Sunny and Lily arrived at the house, and they saw that a window was left open.
"Up there, follow me." Lily said, as the two ponies climbed up the house and walked through the window. Lily closed it as they got inside, and Sunny looked around her room in awe. The walls were painted with a lot of different colors.
"Wow, you have quite a room here."
"Yup. I decorated the walls all by myself. I didn't wanna leave them all plain boring, so I got 'em all colored up."
"I see, you are very creative, Lily."
"Now, my father doesn't know I've sneaked out, so, whatever you do, please don't tell him about this, okay?"
"Why wouldn't he want to know? Have you snuck out before?"
"Yeah, many times. I just do it to go and exercise, and explore the world. And ever since we got our magic back, I never wanna stop doing it."
"Gee, you seemed to have worked out a lot, I guess."
"Yup."
"Oh, and big news: you're free to come and visit anywhere without any problems now."
"*gasps* Really?!" Lily said excitingly.
"Sure! I live in Maretime Bay."
"Maretime Bay?"
"Yeah, it's an amazing town which offers so many great views of the sea."
"Oh, I always wanted to see the sea! It's just that seeing lakes everyday feels quite dull."
"Oh, and I also went to Zephyr Heights and Bridlewood."
Lily was surprised. "What, you did?! Where the pegasi and unicorns lived alone?!"
"Absolutely! But... they weren't that welcoming when we first met."
"Oof, I guess they didn't like intruders?"
"Yeah, that was then. But now, they're our friends again."
"Oh, that's amazing! So, Sunny, what 'personal belongings' do you have in your bag?"
Sunny felt a little nervous. "You really wanna know?"
"Pretty please! You're not scared, are ya? C'mon!"
Sunny took a deep breath. "Okay, if you say so." She put down her white bag onto the floor, opened it up, and poured out all of the broken figures.
"Whoa... You weren't kidding when you said 'personal'."
"Yeah..." Sunny said upsettingly.
"Ooh, they look badly smashed. What are these things?"
Sunny sat down next to Lily, but she frowned whilst looking at the figures. "These ponies... they're the Guardians of Ancient Equestria."
"Where they here centuries ago?"
"Yeah. My dad made these figures of them when I was six. I grew up with them, and they became a huge part of my life."
"Do you know any of their names?"
Sunny started pointing at each and every one of them. "This one's Rarity, Fluttershy, Applejack, Pinkie Pie, Rainbow Dash... and the one who started it all, Twilight Sparkle." She picked up the broken Twilight Sparkle figure and handed it over to Lily.
"So, this 'Twilight Sparkle' pony, did she make friends with all of these ones?"
"Yeah. She went to a castle to learn everything about friendship. Soon after, they were altogether and, what they did... was impossible. I used to let Dad tell me the story about them every day. And like me, he always believed that all pony-kind were meant to be friends. Not live apart by fear and mistrust."
"I see. But I don't understand how all of these broke."
"It was caused by a... 'friend' of mine, Sprout Cloverleaf."
"And what did Sprout do?"
"He created this huge machine while I was out of town, and he rammed it into my lighthouse and destroyed it. As well as everything I loved..."
Lily felt ashamed. "Oh, Sunny, I'm so sorry..."
"It's okay, Lily. It doesn't matter to me anymore."
"It doesn't? But you and your dad lived there for so many years, right? You know, seeing the sea and having all that piece and quiet together? And speaking of your dad, how is he?"
Sunny was about to cry when Lily asked her about Argyle. She didn't want to talk about it, but she had no choice. "He died when I was ten... six years ago."
Lily was a little shocked. "Wh- what happened?"
"He had a horrible sickness..." Tears came out of her eyes again, and she got too emotional. "I was so scared, that I screamed out for help... *sniffles* The doctors tried to save him, but it was too late..." Her voice chocked. "He was already gone..."
"So you were living on your own for six years?!" Sunny weakly nodded. "Oh, Sunny..." She gave her a huge hug.
"I'm sorry, Lily, I... I worked so hard to bring everypony back together and make our dream come true... It just hurts me so bad that he's not here to see it..."
Lily felt a little surprised on what Sunny said. "Wait... you brought back Equestria's magic?"
"Yes... I did..."
Lily gasped with delight. She got up and walked away a little. "I-I can't believe it!" She turned to her in happiness. "IT WAS YOU!" She hugged Sunny again so tightly, that it took her by surprise. "You got my magic back! Your dad would be proud, right?"
Sunny smiled a little. "Yeah, he would. *snickers*." But her face saddened again. "But it still doesn't bring him or my home back..."
"*sighs* Sunny, look... I understand how you feel, but I'm so happy for you." She smiled. "And just know, that you're not alone, okay?"
Sunny cheered up a little and smiled back. "Thanks for letting me stay here, Lily."
"I would do anything for a friend in need."
The two ponies hugged again, and Sunny felt happy that she had someone who was taking good care of her.
The next morning, at Sunny's damaged home, Izzy, Pipp, Hitch and Zipp meet up to discuss how they're going to fix it.
"Right, we'll need to think of a plan." Zipp said.
"Got any bright ideas?" Hitch asked.
"Well, we could start investigating on how badly damaged the house looks first."
"How about we start off with the tower?" Izzy suggested, but the others looked at her in confusion. "Of course, it's already chopped off."
"We should probably look inside." Pipp said.
"Good call." Zipp agreed.
They go inside the house and see a lot of debris left on the floor, as well as a few cracks on the walls and the windows.
