As she regains consciousness, Gaialum's vision returned to her as she noticed that the mask was no longer over her earthy green eyes. Looking at her right, she could see the Sunny, Zipp, and Izzy keeping an eye on her. Her focus was more on the apricot mare as she said groggily, "You... You're the Prophecy’s Child."
"So I was told," Sunny said, a little nervous as she rubs the back of her head, "You're not... Opaline, are you?"
"Opaline?" Gaialum asked surprised, "No, Opaline is my sister. I've take it that you've also encountered my brother, Aerovad."
"Hold up, your brother?" Zipp asked surprised, "There is like... no resemblance between you two."
The golden yellow Alicorn giggled weakly, "Us Alicorns can lead complicated lives... I just wish it didn't resort to violence..."
Sunny then realized something upon closer examination of the armor she wears. She then concluded, "Then you must Gaialum, one of the four Alicorns of Nature!"
"I am..." She tells them somberly "and I will not be soon, I'm afraid..."
Izzy looked confused and said, "Aren't you one right now?"
Gaialum giggled, "Such innocence shines within you." She rests her head back on the pillow with a sad sigh, "Unfortunately, I'm too late to remove the poison that resides within my brother's dagger."
"Poison?" Zipp asks.
"It's a very special kind for immortals that needed to be brought down in case they try to bring malice and destruction of the mortal realm," Gaialum explained, "and Aerovad had many clever uses for it."
"Like the time that he used it against Grogar's older brother, Glogar?"
"The very same." She replies Sunny, "But it was also used for another purpose."
The three ponies looked at each other confused for a moment, but Sunny made a horrifying realization. "I-It was meant for me..."
Gaialum nods, but then said something that Sunny wouldn't believe, "And he took away your father because of his vengeance."
Now the three ponies were gasping shock. "Wh-what?" Sunny whispered.
The golden yellow mare shook her head with another sigh amd begun her tale.
I was tending to a garden that needed my help. My brother Luvios would help tend it. He was a kind and giving Alicorn, but all of that changed when Aerovad came in interrupting our duty.
He came to us and said, "My siblings, I've tracked down the beast that was destroying the trees in White Tail Woods. I tried to bring it down, but it's scales are too rough to pierce through just using my spell bolts. What I need is a dagger powerful enough to bring it down."
Luvios and I volunteered to help him create the blade. When we went along with him, we saw then enormous beast, stronger than a dragon and faster than a Pegasi.
We stopped it together... but after that, Aerovad went off somewhere alone.
When we came back to the garden... we felt something was amiss... and it was when I knew our brother had committed something horrible.
I went to confront him and I demanded to know what did he do. He then admitted to me, "The Prophecy’s Child's father is dead."
"Had I know that was Aerovad's intentions..." Gaialum said somberly and apologetically, "I could've stopped him... I'm so sorry my child..."
Sunny was in a bottle of charged emotions, she could barely speak. Izzy took notice of her friend and asks, “Sunny?”
The apricot mare began to scream at the Alicorn as her horn and wings began to materialize, but instead of the golden hue it had before, it was now dark red, “WHY?! WHY DIDN’T YOU STOP HIM?!” Both Zipp and Izzy tries pry away from Gaialum, but Sunny was somehow stronger than the two ponies as the apricot Earth Pony loomed over her as she continues to scream, “MY FATHER IS DEAD BECAUSE OF HIM!! WHY DIDN’T YOU STOP HIM?! HOW COULD YOU LET THIS HAPPEN?!”
“Had I known, I would have!” Gaialum defended herself.
“That’s doesn’t explain why you didn’t go out and went after him! You could’ve saved my dad, but you stayed at your garden AND DID NOTHING!!” The pendant glows and Princess Twilight appears, using her magic to pry Sunny away from the golden yellow Alicorn. Sunny stops from her sudden blind rage and looked at her glowing wings as they disappeared. “I… No, I didn’t… P-Princess I-” she stops as Twilight raised her right forehoof, telling her enough.
Izzy could see that Sunny’s luminescence had changed color… no, two different colors, a mixture of red and blue. That never happened before… but then again, it would make sense given the circumstances. “Izzy,” Twilight instructs the light purple Unicorn, “Please comfort her, while I talk to our injured friend.” Izzy nods as she and Zipp escorts their friend out of the room and away from the scene.
