FAMILY TREES—PART ONE

Written by Laura Zak

Executive producers: Olivier Dumont, Randi Yaffa, Cort Lane

Story editing by Gillian Berrow

Supervising direction by Will Lau

Directed by Randi Rodrigues

Transcribed by Alan Back (ajback@yahoo.com)

Note:                 Aside from any previously named characters, all mentions of ponies in

Bridlewood refer to unicorns.

Prologue

(Opening shot: a close-up of a small crystal outcropping at the edge of a path through Bridlewood during the day. A pony gallops past this, seen from the haunches down; the coloration and mane/tail style are a match for Misty, but there are three noticeable differences. The body is smaller, the mane/tail have their original blue/green coloration rather than the purple/reddish-pink dye job applied in “Cutie Blossom Bash,” and she does not wear the foreleg bracelet Izzy Moonbow gave her. Even before the camera cuts to frame her fully, her giggle confirms what these details suggest—that this is a moment from her filly-hood. She slides to a stop as a unicorn-horned rabbit hops onto the path before her.)

Filly MI: Awww, hi there!

(Close-up; it twitches its ears and hops back the way it came.)

Filly MI: (from o.s.) Hey! (Back to her, giggling.) Wait up!

(It leads her a merry chase, off the path and through the grass toward a patch of wispy fog, but she catches a hoof on some broad woody structure and goes tumbling.)

Filly MI: Ow!

(Following a graceless landing on her belly, she takes a moment to recover her senses and looks up with a gasp. Cut to her perspective of the forest’s immense Wishing Tree standing right before her. A tilt up toward its expansive boughs reveals that night has abruptly fallen and that much of the bark has taken on a soothing blue glow. What she tripped on was one of its roots.)

Filly MI: Wow!

(Back to her, standing up and noticing a bluish glow that seems to be emanating from somewhere among the roots. She voices a softer gasp.)

Filly MI: (circling around trunk) Where’d that come from?

(The source proves to be a pair of ornately worked wooden doors set into the surface.)

Filly MI: Oh!

(She reaches out to touch them, but a rustle in the underbrush spooks her into withdrawing her hoof and spinning to face the thickening murk.)

Filly MI: Huh?

(A large, indistinct silhouette begins to emerge, prompting the youngster to uncork a shrill scream of terror. Zoom in quickly on her open mouth, then out to frame the fully grown Misty yelling and flailing her limbs wildly in her sleep—this entire sequence has been a nightmare of hers. She is lying on her bed within her room in Opaline Arcana’s castle, and she snaps upward into a sitting position. Daylight beams in through the stained-glass window as she heaves for breath.)

Misty: What was that about? It felt so real, like it’s happened before—or it’s going to.

(Close-up of her haunch as she finishes and slides the bedclothes down a fraction to find that her cutie mark is pulsing with light.)

Misty: (from o.s.) That’s new. (Back to her.) Something is definitely up. I’ve gotta tell my friends!

(Within seconds, the Madame Taffytail dummy she made in “Top Remodel” is snatched off its shelf and dumped onto the bed with a collection of other items, large and small. The camera angle shifts briefly to point up at Misty from the mattress as she tosses her blanket onto the lens to black out the screen; from here, cut to her trotting out of the room. Her possessions are arranged under the blanket to give a rough approximation of her sleeping form, a decoy in anticipation of a bed check by Opaline. Snap to black.)

OPENING THEME

Act One

Muted audio: Pipp holds out “mine” in the final song from Bridlewoodstock

Energetic electric guitar/drums/bass/synthesizer melody, moderate 4 (E major)

(Cut from the title card directly to the front lawn of the Crystal Brighthouse, during a beautiful morning. Zoom in slowly and cut to a close-up of a pancake in a pan on the kitchen stove; a timer dings, and Sunny Starscout flips it with a laugh. Across the way in the Critter Corner, Hitch Trailblazer is holding up a flowered hoop for a squirrel to jump through, watched by another one, McSnips-a-Lot, and Curdle the turtle. Over by the fireplace, Izzy Moonbow is watching an uncharacteristically lethargic Sparky Sparkeroni on a couch, while Pipp Petals watches a video of herself performing with the Dreamlands during the Bridlewoodstock Music Festival on the television set above the fireplace. Zipp Storm’s attention is focused on her FlyPad as she lounges on a chair.)

Pipp, Dreamlands:                We don’t hang our heads when things get too hard

                                We put our hooves together

Song ends abruptly

(The peaceful mood goes bye-bye in the instant it takes Misty to barge in through the front doors. Her mark has gone quiet.)

Misty: I think we’re in danger!

(Pipp shuts off the TV; she, Izzy, and Zipp gasp, and Sunny leaps across with pan in hoof—letting its flapjack slide out and hit the floor.)

Sunny: Is it Opaline?

Misty: That’ snot what I meant.

Hitch: Opaline’s here?!? (He gallops toward Sparky.)

Misty: No! I’m trying to tell you that— (Cut to the others as she finishes.)

Zipp: (hovering, FlyPad stowed) Look alive, ponies, and don’t panic!

Pipp: Okay. We’re under attack— (hovering, singing) —but don’t be afra-a-aid!

(There follows a beat of dead silence after she finishes vocalizing.)

Pipp: What? (rattled) You said not to panic! Singing keeps me calm, okay?

Misty: If you could just listen—

Izzy: (dramatically, bounding to her) I, Izzy Moonbow of the Bridlewood Moonbows, call upon the Unity Crystals to protect this Brighthouse and everypony in it!

(Extreme close-up of Misty’s mouth on this last, zooming out quickly to frame the group in an overhead shot.)

Misty: LISTEN TO ME!! (That shuts them all up.) I should clarify, I don’t think we’re in danger right now… (Pipp and Zipp touch down with relieved sighs.) …but we absolutely could be soon.

