//------------------------------//
// Reunion! 
// Story: A New Arrival! 
// by BlackSpire 
//------------------------------//

The first rays of sunshine began to seep through the blinds of the small room at 'The Watering Hole' inn, striking the tired face of Leon Christo causing him to stir from his restless slumber. His vision blurred as his eyes adjusted to the light that dimly lit the room. In the bed besides his own lay the sleeping form of his younger sister, Windbreaker. A lock of her long pink mane that was braided rested on her face that held a look of complete peace. It made her look even more angelic than her large, majestic wings. 

He didn't have the heart to disturb his sister from her dreams and, so he simply lay in his bed silently, contemplating what he needed to do that day. However, boredom started to creep up on him, so instead of just staring at the ceiling, he sat up on his bed and began to take in the view of the small room that the two had stayed the night in. The room wasn't exactly five-star material...or even three-star, but it did its job. The wallpaper looked as if it was ready to fall off the wall in some places. Plus, the design of the dreary and old-fashioned Victorian-floral wallpaper wasn't exactly a sight to behold, especially to the trained eye of an artist. 

All of a sudden the horrid, musty smell of damp hit the pegasi's nostrils, as if someone had just sucker punched him with a trash can. Looking up, to the corner of the ceiling directly above Windbreaker's bed, his eyes widened at what he saw. 

In the far corner of the ceiling, was a large dripping wet patch which had a massive patch of black mould growing, and hanging from the ceiling as it if were a miniature stalactite. The site of the ghastly fungus was a revolting image to Leon's who had to stop himself from vomiting at both the smell and the sight of the neglected corner.  

'How in Equestria did we not notice that before, we went to sleep?!’ thought the now horrified Leon, who was about to get ready to wake his sister up before the sound of the alarm clock began to ring. Leon had forgotten that he had set the alarm to ring at 8 o'clock, so that they would have time to get ready for when they had to check out of their room.   

The noise had immediately caused Windbreaker to roll over so that she would open her eyes to see the ceiling. However, she wasn't expecting the first thing she'd see in the morning would be a stalactite of mould that looked as if it were ready to drop on her face at any moment. As you can most probably tell, her reaction to this was anything but calm...  

"AAAAAAHHHHH!!!” screamed Windbreaker, as she quickly flew towards Leon's bed to hide under the covers, in the process knocking Leon off the bed, sending him tumbling to the hard floor.  

"Ouch! Hey, that really hurt!" Leon scolded as he was furiously rubbing the back of his head to ease the throbbing pain where he had collided with the floor.  

Choosing to ignore her brother's complaints she yelled, "What in Equestria is that thing?!", sticking her hoof out to point at the mould while still holding the bed sheets in front of her like a protective shield.   

"Calm down sis! It's just a bit of mould-"  

"Just a BIT of mould! I swear I just saw that thing move!" exclaimed Windbreaker, her eyes now as wide as dinner plates, filled to the brim with fear, she continued by pleading with a new look of hysteria, "Please Leon! Can't you just kill it?!" 

'So much for the calm, innocent angel...'  thought Leon as he got up and made his way to the bathroom. He called out to Windbreaker as he made his way to the door, "Just try to ignore it for a little while, till I come out of the shower. I'm sure it won't do anything while I'm gone." Leon finished before, closing the door behind him. 

As he finished brushing his teeth, he heard another scream from his sister. Quickly, rushing out of the bathroom to see what was wrong he couldn't help but stare wide-eyed at the sight in front of him.  

In front of him, was Windbreaker who had grabbed a broom from somewhere and had used it to hit the crumbling bit of mould. However, what she didn't take into account was bits of the mould flying towards, and landing in her long pink mane. This brought the young filly into more of a panic and she hurriedly tried to get the small bits of repulsive black mould out of her mane.  

Leon could only face-hoof, sigh and shake his head in annoyance at his little sister's childishness before heading back into the bathroom to have his shower. However, Windbreaker raced past him and shut the bathroom door in his face. 

“Sorry! I have to get this out of my mane!” she said through the door. 

At first, Leon was going to argue, but knowing his sister, it was pointless to try. Instead, he sat on the bed, got out his sketchbook, and drew the battle between Windbreaker and the mould as he waited for her to get out of the bathroom.

An hour later... 

The two Pegasus ponies had decided to leave the inn without making much more of a fuss over the monstrous mould they had found. Deciding together that it would probably be better for the inn to find out about their “little problem” themselves. Besides, it would make one crazy surprise for the house keeping... 

The two had asked the receptionist for a place to recommend that does a good breakfast, before they had left. 

"Sugarcube Corner has always been a good place for pancakes." the receptionist had said before giving them directions on how to get there. The two ponies almost felt bad for not warning them about fungus in their room, due to how kind the receptionist was. Almost, that is... 

Leon took a good look at the small town of Ponyville as he walked with Windbreaker fluttering right beside him. Although she was getting stronger, it was easier to fly everywhere than walk. Windbreaker was looking down at the cobbled path as she flew with less enthusiasm as she normally would. A look of sadness draped over her face as she flew besides her older brother. A look that Leon didn't miss... 

'So much has happened to her in the past few days. I'm surprised she's been able to cope with it as well as she has...' Leon thought as he looked at his sister who was still preoccupied with counting the number of stones embedded in the line that she flew in.  

Leon quickly shook his head as he tried to get rid of those thoughts from his head, 'There's no use moping around in the past. We can't change it no matter how hard we try. We can only move on.'  

Leon then began to think about what the future held for both him and his sister as they continued to travel towards the Sugarcube Corner. Just then, colts and fillies of all ages filled the empty streets as they made their way to start another intense day of learning at school. 

'Hmm maybe Windbreaker can start going to school here...' Leon thought absent-mindedly as he continued to walk not noticing the tennis ball that was moving to hit him square in the face. It would have too, if it weren't for Windbreaker being more aware of her surroundings.  

"Watch out!" she cried as she quickly flew in front of him. In a dazzling display of skill, she caught the tennis ball whilst performing a barrel roll. She then finished off her acrobatic flight with a neat and tidy landing. The speed at which she did all of that left Leon stunned in surprise before, a small smile broke from his lips as he thought: 

'Wow! She's grown up so much. The therapy is really doing wonders for her...' 

However, before he could continue his thoughts, a blur of silvery grey pounced on Windbreaker, bringing her to fall to the ground screaming. The blur turned out to be a large grey dog. It looked a lot like a husky to Leon. However, right now he could care less about the breed of the dog, he was far more concerned about the welfare of his sister, who was currently being attacked by this...this beast! However, before Leon could rush to his sister's aid, a loud, strong yet very familiar voice yelled out: 

"ABIGAIL! Get off that young lady right now!" The canine immediately got up off of Windbreaker with a loud whine and her ears lying flat against her head, as a response to her owner's words. The yellow pony, who was presumably the owner of the dog, rushed over to Windbreaker to help her up whilst he started to speak, "I am so, so sorry about my dog! You see she's very...energetic and, can be a bit rough when she's playing. So when you were holding her ball..." 

