MY LITTLE PONY: MAKE YOUR MARK—CHAPTER ONE

Written by Gillian Berrow

Executive producers: Olivier Dumont, Randi Yaffa, Cort Lane

Story editing by Gillian Berrow

Supervising direction by Will Lau

Associate direction by Blayne Burnside

Transcribed by Alan Back (ajback@yahoo.com)

Notes:                  The breaks between acts are somewhat arbitrary, and have been chosen so that

                            each act (or the prologue plus Act One) is approximately one-third of the total

                running time.

                            Background song lyrics are in square brackets; any marked with an exclamation

point are shouted rather than sung.

                This transcript assumes that the reader has no familiarity with the YouTube

                series Tell Your Tale. Characters and locations that first appear in that series

                will be described as they become relevant.

                The title card for this special designates it only as My Little Pony: Make Your

                Mark. It is intended as the premiere episode for the Netflix series of the same

                name; “Chapter One” was subsequently appended in order to distinguish it from

later blocks of episodes.

Prologue

(Opening shot: fade in to a slow pan through a stretch of serene blue daytime sky and banks of fluffy white clouds. A few birds wing lazily through the air, only to be flung into a cheeping, panicked spin as something blurs past them. One avian comes out upside down, but rights itself and stares confusedly after the interloper—who, in a longer shot, proves to be Zipp Storm with accessories added to left shoulder and right foreleg. The camera picks out each multicolored wing as it spreads to catch the air, then tail and upswept forelock, and finally zooms out to frame all of the airborne mare. The device on her shoulder is an armor plate whose gold/blue-green surface is bisected by a white lightning bolt, and the one on her leg is a small pouch; both are held on by straps.)

(She drops into a dive and vanishes into a tuft of cloud, just in time not to be noticed by a couple of passing pegasi whose attention is riveted to the cell phones they carry. Once they are gone, she pokes her head up, shakes it to dissipate the white puff stuck to it, and gets moving again. This shot is close enough to pick out a winged gold pin mounted on her shoulder plate. From here, dissolve to the Zephyr Heights skyline and zoom in slowly on the royal palace as Zipp cuts a wide arc approaching one of its tallest towers. Cut to a close-up of her hovering at the base of a window frame to peek in, her back to the camera, then zoom out quickly and rotate 180 degrees to show that she has actually perched upside down at the top of the panes. In close-up, she flips into an upright hover and bumps a shoulder twice against the window, trying and failing to nudge it open.)

Zipp: Hmmm…

(She leans a front hoof against the glass and lets off a cry of surprise when it suddenly swings inward, dumping her into an undignified slide on her belly across the marble floor inside. Extreme close-up of the pin, which incorporates a tiny speaker. Pipp Petals’ voice is heard through this, a burst of static preceding each of her next two lines.)

Voice of Pipp: So did you get it yet, Zipp? (Zoom out; Zipp has sat up.)

Zipp: Almost.

Voice of Pipp: Well, hurry up!

Zipp: On it. (She stands.) Maximum sneaky engaged.

(Any further words are cut off by the clatter of approaching armor; pan quickly to show guards Thunder and Zoom approaching in a corridor. By the time they reach the open window, Zipp is nowhere to be seen; they close it and turn away, the camera tilting up to bring the royal heir into view, hovering near its top and badly rattled at almost having been bowled out. However, it only takes her a moment to regain her cocky composure and land. A few steps, a quick flattening of herself against one wall, then a somersault across to the other one, and she has wound up next to a portrait of herself, Pipp, and Queen Haven that was painted when the sisters were fillies. This sequence picks out Zoom’s cutie mark as a blue castle tower with open drawbridge, not previously visible in A New Generation.)

Zipp: (addressing it mockingly) Hey, Mom.

(She eases up to a set of closed glass doors and taps a hoof to a nearby wall-mounted scanner; it beeps in recognition, and the lock is released to let her through. Cut to her perspective, panning slowly across the new space—vanity with a floor-to-ceiling mirror at one wall, satin-sheeted bed at the next, lighted mirror stood up in the corner between them, mirrored disco ball hanging from the ceiling. An object sits under a glass dome on the vanity counter.)

Zipp: Uhhh…

(Back to her, smiling with the faintest of chuckles and stepping in, then cut to a close-up of the object—a jeweled white microphone with gold wings protruding near its head. Zipp eases the dome up, whisks this away, and is on her way out even before the glass can clatter back into place. Cut to her galloping through the palace.)

Zipp: Mission accomplished!

Voice of Pipp: Good! Now fly fast!

Zipp: (chuckling) No problems with that.

Pop synthesizer/drum melody with brass accents, bright 4 (D major)

Capitalized words are both sung and shouted

(She launches herself out a window and hurtles down the tower wall for several dozen yards before pulling away into a glide.)

Pipp: (shouted in rhythm)                You gotta let it glow

                                        You gotta let it shine

(A few deft moves allow her to wave in and out among the letters in “Netflix Presents,” formed from clouds, and on into open sky as the title card materializes.)

Pipp: (singing)        Oh, let’s make our mark together, just riding on forever

                        Just keeps on getting better, better, better

                        Everypony everyWHERE, you can feel it in the AIR

                        Find your spark and just glow and shine

(Now she closes in on Maretime Bay, whose lighthouse—destroyed by Sprout Cloverleaf in Act Four of A New Generation—has been replaced by a structure of similar form. Its tower is transparent, trimmed in gold and violet, and a vivid rainbow beam lances upward through it and into the sky; the living quarters are painted pale blue. The lantern room at the top is marked by a pair of gold wings and a large replica of the three crystals that Sunny and her friends sought to reassemble—here referred to as the Unity Crystals. The whole edifice is the Crystal Brighthouse. Zipp grazes the water surface on her way in and cruises above a busy street.)

Pipp:                        Make a mark that you can SHARE, hoof to heart, you know we CARE

Oh, ponies, come on, let’s all unite [let’s all unite]

Song ends

Act One

(Zipp’s contented musings come to a screeching halt when a filly’s voice rings out in a scream.)

Filly voice 1: Watch out!

(Two nearly identical young pegasi swoop erratically into view, collide head-on, and drop like an eight-legged rock. Zipp plunges in and scoops them up easily as a trolley rolls by.)

Zipp: Uh—uh ,heads up, everypony! (She lands and deposits them on the pavement; the one who shouted speaks up next.)

Pegasus filly 1: I’m so sorry. Thank you, Princess Zipp.

Zipp: Zipp. Just call me Zipp. And don’t worry about it. The magic from the Unity Crystals in the Brighthouse is new to all of us. It takes practice.

(During her next-to-last sentence, the camera cuts to a closer shot of the Brighthouse, zooming in and tilting up to its upper portion, and the view dissolves to the lantern room at the top. This shot reveals that the portion of the structure immediately below the tower is painted in vertical stripes, two shades of light violet. The zoom continues, focusing on the Crystals, joined and floating within the shaft of multicolored light, and ends with a dissolve to a close-up. They jitter in place for a moment before the view shifts to the perspective of a pony on the street, raising a phone to bring a nervously grinning Sunny Starscout into view on its camera. She is still wearing her mane in the style it adopted at the end of A New Generation, as a loosely twisted, rainbow-streaked sheaf over one shoulder rather than its original braid.)

Sunny: Should I start now, or—

(A frustrated groan marks the holder as Pipp; cut to her, lowering the phone and flanked by Hitch Trailblazer and Izzy Moonbow. The unicorn’s mane is somewhat shorter than it was during A New Generation.)

Pipp: Where is she? I really wanted to use my— (Zipp lands and twirls the microphone she retrieved.)

Zipp: —lucky microphone?

Izzy: There she is.

Pipp: What took you so long? Don’t tell me you were sneaking around the palace again. (Cut to Zipp, who winks; pan to Pipp in time with her irritated sigh.) You know you can just enter through the main doors. It’s our house.

Zipp: But if Mom knew I was there, I’d get stuck doing one of her random princess lessons. (She passes the mic to Sunny.)

Pipp: Good point. Okay, Sunny, just remember—(Zipp backs off.) —pretend you’re talking to us and not, like, all of Equestria, and you’ll do great.

(Her perspective of the mare, who can only manage a stammer as a king-sized case of stage fright takes hold.)

Pipp: You’re live… (raising phone to frame her; it beeps to start recording) …now!

Sunny: Like, “now” now?

(To Pipp, who nods as another choked noise drifts in from Sunny’s direction. What follows will be accompanied by a stream of emoji icons to indicate viewers’ favorable opinion.)

Sunny: (from o.s.) Uh… (Phone-eye view of her, starting to relax.) …hey, everypony! I’m Sunny Starscout— (Pipp taps to shift to close-up.) —and I live here in Maretime Bay with my friends.

(Two more taps bring the phone camera around to the other four, Izzy giggling a bit, and then back to Sunny. As she continues, the view shifts to frame her and the others at a short distance.)

Sunny: A lot has changed around here in the past few months. Maretime Bay used to be the place just us earth ponies lived—

(At the appropriate moments, the view cuts to a couple of unicorns in Bridlewood, watching the broadcast on a phone, then to a pair of jumbo screens playing it on a Zephyr Heights street corner. She is only heard during the former, but seen and heard in the latter.)

Sunny: —just how unicorns always lived in Bridlewood and pegasi never left Zephyr Heights.

(As she continues, the video feed cuts from her to a close-up of the Crystals, shifting to voice over.)

Sunny: But when we found the three Unity Crystals and brought them back together, it brought us back together! (Phone-eye view of the bustling street in Maretime Bay; she continues o.s.) All pony kinds were reunited in friendship. (Pan to frame her.) Now, anypony can live…anywhere! And…

(The pan brings a unicorn into view, emerging from a shop with grocery bags held aloft in her telekinesis.)

Sunny: …we have magic again! (Giddy squeal and giggle.)

(A pegasus wings past, knocking the purchases to the ground and perturbing their buyer somewhat.)

Izzy: (from o.s, scat-singing a bit) Well…

(Her field snatches up four fallen apples; pan quickly to follow them back to her.)

Izzy: …the unicorns and pegasi do. (She sends them skyward with a laugh; one lands squarely on her horn and impales itself.) Ta-daaa! (Gasp.) Now you, Sunny. Show everypony what you can do. (Pan back to Sunny.)

Pipp: (from o.s.) Ooh, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. Turn into an alicorn. (Squeal; wipe to her.) That’s an earth pony, pegasus, and unicorn all in one.

(Accompanied by a graphic of each pony type appearing as it is named, then all three merging. The phone camera shifts back to Sunny, the view blacking out and restoring itself in the manner of an eye blinking; now she is once again ill at ease.)

Sunny: Uh… (laughing weakly; zoom in) …you know it doesn’t really work like that, guys. I can’t just, uh… (composing herself; zoom out) …anyway, the point is…magic powers or not, I think everypony can agree that our lives are way more magical now that we’re together again. (Pipp leans into view.)

Pipp: (singsong) You know i-i-i-it. (speaking normally) Okay, Sunny. Do the thing.

(Now Sunny pops up by herself against a new background; as she continues, a noisemaker is heard and a cluster of notes, a party horn, and a horseshoe pop up around her.)

Sunny: Do you like super-fun times? Are you interested in learning more about earth pony traditions and tasting local treats? (leaning in close) Do you want to see ponies sing in a big concert? (Dissolve to Izzy, the apple gone from her horn.)

Izzy: Yes, you bet, and ye-e-es!

(A pair of headphones, an electric guitar, and a snare drum and pair of sticks appear around her on this line. She does a bit of scat singing before the phone camera view returns to Sunny on the street.)

Sunny: Then you should come to our annual Maretime Bay Day Festival, for a day of fun in the sunshine! (A shades-wearing sun, pair of rainbow-tinted glasses, and beach ball surround her briefly.) It’s going to be a blast—and I’m not just talking about the fireworks show. (Punctuated by an airburst; she giggles.) All pony kinds are welcome!

Hitch: (stepping into view, over end of previous) Oh, oh! I love Maretime Bay Day! (grabbing/adjusting camera) You gotta come check it out!

(Ground-level view of the quintet, Hitch now holding the phone, as his three-critter “squad”—two birds and a crab—gathers to watch the goings-on and the camera pans slowly. It shifts briefly to them on the following, then to a phone-eye view of him as he finishes.)

Hitch: The live Maretime music, the sand castle contest, the caramel pony-corn! Ah! (Kernels fill the screen.) It’s the best!

(Overhead view of him on this last; one bird licks its chops and arcs down to tug at the unit.)

Hitch: Hey! (It is snatched and carried off by beak.) Give that back! (Sunny has done away with the microphone now.)

Pipp: (gasping, horrified) Hitch! My phone!  

(All five friends get wings and legs working in a trice to pursue the fine feathered filcher down the block. They bob and weave through a knot of passersby, and Zipp finds herself in the lead as the bird angles down toward a moving trolley. It darts neatly in past the conductor at one end, but both she and Zipp let off yells of fright as the latter barrels through. Zipp emerges from the opposite end wearing the conductor’s cap; she pulls it off and throws it away, and the chase continues into the countryside. Having had quite enough of this nonsense, the bird spits the phone out; Izzy fires up her horn, but can manage only a sputtering aura that winks out to leave it in free fall. Gasping in shock, she throws herself into a headfirst slide that would have made Willie Mays proud and catches the phone an instant before her momentum carries her out of view. A thud and a flurry of flower petals mark the very sudden end of the race.)

Izzy: (from o.s.) Got it!

(The other four arrive at the crash site and share a hearty laugh at the sight of her, flat on her leaf-covered face in front of a house’s flowering hedges. Her horn is now behaving itself again, and she spits away some of the detritus and lowers the phone from above.)

Izzy: Oh, hey, look, it’s still on. (Giggling, she sends it back to Pipp, who catches/addresses it.)

Pipp: See you at the festival! (She cuts off the recording.)

Sunny: You okay, Izzy?

Izzy: (standing, floating the last bits off herself) Oh yeah, oh yeah. I mean, a little bit of ground glitter never hurt anypony. (Giggle.)

Sunny: Well, thank hoofness for magic. (Izzy jumps over to the others; Pipp has put her phone away.)

Izzy: Oh, yeah!

Pipp: Definitely.

Zipp: Fo’ sho’.

Mare voice 1: (annoyed) Well, I for one do not agree.

(The first portion of this line is somewhat muffled as if being spoken through the closed front door of the house, but the rest comes through loud and clear as the speaker opens it to glare at the five, the damaged greenery, and the mailbox that Izzy has knocked over. This is Posey: bright yellow earth pony mare, green eyes and brows, straight pink mane drawn tightly back, yellow bead necklace with a pendant of a green flower blossom.)

Sunny: Is this about your flowers, Posey? It was an accident, but we’ll fix them right away.

Posey: (stepping out) No. What I meant was that I wish magic had never come back. And I’m not the only pony around here who thinks so. (Light brown hooves can now be seen.)

Sunny: Uh, what do you mean?

Posey: Y-You pegasi are always flying too fast, o-or too low, or too high up!

Pipp: What’s wrong with flying high up?

Posey: (leaning into her face) Ugh! I just don’t like it, okay? (moving to Izzy) And every time I’m at the market, there’s some smug unicorn using their magic to shop.

(Her agitated motions during this exchange reveal that her mane/tail are of medium length and secured with green bows. Dissolve to her on a sidewalk, enjoying a soda that is promptly knocked out of her grip by a grocery bag in a passing unicorn’s magical hold; she glares after the offender. This flashback gives a clear view of her cutie mark, a ring of pink flowers.)

Posey: (voice over) I almost got hit in the head by a bag of floating apples yesterday!

(Dissolve back to her in the present.)

Posey: Magic is not very safe—at least not for the rest of us ponies who don’t have it. (pointedly) Right, Sheriff Hitch?

Hitch: (hesitantly) Uh, I don’t know if I would say that. (Posey snarls.)

Sunny: Everypony is just…still learning how to use it. That’s all. Magic takes practice.

Posey: (returning to house) Hmph. Then they should do it somewhere else other than my garden!

[Animation goof: The mailbox has been repaired in this shot. It will be down again a moment later.]

(She steps inside and kicks the door shut behind herself. A moment’s tense silence is broken when Izzy pops up brightly between Pipp and Zipp.)

Izzy: Okay, wow, she was really nice. Right, guys?

(The sisters take their leave with some unease, while she sings a bit and plies her power to get both the flowers and the mailbox standing tall again.)

Izzy: Oh! Come on, Sunny. Let’s go home.

(She trots off, leaving a very pensive Sunny alone on the lawn to take the full brunt of Posey’s disgusted gaze from one window. The homeowner jerks the curtains shut.)

Sunny: Don’t worry, Posey. (nudging a flower straight)  I’m gonna find a way to show you and everypony else just how awesome magic can be.

(She walks off, her spirits rising. Dissolve to the upper reaches of the Brighthouse and tilt down to the front entrance—pink double doors at the top of a broad ramp, framed by an expanse of stained-glass windows that highlight the Crystals and all three pony tribes and their homes. Flowerbeds have been planted on the lawn, and brightly colored trees and bushes ring the structure. Sunny and company approach, Zipp flying as the others walk; cut to just inside the doors as they swing open and the group enters. Zipp has done away with her shoulder plate and foreleg pouch.)

(They are in an entrance hall with soothing blue walls and a floor done as a mosaic in which shades of blue dominate, with a vibrantly multi-hued circular design at the threshold. Two ramps curve gently up to a balcony.)

Izzy: Pipp, Pipp, Pipp! I want to show you something.

(The pop star follows the artisan up one ramp and into a large room that has been roughly divided into sleeping quarters for the four mares, each in a different style. A circular shaft framed in glass and brass stretches up through the center, channeling the light from the Crystals up above. The sliding doors built into one side are open, allowing access to a translucent crystal platform that serves as a lift to reach the lantern room. A common area lined with couches stands directly opposite the entrance. Pipp hums a bit as they come to a stop near Izzy’s craft/forest-themed section, whose bed is configured something like a giant porch swing in that it hangs from the ceiling.)

Pipp: So, what did you want to show me?

Izzy: (flicking her mane) Well, I don’t know if you noticed, but I consider myself a bit of an artist.

Pipp: (jumping on bed) Of course I noticed! All of this beautiful stuff was made by you. You’re so creative, Izzy. (examining a pillow) And you’re a-maze at making new things out of old things. (Gasp.) What do you call it again? (Cut to Izzy.)

Izzy: (trotting a circle) Oh, yeah. Uni-cycling. (Back to Pipp on the start of the next line.)

Pipp: Uni-cycling! Yes! Yes, that’s it!

Izzy: (rummaging through a box, throwing items everywhere) So, the other day when I was searching for my box of googly eyes in the basement, I found this!

(“This” proves to be the battered, discolored remains of the lantern that Sunny’s father, Argyle Starshine, made for her when she was young—and which contained the third of the Crystals. Evidently it took quite a beating when Sprout wrecked the lighthouse. Cut to Pipp in time with her wondering gasp.)

Pipp: (jumping off bed) Is that Sunny’s old lantern?

(Close-up of it, zooming in slowly as a ghostly image of father and daughter manifests at the center.)

Izzy: (from o.s.) Well, her dad made it for her— (baby talk) —when she was a filly. (normal tone) So— (Both again.)  —I thought…

(Pipp claps front hooves to cheeks and pulls in a lung-bursting gasp.)

Pipp: …that you’d fix it up for her as a Maretime Bay Day present?

Izzy: Yep! But, shhh! (giddily) It has to be a surprise! (catching herself) Sorry.

Pipp: (squealing) I love surprises! Your secret is safe with me.

Izzy, Pipp: (each touching a front hoof to the other’s, then to her own chest) Hoof to heart.

(Dissolve to these two and Hitch making pizzas in the kitchen. Izzy is on sauce duty, Pipp adds cheese, and Hitch slides a pie across the counter island so Sunny can lock her teeth onto the handle of the paddle or “peel”it is occupying and carry it across to the oven. The camera follows her away from the trio and past a table, where Zipp sits stewing and lets off a loud groan.)

Pipp: (from o.s.) Zipp? (singsong) Zi-i-i-ipp… (She leaps into view.) ZIPP! (Who snaps out of her funk.)

Zipp: Huh?

Pipp: I have been asking you if you want extra cheese on your pizza for, like, ten minutes. What’s up with you?

Zipp: Oh, sorry. Just thinking about something weird that happened earlier.

Pipp: The thing with Posey?

Zipp: (caught off guard, but playing it off) Oh! Uh…yeah! That.

Sunny: Same here. How could she not love magic?

Hitch: (from o.s.) Earth ponies have never had magic before. (Cut to him, rolling out dough for a fresh crust.) Maybe Posey’s jealous.

(The crab from his posse—named as McSnips-a-Lot in Tell Your Tale —jumps up behind him, clicking its claws briefly.)

Pipp: Jealous?

Hitch: I know I am. (More clicks from the crustacean.) Magic seems a little scary, but it would be pretty cool to be able to levitate things.

Izzy: Like this?

(She proceeds to exert her power over the sauce-covered crust lying before her.)

Izzy: Ooh!

(It rises nearly to ceiling level, spinning faster and faster as her laugh floats up and the others gape at it, and McSnips-a-Lot takes advantage of the distraction to tote a bowl of shredded cheese across the island. Izzy’s horn winks out with no warning.)