(The next words/reactions overlap, the camera angles keeping Hitch out of view.)

Hitch: (from o.s.) What?!

Izzy: Oh, no! (Sunny holds up her pan as a shield.)

Pipp: (both sisters hovering; Zipp yelps) What do you mean?

Zipp: Okay, back up. (She brings out her FlyPad and lands facing Misty; slow pan.) From the top. What’s going on?

(A beep, and the device’s voice recorder is active.)

Misty: I had this scary dream, but it felt real. There was this…tall creature.

Sunny: Do you usually have scary dreams?
Misty: I’ve been having a lot of them, actually. (hopping onto a chair) I’m exhausted. (The others take seats, Sunny putting her pan aside and Zipp tucking her FlyPad away.)

Sunny: I wonder what they mean.

Pipp: Ooh, I love dream analysis! Like, did you know that everypony in your dreams is actually you?

Izzy: (jumping in place) Ooh! So I’m actually a tap-dancing tube of paint and the queen of the hermit crabs?

Pipp: Yes.

Zipp: Or, maybe it wasn’t a dream at all. Maybe it was a vision!

Sunny: Of the future?

Zipp: (standing, pacing) Exactly! (to Misty) You told us Opaline won’t stop ’til she has all the power of Equestria, right? And she’s kinda tall, so the dream creature must be her!

Misty: I don’t know. I-I couldn’t really see the creature. It was just a big shadow.

Zipp: (pulling out FlyPad, starting recorder) Hmmm…so it could be a new threat. Okay. Describe it to me. Don’t leave out any details. They could be crucial.

Misty: Uh… (Sigh.) …I can’t really remember now. I just knew something very bad was about to happen.

Zipp: Focus, Misty. If we don’t decode your vision, we could be missing a vital clue to Opaline’s next move.

(On the next line, pan to frame Sunny looking on from the couch.)

Sunny: Go easy on her, Zipp. Misty has been through a lot. (to Misty) Maybe these bad dreams are because you’re still sleeping at the lair?

Pipp: (now o.s.) Yeah! (Cut to her.) You don’t have to do this whole double-agent dance anymore, Misty.

Misty: No. I can’t stop until I figure out how to beat Opaline. I don’t know what I’d do if anything else happened to you ponies—or Sparky.

(On the mention of this name, cut briefly to the little guy snoozing on Hitch’s lap. When the camera returns to Zipp and Misty, the pegasus has packed away her FlyPad.)

Zipp: (sitting) Don’t worry. I’m gonna help you crack this mystery wide open. (Longer shot, framing all, on the start of the next line.)

Sunny: We all will. Take a breath and think back. What else did you see?

(Cut to a close-up of Misty and zoom in slowly as she closes her eyes and arranges her mind. When she opens her mouth to speak, the view shifts to her dream-filly self’s perspective of the Tree as seen in the prologue. Zoom in on its proliferation of leaves.)

Misty: (voice over) There was this big beautiful tree— (Back to her in the present.) —kind of like the one you planted for me in Zephyr Heights. But this one was in a forest, and it had a door.

(She is referring to the sapling that the six ponies planted and grew at the end of “Cutie Blossom Bash.” During this second sentence, she shifts to voice over again in time with a cut to the glowing doors she found in her dream. Zoom in slowly on these before cutting back to the here and now; pan across the concerned spectators to stop on Izzy.)

Izzy: Hmmm… (Gasp; big smile.) …that sounds just like the Wishing Tree in Bridlewood! Other than the door part. Could that be the one? (Zoom in slowly on Misty.)

Misty: I—I don’t know. I don’t think I’ve ever actually been to Bridlewood. I was just pretending to know about it during our unicorn sleepover.

(The titular event of “The Traditional Unicorn Sleep-Over,” that is. Her admission shocks Izzy into a lung-bursting gasp.)

Misty: I’m so sorry, Izzy! I just— (Izzy leans into her face.)

Izzy: A unicorn who’s never been to Bridlewood?!? What are we waiting for? We have to take you there! Now! Now!

(The blue mare finds herself being yanked bodily from her seat, and she trots smilingly past the ramps in close-up.)

Misty: I have always wanted to see where the other unicorns live.

Izzy: (rapid fire) I’ll show you the Crystal Tea Room and then we’ll trot through the plaza and go to my house, and then we’ll go skipping!

(A polite throat-clearing from the o.s. Zipp; cut to frame the whole group. She touches down from a hover on Misty’s other side.)

Zipp: And we’ll see if Bridlewood helps Misty remember anything else about her vision. (Close-up of Izzy.)

Izzy: (sheepishly) Uh…yeah. That too.

Hitch: (from o.s.) Oh, no!

(Cut to him, trying and failing to rouse Sparky’s interest in a McSnips-a-Lot stuffed toy.)

Hitch: Come on, buddy! You still don’t want to play?

Sunny: What’s going on with Sparky? He seems so tired lately.

Hitch: I thought he would get his energy back after Opaline drained his dragon fire, but he’s been sleeping for days. (Sparky moans woozily.) I’m getting worried.

Izzy: Well, the Bridlewood Forest is known to have many healing properties, especially the Wishing Tree. (She slides over to whisper loudly to Misty behind a hoof.) I’m not saying that Bridlewood has it all, but…it has it all!

Hitch: It’s worth a shot.

Sunny: To the Marestream!

(All five mares waste no time in bugging out, while Hitch carefully settles Sparky on his back and follows at a slower pace to avoid jostling the little guy. Cut to the Marestream in flight through a cheerful blue sky studded with fat white clouds, then to a slow pan across the cockpit. Zipp has her sunglasses on and is at the controls.)

Zipp: (smoothly) This is your pilot, Zipp Storm, speaking. I’m expecting clear skies and smooth conditions as we cruise into our destination, Bridlewood.

