

Zipp: Those rocks look just like the ones by the beach.

Pipp: (fluttering wings) Ooh, beach day! Selfie in the sand? (Snap one of herself; stash the phone.) Definitely good for my feed.

Zipp: (feigning enthusiasm) Uh…yeah!

(Both lift off and are gone in a blink, not noticing Misty as she peeks out from around a corner to watch them depart. Zoom in slowly on her, then cut to a close-up as she ducks away and works her own phone, whose screen displays the same photo Pipp initially brought up—evidently she has been sending these emails to the pair.)

Act Two

(Cut to Pipp and Zipp swooping low over a stretch of beach, where a few ponies are out to have fun in the sun. The former has her phone in hoof again, while the latter pulls her out only after landing.)

Zipp: (dictating) “Note—beach activity appears calm. I wonder who sent those Dewdropped pics of the ocean lily?” (Back under a wing it goes; out comes a collapsible magnifying glass.) It feels similar to the Twilight hologram somehow.

(This second item is folded into its own handle and has no lens. A flick causes the two halves of a circular frame to snap outward and activates a flat energy field within as the optical element.)

Zipp: (to Pipp) Right?

(Said sister is still hovering, taking pictures of seashells on the sand, and paying not a whit of attention.)

Pipp: Uh-huh.

(Throwing her a nasty look, Zipp lifts off and begins to fly about and scan the area with her glass.)

Zipp: I mean, that message was so cryptic. She said we should have earth pony magic for the first time, which tracks— (Pick up/drop a frond of seaweed.) —but there’s a pony who’s going to steal magic? (A shell.) Everypony has magic now. (Check out a sand castle.) So that doesn’t make any sense. What do you think, Pipp?

(She gets a surprise in the form of McSnips-a-Lot popping out of one turret and throwing sand at her. Shielding her eyes with a cry of alarm, she backs off, shakes herself clean, and puts away the glass.)

Zipp: Pipp?

(No sign of her anywhere in the vicinity, but Seashell gallops past, spooking her into a gasp and an instinctive stomp that knocks a decorative shell off the structure.)

Zipp: Whoa! This could be important evidence!

Seashell: Sorry, Detective! (She and several other youngsters, including Glory and Peach Fizz, are gathering a short distance away.)

Zipp: What is going on over there?

(She moves in for a better look; cut to the front of the pint-size crowd as she catches up.)

Pipp: (from o.s.) Hey-hey from the beach, Pippsqueaks! (Pan to her, striking a pose and recording a video, on the following.) Some sunshine is all I need to look glowy for tonight’s portrait.

Zipp: (flying/landing by her) What are you doing? This stuff is supposed to be secret!

Pipp: But I told everypony I’d be live-streaming on Cliptrot all day!

Zipp: If Mom sees your stream, our whole plan is ruined! I thought you wanted to find that ocean lily!

Pipp: Of course I want to find it.

Zipp: Then try to avoid giving away our exact location, okay?

Pipp: (to phone, smiling/waving) All right, Pippsqueaks, gotta go! (to crowd) Pipp, Pipp, hooray!

Crowd: Pipp, Pipp, hooray!

(Pipp packs her phone away as Peach brings a piece of coral to her.)

Peach: Hey, Pipp, this coral would look perfect on a Portrait Day necklace.

Pipp: Aww, that’s so sweet.

Seashell: What about a flower?

(Being an earth pony, she presses a hoof to the sand and lets her magic grow a small one, which she plucks and passes over.)

Pipp: (gasping softly) Thank you, Seashell! How’d you know I was looking for a flower for— (Zipp nudges her roughly; she shifts gears.) —a flower? (tucking it behind her ear) Uh, I meant “follower” like you, yeah! (Laugh; poke Seashell and clear throat.) Um, do you follow me on, uh, uh…Feedbag yet?

(Cut to Glory/Peach/Seashell on this last, all properly confused by this query and cocking their heads, then back to the sisters as she continues.)

Pipp: It’s new. (Big dopey grin.)

Zipp: (to her) Come on. We gotta get outta here. (She lifts off.)

Pipp: (waving, pulling flower free, taking coral) Thank you, everypony! Your gifts are all so lovely. I’ll cherish them forever. ’Kay, bye!

(A nervous little laugh and blown kiss, and she too has cleared out. Cut to the exterior of Mane Melody, seen from across the street, and zoom in slowly.)