Izzy: Uh-oh…whoop…

(Gravity brings the whole thing down squarely on her head, but she smiles and licks a bit of sauce off her nose in time with the others’ laughter.)

Izzy: Mmm! (singsong) Worth i-i-t! (Now the jar of sauce is purloined.)

Pipp: Oh, you’re right, Hitch. (walking off) That is soooo much better than flying. (“Soooo” is sung. Next two lines in hushed tones.)

Zipp: (to Sunny) So, have you figured out the whole “magical wings and horn appearing at random times” thing yet?

Sunny: No, and it’s been getting worse.

(Dissolve to her at work behind the counter of her mobile smoothie stand, setting out a beverage for a customer. While accepting payment, she is more than a little startled to find a sparkly glow wreathing her entire form—followed by a blast of golden light that leaves her sporting the magic horn and wings she gained at the end of A New Generation and vanishes her saddlebag. She gasps softly as an accompanying shock wave blows everything on the counter across the street, but the mare whose order was just ruined backs up only a step or two and utters a joyous gasp at the spectacle. Yelling in surprise, Sunny tries to regain her balance but slips on a spilled smoothie and stumbles back against the far wall. The entire stand topples backward; cut to the now-shocked customer as the crash of its impact shakes the camera, then back to the overturned rig. Sunny climbs partway into view from within, voicing a dazed moan, as two birds perch to either side of her; the added appendages poof out of existence, her bag reappears, and three full smoothie cups land upside down on the three heads as a final insult.)

(Dissolve back to her in the here and now and zoom out to frame Zipp.)

Zipp: Maybe Posey has a point. Magic is unpredictable.

Sunny: (turning away) Hmmm…

(The ding of a kitchen timer is her cue to extract a fully cooked pizza from the oven on her peel and set it on the stovetop.)

Sunny: It may be unpredictable, but it’s not dangerous.

(She carries it back to the others and flips it upward as Izzy warms up a spell, her face/head now clean of pizza parts; cut to the cheesy goodness in midair as it is wrapped in her energy and split into six pieces. On the start of the next line, cut back to Sunny as one settles onto her hoof.)

Sunny: We just need to show the earth ponies that magic is nothing to be afraid of.

(To Pipp on the end of this, already chowing down on her share, then to Hitch and Izzy getting and enjoying slices of their own.)

Sunny: (from o.s.) It makes Equestria a-a better place, and… (Back to her.) …it’s fun! (She eats; next she and Hitch gather in with Izzy. All three have dispatched their food.)

Izzy: Wow! Are you ponies thinking what I’m thinking?

Sunny: I think I might be.

Izzy: (softly) All right, everypony. On the count of three. One…two…three. (full volume, rearing up) Floating parade! Right?

Sunny: Not exactly, but close!

(Now she paces around the other four; Pipp and Zipp have also finished eating.)

Sunny: We’re going to use Maretime Bay Day as our chance to show off all the amazing things magic can do! (Her perspective of the others, panning slowly.) Then everypony will remember just how special it is that we have friendship and magic in our lives again. Are you ponies in? (Back to her on the end of this.)

Izzy: Yeah!

Pipp: Definitely, definitely.
Hitch: I’m in!

(The ringing and vibration of a phone emanates from Zipp’s general vicinity before she can voice her assent. She fishes one out, glances at its screen, and lets off an exasperated groan; Sunny watches with visible concern as she excuses herself. Cut to a close-up of the Crystals and zoom out to frame her ascending into the lantern room on the lift platform. A resigned sigh escapes her lips as she unfolds the phone—it is a hinged model with a video screen that spans both inner surfaces when opened—and is greeted by an extreme close-up of her mother’s ear.)

Haven: Zephyrina? (Shift to the mouth.) Are you there? (To one eye.) Hello, hello, I can’t see you!

Zipp: (woodenly) Hi, Mom.

(Now the sovereign gets her entire face in frame, seated on her throne in the palace.)

Haven: Oh! There you are.

(The throne room itself, zooming in slowly; Thunder and Zoom are standing watch at the base of the royal dais, and Haven’s dog Cloudpuff bounces and yips on the cushions alongside. The winged green Pegasus Crystal is gone from her crown, having been stolen in A New Generation, but a vivid purple duplicate has been installed as a replacement.)

Haven: It’s been ages since I’ve seen my fillies. At least Pipp answers her phone when I call her. You never do. (She tosses a treat to the pet, who hovers to catch and eat it.) And you haven’t visited Zephyr Heights at all. (Back to Zipp on the end of this, the screen not in view.)

Zipp: (pacing) Nope. You’re right. I definitely have not been to Zephyr Heights. (Nervous laugh; the screen is visible again.)

Haven: (dryly) Well, it’s not like you can’t fly now, darling. (Cloudpuff leans into view on the screen and licks the camera; she brightens.) Oh! Cloudpuff wants to say hi. (Zipp again; screen not in view.) Who’s Mommy’s little baby?

(Throne room; she nuzzles the flying furball.)

Haven: You are! (Remembering herself, she addresses the phone again.) You were saying? (Back to Zipp; screen not in view.)

Zipp: Oh. It was just—

Voice of Haven: Listen, Zipp, dear. (Back to her end; Cloudpuff begins turning somersaults…) I called because I’m going to need you to move back home, okay? (…only to get dizzy and fall; cut to Zipp’s face on her phone.)

Zipp: What?! No! No way!

Haven: I know you’ve had fun with your new friends and all, but you’re a princess, darling. You’re going to be Queen one day. (Cut to Zipp as she finishes.)

Zipp: (wearily) I know. (Pause.) What about Pipp, though?

Haven: Well, your sister has her little salon project, and…while I do like the idea of you being there to keep an eye on her, let’s face it. She live-streams everything. So that’s not really necessary.

(In Tell Your Tale, the sisters left Zephyr Heights in order to move into the Brighthouse, and Pipp opened a combination salon and karaoke club called Mane Melody in Maretime Bay. Cut to a crestfallen Zipp and zoom in slowly; the screen is not visible.)

Voice of Haven: You’re the one I need here, studying my every move and representing the royal family. (The throne room.)

Zipp: But I’m not sure if I’m ready to leave just yet. (Cloudpuff is aloft once more.)

Haven: And why wouldn’t you be? (Zipp again.)

Zipp: Ummm… (Haven’s end.) …there’s a festival soon?

Haven: Hmmm…I do suppose festival planning does count as a useful skill for your future on the throne. As Queen, you’ll be responsible for arranging state dinners, teas, parties…

(To Zipp’s end on this last; the recitation has instilled fresh horror in her mind and momentarily frozen her tongue. Once she gets it working again, she begins to jiggle her phone and imitate bursts of static between her words. The camera cuts between mother and daughter during this.)

Zipp: Uh…oh! Oh! You’re…breaking…up!

(She adds one more hiss while tapping the screen to end the call, then lowers her phone with a groan that suggests she would rather be plucked clean than put up with any of this lot. A few steps bring her to the balcony of the lantern room, giving her a clear view of Maretime Bay proper, and she sighs as Sunny steps out after her. Zipp has stowed her phone.)

Sunny: Is everything okay?

Zipp: Yeah. It’s just that…I love it here in Maretime Bay so much. I don’t want to leave yet.

Sunny: Leave?

Zipp: Go back to Zephyr Heights.

Sunny: But you just got here!

Zipp: I know. I’m not ready to become a full-time, heir-to-the-throne princess yet— (turning away) —not the way my mom expects me to be, anyway. But…I’m not sure if I fit in here either.

Sunny: Of course you do!

Zipp: (flying off the balcony and back) Even if all I do is fly around and try out new moves?

Sunny: It’s what you love to do! As Izzy would say— (imitating the unicorn) —“it makes your sparkle shine really bright.”

(Cut to the downcast flyer on the end of this.)

Zipp: (pacing) I don’t know. Maybe my mom is right. Maybe I should just go back to Zephyr Heights and really try to be the kind of princess everypony is hoping for. (Groan.) I’m going to have to do it someday.

Sunny: At least stay until Maretime Bay Day. Then you can decide. (Cut to Zipp during this line.)

Zipp: (smiling) Okay, yeah. I guess I can’t miss that.

Sunny: Now come on! (walking back into lantern room) We have a festival to plan, and it needs your magic too.

(Higher up, two pegasi are flapping lazily along and paying more attention to their phones than the surroundings. It therefore comes as a great surprise when their wings sputter with light and they drop screaming toward the water, losing both their lift and their electronics.)

Zipp: (gasping) That’s not good.

(She is on the balcony railing in a blink, ready to dive to their aid—but just as quickly, they are again flying under their own power and have recovered their phones. The would-be rescuer is left in a very confused hover.)

Zipp: Weird.

(A resigned sigh as she sinks from view, the camera zooming in on the Crystals; the rainbow surrounding them suffers a momentary hiccup.)

Act Two

(Cut to Sunny inside the Brighthouse entrance hall and holding up a wreath made from gaily colored ribbons and bows wrapped/tied around a large plastic ring, studded with a few fake pearls. Zoom out slowly, showing an arts-and-crafts area in one rear corner of the space.)

Sunny: Ribbon wreaths are the traditional decoration of Maretime Bay Day. We hang them on our front doors, on Mane Street…

(Zoom out quickly to frame Izzy and Pipp here as well, all three standing over boxes filled with decorations. Wreaths have been hung all over the walls and the ramp railings.)

Sunny: …everywhere!

Pipp: (singsong, lifting/shaking one) Cu-u-u-ute! (Brief coughing fit; she continues hoarsely, returning to normal.) A little dusty, but cute.

Izzy: (gasping, levitating a spoon) I once made a wreath out of old teaspoons!

Pipp: (setting wreath down) Loving that idea, Izzy. (Gasp.) Maybe we can add some unicorn and pegasus flair to these ones, too.

(Cut to the unicorn on the end of this; she gasps excitedly and races toward the kitchen. Back to Sunny and Pipp, who crouch and take cover to avoid a hailstorm of utensils being flung their way, after which Izzy rejoins them with more spoons clamped in her teeth and floating overhead.)

Izzy: Now, where did I leave my suitcase full of glitter? (Off she goes in search of it.)

Sunny: Uh, anypony seen Zipp? (Sound of the front doors opening/closing.)

Zipp: (from o.s.) What’s with all the spoons?

(Cut to her, newly arrived and coming in for a landing near a scatter of discarded flatware, as she finishes. The next shot frames all four, Izzy having brought in a suitcase that lies open on the floor; she now carries spoons only in her magic.)

Sunny: Oh, we’re uni-cycling these old decorations. (Izzy scoops up glitter from the case with them.)

Izzy: Do you want to try?

Zipp: Uh, decorating things isn’t really my strong point. (She turns away.)

Sunny: (moving to cut her off) We could do something else. What about baking Bay Day treats?

Zipp: (dodging around Sunny) I’m not very good at baking either.

Sunny: (walking alongside her) Or write a song for the big concert!

Pipp: (flying across and landing on Zipp’s other side; all stop) Ooh, Zipp, you used to love writing song lyrics with me.

Zipp: (nervously, walking off) I don’t think so.

Sunny: Uh, wait! I’m sure we can find something that you’d like to do.

Zipp: Uh…maybe later! Bye!

(She gallops for the front entrance, butting one door open to make a hasty exit. It has barely slammed shut before Izzy proudly returns with her contribution—a mass of spoons fashioned into a rough wreath shape, accented by a bow and held up by horn-power. Sunny takes no notice, instead aiming two distraught green eyes after the departing pegasus.)

(Cut to an overhead shot of the front entrance to Hitch’s office; he walks up, followed by McSnips-a-Lot on the ground and the two birds in his “squad” from the air.)

Hitch: Good morning, station! (opening doors and entering; close-up) Sheriff Hitch here, reporting for duty!

(He drops blissfully into a swivel chair, letting momentum carry it and him across the floor until he coasts to a stop behind his desk. After a quick adjustment to its lamp, he finds the three critters waddling/scuttling in to stand before him; the two birds salute, while the crab clicks its claws.)

Hitch: At ease, deputies. So, what do you say?

(singing)                 Which Sheriff-y thing should we do today in Maretime Bay?

(spinning in chair)         Hey, hey, hey

(He is met by the combined sounds of an opening door and of mild disapproval from the o.s. Zipp; pan quickly to her walking in.)

Zipp: Are you trying to rhyme?

Hitch: Oh, hey, Zipp. Yeah. What did you think?

Zipp: Way too much.

Hitch: (with slightly forced casualness) Cool, cool. Just trying something out. Didn’t work. Good feedback.

(Tapping his chest and clearing his throat, he is instantly all business.)

Hitch: So, what can I do for you?

Zipp: I came by because…well…have you seen anything…strange lately? (Hitch pauses, pencil in hoof.)

Hitch: Strange?

(McSnips-a-Lot hustles across the desk with a notepad and flips it open at just the right height for him to start jotting.)

Hitch: What do you mean?

Zipp: Well, I was on the balcony earlier when… (hastily) …y-you know what? It was probably nothing. Forget it. (Scoffing at herself, she turns for the door.)

Hitch: Wait. (She stops.) I know what this is about.

Zipp: You do?

Hitch: (standing, circling to her) Yep. Mmm-hmm. You’re bored. But you don’t have to be shy. We’re pals. We can totally hang out. (An idea hits.) I know! (Cross to a file cabinet; open one drawer.) Let’s order fries from three different diners and then decide which ones are the best! (Gasp.) Or maybe a puzzle!

(Now he holds up a boxed jigsaw puzzle sitting on a counter by the wall, to which Zipp offers a cringing smile. The tension is broken by the ringing of Hitch’s desk phone.)

Hitch: A call?

(Back he goes, clearing his throat as he lifts the receiver and drops into full no-nonsense mode.)

Hitch: Sheriff’s station. (McSnips-a-Lot brings the notepad over so he can write.) Mmm-hmm…mmm-hmm…I see…Really? How strange…At the beach?…Well, I’ll be right there. (Hang up.) It appears we have a Code Eight-Eighteen at the beach. (eagerly) Want to come on a trot-along with me, Zipp?

(His only answer is a slammed door and a patch of empty air where Zipp had been. Cut to an overhead shot of him on the next line, zooming out slowly as he flops onto his haunches with the fire instantly gone out of him.)

Hitch: Aaaand I’m talking to nopony.

(McSnips-a-Lot clicks its claws as sympathetically as it can. Cut to two foals happily building a sand castle on the beach and pan to follow a beach ball as it sails by, pursued by a laughing pegasus. A natural ramp descends to the sand from the rocky bluffs a short distance back; Hitch makes his way down, followed by his “deputies,” and begins to scan the area.)

Hitch: Hmmm…looks normal to me.

Filly voice 2: What do you mean, “something strange happened”?

(Cut to the speaker, an irate earth pony with a blue mane/tail, on the end of this. She is glaring at a brown-maned unicorn filly across a half-collapsed sand castle with a folded beach umbrella embedded in it, point down. A few passersby have gathered to watch.)

Earth pony filly: You did it on purpose!

Unicorn filly: I did not!

Earth pony filly: I saw you use your magic to drop your umbrella onto my sand castle!

Unicorn filly: I’m telling you, it wasn’t me! I was carrying it, and then my magic just…went away!

Earth pony filly: I don’t believe you! (The umbrella settles a bit deeper, dislodging a few grains.)

Unicorn filly: But I’m telling the truth! (Hitch steps up and clears his throat.)

Hitch: Is everypony okay over here?

Unicorn filly: Sheriff Hitch, I promise I didn’t mean to ruin anything! My magic—

Earth pony filly: I worked on that castle all day!

(During these last two lines, the camera cuts to a long overhead shot of the face-off, zooming out to frame Zipp hunkered down at the top of the bluffs, then to a close-up of her. Her phone lies within easy reach as she carries out this bit of covert surveillance, but its sudden ring and vibration startle a cry out of her. She fumbles for the thing, nearly dropping it over the side, but finally gets a firm hold and glances at the screen—a call from Haven. Groaning loudly, she taps the red “hang up/ignore” icon, then settles back into a low profile and hits a different button before speaking into the phone.)

Zipp: Thursday. Noon. Beach. Second magical mishap. Levitation glitch. Unicorn dropped umbrella. Lots of upset ponies. Very strange. (sinking out of sight behind bluffs) Must investigate further.

(A voice recorder, no doubt. She stands up and lifts off, having stashed the phone, but gets no more than a few feet of altitude before her wings sputter with the same light that dropped the two pegasi from the sky earlier. The rainbow issuing from the Brighthouse suffers the same malfunction, but returns to normal as she thuds back onto the rocky surface.)

Zipp: Oh, no, no! Please, no!

(Her second attempt brings exactly the same result, wings, Brighthouse, and all; she glances worriedly toward the structure as the energies in it and her continue to sound off for a few seconds. With a terrified gasp, she tries one more time and succeeds in staying aloft as the Brighthouse settles down; a confident laugh, and she is rocketing toward the front entrance. Sunny steps out to greet her as she lands on the walk.)

Sunny: Zipp! There you are! (Pipp stands behind her; Izzy pokes her head out.)

Izzy: Oh, hey! Coming to town with us to gather more supplies for the new-and-improved Maretime Bay Day?

Zipp: (walking in) Oh! Wish I could, but—

Pipp: (testily) Why can’t you, exactly?

Zipp: (backing up toward ramp) Because…I’m working on my own surprise thing for Bay Day. (Her perspective of one skeptical sister.) Yeah! (Back to her.) Uh, have fun!

(She is gone up the incline like a shot. Dissolve to an extreme close-up of the Crystals, behind which her face moves into view for a scrutinizing glare. Her phone beeps; in a longer shot, she lifts it to record a new log entry.)

Zipp: Thursday. Twelve-fifteen. Crystals, normal. Pris-Beam energy, intact.

(The unit is tucked away under a wing, and she circles around the lantern room to stare out one window with a heavy sigh. Back to the beach, where the two ponies involved in the sand castle wreck are now shooting dirty sidewise looks at each other. On the start of the next line, zoom out slightly to frame Hitch.)

Hitch: Okay, tell me what happened. (His perspective; all mouths open and the two point angrily at one another.) One at a time.

Earth pony filly: She tried to sabotage my sand castle!

Unicorn filly: No, I didn’t! My magic was just gone! (Back to Hitch on the next line.)

Hitch: Okay, okay, everypony just— (To the earth pony on the following.)

Earth pony filly: Magic shouldn’t be allowed here on the beach!

Filly voice 3: Is magic allowed on the beach, Sheriff Hitch?

(Cut to the speaker on the start of this line—a pale green, sandy-maned pegasus filly who steps forward from the group.)

Hitch: (caught off guard) Oh! Um…it’s not not allowed.

(This response somehow fails to put the group’s minds at ease.)

Hitch: You know, actually, maybe I should— (rapid fire) —go back to the station and check the records to see what I can dig up. Yeah! You ponies just hang tight, and I’ll get back to you!

(He hurries away along the shore with his three animal buddies in tow, not letting them or the ponies see the profound worry that has settled onto his features. The sight of a large egg resting in a depression brings him up short; the shell is pink, mottled with spots in a darker shade.)

Hitch: (addressing it) Huh. You don’t belong here, do you? (to critters) I’ve never seen an egg like this. Have you? (One bird lets off an inquisitive tweet; he addresses the egg again.) What in Equestria are you?

(The tide surges in, flooding the depression and threatening to wash the egg out to sea.)

Hitch: No! (He snatches it up and cradles it.) I’ll take care of you, little one. (Pan to frame the argument, continuing in the distance, on the next line.)

Earth pony filly: You did it on purpose! (Hitch departs.)

Unicorn filly: I would never do that on purpose!

(Cut to the interior of Hitch’s office, where he has opened a storage cabinet in one corner and is tucking the egg inside. Zoom in slowly.)

Hitch: That’s better.

(Close-up of it, balanced upright on a cushion with a desk lamp aimed directly at it and being switched on. Back to him on the next line.)

Hitch: All roasty and toasty. (patting egg) I’ll just keep you safe here until we can find who you belong to, okay? (One bird perches on the shelf.)

Voice of Posey: Sheriff Hitch?

(Those words spook him into slamming the cabinet doors shut, whirling to grab up a small potted plant near the coffee maker, and pretend to water it with a sheepish laugh. Cut to the out-of-sorts yellow mare walking in on the start of the next line.)

Posey: Who were you just talking to?

Hitch: (trying to play it off) Nopony. Nopony at all. How can I help you, Posey?

Posey: (stepping in farther) I was just trotting down Mane Street when I noticed that my hooves were stuck to the sidewalk. (To Hitch, who grins stupidly, then back as she continues.) I tried and tried to move— (as she mimes being mired in place) —but I couldn’t for, like, a really long time. (crossing to him) I think somepony’s pranking me—probably one of those unicorns. I’d like to file a complaint.

Hitch: (pointing past her.) Okay. The complaint box is over there on the wall.

(As he finishes, pan quickly in the indicated direction and stop on a close-up of the box in question. It is so full that papers are sticking out of the slot through which they should be inserted, and one sheet falls loose as the camera zooms out to frame an overflowing garbage can directly beneath. Back to Hitch and Posey on the next line.)

Posey: Well, I’d prefer if you took it down yourself.

Hitch: I would, but I’m late for an important meeting at the Brighthouse. Duty calls!  

(He claps the plant onto his desk and turns to the cabinet; cut to within as he opens one door and addresses the bird that entered to watch him make a “nest” for the egg.)