(During this line, the view shifts to a bank of speakers mounted on a wall in the cabin, her voice heard through these. Zoom out to frame the others sitting on the floor, Pipp goofing around with her cell phone and Hitch holding Sparky close.)

Misty: Thank moons for that!

Izzy: Ooh! Listen to that unicorn-speak! (waving a foreleg) Soon you’ll know Bridlewood like the back of your hoof! (Cut to Sunny.)

Sunny: If there’s time, I want to forage for some exotic forest berries for my smoothies! (She holds up a cup…) Do you think Alphabittle will have recommendations? (…and takes a pull.)

Misty: (from o.s.) Alpha-what-tle?

(Cut to frame both unicorns and the orange mare on this last. Now Pipp stands up, addressing her phone.)

Pipp: Take a good look, Pippsqueaks—

(Her image now appears on the screen of a different phone, accompanied by a steady stream of icons to indicate viewer approval. As she continues, the camera shifts to frame Glory, Peach Fizz, and Seashell watching on Peach’s device in the Maretime Bay town square. The shift puts the screen out of view, and is followed by a cut back to her in the cabin as she finishes.)

Pipp: —’cause this is the last you’ll see of my muzzle for a bit. Today, I’m going to unplug and practice Mega-Pega-Mindfulness. (shifting position, as Hitch offers a toy block to Sparky at the wall seats) And I’ll be scoping out supplies for my upcoming all-natural hoof and mane product line! Follow me for more details for when it drops—but, you know, don’t follow me today. (Laugh.)

(Long shot of the cruising Marestream.)

Pipp: (voice over) Get off your screens and get outside! (Back to her.) That’s where I’ll be. Pipp, Pipp, bye-byeee! (She cuts the feed.)

Hitch: I really hope Izzy’s right about those magical healing powers. (No luck with the block; he puts it down and Sparky turns over to sleep.) I’ll try anything to help Sparky feel like himself again.

Sunny: I’m sure we’ll find something to help cure him.

(On the next line, cut to frame Zipp through the open doorway to the cockpit, calling back over her shoulder.)

Zipp: (mildly irked) And find the answers to Misty’s vision!

(Long shot of the craft, dropping serenely toward the treetops.)

Zipp: (voice over, smoothly) Starting our descent. (Izzy and Misty peek out a window.)

Izzy: Misty, welcome to Bridlewood.

(Stretching ahead of them under the clouds is a canopy of leaves in bright pinks and blues.)

Misty: (awestruck) It’s so beautiful!

(Cut to treetop level and tilt down to the ground. The Marestream is parked with wings folded in, and the ponies and dragon have debarked. Pipp sits in a meditative pose with hind legs crossed and forelegs extended at a downward angle to either side, and Hitch has Sparky on his back. They are gathered just outside Izzy’s house, whose front yard sports a few of her crafting projects; others are suspended from the branches.)

Izzy: (to Misty) Welcome to my home! (Cut to its upper portion and pan/tilt down; she continues o.s.) Villa Izzy. Tree sweet tree.

Misty: (from o.s.) This is all yours?

Izzy: (standing up into view) Oh! Well, it doesn’t so much belong to me as it’s a living part of the forest.

(The fountain she built to get her cutie mark, as seen in “Cutie Blossom Bash,” stands by the front door. Now she darts away to the crank-operated music box seen during the group’s Bridlewood visit in A New Generation. As she continues, she works it to play the first five notes of the My Little Pony theme/jingle, then returns to the fountain.)

Izzy: It’s sort of like I’ve been tasked with tending to it and leaving it more beautiful than I found it! (Return to Misty.) Know what I mean?

Misty: I think so.

Izzy: And now it’s yours too. All of Bridlewood is.

Misty: Wow.

(She looks around herself, utterly enraptured, as the view dissolves to an overhead shot of one path lined with widely varying works of art. Pan to bring the group into view, Sparky now toddling alongside Hitch as they walk; one of the creators is present.)

Misty: These were all made by unicorns? (Ground level.)

Izzy: You bet your crystals! (She moves to a stylized unicorn-head sculpture.) Every last one.

(Farther back, Hitch’s face broadcasts his worry over Sparky’s obvious discomfort. Now Zipp takes the air and catches up to Misty.)

Zipp: (landing to face her) So, Misty, anything jogging your memory yet? (Close-up of a smiling Misty as she finishes.)

Misty: Actually, yes.

Zipp: (eagerly) Really? (Pull out the FlyPad.) Another vision?

Misty: Oh, no. Sorry.

(She turns to a painting of a winged unicorn filly standing in a field of flowers at sunrise.)

Misty: I meant this art. I’ve never seen such beautiful images of ponies who look just like me before. (A thought occurs to her.) Or have I? (Zipp lets off a soft, frustrated groan.)

Sunny: (to her) Give her time.

Zipp: (putting FlyPad away) I don’t know how much time we have!

(The travelers continue on their way, Izzy hopping merrily along the path.)

Act Two

(Dissolve to a tilt down from the treetops into a clearing where an artisan has set up a stall. One customer departs with a levitated package as Izzy trots into view, floating a box and singing to herself. The others are here, Pipp having resumed her meditation in midair and Hitch cuddling Sparky.)

Izzy: These macarons are a Bridlewood delicacy. (dropping/catching box, then popping lid open by magic) Made of edible fluffy flowers.

(Five of the treats drift out under her control—cream filling sandwiched between two spongy cake layers. The first three go to Hitch, Misty, and Sunny; Pipp snags the fourth, having put her hooves back on the ground.)

Pipp: Ooh, cute!

(She whips out her phone with a laugh to take a video of herself holding the macaron, but puts it away just as quickly.)

Pipp: Oh, right. Mega-Pega-Mindfulness. (Bite; gasp.) Neigh way! When I don’t record it, I can really taste it!