"*sighs* Sprout, what have you done...?" Hitch said disappointingly.
Pipp took a deep breath. "Okay, so what do we have?" She asked.
"Broken floorboards, smashed windows... and the walls are cracked, bad. Like, really bad." Izzy said.
"Alright, what's the plan?" Zipp asked.
Izzy put a notebook on the table and started writing. "So, plan A is: we try and put everything back the way it was before Sprout's attack."
"Uh... that would be tricky." Zipp said, who was unsure about the plan. "I'm starting to think Sunny was right about it being complex."
"But we have to try and prove her wrong. We can't leave it like this." Izzy said.
Pipp suddenly thought of a better idea. "Oh! How about a plan AB?"
"AB?"
"We can bring out the rest of her stuff, knock the rest of the house down, and rebuild it into something even better."
"And that is...?"
"A Zephyr Heights makeover!" Pipp flapped her wings.
Zipp and Izzy were shocked.
"What?! Why would Sunny want that?" Zipp asked.
"You know, I was thinking that we could modernize the lighthouse and make it look like the buildings back at home. Because we have better technology, as well as-"
Zipp cut her off. "Whoa, no-no-no-no-no, Pipp. I don't think that-" She stood on the mess of beans that was caused by Izzy. "Eugh!"
"Oops..." Izzy said softly with a shy face, and Zipp looked at her with disgust.
"Izzy, what'd you do?"
"Uh, I was, um... playing a little game with Sunny?" Zipp just stared at her, and she had to come clean. "*scoffs* Okay, to be fair, I was showing Sunny if I had any magic when we first met, and yes, I made that mess. Silly me!"
"Well, we could start off with you cleaning it up, seeing that was clearly on you."
Izzy sighed. "Okay, I guess you're the boss of me."
"Hey, nopony's the boss of anypony here, okay?" Pipp said. "We do this together."
Izzy nodded her head, and as Zipp turned hers, she saw Hitch looking out a broken window, who was still feeling disappointed.
"What's wrong, Hitch?"
Hitch was silent for a couple of seconds. "I feel like this is all my fault."
"Why would it be? You know this is all on Sprout."
"The thing is, ever since Izzy came to Maretime Bay and Sunny ran off with her, I thought Sunny was putting herself in grave danger. I told Sprout not to start any kind of war while I was gone, and yet, he disobeyed me!" He raised his voice as he was getting mad. "He- he tore up my calendar and put his head over mine on one of my photos, and even worse, he turned the entire town on his side and became... an emperor?! I mean, what kind of deputy does that!? I should've known the whole time that he was still jealous of me being the sheriff and that he was always being the kind of pony who keeps screwing up!!" Zipp was shocked on what he said. He sighs in deep regret and calms down. "He and I should've never been friends in the first place." He rested his head on the table. "And if I hadn't gone after Sunny, none of this would've happened."
"Hey..." Zipp comforted him and puts her hoof over his back. "Hitch, you can't blame yourself for all of this." Hitch turned his head to look at her. "And besides, it's like you said to Sunny - 'you've done everything you could'."
"No, Zipp. I thought what I did was right: being a good friend and keeping Sunny out of harm's way. But a good sheriff would always stay in his hometown and keep everypony in line."
"You're an amazing sheriff, Hitch." Zipp smiled. "You always do the right thing."
Hitch smiled back, but made it immediately disappear. "Right... I'm gonna go tell Sprout he's fired."
As soon as Hitch was leaving, Pipp's phone buzzed. She looked at it and gasped. "Hitch, stop!"
Hitch quickly turned to face her. "What is it?"
Pipp ran up to him. "Sprout's gone missing!"
"What?!" Hitch took the phone and saw the ZBS News reporting of Sprout.
"Sprout Cloverleaf has been announced missing this morning following his unfortunate attack on the lighthouse at Maretime Bay last night. The earth ponies have only discovered his so-called 'emperor' jacket, which he seemed to have dumped before his absence. Here's what his mother, Phyllis, had to say before she left to find him..."
"I just wanna make sure he's okay. I don't want him causing anymore trouble!"
"At this moment in time, nopony has any clue on his whereabouts, and we can only fear that Sprout Cloverleaf is on the run. Stay tuned to ZBS News for the latest."
"This is really bad!" Hitch said, as he gave Pipp her phone back.
"And Sunny doesn't know!" Pipp said.
"Has Phyllis gone to look for him?" Izzy asked.
"I think so. I have to go with her before this gets out of hoof!" Hitch said, as he was about to head off, but Zipp stopped him.
"Hitch, no! That can wait. This is more serious than Sprout right now." Zipp said.
"Why?" Hitch asked.
"Because Sunny needs her home!" Pipp said. "We have to help her."
"You're right." Hitch said with realization. "And Maretime Bay needs a lighthouse!"
"Exactly! SO LET'S DO THIS!!" Izzy said loudly, as she stomped her hoof on a rotten staircase. It breaks and falls on the floor, and all of a sudden, the roof over them started to crumble.
"EVERYPONY RUUUUUUUN!!!!!!!" Hitch yelled, and the girls started screaming as they quickly ran out of the lighthouse before it came crashing down.
Izzy was laying on the path. She slowly opens her eyes, gets up, and turns her head to see that all of Sunny's home has been completely destroyed. She and the others were shocked with sadness. "No..." She said softly, as she walked up to the destruction and looked at all of it. She sighs in complete regret.
"Now what do we do?" Zipp asked.
Izzy slowly turned around to face her. She gave a confident look and said... "Plan AB."