As the young stallion, began to justify his dog's actions, and profusely apologize to his sister, Leon's mind began to spring in excitement as he realized just who exactly this pony was. After all, he didn't know another pony alive that had a fiery red mane with orange streaks in it.

"Sunny?!" exclaimed Leon, recognizing his long-time friend, who he hadn't seen in five years!  

The stallion turned to face him, before his own eyes widened in surprise, "Leon...Is that you?!" When Leon nodded in answer to his question, Sunny's face beamed, "Oh my gosh! Leon...wait a second..." Sunny then turned towards the young filly that Abigail had knocked to the ground, before saying, "Windbreaker...?" 

Windbreaker could only nod her head in surprise at the fact that of all ponies that they could have run into, it had to be one of her brother's best friends.  

"I knew you looked familiar!" exclaimed Sunny before ruffling her long pink mane affectionately. 

"Hey! Cut it out you know I don't like any pony messing with my mane!" she huffed in annoyance.

Sunny couldn't help but chuckle at her reaction before saying, "Well at least your personality hasn't changed! I still can't believe how much you've grown since the last time I saw you!" 

He then turned to face Leon, who by then had closed the gap between the two and brought Sunny into a crushing hug as he said, "Sunny! It's so good to see you again, my friend! I can't believe it's been five years since we last saw each other!"

"T-that's great and all...but,...could you please...get off me...your kind of...crushing me..." croaked Sunny as his yellow face threatened to turn a blue colour, from the lack of oxygen. 

"Oh right! Sorry about that! Leon said before letting go of the yellow stallion. 

"Ah, that's better." Sunny said, now finally able to breathe again. He continued by saying, "Yeah it's been a while hasn't it. I didn't recognize you guys with the new mane-styles," he finishing by pointing to his left ear. He was referring to the lock of braided hair from their manes that the two ponies had hanging in front of their left ears. Whilst, it was a small change in both of their mane-styles it still didn't change their appearance that much to cause some pony not to recognize them.

"Are you sure you didn't just realize who we were until I called out your name?" said Leon now eyeing Sunny suspiciously. 

"O-of course not! I knew all along it was you guys! Hahaha!" chuckled Sunny rather nervously as he uselessly tried to cover up the fact that he truly didn't realize he was speaking to his long lost friends. With this obvious lie clear to Leon, he chose not to press on the matter.  

"Anyway there so many things I want to ask you two! I don't even know where to begin! Is there any way we could like sit down somewhere and have a chat?" continued Sunny hoping to change the subject. However, he was also truly interested in what his two friends had gotten up to over the five years they hadn't seen each other. 

"Actually, we were just heading over to the Sugarcube Corner for breakfast before we bumped into you. If you want you could join us?" asked Leon, who was also eager to hear more about what his friend had been up to over the last five years.

"That's perfect! I haven't had any breakfast yet either, so I'm starving. We can talk over breakfast. I happened to just pass Sugarcube Corner back there..." Sunny said pointing behind him before continuing, "...as I was taking Abigail here for her morning walk." he finished pointing at his dog who was sitting by his side. 

"Hey since when did you get a husky?" asked Leon as the trio began walking towards Sugarcube Corner. He was rather curious; he didn't have Sunny down to being the 'dog-owning' kind of pony, or any other pet for that matter. 

"Actually, she's a Malamute. It's actually a common mistake for ponies to make though. In fact, the two look really similar, but did you know there are actually a number of key differences about them. You see..." 

Leon could only inwardly cringe as he was subjected to a lecture in the differences between malamutes and huskies and why malamutes were clearly the better of the two. However, Leon could not help but inwardly chuckle as well. This all proved that Sunny hadn't changed one bit.  

Back when the two regularly met up back in Canterlot, Sunny would occasionally go off on a rant or lecture about a topic that he was very interested in. Sometimes for hours at a time if Leon didn't stop him! It was one of Sunny's less appealing attributes. He had to tell Sunny many times that he either wasn't interested, or that he was going completely off topic. But, there were a few times where Leon would be completely wrapped up in Sunny's words and even contribute his own thoughts and views, turning the rants into full blown lengthy discussions and on the rare occasion arguments. 

He smiled as he remembered their discussion on Art and how they had spent hours talking about the topic and had even gone as far as to go to a few galleries in the city together to prove each other’s points. By the end of that day both ponies had left far wiser. 

However, dogs weren't exactly a topic Leon could relate to and, was incredibly thankful that the walk to Sugarcube Corner was a short one.

As Abigail and the trio of ponies walked into the store, they took a seat next to the window. Leon and Windbreaker sitting on one side and Sunny on the other with Abigail lying on the seat next to him. Mrs. Cake came over to their table to greet them and take their order.  

The trio of ponies all ordered a stack of pancakes each with maple syrup. Both Leon and Sunny had coffee with their pancakes, whilst Windbreaker chose to have hot chocolate with hers. Sunny also ordered just a couple of plain pancakes for Abigail as well. Once, their orders had been taken Mrs. Cake left to get them ready leaving the three ponies to continue their conversation. 

"So what brings you here to Ponyville then?" asked Sunny looking at the siblings. 

"Don't you know?" asked Windbreaker with a confused look, to which Sunny simply shook his head with a perplexed look of his own. 

"You didn't get our letter we sent to you?" asked Leon with a concerned tone in his voice.

"Letter?" Sunny said to himself, as he thought to himself to try and think of what the explanation was for him not receiving a letter from his long-time friends. Suddenly, the reason hit him as if a light bulb had lit above his head. "Oh! Of course I haven't! I forgot to tell you guys I had moved away from my address in Manehattan to live here!" explained Sunny as he face-hoofed at forgetting to tell his friends about him changing address. 

"Oh right...well at least we found you here so you wouldn't have to miss it," said Leon.  

"Miss what?"  

"Well it's uh..." began Leon before trying to figure out how to break the awkward news to his friend. 

Sensing his discomfort, Sunny realized something important, or rather some pony important, and to be even more precise a lack of some pony important.  

"Hey wait a minute! Where's Mrs. Cristo?" Sunny asked now concerned. 

The fact that Windbreaker was out and about without her mother anywhere nearby was a troubling sign. He knew Leon would never leave his mother alone without Windbreaker or his Uncle Dawnstar being with her and, he knew Leon's uncle would be too busy with his duties as Captain of the Royal Guard to look after her and, the fact that the siblings were so far away from Canterlot didn't make sense to him either.  

Leon sighed in defeat before he said, "Still as sharp as ever I see, Sunny." He then coughed before continuing, "I'm sure you already knew that my mom has never had the best of health."  

Sunny could only nod slowly as Leon said this. His face still carrying a look of confusion on it, as if he was trying to figure out what his friend was trying to say. Leon continued:  

"And well...the issue with her health hasn't gotten better..." said Leon calmly, before he gave a heavy sigh, staring down at the table in front of him as he added, "In fact, it just got worse...". 

Sunny's eyes widened as he finally pieces together what must have happened. 

"Oh gosh...Leon...I'm so sorry..." his voice filled with sympathy for his friend. Leon just remained silent as the reminder of his mother now being deceased struck him once again. Windbreaker beside him barely able to hold back the tears that threatened to come to her.  

