"Sprout, can you please just tell me what I specifically told you not to do while I was gone!"
"...start a war."
"And what did you just do over the past few days!?"
"...start a war."
Sprout Cloverleaf closed his eyes after he answered Hitch, knowing full well of the damage he has done to ponykind.
It has been an entire week since magic has returned to the land of Equestria and the three pony tribes got along again, but more importantly at this moment in time, two days since Sprout's cruel dictatorship over Maretime Bay came to an end.
Ever since Hitch Trailblazer left to chase after Sunny Starscout, Sprout became the de-facto sheriff of Maretime Bay until Hitch came back after a little pressure from his mother, and since then he took advantage of all the fear and paranoia that was present in Maretime Bay, and used it to gain all of the authority and power he dreamed of ever since he was a foal.
But because of this rise in power, he became a cruel, inconsiderate, fear-mongering dictator that was blinded by his own ambition, and after Sunny and her friends restored magic, Sprout was stripped from his title as emperor and was demoted back to being deputy.
He was currently in the sheriff's office being chastised by Hitch.
"Sprout, do you have any idea on how many by-laws you broke?!?" Hitch shouted causing Sprout to flinch.
Sprout gulped. "Um, how many exactly?"
Hitch slammed his hoof on the desk. "Well let's see. Public endangerment of the citizens you're supposed to protect, enslaving said citizens for your own goals, starting a war, which I specifically told you not to do, property damage, poor workplace environment, need I go on!"
Sprout looked down in shame. "I-I'm sorry Hitch, I'm sorry for everything. I guess I got too caught up in my own pride that I forgot to see the truth."
"Are you sorry though, Sprout? Or are you just saying that because you got caught!"
Sprout said nothing, slightly fidgeting his hooves in an attempt to distract himself from the matter at hand.
Hitch sighed while closing his eyes before opening them again. "Look, Sprout. Saying that you're sorry isn't enough to fix the damage you've done, and you know that. You have to be accountable for all of your actions. I mean just look at the streets, it's practically cluttered with tons of debris, and litter because of you!"
Sprout lifted his head up to see Hitch, who was staring at him with a determined look. "So, for your crimes against Maretime Bay, I'm sentencing you to two months worth of community service. For the next eight weeks, you will be cleaning up all of the mess you've made, from fixing Sunny's house to cleaning up every single piece of litter present in Maretime Bay needs to be removed from top to bottom."
Sprout gulped when he heard the sentence he was given. "E-Everything?"
"Yes, Sprout, every single piece."
A fire of anger erupted in Sprout. "T-That's crazy, Hitch! I shouldn't be stuck doing low-life garbage duty. Just put me in jail or something, force me to carry you around for centuries, ban me from Pizza Hoof! Just anything other than litter du-"
"Would you please be quiet Sprout!" Hitch yelled. Sprout immediately stopped yelling at his superior.
Hitch sighed in annoyance. "Would you stop complaining for once, Sprout! This the lightest punishment I could give you after everything you've done. I would've done worse if it wasn't for Sunny, she convinced me to lighten your sentence."
Hitch stepped off of his desk. "Being stuck in a jail cell won't do you any good, forcing you to carry me around would be nice but won't change you for the better, and banning you from Pizza Hoof will just force you to starve! I'm doing this so that you could understand the consequences of your actions! Do you understand me!"
The room went silent, as Hitch heavily breathed, and Sprout looked on in shock, and a bit of fear.
Eventually, Sprout sighed, although he despised litter duty due to his external and internal disgust towards litter, he (begrudgingly) accepted the sentence he was given. This could be his big chance to redeem himself after all the cruel dictatorship he imposed onto Maretime Bay, to show everypony that he is a changed pony, and besides, it could have been worse. "Okay, Hitch. When do I start?"
"Tomorrow morning, 8:30, don't be late, and start on Mane Street. Otherwise, you'd be starting somewhere way more stinkier than you'd realize."
Sprout gulped. He slowly hopped off of his chair, preparing to leave the sheriff's office. He was about to reach for the door and exit the building and head home, that is until Hitch made one more additional note.
"Oh, wait, Sprout, I almost forgot. To make sure you're not slacking off on the job, I'm sending in a supervisor to keep an eye on you."
Sprout blankly stared at Hitch. "Okay? I dunno why you'd forget that, but whatever. So, who's gonna supervise me?"
