Phyllis hadn't been alone for very long, but then again it had only been a short time since the world as she knew it had changed. Magic had returned to Equestria as a result of three ancient crystals being brought together. Pegasi could fly, unicorns could lift and carry things with their horns, and earth ponies... well, Phyllis was sure they'd been affected too somehow. She wasn't really the sort of mare who considered herself an expert on such things.
By now, the leader of the pegasi and the leader of the unicorns had both dispersed and were currently seeing the sights in Maretime Bay. Just about everypony had left to do other things. Heck, even Sunny had returned to her badly damaged home in the lighthouse. Transforming into an alicorn was a lot to process.
So it was that Phyllis now had to think, and think hard. So much of her life had been spent in the belief that she was right, the other pony tribes were something to fear and the earth ponies needed a way to protect themselves. Only one pony had ever disagreed with her, and he hadn't been around for many years. Yet it was now as if his ghost was not so subtly taunting the mare, ribbing her about the fact that he'd been right all along and that she'd been wrong to dismiss his research. Of course, Phyllis knew that wasn't possible. There was no such thing as ghosts after all.
Yet upon seeing Sunny Starscout, the pony who even as a child had never bought into the fear that Phyllis had tried to instill in her fellow earth pony, it was as if Phyllis were indeed seeing a ghost. Sunny was just like that ancient princess who had united Equestria and brought about a golden age of peace and harmony. And now, Sunny of all ponies was the one to whom the legacy had been passed. Whether the young mare was capable of achieving what the princess had done so long was a matter of great concern.
"To think, I always thought she was crazy," Phyllis thought to herself. "Even though I never ruled Maretime Bay the way those other leaders ruled their lands, it was as if I thought Sunny was a threat to my power. And now, now I'm the one who has to look up to her." And it was that thought which so greatly troubled the mare. She knew that there was only one thing to do. Like it or not, she was going to have to talk to the very mare who now probably held Phyllis' fate in her hooves.
Whatever Sunny might decide to do to Phyllis was a question Phyllis didn't want to know the answer to. But at the very least, she hoped that maybe she could plead her case and beg for mercy (even though she normally never would've even considered such an option). She'd let Hitch decide what to do with her son even though she knew she was the one who had enabled Sprout's actions during his short lived stint as emperor. Right now, she had something more important and urgent that she had to do.
Making her way over to the still badly damaged lighthouse, the glasses wearing earth pony steadied herself with a few deep breaths. She could do this. She needed to do this! Her guilty conscience wouldn't leave her alone until she did. And whatever her fate might be, whatever sort of punishment would be decreed unto her, she would have to take it. She would plead as best she could, the rest was out of her hooves.
This was it, no turning back now! Phyllis brought up a hoof to the door, surprised it hadn't fallen off its hinges. Sharply, she rapped three times on said door. Then she waited.
For a brief moment, the mare allowed herself to entertain the thought that maybe Sunny wasn't home. Maybe Sunny had gone to see Hitch and talk about what to do with Sprout. Maybe the newly anointed alicorn was hanging out with those pegasi and that unicorn that she'd befriended, whatever their names were. Or maybe Sunny had gone to visit her dad's grave to tell him about what was happening in Equestria now.
Alas, that thought was dispelled when the door swung open and Phyllis locked eyes with none other than Sunny Starscout herself: Still sporting that translucent horn and wings, and still having those rainbow locks in her otherwise moderate rose pink mane and tail.
"Oh, Miss. Cloverleaf," Sunny greeted while bowing her head, seemingly unaware of her newfound royal status. "What an unexpected surprise."
Phyllis did her best not to show any outward signs of intimidation. She would keep her composure if nothing else. "Sunny, please, you can just call me Phyllis. We've known each other long enough, haven't we?"
Sunny seemed to blush a bit as the realization struck her. "Oh, you're right. Sorry. Guess I'm just a bit... distracted with all that's going on. But it's not every day you get wings and a horn, bring back magic to Equestria and convince three pony tribes to get along again," She extended a hoof and pulled her guest inside. "Come on in, it's safe. This place isn't due to be repaired anytime soon. I have to get some ponies out here to tell me if the damage can be fixed, or if I'm gonna have to start all over again."
Phyllis reluctantly stepped inside, taking notice of the fact that aside from a loose picture frame hanging on a nearby wall, there didn't seem to be any signs of interior damage from Sprout's short-lived rampage. It was then that she noticed a familiar looking pair of spectacles laying on a nearby table. She couldn't help herself and let out a gasp! "Are those..."
"Yes," Sunny nodded. "They're my dad's. I know it's silly, but keeping them helps me to feel closer to him. You know, like a part of him is still here even if he really isn't." She delivered that last line with a noticeably somber tone.
"I'm sorry about your father, really," Phyllis apologized even though she knew it was long after the fact. "We may have had our..." She frowned and bit her lip, trying to think of how best to put what she wanted to say next as delicately as possible. She couldn't find a good word, so she reluctantly settled for. "Disagreements, but I never would've wished for something bad to happen to him. It wasn't right that you had to grow up without him."
The alicorn just nodded in agreement. "It's okay, you don't have to apologize. I already knew you were sincere when you were comforting me after the funeral. Besides, I had Hitch and Sprout to help me through it, even if we didn't really understand at the time what had happened. We all learned a lot that day, whether we wanted to or not."