Sunny honestly did feel incredibly shocked that the Christo siblings had lost their mother. Whenever, Sunny used to go around Leon's house to visit she would always treat him like he was her own son. She was essentially Sunny's third mother, after both his actual mother and Twilight's. With this new news Sunny felt as if the clear blue skies outside had just been changed to a dark grey in which a heavy storm brewed. He was in despair. 

Sunny looked towards the Christo siblings as he thought, 'If this is how I'm feeling, Celestia knows how those two must be taking it...', his eyes moved to look at just Windbreaker who was still looking towards the ground still trying to fight back the tears that desperately wanted to form. 'Poor girl. First, she doesn't get a chance to know who her father was, and now this. Out of every pony who knew her she must have been the closest to her mother...'  

By accident Sunny quietly said out loud, "Windbreaker...". Immediately, she looked up to face him, as he mentioned her name. Sunny realized that he had just said that out loud. Quickly, he decided to avert attention away from himself as he said, "I can't believe she's gone...I mean I knew she was unwell...but I never would have thought..." he ended trailing off as he struggled to find the right words to say. 

Soon he found the words as he added whilst placing his hoof on Leon's shoulder as a sign that he would always be there for him, no matter what: "If there's anything I can do... please don't hesitate to ask me...alright?" 

"Yeah, I will," muttered Leon, as he looked back up with a small, weak smile glad that he could still rely on someone to help him out, should he ever need it.  

'If these two can stay this strong after going through this. Then I have to as well...not just for me... but, for them as well.' Sunny thought to himself, as he decided that he needed to act maturely about this situation.  

"So I assume the reason you guys are here is something to do with her funeral?" said Sunny once again, trying to be mature about the whole situation. The two would have to talk about their mother's death eventually; so the sooner they started the easier for them it would be in the future.  

Leon nodded before saying; "We decided to bury her here in Ponyville, right next to Dad. She would have wanted that..." 

"I'm sure she would have." Sunny then added, "So when is the funeral? I'll be sure to come and pay my respects to her."

"Oh, right… The funeral will be in four days..." Leon answered before asking, "Do you still keep in contact with Twilight?" realizing how brash his question sounded he quickly added, "I'm just asking because I sent her a message informing her about the funeral, so it would've been nice if she was told about it as well."

"First of all Leon, you know that things between me and Twilight are fine. We're still great friends. We would never let anything get in the way of our friendship, not even a former relationship!" Sunny said, explaining the situation between himself and the lavender unicorn. He then added, "It’s funny you should mention her actually!"  

"Really why?" asked Windbreaker who was now curious about news that involved Twilight. The years that the two had known each other, had given birth to a strong relationship between the two ponies. Twilight was Windbreaker's role model in just about everything. Windbreaker looked at her as if she was like the older sister she never had.  

"Well you see, Twilight has actually been living here in Ponyville for quite some time now. She works as the town's librarian! I must confess I haven't been keeping in contact with her as often as I should have! So imagine my surprise after all these years when I meet her yesterday!" 

"Wait a minute! I thought she was with Princess Celestia working as her apprentice?" 

"Oh she still is! She's just based here now."  

"Oh! Wait a second! You said you met her yesterday, Ponyville isn't that big a town that it would take you a long time to know everypony around here. So when did you move here?"

"This is my third official day settling in now."

"So how are you finding it over here...?"  

The conversation between the two close friends continued to go on for quite some time, with Windbreaker included in every so often. The two were very interested in knowing what the other had been up to in the years they hadn't seen each other.  
Mrs. Cake had brought out their order before moving off to take another table's order. The three of them continued to talk as they had their breakfast. Abigail just happily wolfed down her pancakes. As time went on, the trio of ponies had finished eating and were sipping away at their drinks. Soon the conversation came to a close. 

"So what are your plans for today?" Sunny asked as he took a sip of his coffee.  

"Well we were planning to go see the real estate agents today, to set up an appointment to see the house we lived in before we moved to Canterlot. After all, we will need a house to settle down in. Plus, that house holds so many precious memories to me. It would mean a lot to me if we were able to live there again."  

"Hmm, well I don't really have anything planned for today. Do you mind if I tag along with you?" 

"Sure, why not!"  

"Great! I can also take you guys to see Twilight. I'm certain she would be happy to see the two of you again!" Sunny finished with a wide grin on his face at the thought if the three friends getting back together again, "It'll be just like old times!".  

"Yeah, I guess it would be," Leon said, returning Sunny's smile with one of his own. 

Just then, their conversation was interrupted by the loud voice of a pink waitress, "SUNNY!" 

Whilst rubbing his ears to stop the ringing, Sunny looked up to face the pink earth pony and said, "Hey Pinkie Pie! How's everything going?"  

"Well everything's fine, but I'm upset that you didn't call me out when you came here to eat. Although, I guess you didn't know that I work here at Sugarcube Corner so I forgive you for that. So I guess it's a good thing that I've finished my shift for today because I wanted to talk to you about your welcome party..." she said saying everything without taking a breath. However, she trailed off when she saw Leon and Windbreaker. Her silence did not last as she began to ask even more questions, "Who are your friends over here?" she asked as she moved closer to them whilst staring at them with wide eyes filled with interest. She continued moving closer to them, until she was barely inches away from them. As with any new pony that had just met her, Leon and Windbreaker were both slightly creeped out by the strange pink pony.  

"Oh right where are my manners! Pinkie Pie these are mine and Twilight's friends from Canterlot; Leon and his sister Windbreaker." 

Immediately, a light bulb lit up above her head as her brain figured something out as it normally would...for Pinkie Pie anyway. 

“Ah I remember now! He's the guy from your flashback movie thing that did the portraits.” At this, a confused look etched itself onto the face of Leon. 

"Yep, he's the very same guy." Sunny replied before giving a look to Leon which screamed, 'I'll explain all of this later.' Leon simply nodded acknowledging Sunny's look.  

"I knew I recognized him!" beamed Pinkie Pie, before her face quickly switched to one of suspicion, narrowing her eyes as she said, "Wait, what's he doing here?"  

Sunny beginning to wonder if Pinkie Pie always acted like this, he answered, "Well both he and his sister are planning to live in Ponyville..."  

Before he could say anything else, Pinkie Pie's eyes widened as she let out a loud gasp before zooming off somewhere else. Leaving the three ponies very confused. 

"Um, Sunny? What in Equestria just happened?"  

"To be honest I only just met Pinkie Pie yesterday, so I have no idea of why she acts that way. But, she's nice once you get over her...energetic personality." 

"I thought she was pretty cool!" spoke up Windbreaker who had until now remained quiet as she was too busy stroking Abigail who as usual was enjoying the attention on her.  

Leon gave his sister a sceptical look at the thought of putting the word 'cool' and that pony...Pinkie Pie, together.  

"Well I'm sure you'll get to know Pinkie Pie a whole lot more seeing as you are going to be living in Ponyville now. Now if you'll excuse me, I need to use the restroom." As soon as he said that, he got up and left the table.  

However, instead of heading to the toilets he headed towards the counter at which Mrs. Cake was standing at the till.  
"Can I have the bill for our table please?"  