“You… consider me as a friend?” Gaialum asked the Alicorn ghost, “Why?”
“Because you’re not like the others I’ve encountered like Opaline and Aerovad.” Twilight explained as she sat on her haunches, “But that does leave me a curious question as to why. Why didn’t you follow your siblings?”
Gaialum sighs, giving herself a moment to reflect on that day. She then tells her, “Nature is a mysterious thing like magic. It can be controlled, and at the same time there are things you can’t control. Sometimes I prefer to let things run their course, but on those days… those, I regret not stepping from preventing disaster. Luvios told me it was for the better to just forget about it and move on… but when Aerovad took that filly’s father’s life, I felt sick to my core. And to hear him admitting to it like as if he was proud of what he had done and yet not satisfied, I felt betrayed. Opaline with her lust for power, Aerovad for his hunt, and Luvios for not stepping in, I was done letting myself getting caught in this web of deceit and hurt.”
Twilight nods as she looked at the dagger wound Gaialum had sustained and can’t help, but feel sympathetic towards the golden yellow Alicorn. She had been through many battle against many powerful foe like Tirek, the Storm King, King Sombra, she could go on, but to see her own brother to fall from grace and give in to temptation of a hunt for Sunny, it was heartbreaking and disappointing.
“Twilight,” Gaialum says to her, “I… I need you to do something for me. Can you fulfill it?”
Twilight looked quite perplex and asks, “Why me? I can’t really do much other than advise and console others as a spirit.”
“That’s why I am here.” The golden yellow mare explains, “My spirit within this body is slowly fading, but yours is stronger. I made my body a special case for any spirit to be reborn through here.” She then took out a small item from her pouch to reveal to some sort of seed. She continues on, “I told my brother Luvios that when I die, I would like my spirit to be transferred in to this seed here, so I can heal and finally rest. I wasn’t able to find somepony to take this body for a good cause… until now.”
“You want me to possess your body?!”
“It is the only way that this body can live on.” She tells Twilight, “You can help your subjects and your Champions to be guided to the right direction.” She lended her other forehoof as she says, “Take my hoof.”
The purple Alicorn was hesitant at first. Was she really going to go through with this? To live in another’s body? Bright side was that she no longer have to continue ‘recharging,’ herself within the pendant and would continue to guide Equestria to a new era, but on the other, it would mean that would make her a target for many enemies, old and new. There were times in her age that she wished that she wouldn’t live the life she had, being a ruler of Equestria… but if Princess Celestia has faith that she made the right choice of having her as her successor, then she will answer the call.
“One last time,” she said to herself as she place her forehoof on Gaialum’s, transferring herself to her new body, and to her surprise, the cut from the dagger was healing, but she could also feel everything again, including Gaialum’s spirit transferring to the seed.
“Oh, and Twilight?” Gaialum pleads, “Please save my siblings. They don’t deserve this cruel fates they placed themselves in.”
As a smokey yellow hue envelope both mares, it changed to purple and began to fade. Twilight was no longer a spirit. She opened her amethyst eyes looking at her body as Gaialum’s armor’s colors had change with it’s shades of magenta, violet, and crystal blue, even the mask had changed… but it was a mask no longer, for it became a crown. A crown design she had recognized, for it took on the design of her Element of Harmony, the Element of Magic.
Looking at the seed in her forehoof, she held it closely to her chest as she said to herself, “Equestria is in a need of guidance. I’ll do whatever it takes to help lead my fellow ponies to a better future.” With that promise set in motion, she places the seed in the pouch and went outside.
She could see that Izzy was doing everything she can to comfort her friend. As all three ponies looked at the Princess, somehow reborn, Zipp and Izzy were in shock. Sunny wasn't, and she asked her, "Why would it choose me?"
Twilight just shook her head and tells her, "There are some things we can't explain Sunny. You weren't asked to be Prophecy's Child, and I understand where you're coming from. I didn't ask to be the Element of Harmony, or be a successor to Equestria's throne, nor did I wanted to."
Sunny sighed as she faced her back towards her hero. She then said, "Maybe I better off everypony just stayed away from me."
"WHAT?!" Zipp and Izzy were shocked to hear their friend say such a thing, so was Twilight.