(Hitch ponders the one he holds and offers it to Sparky, who waves it off weakly; the stallion tucks it away for later as two fillies walk past.)

Filly: Awww, the little dragon wants a ride! So adorable!

Hitch: (smiling, helping Sparky onto his back) It is adorable—but this is so unlike the usual “off-the-walls-with-energy” Sparky.

(Misty suffers a brief loss for words upon taking a bite of her macaron.)

Misty: That is…incredible! And strangely familiar.

Zipp: Taste can unlock new pathways in the brain. (deploying FlyPad) Are these treats making you think of anything new?

Misty: It’s making me think, “I need more!”

(She proceeds to gobble down the rest of it and float no fewer than five others toward herself. In close-up, Zipp lowers the rig and groans in mild disgust as the sound of energetic chomping drifts her way. She has dispatched her own macaron by this point. Cut to a close-up of a horned rabbit sniffing at a crystal formation; on the start of the next line, pan to follow its hopping and stop on the group. They have all done away with their snacks and are standing among a profusion of varicolored minerals, one of which has come under Misty’s intense scrutiny.)

Zipp: (to Misty) These crystals have gotta spark something for you.

Misty: Actually, you’re right. They are just like the ones in my dream.

(Sunny plucks a small, greenish-glowing one and holds it out to Sparky.)

Sunny: Here, Sparky, try holding this bliss quartz.

(He takes it with a bleary gurgle and goes to sleep, a trace of contentment now on the scaly green face.)

Izzy: Ooh, good eye, Sunny! Bliss quartz boosts up positive energy— (whispering eerily) —and helps you see things clearly! (fading out like an echo, sinking from sight) Clearly…clearly… (Up again to address Hitch.) …clearly.

(Sunny, meanwhile, has turned to Zipp and Misty and offered up a fresh sample.)

Sunny: Here, Misty. You try. (Misty takes it from her.)

Misty: It feels…nice?

Zipp: (coaxingly, holding up FlyPad) Aaaaand…?

Misty: And it’s so…pretty?

(The ivory investigator’s groan and lowering of the device suggest that this was not the sort of response she was hoping to get.)

Zipp: (walking off) It doesn’t seem like you’re responding to anything here!

(The blue unicorn follows, the wind instantly gone from her sails. Dissolve to the group walking along a path and past a playground, Sunny and Zipp in the lead and Misty no longer carrying the piece of bliss quartz.)

Sunny: (to Zipp) Just go easy on her.

Zipp: I am, but we’re running out of time!

(Cut to Misty, bringing up the rear, on the end of this. Ahead of her, Sparky has also discarded his crystal. She stops short with a gasp, seeing a father push his son on a swing, and the camera cuts to her face and zooms in quickly on one blinking eye. Fade quickly to white, then in to her perspective—she is now her dream-filly self, giggling and waving her hind legs in the air as she rides a swing of her own. After a couple of cycles, the camera shifts to frame her in profile, in the same foggy forest of the prologue.)

Voice of Zipp: (muffled) Misty!

Filly MI: Huh?

Voice of Zipp: (muffled) Misty! Misty! (Fade to white; the next repetition comes through clearly.) Misty!

(Fade in to the present-day Misty, who snaps out of her momentary trance or fugue, then cut to an overhead shot of the others gathering around her on the next line. She has dropped to her haunches.)

Zipp: Are you okay?

(Close-up of the butterfly on the blue haunch, which flares and sparks briefly.)

Sunny: (from o.s.) Look! Her cutie mark! (Cut to her as she finishes; Izzy/Zipp crowd in for a look.)

Zipp: It worked! You had another vision, didn’t you?

Misty: Uh…I don’t think it was a vision. It felt like…a memory.

Izzy: A memory? You mean… (Gasp.) …maybe you are from Bridlewood?

Misty: I don’t…it’s too foggy. I can’t remember.

Zipp: We must be on the right track! What did you see? (Father and son leave the swing and go on their way.)

Misty: I think I was a filly—in that playground. (Izzy gasps.)

Izzy: I played there when I was a filly! (She gallops off.)

Zipp: (urgently) Uh, who were you with?

Misty: I want to know, but I just don’t— (Up comes the FlyPad.)

Zipp: (rolling eyes) You must remember something from you filly-hood! Before Opaline? Just think!

Misty: I don’t want to anymore. (Sunny crosses to them; Zipp stashes the gear.)

Sunny: It’s okay, Misty. (foreleg across shoulders) You don’t have to have all the answers right now. I’m sure you’ll remember eventually. (pointedly) Right, Zipp?

Zipp: (chastised) Right, of course. It’s okay, Misty. I’m sorry.

(Sunny offers Misty an understanding smile as Izzy takes a ride down the playground slide.)

Izzy: Whee!

(Momentum gets the better of her at the bottom end; she tumbles head-over-hooves and o.s. with a yell, a loud crash and goofy giggle marking the general direction of her final wipeout. A moment later she is upright and trotting to catch up with the group on the move. Cut to the steaming teakettle sign above the Crystal Tea Room and zoom out to frame the last stretch of the path leading up to its front entrance. A humming, hopping Izzy leads them past, but Misty stops for an inquisitive look.)

Misty: What’s that? (Pipp pauses as well.)

Pipp: That’s Alphabittle’s shop, the Crystal Tea Room. (Izzy doubles back to them.)

Izzy: Oh, you’ll probably meet him later. But first… (whirling around Misty) …we need to visit the Wishing Tree to see if it’s the tree of your dreams. (Cut to Hitch/Sparky on the next line.)

Hitch: And to find something even more powerful than bliss quartz to help Sparky.

