//------------------------------// // 2. Sunny Homeless / Meeting Lily // Story: The Last Cleanup // by Harrison Sparrow //------------------------------// Sunny was flying from Canterlogic to her home... but she found out that it was still in ruins following Sprout's attack. She looked around the rubble, feeling completely upset. Whilst doing that, she discovers that all her childhood toys (the figures of the Mane Six and the lamp), her dad's journal, and her bag have been broken, and she gasps in heartbreak. "No..." She picks up some of the broken figures and immediately breaks down in tears. "No, no, no, no... *sobbing*" Izzy, Hitch, Pipp and Zipp arrive at the site to look for Sunny. "Sunny?" Zipp said. She and the others look at the damaged lighthouse in shock. "Oh no..." "I... I-I thought the magic fixed all of this." Izzy said. Hitch turns his head and sees Sunny sobbing over her broken stuff. "Sunny?" He walks over to her, looking at the broken stuff, and he goes to comfort her. "Oh, Sunny..." "Hitch... *continues sobbing*" Izzy, Pipp and Zipp look over them and they all surround Sunny to hug her. "It's okay. We're all here." "How could we ignore this...?" Sunny weeped in Hitch's chest. "Your journal..." Zipp said softly, as she looked at it all torn up. Pipp took a look at the broken figures. "What are all those ponies?" She asked. Sunny took a slow breath, wiping her tears from her eyes. "They are the Guardians of Ancient Equestria." She said. "My dad made them when I was little. He used to tell me stories about them every night when I was going to bed. All of their stories were real. *sniffles* They meant so much to me..." "We know, this is all Sprout's fault." Zipp said. "We tried to stop him. He just didn't care." Hitch said. "I should've just gone up to him and fry his brain." Izzy scowled. Sunny slowly gets up on her hooves. "Excuse me..." She said softly, as she goes into the house to get a white bag. She looks at Argyle's broken glasses and necklace, as well as the broken portrait with the picture of him with Sunny on her back, and she puts them into the bag. She then goes back outside and walks over to her broken stuff to put them in the bag. "You can stay at my place for a while, if you'd like." Izzy said, trying to cheer Sunny up. "Or at Zephyr Heights. We're happy to have you." Pipp said. Sunny turns her head slightly, but she turns back and continues to store her stuff. "It's not enough." Her friends were surprised by those words. "What do you mean it's not enough?" Hitch asked. After Sunny put all of the broken stuff in the white bag, she tied it up and putted it on her back. "Me and Dad have been living here for a long time. But it was so special, we got to look out at the sea. This is all I have left of him." She continues crying as more tears pour out. "My life was so happy, and now... I lost everything..." "But we've got our magic back!" Izzy said. "We can fix this!" "Yeah, we'll start tomorrow morning and fix it together." Zipp said. "HOW!?" Sunny said loudly, and her friends were in shock. "With magic?! Look around! It's too complex! It's impossible!" "What?! But this is your home!" Pipp said. "It can't be impossible to fix at all!" "We don't want you to be homeless!" Zipp said. "You're not listening to me!" "Sunny, we're trying to help you!" Hitch said, as he was getting a little angry. "It's what friends do!" "Why do you think that!?" "BECAUSE WE'RE YOUR FAMILY!!" Izzy yelled, and Sunny gasped in shock. Izzy quickly calms down. "And best friends... are the family we choose." Hitch nods to what Izzy said, but after seconds of silence, Sunny closed her eyes and lowered her head. "It doesn't matter... Nothing matters..." Sunny said in a broken voice. "So that's it?" Zipp said. "You're just gonna throw everything away and move on?" They stare at each other for a couple of seconds, and Sunny gives her broken bag to Hitch in complete sadness. "Please don't do this..." Hitch said sadly, as he begged for Sunny to not give up on her home. "Even after everything I've done, it's still not good enough..." Sunny said, and she turns away from her friends and starts leaving. "Where are you going?" Izzy asked, but Sunny didn't respond. She was about to cry and she moved forward. "Sunny!" Sunny stops, but she's too devastated to look at her friend. "*sniffles* I just need to be alone right now..." She continues leaving, and Izzy watches on in complete heartbreak. Hitch looks at Sunny's broken bag and sighs in defeat, as Zipp puts her hoof over his shoulder. Sunny walked a long way away from Maretime Bay, as she kept walking through a very dark forest. She eventually sat down on a rock near a quiet lake, but seconds later, her alicorn magic has faded away. She gasped in complete sadness, and broke down in tears once again. "I'm so sorry, Dad..." She was extremely heartbroken, she had no father, no home, no friends, no magic... nothing. Just then, whilst Sunny was all alone, a yellow unicorn with aqua blue hair appeared from behind. The unicorn walked up to Sunny with a worried look. "Are you okay?" The unicorn asked, and Sunny turned her head to look. "No... Sorry, I'm not." Sunny said in a low voice. "What's wrong?" The unicorn sat down next to her. "Has something really bad happened?" "I... *sighs* I just... lost my home. I have nowhere to live." "Then, what are you doing out here all alone?" "I don't know, I... I had an argument with my friends." "Ouch! That's so not good." Sunny snickers a bit. "They were just trying to help me. They offered me to stay at their places for a while, but... I turned it down. I thought it was best to stay away." "Well, there's absolutely no way you can live out here in the dark. Not if you don't have a tent... Unless, that white bag of yours has a tent?" "*scoffs* No. It's my... personal belongings." "Really? What kind of 'personal belongings'?" Sunny struggled to get another word out of her mouth. "Actually, don't answer that... yet. Why don't you come and sleepover at my house? Get you all warm and cozy." The unicorn got up and showed her hoof to Sunny with a warm smile, who takes it and gets up as well. "Thank you." "My name's Lily, by the way. Lily Heartshoe." "Sunny. Sunny Starscout." "Nice to meet you, Sunny. And wow! I really like your hair, it has so much color." Sunny was surprised by Lily's compliment, and her cheeks turned red. "Oh! Thanks. Your hair looks pretty, too." Lily felt starstrucked. "Ooh, I think we're gonna be such great friends! C'mon!" She quickly turned around and started running. "Whoa, okay, I'm coming!" They ran off together into the woods, heading towards Lily's house.