"Sunny, what are you talking about?" Izzy asked her, sitting next to her, "You're the reason why we're on this journey in the first place! I wanted to have new friends that is beyond just Bridlewood, and I have them, you, Zipp, Pipp, and Hitch! You’re just going throw all of that away now?"
"It would've been better if you didn't get involved!" Sunny retorts, "I don't want everypony to suffer or die beacuse some deranged maniac wants me dead!"
"What, and let him do it to you?" Zipp questions her, "Sunny, you are the best thing that could ever happen to our lives right now. If you haven't gone to Zephyr Heights, you wouldn't have proven Aerovad that in Unity, we are stronger together."
Sunny was in shock to hear his words, and tries to argue again, but Twilight steps in as she said, "I've made many mistakes before Sunny, but one thing I regretted saying to one of my closest friends was that I was better without my friends. How wrong I was saying it to them. If I could travel back to that point, I would tell my younger self how wrong she was, I would."
The apricot mare's ears flattened with head hung, then she heard her mentor say, "I understand what you're going through Sunny. You're thinking to yourself that you don't deserve any of this in the truth of what happened to your father, you just want this magic to be gone from your own body. Believing that you are not a good leader. Such an act can't be done, even if you wanted to. But fret not, your friends will help you learn how to control your powers."
Zipp and Izzy nodded in agreement as the light purple Unicorn added, "Besides, I always wanted a study buddy of my own."
"And I could have a flight partner with me, if my sister's too busy with her celebrity events." Zipp offers. Sunny looked at them in surprise at first, but then it shifts a heartwarming smile as she embraces her friends.
Twilight witness the friendship that strengthened between the three ponies, a smile formed across her lips, a memory of when she had her friends by her side flooded in her mind. Though, something about this scene with Sunny and her friends reminder her about of another event, even the apricot mare seemed familiar to her. Could she be...? No, not possible. She wouldn't even be here if that were the case. But without wasting any time, she walks past them, remembering that she has a promise to keep with Gaialum.
The three took notice and Sunny was the first to ask, "Princess Twilight? Where are you going?"
"Aerovad is still out there hunting for you." She explains to them, "I will draw him away and put a stop to him for good."
"Hold on, alone?"
"The risk may be great Prince Zipp," She tells him, "I know his capablilities, but he never knew about mine." She unfurls her wings and a bright shimmering flash of colors appeared on her wings, which caught everyone by surprise. "Oh!" She exclaims, "My rainbow wings! I haven't had these since I've visted Hope Hollow! How fitting actually."
The Earth Pony mare looked at the purple Alicorn in worry and tells her, "Come back to us, okay?"
The Princess gave her a reassured look and tells her, "I will, I promise." Without any delay, she spreads out her wings ann launches herself up to the sky and dashes towards the one place where she can end the conflict between her young friends and the mad Alicorn... home. She shot a powerful spell towards her and it spirals into a portal, having her go through it.
"So, what're all saying is true then?" Alphabittle asked the seven ponies after he watched the video that Pipp showed him, "That green Alicorn, he's the reason why we have none of… that at all?"
"And many other reasons," The Pegasus Prince told him, "He and another Alicorn name Opaline divided us. They're the reason why we got stuck in this mess."
Alphabittle looked at his daughter first, who gave him a nod, confirming on what they said to them. He took a deep breath and said, "Alright. I believe you. Not firmly, but I do believe you." That earned the other ponies a nod, but then he asks, "But that begs the question, how do you plan to give everypony their mag... their M-word back?"
Sunny could tell he wanted to say 'Magic,' but of course, he didn't want to jinx himself if that the other Unicorns caught ear of the word. "We're going to use these crystals and the agreement of the three tribes to bring back magic to Equestria. I know you might not like the idea, but look at what happened centuries ago. We need to stay united and face whatever evil will come to us and try to tear us apart."
"Imagine how many happy Unicorns will be to have that back Alphabittle! Dad would agree." Izzy urges the gray stallion excitedly.
"I don't deny it would be great to have it back, Ms. Moonbow," Alphabittle tells her, "but if the unification of the three tribes do happen, you do know the risks you're willing to take?"
"We do," the apricot mare tells them, "That's why we have to do that to put an end to Aerovad and Opaline's reign of terror."
The gray stallion gave it some thought for a few seconds, then he remembers something, then looks at Lampwick and asks, "Mr. Lampwick, did you and your brother kept those hot air balloons in your shed from years back?"