Sunny: (from inside) And so—

(Cut to her seated in a chair inside and reading from a magazine. As she continues, the camera pans slowly to frame Haven in the next seat over, having her face wiped clean by Jazz. The cucumbers and headphones are gone, the music playing in them has been shut off, and the Queen’s mane is fully back in order.)

Sunny: —what I was thinking is that a community garden could be just what Maretime Bay needs to start bringing earth ponies together. Like a designated place to practice magic. (Haven swivels to her.)

Haven: A magical garden sounds wonderful, dear—though I can’t say I know much about gardening myself. (beaming) That’s what the gardeners are for! Ha, ha, ha, ha!

(Sunny cringes at the bad joke when the camera cuts to her on the end of the previous. Now Rocky steps in to turn Haven’s chair a fraction.)

Rocky: You’re all set, Majesty.

(Cut to her visage reflected in a mirror.)

Rocky: (from o.s., setting crown on her head) Portrait Day perfection.

Haven: Oh, I’m so excited! Aren’t you, girls?

(Receiving no immediate response; she turns to look over her shoulder; cut to behind her chair and zoom out quickly across the room to show the girls in question nowhere around.)

Haven: Sunny, where did my girls go? (She bounds off her chair.)

Sunny: (thinking fast) Oh! Uh, they just went…mmm, back to the Brighthouse. They forgot their…mmm, tiaras?

Haven: Well, no point waiting here. (moving toward doors) We should just meet them at the Brighthouse. (To a suddenly scared Sunny on this last, then back on the following.) I haven’t had a chance to check out the new place yet.

(The young mare races up and does a semicircular skid to stop facing her.)

Sunny: You should visit—just, uh, not now. The Brighthouse is a total mess and I’d hate for you to see it in that state.

Haven: Oh, don’t worry. I may be a queen, but I can handle a little mess. I’m a mom.

(She tips a wink and resumes her placid journey toward the street; now Sunny throws a desperate glance toward the stage and gets a new idea.)

Sunny: Queen Haven! (Cut to said Queen, then back to Sunny stepping onstage, on the following.) A little birdie named Pipp told me you have an incredible singing voice, and it’d be such a shame if I missed my chance to hear it for myself.

(By this point, Haven has reversed course and moved closer to the performance area.)

Sunny: (holding out a microphone) Would you sing just one song with me before we go? (To Haven on the end of this.)

Haven: Well, I suppose one song never hurt anypony.

(A regal flap deposits her on the stage, but she gives the faintest shake of her head to the proffered mic.)

Haven: (voice slightly raised) Thunder?

(Sunny clears out of the way as the named guard zips into view with a different one balanced on his front hooves. Haven accepts it from him and sits, and he backs off; her next spoken/sung lines are amplified.)

Drum fill

Haven: I call this one “Pony Love.”

Rock power ballad with drums, electric guitar/bass, slow 4 (C major)

(The surrounding lights shut off, leaving her in a sparkly spotlight beam.)

Haven:                I remember not so long ago, the feeling of the light

(Dissolve to the overhead disco ball, then to Thunder and Zoom watching enraptured in the darkened salon. Zoom records the performance on her phone as Sunny flops into a chair, having ditched the unused microphone.)

                        As it kissed my cheek, my time to speak came and went like night

Sunny: Phew!

(Dissolve to Haven.)

Haven:                The crack of dawn, the curtain drawn, the mountains I have climbed

Song fades away on the end of this line

(Dissolve to Pipp and Zipp landing on another area of the beach. Pipp brings her phone to bear while Zipp casts her eyes over the terrain.)

Zipp: These rocks are just like the ones from the photo. We must be close.

(Her perspective during this; up comes her phone, displaying one of the pictures she received. The shape and texture of the stones is a match. Back to her.)

Zipp: Yes! See, Pipp?

(The sound of a clicking camera shutter grates on her nerves, and she turns to find her sister getting shots of herself in a variety of poses.)

Zipp: What did I say about keeping our location a secret?

Pipp: What? I turned the geo-tagging off. We’re totally off the grid, basically.

Zipp: (taking off) Whatever. Let’s just go find this ocean lily already.

(She lands near a small clump of flowers which clearly are not the ones she seeks, but she barely has time to check them against her phone before a picture of Pipp pops up. This is dismissed with a hoof swipe, only to be immediately replaced by a different one. After it too is cleared off and switched out for a third one—no credit for guessing where they are all coming from—Zipp uncorks an annoyed groan and slips the phone under a wing. The social media ace, meanwhile, has draped herself across the sand amid a scatter of starfish and is snapping away.)