"Even so, that was as far as my sympathies extended," Phyllis went on as she was already struggling to keep from tearing up. "I still looked down upon you, treated you with contempt and mocked you for trying to carry on your father's research. If not for Hitch always intervening, I'd probably have tried to drive you out of town as soon as you were old enough to live on your own. I know nothing I say or do can make up for all the years of treating you so poorly."
Yet Sunny just seemed to reply in an innocent and even cheerful expression. "You don't need to apologize, Phyllis. I've already forgiven you, just as I've already forgiven Sprout for his actions. And I'm sure Hitch is having a nice long talk with his deputy right about now," She seemed to giggle. "Something tells me Sprout is gonna be in a whole lotta trouble."
Phyllis found herself surprised by her fellow mare's seeming indifference to everything. Or was it all an act to make Phyllis slip up somehow? She didn't know, and that uncertainty did nothing to make her feel even the slightest bit comfortable.
The young alicorn seemed to notice the look she was getting, and without changing her own expression or tone of voice she just asked. "What's the matter, Phyllis? Didn't you hear me when I said I forgave you?"
The glasses wearing earth pony had to blink to make sure she wasn't somehow imagining things. "You really mean it? You're not just pretending?"
"Why would I be pretending?" Sunny pondered in what sounded like a sincere tone of voice.
"Sunny, this has to be everything you've dreamed of!" Phyllis finally exclaimed in disbelief! "After all the years of me telling you that you and your father were wrong, you've been proven right. After everything I said and did to you, and after what I allowed Sprout to become, you mean to tell me that you can forgive me? Just like that? No punishment? No harsh words? Nothing?"
The alicorn firmly nodded. "Of course. That's what Princess Twilight and her friends did many times during the golden age of Equestria. Besides, you were only doing what you thought was right. Compared to Queen Haven, who lied to her subjects about being able to fly even though she couldn't, and Alphabittle who constantly swindled unicorns and cheated at games to get things he didn't deserve, you really don't have much to apologize for."
In spite of everything within her telling her to accept this unexpected gift, Phyllis still found herself asking. "Why? How can you just forgive me so easily?"
It was then that Sunny Starscout saw fit to explain. "My dad and I really had no proof besides the few things we managed to uncover. Beliefs can't be changed overnight or with brute force. That's what I failed to understand during all those times I kept crashing your Canterlogic presentations," A smirk formed on her face as she added. "Though, if I'm being honest, most of your tech actually didn't do what it was supposed to do. Only that box trap worked as intended, and even then it worked a little too well."
"Maybe," Phyllis admitted as she hung her head. "But how can I ever move past it all? How is it possible that you can believe there's a path forward for me after all I did? Aren't you the least bit mad or upset?"
"A little bit, yes," Sunny willingly admitted. "But I already know that I can't change the past. You and I together, however, along with everypony else can change the future. It'll take all of us working together to bring back what Princess Twilight and her friends once had. I don't know if I'll be able to recreate exactly what they had, but I owe it to them and to everypony to try my best. And that's all I can ask for from you, your best. I've already forgiven you, Phyllis. Now it's up to you to learn how to forgive yourself, to let go of the past. If you do that, you can be a better pony than you were yesterday."
Phyllis silently reflected on those words for a bit. Slowly but surely, she came to realize that Sunny was right. This wasn't a time to be dwelling on the past, it was a time to be looking forward to the future: One without fear and mistrust of others. One where ponies worked together instead of always living in isolation. If Queen Haven and Alphabittle could see that they had a lot to do to become leaders in this new world, Phyllis knew that she did too.
Canterlogic would have to retool and repurpose its tech, repurpose the tools meant for defense and open up new markets for new customers. That was going to take a strong guiding hoof to help lead the way.
Yet even now, with her goal firmly in mind, Phyllis saw fit to tell Sunny. "You know, I've never told you or Sprout this, but there's a reason why Hitch became sheriff."
"Well he always did want to help others," Sunny admitted with a smile. "He told me that he promised my dad he'd always try to look out for me. And even if he hadn't made that vow, I have a feeling he would've strived to become sheriff anyway."
Phyllis nodded her head. "Maybe so, but the truth is that I helped him, just a little bit. He needed somepony to vouch for him if he was going to get the job," Her lips quivered a bit. "I didn't think anything of it at the time, even though I knew Sprout wanted to be sheriff too. But I vouched for Hitch over my son. And when Hitch ended up getting the job, I was the one who encouraged him to take Sprout on as deputy. I thought that it would be a good consolation prize for Sprout," She hung her head in shame. "But I see now that it only ended up making him worse. He never learned what it would mean to be responsible."
Sunny trotted over and put a hoof around Phyllis. "You couldn't have known. You were trying to do what was right, in your own way. And Hitch and I will always be grateful for that. That is living proof that you can change, if you really want to," And she then suggested. "If I were you, I'd tell Sprout that and do my best to try to guide him. He's going to need guidance now that everything he's ever known has been upended. Hitch and I along with our new friends, we'll try our best to help him too. But we can only do so much."
"I'll... see what I can do," Phyllis slowly commented. "Thank you for the talk, Princess Sunny."
"Please," Sunny insisted in a warm and friendly tone. "Just call me Sunny. I'm not a princess, even if I am a new pony."