Both Izzy and Lampwick excitedly gasp from the question and the waxy white Unicorn tells him, "Yes sir, I still do!"
Sunny got equally excited when they mentioned hot air ballons and squeals, "Hot air ballons?! I've always wanted to ride one!"
"Well, it's beginning too look like we're going to get our firsthoof experience." Zipp tells her with a playful nudge.
"H-hold up, we're going to ride those?"
"Yep." Pipp confirms to Misty, then out of concern she follows up, "Why? Are you scared of heights?"
"U-Uh... Kind of." She explains, "The last time Izzy and I used the hot air balloons was when we were little fillies. It was calming at first, but then the wind got wacky all of a sudden. I got really scared, and we've shelved those back in the shed."
Izzy nodded and said, "Yeah, I remembered that. You wouldn't come out from your room for the past few weeks."
"Lucky you," Argyle said, "You got us now to keep things under control."
"Hooray, heheh, great." She said meekly.
As Lampwick pulled back the drapes, three huge wicker baskets. From left to right there was a beach tan, spring green, and winter blue. The balloons them selves were draped on a banister also different colors. From left there is a magenta balloon with purple swirls and accents, the middle is a sunshine red and yellow, and on the right is a pink and blue swirl striped one. Despite the colorful designs however, they seemed to be
"Come on, everypony," Sunny said confidently, "We got work to do."
Without any time to waste, they got to work on the balloons, sewing up patches on the envelopes on the balloons thanks to Izzy's creative sewing skills, reworking the burners and propellers, much of the workings of the hot air balloons needed.
As they worked however, Sunny noticed one pony is absent. She looked at the silver stallion, seemingly reluctant at the doorway. She went to the stallion and asked him, "Argyle? Are you alright?"
He took notice of the apricot mare and sighed, "Not really."
"What's wrong?"
"Well, giving how this part of your journey's nearing it's end," he explains, almost sounding somberly, "I unfortunately cannot be anymore useful in this sense."
Sunny was confused. "What do you mean?" She asked him.
"It means my adventure with you has already come to an end." He tells her, making her eyes go wide. "And before you try to convince me that you need me... you honestly really don't. I've seen what you and the others are capable of." He nudges his head, asking to follow her. She does so as the silver stallion continues on, "Your quest is to unite Ponykind. Mine is to fulfill a promise I made to an old friend."
Sunny couldn't help but want to tell him to stay with them. He was an important member of their journey in the first place. "You know you're an amazing pony to be with Argyle." She said to him, "A pony that we can call a friend. You shouldn't be so dismissive in your role helping us."
Argyle chuckled in disbelief for a second and asks, "You consider me as a friend?"
"Why not?" She says, "Everything that led up to this point, you were an outcast like me..." She looks at Izzy and Zipp, two ponies that defied the 'norm' of this generation, then she looks at Hitch, Pipp, and Misty, three ponies who were trapped from the clutches of their own shadow needed a little nudge to break free from it. "We all were in our own way. In fact, if you haven't gone with Hitch in the first place, I don't think any of this would've worked."
"It could have," Argyle said nonchalantly as he shrugged his shoulders, "or it couldn't. The future is an uncertainty. One thing I do know though is that your future, and theirs, will shape it the way you couldn't even imagine."
Sunny looked at her silver friend and then asks, "What about you?"
He chuckles and said, "Well... That's something for me to find out for myself." The two ponies looked at each other, the apricot mare just gave him a sad smile with a tear streaming down her cheek. “Hey, just because I’m saying goodbye know, that doesn’t mean you won’t be seeing me again. So, don’t cry just because I’m leaving. Just smile because I’m still here, wherever I am.”
Sunny could barely hold herself together and gave him a hug. This is the second ‘Argyle,’ she had to say goodbye to. Sure, Argyle Silverline may be leaving, and it may not hit her the hardest as her father’s death… but in her heart, she felt like it was playing that scene again. As she let him go and rubbed her eyes to wipe away the tears. “Can you promise me something Argyle?” She asks.
“Anything.” He said.
“Wherever you are, you’ll do your part, from hoof to heart.”