(Dissolve to Zipp walking up to a rock face as Pipp flies over to her, still taking pictures. Zipp sighs wearily to herself and pulls out her own phone.)

Zipp: (dictating) “Flower mission—total fail.”

(She flops into the sand as if ready to let the tide wash her out to sea and away from all this nonsense, but gasps upon spotting a blue-mottled yellow petal right in front of her face.)

Zipp: Could this be?

(A check against a close-up of the petals in her photo indicates a visual match.)

Zipp: It is! (She rolls upright and surveys the area, seeing a few scattered others.) Huh. Pipp, I have a lead!

(Slipping the phone under a wing, she finds her sister scattering leaves over herself with one front hoof and committing the view to digital immortality with the other.)

Zipp: (groaning, crossing to her) Come on! No social media!

Pipp: But I put a filter on it so nopony will be able to tell where we are.

(Cut to the screen and back during this line; a couple of taps shift the background from the actual beach to various geometric/color patterns.)

Zipp: Your influencer stuff has been getting in the way all day!

Pipp: (irked, shoving phone toward Zipp) I thought the whole reason we were searching for this flower was for Ponygram!

Zipp: And your Cliptrot, and your Feedbag?

Pipp: (standing, laughing, walking off) That last one was fake.

Zipp: (groaning) I know! But you know what? It was never about the flower! I just needed an excuse to get out of Portrait Day! Okay?

Pipp: (scoffing) What?

Zipp: I have to admit, I did actually get into the search for a while there. But the truth is, I don’t care a salt lick about your Ponygram posts!

(Cut to Pipp on the end of this, her gobsmacked expression melting into one of true hurt.)

Zipp: Wait, I didn’t mean—

Pipp: Well, fine! If this lily is so silly to you, then why don’t you just go home? (She turns away.)

Zipp: What? I’m not giving this up now! I came all the way out here! I’m gonna see it through!

(She strides off after her sister, nose in the air, as the camera zooms in on a sizable boulder some distance back. Misty puts her head out from behind it and scatters a few ocean lily petals across the sand.)

Misty: It worked!

(Cut to a few other petals forming a rough trail along a sunlit stretch that runs between two broad patches of shadow and tilt up. They are lying just inside the mouth of a cave, which the sisters are entering, and Pipp’s mood has improved greatly.)

Pipp: (looking around herself) Ooh, look at that!

Zipp: Whoa! (Their perspective, advancing along a petal-strewn passage.) A hidden cave? (Back to them.) Hmmm…

Pipp: (singing)                 Ooh, yeah, yeah

(Zipp picks up a frond of seaweed and gives it an experimental sniff; a grimace and sound of disgust, and she is shaking her hoof to get it off.)

Pipp: It’s great acoustics. (The seaweed sails past, barely missing her.) Um, could you not be so annoying? Don’t even know why you’re here.

Zipp: Uh, I did all the hoof-work in this investigation? I deserve to see what I tracked down.

(She gasps as both stop short; cut to just behind them, framing a broad chamber lit by the gentle greens and violets of crystal outcroppings. At the opposite wall, a small cluster of ocean lilies is in bloom; they approach these slowly.)

Zipp: (awestruck, spreading wings) Whoa… (catching herself, disdainfully) …hmph!

(Her perspective, getting a good look at the flora through the camera on her phone.)

Zipp: Well, we found it. (The pair again; she addresses Pipp in a snarky tone.) Go ahead. Take your picture.

Pipp: (ditto) Well, maybe I don’t want to anymore. Wouldn’t want to ruin my feed with the bad vibe you brought to the bloom.

Zipp: What?!? Seriously. You’re not gonna take a single pic after all we’ve gone through?

Pipp: Well, if you hadn’t lied, we wouldn’t have gone through anything!

Zipp: Ha! I can’t believe you’re acting this filly-ish!

Pipp: (laughing scornfully, leaning into Zipp’s face) Well, I can’t believe that you are a liar!

(The argument is cut short by a tremor that shakes the entire cave and brings chunks of rock down from the ceiling.)

Pipp: Um…what is that?