"Of course, if you could just wait a little while?"  

"That's fine with me."  

Mrs. Cake unnecessarily thanked him as she went off to total up the bill. She soon came back saying: 

"Your total comes to forty five bits."  

Sunny pulled out a fifty bit note and handed it to her, as she opened the cash register to take out the change Sunny interjected by saying, "Please do keep the change! The service was excellent!"   

He flashed a friendly smile to Mrs. Cake, who returned the smile with her own, before making his way back to their table. Looking at a clock that was on the wall he spoke up again: 

"We should probably get going soon. Otherwise, we may not have enough time to see the real estate agents. We've already spent nearly two hours here!"  

"What’s the hurry Sunny? We still have plenty of time. It's not even past twelve yet!" asked Leon.  

"Well I thought we were going to go visit Twilight? I'm sure she of all ponies would be most happy to see the two of you."  
"I guess you’re right. Well at least let us pay the bill before we go rushing off."  

"That's okay I've already paid for breakfast! Now let's go!" said Sunny quickly before he began to walk towards the exit with Abigail following him closely by his side.

"Wait what! Sunny why did you do that?!" called out Leon before getting up and running after him, with Windbreaker flying closely behind him.  

"Leon don't worry about it let's just-"  

"No I will worry about it! Why couldn't you let me pay for mine and Windbreaker's breakfast?!" interrupted Leon.  

"Listen I haven't seen the two of you in years! Catching up on old times with you guys has been great. So at least let me show my appreciation for giving me a good time by paying for your meals alright?"  

Leon knew he wouldn't win this argument so with a huff he replied, "Fine then...but I'll be paying the bill the next time we all eat out together!"  

"You got yourself a deal there! Now let's go see Twilight." cheered Sunny as they all walked towards the library. Once they arrived, at the library that was built in to the tree Sunny knocked on the door. Instead of someone answering the door, they all heard a familiar voice shout out from inside:  

"This is a public library! You don't have to knock on the door, just let yourselves in!"

Taking the outburst as an invitation, Sunny told the two ponies to wait outside as he opened the door and both he and Abigail walked into the library.  As he looked around the library he was impressed at what he saw. The interior of the building was a lot larger than what the exterior tree appearance made it seem like. All along the walls of the libraries were incredibly large bookcases that towered over him. Their shelves filled with books of all sizes filled with all the information you could have possibly ever wanted. Sunny was sure that if he was still back at school studying in Canterlot that he would have fallen in love with this place. However, that was back then. Now he was a different pony...although he would definitely make sure to pick up a book from here occasionally.  

Being distracted by the sight of the rows of massive bookshelves, he looked towards the centre of the room to see Twilight sitting at a desk with two towering stacks of books either side of her. She currently had a book open on a particular page and was scribbling away notes for a report she had to complete for Princess Celestia on 'The Dangers of Transportation/Teleportation Magic'.   

"Welcome to Ponyville Public Library, how may I help...oh hey there Sunny! What brings you here?" she began to say before she lifted her head up from her notes to see the yellow stallion.  

"Oh nothing much! I was just giving Abigail here her morning walk, and I just happened to be in the area. So I thought I'd give you a bit of a visit."  

"Gosh! If I had known you were coming I would've made a little bit of an effort to tidy the place up for you..." Twilight said as she used her magic to start to put some of the books away.   

"Come on now Twilight! You know me well enough to know that I don't care about a little mess! Besides, I don't think the guests I've brought with me would be too particularly happy if you spent your time cleaning up instead of talking with them!" said Sunny as he used his own magic to stop Twilight's magic from putting the books away.

"Huh? What guests?" asked a now confused Twilight.  

"These guests!" yelled out Leon and Windbreaker in unison as they took their cue to enter the library.  

"Leon! Windbreaker! It's so good to see you two again!" Twilight exclaimed whilst galloping towards her two friends who she hasn't seen in five years, to give them both a bug hug. 

"At least some pony recognised us straight away!" said Leon, directing the comment towards Sunny, as both he and Windbreaker hugged Twilight back. 

"Hey! I did recognise you!" complained Sunny, still lying about their earlier encounter. 

"Sure you did." said Windbreaker with sarcasm oozing from every word.

Twilight who was still shocked at seeing her two friends then asked, "Anyway, what are you two doing here?!"  

"It's kind of a long story-" began Leon before he was interrupted by the lavender pony. 

"I've got time." interrupted Twilight, who was still trying to get over the sudden surprise but nevertheless eager to hear Leon's story, "Oh and where are my manners! Here please do take a seat!" Twilight said this as she used her magic to transport a table and set of chairs from one end of the room to where they were. "Can I get you guys anything to eat or drink?"  

"Oh no! It's alright Twilight! We all just came back from eating breakfast at the Sugarcube Corner." explained Leon. 
"Oh all right. Now, tell me about why you're here and, also about what you've been up to in the past fie year. You must have been real busy I'm sure!" 

"Well you see..." he said as he began to re-tell the entire story to Twilight just as he had told it to Sunny. When they had finished their story as to why they had come to Ponyville, Twilight began to tell them her story of what she had been up to in the past five years and, even introduced Spike to everypony. He wasn't there originally as he was busy in the kitchen preparing both his and Twilight's lunch. Soon a couple of hours had passed as the three reunited friends reminisced on their times in Canterlot. The time would have continued to go unnoticed if it weren't for Leon spotting the time. 

"Oh my! We've spent two hours just sitting here and talking! We're going to have to leave soon if we want to see my parent's house today!" said Leon as he got up from his seat. 

"He's right we really should get going!" spoke up Sunny as he too got up from his seat.

"Oh you're going with him to see his house?" asked Twilight as she did the same as the two stallions. 

"Well I invited him to come with me..." began Leon but then an idea popped into his head as he continued, "...Actually, do you want to come along with us?"  

"Well I've almost finished Princess Celestia's assignment anyway, so sure why not." beamed Twilight, as she was happy at the thought of being able to spend more time with her two closest friends. 

"Great!" Leon replied before, he called out, "Sis! We're leaving now!" 

"Okay Leon!" called back Windbreaker as she flew to her older brother's side. Abigail and Spike followed shortly afterwards. Windbreaker and Spike had both gotten along very well and had spent their time playing with Abigail around the library. For the first time, since before their mother had died, Leon saw Windbreaker with a genuine smile on her face. Which brought about a smile upon Leon's face, seeing his sister happy again. 

"Aww you guys are leaving already?" asked a disappointed Spike who was having a good time with the pegasi and the Malamute. 

"You can come with us too if you want Spike." said Leon. 

"ALRIGHT!" both Spike and Windbreaker exclaimed whilst bro-hoofing along with Abigail who barked happily. 

"Okay guys let's go!" called out Sunny who was already out the door. Everypony except Twilight soon followed behind him. 

"Sunny slow down!" yelled Twilight as she was locking up the library and putting the 'Closed' sign up on the front door. 

A couple of hours later...  

The four ponies, one dragon and the Malamute could only stare at the sight of the house in front of them, as they waited for the estate agent to come and show them the house. To be honest it was more of a mansion than a house!  