(The dragon shifts in his sleep as the Maretime Bay crew moves on; Misty studies the sign and closed doors for a moment before following suit. Zoom in on the structure and cut to an armadillo walking across a table inside, a cup of tea balanced on its back. Onyx takes it and sips as the critter rolls itself up and away, a longer shot framing Dapple seated across from her. Alphabittle Blossomforth is behind the counter, and Queen Haven has claimed a chair before it. Her dog Cloudpuff and Alphabittle’s other armadillo are on the surface, rolling an empty cup back and forth. During the next line, cut to a close-up of the two pets and pan to frame their owners.)

Haven: You know, Alphabittle, you should really consider opening a second tea room in Zephyr Heights.

(The cup gets away; the animals scramble after it, and the armadillo who served Onyx now carries a vase across a high shelf on its back.)

Haven: The pegasi would go wild for a shop like this.

(Close-up of it as she finishes; the vase is slid onto the shelf only to topple over the edge, but the big stallion easily catches it.)

Alphabittle: You think? (He sets it on a shelf at his level.)

Haven: And then I could see you more often. Oh, with my royal duties, it’s hard for me to make it to Bridlewood as often as I’d like.

Alphabittle: Well, that would be nice. (somberly, turning away) But I could never leave Bridlewood.

Haven: Whyever not?

Alphabittle: I just…I need to be here in case. (He turns back to her.)

Haven: In case of what, Alphie? (Zoom out slowly.)

Alphabittle: (abruptly) In case of all sorts of things.  It takes a lotta work to run a tea shop. (composing himself, turning to shelves, retrieving a cup) Anyway, what do you want? Your usual? With oat milk, I assume?

Haven: (to herself) Hmmm…

(Cut to an overhead shot of the clearing in which the Tree stands. Night has fallen, and a soothing blue glow suffuses most of its bark and the crystals jutting from the ground. Zoom in slowly as Sunny and company approach, then cut to them.)

Misty: Izzy, you were right! This is the same tree from my vision! Let me see… (She moves to a different spot among the roots.) The bunny-corn led me here, but then… (Glance up, then off to one side.) …there was a glowing door. Where is it?

Zipp: Everypony, split up! Look for that door!

(All but Izzy are quick to follow orders, Pipp lifting off for aerial surveillance.)

Izzy: This is weird. I like it!

(Humming to herself, she darts away to join the search. Sunny and Misty set to the task of looking over two adjacent niches in the roots.)

Pipp: (from o.s.) No door this way!

Hitch: (from o.s.) I’ve got nothing either!

(As soon as Misty touches a hoof to one root, she utters a poleaxed gasp and her eyes constrict almost to points. Zoom in quickly on her face and cut to her dream-filly self in either that same position or one very similar to it. The crystal formations around the Tree glow faintly through the fog thickening around her.)

Filly MI: Hello? Is anypony there?

(A stallion’s voice is heard somewhere through the haze—distant and only slightly muffled.)

Stallion voice: Misty!

Filly MI: I’m right here! (She leaps over a root.)

Stallion voice: Misty, come back!

Filly MI: (scrambling to a clear spot) Why can’t they hear me?

Stallion voice: Misty, where are you?

Filly MI: I’m here! (The mists close in from all sides.) Help me!

(Just as they are about to consume her, the view fades to white and in to a long shot of her, huddled and sobbing miserably on a grassy clifftop as the fog recedes. A look around informs her that she is alone in this new place; zoom in quickly on her bewildered expression, the view fading to white and snapping to an extreme close-up of a crying Misty in the present. In a longer shot, she backs away from the Tree’s roots as Sunny crosses to her.)

Sunny: Misty… (She and the others gather in as the mare crumples to the ground.) …oh, what happened?

Izzy: Hey, hey, you’re safe now. (Misty calms down a bit.)

Misty: I remember more of it now. I did live here, when I was small. (Stand; look up at the Tree; her voice begins to shake.) But then one day, I went out collecting glowpaz crystals, and I got lost in the forest.

(Cut to the royal sisters and Hitch, with Sparky in foreleg, on the end of this; Zipp gets her FlyPad out to record.)

Misty: (from o.s.) And when I tried to make my way back… (Back to her.) …Bridlewood was gone. (Izzy rubs her back gently.) Just…gone.

(She lays herself face-down at the end of a root, conscious only of her own despair, and so does not immediately notice either a fresh glow from her cutie mark nor a serpentine line of pale blue magic emerging from her body and tracing its way up the woody structure. Zipp is too focused on her FlyPad to register these developments, but the others certainly do, with a round of wide-eyed smiles and an incredulous gasp from Sunny.)

Sunny: Misty, your cutie mark! It’s glowing stronger!

Hitch: It’s doing something to the Tree! Look!

(Now all twelve equine eyes fix themselves on the arboreal behemoth as the pulse races up the roots and trunk, multiplying and branching off time after time to energize the limbs as well. Every square inch of bark and leaf touched by the magic takes on a gentle glow—blue and pink, respectively. Cut to Izzy and Misty, the latter standing up.)

Izzy: Your powers are changing the Wishing Tree?

(Pan to Pipp and Zipp on the next line, the former with hooves to temples and trying to keep her cool, and the latter again working her FlyPad.)

Pipp: Be present, Pipp. I don’t need to film this right now. It’s way better to be mindful.

(Up and down the Tree, large pink buds among the leaves burst into bloom almost as one, coming to life with enough light to illuminate the entire clearing and then some. Horned rabbits—or “bunny-corns,” as named by Misty—move curiously toward the display of power and are soon followed by a few of the locals, two mares and a colt. One mare gasps; the other speaks next.)

Mare: Whoa! (Pipp frantically barges up between Izzy and Misty.)

Pipp: Did anypony get that on video?

(A moment’s gaze at the invigorated growth does wonders to calm her down.)

Misty: I…I did that?

Zipp: (laughing softly) Whoa. I think so.