Hitch: (whispering) Keep an eye on that egg for me, would you, deputy?

(The critter snaps off a cheep and salute as he shuts the door and exits the office with a breezy laugh that leaves a very perplexed Posey staring after him. Cut to a pan across the island countertop in the kitchen of the Brighthouse, cluttered with dirty bowls and other cooking implements. Sunny and Izzy are on the job, respectively using mouth-held tools and magic measure and stir. Sunny lets go of a whisk before speaking.)

Sunny: Maretime Bay Day is going to be great with these treats! (Pipp stands on the ramp.)

Pipp: How could it not? (flying down to base) We’ve literally thought of everything. (Transition to singing.) And I’ve been working on the all-new anthem for Maretime Bay Day! Whoo! (speaking) You want to hear it?

(Sunny and Izzy nod in close-up; back to Pipp on the start of the next line.)

Pipp: Too late, doing it anyway. (She clears her throat and counts off a fast beat.)

                A-five, six, seven, eight

Soul/gospel feel

                Maretime Bay, yeah, hey, hey

(spoken, crossing to kitchen) And then it’s like…

                Something about the sunshine and sea

(spoken) And then it’s like…

(arpeggio)        Something, something, something, something, something

Exaggerated soul/gospel

                Them something, something, something

(The “song” ends with her standing almost nose to nose with Izzy.)

Izzy: (dryly) Uh, yeah, I don’t like it. (animatedly) I love it! What?!?

(She halts her critique at the sound of the front doors opening and Hitch’s contented humming; cut to him walking in.)

Hitch: Catchy! (humming) Something, something… (spoken) Yep. Very catchy. She’s good.

(The three mares stare dumbfounded until the kitchen timer rings; close-up of the stovetop as a tray bearing six small pies or tarts is slid onto it, each one topped with a bright pink star. Zoom out as Sunny shuts the oven door and gets a lungful of the aroma.)

Sunny: Mmmm! Miniature glimmerberry tarts! (Hitch and Izzy approach, the latter toting several small blue candy wedges in her aura.i) Great idea, Izzy!

(In close-up, each tart gets a piece stuck in to stand up from the edge.)

Izzy: (from o.s., giggling) Aww! Ta-daaa! (Cut to her.) Ooh, now they’re a true work of “tart”!

(Hitch flips one off the tray, catches it in his mouth, and begins chewing with gusto.)

Hitch: (mouth full) Mmmm! But how do you make ’em taste like magic? 

Izzy: (whispering dramatically) The secret ingredient…magic!

Pipp: (showing a recipe card) We have to make cloud candy next. It’s Zipp’s favorite! Um…where is she, by the way?

(The other three can only offer puzzled “I don’t know” grunts and shrugs in reply, Izzy a beat behind Sunny and Hitch. Cut to a visibly weary Zipp watching the Crystals in the lantern room, seen from the opposite side of their scintillating energy—the Pris-Beam, as she termed it earlier. She has her phone in hoof to record an entry.)

Zipp: Hour five. Still nothing. (All quiet.) Hour five and one minute. Still nothing.

[Animation goof: Her phone suddenly goes from folded to fully open.]

(She closes it up, tucks it away, and begins to pace the floor with a nearly inaudible sigh.)

Zipp: Maybe I was wrong. Maybe there’s no pattern to it, just a glitch.

(Tendrils of brightness start to make their way up from the floor, almost exactly in time with her frustrated groan. She turns to find them connecting with the Crystals.)

Zipp: What in the wing feathers? Huh…

(She stares uncomprehendingly at this new light show as the view tilts down slowly and dissolves to the kitchen. Sunny, Izzy, and Pipp have now turned out more batches of tarts, and they laugh as the unicorn floats them off the baking trays and the earth pony and pegasus catch them in open-topped carriers. Pipp even snags one in her mouth and chows down as Hitch did. Another dissolve shifts the scene back to the lantern room; Zipp continues to watch the new energy ribbons feeding into the Crystals until the intensity forces her to shield her eyes with a grunt of discomfort. The connections break and the round crystal glows green, which kindles to a blinding whiteness that consumes all three for an instant. Once it subsides, vine-like swirls in that same virescent shade trace themselves over every single window up here, to Zipp’s astonishment. The camera tracks slowly around the room.)

Zipp: Whoa…

(Cut briefly to a long shot of the room, seen from outside, then back to Zipp approaching one half-obscured window.)

Zipp: I don’t believe this!

(She gallops away; cut to the entrance hall as she flies down the ramp and lands.)

Zipp: Everypony, quick! (To the others in the kitchen; Izzy drops a bowl and whisk she is levitating. Zipp continues o.s.) Come upstairs! (A wad of dough splats onto the island.) You have got to see this!

Pipp: There you are!

Hitch: What happened? (Zipp leans across to them.)

Zipp: Just hurry!

(They follow her lead and are promptly hoisted to the lantern room via lift platform. The windows are entirely clear now.)

Izzy: (awestruck) Woooow… (composing herself) What are we looking at?

Zipp: There were all these vines growing on the wall! And they were glowing… (To Izzy and Pipp on the end of this.)

Pipp: Glowing vines?

Zipp: Okay. I have a confession. I’ve been monitoring the Crystals— (turning to them) —and I think something is wrong with them.

Sunny: (rolling eyes) What? No, there isn’t.

Zipp: None of you have noticed that magic seems kinda weird lately? Like, it keeps switching off or something. (She aims a hard stare at Izzy.)

Izzy: (hoof to chin, thinking hard) Hmmm…nope!

Pipp: (from o.s.) Me neither. (Zipp swivels to her.)

Zipp: Really? (Pipp’s phone blips; she pulls it out.)

Pipp: Sorry, sis.

(Thrown for a loop, the ace flyer turns her attention to the Sheriff. Cut to him and then back to her during the next line.)

Zipp: Hitch, I saw what happened at the beach the other day. Didn’t you take—

Hitch: (hastily) What? I didn’t take anything at the beach!

Zipp: —down a report?

Hitch: Oh! Right! A report. Actually, that reminds me—gotta go file that report! (He backs up onto the lift and sinks from sight.)

Izzy: (calling after him) Hey, you, wait a second! (dropping after him; Pipp follows) You were gonna teach us how to make life-sized gummy bunnies!

Zipp: (to Sunny) I know it sounds weird, but I know what I saw, and what I’ve been seeing. (jumping across room) Like the other day, when I was flying back from Zephyr Heights, these two pegasi crashed into each other and I think it—

Sunny: (crossing to her) I’m sorry, Zipp. I’ve been so caught up in all the festival planning. This is all my fault.

Zipp: (dryly) That magic is glitching?

Sunny: (scoffing) Magic is not glitching.

Zipp: But you said it yourself. Your alicorn magic keeps appearing randomly. You don’t find that strange? At all?

Sunny: (a bit rattled) No. I-I think that’s just because I’m still learning. We all are.

(The pegasus aims a concerned gaze toward the Crystals. Dissolve to two birds perched on the edge of a rooftop and tilt down to ground level as they flit away. The two-story building stands on the primary thoroughfare of Maretime Bay—previously identified as Mane Street by Sunny and Posey—and has pink/gold trim at windows and corners. Repeated on its white walls is a pair of pink capital M’s, interlocked so that the right leg of the first M overlaps the left leg of the second. The first M is jogged up a bit higher than the second, and the free ends of their legs end in music notes. This is Mane Melody. Zipp trudges into view, seeing only ponies going about their normal business, and deploys her phone with a fed-up groan to record an entry. During the following line, the camera shifts to frame a rainbow-streaked sign projecting from one corner of the building above the first story ;it carries the logo in white, as well as scattered notes and a pair of gold wings.)

Zipp: Report. Nothing new to report. Nor more signs of mysterious glowing vines or crystal glitches.

(Comes now the ringing and vibration of an incoming call; she bobbles the phone, nearly dropping it, and sees that Haven is trying to reach her. Another groan as she sits in front of Mane Melody; cut to her perspective as she flicks it open and an extreme close-up of her mother’s face fills the screen.)

Zipp: Hi, Mom.

Haven: Zipp! There you are! (She backs off a step.) Have you been ignoring my calls, young filly? (Cut to said “young filly” on the end of this; screen not visible.)

Zipp: No, no, just busy, Mom. I’m actually helping Sunny with decorations right now, so I gotta go. (Chuckle.)

Voice of Haven: Well, I can’t wait to see them.

(The hoof that Zipp has poised to end the call freezes in place at these words.)

Zipp: See what? (Shift to frame Have on screen again.)

Haven: The decorations! (leaning too close) Oh, didn’t Pipp tell you? I’ll be attending this Maretime Bay Day Festival.

(Head-on shot of one thunderstruck, gasping daughter on the end of this, leaving the screen out of view.)

Zipp: You will? (wings flaring) Why? (The screen; a yipping Cloudpuff pops up next to Haven.)

Haven: (playfully) Yes, it is treat time! I know, I know. (normal tone, to Zipp) See you there, darling.

(On this last line, the view cuts to Zipp and back, with the sovereign once again shoving her face too close to the camera lens. The screen then goes blank as the call ends.)

Zipp: (rolling eyes, closing/stowing phone) Come on! There’s gotta be something!

(She brings a pair of binoculars up to her eyes; cut to her perspective, panning quickly from one stretch of Mane Street to another and picking out nothing extraordinary.)

Zipp: Everything on Mane Street appears normal.

(Hitch’s office is visible at a distance; zoom in quickly on this to pick out two citizens emerging, then pan away from them and past a group of barrels stacked up next to the building. A pony can be seen moving behind these.)

Zipp: Huh?

(She backs up them, just in time to see Hitch peek out, duck away for a moment, and emerge walking backwards and dragging a sack across the grass in his teeth. He is moving toward the doors.)

Zipp: Hmmm… (In he goes.) …except… (Back to her, lowering the lenses.) …that. Huh.

(She starts toward the office. Cut to a head-on view of Hitch, seen from within the open cabinet as he does a bit of rearranging, a squeak or two floating up.)

Hitch: Here you go, little one. I brought you some sand to make you more comfortable. I thought maybe you’d like that.

(As he speaks, the camera cuts to the office itself; the sack is spilling sand across a desk, and both birds from his “posse” are looking on, one from the top shelf. The egg’s nest has now been filled with sand built up slightly, and he tucks a stuffed squeaky crab doll in next to it as McSnips-a-Lot scuttles out to poke the toy.)

Hitch: (from o.s.) Looking rosy…and… (Head-on shot of him.) …cozy. Now who wants to hear a story? (Zipp peeks into view from behind him.)

Zipp: I do.

(The egg-sitter lets off an alarmed cry and whirls to face her.)

Hitch: Zipp! (Slam the doors shut.) Wow! You are sneaky! What are you doing here?

Zipp: I had an instinct, so I followed it. (leaning across desk; Hitch cowers a bit) And I was right. (jumping onto cabinet) You have been hiding something. (She pulls the doors open…)

Hitch: Hey! (…and gets a good look at the egg.)

Zipp: Ooh! (Chuckle; Hitch glares at her.) So, uh…what is it?

Hitch: No clue. (pacing) I saw it on the beach, and I just knew it needed help. I just—

Zipp: (teasingly) —had an instinct and followed it?

Hitch: (smiling) Yeah. (She jumps down to him.) Hey, uh, would you mind keeping this between us for now?

Zipp: Sure. I can Zipp it. (She throws him a smirk.)

Hitch: What?

Zipp: So, you gonna read us that story now or what?

(McSnips-a-Lot and the bird on the top shelf both express their support of the idea, but Zipp’s phone chirps before he can spin up a good yarn. She whips it out and glares at the screen, but both ponies swiftly voice surprised gasps at the display—a string of text messages from Pipp. The first one is only a row of exclamation points; the second; of angry-face emojis; the third, of crying faces. Back to Zipp on the next two words.)

Zipp: (stunned) Oh, no.

(Long overhead shot of the front entrance of the Brighthouse as the two gallop toward it, then cut to within the entrance hall as they skid to a stop on the tiles. The rest of the gang is gathered here, Pipp facing the others.)

Hitch: We rushed right here! So what’s the emergency?

Pipp: Well, everypony seems really stressy lately. We clearly need a break—and luckily, I know just the place. (jittering excitedly in place) I planned a surprise for you! You’re welcome.

Izzy: Ooooooooh! (Close up of an apprehensive Zipp.)

Zipp: (quietly) Please don’t let it be makeovers, please don’t let it be makeovers…

(Cut to her in the same position, the dome of a mane dryer lowered around her head. Zoom out quickly to put her on her haunches in a well-padded chair. Sunny and Izzy are similarly disposed to either side of her, in considerably better frames of mind, and reading magazines to pass the time. All three are off to one side of a large room bisected along its length by a red carpet runner; in one corner behind them, Hitch lies on a comfortable bench and is getting a bit of touch-up work done on his hooves.)

Zipp: I knew it.

Izzy: But this is sooooo relaxing—and informative. Did you ponies know there are over a thousand different kinds of hermit crabs? (dramatically) ’Cause I did not.

Hitch: (giggling) Sorry, Jazz.

(His perspective of the mare attending to him, Jazz Hooves. Earth pony mare; pale blue-green coat; slightly darker eyes with much darker brows; red mane/tail, the former tied in a loose bunch that hangs over one shoulder and shades to magenta at its end. The far wall is decorated with a pair each of white wings and red/white/magenta lightning bolts overlaid on a rainbow, with a few stray runnels of paint suggesting a graffiti style.)

[Note: Her ears disappear from time to time during the remainder of this scene, and will be seen only very rarely in future appearances, if at all. This has been explained as the aftereffect of design changes that were made between the initial character concept development and final animation.]

Hitch: So sorry… (Longer shot of him and Jazz; now Pipp enters.) …so ticklish!

(This shot picks out the pink bandolier that Jazz wears, loaded with beauty implements, as well as her deep pink hooves decorated with tiny stars. Pipp breaks into a bubbly giggle at the sight and trots over to the rest of her friends.)

Pipp: Don’t you ponies love it here at Mane Melody? (Next two lines overlap.)

Sunny: (nodding) Mmm-hmm!

Izzy: Yeah-huh!

(Rocky Riff, a pegasus stallion, turns to Zipp. Off-white coat; deep red mane/tail, both shading to yellow-orange near their ends and the former showing a streak in this color; yellow-orange wings; deep red eyes and brows; white hooves. The right brow has a slight nick at its outer end, a beauty mark sits beneath the outer corner of that eye, and he wears a gold pendant shaped as an electric guitar on a thin chain around his neck. His movements during the following exchange reveal a cutie mark of a comb surrounded by gold sparkles, its handle ending in a music note.)

Rocky: (flipping the mane-dryer dome up off Zipp’s head) What’s wrong, Zipp? (He circles to her other side and whips out a mane brush.) Not a fan of Mane Melody?

Zipp: No, no. It’s awesome. Pipp has done a great job here. (Pipp gasps happily and whirls the chair to face her as Rocky steps away.)

Pipp: You really think so?

Zipp: Yeah, I do. And, hey. I’m sorry if I haven’t been helping out. My mind’s just on other things.

Pipp: Like the Crystals?

Zipp: Something weird is going on.

Pipp: Ugh! You worry too, too much. (Close-up of Zipp.)

Zipp: But if something happens to those crystals, we’ll lose magic again for good. Then it’ll be no more flying, and— (Both again on the next line.)

Pipp: (quickly) Sis-sis-sis-sis-sis-sis-sis. (normal cadence) You need to chill. Nothing is going to happen.

(She uncorks a shrill whistle and flies to the front end of the room. The wall is painted and styled in shades of yellow and purple to resemble a giant boom box, with a small stage projecting from the central portion where the cassette deck might be. A gold-plated microphone and stand are set up here, and Jazz and Rocky have taken up positions behind and to either side of it. The red carpet ends at the front edge of the stage, and stereo speakers are stacked up to flank the entire arrangement, which is topped by a copy of Pipp’s cutie mark sandwiched between a crown and a giant pair of eighth notes. Zoom in slowly.)

Pipp: (landing behind mic) We’ve got our friends back, we’ve got magic back, and we’ve got…

Pipp, Jazz, Rocky: (harmonizing) …mu-u-u-u-usic!

Pipp: At Mane Melody…

Jazz: (singing)…we sing…

Rocky: …while we style. (Hitch has now joined Sunny/Izzy/Zipp, all out of their chairs.)

Sunny, Hitch, Izzy: Pipp, Pipp, hooray!

Pipp: (into mic, amplified) This one goes out to my paranoid big sis Zipp.

(Cut to said big sis, visibly caught out by the jibe, on the end of this. Her face falls as the lights dim and an image of a curling music staff, notes, and treble clef sign is projected onto one wall. The yellow portions of the stage setup glow brightly, as does the backdrop directly behind the three singers, and a mirrored disco ball can be seen hanging from the ceiling.)

[Animation goof: The mane-dryer chairs are now positioned much closer to the stage than they were originally shown.]

Energetic pop melody with synth/drums and brass accents, fast 4 (D minor)

Jazz, Rocky:                Shoop, shoop, uh-huh [Hey!] Shoop, shoop

                        Shoop

Pipp:                        I know you’re feeling like there’s something wrong

                        But don’t you worry, I have just the song for you

(Notes are projected on the floor as well; all but Hitch start to enjoy the spectacle.)

Jazz:                        Mmm-hmm (Pipp giggles.) You-u-u

Pipp:                         So kick those hooves up in this comfy chair

(Loop above the stage; outside, passing ponies take note of the show.)

                        And you’ll forget about those cares in a minute or two, yeah

(She begins to leave a faint sparkly contrail behind herself.)

                        That’s what you’ll do-o-o

F major

Jazz:                        You’ve got a lot on your mane, and that’s kind of tragic

                        But with a little bit of caring and a touch of magic

Rocky:                You’ll feel brand-new

Instruments gradually drop out to a cappella

                        And you’ll forget what’s been troubling you

(Pipp rejoins them on the stage, then marches out from it.)

All instruments in

Pipp:                        So put your hooves up high ’cause we’re feeling all right [Hey!]

(The ponies outside are now bobbing their heads to the beat.)

                        Every day is awesome in the Maretime Bay

(Zipp finds herself surrounded by four friends dancing in rhythm.)

                        So put your hooves up, put your hooves up [Hey!]

(flying back to stage)

                        Everything

A cappella

                        Is gonna be okay

Song ends

(She tips a wink to an incredulous Zipp as the lights come up.)

Zipp: You don’t get it, do you? We can’t just sing a song and ignore everything! If we lose magic this time, we may never get it back again! (voice breaking) And it’ll be our fault. (Cut to Izzy on the next line.)

Izzy: What is she talking about? (To Sunny on the next.)

Sunny: Lose magic?

Hitch: Whose fault?

(The group’s downhearted ruminations are interrupted by a thud from outside that shakes the entire building. All five fly/gallop for the doors; cut to just outside as they emerge to find a tumble of half-dazed, groaning equines on the opposite side of the trolley tracks.)

Pipp: (gasping) Are you ponies okay?

(A pegasus mare, Windy, gets woozily to her hooves as Sunny crosses to her. From this angle: light pink coat shading to near-white just above light pinkish-violet hooves; short, pink-streaked red mane/tail; pink wings tipped with red feathers; light red eyes with brows to match her mane.)

Sunny: What happened, Windy?

Windy: I-I don’t know. I was just flying along, and the next thing I knew, I was down here on the ground!

(By this point, the other ponies in the pile—three, all stallions—have managed to get vertical. Two are blond earth ponies, one wearing sunglasses, while the third is a dark gray unicorn who speaks up next. During the following exchange, Windy’s cutie mark becomes visible as a stylized violet wing tipped with darker feathers.)

Unicorn stallion: Yeah, me too—because you fell on us!

Windy: (cringing) I’m so sorry, everypony! I’m normally such a good flyer.

Posey: (arriving on scene; zoom in slowly) Clearly she’s not! This is what I’ve been saying—what everypony’s been thinking. If pegasi and unicorns can’t be respectful, then they shouldn’t be allowed to use their magic in Maretime Bay.        

Shades: She’s right!

Unicorn stallion: I’m not sure… (The other earth pony speaks up in a “surfer dude” accent.)

Surfer: Yeah! No more magic! (Zoom in slowly on Posey.)

Posey: It isn’t fair! We earth ponies don’t get any magic, and then the ponies that do have it don’t even know how to use it! (bitterly) Or they use it to prank us.

Shades: Yeah, Posey’s right1

Surfer: I agree! (Cut to Sunny and company.)

Sunny: Everypony, wait! (To Posey on the next line.)

Posey: (scoffing) And now they want to ruin our special earth pony holiday too! (Sunny’s side.)

Sunny: That’s not true!

Izzy: We want it to be the best day ever! (To Posey’s side on the following; zoom out slowly.)

Shades: Well, then, Maretime Bay Day should be magic-free!

Surfer: Like it’s always been! (An onlooker, Dahlia, chips in.)

Dahlia: A no-fly zone!

Posey: Or we’re not coming.

(Dahlia, recall, was one of the two mares who greeted Hitch in Act One of A New Generation. Earth pony; light pink coat with white belly and socks over gray hooves; light violet eyes; pale green brows and straight mane/tail; deep pink scarf; cutie mark not immediately visible.)