The profile of the property said it was a large, spacious dwelling of eight and a half thousand square feet, with an impressive 5 acres of land surrounding the property. Along with a splendid view of the countryside around the outskirts of the small town of Ponyville. Whilst, the description on paper sounded like the perfect dream home, the actual appearance of the building itself was a lot to be desired.   

The old paint was flaking away in most places and had caused the sturdy wooden walls to start to rot and decay in several areas of the building. The extent of the rotting was so bad there were even a few holes in the walls of the large building. A large number of tiles had fallen off of the roof, some of them hitting the house as they came crashing down. Some tiles even caused the windows to be smashed to pieces inviting the elements to do more damage inside the building as well as out. The handiwork of a bunch of hoodlums could also be seen in the form of graffiti that was written on the walls of the building. The grounds around the house had been un-kept for many years causing the most probably nearly kept lawn to transform into a miniature jungle in which all sorts of wildlife were hidden away.  

All in all, the building at first glance looked like a complete shambles that was ready to fall on top of itself at any moment. Most ponies would have been deterred from the thought of buying the place as soon as they laid their eyes on it. Twilight and Spike were no exception as a look of disgust painted both their faces as they saw the house. However, Sunny was completely the opposite.  

"Wow Leon! I can't believe you used to live in a house like this!" beamed at his friend as he looked at the place.  

"Well I guess it helps that my father was one of the founding members of the Wonderbolts..." deadpanned Leon. 

"Oh yeah right I forgot!" said Sunny now feeling slightly embarrassed before, turning his back to the mansion. The mansion was situated on top of a fairly large hill, which provided the amazing view of the countryside on the outskirts of Ponyville. 

"This sure is a wonderful view!" exclaimed Sunny as he closed his eyes and let the soft wind caress his face and stroke his fiery mane.  

"You should see it when the sunsets." said Leon, as he thought back to a memory of how things used to be when he used to live there with his parents.   

18 years ago...  

"Mom! Come quickly otherwise we're going to miss it!" yelled Leon as a small colt who was currently flying around in circles. 

"Maybe if you helped your mother out by carrying the glasses and the lemonade we'd get there a whole lot quicker!" called back Leon's father, Bolt who was also flying whilst also carrying a table.  

Leon groaned out loud before saying, "Fine!", before zooming off into the kitchen to pick up the glasses  and pitcher of ice cold lemonade.   

"Gosh! That kid is so hard to control!" moaned Bolt as he landed at their usual spot. 

"Bolt dear, I don't think you can be one to complain. After all, you were exactly like that when we first met." said Leon's mother, Moondancer who was setting up three deck chairs for them to sit on.  

"Surely I wasn't that out of control!" reasoned Bolt.

"No you weren't..." began Moondancer.   

"See I-" Bolt said before being interrupted.  

"...you were worse!" she finished. 

"HEY!" exclaimed Bolt but, was again interrupted from saying anything else when Leon came along holding three glasses in one hand and the lemonade in the other, he quickly placed them on the table and poured a glass of lemonade for each of them.  

"Mom! Dad! Come on or we're going to miss it!" whined the small brown pegasi.  

"Okay, okay Leon! We're ready!" said Moondancer trying to keep the small bundle of energy tamed. The long summer days were always hot and tiring. But, at the end of the day this was the moment the entire Cristo family looked forward to.  

Every second that tick during the day was all for this one single moment in the eyes of the young pegasi. The sight that would always be waiting for them every day: the glorious sunset. The time in which Princess Celestia's creation; the ever so bright and glorious  Sun, would finally rest to make way for Princess Luna's own divine creation; the night sky and it's elegant beauty. The time in which the clear blue skies would change to a warm and fiery palette of colours. Crimson red, neon orange, peachy pink, sunny yellow and many more wonderfully warm colours. No matter how many times he saw the sunset, he would always be amazed to see the myriad of colours dance right before his eyes. It was a sight that he could never ever forget.  

Back to the present time...    

Suddenly, the sound of a new voice snapped Leon out of his memory. The voice belonged to a mature stallion who had a grey coat with a slick black mane. There were a few strands of grey in his well-kept mane that gave away just how old he was.  

"I'm so sorry I'm late! I got held up at another appointment. The name's Danny, Danny Winchester." the stallion said before adding, "Which one of you is Mr. Cristo?"  

"That would be me." Leon replied.  

"Ah excellent." the older stallion said as he shook hooves with Leon before he added, "You know I still remember the day when I sold this land to another Mr. Cristo, who then went on to build this property. Are you perhaps related?" 

"Oh that would probably be my father."  

"Ah I see!" said Danny before adding, "Shall we go have a look inside the property?" Danny asked his rhetorical question as he began to make his way towards the house the others following shortly behind him.

As Leon walked along with the others behind Danny he looked towards the house. As they made their way closer to the door, he looked up to see a particular window. It was a rather large window situated directly high up the house onto the second floor whilst, still being in line with the front door. Just the sight of the window brought back a fond memory of Leon's. 

16 years ago...   

"Get back here you little rascal!" yelled out Bolt as he chased his son down one of the long corridors of their home.  

Up ahead Leon was running like his life depended on it, his mouth covered in a blue sauce. The way he had ended up in this position is by eating his father's favourite blueberry pie, that his mother had especially made for him. As you can tell, Bolt didn't react to well when he found out...  

'I'm going to make that colt regret eating my blueberry pie!' thought Bolt angrily as he continued to run after the brown pegasus colt.  

Leon turned around a corner to try and lose his Dad but soon stopped in his tracks as he realized the corridor he had turned into had no other turnings or doors, it was a dead end. All that he could see was a rather large picture window that was opened to let in the floods of bright sunshine to light up the corridor. Ready to turn around to get out of the dead end, he was soon frozen in place as the presence his Dad blocked off his only way out, he was trapped.  

Bolt seeing his son had nowhere to run to. He called out, "Are you ready to get punished, for eating my pie?!" Leon looked furiously for any way possible he could get out of this dilemma. Soon an idea sprung into his head.  

With a smirk on his face he replied, "You're going to have to catch me first, Dad!", before turning around and running towards the open window.  

Bolt realizing what his son was about to do called out, "Leon don't do it!", but, by then it was too late. Leon gathering up speed from his run opened his wings out and took off through the window and into the clear blue skies above. 

Leon had a massive smile on his face as he finally escaped from suffering from the brutal torture his father was sure to put him through. Soon he began to look around him to see a number of birds flying around him as if to welcome their new companion in the air. He then looked around to see a sight that took his breathe away. He could see the grassy green plains of the countryside that stretched as far as the eye could see. The tiny plumes of grey smoke that erupted from the miniscule chimneys of the small town of Ponyville. The large strip of darker woods that lay just a short distance from the outskirts of Ponyville; the infamous Everfree Forest. The luminously bright Sun that poured it's energetic rays upon the whole setting making everything look and feel more surreal than it was.   

Even though Leon had seen this view near enough every day when he looked out to see the sunset, he was still blown away from looking at the view from this new aerial perspective. It was truly a magnificent view.   