Hitch gave a small smile. "Since you can't really learn to get along with other pony races from someone your own race, I've decided to send in a very special pony to do the job, someone who you might know. She's the one that inadvertently started this mess, so it'd be right that she helped you finish it."
Sprout raised his eyebrow at Hitch, what does he mean by a "very special pony", who could he possibly be referring to. He might be referring to those two pegasi princesses, Fipp & Dipp he thinks, but that'd seem unlikely. Who else could he be referring to? Unless it is....no, it can't be.
"Hitch, you don't mean..."
"Sprout, you know who I'm talking about. The pony supervising you is Izzy Moonbow, the unicorn that "terrorized" Maretime Bay."
Sprout's eyes widened in horror as his throat began to swell up. His sentence was just made worse by that one statement, not only is he picking up litter, which he already hates, but he's also being supervised by Izzy Moonbow, the most annoying pony in existence.
Whenever she was around him, she was annoying him to no end, always asking him trivial questions or started rambling on and on about sparkles and dreamcatchers. She annoyed him so badly that he wondered if death by pure unadultereated annoyance is in the realm of possibility.
Hearing that triggered a memory he'd rather not revisit.
Trails of magic sparkled through the air, as ponies of all races watched in awe and wonder at the sight of it, knowing full well of one thing, magic has returned. Every pony race from unicorns to pegasi to the earth ponies all rejoiced in the fact that the thing they once held dear was finally back.
They also rejoiced in the new found friends they found in the other pony races they once feared, they came to realize that hiding in fear won't do any good, and that reaching out to others in love is the best way to live in harmony and hopefully start to restore Equestria to its former glory.
The only pony who isn't in awe, and in fact wasn't even staring at all, was Sprout Cloverleaf.
He had no idea how to feel at the moment, especially with everything that had since transpired. On one hoof, his reign over Maretime Bay is over. Nopony dared to call him emperor anymore, and they threw him to the sidelines. He felt even more worthless than when he was Hitch's deputy.
On the other hoof however, his rampage at Sunny's Lighthouse and magic returning made Sprout begin to question whether his beliefs against unicorns and pegasi were justified or not.
As he looked upon the streets of Maretime Bay, he saw ponies of all races just getting along, the fillies and colts playing with each other while the adults had a calm conversation with each other. Nopony was fighting, nopony was swooping down and snatching the other, and nopony was especially frying each others' brains out.
Sprout didn't see monsters, he didn't see homicidal maniacs that were hunting for innocent ponies to feast on. He just saw ponies, ponies just like him.
Sprout sighed, things won't be the same anymore after this day. He'd have to adjust to unicorns and pegasi living amongst each other, and he might have to face some sort of a punishment for enslaving an entire town against its will. He doubted that anyone would forgive him, especially after the harsh treatment he gave them, not even his own mother could console him.
All Sprout wanted was to collect his thoughts and be alone, and he got what he wanted for a while, until one certain unicorn decided to come his way.
"Hi, new friend!"
Sprout's train of thought came to a screeching halt as soon as he heard somepony greet him. He got startled, so much in fact that he fell to the ground in the process.
"Ugh. My head." Sprout groaned.
"Oh, sorry bout that. I just saw that you were alone and that I'd come and say hi."
Sprout looked as a unicorn mare came into his field of vision. The unicorn had a lilac coat all over her body, a long dark blue wavy mane adorning her head, and the most innocent smile on her face.
Sprout continued to look at the unicorn, who in turn looked back at him, her smile never leaving her face. After a few moments, she offered her hoof to him. "Need some help?"
Sprout gruffed. "Um, no thanks. I can do it myself uh...Spizzy was it?"
"It's Izzy actually."
Sprout quickly composed himself. "Well, Izzy. It's...nice seeing you? But I gotta go."
"Why not? Aren't you feeling a little lonely?"
"I'm fine, Izzy. I need to be alone right now."
Just as Sprout was about to walk somewhere else, he suddenly stopped walking. "Huh?!" Then he felt himself being lifted off of the ground. Sprout turned around to see Izzy using her unicorn magic to pull him to her. "What the? Hey?! What are you doing?!"
"Nope. Nuh uh. I'm not gonna let you be on your lonesome, you just need a friend." Izzy said with a smile, unaware of all the personal boundaries she's breaking.
After much squirming from Sprout, he was eventually placed on a small staircase near the pier. Izzy gleefully sat right next to Sprout, who looked at her with shock and confusion.