(The sky begins to rumble with thunder and fill with foreboding dark clouds during these last four lines, but none of the ponies in her contingent take notice until a flash of lightning spooks a gasp from all five throats. They break for cover, leaving Sunny and company to stare confusedly up at this bizarre turn of weather, and Hitch’s “squad” huddles beneath him for shelter. Worry etches itself clearly onto Sunny’s face as the camera zooms in on her.)

Act Three

(Dissolve to the upper reaches of the Brighthouse, zooming in, then cut to the group in the lantern room on the start of the next line.)

Zipp: (pacing) I think I finally know what’s happening to magic—why it’s glitching.

Sunny: You do?

Zipp: It’s the Crystals! They might be…powered by ponies!

Hitch: Whaaaaat?

Zipp: Okay. Check this out. Pipp, when we were fillies, I used to steal Mom’s chocolate-dipped cherries and blame it on you.

Pipp: (indignantly, gasping deeply) I knew it! You got me grounded, like, twelve times!

Zipp: Yeah, yeah. And guess what? I don’t like karaoke. It’s the worst! Ugh! (Another gasp from Pipp.)

Izzy: Hey, you take that back! (on verge of tears) Karaoke is a fun activity for every age and skill level!

Sunny: Zipp’s allowed to like what she likes. Just because we enjoy something doesn’t mean she has to.

Hitch: (casually) Sunny, there is no need to get all huffy about it. Izzy was just trying to stand up for Pipp.

Sunny: Don’t call me huffy!

Hitch: (groaning) I didn’t call you huffy, I said you were being huffy. There’s a difference and—

(During this last line, the camera cuts to Zipp as she steps closer to the Crystals, putting her in an ideal position to see them fizzle and jitter. Back to him, then to them again, as he lets the explanation drop in favor of the next word.)

Hitch: (gobsmacked) Whoa…

(All five get a good hard look at the artifacts and the sputtering Pris-Beam.)

Sunny: (to Zipp) You…you were right!

Izzy: So when ponies aren’t treating each other with kindness…

Pipp: …when we aren’t vibing…

Zipp: …the Crystals get weaker, and the more unstable magic becomes in Equestria!

Sunny: Which causes pegasi to lose their flight and fall on other ponies!

Hitch: And unicorns to drop stuff onto sand castles!

Pipp: And weather changes! (Gasp.) Like a rando thunderstorm?

Zipp: Yep, everything is all outta whack. (The Crystals settle down.)

Sunny: I wonder if this had anything to do with why the Crystals were separated all those years ago. (Groan.) Or why I still can’t seem to figure out my alicorn magic.

Zipp: I don’t know. I want to find out. But if we want to keep magic in Equestria, first we need to get everypony back on the same page. (Zoom out slowly.)

Sunny: Zipp’s right. We can’t give up. We can still make Bay Day the celebration it’s supposed to be.

Izzy: A day of friendship!

Pipp: (hovering, singing) And harmony!

Hitch: Yeah!

Izzy: Yeah!

Zipp: Yeah!

Pipp: Let’s do it!

(Cut to a point at the center of the group’s rough circle, each extending a front hoof into view and piling them up.)

All five: (from o.s.) Hoof to heart!

(Dissolve to a close-up of one window in the Brighthouse, seen from inside, and zoom out to the sound of chirping birds beyond the stained glass. Izzy comes into view, sleeping the wrong way around in her bed; she blinks her way into wakefulness and jumps clear with an excited gasp.)

Izzy: It’s here!

(In no time flat, she is scat-singing her way across the shared bedroom, waking first Sunny and then Pipp. Neither of these two wears her usual accessory—saddlebag or tiara, respectively.)

Izzy: The big day is here!

(The pop star lets off an expansive yawn; now she moves to Zipp’s bed.)

Izzy: The big day is here!

(The athlete sits up with a yawn and stretch; cut to the lantern room as she approaches the Crystals and sighs deeply.)

Zipp: Don’t worry. I got you.

(The front entrance; she flies out, followed closely by Pipp on hoof and then Sunny. The latter two have now fully geared up.)

Izzy: (stepping to doors) Sunny! Sunny, wait!

(The earth pony arrests her momentum beneath an overcast morning sky and turns back to the unicorn, who floats out a wrapped present from behind her back.)

Izzy: Happy Maretime Bay Day! (To Sunny as she finishes.)

Sunny: We don’t usually exchange gifts. (Back to Izzy on the next line.)

Izzy: I know, but just open it.

(Her infectious smile is all the prompting Sunny needs to plunk the package on the ground and attack its covering vigorously. A few rips of paper, a bow pulled free in teeth and dropped, and her eyes widen in purest surprise.)

Sunny: It’s…it’s the lantern my dad made for me!

(Cut to her perspective of it, held in her hooves, as she finishes. It has been given a new coat of purple paint and a full polishing on all the exposed metal, and the wind-up key and the pony cutouts on the vertical frame bars have been removed. A glass housing has been added to join the upper and lower portions of the frame and protect a newly installed, warmly glowing light bulb, and a handle has been attached to the upper portion, which bears a carving of the assembled Crystals.)

Sunny: I-I-I thought it was beyond repair! (Back to her on the end of this, lifting it; Izzy crosses to her.) Thank you so much, Izzy!

Izzy: Sometimes when you add a little bit of magic, you can fix anything.

Sunny: You’re right. Now let’s go add some magic to today and fix this.

Izzy: (nodding) Mmm-hmm!

(Cut to a Maretime Bay side street that has been fully kitted out for the festival: balloons, booths, banners, lively music in the background, and so forth. The camera roves along the block toward the shore as ponies wander from one attraction to another. One earth pony receives a unicorn plush toy as a prize for winning a game, while another recoils from a line of three wreaths that includes one built of irregularly shaped rocks/crystals and another studded with spoons and flowers. There are plenty of unicorns and pegasi in attendance. Izzy shifts her attention from her friends and her levitated ice cream cone to point across the crowd.)

Izzy: Oh, look, look, look! Ponies showed up after all! (breathlessly) And there’s the Queen!

(Cut to Haven on the end of this, descending gracefully to the pavement and flanked by Thunder and Zoom. Cloudpuff weaves in and out through the trio as cheers and applause drift in their direction.)

Izzy: (waving, trotting to her) Hello, Your Majestic-ness! (Pipp looks up from her phone and gasps happily.)

Pipp: Mom!

(She follows Izzy’s lead. Zipp shares exactly none of her sister’s enthusiasm, instead cringing mightily and galloping off in search of a good hiding place. Dissolve to Sunny and Hitch, standing in front of a cluster of booths and food carts set up on the trolley tracks, and zoom in slowly as they wave to passersby.)

Sunny: Happy Maretime Bay Day, everypony! Welcome!

Hitch: (aside, to her) So far, so good.

Sunny: (aside, to him) Now we just gotta keep it up.

Dahlia: (from o.s., disdainfully) Spoons in the wreaths?

(They glance in the direction of her voice; cut to a spot just off to one side and pan to her, Posey, and Mayflower—the other earth pony mare who greeted Hitch in Act One of A New Generation. Seen from the neck up: older than the other two; pale tan coat; brown eyes; brows nearly the same shade as the coat; short, curly, gray-green mane. The pan picks out Dahlia’s cutie mark as a wrapped present.)

Dahlia: (scoffing) Yuck.

(Cut to just behind the three; they are studying the three wreaths seen a moment ago.)

Dahlia: I liked the old decorations better. (They trot away past Sunny/Hitch.)

Posey: I could not agree more.

(Their exit frames Mayflower’s short tail, the white socks over her brown hooves, and her beaded necklace. Sunny’s face falls at Posey’s pronouncement. Cut to an extreme close-up of the upper portion of a sand castle on the beach. Izzy’s horn rises slowly into view behind it, followed by the rest of her marveling expression.)

Izzy: Ohhhhhh!

(Longer shot; she is inspecting the creations of ponies old and young.)

Izzy: Ooh…oh! Ooooh! Wow!

(Zoom out quickly; this last one, built by Windy, is a replica of the Brighthouse that stands at least three times the height of any other. Having already stuck two leaves in the pinnacle to stand for the wings, she plants a seashell upright between them as a stand-in for the topmost statue of the Crystals. She touches down on the sand as an elderly unicorn stallion floats a statue into her grasp—this is a competition he has been judging, and she has taken first place. The statue consists of a plastic shovel on a base with blade up, accented by a gold seashell, and a pair of side handles. The crowd does not take the decision particularly well, judging from the swell of grumbling, and Dahlia, Mayflower, and Posey take notice and become suitably affronted. Cut to a patch of sand just in front of Windy as Dahlia and Posey plant their hooves in view, Dahlia clearing her throat.)

Mayflower: (from o.s.) Hey! (Head-on view of the trio.)

Posey: Pegasi have an unfair advantage!

(Windy whirls to face her, the trophy now balanced on her back, but the accusation is already ruining the mood up and down the beach. A lightning strike and thunderclap from the gloomy skies throw a scare into the crowd; cut to Pipp and Zipp, who have reached the site and are staring upward with clear consternation toward the darkening clouds.)

Zipp: Hmmm…

(Cut to a stretch of booths in Maretime Bay proper, panning down the block, then cut to an extreme close-up of a very green ice cream scoop being loaded into a cone which is then floated away in a cloud of unicorn magic. The recipient is Shades.)

Shades: Moss ice cream?

(One lick, and he lets his tongue loll out with a noise of disgust, passes the cone back to the vendor who supplied it, and trots imperiously away. Zoom out; three other ponies are taste-testing their treats while standing around a trash can. One is an earth pony stallion with a carrot hot dog; a second is an earth pony mare with a hat and moss ice cream, and the last is a pegasus mare with sunglasses and a glimmerberry tart. All three are quick to voice their revulsion and throw the food out, but the unicorn stallion who got flattened by Windy darts in to catch the tart.)

Unicorn stallion: Waste not, want not!

(He gleefully scarfs it down, then jams his whole face into the receptacle to gorge himself on the other discards as a strong wind kicks up. A short pan frames two earth ponies toting servings of cotton candy and clearly repulsed by this bit of secondhand gluttony. One of them is Sweets, the Canterlogic employee earth pony mare seen in A New Generation; she is no longer wearing her shirt collar and necktie. She voices a cry of disgust but quickly forgets it in light of the treat she is carrying; before she can take a bite, though, a sudden violent gust strips it away from both her and the stallion accompanying her.)

Sweets, Companion: Huh? (The two cones swirl away into the tumult overhead.)

Pipp: Oh, no!

(She tenses for a takeoff, leaps—and fails to clear even her own height before her wings crackle and short out, dropping her back to the roadbed. A few more flaps prove similarly useless.)

Pipp: My wings won’t work!

(Close-up of Hitch on the end of this, from the shoulders up. His heroic gallop gets him exactly nowhere, and a tilt down to ground level discloses the reason—all four hooves are stuck in pools of sparkly purple glop.)

Hitch: Neither will my hooves!

(Sunny spots three other earth ponies, straining to get their own hooves out of this muck. One is Shades, while another is a different hat-wearing mare.)

Mare voice 2: (in distance) HEEEEELP!!

Hat mare 1: Our hooves are stuck! (They snap loose as Zipp returns.) What’s going on?

Zipp: The glitches! They’re getting worse!

(Cut to a two-level stage flanked by banks of speakers styled as the vertical arms of an upright horseshoe. Two curving ramps lead from the lower level to the ground, and the whole is topped by a giant pink heart. Sunny puts her head out from the wings to scope out the crowd, then ducks out of sight; cut to the backstage area as she turns to Pipp. Izzy is here as well.)

Sunny: Are you sure you want to do this? Nothing has gone to plan today.

Pipp: (resolutely) I have to give it my best shot. We still need all the positivity we can get, right?

(Zipp slips in, holding the white/gold lucky microphone she flew home to get in the prologue.)

Zipp: Maybe this will help. (She drops it onto Pipp’s hoof.)

Pipp: (gasping ecstatically) My lucky mic! (The elder sister flips a smirk and walks off.) Okay. (singing) Ohhhh, yeahhhh… (Buzz the lips, then speak.) Yes, we’re ready! All right. (singing) Showtiiime! (She lifts off.)

Izzy: (waving) Break a hoof, Pipp! (Sunny walks toward the curtain.) But not really. (whispering) Actually, be really careful.

(The stage again; Sunny emerges amid the escalating winds.)

[Animation goof: The stage now has a third, straight ramp extending from its center to the ground. This will vanish later.]

Sunny: Everypony, please welcome pop star Princess Pipp Petals to sing the brand-new Maretime Bay Day song!

(Cut to the pegasus on the end of this, descending to land next to her. The audience’s general reaction is a mix of puzzlement and discontent, but they all fall silent when Haven pops up at the back, hovering and carrying Cloudpuff.)

Haven: That’s my daughter!

(The mare of the moment inflates her lungs, but the next words douse her fire in short order.)

Dahlia: (from o.s.) We want to hear the real Maretime Bay song—

(Cut to her, Mayflower, Posey, and a knot of others whose opinions of non-earth ponies have soured.)

Dahlia: —sung by an earth pony! (Fresh grumbles; the hatted mare who threw her food away is heard next.)

Hat mare 2: This isn’t right!

(She is soon lost amid a wave of slowly advancing quadrupeds, but they stop short upon noticing the black clouds that are rapidly blotting out the sky. A series of lightning strikes sets some of them to bugging out, and the next salvo traces its way down the Pris-Beam issuing from the Brighthouse. Cut to a close-up of the Crystals and zoom in as they take one hit…then another…and a third that opens an ugly fissure across the glittering surfaces. Hitch and Izzy gallop out onto the stage to join Sunny and Pipp, the stallion having freed his hooves from the magical mess anchoring them to the ground; Zipp flies out and touches down with them as Pipp sets her microphone down; zoom in slowly.)

Hitch: Hey, be nice! Sheriff’s orders!

Hat mare 1: Are you on their side?

Zipp: There are no sides! (More lightning shreds the sky.)

Sunny: We know that magic returning hasn’t been easy for everypony, that Equestria is really different, but…that’s a good thing! It’s so much better now that— (Lightning.) —whoa! (staring past crowd) No, no, no!

(Long shot of the Brighthouse and its jittering Pris-Beam under the meteorological onslaught.)

Sunny: (from o.s.) Th-The magic! It’s dying!

(Hitch’s attention is wrenched away by a bolt striking his office just above the front entrance.)

Hitch: (gasping in fright) Eggy!

(He bolts away just before another one lances into the ground at the center of the arc formed by the stage ramps. Instead of leaving a scorch mark, it creates a hole lined in glimmering, deep purple light that slowly begins to expand.)

Haven: (pointing) What is that thing?

Zipp: It’s some sort of void!

Sunny: Everypony, get back!

(Which they do in the form of a screaming, pell-mell retreat. One after another, though, the earth ponies find their hooves adhering to the ground.)

Hat mare 1: But we’re stuck!

Scarf mare: (to a unicorn mare) Let us go!

Unicorn mare: It’s not us!

(Lightning blasts a tree to pieces; now Posey tries and fails to pull loose and turns to Windy.)

Posey: Can’t you ponies with magic do something? (Windy tires in vain to get aloft.)

Windy: Our magic isn’t working!

(The magic sinkhole continues to expand, now taking up about the same area footprint as the stage. Hitch has retrieved the egg he has been tending from his office, but now has three hooves glued down as he carries it in a foreleg. He lets off a cry of fear.)

Hitch: I do not like this! (A newspaper smacks him in the face.) No! (Shake it loose.) I do not!

(The expanding perimeter takes the ground out from beneath Posey’s hooves as Windy attempts to free her, and both drop in with a scream.)

Sunny: Posey! Windy! No! (to herself) Come on, alicorn magic! Work!

Zipp: But the magic! I-It’s gone! (Close-up of Sunny.)

Sunny: Then I’ll have to try without it! (steeling herself) I’m going in!

Izzy: Not without us!

(Her horn sputters a bit, but she gets it to turn over and stay energized.)

Zipp: (from o.s.) That’s it! (Cut to her.) The magic will come back to us if we can work together! (to the crowd) Come on, unicorns! Come on, pegasi!

(Cut to one of each standing near a trapped stallion.)

Zipp: (from o.s.) Help the earth ponies!

(The first two rush to the third and put muscle power to work against the adhesive; elsewhere; Izzy pops another one free with her revived magic and Pipp/Zipp get Hitch’s hooves unstuck.)

Zipp: It’s working! (Hitch peels out.) You got this, Sunny!

Izzy: It’s too dark in there! (floating the repaired lantern toward Sunny) Take this!

(She gets it halfway across the gap before her horn fizzles out and gravity takes hold. The action shifts to slow motion as it drops into the hole and Sunny pivots for a desperate leap after it. Teeth click firmly onto the handle, and normal speed resumes with her headlong plunge through the windblown debris and the other three mares’ helpless stares into the abyss. Sunny keeps her jaws locked onto the metal as if holding on for dear life; her cutie mark flares white, and wisps of golden energy begin to float up from both her body and the lantern, whose brightness has grown considerably. Her ethereal horn and wings pop into existence, her saddlebag vanishes, and she shifts the lantern from mouth to foreleg and gets flapping. Posey and Windy drop screaming into the lightless depths; finding herself unable to close the gap by flying alone, Sunny gathers herself and sends out a large magical bubble to envelop and stop them.)

(Up on the surface, the earth ponies have regained their mobility thanks to the efforts of the other two tribes. All marvel at the sight of the bubble rising out of the sinkhole and depositing Posey and Windy on the pavement before it dissipates, but there is no immediate sign of…)

Izzy: Sunny?

(After a second or two that might be a week, a shaft of sparkling rainbow light slashes into the gloomy sky from down below and Sunny follows it up in a burst of golden motes, no longer carrying the lantern. The hole swiftly contracts and seals itself as the beam breaks, its remnants arcing through the clouds and pouring into the top of the Brighthouse. Cut to a pan through the shared bedroom, whose walls manifest the green vine-like patterns that Zipp saw on the lantern room windows in Act Two, then to a close-up and slow zoom in on the now-intact Crystals. The tendrils appear around them as well but quickly fade away, whereupon the artifacts emit an almighty blast of green sparks and the vines start to trace down the outside walls and across the lawn. The growths rapidly spread through the streets of Maretime Bay proper, kindling green glows on the newly freed hooves of every earth pony they reach under a quickly clearing sky. Hitch giggles as he gets a dose of the new magic.)

Hitch: That tickles!

(A cardboard box in the street is flipped away to reveal his “squad,” who have taken cover under it along with one of the rabbit-eared guinea pigs he first encountered on the road to Zephyr Heights in A New Generation. The four critters cross to the Sheriff, chirping and clicking happily.)

Hitch: I know, I know! I totally agree with everything you guys are saying. (His eyes pop as an idea occurs to him.) Did you just…talk? Did I just…understand you? (mind blown) Whaaaaaat?

(He has hunched down to their level by the time he finishes. The bird that habitually wears an empty tin can on its head chirps and gesticulates vigorously.)

Hitch: Wow, that’s a lot of information: (straightening up) Well, nice to meet you, Kenneth. I’m Hitch.

(Kenneth cheeps a reply. Elsewhere, Posey and Windy regard one of the former’s green-glowing hooves with amazement. Posey then touches it to the ground, causing the magical vines to briefly appear amid a cloud of green sparks and smoke, which clears to reveal a cluster of flowers in full bloom and growing out of the stone road. Both mares are overjoyed at the result.)

Posey: Flower power?!

(A similar effort by a few other earth ponies regenerates the lightning-struck tree, and Sunny/Pipp/Zipp gather in around Hitch.)

Sunny: Earth pony magic?

Izzy: (hopping to them) But that’s never happened before!

Zipp: When we work together, maybe we can invent new magic.

Sunny: You’re right, Zipp. Actually, you were right about everything. I’m sorry I didn’t believe you. I should’ve been a better friend and listened. (crossing to Zipp) I was just so focused on hoping magic was okay that I lost sight of everything else. Can you forgive me?

Zipp: (smirking) Obviously. (Sunny laughs and the two embrace.)

Haven: (from o.s.) Zephyrina! There you are!

(She approaches, accompanied by Cloudpuff and trailed by Thunder and Zoom.)

Haven: My hoofness! What an ordeal! Gather your things. We need to hit the sky if we’re going to make it back to the palace by sundown.

Zipp: Mom! I’m not going back with you.

Haven: We agreed that you were to resume your studies. (Zoom in slowly on Zipp.)

Zipp: My place is here in Maretime Bay with my friends. I just need more time to figure things out. To investigate magic. To explore who I am before I take on my royal duty. (Cut to frame both.) And…you know what? (Haven smiles.) I think who I am is somepony who likes figuring things out.

Haven: Yes, you certainly are. (lifting Zipp’s chin) My little princess investigator.

Zipp: Mom, would you do me a favor?

Haven: Anything, darling. (Close-up of Zipp.)

Zipp: (hesitantly) Mmm—would you mind just calling me Zipp for now? (Both again on the next line.)

Haven: Of course…Zipp.

(Cloudpuff hustles across to Hitch and barks; he leans toward the little guy, not quite getting the gist of what has been said.)

Hitch: I’m sorry, it’s a what?

