After giving it some thought, Hitch knew the best way to break the news to Sunny would be open and direct with her. So when it came time to do his next patrol, he made a mental note to swing by her smoothie cart. But when he exited the station, he wasn't really expecting to be greeted by three wagons full of steel and aluminum, and a dozen pegasi.
"Excuse me, are you Sheriff Hitch Trailblazer?" the stallion in front asked. They were all wearing high visibility vests, and there were a stack of hardhats in one of the wagons as well.
"Guilty as charged, can I help you folks?" he asked.
"We're from Zephyr Heights Erections. Queen Haven sent us to set up a cell tower for Maretime Bay. I figured you would know the best place to put it up," the forepony asked.
"Hm," Hitch said, taking a quick glance around the area of town he could see. "Well, off the top of my head, I'd say the best place would be the roof of CanterLogic. It's the big building up on the top of the hill. Stop in at reception, and they'll be able to provide you with blueprints of the building."
"Sounds good. Normally, this would take about a month, but now that my entire team can, you know, fly, we can probably have this up in about half that time. I know Z-Mobile and Trot have been very eager to come down here and show earth ponies their smartphones," the forepony told him.
"As long as you folks stay safe up on the roof. Apologies if you're not in the know, but would you happen to know when Princesses Zipp and Pipp will be back in town?" Hitch asked, figuring Sunny could certainly use some exciting, good news to counter what he was about to tell her.
"All I know is Queen Haven is planning some big farewell parade for the two of them; last I heard that would be happening in the next couple days. Alright, we'll get out of your mane. Thank you, Sheriff."
With that, the construction crew and wagons were on their way towards CanterLogic, and Hitch continued on his way down the shoreline road. He already saw Sunny's smoothie cart, and a line of six ponies waiting in line to order. He went down to the end and got in line. He watched as Sunny dealt with her newfound popularity absolutely swimmingly, chatting up each customer as she blended together the ingredients for their order, served it up in a cup, domed lid, and straw, and was right on to the next pony in line. She saw him and gave him a wave as she moved on to the next customer. He knew that she would be closing in the next fifteen minutes or so, so he waited off to the side.
When the line died down and the crowd started to thin, she hung the 'Closed' sign, she got her blenders washed and put away, and was out the side door with a bag of garbage on her back and a smoothie in her right hoof, before closing the side door and locking it for the night.
"Evening, Hitch. One Super Citrus Delight," Sunny greeted, handing him the smoothie.
Hitch accepted the beverage with a smile, and took a sip.
"As if this wasn't hard enough..." he said as they started to walk towards his house.
"What do you mean?" Sunny asked, throwing the trash bag into the nearby dumpster as they passed by.
"Sweets and her team completed their assessment of the lighthouse, Sunny. They're not going to be able to safely repair it. She said the best thing to do was to bring it down and completely rebuild," Hitch said.
He saw Sunny's ears droop at the news, but she turned to him with that ever-spirited look in her eyes.
"I appreciate you being the bearer of bad news, Hitch. You're a good friend, and I've kept that possibility in the back of my head for the past few days. It's... It's sad that they can't save it, but if it has to be done, it has to be done," Sunny told him.
"I've got a day off tomorrow. I'll help you get everything out that you can and into a storage unit," Hitch told her.
"Thanks, Hitch. I think I will do that. The sooner that's done, the sooner we can move on to whatever the next step is going to be. Any idea what that will be?" Sunny asked.
"Well, once it's safely brought down and cleared away, the land is still legally yours, and you can probably build whatever you like on it," the sheriff told her.
"Yeah, as if I didn't have my mind on enough things..." Sunny mused playfully, trying to keep her mind off of the negative.
The soft droning noise they heard behind them only got louder, and they both turned to see what it was. A single light shone on the front of the small scooter, and as it got closer, they saw a very familiar unicorn on it, and Sunny's smile only widened.
"I'm baaack!" Izzy sing-songed as she brought the scooter to a halt and hopped off. Sunny galloped forward, and threw her hooves around Sunny's neck in an embrace.
"Oh, I missed you so much!" Sunny told her.
"I would have been back a couple days ago, but I saw this half-buried in the dirt and grass, and my unicycling just kicked into overdrive!"
Izzy's mode of transportation looked brand new. It had a fresh coat of paint, and a multi-compartment cargo box had been attached to the back, where she had painted her cutie mark, with flower patterns almost everywhere else across the silver, teal, and fuchsia paint job.
"Well, you being here would be a great help, actually. We're going to try and get as much of Sunny's stuff out of the lighthouse as possible tomorrow. Sadly, it turns out they can't save it," Hitch told her.
"Aw, that's too bad," Izzy said, hugging Sunny again for comfort. "But at least we have each other. Any idea when Zipp and Pipp are coming back?"
"A construction team of pegasi just got into town, actually. They're putting up a cell tower on the roof of CanterLogic, and they told me that there's going to be a farewell parade for them in the next day or two. Depending on how fast they get that tower up, we might be able to catch that on TV if we like," Hitch told them as they continued into town.
Sunny offered a tired but genuine smile.
"That sounds like a great idea, Hitch. I can't wait to see those two again."