However, he was snapped out of his admiration when he heard a voice call out to him, "Leon look out!".   

Looking to see where he was flying he saw he was about to collide head first into a tree. At the speed he was going there was no way he could turn away in time. So holding his front legs in front of his face and closing his eyes tightly shut he braced for impact.   

A few seconds passed but, the impact never came. Opening his eyes, he saw that he had completely stopped flying and instead was being carried in the arms of another pegasus. Looking up to see his saviour he saw that it was none other than his Dad. Soon the two had landed safely back on the ground. 

"Leon! Don't you ever do that again! You had me seriously worried!" exclaimed Bolt as he hugged Leon tightly.

Leon shocked at everything that had just happened just hugged back whilst stuttering, "I-I won't Dad..." 

Letting go of his son Bolt replied, "I hope you don't!" before grabbing hold of Leon's ear.  

"Ow ow ow! Let go of my ear Dad!" yelled Leon who was struggling to get out of his Dad's vice grip on his ear.  

"Did you think I'd forget about my pie?!" question Bolt before chuckling and taking his son back home by the ear. 

In the present...   

Leon was currently rubbing his ear as he thought back to that memory.  

'Damn! I still remember how much that hurt!'  

"LEON!" yelled out Sunny, snapping Leon out of his reminiscent state, "Leon mate, are you alright? We've been calling you for a while now, every pony is ready to go inside." asked a concerned Sunny.  

"Oh...it was nothing, just remembering something..." grumbled Leon before saying, "Let's go inside then!" as he re-joined the group who were waiting for the two stallions.  

The initial outside appearance of the house wasn't the only things wrong with the house. As they walked up the wooden step onto the wooden floored porch. The floor boards groaned under the weight of the ponies that walked on top of them. Very soon the weight became too much for the floor boards to take and this was shown when the floor boards gave away underneath Sunny.  

"Oh my gosh Sunny are you alright?!" cried Twilight as she and everyone else rushed to help him up. 

"Yeah I'm fine." said Sunny as he was helped up by both Leon and Danny. "I know I've put on a bit of weight recently, but I didn't think I was that fat!" he joked.   

"I'm so sorry about that I forgot to mention the termite infestation this property has. So you would have to spend money on getting that problem sorted before you could sort anything else out." Danny said as he opened the large oak door which thankfully had not been affected by the termites...yet. As they all carefully walked through the door they were amazed at what they saw in front of them.  

The first thing you saw as soon as you walked in was the grand staircase which had a be rather dusty roll of faded red carpet along the middle. The stairs from the top had a width big enough for four ponies to easily stand next to each other rather comfortably. Then as you went down, the width of the stairs widen until at the very foot if the stairs where you could easily fit twelve ponies with a bit of space to spare! The incredibly high ceilings were the next noticeable feature of the room. Cobwebs and thick layers of dust decorated meter after meter of the huge ceiling.

However, what had to have been the centre piece of the once grand room was a massive chandelier that with it's own icing of cobwebs and dust. Despite, the state it was now in, it still had a strangely mesmerizing feature about it. As if the long strings of cobwebs added a sort of archaic character to the hanging piece of branched lighting. The entire room dug up another long lost memory that had been buried in Leon's sub-conscious for the past several years. 

19 years ago...  

"Leon come out of there right now!" Bolt shouted as he knocked on Leon's bedroom door. He was currently dressed up smartly. His black mane nicely combed back. His chosen attire for the night was a simple white shirt, black tux, black bow-tie combo, with a single red rose decorating his lapel.  

"I'm not going to this stupid party!" yelled back Leon through the bedroom door.  

"Leo-" began Bolt before he was silenced by Moondancer. She was dressed in an elegantly flowing blood red gown, with a glittering pearl necklace around her neck.  

"Let me have a go with him." she said in a quiet and soothing voice in an effort to calm her husband down.  

"Fine then." he said in a huff.  

She knocked on the door and called out, "Leon honey. It's me."

"Go away."  

"Leon what's the matter?"  

"I don't want to go to the party!" 

"Why not?" 

"Because...because there are going to be other ponies there." 

"What's wrong with that?" 

"I won't know any of them!"  

"All of your 'cousins', 'aunts' and 'uncles' will be there! Besides, you can always make new friends, Leon that's the point of this party in the first place." 

"Well...well..." he stammered as he struggled to think up another reason. Finally, a reason came to mind as he said, "What if I do anything stupid...they'll all laugh at me! 

Moondancer could only chuckle as she said "Oh Leon darling, there's nothing to worry about. You won't do anything stupid."
"But...but what if I do?!"  

"Well then if any pony laughs at you. Daddy promises to kick them out of the house, okay sweetie?" 

"*sniff sniff* Promise?" 

"I promise Leon." called out Bolt.  

“*sniff* Alright then...I'll go." 

No sooner when those words left his lips did the sound of the lock on the door clicked and the door swung open to reveal a small brown colt dressed up in the same attire as his father minus the rose. 

As he walked out of the room, Moondancer reached out her hoof to him to which he held with his own tiny hoof. 

"Thanks dear." said Bolt gently to his wife as he too held his son's hoof in his own.  

"Don't mention it. Now come on everyone will be out there waiting for the hosts to arrive!" hurried Moondancer as the three of them walked towards the stairs.  

Once, they reached the top of the stairs they looked down to see a vast number of ponies currently, chatting amongst themselves whilst eating hors-d'ouevres off of trays that a number of pony waiters were carrying. A few of them were members of the Wonderbolts that were Leon's 'cousins', 'aunts' and 'uncles'. Whereas, the rest were all from the nearby town of Ponyville. The Cristo's had decided to throw this welcome party to introduce themselves to the whole town as they had only recently just moved in.  

Noticing that the hosts of the party had arrived the entire room of ponies became silent as they all looked up to the Cristo family. Leon immediately wanted to hide behind his mother to shield himself from all the unwanted attention. However, Moondancer simply held his hoof reassuringly and simply gave Leon a smile. It wasn't just any smile. This smile was pure in its intentions. It was one filled with a calm, warm feeling that washed over Leon. It told him that everything would be alright.   
Filled with this new air of confidence. Leon smiled back at his mother before they both looked towards the crowd of new faces and began their descent down the red carpeted stairs... 

Back to reality...  

"Dude are you sure you're okay? You keep zoning out all the time." asked Sunny again snapping Leon out of his memory. Every pony was now looking at him as they were all waiting for him so they could continue to look around.  

"Y-yeah I'm fine." stammered Leon as he then regained his composure as he said, "Shall we continue to look around?" 

Danny nodded as he took the group around the upstairs of the house first. They all had a look at the large number of bedrooms and bathrooms that the mansion had to offer. Whilst, they all matched the same décor of cobwebs, dust, faded colours and dim lighting that they had seen earlier, every pony could agree on the fact that each and every room was comfortably spacious.  

"Wow Leon! What was your Dad thinking when he built this place?" asked a still amazed Sunny. 

"What do you mean?" responded Leon who was now perplexed at Sunny's question. 

"Well I mean like why did he build a mansion this massive with so many bedrooms and bathrooms, when it was just you, your mum and him living here?" 