(Further yips prelude a wash of sparks around the egg he carries; it rattles mightily in his grip, and the shell cracks and bursts apart to reveal the occupant as a cooing baby dragon. Green hide on the body; darker stubby horns; lighter green underbelly and around the mouth; purple eyes; pinkish-red hide on the wings. Hitch gasps in delight at its emergence; cut to an overjoyed Sunny/Izzy, then to a close-up of the hatchling.)

Hitch: (from o.s.) A dragon? (All five.)

Sunny: But dragons haven’t been seen in Equestria for generations! (It snuggles against Hitch’s flank; next two lines overlap.)

Izzy: He’s so cute!

Pipp: Adorbs!

(It clambers up onto the Sheriff’s back, assisted by a twitch of his flank muscles. Zoom out slightly as a contrite Posey steps up.)

Posey: Hey, everypony. I just wanted to say…I’m sorry for the way I acted. I think I just felt…

Zipp: Left out?

Posey: (smiling) Yeah, exactly.         

Sunny: We’ll make sure that doesn’t happen again. Right, guys?

(A chorus of affirmative responses from the other four; now Posey crosses to Pipp.)

Posey: Pipp, would you mind singing your new Maretime Bay song?

Pipp: I will on one condition— (pulling out her lucky microphone, offering it to Posey) —if you’ll sing it with me.

Posey: (taking it) I’ll do the harmony!

(They head for the stage. Dissolve to a long overhead shot of the area, all five mares lined up the stage and Sunny having dispelled her horn and wings, and zoom out as an inquisitive crowd begins to congregate. The view dissolves to a long shot of the entire town, appearing as a two-dimensional image projected like a slide in midair within a dimly lit chamber, and zoom out slowly to the sound of a throaty female voice uttering a scornful chuckle. The motion brings the speaker into view, seen from behind—at this angle, a winged mare with a deep purple coat and a long, gently curling mane/tail streaked in palest green and silver, the former cascading over both shoulders. A coiled braid encircles the base of each ear. The voice continues in a haughty tone and with a trace of a British accent.)

Throaty voice: Those little ponies finally figured out how to stabilize the magic. Took them long enough.

(Head-on view of the speaker, standing on an imposing gold/purple throne in a dark blue room with gold accents; the base of her horn matches her coat, fading to a lighter hue at the tip. The eyes are deep blue and framed by nearly black brows and sparkly violet shadow, the area around the nose/mouth is a slightly lighter hue than the rest of the body, and a steel band set with a stylized bird’s head encircles each leg just above the hoof. She is attended by a medium blue unicorn mare over whom she towers, whose mane/tail are tumbles of tightly corkscrewed strands in blue and green. The eyes are deep green under dark blue brows, and the horn matches the coat at its base while taking on a pinkish tinge near the tip. Branch-like projections extend upward from the floor to either side of the throne, as if serving as unlit torches, and something resembling a massive purple tree root stretches across the room behind the lot. The room is illuminated by sunlight through a cluster of blue stained-glass windows, a diffuse patch falling on her face. Zoom in slowly.)

Winged unicorn: And now that they have, it’s time to take back what is mine!

(Extreme close-up of her face, zooming in on one eye as she laughs exultantly, then dissolve to a long shot of the Brighthouse, its Pris-Beam fully restored. Inside, Zipp sticks a band poster on a wall in her portion of the shared bedroom; she is once again wearing the shoulder plate and foreleg pouch from the prologue. The camera is at floor level, aimed toward her back, and the walls are now clear of vines. One arm of an L-shaped desk is tucked in beneath her elevated bunk; on the other is a mannequin head styled after her own and wearing a visor—the one that Izzy designed for her in Tell Your Tale that is capable of night, thermal, and X-ray vision, its temples styled as lightning bolts.)

Izzy: (from o.s., stepping into view) It looks brilliant!

Zipp: You think so?

(Head-on view of the other four, the dragon riding in one pannier of a pair slung across Hitch’s back. Sunny’s horn and wings have dispelled themselves, and she is wearing her saddlebag.)

Pipp: We’re so glad you’re staying in Maretime Bay, Detective Zipp.

Zipp: Me too. We have a lot to learn about magic and how it works.

(During this line, she holds up something on a front hoof and the camera cuts briefly to a close-up of it—a gold pin shaped as a winged star, a circle overlaid on the central portion and containing a magnifying glass. She finishes by clipping it onto her pouch.)

Zipp: I’m just glad I’ll be here to figure it out with my best friends.

(Her perspective during this line, panning across the others; Izzy is levitating the string of beads from her mane as a plaything for the dragon. Stop on Sunny.)

Sunny: Well, I definitely still have a lot of questions. Like, why does my alicorn magic disappear?

Hitch: (now o.s.) Yeah! (Cut to him.) Like, why do I now have the magical power to understand every animal except for this adorable baby dragon? (He nuzzles and gets his nose grabbed in return.) Ow. Ow, ow.

Zipp: (from o.s.) Or…  (Cut to her, pacing the room.) …where did magic come from? Who made the Crystals anyway? And how did they get separated? (Cut to a pensive Sunny; she continues o.s.) Why didn’t earth ponies have magic before?

Sunny: (smiling) Well, at least we already know one thing for sure.

Izzy: (gasping, leaning into view) What’s that? (The camera swivels to frame the whole group.)

Sunny: No matter what lies ahead, we’ll face it together.

(All cheer her confidence before the view dissolves to a close-up of the Crystals and then to a long shot of the Brighthouse and slow zoom out.)

(The Netflix production logo is displayed at their end, followed by lists of credits that name the staff and voice actors involved in dubbing the special into twenty-eight languages other than English. In order, these are: Arabic, Czech, Danish, German, Greek, Spanish (Latin America), Spanish (Spain), Finnish, French, Hebrew, Hindi, Croatian, Hungarian, Malay (Indonesia), Italian, Japanese, Malay (Malaysia), Norwegian, Dutch, Polish, Portuguese (Portugal), Portuguese (Brazil), Romanian, Russian, Swedish, Thai, Turkish, Vietnamese. Each list covers one screen except for Hindi, which spans two—the first in that language, the second in English. This practice will be followed for all subsequent episodes and specials within the Make Your Mark series.)

IZZY DOES IT

Written by Jim Martin

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)

Note:                Background song lyrics are in parentheses; any marked with an exclamation

                point are shouted rather than sung.

Prologue

(Opening shot: a stretch of peaceful daytime sky. The camera tilts down slowly to frame the Zephyr Heights royal palace and the city skyline as Kenneth—the can-wearing bird member of Hitch Trailblazer’s three-critter “squad”—wings into view high above the opulent architecture. He drops into a swooping dive along one misty canyon, flashing through a knot of cloud that briefly fills the screen; when the view clears, he has made it to Bridlewood and is looping above a few unicorns out to enjoy the fine weather. His trajectory carries him past the camera; behind him, the view wipes to a long shot of Maretime Bay. Zeroing in on the Crystal Brighthouse, he descends over its front lawn and comes to rest in close-up atop a pillow that is roughly at the same level as the top of the front doors. Zoom out quickly to the sound of cheerful singing; the pillow is the pinnacle of a most irregular sculpture being assembled by Izzy Moonbow from a mélange of random objects. On the next line, she straightens up from her rummaging around the base, showing her horn aglow and a pair of large round eyeglasses with slightly tinted lenses balanced on her nose. Her pincushion cutie mark is glowing brightly, nearly white.)

Izzy:                And a little more of this— (knocking away a yarn ball) —and less of that

                And this piece makes no sense

(extracting a spatula with her magic and flipping it so the handle points downward)

                Unless it’s upside-down

(The utensil is stuck back into the structure.)

Izzy: Now we’re cooking!

(She lets off a mad-scientist laugh and promptly clambers up to the peak, spooking Kenneth away from his resting spot. He flies off as Zipp Storm flaps lazily into view, keeping an eye on the cell phone she carries. The pegasus gets a look at Izzy and stops, suddenly puzzled.)

Zipp: Hmmm…

(Cut to her perspective, situated behind Izzy and Hitch, who is coming up the front walk with the baby dragon that hatched at the end of Chapter One—later to be named as Sparky Sparkeroni—riding on his back. This angle gives her a good view of the unicorn’s mark, but neither its bearer nor the Sheriff is taking any notice. Ground level: Zipp lands next to him just in time for Kenneth to cheep inquisitively up his way.)

Hitch: Good question, Kenneth. Hey, Zipp, do you know what Izzy’s doing up there?

Zipp: Not a clue. (Sparky hops down and eagerly scrambles toward the tower.) Hitch…

(Cut to him, starting to climb up the base.)

Zipp: (from o.s.) …uh, what’s your dragon doing?

Izzy: This is gonna be the best birthday present for a friend I’ve ever made, because I finally have a friend and it’s her birthday!

(She floats a book up from a hidden cranny as Zipp lifts off; cut to the latter’s perspective, bringing up her phone in order to get a closer view of Izzy’s still-glowing mark with its camera.)

Izzy: Huh? (waving) Hi, Zipp!

(The added motion is enough to destabilize the entire creation. Back to Zipp, who gasps in fright; then to Sparky, who tumbles free with a yarn ball in his grip; then to Izzy falling away with a scream as gravity pulls her and the mishmash of materials down at last. She goes one way, her glasses another.)

Hitch: NOOOOOO!!

(Even before he can finish, his hooves flare green and the magical vines that first manifested on the walls of the lantern room in the Brighthouse during Chapter One take form around them and stretch along the walk. He finds himself being yanked most unceremoniously toward the building.)

Hitch: Whooaa!

Izzy: NOOOOOO!!

(Both yells end at the same moment as the vines stop him in the perfect position to break her fall—with his back rather than his hooves, driving him flat. His own mark lights up.)

Hitch, Izzy: Yes!

Zipp: Huh.

(Her perspective, aiming her phone at them to get a clear view of the stallion’s haunch. As she speaks, cut briefly to and from a close-up of her. The vines on the walk have now disappeared.)

Zipp: More glowing cutie marks—and random earth pony plant magic. (Side view of the haphazard tableau, zooming out slowly.) Also, somepony’s gonna have to clean this up.

(Snap to black.)

OPENING THEME

Act One

(Cut from the title card directly to the mess on the front lawn.)

Hitch: (out of breath) Don’t worry, Izzy. You’re safe now.

Izzy: I know. (standing up, stepping aside) I was just screaming, “NOOOOOO!!” because I lost my crafting glasses.

(The missing specs drop out of the air and land perfectly across her nose.)

Izzy: Double yes! (She starts to pace.)

Hitch: I wish I could figure out earth pony magic! (hefting himself upright) I don’t like how crazy it is. (Sparky leaps from the wreckage and lands on his back, flattening him again.)

Izzy: (sighing) But not triple yes. (floating glasses away; Hitch stands up) I didn’t get to finish my amazing Birthday Tower of Friendship for Sunny.

(With a listless kick at a tumbled item, she turns her back on the disarray and starts to exit the scene. The impact jolts a small object loose from what used to be the uppermost reaches; it bounces its way down the pile and through the air, the view shifting to a slow-motion close-up to frame it as a collection of small trinkets linked to form a bracelet. Normal speed resumes as this drops neatly onto Izzy’s horn, instantly reviving her spirits.)

Izzy: Accidentally awesome! (dramatically) It’s perfect!

(The sound of an opening door startles a gasp from the unicorn; cut to a visibly worried Sunny Starscout emerging from the Brighthouse.)

Sunny: Did anypony hear that? It shook the whole Crystal Brighthouse. (She stops short upon finding Izzy in her path.)

Izzy: Happy birthday, friend! (Gasp.) And happy first time saying “happy birthday, friend” to me. (floating bracelet off horn) I made you a present.

(By the time it lands on Sunny’s upraised hoof, one of the links has come undone and the thing has unwound itself.)

Sunny: (holding it up near one ear) Awww, Izzy… (The unicorn giggles; she clips it to hang from her mane.) …oh, this is the most amazing birthday present ever! (A brief hug, by leaning their necks across each other.)  I need to show it off. (Gasp.) Want to go to the Maretime Bay Craft Fair?

Izzy: With my friend on her birthday? (hopping down walk) Of course I want to go to that!

(She gets no farther than a bound or two before having to stop for a low-speed chase—Sparky, wearing an overturned bucket nearly as big as he is, with Hitch in pursuit. The latter catches up to the former and knocks the vessel away, causing Sparky to topple to the grass and drop the yarn ball he has purloined.)

Hitch: All right! You two have fun! Sparky and I will clean up all… (losing steam, gesturing around himself) …this.

(Sparky drops the yarn with a disconsolate mumble as Sunny and Izzy trot giggling toward the town proper. Zipp drops to a hover just above the walk and fires up her phone to record a note.)

Zipp: (dictating) “One case solved. Hitch is going to clean all this up.”

Hitch: (pointedly) Zipp will help too, right? (pleadingly) Zipp?

Zipp: (woodenly, touching down) Okay, fine. (dictating, tucking phone away) “Reminder to Zipp—leave, and then take notes.”

(Sparky tries to follow the first half of this advice, but Hitch is quick to pull him back to the disaster area. Cut to the two non-winged mares on their way through the grassy outskirts.)

Sunny: Thank you again, Izzy. I love this custom mane-cessory so much.

Izzy: And I didn’t even know that’s what it was. How awesome is that?

Sunny: Better than awesome. It’s Izzy-tastic.

(They go laughing on their way, not noticing that Izzy’s cutie mark has once again flared up. Zoom out slowly as a head pops up in the foreground to gaze after them from a clump of bushes—medium blue coat, mane a tumble of blue/green strands in tight corkscrews. An extreme close-up and slow zoom in frames a pair of binoculars held up to the eyes, the lenses zooming in on the glowing emblem, after which the camera shifts to just behind this new figure again. The device is lowered, exposing a mare’s green eyes marked by faint birdcatcher spots. Taken together, all of these details mark the watcher as the unicorn mare glimpsed briefly in the darkened throne room at the end of Chapter One. Due to the low lighting, her spots were not visible at the time.)

(The unicorn, Misty, raises a small hexagonal compact in a gold case and speaks into it. Set into the inner surface of its lid is a mirror that displays not her face, but the eyes of the dark purple winged unicorn mare she had been attending in that throne room. She addresses herself to this image.)

Misty: It’s true! Magic has returned to Equestria like you said!

(The throaty, haughty, British-accented voice of the other mare—Opaline—comes through loud and clear.)

Opaline: Excellent. Then we shall proceed with our plan.

(Head-on view of Misty. A stylized, jeweled image of a winged unicorn can be seen on the open lid of the compact just before she clicks it shut and lowers it. She walks slowly toward the camera, an unpleasant smile stealing across her face. These motions clearly reveal the violet color of her hooves.)

(Dissolve to the bridge over Mane Street in Maretime Bay and tilt down to ground level. Izzy gallops into view, threading her way through the profusion of vendor stands that nearly choke the road.)

Izzy: (glancing around herself at the wares) Oh!…Ooooh… (planting haunches, skidding to a stop) …ooh!

(She giggles and bounds away past Sunny’s smoothie stand, earning a wave from its proprietor. An elderly earth pony stallion ambles up to the counter, a loaded cart parked just behind him.)

Elderly stallion: Howdy, Sunny. Got your smoothie parts you ordered.  (Close-up of Sunny on the following.)

Sunny: Oh, great! Um, just drop them in the bin.

(A series of thuds sets the camera to shaking and startles her considerably. She turns toward the source; cut to just outside an open hatch at one end as she steps out to find a load of ridiculously oversized fruits and vegetables that have been dumped out here. Most of them are at least as large as she is in one dimension or another. Zoom out slowly.)

Sunny: Earth pony magic just keeps getting…bigger!

(Her slightly forced chuckle is followed by a cut to Izzy trotting merrily among the stands and taking in all she can.)

Izzy: Wow, look at that! Oh, and that!

(She runs into Pipp Petals from behind, jolting the pegasus out of the moment’s rapport with her phone.)

Izzy: Pipp!

Pipp: Izzy!

Izzy: You knew about the Craft Fair too?

Pipp: It’s the only place to be. That’s what I’ve been saying on my socials.

(A beep, and the view has shifted to that through her phone’s camera, with emojis scrolling past on one side to summarize her followers’ opinion of her words. As she speaks, the view blinks to a slow pan across the street, picking out samples of the items she describes and finally stopping on Izzy.)

Pipp: That’s right, everypony! The Maretime Bay Mane Street Craft Fair is the only place to be for the hottest craftables, wearables, and snackables. Tell them, Izzy.

Izzy: Uh, couldn’t say it better myself—’cause I don’t remember what you said.

(Another blink brings the action back to the here and now.)

Pipp: Aaaand… (tapping screen) …post! (They begin walking; she stows the phone.) So, are you here to shop or browse or—

(She trails off into a lung-bursting gasp, freezing in her tracks and throwing out a foreleg to arrest the unicorn’s momentum.)

Pipp: Oh…my…hoofness!

(She flaps ahead; cut to her perspective, phone raised to catch an extreme close-up of Sunny’s new mane decoration. On the next line, zoom out to frame her behind the smoothie stand counter and wrestling with a strawberry the size of a beach ball.)

Pipp: What is Sunny wearing? (It is crammed into a blender; Izzy pops up in the fore.)

Izzy: The birthday present I made her! (hushed) It was a bracelet, but she put it in her mane. So it’s that now.

(Back to her and Pipp, the latter having lowered her phone.)

Pipp: (singsong) It’s everythi-i-ing! I’m calling it “This mane-cessory is the trend of the day.” (Beep; close-up of her on its screen.) Come on down to the Craft Fair and get one for yourself, Pippsqueaks.

(As she finishes, the phone-camera view cuts to Sunny, who fetches the blender one last thump and loses her balance. The orange mare takes a yelping tumble to the floor of her stand, but straightens up with a giggle and a steel mixing cup jammed on her head. Cut to Izzy and Pipp again, the pop star showing her phone to the maker.)

Pipp: Look at all of these likes, Izzy!

(Their perspective of the screen on the end of this, showing an extreme close-up of the gift. Tilt up from it to frame the stand and its properly sorted-out operator, who quickly finds a fair number of potential customers coming her way.)

Pipp: And look at that.

(The pair again, Pipp fully engrossed in her phone and not entirely catching Izzy’s uneasy little giggle and hard swallow. Cut to the entrance hall of the Brighthouse, the front doors standing wide open, as Hitch pushes an empty wheeled bin up the front ramp and inside.)

Hitch: So you know how my hooves glowed when the ground moved, and then I heroically saved Izzy? (Zipp passes him, pushing a full one.)

Zipp: (scoffing) Heroically.

Hitch: Good, that’s how I remember it too. (Sparky toddles after him.) You think that all of this earth pony magic stuff is safe, right?

(By the time he finishes speaking, both of them have reached a closet whose door is open, revealing an assortment of boxes and items stacked nearly to the ceiling. The camera shifts to point out at them over the loaded containers and zooms in slowly.)

Zipp: Of course. You earth ponies can grow plants with your hooves. How could that be bad? (Hitch grabs a wooden fork in his teeth and jams it into a yarn ball in a box.) But I’m still investigating what else our powers can do.

(After they have both cleared the area, Sparky climbs up and begins to dig through this same box, first tossing an alphabet block to the floor and then dragging the whole thing out of place. Cut to Hitch and Zipp near the bins, the little guy toting a huge load of knickknacks past behind them and going unnoticed on the following.)

Zipp: I do know one thing’s for sure. (pulling him close, showing him her phone) Whenever anypony’s sparkle really starts to shine…

(He manages a “Huh?” under this last, after which the camera cuts to the pegasus’ perspective. The screen shows a photo of three earth ponies registering great surprise at the flowers that have sprouted around their hooves, and a swipe brings up Izzy levitating an assortment of items in preparation for teatime. The cutie marks of all four depicted equines have gone incandescent.)

Zipp: …your cutie mark glows. (Back to the pair; Sparky continues his unauthorized unpacking.)

Hitch: But why? (He fishes up a roll of cloth in his teeth…)

Zipp: Still a mystery. (…and carries it o.s.; zoom in slowly.) I can’t wait to figure it out. (Cut to Hitch, at the closet, on the next line. Sparky has emptied all the boxes.)

Hitch: Can you figure out why everything we just put away isn’t put away?

(Joining him as he finishes, Zipp pokes him roughly in the chest and points back across the entrance hall in time with Sparky’s cheerful gabbling. Now the Sheriff gets an eyeful of his scaly little ward hauling out a batch of bits and bobs—and starting to build his own version of Izzy’s Birthday Tower of Friendship.)

Hitch: (gasping, shocked) Sparky Sparkeroni! That’s not helping.

Zipp: (smirking) Sparky Sparkeroni?

Hitch: (chuckling) Yep. Named him myself. Good, huh?

(“Sparkeroni” is pronounced as a rough rhyme for “macaroni.” The hatchling abruptly ends his tinkering by sitting down on the floor and starting to cry.)

Hitch: (baby talk) This baby dwagon needs a nap. (to Zipp, normal tone) You want to keep putting this stuff away while I tuck him in? (He tosses the roll of fabric to her.)

Zipp: (catching it) Huh?

Hitch: Thanks.

(She lets off an annoyed grumble as he crosses to pick up Sparky, who calms down and conks out the instant he is laid down across the Sheriff’s back. Zipp watches them depart while deploying her phone.)

Zipp: Ugh… (dictating) “Another mystery to solve. How do I always end up cleaning up?”