(Comes now a faint flittering noise, as of many tiny wings beating at once, that puts the entire group on edge.)

Sunny: What’s that sound? (Her perspective of the Tree, looking from one section to another.) Is the Tree vibrating?

(Back to them; Izzy hoists herself partway onto Pipp’s back and cups a hoof to her ear.)

Izzy: No. It…it sounds like…

(The pegasus is unceremoniously shoved aside, and Izzy drops to all fours with a gasp.)

Izzy: No. It couldn’t be. (smiling hopefully) I didn’t think they were real.

Zipp: (sliding into view, tensing for action) You didn’t think what was real?

(She has put away her FlyPad by this point. Now two flocks of tiny, yellow-glowing figures erupt from behind different sections of the broad trunk and branches—the source of the new sound.)

Izzy: Huh? Ah! (Laugh.) Breezies!

(Recall that these were a race of miniature flying pony-like creatures, seen in the Friendship Is Magic episode “It Ain’t Easy Being Breezies.” Several of them flit past her and the others on dragonfly-like wings, showing bodies and puffed-out manes/tails in an assortment of pastel colors. Slim antennae curl forward from atop the heads. Hitch and Misty have dropped to the ground in self-protection, the stallion shielding Sparky and smiling as a couple of Breezies hover down to get a look at the dragon. Another pulls up in front of Sunny’s nose.)

Sunny: No way! (Gasp; here come two more.) My dad always told me bedtime pony tales about Breezies!

(Pipp whips out her phone, but stops herself from recording the pair fluttering before her.)

Pipp: Wait, wait! (resolutely, lowering it) This is not content. This is a real moment! (tapping temple) Experience it, Pipp!

 (A deep breath, and she gets her best diplomatic demeanor in place to address them.)

Pipp: Pleasure to meet you. I’m Princess Pipp Petals of Zephyr Heights, and you must be…?

(Her perspective of them as she finishes. They respond with a string of high-pitched, rapid-fire gibberish syllables, but she plays along as best she can once the camera returns to her.)

Pipp: Tiny Pixie Pony of Tree?

(One of them darts in to pull up the foreleg holding her phone; pan to Zipp on the following.)

Zipp: What in the hay are Breezies? And most importantly, are they dangerous?

Hitch: What? (laughing) Of course not! (One gabbles at him.) They’re just excited to see us. (Another.) These two say they haven’t seen other ponies for a long time.

Sunny: You know Breezie language too?

Hitch: It’s our pony language— (Zipp moves closer.) —but at too high of a speed for most to understand them.

Zipp: (pulling out her FlyPad) I can help with that. Watch this.

(Her perspective of the screen, which displays the icon for the voice recorder, and the two who just spoke up.)

Zipp: What were you saying again?

(Each one speaks a bit, a pink and then a yellow, the waveforms of their voices flickering across the glass.)

Zipp: (tapping a control) Now I’ll just slow it down…

(Back to her, Sunny, and Zipp. What she gets for her trouble is a perfectly intelligible playback in a rather higher register than the average pony voice.)

*** From here on in, all lines in square brackets are played this way courtesy of Zipp’s hardware. ***

Pink: [We haven’t seen new friends for hundreds of moons! We have a special treat for you!]

Yellow: [Follow us, new friends! The Night Market awaits!]

(Zipp stows the rig as the two Breezies that Pipp addressed continue to pick at hers.)

Misty: Night Market? What’s that, Izzy? (Who pops up in her face with a delighted gasp.)

Izzy: I have no idea! Something in Bridlewood I never knew about? (Zoom in quickly to an extreme close-up of her determined, grinning face.) I’ve gotta see this!

Act Three

(The group follows the Breezies toward the Tree, Izzy voicing a bubbly giggle, and stops to watch the little creatures gather around a particular vine-covered patch of the trunk. A crack opens down the middle of this and begins to widen, allowing shafts of brilliant yellowish light to pour through into the evening sky, and within moments a doorway has formed. Sunny takes a backward step as the light spills down one root to the ground.)

Sunny: Wow!

(The ponies and bunny-corns who have been watching from a distance decide to move a bit closer, while Sunny and company ascend the slope of the glowing room and pass through the new entrance. A Breezie exclaims to the group, of whom only Zipp is flying.)

Zipp: Hmmm…

(Cut to the space they have entered, the Night Market— a broad woody concourse lined with crystal formations and vendor stalls that sport moss-covered roofs. A rope/plank bridge spans a gap at a higher level, and Breezies are going placidly about their business. The gang advances slowly and wonderingly into view, the camera cutting to a head-on shot of them and panning across as Misty speaks.)

Misty: Wow! (Sparky coos from his spot on Hitch’s back.)

Pipp: Whoa!

Hitch: (now o.s.) Woooow…

(Sunny utters a soft gasp as a Breezie flits up to the elevated portion of the area, which is just as lively as the lower one.)

Sunny: How’d they do this? It looks like it goes on forever! I can’t believe this has all been hiding inside the Wishing Tree!

(A blue one directs a remark to Zipp, who fires up her FlyPad for recording and slowed playback.)

Blue: [In these stalls, there are magical items and secrets that have been lost to your ponykind for generations!]

Sunny: Really?

Hitch: Hear that, Sparks? This wonderful place has gotta have something to get you feeling better in no time!

Misty: And maybe more answers to my past!

Zipp: Only one way to find out!

(Her gear stowed, she and the others cheerfully set out to explore. Cut to a long shot of the entrance to the Crystal Tea Room, a Breezie taking notice and swooping toward it, then to the interior on the next line. Alphabittle/Haven and Dapple/Onyx are still where they were in Act Two; the only difference is that Haven now has a cup of tea.)

Haven: (to Alphabittle) I understand if you’re not ready to share everything about your life with me, but I feel like you’re avoiding my questions.

