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// Chapter 3: Izzy's Gift 
// Story: Lavender Café 
// by IzzyLovesYou 
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Chapter 3:

	Beep, Beep, Beep. Beep, Beep, Beep. Sunny woke up to the noise from Hitch’s spare alarm clock. Sunny rolled over so she could turn off the alarm and… THUD. She rolled off the couch. Another painful reminder that she wasn’t at home anymore. Getting up from the floor, Sunny looked around. Hitch was nowhere to be found. Knowing Hitch, Sunny presumed that he was probably asleep. Sunny decided to take the time to head to the restroom to fix up her hair for the day. Her hair was a bit of a pain to get ready as usual, so Sunny had to grab a brush and brush her mane before trying to put it in the hair bands.

When Sunny finished up, she decided to check in on Hitch to see if he was still sleeping. She didn’t hear any snoring like she usually did whenever she passed Hitch’s room, so she opened the door. Looking around, she saw Hitch in his pajamas doing poses in front of the mirror. Sunny just watched him for a moment while trying to suppress her laughter until Hitch noticed her.

“AAAH! Sunny, what are you doing?” Hitch quickly asked.
Looking at Hitch’s slippers, Sunny responded “I could ask you the same thing, sheriff.”
“I’m just getting ready for our meeting! It’s important that I look good!” Hitch tried to defend himself.
“Y’know, you saying usually means that you’re trying to look professional. What does posing in front of a mirror in your pajamas have to do with it?” Sunny retorted.
Sunny watched as he quickly tried to think of an excuse, but he couldn’t think of one. “It’s alright Hitch, I’m not judging. You should probably start getting ready though, we’re meeting at the Café with Izzy in 15 minutes.”
“I’m on it!” Hitch said as he tossed his slippers and sleeping cap to the side.

Walking out of the room, Sunny decided to go sit on the couch while she waited for Hitch to get ready. They were going to meet up with Izzy again for breakfast like they did every day for the past week or so. Izzy had finally mastered her teleportation spell after a few days of attempts since they found the spell book, so she started joining Hitch and Sunny for their morning breakfast runs.

It was still strange to Sunny that she was waking up at Hitch’s house. She’d been meaning to ask Hitch about when construction on her house would finish up. He’d mentioned a few days ago during their meetings that he’d been making progress on the paperwork for repairs. In fact, there were already Canterlogic workers doing repairs on her home. It was going to be finished soon enough, right? Sunny made a mental note to ask Hitch about the progress later.

Sunny, noticing she got lost in thought, turned her attention back to the room around her. She could hear Hitch talking to himself in the bathroom, likely to his own reflection again, so Sunny decided to turn on the TV and watch a show while she waited for Hitch to finish getting ready.





Sunny and Hitch trotted down main street, headed towards the Café. Izzy usually met with them at the benches near the entrance to the Café. On their way down, Sunny watched as Hitch took every opportunity to give strong glances to any piece of litter he saw on the ground. He wasn’t on duty yet, but Sunny could tell that he was going to have a fun morning. Hitch wouldn’t admit it, but he enjoys giving lectures to people about the town laws.

As they neared the Café, Sunny spotted Izzy on a bench near the cliffside looking out towards the ocean. Sunny called to Izzy. “Hey Izzy, we’re here!”
Izzy’s ears perked up at Sunny’s call, and she turned around and got up. “There you guys are!”
Sunny moved to the side as Izzy ran up to join them.
“Good morning Izzy.” Hitch greeted Izzy as she gave both Sunny and Hitch a hug.
Sunny winced as Izzy squeezed the two. “Woah, not so tight Izzy!”
“Sorry! I was just excited to see both of you!” Izzy explained.
Sunny relaxed as Izzy’s grip on them faltered. “It’s alright. Shall we go get breakfast?”
“Oh yeah! Let’s do that.” Izzy said while stomping her hooves on the ground.

Walking into the Café, the three found a small round table and sat down. Sunny opened up the menu and looked for what she wanted to order. I could go with a Sandwich and Tea. I get that every time though… Maybe I could go for some breadsticks instead?... Nah. Hmmmm… Sunny focused on the menu, but most of the options didn’t really suit her this morning. She rechecked the menu. I guess I could go with a Salad. A Salad and some water, I guess.

	Looking up from her menu, she spotted Hitch and Izzy looking at her. “Oh! Sorry for holding us up! I was having trouble figuring out what I wanted. I think I’m going to go with a Salad and some Water.”
Izzy started to rustle out of her seat. “Sounds good! I’m going to go make the order!”
As Izzy walked away, Hitch leaned over to Sunny. “She’s in a good mood today.”
“She’s always in a good mood Hitch, that’s just how she is.” Sunny explained.
Hitch shrugged. “Fair point. She seems happier today than usual though, for Izzy standards at least.”
“We can ask her about it when she gets back. I’m sure she’d like to share whatever it is that’s got her in such high spirits.” Sunny pointed out.