(She cries out when a slab hits the ground as a near miss. They bolt for the mouth of the cave, barely avoiding being flattened by other falling masses, but do not quite make it before enough debris rains down to block the way. Zipp throws up a wing to shield both their faces from the ensuing boil of dust and gravel, and both gasp as they take in the full extent of the cave-in—the exit is so solidly packed that not one shaft of sunlight can penetrate. Looks of clear worry pass from one to the other.)

Act Three

Haven’s Act Two song resumes

(Cut to Haven, still performing the darkened stage at Mane Melody. Her next two sung/spoken lines are amplified by her microphone.)

Haven:                A moment in the sun, bathing everyone in pony love

Song ends

(The lights come up, and Sunny vacates her chair.)

Sunny: (stomping applause) Encore! Encore!

Haven: Oh, thank you. But I couldn’t possibly do another.

(During this line, she passes the mic off to Zoom, cutting off the amplification, and Thunder darts in to wipe her face with a towel. She then steps down off the stage.)

Haven: Now where were we? The Brighthouse?

Sunny: (hastily) We can’t!

Haven: Now why not? And don’t try to push that mess business again.

Sunny: Well, uh, the truth is…Zipp and Pipp…uh… (She ducks over to a vanity and retrieves her phone.) …just texted me! They wanted me to let you know that they’ve already headed to Zephyr Heights and that you should just meet them there.

Haven: (smiling, relaxing) Ah. Of course they did. (Both sit in chairs as she continues.) You know, those two can be quite the hoof-ful. (apprehensively) They are doing okay on their own, right?

Sunny: Absolutely. They do have their moments of fighting over who used whose mane wash, but I think living at the Brighthouse has brought them closer.

Haven: (sighing, relieved) I’m so happy to hear that.

Sunny: Did they get along as fillies?

Haven: (laughing) They were attached at the wings! They did everything together!

(She produces her own phone and passes it across; cut to Sunny taking it, then to a picture on its screen—the earlier portrait of the royal family—on the next line.)

Haven: (from o.s.) Their personalities were always so different. (Back to her and Sunny.) But they laughed about it then. (wistfully) Not like now.

(Cut to Pipp and Zipp in the cave, the former hammering fruitlessly at her phone screen as the latter digs at the masses of fallen rock.)

Pipp: (groaning loudly, pacing) Come on! I thought we were besties, phone! (sitting) Come on, just gimme one bar. One bar! (Pan to Zipp.)

Zipp: (pointedly) It was your bestie that got us stuck here in the first place! (Cut to Pipp on the following.)

Pipp: Um, if I remember correctly— (pointing) —it was your idea! Who trusts rando Dewdrop photos, anyway?

Zipp: Well, somepony sure was eager to come along when she thought it’d get her a few extra hoof-taps.

Pipp: (groaning, standing) I can’t stand you!

(There follows a lively exchange of barbs and accusations, with each sister trying her level best to shout the other down for several seconds. They turn their backs on each other to end it; Zipp uncorks a loud groan and gets back to digging, while a heartbroken Pipp slumps down to sit at the edge of a small pool. Profile close-up of the former.)

Pipp: (from o.s, voice breaking) Well, looks like you got your wish. (Both again; zoom in slowly.) No Portrait Day for either of us now. (Sniffle. Zipp pauses her digging; zoom in slowly on her in close-up.)

Zipp: That’s not what I wanted.

(Sitting, she lifts a silver-tinted hoof and turns it so that the lower surface faces upward; a few crumbs of rock fall away in close-up, giving a clear view of the heart-shaped indentation. Back to her on the next line.)

Zipp: Hoof to heart.

(A moment’s reflection on those three words, and she turns her eyes to her dejected younger sister. Another moment, and she has backed carefully up to that sister and sat facing away from her. Cut to Pipp morosely regarding her reflection in the pool.)

Zipp: (from o.s., sighing) I really did want you to play hooky with me this one time, to have fun together like we used to. But… (Pan to frame her.) …it was selfish of me to trick you into coming along. In the end, I made it all about me. (chuckling weakly) I haven’t been a very good older sister, huh?

(Profile close-up of Pipp. Long silence.)

A cappella, same melody as in the prologue, moderate loose 4 (C major)

Zipp:                                 Be still, don’t move

Pipp: (gasping softly) Our song!

(Zoom out slowly to frame both; Pipp’s mood gradually lifts.)

Zipp:                                It’s easy to smile with you by my side

Acoustic guitar in; regular tempo

Zipp:                                 Don’t blink

Pipp:                                                Don’t blink

Zipp:                                 Big smile

Pipp:                                                Big smile

(Crystals and seaweed fronds light up all over the cave.)