(Her words are marked by a cut to/from the doors, which a departing customer opens to inadvertently let in a few blabbering Breezies that gather in midair behind the Queen’s head.)

Alphabittle: (stunned, spotting them) Breezies!

Haven: (irked) Please stop changing the subject! And that’s nonsense! There’s no such thing as—

(She trails off into a most un-queenly squawk and hyperventilation when one of them drops almost to counter level and faces her.)

Haven: Oh, my!

(Cloudpuff, who has rolled over onto his back, flips upright with a startled yip and scuttles along the tiled surface to run the Breezies off.)

Haven: It’s okay, Cloudpuff! These are…uh, ponies! (One pulls up to Alphabittle’s eye level.)

Alphabittle: Uh…hmmm, uh, welcome to my shop! (sliding a fresh cup toward it) Mmmm… may I offer you some, uh, tea?

(Which it immediately proceeds to use for a hot tub, luxuriating in the beverage and the steam rising from it.)

Alphabittle: Hm! Well, okay, sure. Whatever you want.

Haven: It seems like they’re trying to tell us something.

(As she says this, a few of them cut a hairpin turn around her head and the camera cuts to them gathering at the closed doors. She and Alphabittle step slowly into view toward them, whereupon they turn to push at the panes; head-on view of the two full-grown ponies, marked by the sound of the opening doors and their jingling bell.)

Alphabittle: Wow. You don’t see this every day—or any day, ever. Hm.

(The one that had been taking a tea bath vacates the cup and zips away, followed by a happily barking Cloudpuff.)

Alphabittle: (to the room at large) Okay, everypony! I’m closing early. Let’s go see what this is about.

(He and Haven make for the doors, as do Dapple and Onyx. Within the Market, Izzy and Pipp have made their way to a particular stall, the camera zooming in slowly on them from above and behind to the sound of a buzz from Pipp’s phone. Cut to them on the next line, standing before a counter stocked with floral/herbal cuttings and extracts.)

Pipp: (moaning fretfully, glancing at phone) I can’t use my phone to look up which ingredients would work in my new beauty line. (setting it down) So I’ll have to go on instinct.

Izzy: Oh! How do you do that?

Pipp: (dramatically) Like the pegasi who came before me— (picking up a vial) —I’ll base it on touch and smell.

(Out comes the stopper so she can get a whiff of the granular contents.)

Pipp: Mmmm! Safflower. That could be nice. (Another is tossed to her; she sniffs and grunts in disgust.) Mmm-mmm. Not that one.

(The Breezie in charge of the stall pops open a third one and flies it to her; the results of this smell test seem to sit very well.)

Pipp: Ooh! I’m getting notes of grapeseed, jasmine… (Sniff again.) …and glitter essence? I’ll take this one! How much?

(The vendor drops into a hover just above her phone and makes an offer, which catches her completely off guard.)

Pipp: Wait, w-wait! I can’t trade my phone! (Izzy glances o.s., smiles, and wanders off.) I may be getting better at this “being present” thing, but that is too far!

(An ecstatic squeal comes back from the unicorn’s direction; cut to her on the start of the next line, scoping out one of the textiles on display at the next stall down.)

Izzy: This fabric will be perfect for new curtains for the Crystal Brighthouse! Oh, thank you, unicorn ancestors, for guiding us to this secret trove of treasures!

(She rubs a cheek against the cloth; on Pipp’s other side, Hitch carries a bottle to a toy vendor’s stall on whose counter Sparky is sitting.)

Hitch: The Breezies said this oil has been used to revitalize pony energy since the earliest days of Equestria. Maybe it’ll work on dragons? What do you think, Sparky?

(Pop the stopper. Hold it out to the little guy, who wafts the vapors toward his nose for a deep breath—and then he shakes his head and lies down for some shuteye. Hitch voices a soft, dejected moan, but smiles as one Breezie drapes Sparky’s favorite little blanket over him and another puts a pacifier in his mouth to make him more comfortable. The camera follows the flight of one of these two to an upper level, where Sunny, Zipp, and Misty have found their way to yet more displays of widely varying wares. Earth pony and pegasus stop at one counter stocked with rocks of varying sizes, and Sunny gasps and picks something up, revealed as a compass in a shot from a different angle.)

Sunny: This reminds me of something my dad used to have! Oh, if only he could see me now—perusing precious objects thought to be lost to history!

Zipp: He’d be so proud—or jealous. (Laugh.) So! Uh…uh, how about you, Misty? Getting any clues about… (realizing Misty has not answered) …huh? Misty?

(They spot her a few steps away, hooves all but rooted to the ground. Zoom in quickly on her widened eyes, the view fading to white and then in to her dream-filly self. She yelps and whimpers in fear as one grown pony after another passes her in the dimness and fog, avoiding collision with her by the thinnest of margins. Not one face is turned even remotely in her direction, and the sound of indistinct conversation surrounds her. In the near distance is a free-standing tent very similar in shape to one in the Market, seen from her perspective; she reaches toward a blurred, shadowy figure standing close to this.)

Filly MI: No!

(Fade to white, then quickly in to her adult self as she snaps back to reality with a gasp. Sunny and Zipp are watching her intently.)

Zipp: What did you just see?

Misty: I…I was shopping at a place a little like this. (pacing) It was definitely Bridlewood, unicorns everywhere, but I couldn’t see who I was with.

Zipp: I wonder what it was around here that triggered the memory this time.

(Her cogitations are most rudely interrupted by the arrival of a fast-flying Cloudpuff to smack into the back of her head, knocking her flat with a yell. Cut to her perspective of the pooch’s grinning face.)

Zipp: Cloudpuff?!

(She laughs as a big slobbery tongue runs itself all over her face; cut to her petting him.)

Zipp: Where did you come from? Mom must be here.