"Hmm, your sparkle right now seems a bit dull."
"Sparkle? What are you talking about?"
"Y'know, your luminescence. Can't believe I have to explain this again. It's basically a pony's mood. The happier somepony is the brighter it shines! So tell me, why is your sparkle so gloomy today?"
Sprout looked at Izzy with even more confusion. "Luminescence? Sparkles?! This mare might be nuts or something." he thought.
Izzy leaned in closer to Sprout. "Come on, whatever's bogging you down can't be that bad. Nothing a little glitter can fix!"
Sprout coughed. "I-It's uh n-nothing, Izzy. I'm perfectly fine see. No issues here."
Izzy gave Sprout an inquisitive look. "Hey, I think I've seen you around before. That outfit looks a bit familiar and-" she suddenly gasps, "Are you Sprout? That pony in that giant red robot that destroyed Sunny's home and almost killed me and my friends?!" she asked in a strangely excited tone.
Sprout groaned. "Great. Another reminder of my mistake."
Izzy suddenly gave Sprout a giant bear hug. Sprout didn't this much force from a mare her size, and as such began to suffocate in response. "Awww. Is that why you're so sad right now? You shouldn't be too caught up in the past to neglect the present. You should be celebrating that magic's back and we're all friends again!"
As Sprout continued to be hugged tightly by Izzy, he felt like he couldn't breathe and believed that this was gonna be the place where he'll die. "I-Izzy! You're squeezing me!" Sprout pleaded, but those words fell on deaf ears as Izzy hugged him even tighter than before.
"It's ok, Sprout. You don't have to feel alone anymore." Izzy whispered.
After what seemed like hours, Izzy suddenly stopped hugging him. Sprout immediately dropped to the floor, heavily trying to catch his breath as the both of them heard Sunny Starscout in the distance.
"Izzy? Where are you? There's this really good restaurant that I wanna show you. It has the best pizza in town!"
Izzy sprung into action. "Coming!" She trotted away with a spring in her step, but not before waving Sprout goodbye. "I guess I'll see you around, Sprout. Hope we can talk more!"
As Sprout watched Izzy trot away from his field of view, still trying to recover from being almost squeezed to death, one thing was clear in Sprout's mind. He hated Izzy Moonbow, and he wanted nothing to do with her.
Sprout dashed as fast as he could to where Hitch was standing and fell down to his knees as he grabbed Hitch's front hooves in an act of desperation. "Hitch, please! Don't let her be my supervisor! I'm begging you!"
Hitch awkwardly released Sprout's grasp on his front hooves. "Sprout, come on. She's not that bad once you get to now her, and besides, you need to learn how to get along with unicorns and pegasi, and she's the best fit for the job."
Sprout quickly picked himself up. "B-B-But what about those two pegasus princesses, F-Fipp and D-Dipp, th-they could supervise me, right?!? Or what about Sunny, she has knows more about pegasi and unicorns than anypony else in Maretime Bay, she could help me, right?!? Buck, I would even take the flying dog as my supervisor, just please don't let her be my supervisor!"
Hitch started to become annoyed as Sprout continued to plea and started to push him to the entrance of the sheriff's office. "Sprout, their names are Zipp & Pipp, and they went back to Zephyr Heights with their mom to settle out some political issues, Sunny is busy trying to rebuild the house that you destroyed, and the flying dog, really? Are you that desperate? Izzy Moonbow is the only pony available at the moment because she has all the free time in the world, and lucky for us, she is taking an extended vacation to Maretime Bay right at this moment"
Hitch, after much shoving from his end, finally got Sprout out of the station. After panting for a few moments, he looked at Sprout, who was still wearing that desperate look on his face. He gave him a frustrated glare. "Sprout, whether you like it or not, Izzy Moonbow is gonna be your supervisor, and that's final. Now go get some rest, you need it for tomorrow. And don't start complaining, that will not help you clean those streets faster. So goodnight!"
"Nononononono please, Hitch! I'm beggin you! Have mercy! No!" Sprout cried as Hitch slammed the doors to the station shut, leaving Sprout out alone in the cold of the midnight, bewildered and distressed.
For the next few moments, Sprout just stared at the doors of the sheriff's office, trying to process the events that just unfolded. For the next eight weeks, Izzy Moonbow is going to be watching him, for several hours, and several days. The thought still sent chills down his spine.
And as the former emperor walked back home, he dreaded the day that laid before him.