Pipp, Zipp:                        Just being with you, my heart opens wide

Pizzicato strings and soft percussion in, followed by full strings

(They circle one another playfully while holding out the last word of the previous line.)

Pipp, Zipp:                        As it all comes clear to me

                                You’re my best friend, my family

(They watch their reflections in the pool; Pipp breaks out her phone for a photo.)

                                I want to capture this moment as we hit our stride

(She puts it away and the two splash each other; now Pipp chases Zipp across the space.)

Zipp:                                With you by my

Pipp, Zipp:                        You by my side

(The pursuit turns into a graceful aerial dance as they hold out this last word and add a vocal flourish after it.)

Pipp, Zipp: (held out)        Side

Quiet acoustic guitar only

(They touch front hooves and sink slowly to the ground.)

Pipp, Zipp:                        It’s Portrait Day, I want you by my side

Song ends

(Landing near the cluster of ocean lilies, they share a gentle laugh and sit by the pool.)

Zipp: I really am sorry, Pipp.

Pipp: Me too. I wasn’t exactly present either, being on my phone all day. I was so excited to be out and about with you, I forgot to spend time with you. (Cut to Zipp on the end of this.)

Zipp: That’s okay. I know you have to keep up with all of your followers on Feedbag. (A joking nudge.)

Pipp: (giggling, falling onto her back) Pffffffft! Why did I say that?

(Zipp copies the move as they let go with a hearty laugh.)

Pipp: I don’t know why we’re laughing when we’re still trapped in this cave— (her mirth evaporating) —possibly forever.

Zipp: (ditto) Right. (She snaps up to a sitting position.) I’m sure we can find a way out. (Pipp follows suit.)

Pipp: Right.

(Up goes the white mare for a bit of aerial reconnaissance—tapping at rocks, flicking at a glowing frond—while Pipp surveys at ground level and deploys her phone. Cut to within a pile of tumbled rocks, the camera pointing out at Zipp through a small gap; she pulls and knocks them aside to clear the view, then peers through.)

Zipp: Hey! I think I might have found something!

(Pipp looks up with an elated gasp and lifts off to join her. A different camera angle shows that the opening Zipp has found is in the ceiling, with a sunbeam shining in; now the older sister gasps as well and the younger glances at her phone.)

Pipp: I’ve got a bar on Bestie over here!

Zipp: Well, get streaming! And this time, geo-tag it!

(The social media maven shoots her a knowing smile and fires up the gadget, aiming its camera at herself.)

Pipp: Hey, Pippsqueaks! I’m in a bit of a bind.

(On this second sentence, cut to another phone held by a pony and playing the video. As she continues, the camera is pivoted to frame Zipp briefly.)

Pipp: Me and my sister need some help, like, yesterday.

(A gold hoof reaches toward the camera to tap a button, and the display changes to show a map of Maretime Bay with one spot at the beach highlighted by a heart marker. The phone proves to belong to one filly in a group of five foals—the same ones who found her on the beach in Act Two. They gasp in surprise and peel out toward a small pile of stones on a grassy promontory overlooking the beach. Cut to within the cave, the camera pointing straight up at the aperture; Glory peeks down and in.)

Zipp: (from o.s.) It’s working! (Zoom out quickly to frame her and Pipp.)

Pipp: (laughing) Wow! That was fast!

(Up she goes; at ground level, she puts her face up to the hole in the pile to address the youths.)

Pipp: I bet with your new pony powers, you could totally bust us out of this beach cave! (Cut to Seashell and two other earth ponies; she continues o.s.) Show me what those horns and hooves can do!

(They underscore the end of this by warming up their hooves and clapping them into the grass, instantly sprouting vines that snake down into the cave.)

Zipp: It’s working! Keep going!

(Glory wrenches a rock loose and airlifts it away, and Peach drags one off with her magic. Down below, an idea strikes Zipp.)

Zipp: Wait!

(A quick swoop down allows her to pluck an ocean lily and present it to Pipp.)

Zipp: You should take it.

(The gift is accepted, but before the recipient can speak, the newly grown vines dislodge enough larger chunks to let a full-grown pony pass.)

Seashell: Pipp, Pipp, hooray!

Zipp: You said it!