"Oh it wasn't just us that lived here. My Dad being one of the founding members of the Wonderbolts, believed that a team should be like family. So he decided to build this house to be big enough to house all the members of the Wonderbolts back then. They were all pretty much a part of our family." explained Leon as he began to think back to all the antics he would get up to with the younger members of the Wonderbolts. 

"Oh that makes much more sense!" said Sunny before saying,   "That must have been awesome having to live in a house with the most famous flight team in all of Equestria!"

"Well they weren't all that famous back then. After all, they had only just started out as a team. But, it still was amazing to live with them. The older members were like the aunts and uncles I never had and, the younger members were like my older brothers and sisters. We used to have a lot of fun together." said Leon with a smile as he thought back to all the memories he had with him and his other 'cousins' together and the antics that they would get up to. 

"Wow it sure sounds like you were one big happy family!" 

"We were, we all had the best of times together." 

"So what happened?" 

"What do you mean?" 

"I mean, why did the Wonderbolts leave?" 

"Well as time went on, the Wonderbolts were becoming more well-known and so more ponies wanted to join. For a while, we managed to cope with the increase in interest by sharing rooms, having up to eight ponies in one room. But, soon even the numbers became too much for even the large mansion to handle. So eventually, a much larger building was bought in Canterlot and the entire Wonderbolt team moved there to set up their headquarters. It was a sad day when they all had to move out of the house..." 

"Yeah, I can only imagine." said Sunny before adding, "Do you still keep in contact with any of them?" 

"To be honest, after they left we never really kept in touch. There was the odd occasion, but not anymore." ended Leon as his face gave away that he was sad at having to think back to such memories. 

"Oh right...I see." said Sunny who now felt awkward for bringing up a topic which ended up upsetting his friend. 

Eventually, the two had finished looking at the room they were at and went off to find the others who were still being taken around the mansion by Danny. 

As the tour went on Leon was hit with flashback after reminiscent flashback about how life used to be when both his mother and father were still alive. Whilst, the images of his parents reminded him that he was never going to be able to see them ever again. They still provided him with a warmth of all the good times he had with them. In the end, they only furthered his resolve to buy this mansion. It was more than just a property. It was more than just a home. It was a symbol of the times that represented paradise to him. It was something that only he would truly be able to cherish. It was his history. 

Once, they had finished the tour of the mansion they all walked outside. 

"So how did you all find the place?" asked Danny. 

"Well I for one think it would need a LOT of work before you could even get it to a condition which would be suitable to live in." said Twilight as she looks back at all the external damages to the walls especially. 

"I kind of liked the place. I mean sure it needs a bit of work. But, the rooms are incredibly spacious and the entire building just oozes character! It would be a stunning place to live!" added Sunny who stared in amazement at the mansion imagining what it would look like once it was all done up. 

"But, what about the termite infestation?! Plus, I'm absolutely sure I saw a rat or two scurrying around when we were in the kitchen! It would take a while to clear those pests out!" argued Twilight. 

"But, think of the reward after all the hard work!" countered Sunny. 

Soon enough Sunny and Twilight began to have a full blown argument over the mansion. 

Danny walked over to Leon and asked, "Are those two going out together?"
. 
"No they aren't. Why?" replied Leon. 

"Well I've been in the real estate business for a good twenty-five years now and I've sold a fair share of houses in that time. Seeing those two now you'd have thought they were newlyweds arguing about the house they might live in together!" 

At this, Leon couldn't help but burst out laughing at the remark. They always did have that little chemistry between them that suggested to everypony that met them that the two were an item. 

Their arguing continued as Twilight came up with a rebuttal.

"But just imagine how much the repair work would cost! Not to mention the actual price of the mansion! The price would just be too much!" 

Danny's ears perked up when he heard this and soon stopped the argument by adding his own point. 

"Actually, if you consider the fact that the original market value of the property was in the region of seven and a half million bits, and that over the years and the obviously poor state it is in now the price has dropped to a significantly reasonable price of four and a half million bits" Danny emphasized the price to Leon using the skills of the trade that he picked up over the years to try and get the sale.  

He continued, "I'm sure you'll agree a real bargain considering what you are getting: the property in question, the five acres of land surrounding the property, the stunning setting of living in the countryside, within walking distance of Ponyville. It has to be one of the best deals I've ever seen in all my twenty five years as an estate agent!"

Both, Sunny and Twilight couldn't help but both nod their heads in agreement. When he explained it like that how could you disagree. The two were completely sold. 

Leon would have been to. If it weren't for one thing: the price. His father had left two million bits for both himself and Windbreaker, all saved up from his career as one of the founders and captain of the Wonderbolts. His mother had left for them her own one million bits for the two having saved them up from her career as a very successful dancer who performed shows all over Equestria. Leon had sold their small yet adequate house in Canterlot for a reasonable four hundred thousand bits. Leon had also saved up another hundred thousand bits from his job which he had now left. 

All of this together was still one million bits short of being able to buy the mansion! Leon's heart was broken at the prospect of not being able to buy the place that meant so much to him. The place that brought him so many good memories. 

To add insult to injury, Sunny asked, oblivious to his friend's situation, "So how much do you think the repair work would cost?" 

Danny thought for a little while before saying, "The amount of damage done is going to be costly to repair. Getting the necessary materials alone is expensive. If I had to estimate I'd say you'd need between two hundred to two hundred  thousand bits if you want to do a good job on repairing the place." 

'Great! Where am I going to get one and a quarter million bits from?!' thought Leon. 

"So then the question of the moment, Mr. Cristo." said Danny as he looked at Leon with a smile on his face, "Are you interested in buying the property today?" 

Leon was stuck. Of course, he wanted to buy the place and keep all of the cherished memories that it held within it's walls and surroundings. But, he just didn't have the money.

With a deep, regretful sigh Leon finally spoke out, "Well I'd buy this mansion in a heartbeat if I could. But, I just don't have enough money to buy the place..." Immediately, the smile on Danny's face dropped as he heard those words leave Leon's lips. 

"Well then, may I ask how much do you have right now?" Danny asked desperate to come away with some sort of deal. 

"I have three and a half million bits I can spend." 

Danny had a brief look of deep thought about him. Although, this was quickly removed as he said, "Well it would be impossible for me to lower the price for you as we really have given as low a price as we can possibly give based off of the current state of the housing market." Leon's ears flattened as he heard this news.  

But, they soon perked up again as Danny continued to say, "However, if you are still interested in buying the property you could perhaps put in a one million bit deposit so that we can keep hold of the property in question for you, so that no other pony can buy the mansion." 

Leon's head began to think hard about that. The situation would be a bit better for him knowing that no other pony would buy the mansion whilst he was trying to raise the rest of the money. But, the question of how he was going to raise the money still plagued his mind.  

Danny continued, "Although, we can only do this for a period of eighteen months. If you aren't able to pay the remainder of the money by then, then we'll refund you your million bits back to you. So what do you say to that?" he finished with a smile and holding out his hoof, as he hoped that he was still in with a shot of selling the place.