(Cut to Mane Street, where Sunny is serving up a smoothie order for Toots, one of the Canterlogic employees seen in A New Generation. She has disposed of the giant strawberry that was giving her trouble earlier.)

Sunny: Here you go. (He takes a slurp.)

Toots: Your smoothies are the best! (Chuckle.) What’s your secret? (Drink again; Izzy eases her head up from behind the counter.)

Sunny: Well, first, I take a really big strawberry, and then—

Izzy: (whispering) Pssst! Sunny! (She yanks Sunny down.)

Sunny: Whoa!

(Both end up hunkered behind the counter.)  

Sunny: Izzy, why are you hiding?

Izzy: (whispering) Shhh, shhh, shhh! Pipp told everypony how great the gift I made for you is, and now everypony wants one!

Sunny: Isn’t that a good thing?

Izzy: (normal volume) No! I made that one for you! It was lightning in a glue bottle! What if I can’t make another one?

Sunny: Awww, you don’t have to be afraid to share your special talents with everypony. (Pipp leans in over the counter.)

Pipp: Riiiiight? We pegasi always say, “Let your creativity fly-y-y!”

(This last word is delivered as a held-out note with a flutter of wings, and is immediately followed by a giggle and a garb at the blue-maned mare’s shoulders to haul her bodily over the counter.)

Pipp: Come on, I’ll show you.

Izzy: Whoa!

(Cut to a long shot of the stand and the group, seen from an elevated vantage point through a pair of binoculars, then cut to Misty keeping watch on the tableau from the bridge over Mane Street. Zoom in slowly; she lowers the lenses, aims one last squint-eyed glare toward the scene, then drops from sight behind the side wall. A nearby onlooker stallion registers a degree of puzzlement upon seeing her take cover.)

Onlooker: Huh?

(The tip of Misty’s horn rises into view and starts to bob along, marking her exit.)

Act Two

(Cut to street level; Izzy plods glumly past the stands as Pipp hovers alongside.)

Pipp: Oh, you’re over-thinking it, Izz. You don’t have to make anything new. You just make the same thing, but better.

Izzy: (starting to catch on) Like…I just have to copy myself?

Pipp: Yeah! But add a twist. (flying ahead, landing on a small stage) That’s what I do with my songs—like this one!

(She brings out her phone and taps the screen as Izzy and a trio of fillies gather in. One is Glory, a pale blue pegasus; a second is Peach Fizz, a yellow-orange unicorn; the third is Seashell, a pale violet earth pony.)

Staccato synthesizer chords with bass drum, brisk 4 (G flat major)

(She rises high above the stage, then slowly descends.)

Pipp:                First things first, you gotta look for the spark

                That bit of magic way deep down in your heart [Hey!]

Full synth and percussion in

(She arcs over to a unicorn mare, who passes a field-held rose to her.)

                You gotta follow your beat [beat, beat]

                And then soon you will see [see, see]

(Now Pipp hugs Seashell and Izzy perks up.)

                You won’t have that far to go until your song starts to grow

                All you need is your beat [your beat, your beat]

(Glory and Peach find themselves gathered into the pop star’s fluffy wings and begin to keep time, marching in place.)

                All you need is your groove [groove, groove] [Hey, come on!]

                To get them stomping their hooves [hooves, hooves]

                And then the next thing you’ll know, imagination will flow

(Return to the stage.)

                All you need is your beat, all you need is your beat

                All you need is your beat [Whoo!]

Music winds down to nothing

                [Ba-da-da, ba-da-da]

Song ends

(Applause.)

Pipp: (slightly out of breath) So, what do you think? Do you like the song?

Izzy: Pssh! Are you kidding? It’s exactly like the last one, but better.

Pipp: (scoffing good-naturedly) Yeah, well, what can I say? I know my brand.

Izzy: And now I know what I have to do! (planting front hooves on edge of stage) But I’m gonna need to go to the Crystal Brighthouse for supplies!

Pipp: Oh! I’ll go too. (lifting off) I need to write a new hit!

(Izzy is quick to follow. Cut to a long shot of the Brighthouse, its front lawn now clear of craft-related debris, and zoom in slowly to the sound of rummaging from inside. The next shot is a close-up of Zipp’s hooves planted on the floor of the entrance hall amid a scatter of random items being flung into view past them.)

Izzy: (from o.s.) Need this… (Zipp stops a beach ball; tilt up to her irked expression.) …ooh, gotta have this…

(Longer shot: Izzy is ransacking the closet that the white mare got stuck refilling when Hitch bailed out to put Sparky down for a nap. The floor is littered with odds and ends, and the unicorn has her crafting glasses propped on her forehead and is examining something.)

Izzy: And this is extra-necessary. (Tossing it over her shoulder, she continues rooting around.)

Zipp: I literally just finished putting all of that in there.

Izzy: (suddenly panicked) Has anypony seen my crafting glasses?

(They slip neatly into place before her eyes, bringing a relieved gasp.)

Izzy: Never mind. Got ’em! Time to get to work.

(She surveys the blizzard of miscellany as Zipp clears out.)

Izzy: Okay, okay, okay, okay. Now it’s time to make something that’s… (magically shifting supplies around) …better than another thing. Hmmm…

(Cut to an overhead shot of Pipp’s area of the Brighthouse’s shared bedroom and zoom in slowly. She is seated at a desk, working with pencil, paper, and laptop, and a set of headphones is socked in over her ears. Wings are attached to the upper corners of the computer’s open lid, and a rabbit-shaped webcam is clipped to the edge between them. A bit of idle singing comes to a sudden end.)

Pipp: No, no, that isn’t it. (Another few notes.) That is not it!

(A songwriting session, then. She uncorks a frustrated groan and jots down a few notes before her phone beeps and vibrates; picking it up, she finds a text message consisting only of a string of exclamation points.)

Pipp: Oh, oh! A message. I guess I can take a teensy break. (lowering headphones, reading) “When’s your next new hit drop?”

(Those six words are enough to bring a fed-up growl from her throat and send both wings flaring out, but she forces herself to regain her composure just as quickly.)

Pipp: I’ll respond to that later. What I need now is, um…a snack! (tossing phone onto bed) Then make the new hit, then respond.

(She flies off; cut to her midair descent down the ramps that lead between the bedroom and entrance hall. On the start of the next line, zoom out to put Izzy in the fore, her glasses gone.)

Izzy: (groaning) No, that’s not it!

(The pink princess pony drops into a hover behind the artisan, who has set up shop at the arts-and-crafts work area in the back corner. Pipp’s headphones are still down around her neck.) 

Pipp: What’s up, Izzy? (Touch down.)

Izzy: (blowing out a breath, tossing an item away) I can’t decide what to make.

Pipp: Ah. I know what’s wrong. You have creative block.

Izzy: (gasping, horrified) Is it permanent?

Pipp: Well, lucky for you I have the solution. You just need to listen to your fans and do what they want.

Izzy: (smiling) Okay, that’s—that’s brilliant. Did you come up with that when you had creative block?

Pipp: Me? I’ve never had creative block.

Izzy: Well, if you ever do, then you should listen to yourself, ’cause that totally helped. Now, I just have to figure out how to bring all these supplies to the Craft Fair so I can find my inspiration from pony fans.

(She takes this last idea perhaps a bit too literally by holding up a couple of folding fans made from cardboard and Popsicle sticks. Each is decorated with a pony’s face, one of them being Pipp’s.)

Izzy: (deflating, setting them down) Because these…did—they—they didn’t work. (Cut to Pipp; she continues o.s.) Don’t know why.

(A bout of unease grips the pegasus, who picks one up and studies it. Zoom in slowly.)

Pipp: (to herself) Okay…what do I do? I’m so good at solving other ponies’ problems, but not my own. I should just listen to…

(Looking down at the fan she holds, she voices a happy gasp. Cut to her perspective; it is the one with her own likeness.)

Pipp: …myself? (Back to her.) That’s it! (Set it down; pace the floor.) I gotta go to the place that makes my heart sing to find my sound!

(flying off, singing with gusto)        Yeah, yeah, yeah

(A mildly perplexed Izzy stares after her. Cut to the exterior of Mane Melody, zooming in slowly, then to an overhead shot and slow pan across the stage inside. Pipp is singing into a microphone, while stylists Jazz Hooves and Rocky Riff listen from out front, and the camera shifts to frame her in close-up as she reaches for a high note. The attempt falls rather short, though, ending in a breathy wobble and a squeal of feedback from the sound system. She has shed her headphones. This shot picks out Jazz’s cutie mark, not previously seen—a purple polish applicator brush threaded through the ends of a bright pink horseshoe.)

[Animation goofs: Jazz goes from not wearing her bandolier to wearing it during this sequence.]

Jazz: (hesitantly) That was…almost it?

Pipp: (amplified) You’re sweet, but that was so not it!

Jazz: But you’ll get there.

Pipp: (off mic, pacing a bit) Wait, wait! What was that great advice that Izzy gave me that I gave her? (Gasp.) Oh, yeah! “Listen to what the fans want!”

(Pulling out her phone, she is greeted by a video message from Peach.)

Peach: Ooh! Make a new hit! (A swipe brings up Glory.)

Glory: Like the old ones! (Now Seashell.)

Seashell: But different! And better!

Pipp: (crestfallen) That didn’t help. Huh…at least Izzy is having better luck.

(Cut to a close-up of Izzy hunched over a table at the Craft Fair, glasses on and very carefully using her field to string beads of assorted sizes onto a thread. Zoom out slowly.)

Izzy: And ta-daaa!

(As she speaks, the camera cuts to frame her offering the trinket to a customer stallion; he takes it and eyes it critically.)

Customer: Eh, this isn’t the special thing you made before. (tossing it aside, walking off) I’m gonna pass.

Izzy: (crushed) Okay. (trying to perk up) Thanks for being honest!

(The chipper air evaporates with remarkable speed as she flops down among the supplies with a moan.)

Izzy: I am just not feeling it! (Pause.) No, but it’s not about me. Gotta make stuff to please everypony else.

(She idly floats a few yarn balls off the table and regards them. Cut to three patrons at Sunny’s stand, the camera aimed at them from her side of the counter.)

Sunny: (from o.s., passing a drink to each) Here’s your berry-cantaloupe, a tutti-frutti, and a jicama-pear shake. (Cut to her as they pick up their cups and slurp away.) Do you like your smoothies?

Drinker 1: Big flavors!

Drinker 2: Yummy fruit!

Drinker 3: Delicious! (Another mare, a few steps back, is working on one of her own.)

Drinker 4: Tastes like magic!

(Here comes Izzy, levitating a sizable cargo of supplies in her aura as she passes and surprising Sunny greatly. Her glasses are gone.)

Sunny: Uh…uh, be right back.

(She hustles away; cut to the blue-violet mare as she flops wearily onto her table and the gear hits the pavement all around her, a yarn ball impaled on her horn and a few papers stuck to her mane. Sunny hurries over to her.)

Sunny: Uh… (Izzy straightens up with a slightly crazed grin and a twitchy eye.)

Izzy: Do I look desperate?

Sunny: A little.

Izzy: Good, because I am super-desperate and I have no idea what I’m doing. I mean, even my piles aren’t towers anymore! (hanging head; the yarn falls off) Doesn’t it say it all?

Sunny: Don’t you see? (lifting Izzy’s chin) Nopony does it like Izzy does it.

Izzy: Making mess of things [sic]?

Sunny: No! I mean that you can dream up such unique creations because of who you are. Dig deep, and just…go back to your roots.

(Izzy snaps out of her deep blue funk with a gasp, floating the bits of material away from her mane.)

Izzy: Sweet sauce horseshoe toss! Are you saying what I think you are saying?

Sunny: I…yes. Yes, I am.

Izzy: (laughing, pinching Sunny’s cheeks) Thanks, Sunny! You’re the best! Also…happy birthday, friend! Oh, that is so fun to say.

(She retreats to behind her table, supplies bobbing in her magic. Over by Sunny’s stand, Toots, his coworker Sweets, and Windy the pegasus are chatting over a round of drinks. They clear off to reveal Misty a few steps back; she eases closer, crosses from one end of the counter to the other so as not to be spotted by the mare in charge, and stands up to her hind legs for a moment. A quick bit of fishing about, and she has produced a ribbon-wrapped gold compact identical to the one she used to communicate with Opaline in Act One. This is clapped onto the counter, and Misty smiles with no small hint of malice and slips away. This sequence picks out the faintest tinge of pink above her hooves and on her belly, previously not discernible due to low lights, camera angles, and/or shadows.)

(Cut to the exterior of Mane Melody, zooming in slowly as Glory/Peach/Seashell gather at a front window, then to Jazz and Rocky inside, nervously watching them tap on the glass.)

[Animation goof: Jazz starts off wearing her bandolier, but it disappears during the following.]

Jazz: The Pippsqueaks are waiting! (Pipp is still at the stage, now scrutinizing her phone.)

Rocky: But we can’t rush her process.

Pipp: Oh! How about a power ballad? (angrily) No, that’ll never work!

(Zoom in quickly on her cutie mark, whose intense white glow extinguishes itself, then to a greatly perturbed Jazz and Rocky looking on as the three young fans continue their clamor.)

Pipp: (from o.s., voice wavering) Oh, no, no, oh, no… (Back to her, pocketing the phone and choking back a sob.) …I’m finally out of hits!

(Cut to the upper reaches of an imposing set of stained-glass windows in shades of blue and green, accented by a few blue gems dangling from the ceiling. Tilt down and zoom out to frame them on the wall of an expansive room in which Opaline sits on her throne as seen at the end of Chapter One. The windows are framed by vertical bands of gold trim, and the throne itself can now be seen to stand before a circular pool of liquid that is currently glowing purple. The vertically projecting branches on either side of the throne have been lit to serve as torches, projecting an eerie blue light, and the giant purple tree root spilling under the windows has had a ramp cut into it leading upward.  Misty advances into view on the side opposite Opaline.)

Opaline: So nice of you to come home, Misty. You’ve been gone so long— (climbing off throne) —I thought you got lost— (spreading wings) —like the time I rescued you as a filly. So kind of me to do that.

(These motions reveal that her belly and the feathers on the outer edges of her wings are slightly lighter shades of purple than the rest of her body, the former matching the tint around her nose and mouth. Her hooves, by contrast, are a shade darker. Cut to Misty on the end of the previous line, eyes cast to the floor, then back to Opaline.)

Opaline: Well? What have you found?

Misty: Uh…uh…I-I think the stronger magic has something to do with the cutie marks, Opaline.

(Pronounced to rhyme with “gasoline.”)

Opaline: (scornfully, pacing) Don’t think. You sound foolish.

Misty: (hopefully) Maybe if I had one, I could figure it out and— (Opaline leans hard into her face.)

Opaline: Enough! How could the magic have anything to do with cutie marks?

Misty: They glow when it happens! And the earth ponies—they can control the plants!

(By this point, the boss has come to a stop at the edge of the pool. This sequence picks out a side door outlined by a root that traces along the base of the wall.)

Opaline: Hmmm…

(She ignites her horn, causing the liquid to glow pale blue and hazy spots of light to form above its surface. Zoom in slowly.)

Opaline: …new magic. Well, then. Even more reason to begin the plan. And when we’re done…

(Close-up of both mares’ reflections, zooming in slowly; the pool has subsided to a sparkly, glimmering purple.)

Opaline: …you’ll get your cutie mark. And I’ll be even more powerful than I was before!

(Overhead shot of the tableau, the pool now swirling and pale violet/white. Zoom out slowly as she voices a long, exultant laugh, showing the throne room to be circular in shape. Proceeding clockwise, the following features can be seen 90 degrees apart: the main doors, the root-outlined side door, the throne, a dense tangle of roots/trunk taking up nearly a quarter of the wall space. The pool stands in the center of the floor.)

Act Three

(Dissolve to an overhead shot of Sunny’s stand as she preps a smoothie and a unicorn strolls up, then cut to a close-up of the drink-slinger with cup in hoof on the next line.)

Sunny: Mystic Melon from me to you!

(The customer floats it over to himself and walks off, taking a pull with relish. Sunny waves goodbye to him, then notices the compact Misty left on the counter. On the next line, she picks it up and the camera shifts to her perspective as she pulls off the ribbon, then back to her as she finishes.)

Sunny: Awww, Pipp must have left me a surprise birthday gift!

(She turns toward the interior of the stand. Dissolve to the exterior of the Brighthouse, tilting down from lantern room to front lawn; she is hauling her delivery cart up the walk. Zipp is at the closed doors, peering alternately at a sheet of paper stuck to them and at her phone. Sunny shucks off the harness.)

Sunny: Hey, Zipp. (Top of the ramp.) What’s that?

Zipp: (pocketing phone) Izzy left a note. (She pulls the sheet loose and reads.) “BRB”…uh…“FBBB.” What do you think that means?

Sunny: (taking it) I…have no idea. But I hope it’s Izzy-code for being inspired again.

(Dissolve to a stretch of a dirt path that leads across the meadows to the distant Bridlewood.)

Izzy: (galloping along it into view, wearing her glasses) Sunny was right. All I need to do to find my creativity again is go back to my roots. Tree roots! To Bridlewood!

(A butterfly leaves its perch atop a bush and flits after her.)

Izzy: This is great, yeah. (skidding to a stop) Nothing like a creative walk to cure creative block. (Giggle; her perspective of the insect under the cheerful sky.) Fresh air…fluffy clouds… (A bird wings happily into view.) …birds…

(Back to her, pulling in a huge gasp.)

Izzy: Birds!

(Her perspective: the little avian roots on a branch, head overlapping a cloud so that the latter appears to be a hat.)

Izzy: Bird hats! (Back to her.) Hats for birds?

(It chirps its disapproval and clears out.)

Izzy: (head drooping) Yeah, you’re right. That is not it.

(A few pacing steps cause her to run flat into a rusty old motor scooter standing squarely in her way. She falls backward with a gasp, losing her glasses.)

Izzy: Oh, no, another creative roadblock!

(The specs go back on; now she gets a good look at the thing, seeing that the body has been extended to end in a flatbed trailer.)

Izzy: Whoooaaa… (catching herself) …I-I mean, I mean, oh yes!

(Zoom in on her cutie mark, which emits a flare of white, then cut to her perspective as she holds her front hooves up to frame the derelict.)

Izzy: An actual roadblock! (Back to her.) I can work with that!

(She stands up, moves closer, and exerts her field to envelop the whole thing. A moment’s grunting exertion allows her to lift and move it only a few inches before it slams back down to the grass, but a second attempt lets her drag it away alongside herself.)

(Cut to the entrance hall of the Brighthouse, where Sunny and Zipp are pushing in bins loaded with supplies.)

Zipp: You really didn’t have to help me clean up Izzy’s stuff.

Sunny: Oh, I-I don’t mind. (McSnips-a-Lot scuttles past in the background.) I got to spend time with you.

(A coffee mug sails into view and clatters to the floor; Sparky hustles to grab it and is soon joined by a quartet of critters—Hitch’s usual squad, plus a turtle. The little dragon flips the vessel upside down and tries to wear it as a hat, but it slides off the scaly noggin and clinks back down on the tiles. Here comes a rather put-out Hitch to scoop the thing up.)

Hitch: Where is Izzy? She really should be the one to pick up her stuff.

Sunny: Don’t know. (passing Izzy’s note to him) She left a note.

Hitch: (reading, puzzled, putting mug in bin) “BRBFBBB”? Whaaaat? (He gives it back to Sunny.)

Zipp: Sometimes Izzy’s a total mystery. (She whips out her phone and dictates.) “Note to self—learn to speak Izzy-code.”

(The three ponies share a hearty laugh, while Sparky spits out a tiny puff of green flame to envelop the device. The haze clears to reveal that it has become a slice of pizza, which he snatches off Zipp’s hoof; before he can chow down, though, another puff escapes his mouth and turns it back into a phone. He voices a tiny shriek of surprise upon trying to sink his teeth into glass and plastic, then tosses it to the floor and starts crying.)

Hitch: (hunching down to him; he quiets down) I know, Sparky. You love Izzy too.

Sunny: Maybe we should check on her to see if she needs any help? (Hitch stands up.)

Hitch: I’m on it! (to the animals) Deputies, keep an eye out for Izzy.

(Wings and claws snap off salutes, and they clear off to carry out his order—the turtle at a rather slower pace than the other three.)

Hitch: (to it) Uh, maybe you stay here and be our eyes on the ground, Curdle.

Zipp: (smirking) You named him Curdle Turtle?

Hitch: Curdle, yes. But Turtle is his family name.

Zipp: Uh-huh. (dictating, to phone) “New mystery—why did that actually make sense to me?”

(Comes now the sound of the front doors being thrown open; on the start of the next line, cut to Pipp flying in.)

Pipp: I feel terrible! I gave bad advice to Izzy! (She touches down.)

Sunny: (crossing to her, touching her shoulder) You were only trying to help a friend. I’m sure she will come back soon.

Pipp: Oh, no! She’s not here? She’s probably avoiding me!

(The doors have swung closed by this point, but one opens again and the prodigal unicorn’s voice rings out loud and clear. On the next line, Sunny and Pipp turn toward it and back away to give a clear view of her entering and not wearing her glasses.)

Izzy: So, turns out bird hats are not a thing, but guess what I made?

Other four: Izzy?

(Ground level. The turtle, Curdle, points at her with one stubby foreleg to indicate that he has accomplished his mission while Sparky zips across to hug as much of her as he can reach.)