(Both sisters zero in on the newly opened escape route; up on the surface, Pipp strains a bit before popping loose like a cork shot from a champagne bottle. Zipp rockets up to blue sky with a triumphant laugh, and the sisters corkscrew upward to a higher altitude. Upon braking to a hover, they find themselves liberally festooned with limp seaweed; they drop to the grass with a chuckle, the camera cutting to an overhead view of them and the foals and zooming out slowly.)

Crowd: Pipp, Pipp, hooray!

Zipp: (high-fiving Glory) Pretty strong magic for such young colts and fillies.

Pipp: Thank you so much for helping us!

Seashell: How could we not answer your distress call, Princess Pipp?

(Back to the Princesses on the end of this; Zipp’s phone buzzes and bleeps, and she pulls it out and eyes its screen with a start of surprise.)

Zipp: We gotta get to Zephyr Heights now!

Pipp: Right. (to the foals) Uh, we gotta dash, but I’ll be sure to give you a shout-out in my next Cliptrot stream, so stay tuned!

(Cut to Glory/Peach/Seashell during this line, then to her rising alongside a now-hovering Zipp as she finishes.)

Zipp: (waving) Catch you on the flippity-flip!

(Pipp adds her own parting salutation as all four wings hit first gear to get them moving. Misty steps into view from behind a tree trunk at a distance; she snarls in frustration, then turns her eyes downward in a sigh of resignation at having failed to put the royals out of commission.)

(Dissolve to a long shot of the palace in Zephyr Heights, zooming in slowly, then to the throne room. The zoom continues as Haven paces the dais impatiently; Sunny stands at its base, and an artist is hard at work behind an easel.)

Haven: Where are they, Sunny? I’m not surprised Zipp is missing, but Pipp wouldn’t miss Portrait Day for anything!

(Ground-level view of both daughters’ hooves entering the chamber.)

Zipp: We’re here!

(Tilt up to frame them fully, still wearing those hanks of ocean vegetation.)

Zipp: Hi, Mom!

Haven: (gasping in horror, galloping to them) What happened to you two? (to Zipp, poking at her seaweed) I thought you didn’t like getting seaweed wraps.

Pipp: (sitting, fumbling under a wing) We had to go and get this!

(On this last word, cut to Haven as the recovered ocean lily is held out to her.)

Haven: (gasping, dumbfounded) An ocean lily? Just like the one you wore in the portrait all those moons ago? (A deep sniff at the bloom.) I love it!

Acoustic guitar/string melody from the earlier song, same tempo/key

(It is swiftly tucked into her mane, and she leads them past a proudly smiling Sunny toward the dais. Pipp and Zipp slide into position at its top, on either side of their mother, and throw a foreleg across each other’s shoulders to pull closer as their joyful smiles widen a notch. Dissolve to the family’s filly-age portrait hanging on a wall in a palace corridor, and pan to two others in sequence that mark their age progression. The second portrait shows no ocean lilies and Pipp smiling, but Zipp looks more than a bit uncomfortable and Haven glances worriedly down at her. The third is from the present, showing good spirits all around—not to mention all the seaweed that both Princesses are still wearing, except for a strand plastered across Pipp’s nose.)

Pipp, Zipp:                        It’s Portrait Day, I want you by my side

Song ends

(Cut to Opaline’s throne room, the camera aimed across its pool at the doors. Misty eases these open and enters with great trepidation, finding the winged unicorn seated on her throne.)

Opaline: (eagerly) So? Did you trap them?

Misty: For a while.

(A long shot of the room picks out a side door, different from the root-outlined one seen in “Izzy Does It.” This is set into an immense, twisted purple tree trunk that forms most of one wall and whose roots spill behind the throne and under the stained-glass windows behind the seat of power; cut into them is the upward-leading ramp first seen at the end of that episode.)

Opaline: And?

Misty: And then some ponies showed up and helped get them free.

(Extreme close-up of Opaline’s hooves on this last word; she stomps one against the throne with a groan, striking sparks from the gold surface. Floor level, the camera aimed at Misty.)

Misty: (cringing back, as Opaline plants her hooves in the fore) I’m sure I can lure them out again! I-I just need to—

Opaline: (from o.s, stepping forward) Don’t bother.

(Overhead shot of the pool on this last; a circle of mist swirls at the edge in response to her glowing horn.)

Opaline: It’s clear that it’s time I intervened.

(She laughs wildly over her reflection, which ripples into that of Sunny with her magic horn manifested.)