His eyebrows were raised at first, then gave himself a chuckle. He then looks out at the horizon and gave himself a small smile. "Yeah... I'll do that. From hoof to heart." Sunny pulls him in for a hug, the silver stallion was taken off-guard for a second, but he returns the embrace with a smile. After a few seconds, they let each other go and Argyle went on his way. He then turns to look at Sunny one more time as he then says, "Until then, I bid you a fairly fond farewell." He bows his head and then went on his way on the trail that lead them into Bridlewood. As he leaves, Sunny could hear the silver earth pony humming to himself... a familiar tune she knew all to well.
"Where's he going?" Her foalhood friend asked him, catching Sunny's attention as she looked at the sheriff.
She shook her head and shrugged her shoulders as said, "Don't know. But I know we'll see him again."
"Wait, he's leaving?"
Sunny nods as she says with a sad smile, "It's a path he's heading on his own. His role is done."
"What was his role?" She didn't answer him for a few seconds, probing Hitch to ask her again, "Sunny? What was his role?"
"He said he guided us to where we needed to be." She answered him, and without any further words, she went back in to help out their friends with the balloons.
Hitch took a moment to look at the direction where Argyle left, taking in a sigh while showing sad expression on his face. But then, he shook his head and calls out, “Argyle, hold on!” This caught the silver stallion’s attention as the sheriff catches up to him. He stops right in front of him and tells the silver earth pony, “You can’t just up leave us.”
Argyle chuckled as he shook his head, “Like I told your friend sheriff, you don’t need me to be the guiding hoof. This is something that you Unicorns, Pegasi, and Terrans have to do on your own.”
“You mean Earth Ponies?” Hitch asked.
“Well, that’s what we were called eons ago.” The silver stallion explained in a matter of fact tone, “You should pass that on to Sunny. She’d be surprised by such info.”
“But-”
“Fret not Hitch,” Argyle cuts him off, putting up his forehoof, “You’ll see me again very soon. Until then, keep your friends safe and save the world.” He turned around and took his leave once more, humming a little tune.
Hitch stares on as the young stallion wonders to who knows where, giving out a sigh as he says, “Until we do meet again.”
As they get the hot air balloons ready for lift off, Izzy and Misty gave their respective elders a hug as Alphabittle warns the two unicorn mares, “You two come back safely to us.”
“We will dad,” Misty tells him.
Sunny looked at Misty and couldn’t help but feel a tinge of hurt of the sight of the two Unicorns. Oh, how the universe had been unkind to her and her father. All they wanted was to unite the three tribes, but the set of circumstances, through her eyes, was unjust. Her father, Argyle Starbright, shot down by a misguided Alicorn. Her society, wanted her shunned only because she has mystical powers beyond her understanding. Yet, through all of this, she has her foalhood friend and new ones that she can be dependent on.
Wish you were here right now dad, The apricot mare thought to herself as she looks up at the sky, You’d loved them. They’re helping us accomplish our dream together. Just one more tribe. Our tribe.
“Hey.” Zipp says, shaking Sunny out of her thoughts making her look at the Pegasus Prince, “You okay?”
She nods and said, “Just… nervous.”
“About reuniting the three pony races?” Sunny nods again to the white Pegasus’s question. He couldn’t help but let out a chuckle, “Don’t worry. I’m just as nervous as you are. But hey,” He took her hoof and guides it to her heart, “We’re doing our part together, and I know we will succeed. We just got to have faith.”
She looks at her friends who are boarding on their respective hot air balloons, to which Hitch calls out, “Hey! As much as I love the scenery here too, we gotta go!”
As Zipp went to the craft, rolling his irises, the apricot mare closed her eyes and quietly tells herself, “From hoof to heart.” Taking one more deep breath, she smiles to herself and hurries to the balloons. Before stepping on, Alphabittle stops her with a request.
“I know how dangerous this Aerovad guy is, but please, make sure he stays away from them,” he sighs before continuing, “The last thing I want to lose them both. See that they get home safely.”
She nods and tells him, “I will Alphabittle. I promise.” She lends her hoof for a shake, which the elder Unicorn takes firmly.
“I can see why your father and Izzy’s wants to make this happen, and now you’re finally going to achieve this.”
“We all have a part to play sir,” Sunny tells him, “And we’ll do it, from hoof to heart.” She then hurries to the hot air balloon where Hitch is stationed at, untying the rope and casts off to the sky, heading to Maretime Bay immediately.
Alphabittle, watching to balloons taking off, said to himself quietly, “Please, old friend, watch over them.”