Izzy: (giggling) No, I didn’t make Izzy, sillies. (Tilt up to her face.) I am Izzy.

Sunny: Where have you been? (The doors are again closed.)

Izzy: Didn’t you read my note? (Zipp is now hovering.)

Pipp: (gasping, reading as Sunny holds it) “BRBFBBB”? (Sparky has climbed onto Izzy’s back.)

Izzy: “Be right back from Bridlewood, best buddies.”

Other four: (finally getting it) Ohhhhh!

Zipp: Yeah, I was never gonna crack that one. (Cut to Izzy.)

Izzy: I realized I had to be more creative about being creative. And I needed more supplies. (The entire group on the start of the next line.)

Pipp: So it wasn’t something I said?

Izzy: It was everything you said. You two taught me that in order to feel all sparkly and creative, I just need to be Izzy.

Sunny, Pipp: We did?

Izzy: (indicating Hitch/Zipp) And you two made me realize I had outgrown that little closet. (Zipp touches down.)

Zipp: We didn’t mean to say you weren’t welcome, Izzy.

Hitch: We just didn’t like all your junk everywhere.

(This less-than-tactful admission earns him a hard nudge in the ribs from the athletic mare.)

Hitch: (grunting, winded) Sorry.

Izzy: You ponies were right. My style was cramped, and so it cramped yours too. (dramatically) Sometimes a pony needs open spaces for maximum craftability.

(Her perspective of the other four on the end of this, then back to her.)

Izzy: Look!

(She jumps in place, pivoting to face the doors, and all five head for the lawn. Cut to an overhead shot of them moving along the walk, the day having advanced into late afternoon. Sparky has dismounted and is keeping pace as best he can. The camera follows them and brings a portion of some blocky metallic object into view, toward which Izzy is leading them. As she speaks, the view cuts to her and zooms out to frame the scooter she found during her trip to Bridlewood. It has been fully restored and repainted, and the flatbed has been equipped with a cargo container bearing her cutie mark. Flower accents have been added to the front fender, wheel wells, and flatbed sides.)

Izzy: Presenting…Izzy Does It! (fading away as if echoing) Does It, Does It…

(Sparky is first to applaud and voice his approval.)

Pipp: I love it! (Giddy squeal.) It’s perfection, like, wow. (Giggle, then a perplexed aside to Zipp.) Wait, what is that? (Izzy leaps into the driver’s seat.)

Izzy: My uni-cycling cart.

(Honk the horn, then flip the end and one side wall upward to expose an array of supplies neatly packed into boxes within. The two walls are strung with lights.)

Izzy: My trailer of treasures. (floating out and deploying a folding table) My wagon of whimsy. My—

Sunny: (rolling eyes good-humoredly) —carriage of creativity?

Izzy: Boom! Zing! You got it! (The others laugh.)

Pipp: (crossing to it, pointing out an item) Ooh, what’s this?

(A burst of magic hoists it away and settles it across Izzy’s chest—a bandolier packed with tools and materials.)

Izzy: My crafty sash!

Sunny: Ooh!

Izzy: (pulling out items) Glasses, check. Tape, check. Glitter…whoo! Uh, check.

(The glasses go on, the tape is tossed aside, and a hoof-load of glitter is flung to the wind. Next she crosses back to Pipp, her aura towing an art piece that depicts construction-paper cutouts of Hitch and Sparky.)

Izzy: And a lot of other things I need on the go— (settling it against table) —or even on the stay. (Sparky gabbles gleefully over the thing.)

Pipp: So cool! (pulling out her phone) I need to post about this. (Izzy gasps and whips over to her.)

Izzy: Pipp! You just inspired me! (She grabs the item and gallops away.)

Hitch: You inspired her to steal?

Izzy: (from o.s., distant) I’m just borrowing!

Hitch: That’s okay, then.

Sunny: Yeah, it is. Everything’s okay. A-And, Pipp, I almost forgot. (crossing to her) Thank you for the mirror. I love the alicorn design.

Pipp: (bewildered) Mirror?

Sunny: (pulling out compact) The one you left at my cart this morning.

Pipp: (trying to play it off, with slightly forced giggles) Oh, oh! Right! That one! Yeah, yeah, yeah. Uh, happy birthday, Sunny.

(Zipp pulls out her phone, having bought exactly none of this.)

Zipp: (dictating) “Note to self—Pipp forgot something she bought? Suspicious.”

(Both sisters gather around Sunny, the pink one flipping open the gold lid and the white one having put away the electronics.)

Pipp: Well, try it out, Sunny!

Sunny: Looks great.

(On this last word, the camera cuts to her perspective of the trio reflected in the mirror. Hitch and Izzy pop up behind them, and all five get a good laugh. The next shot is a translucent, bluish-tinted rendition of the tableau projected in midair, behind which Opaline can be seen staring intently. The camera tracks slowly around to frame her clearly in her throne room, the image being projected from the pool, and Misty standing and half-cowering a few paces back.)

Opaline: So these are the weak little ponies that brought back magic?

Misty: Almost like anypony could do it.

Opaline: Sure—if they have a cutie mark.

(Cut to Misty on the end of this, ruefully surveying the lack of said mark on her own haunch. The ethereal visage now changes to show Sunny reaching up toward its top edge, then blacks out in the manner of a windowshade being pulled down, and finally resolves into a long shot of the Brighthouse. Sunny has closed the lid and cut off the video feed from the mirror.)

Opaline: What?!? No! Why did it stop?

Misty: Uh, they went inside. Maybe the Crystal Brighthouse won’t let us watch.

(Cut to its image on the end of this, then back to the two mares; Opaline rounds on her.)

Opaline: Did you just make that up? (Pace the floor.)

Misty: I was just guessing.

Opaline: Well, stop—because you don’t know what you’re talking about. They must have put a cloaking enchantment on the Brighthouse.

Misty: Like the one that used to be around Equestria.

Opaline: (thoughtfully) If it won’t let me see the inside from here…

(Cut to the image as she speaks, zooming in, then back to her.)

Opaline: …then one of my allies must find a way in.

Misty: (smiling hopefully) Me?

Opaline: Don’t be presumptuous, Misty. It’s unbecoming.

(She strides away as the unicorn’s mood deflates. Dissolve to an overhead shot of Sunny, Hitch, Pipp, and Zipp seated around a table in the dining room, which is strewn with balloons. All but Sunny are wearing party hats, and Sparky sits on the table; he and the ponies are set to dig into slices of cake. Sunny utters a giddy squeal as the camera zooms in slowly; on the next line, cut to Sparky and tilt up to her.)

Sunny: This has been the best birthday in moons! Thanks, everypony! And I’m so happy Izzy’s back and inspired again. (Pan to Pipp.)

Pipp: (strained tone) So am I. (Her airy giggle trails off into a weary sigh.) But there’s still one problem.

Hitch: What’s that?

Pipp: I haven’t figured out my new hit song. It just hasn’t clicked. (Bang of front doors opening.)

Izzy: (from o.s.) PIIIIIIIPP!!

(Cut to her on the end of this, wheeling in a record player topped by a bobblehead of a dancing pony; Pipp’s phone has been inserted in a slot by the turntable. Izzy is not wearing her glasses or “crafty sash.”)

Izzy: Try this out!

Pipp: (smiling) Huh?

(She flies across to the rig and taps the screen.)

Same tempo/key and basic melody as in Act One, muffled

Synth/percussion accents added for an energetic shuffle feel

Pipp: (recorded, muted)        [All you need is your beat]

Had my head in the clouds

                                But now I pega-see

(Next four lines are spoken over the previous three.)

Pipp: Izzy, it’s my old song, but it’s…

Izzy: Oh, yeah.

Pipp: …uni-cycled? Um, genius!

Izzy: Sing it, Pipp!

Music goes to normal volume

(Sunny, Hitch, and Zipp leave the table to get in on the fun, and the eighth notes on Pipp’s haunch light up as she sings into a microphone.)

Pipp:                                Glowing hooves, all the earth po-onies

                                Unicorn lights beneath the trees

(Even Sparky, still on the table, starts to groove.)

                                We’re not just one [not one, not one]

(She takes flight, a streamer of pinkish light trailing from her mark.)

                                It’s you and me [it’s you and me]

(spoken in rhythm)                [Ponies living large]

(Cut to just outside one window and zoom out to frame the Brighthouse in a long overhead shot.)

(sung)                                In unity-ty-ty-ty [Oh-h-h-h]

                                All you need is your beat

Song ends

GROWING PAINS

Written by Julia Prescott

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: a peaceful early morning on Mane Street in Maretime Bay, punctuated by a bird flying by and ponies setting up shop for the day as Hitch Trailblazer strolls the block.)

Hitch: It’s another beautiful day in Maretime Bay, where the sun is shining— (Two pegasi swoop past.) —the pegasi are flying— (He waves to a hat shop owner.) —and practically nothing could go— (stopping short) —wrong?!?

(Cut to a long shot of the front entrance to his office and zoom in slowly. A contrite Dahlia is regarding the doors, which are overgrown with vines.)

Dahlia: Oh, sorry, Hitch. (He steps up.) I was actually trying to open the door for you. (Sheepish giggle.) I know you don’t like magic.

Hitch: (trying to play it off) Whaaaat? Me not like magic? Pfffft! I’m totally cool with it now.

(The mollified mare goes on her way, while Kenneth chirps frantically to get the boss’s attention.)

Hitch: What, Kenneth?

(A tap of one wing against the other, as if pointing to a nonexistent wristwatch, and Hitch catches on.)

Hitch: (galloping off) Oh, you’re right! I’m already late for my morning rounds!

(Kenneth flies off in pursuit; after a few steps, a trio of filly voices stops Hitch in his tracks.)

Filly voices: Good morning, Sheriff Hitch!

(Looking in their general direction, he voices a strangled yelp of shock; cut to Glory, Peach Fizz, and Seashell all having run afoul of a fresh bit of oversized plant growth. The first two have been snared by their midsections and are dangling upside down; the third is precariously balanced on the topmost shoot. He addresses this one.)

Hitch: I mean, great job, Seashell! (reaching up to them) Here, uh, let me help you! (A moment later, he has all three on the pavement.)

Seashell: Thanks! We were actually stuck.

Glory: Magic is pretty wild, huh?

Hitch: (on the edge of blowing his cool) Too wild, if you ask me.

Peach: Oh, no! Are you upset?

Hitch: Me? Upset? About magic? Never! (Expectant smiles on all three young faces.)

Seashell: So…we can use all the magic we want, then? No rules? No holding back? (A knowing giggle to her friends.)

Hitch: (rattled) You were holding back? Um…of course!

Fillies: (voices raised) Hitch said, use all the magic you want! Don’t hold back, everypony!

(These words carry loud and clear to every resident within earshot, as demonstrated by their smiles and gasps when the camera cuts here and there on the end of this line. A quick tilt up shifts the view along the path leading uphill to the Canterlogic factory and stops on a trio of stallions working near the front entrance. Two of them are wearing hard hats, and one of these is also wielding a pushbroom; a close-up frames him as Sprout Cloverleaf, Hitch’s deputy who took his assignment just a bit too far in A New Generation. Evidently he has opted for a change of vocation. The other hard hat wearer is holding a clipboard and looking over it with the bareheaded one.)

Sprout: (boastfully) My magic’s probably the most powerful in the bay. You want to see?

Hard hat stallion: Does it involve sweeping? If not, then no, Sprout!

(Deflated, the red janitor taps a front hoof against the paving stones. Both that appendage and its mate take on a faint green glow, and sparks kindle around the one in contact with the ground. Nothing more happens, though, and his two coworkers throw him derisive smirks and walk off.)

Sprout: Honest! Uh, just need to warm up.

(A few more taps cause a vine to erupt from the grass behind him, weighted down with glimmering purple berries roughly twice his size. He whirls to face this.)

Sprout: Uh-oh. That’s a new feature.

(The creaking of one stem prompts him to drop his broom and bug out with a cry of fear, just in time to avoid being crushed by a berry when it breaks loose and rolls downhill after him.)

Sprout: (shoving past his coworkers, galloping o.s.) My magic is too powerful! RUUUUNNNN!! (They spot the behemoth and race off.)

Clipboard stallion: IT’S EVERYPONY FOR THEMSELVES!!

(During this line, cut to Hitch as he takes note of the disturbance, then back to all three workers screaming and scrambling to stay ahead. The berry ricochets back and forth off the built-up curbs that line the path, then knocks one barrel off a stack at its base.)

Hitch: (gasping) BERRY ATTACK!! This is not a drill!

(Mayhem ensues as the rolling purple mass bounces its way along Mane Street and Hitch gallops just ahead of it. The camera retreats far enough from the hill to show that the factory rooftop has been stripped of the giant replica of Phyllis Cloverleaf’s eyeglasses that adorned it in A New Generation.)

Hitch: Out of the way!

(He fails to notice a wheeled bin directly in his path until he has crashed into it and fallen in headfirst, his momentum now carrying him along the trolley tracks. Now it is his turn to yell and veer crazily every which way, sending ponies diving for cover to avoid a collision. The bin hits a dropped book, flinging him out so that he lands spreadeagle on the roadbed, and he yelps upon seeing the berry coming right for him. It runs into the capsized bin, launching itself into a graceless arc, and a now-upright Hitch has time for one terrified yell as he realizes that he is at its terminus.)

(Cut to a couple of ponies nearby. There is the sound of an almighty splat from o.s., and a wave of glittery purple goop washes past to miss them both by a fragment of a fraction. Hitch sits up, having taken a direct and feeling very much out of sorts, as the other bird in his squad—the one not wearing a tin can—perches briefly on his head.)

Hitch: (flopping down wearily) Yep. Just another beautiful day in Maretime Bay.

(Snap to black.)

OPENING THEME

Act One

(Cut from the title card directly to Sunny Starcount’s smoothie stand. The side panel flips upward to open the serving window and expose her at the counter within as Hitch trudges past. She stifles a giggle as he crosses to his vine-choked office doors; cut to his reflection in the glass panes as hers appears alongside. The hour is somewhat later than it was in the prologue, based on the blue sky.)

Sunny: Oh, wish I’d been around earlier! Sounds like you made a real impact! (Laugh; zoom out to frame both.)

Hitch: (dryly) Ha, ha. Laugh all you want, Sunny, but fruit juice funk can stay in your mane for weeks.

Sunny: (nudging a tendril) This plant-powered magic is something special. Growing stuff at the stomp of a hoof? Incredible! (Hitch groans and starts to pull them loose.)

Hitch: More like incredibly unpredictable. (Close-up.) I mean, we don’t even know all that it can do yet. (The bird perches on his head.)

Sunny: (from o.s.) Well, we know enough, like… (It pecks at the mush on one ear.) …you seem to be the only pony who can talk to animals.

(On the end of this line, it flies off and the camera cuts to a long shot of the pair as it roosts atop the stand.)

Sunny: But have you tried to grow anything yet?

Hitch: To be honest, I’m afraid to after this morning.

Sunny: Come on. You can’t judge all earth pony magic on one little mishap.

(A particularly tenacious vine snaps under Hitch’s sustained pulling so that he topples backward, yelling all the way to Sunny’s stand. The impact jolts the side panel loose to swing down and conk him squarely in the brain bucket; she utters a cry of surprise, and he pushes the panel up with a pained sigh while the bird flutters clear.)

Hitch: Maybe you just need to see the scene of the slime for yourself.

(The avian lands on his head and gets to pecking at the juicy goodness mashed into his mane. Cut to a close-up of a warning sign planted on the Canterlogic grounds—a pony about to be crushed by a giant falling berry—and zoom out on the next line to frame it next to the vine Sprout raised, which has now been fenced off. The camera motion brings him, Sunny, and Hitch into view on the walk.)

Sprout: I swear, I don’t know what happened! All I did was stomp like this.

(He clomps a front hoof against the stone a few times, kindling green light in all four. The vine suddenly becomes wreathed in dark green smoke and begins to expand, cracking the timbers of the fence.)

Hitch: Stop the stomping! (Sprout does so.) First, Maretime Bay was shook up with magic and I said nothing. (Long shot of them during this sentence, then back afterward; he nudges a leaf.)

Sunny: Uh, that’s not true. You actually said a lot.

Hitch: Then earth pony magic came. (pacing) Now I’m saying something. (gazing over the town; close-up) I keep this place safe, and it’s too dangerous without rules. (Back to Sunny on the following; she prods a berry.)

Sunny: But if our magic can produce produce this perfect, there might be no limit to what we can do. We can’t cut off a whole planet of possibilities.

Hitch: More like a cosmos of calamities!

Sunny: (groaning, rolling eyes) But how are the earth ponies gonna grow and learn, and learn to grow, with restrictions?

(As she finishes, there is a clatter from o.s. and the camera cuts to Sprout, who has been rooting in a nearby barrel. The action has stirred up a puff of dust, which triggers a sneeze and a fresh burst of green energy in his hooves; magic vines snake along the stones of the front walk and into his berry plant, causing it to grow another size or three and break through its fence. Sunny lets off a yelp, and she and Hitch duck to avoid catching a flying wood fragment with their heads. Sprout is not so lucky, but his hard hat spares him from getting the back of his skull caved in.)

Sunny: (laughing sheepishly) Uh, just consider what I’m saying before you jump to any conclusions.

Hitch: (sighing heavily) I’ll think about it. (as she wipes goop off his chest) But the safety of ponies in Maretime Bay is my top priority.

(She licks her hoof as he strides resolutely away, leaving smudges on her lips.)

Sunny: Mmmm!

(Now she sits and pulls out the compact that Misty left for her in “Izzy Does It.” Flipping open the lid, she uses its mirror to get a good look at herself so she can go after the last spots with her tongue. Cut to a close-up projection of her face above the pool within Opaline’s throne room.)

Opaline: (gasping, hurrying into view) Misty, quick! (The young unicorn joins her.) That alicorn is using the mirror we gave her! Soon her magic will be—

(Sunny finishes her grooming and closes the lid, blacking out the image; it instantly shifts to present an overhead view of her leaving Canterlogic.)

Opaline: (vexed) —teasing us as it trots away! (The projection vanishes; she paces a bit.) Why has she barely used it? If it was me, I’d have checked my pout every minute, on the minute.

Misty: And what a pout it is, Opaline! Equal parts chilling and charming.

Opaline: Don’t pander to me, Misty—(regarding her reflection in the pool) —even though you are right. (She ignites her horn.) Well, now it’s time for me to tell you to do something else.

Misty: (fearfully) Uhhh…

(Cut to five index cards attached to a bulletin board with thumbtacks. Each depicts a different aspect of pony magic—wings, horn, growing vines, hooves glued to the ground, and one that is obscured by Hitch’s hoof as he shifts its position. Cut to him in his office, holding a stack of additional cards and now clean of berry pulp.)

Hitch: (tacking up some of these) Creating an inventory of all magic types…limiting magic to the magic hour of dusk… (The next one has a bite taken from one corner.) …a card that’s bit in half… (noticing this) …hey!

(The sound of chomping is heard close by, and the camera shifts and re-focuses to pick out Sparky Sparkeroni on the floor. Having eaten part of another card, he drops it and waddles over to a table set with two coffee mugs; these are promptly knocked over as soon as he climbs up, and Hitch hurries over to him while one clatters to the tiles. The board rests on an easel.)

Hitch: Sparky, careful!

(The dragon makes his way to the board; now the fifth card can be clearly seen—a wave of energy.)

Hitch: Sparky, come here. You won’t be in trouble, I promise.

(Sparky immediately puts those words to the test by upending the easel; Hitch voices a yell of surprise and scrambles after him.)

Hitch: Sparky, wait! (scooping him up) Sparky, no dragon fire!

(This last comes just as the little guy exhales a burst of flame that disintegrates into a shower of sparks. He gurgles happily as Hitch sighs with relief and smiles.)

Hitch: (nuzzling him) Aw, I can’t be mad at you, Mr. Sparkeroni. You’re just too cute!

(The affectionate moment is interrupted by the sound of the opening door and an electronic chime. Sparky jumps free with an enthusiastic gabble and zeroes in on a trash bin next to Hitch’s desk; the Sheriff makes a grab for him, but is a hair too slow. Cut to Sparky’s perspective, approaching the bin.)

Hitch: Oh, no, no, Sparky, don’t!

(Cut to him on the end of this, then to the container being flung into the air. Too stunned to move, Hitch can only gasp as the refuse rains down over the office and the bin lands upside-down on his head.)

Hitch: (sourly, reverberating slightly) Love being a dragon dad.

(Pan slightly to fully frame the open doors; the overgrowth has been cleared away, and Izzy Moonbow stands at the threshold.)

Izzy: Whoa. That was so funny! (Sparky waves the receiver from the desk telephone.) And also, you may need some help? (Hitch pulls the bin off his head.)

Hitch: (coughing) Whatever gave you that idea? (He shakes trash out of his mane and sets the phone back in place as Sparky wanders off.) Sparky’s been excitable lately. (Replace the receiver.) He was a hoof-ful already… (Show her a gnawed length of wood.) …but he’s literally chomped through my desk.

(Izzy fires up her horn and levitates the stool on which Sparky is now chewing.)

Izzy: Awww, he’s just adding his flair to the furniture. Aren’t you, Sparky? (floating it to Hitch; he pulls Sparky free) You know, if you ever needed a dragon-sitter, I’d be happy to look after him.