(He backs off into a hover as she gets herself vertical. Alphabittle and Haven are now visible in the background, checking over the items up for sale at a couple of stalls, and all three mares turn just in time to see and hear the winged monarch cackle like a crazed hen.)

Zipp: Uh, I’ll be right back.

(Daughter walks and dog flies across the aisle, catching Haven very much by surprise.)

Haven: (sputtering a bit) Darling! I didn’t know you were here! How lovely! Can you believe this remarkable place? (holding up a vial of liquid) I’ve never seen anything like this in all my days.

(A closer shot of Alphabittle picks out both the steaming mug of tea he is holding and the Breezie on duty at this stall, staring him down and crossing forelegs in a challenging but good-natured way.)

Alphabittle: So you’re saying if I can correctly guess what herbs you used in this tea, you’ll give me the whole bag? (Nod.) You’re on! I’ve never met a tea blend I can’t name in three sips.

(He takes his first one as Sunny, Pipp, and Misty make their way past behind him, the pegasus on wing and looking mildly annoyed at the Breezie trying to take her phone.)

Alphabittle: Hmmm…

(Pipp lands and grunts with the exertion of keeping her grip as a second one joins in the tug-of-war. One of them balances itself on the screen and starts tapping away.)

Zipp: (teasingly) Hey, sis. How’s the Mega-Pega-Mindfulness going?

Pipp: A-mazingly. I have never felt more clear! Can’t say the same for these Breezies, though.

(The typing one, orange, manages to get a song to start playing—namely, the one that served as the end of Bridlewoodstock. It chatters energetically away and Zipp uses her FlyPad to translate.)

Orange: [I have never seen magic like this before!]

(This prompts an angry response and shove from the other one, pale green; in no time flat their dispute has degenerated into a shouting match.)

Pipp: (as Zipp puts FlyPad away) I tried to take it away from them, but they just started crying. (whispering) I think they might have a real problem.

(The older sibling just smiles and rolls her eyes at the younger one’s inability to recognize such a strong parallel with her own life. Now Sunny gasps upon seeing a stand with a plethora of produce ready to go.)

Sunny: Mind if I stop here? Those fruits look out of this world! (to Misty, smirking) Or should I say “inside this tree”?

(A snicker over her own terrible pun blooms into a spate of snorting laughter, through which she struggles to get her next few words out.)

Sunny: ’Cause…inside the tree… (It peters out; she sighs and collects herself.) …okay.

Misty: Sure. I’ll, uh, wait over here.

(A Breezie flies over and speaks to her.)

Misty: Uh, what? Me?

(After a few more words, it zips away and she hurries to keep up.)

Misty: Hey! Wait up!

(The pursuit takes her across a bridge and to a dead-end archway flanked by a good many unused doors/windows propped up against the wall. The Breezie turns upward and out of sight among the overhead mossy growths, then returns a moment later to tell Misty something else and offer her a large purple key hooked on a matching cord.)

Misty: A key? (It is placed on her upturned hoof.) But I-I don’t understand. What is this for? 

(Her benefactor now retrieves a long strip of paper and holds its upper end at her eye level, lifting it slowly upward in time with the next line so she can keep pace with the words.)

Misty: (reading) “This enchanted key will take you to the place you most want to go. One-time use only”?

(She lifts it for a searching look at the head, which matches the pattern of the doors she saw during her dream in the prologue.)

Misty: Why is this so familiar?

(The gaps in the ironwork blaze to life with bluish light; cut to her perspective of it.)

Misty: It belongs to the door in my memory! (Back to her.) But how did you know—

(Words fail her upon realizing that she is alone before the archway.)

Misty: What? Where did you go? Hello? (Fog begins to swirl around her.) Sunny? Wait! No!

(As soon as the murk has completely grayed out the screen, the view snaps to Alphabittle and Haven, the stallion still at the tea stall and pondering the mystery cup he was given. His cutie mark has begun fizzing and glimmering, but Haven is the first of the two to notice it.)

Haven: Alphie! Your cutie mark! (He spots it.)

Alphabittle: Look at that! Must’ve been the magical properties of this tea—or the thrill of a new challenge! (to vendor, raising cup for a toast) Saddles off to you. I haven’t tasted oolong that smooth in—ooh, a long time. (Pipp/Zipp amble up; Cloudpuff flits to them. Pipp has silenced and stowed her phone.)

Zipp: Hmmm! That’s so strange. That’s been happening to our unicorn friend all day too.

(Close-up of the shining teapot mark as she finishes, then cut to Alphabittle.)

Alphabittle: You mean Izzy?

Zipp: No, a new friend. You haven’t met her yet because she was living…you know, never mind. It’s a long story. Oh! Here they are!

(Cut briefly to Sunny, carrying a basket of fruit by its handle in her mouth, and back on these last words.)

Zipp: I’ll introduce you right now.

(A somewhat awkward beat of silence follows as she realizes that Misty is nowhere in sight.)

Zipp: (aside, to Sunny) Uh, where’s Misty? (Sunny sets her freight down.)

Sunny: I last saw her at the berry booth. I thought she’d left to find you. (A two-part shocked gasp.)

Zipp: We gotta find her!

(Four hooves and two pairs of wings swiftly bring them and Pipp to a rendezvous with Hitch, with Sparky awake and riding on his back, and Izzy. The next five lines are delivered in raised voices.)

Sunny: Misty, where are you?

Pipp: Come back!

Zipp: Misty?

Izzy: Come back!

Hitch: Where’d she go?

Zipp: (aghast, normal volume) She’s…gone!

(Cut to a long overhead shot of the Market, zooming out slowly, then to one of the entire Tree and the yellow-glowing entrance ramp leading within. The zoom continues, neither shot disclosing any trace of Misty’s presence.)

Continued in Part Two