As if on cue, Izzy came back with their food and drinks. Sunny watched as Izzy levitated all their food into place at the same time.
“You’re getting pretty good with your magic Izzy!” Sunny complimented.
Hitch decided to join in on complimenting Izzy. “Yeah, anyone could believe you’ve been using it all your life!”
“Thanks you guys! That spell book Sunny gave me has been helping a lot with my magic! It’s got all sorts of spells, and even some tips on how to improve some of them! I’ve been spending a lot of time working on it at home!” Izzy explained.
Sunny decided to take the opportunity to ask Izzy about her mood. “Say Izzy, besides the magic, what else has you in such a good mood today? You seem happier than usual.”
Izzy’s eyes seemed to widen slightly at the question. “Oh! I almost forgot! I found this really cool crystal in the forest yesterday! I brought it with me to give to you!”
Sunny watched as Izzy shoved her hoof into her mane and pulled out a shiny crystal. The crystal was purple, pointy, and reflective. Izzy placed the crystal into Sunny’s hooves, and Sunny pulled it up to her face to get a look at it. While she looked at it, Izzy started explaining what it was.
“That crystal right there is a Lavender Amethyst! Technically it’s a part of the Quartz family, but that’s not important. What is important is how smooth~ it is! This is one of the smoothest Amethysts I’ve seen! I thought I’d bring it with me so you can have it! I know there’s not a ton of Crystals here in Maretime Bay, so it’s like I’m bringing a piece of Bridlewood to you!”
As Sunny pulled the Amethyst away from her eye, she thanked Izzy for the kind gesture.
“No problem Sunny!” Izzy’s head turned to Hitch, her smile slowly turning into a look of embarrassment. “Oh and uh… Hitch. I kinda forgot to get a crystal for you. I’ll get you one tomorrow though!”
Hitch gave a light smile to Izzy. “It’s alright Izzy, I don’t mind at all. If you wanna get a crystal for me you can, but I’m fine without one too.”
“Oh, I’ll get one for you tomorrow for sure! I’d like all of you to have at least one!”

As Izzy and Hitch were talking, Sunny thought back to something Izzy explained the other day. She mentioned that Crystals were really good at reflecting light and made pretty shapes when held in front of one. Turning to the window next to her, she held it up towards the sun. As she held it up, the light around her turned a light shade of purple.

Sunny gazed at the area around herself. “Woah! That looks really pretty!”
Hitch and Izzy turned their attention to Sunny, and Hitch stared at the light around her with wide eyes, while Izzy just stared at Sunny with a smile on her face.
“The Amethyst is making the light around you look purple!” Izzy explained.
Sunny turned to look at Izzy. “Yeah, I remembered what you said about the light and crystals! This is beautiful!”
“Bridlewood has some of the best crystals for Light Refraction, so that’s why I tend to use them for my arts and crafts projects! I’m glad you like it!” Izzy said with an even bigger smile on her face.
“Yeah, the crystal is really cool! Thanks again Izzy!” Sunny said as she tucked the lavender-colored crystal into her bag.

Sunny started thinking of where she wanted to put the crystal when she remembered something she wanted to ask Hitch about.
“So! Hitch, do you have any updates about how the construction on my house is going?”
Hitch was in the middle of a bite of his doughnut. “Ohm Yeawh! Wit’s gwohing wewl!”
Sunny could barely tell what he was saying. “Could you swallow first?”
Swallowing his doughnut, Hitch repeated what he said. “Oh yeah! It’s going well! I just finished filing the paperwork for it last night, and from what I’ve heard, it sounds like the construction will be done in just a few days!
Hearing that made Sunny feel happier already. “Oh! Great! I can’t wait to move back in. No offense Hitch, but I much prefer sleeping in a bed than a couch.”
“None taken.”

Sunny was really excited to get back to living in her home. While staying at Hitch’s place was fine, she’d much rather be at home with all her stuff… and her bed. At least sprout didn’t do too much damage. Sunny was not keen on the idea of looking for a new home. Sunny was also interested in finding a place to put the crystal Izzy gave her when her home was repaired. Perhaps she could put them on her dresser? Sunny decided that she’d figure that out later.

Turning her thoughts back to the conversation Izzy and Hitch were having, they finished up their food and headed out of the Café. Izzy teleported back to Bridlewood to work on some art, Hitch went to start his patrol, and Sunny went to set up shop at the smoothie cart.