Hitch: Wow! Really, Izzy? That’d be great!

(Kenneth, just outside, voices his opinion .A few ponies have begun to gather here, and a lectern with microphone has been set up.)

Hitch: Kenneth, I know. I know. It’s already time for my town hall. (Pass Sparky to Izzy.) Thanks, Izzy. You’re the best. And this helps me out a lot. If you need anything for Sparky, there’s a comprehensive list of do’s, don’ts, and potential threats and dangers. (exiting) See you later! I’ll be outside.

Izzy: (puzzled) Potential threats and dangers? (to Sparky) What’s so dangerous about you?

(He proceeds to burp up another sparkly little gout of flame. Meanwhile, the crowd outside the office has grown a notch and now includes Sunny, Pipp Petals, and Zipp Storm. Hitch steps up to the lectern and speaks into the microphone, his next four lines amplified and underscored by a couple of feedback squeals.)

Hitch: Hello! I know we started the day with a pretty disastrous—I mean, magical morning. (Clear throat; consult some notes.) After surveying the recent magical changes in Maretime Bay and the messy ways they’ve disrupted our daily lives, I have decided there will be…

(Cut here and there among the crowd during his last sentence, then back to him.)

Hitch: …no use of earth pony magic! (A collective stunned gasp; he slams down his notes.) Whatsoever! (A louder gasp; back to him as he continues.) Until I’ve collected enough data from all of you to form proper regulations and guidelines.

(A third, still louder gasp, accompanied by the fainting of one audience member; back to him on the next line.)

Hitch: I assure you, this is all for your own safety. We don’t know what’s possible with earth pony magic yet. Until I’ve taken proper inventory of every flight, float, flora, and fauna power…

(Cut to an eye-rolling, disgustedly groaning Sunny on the end of this, then back to him.)

Hitch: …magic is off limits! That is all.

(The crowd disperses amid a wave of disappointed/resentful grumbling, leaving Sunny and the two Zephyr Heights royals alone in the street. Sunny summarizes her opinion of this new edict with a snarl that is one step away from a full-blown roar of rage as the camera zooms in slowly.)

Act Two

(Extreme close-up of an apple core on the ground. On the start of the next line, cut to frame Hitch picking it up as the three mares cross to him.)

Sunny: I thought you said you weren’t gonna do anything drastic!

Hitch: (angrily throwing it into a trash can) No, I said I would think it over. (pacing) And my thoughts are telling me it’s bad and it’s only gonna get worse if I don’t step up!

Sunny: (groaning) But earth pony magic is powerful!

Hitch: Exactly! (They pass a stallion stacking boxes.) What’s gonna happen if we have more mishaps? (The topmost one slides free; he catches it and flips it back into place.) It’s my job to make sure everypony is safe!

Sunny: Earth ponies need to practice, like th-the pegasi and unicorns had to.

(They stop upon reaching Glory, Peach, and Seashell caught up in a new bit of wild vine growth. This time, the unicorn is up top while the earth pony and pegasus are hanging upside down. A beach ball, radio, and set of headphones have also been snagged alongside the three giggling youngsters. Hitch is not amused in the slightest.)

Sunny: Growing pains. They’ll get it.

Hitch: (to the fillies) Guessing you ponies were too tied up for the town hall earlier? (He pulls out some stickers.) Just a little reminder…

(Close-up of each one’s foreleg in turn as he slaps one onto it—a stylized white leaf on a blue background, covered by a red circle-and-slash.)

Hitch: (from o.s.) …of the new rules.

(A tripartite groan of disappointment.)

Zipp: Sunny has a point, Hitch. (The fillies, now freed, depart.) It’s too early to know if earth pony magic is anything to worry about.

Hitch: Look. (crossing to a dropped soda can) I’m part of the reason earth pony magic is here now. What if I become the reason earth ponies get hurt? (resolutely, picking up can) As Sheriff, I can’t let that happen.

(It is dropped into a trash can. Cut to the refilled bin in his office, from which Sparky cheerfully bursts upward to scatter the contents anew. It flips onto its side, dumping him out as well, and Izzy pivots to watch him running about the place.)

Izzy: Oh, come on, Sparky! Hey, you hungry? (Gasp.) What about food? (slyly) Will that calm you down?

(Cut to him on this last, the mere mention bringing him to a halt, then back to the pair.)

Izzy: Whoa! Guess that’s a yes. (She leads him toward a coffee maker.) I am great at this!

(A celebratory hoot escapes her lips as she opens the cabinets, finding no food right away but uncovering a hoof-written list taped to a small television set under the counter.)

Izzy: (reading) “Play me.” Well, I have never said no to a talking TV before. Sure.

(When it is switched on, an image of Sparky’s face fills the screen and is quickly replaced by one of Hitch.)

Hitch: If you’re watching this, then you are dragon-sitting Sparky. (Cut to Izzy, scooping Sparky up; he is heard on speaker.) Here’s some important things to know.

(Back to the screen on the following; now Hitch stands by an image of Sparky that cycles through the various activities he names, with a red circle-and-slash backdrop for the latter.)

Hitch: (rapid fire) Sparky is prone to grunting, grubbing, grabbing things that aren’t his, running, racing, wilding out around the office until you’ve exhausted all reasons for why he could be running in the first place, and by that time he’s already resting in a dragon nap.

(During this spiel, the camera cuts to a now-befuddled Izzy, then back to Hitch for its end; Sparky ends up snoozing on a stuffed McSnips-a-Lot doll and the circle/slash is gone. The next shot frames the Sheriff alone.)

Hitch: Experiencing drowsiness while dragon-sitting is normal, though if fire-breathing occurs, consult the list of foods, fire safety, and fun suggestions as well as Sparky’s safety schedule, located in the cabinet to your left.

(Accompanied by a gesture in that direction. Back to Izzy and Sparky, the former shaking her head clear.)

Izzy: Food list! That sounds like a good start. (approaching camera) Now, where’s that cabinet? (Setting Sparky on the counter, she fishes up a rolled document.)

Hitch: (on speaker) Be careful not to cross out any items on the Sparky schedule. (The little fellow climbs down.) It’s important he does everything in order.

(When unfurled, the sheet proves to reach from Izzy’s shoulder height all the way to the floor, to her consternation. Back to the TV on the next line.)

Hitch: Don’t let him eat before sleeping. Don’t let him sleep before eating. (Izzy again; he is heard on speaker.) Don’t let him do this all unsupervised.

Izzy: Huh? Even if he asks me to? (The screen.)

Hitch: Especially if he asks you to! He’s a baby dragon. He doesn’t know any better. You’re the one in charge.

(That assertion is immediately challenged when the unicorn glances down and finds her ward chomping into some cookies he has procured.)

Izzy: Well…you seem happy and nothing bad has happened. (sitting, reading over list) I’m sure this is nothing to worry about.

(Zoom in quickly on Sparky, who cranks off a fiery little belch that turns his last cookie into three large blue-violet feathers. These disintegrate into clouds of sparks upon touching the ground, leaving him with no more treats and lowering his mood somewhat.)

(Cut to Sunny, Hitch, and Zipp on the front walk of a house with a nautical décor theme, including a seashell-decorated garden and a boat anchor standing upright on the lawn. The fact that Dahlia is with them marks it as hers. Zoom in slowly; Zipp hovers above the others.)

Zipp: This is a controlled magic experiment to collect data, Dahlia.

(Head-on view as she finishes; she has her cell phone at the ready, while Hitch has sat down with notepad and pencil in hoof.)

Zipp: Just muster your magic in a little burst.

(Dahlia’s hooves glow green, and she exhales slowly and touches one to a patch of stone in the walk. A flash of light in this same color forces the three observers to shield their eyes for a moment as the camera cuts back to them.)

Hitch: Whoa! Dahlia? Where’d you go?

(A small pillar of flowers in various hues now stands directly in front of them, about their height and with one of Dahlia’s widened eyes peeking out from within. Enough of the blooms fall away to expose her face—she has managed to cover herself with them.)

Dahlia: (slightly congested) Is now the time I mention I’m allergic to gardenias?

(A hearty sneeze sends a few rocketing toward them; shaking his head, Hitch steps forward and pastes a “no magic” sticker on her uncovered foreleg. Sunny rolls her eyes and voices a fed-up groan in response. Cut to the exterior of Hitch’s office, seen from across the street; zoom in slowly to the sound of Sparky’s gleeful babbling, then cut to him jumping off a desk inside and crashing into an o.s. trash can. Junk once again ends up strewn across the floor as he races across, laughing all the while. One step knocks over a pushbroom, whose handle comes down on a file folder at the edge of a counter; a stapler resting on this is catapulted into the air and falls onto the light housing of a fluorescent desk lamp. The housing spins on its pivot as the entire lamp swings around, allowing several pencils and markers to be knocked out of the mug in which they are held. The writing implements sail through space and bounce off a binder at one end of a row stored on a bookshelf; the whole lot tips over, and the one at the other end falls into a bowl of fruits and vegetables on the floor. The impact flings the contents every which way, mostly toward Izzy, and she has just enough time to gasp and lower her head before one tomato impales itself on her horn.)

Izzy: (sternly, shaking if off) Sparky! Don’t do that again.

(He whimpers a bit; she instantly brightens and pulls out her phone.)

Izzy: Unless I’m around to film it! (He burbles joyfully.) Now, do it again, but wilder. (She follows his darting away.) Let your freaky fun flag fly, Sparky! Fly!

(A few pieces of trash do exactly that. Cut to an extreme close-up of a watermelon seed on a table; on the next line, zoom out to frame Sunny, Hitch, and Zipp regarding both it and a slice of the fruit with some puzzlement. They are back on Mane Street, and Hitch has stowed his pad and pencil.)

Zipp: And what’s your magic?

(The next shot reveals that she is addressing an earth pony stallion on the other side of the table. He lights a hoof and touches the seed; an instant later, it has transformed into a whole melon. Zipp lowers her phone and takes the slice being offered to her, a bit of magic causing it to become several more melons that fly in all directions. Hitch is so thrown off by this display of split-second agriculture that he topples over with a yell and needs a moment to pull himself back up to the table.)

Hitch: (dryly) Perfect. Great.

(Cut to the stallion, who gets a sticker gummed onto his forehead.)

Hitch: (from o.s.) Don’t do it again.

(Cut to a close-up of Sparky, whooping but then becoming noticeably queasy as he sits on an office chair whirling in place at absurd speed.)

Izzy: (from o.s.) That’s the spirit! (Cut to her, phone put away; he barrels past, scattering drawings.) Abandon all order! Dazzle with destruction! (Extreme close-up of her mouth, zoom out to an overhead shot.) Express yourself to the extreme!

(Close-up of a hapless earth pony mare who has found herself caught in a rearing position by the vines that have grown up from the sidewalk.)

Mare 1: I…

(Zoom out; the three investigators are watching, and she manages an embarrassed little giggle before Hitch brings up one of his stickers.)

Hitch: Don’t do it again.

(Before he can apply it to her, a rather thicker tendril snakes in and begins to wrap itself around one of his hind legs.)

Hitch: Huh?

(He shakes it away and puts the sticker on her foreleg. The appendages of two other locals are given the same treatment in close-up, the second one glowing and sparking.)

Zipp: (from o.s.) Look at their hooves!

(Zoom out quickly; the owner of said hoof turns out to be Posey, and the block is littered with jumbo produce. Sunny and Zipp throw concerned glances past the camera.)

Sunny: They’re all glowing!

(Cut to a meadow on this line; one pony sprouts a vine, while another touches a tree and causes it to begin cycling through a number of vivid colors.)

Sunny: (voice over) And…fizzing? (Pan to bring Pipp and Jazz Hooves into view.)

Jazz: (confusedly) O…kay? This is officially getting weird.

(Pipp breaks out her phone to record the incident, but a flare of green draws both mares’ attention to the ground. They find themselves being raised a considerable distance up from it in close-up; the stylist cries out and shakes a foreleg in a vain attempt to dispel its magic.)

Jazz: I didn’t even want to do that!

(A longer shot on this line discloses that they are now balanced atop a bush. However, the odd situation does not stop her from making a silly face right alongside Pipp as the latter snaps a “selfie” photo of them both. Sunny, Hitch, and Zipp gather at the bottom of the hill leading up to Canterlogic, Zipp checks her phone, while Hitch pulls out his notepad.)

Hitch: See? I just need to plan and plot out a perfectly thought-out list of precautions, all before you ponies can say “presto.”

(Cut to the two mares during this line, trading a look that might best be translated as “is he serious?”, then back to him as he finishes. Zipp has stashed her phone. Behind him, Mayflower and Posey inadvertently raise a giant flower and a vine, respectively.)

Sunny, Zipp: (hastily) Presto! Presto! (Hitch has put his pad away.)

Hitch: Ha, ha. I didn’t mean literally.

Sunny: (pointing past him) No, Hitch, the ponies! They’re—

Hitch: —safe and protected, now that we’ve put a stop to this. You’ll see.

Jazz: (from o.s.) MAGIC IS OUT OF CONTROL AGAIN!!

(On the latter part of this line, cut to her galloping wildly through the street toward the three, with Pipp flying alongside. A massive tomato rolls past in the background, ignoring all traffic regulations. The two stop, the Princess landing and proffering her phone.)

Pipp: And I have video proof!

(Its screen shows the color-changing tree, with a pair of low-resolution sunglasses superimposed on it and jittering back and forth.)

Pipp: In a sassy sparkle filter, too. I know, the sunglasses are a great touch, right? The Pippsqueaks made it just for me. (Cut to Sunny/Hitch/Zipp.)

Hitch: Why didn’t you try to tell me?!
Zipp: (pointing toward Jazz) I think it has something to do with the glowing hooves. (Back to the two new arrivals on this last; Jazz’s hooves have fired up again.)

Pipp: Not a good look, Jazz!

(Hitch raises a front hoof and taps his chin thoughtfully, but it takes a nudge from Sunny before he realizes that the effect has reached him as well. He screams in fright.)

Hitch: What does this mean?

Zipp: It’s gotta be the built-up earth pony magic. (Cut to him eyeing his hoof; she continues o.s.) I don’t think you’re supposed to keep it all in!

Hitch: (ruefully) I was wrong. I shouldn’t have put a pause on earth pony magic.

Sunny: Oh, I’m so happy to hear you say that! I-I’ve been trying to tell you—

Hitch: I should have gone straight to the Unity Crystals! When ponies united and the Unity Crystals were created, everypony got their magic! Maybe if we remove the earth pony one—

Sunny: What?!? No! That’s not what I meant.

Hitch: You were right, Sunny. Earth pony magic is powerful! Too powerful! We never had it before! Why do we need it now? Come on!

(He gallops off; a helpless glance passes between Sunny and Zipp before they give chase. Sunny is first to catch up to the single-minded stallion.)

Sunny: The Crystals aren’t the problem! But maybe if we interviewed everypony again, we could figure it out!

Hitch: There’s nothing left to figure out! This is the only way to keep Maretime Bay safe!

Sunny: (growling) Rash decisions don’t keep anypony safe!

(A mare shrieks and peels out after creating a mass of giant flowers, but Sunny and Hitch continue their charge, Hitch coughing and sneezing to clear his lungs of the ensuing pollen cloud. Pipp and Zipp have both gone airborne and pulled even, the former with phone at the ready.)

Hitch: Look around! We have to try and reset those crystals soon, or else… I don’t want to know “or else”!

(Cut to the bars of the holding cell in his office. Sparky leaps into view and grabs on, then vaults away to a shelf and knocks all its binders off before somersaulting onto a desk right in front of Izzy.)

Izzy: Ah! Did Zipp teach you that, Sparky? (Rumble from outside.) Huh?

(She turns toward the source as Sparky burps fire over the phone, turning it into an ice cream cone that he eagerly begins to devour. Lifting one of the windowshades on the front doors, his temporary caretaker is met with a vista of plant-based chaos up and down Mane Street—and her four friends galloping/flying toward the Crystal Brighthouse in the far distance.)

Izzy: Hmmm…that looked more serious than a simple trot through town. (She opens one door and calls after them.) Hey, friends! Wait up!

(Before she can start after them, here comes an exhausted Sparky to hug one foreleg.)

Izzy: (baby talk) Awww, looks like you got all your energy out— (normal tone) —and right on time! Izzy has to pop out real quick, but if you’re good while I’m gone, I’ll…

(Inspiration strikes; she gaps deeply and picks up a little McSnips-a-Lot squeaky toy.)

Izzy: …uni-cycle your very own racetrack.

(Sparky coos at the thought and squeezes the rubber crab once she passes it to him. Now Kenneth waddles into the office.)

Izzy: Thought you’d like that. Okay, Kenneth— (Her perspective, pushing him closer to Sparky.) —you’re in charge! (Back to her.) Watch Sparky for just a moment.

(Her perspective again on this last; the feathered “deputy” salutes.)

Izzy: Okay. (To her, backing out the door.) Good dragon. Stay right there. BRB!

(“Be right back,” that is; she turns and bolts down the street, the door swinging shut behind her. Cut to a long shot of the Brighthouse, tilting slowly up to its lantern room; on the start of the next line, cut to a slow pan across Hitch watching the Unity Crystals up here.)

Hitch: Taking the Earth Pony Crystal out is the only way to keep everypony safe from this mayhem! (The motion brings Zipp into view; he reaches for them.)

Zipp: Whoa, whoa! Slow your roll. (He stops.) You don’t know that.

(The next shot frames Sunny and Pipp across the room, Pipp having put her phone away.)

Sunny: Removing a crystal is not like flipping a switch! We could lose everything! (To Hitch as she finishes.)

Hitch: But if we don’t try something, we could still lose everything!

(To the newly arrived Izzy and Pipp on the end of this, then back to him, once again reaching for the assembly.)

Sunny: (pleadingly) Hitch…no.

(His hoof edges closer…closer still…and then a shock wave ripples through the multi-hued radiance surrounding the Crystals and he freezes in place. Long pause.)

Hitch: What am I doing? (withdrawing the hoof) You’re…right. This isn’t me. (Relieved/exasperated sigh from Sunny.) Guess I’m just… (backing off; the Crystals rise) …scared and unsure. Magic doesn’t operate by any rules. Rules are what I know! What if I can’t be the Sheriff everypony needs now?

Sunny: You’ll always be a strong sheriff, Hitch, because you care.

Hitch: I’m sorry, everypony. I just love Maretime Bay so much. But maybe having less magic isn’t the answer.

Zipp: But we’re gonna find out what is the answer, right?

Hitch: (smiling) Yeah! (Next three lines overlap.)

Sunny: Of course!

Izzy: Yep!

Pipp: You bet.

(The five ponies find their cutie marks glowing and ribbons of energy in pastel shades of their coat colors snaking up toward the Crystals.)

Sunny: (flabbergasted) Our cutie mark magic is…combining?

(Cut to the Crystals at their elevated height, behind which an enlarged, translucent image of Twilight Sparkle is forming above the central lift platform of the lantern room. Five gasps float up from the o.s. friends as they take in the spectacle; cut to them.)

Pipp: What filter is that?

Zipp: It’s not a filter. It’s…

(Cut to the image, rippling with static, then to Sunny on the start of the next line.)

Sunny: (mind completely blown) Twilight Sparkle!

Act Three

(Twilight’s voice reverberates slightly in the space.)

Twilight: If you’re seeing this, magic is now more powerful than it’s ever been— (Sunny and Hitch; he eyes his glowing hoof as the mare continues o.s.) —and earth pony magic has been activated for the first time in the history of Equestria.

(Back to her.)

Twilight: Magic is alive, always changing, growing stronger. (To Izzy/Zipp; she continues o.s. as Zipp brings up her phone to record video.) There are evil forces out there who will want to exploit it. (Back to her.) Once a pony tried to steal all the magic in Equestria for herself, and almost succeeded. (glitching briefly) I did all that I could to protect from—by summoning all of my magical strength to achieve placing the magic in the Crystals and the—but the spell is broken. You are exposed to the world once again. You must watch out for o—before she—op—I’m with you.

(The image winks out; Zipp stows her phone.)

Zipp: No! Come back!

(An ominous rumbling spooks all five of them back to the here and now; from the balcony, they can all too clearly see the gargantuan vines that are overrunning Maretime Bay proper.)

Hitch: (to himself, resolutely) It’s time, Hitch. You worked hard, researched, tried your best to keep the bay safe. But you’ve got to reverse action. If I wasn’t you, I’d tell you, “You got this.”

Pipp: Um, who are you talking to?

Zipp: And who’s the evil pony?

Misty: (voice over) Uh…Opaline?

(Cut to the winged unicorn in question and her underling, surveying an overhead view of Mane Street projected from the pool in her throne room. It is not much of a stretch to conclude that Twilight was referring to Opaline in the glitched-out portions of the message.)

Opaline: (sighing wearily, pacing) If it’s another compliment on my hooves, Misty, “hoof-tastic” isn’t a word, and I refuse to acknowledge it.

Misty: (pointing to projection) No, look. The earth pony magic is getting worse!

Opaline: Magic isn’t getting worse, it’s growing into something it never has before.

Misty: But…if it’s growing this fast, how are we gonna stop it?

Opaline: Oh, no, no, no, no. We won’t be stopping anything, Misty. In fact, we’re gonna let it thrive, so that when we pluck it, it will be the most powerful it has ever been!