Leon didn't have to be told the entire situation twice. He had decided the thought of some pony else buying the mansion before he could was a scenario which he just wasn't prepared to let happen. So with no hesitation the brown pegasus said as he shook Danny's hoof:  

"Okay then. I'll put up the million bit deposit for now." 

"Excellent, let's get the paperwork sorted back at the office, shall we?" Danny as he walked away heading back to Ponyville with Leon and the gang following behind him. 

An hour later...

Leon, Windbreaker, Abigail and Sunny were walking towards the outskirts of Ponyville, towards Sunny's house. With the Cristo siblings without a house to live in Sunny had quickly offered to let the two stay at his house for as long as they needed to. 

Meanwhile, Twilight decided it was getting a little late and she still had to finish off her essay to send to Princess Celestia. So both Twilight and Spike bid the rest of the gang farewell as they headed their own way back to the library. 

Leon, Sunny and Abigail were walking along the path whilst, Windbreaker was simply flying along besides them. The Cristo's luggage floating right behind them all in a line thanks to a quick 'Levitation' and 'Locomotor' Spell combo by Sunny.

Eventually, the trio reached Sunny's home, but just the sight of it left both Leon ad Windbreaker stunned with both of their jaws opened and their eyes slightly widened at the house they would be staying in. Whilst, it wasn't as extravagant as the mansion they had seen earlier today. It was still certainly a very luxurious house for just one pony to live in. 

It was a rather modern building with it's walls painted a pure white. It had two floors and, from where they were standing they could see a very large balcony that had a number of tables and chairs laid out. The land it was built on was sectioned off by a rather large hedge wall that ran right around the building. But, what really stood out to the Cristo siblings wasn't anything to do with the building itself. It was in fact the front garden. 

From the front gate began a large pathway that led all the way towards the front door of the house. Every few meters along the path were a number of hedge arches that provided plenty of shade along the path so that on a hot day you could still walk down the pathway feeling relatively cool. Alongside, the path was a massive flower bed that stretched the length of the long pathway. Planted on it was nothing but blue roses. Evidently, the flower beds did end up looking like two lines of royal blue from afar. The remainder of the lawn in his front garden seemed to radiate it's bright green colour, which complemented the blue lines of the flower bed very nicely. All in all, the sight was a jaw-dropping sight.     

"Welcome to my home! I hope the two of you will be comfortable living here." said Sunny a he made his way down the path to open the front for them, still oblivious to his friend’s reactions to the sight of his 'humble' home. 

"Woah! This place is awesome!" exclaimed Windbreaker as she flew through the door, once it was open, to take a look around the new house. Abigail ran in soon after to follow the white filly. 

"S-Sunny h-how did you afford a place like this?! It must have cost a fortune!" asked a still shocked Leon as the three of them walk into the house. The entire house had white marble flooring which reflected the light that came through the large windows that let in floods of sunlight into the room. All of this made the whole house seem a lot brighter and really made the white marble sparkle showing off just how clean the floor really was. Leon actually wondered whether he should have cleaned his hooves wrote walking into his friend's spectacular abode. 

"Well it would have cost a fortune, had I not taken the unconventional route of buying the land and getting this house built to my own specifications. It only cost a million bits to do up." 

"A-a million bits?!" stuttered an even more shocked Leon.  

Whilst, he was amazed at how cheap Sunny had been able to get a house which should have cost three, if not four times that amount. He was more amazed at how his friend had earned a million bits in the space of two years. Only the most successful ponies out there could earn bits like that in such a short amount of time. 

"Yeah can you believe such a bargain!" exclaimed Sunny as he put the luggage he had been carrying around on the floor. 
"Sunny I hope you don't find this too rude of me. But, can I ask how did you end up getting...well..." asked Leon trying to find a better way of asking the question. 

"Getting all of this money to be able to live in such a comfortable house?" guessed Sunny. Leon simply nodded his head as a reply. 

"Well I already told you earlier today that I now work as a song writer." continued Sunny referring to the conversation they had at the Sugarcube Corner. 

"Yeah but you also told me how song writers don't actually get paid that much!" replied Leon. 

"Well in retrospect they really don't get paid that much. Although, it does really depend on the circumstances. There are actually a few ways songwriters earn money." 

"Like how?" questioned Leon now clearly eager to know more about how his friend earned his money. 

"Well it's kind of complicated to be honest. They teach you this kind of stuff back at the Music Academy." Sunny responded before seeing the waiting face of Leon who was still waiting to hear the answer.  

With a heavy sigh Sunny continued, "Well I guess I'll try to explain it as simply as I possibly can. You see it's actually quite difficult to calculate how much any songwriter earns. But, there are three main ways they earn their money." 

He stopped to make sure he wasn't boring Leon with his talking, before he continued, "The first way is by some pony actually buying your song. Songwriters get something like ninety thousandths of a bit for every copy of their song they sell...or something like that! It's also the main way a songwriter earns his or her money. So from that you can obviously tell that you would need to sell a lot of copies of one song if you were going to earn anything like an average amount. Please just leave all questions till the end." finished Sunny when he saw Leon about to ask another question. Immediately, Leon kept quiet. 

"Okay so the next way a songwriter earns money is from the number of times his or her song is performed or played in a public setting. So for example at concerts, radio stations and so on."  

Again, Sunny stopped to make sure Leon had no trouble keeping up with everything he was saying. He then continued: 
"The last and final way a songwriter earns money is by licensing other people and companies to use your song. So if a company wanted to use your song as part of their advertisement campaign the thy would pay you money to use it." With a sigh of relief Sunny concluded, "And that's how songwriters earn their money. Now do you have any questions?" 

Leon now thinking about everything Sunny had said today, did have one more question on his mind, "Okay from everything you said it's quite obvious that you would need to have made really successful songs to earn anything like you have. Plus, you said earlier today about how you had only just started and produced one album for someone. So that brings about the question, who did you make an album for?" 

"Well I wrote the songs for Sapphire Shore's latest album and-" 

"WHAT?!" exclaimed a now shocked Leon interrupting Sunny in the process. Leon then continued, "Sapphire Shores! You are talking about the 'Pony of Pop' Sapphire Shores right? The one that recently sold a record breaking ten million copies of her new album! The one that received a new Diamond certification for selling so many albums! The one that now has a completely sold out tour in all the major cities all over Equestria! The one who is now in the top five most richest ponies in Equestria! That Sapphire Shores?" Leon emphasized his point still not believing his friend actually did write the 'Pony of Pop's most successful album to date. 

"Yeah that's the one." said Sunny who now had a puzzled look on his face as he was wondering why his friend was reacting so strongly to this news. 

Soon, Leon began to burst out laughing. Sunny now utterly confused asked, "What's so funny?"  It took a little while for Leon to final calm down enough to actually speak, "Okay Sunny you can cut it out with the jokes now."

"What are you talking about I didn't say any jokes." 

"Oh come on Sunny it's obvious you're joking about the working with Sapphire Shores thing. I mean come on! You've only just started your career and you honestly expect me to believe that some pony as famous as Sapphire has worked with you!" said Leon who was now slightly annoyed that Sunny persisted with this fib. 

"Oh I see what's going on now. Alright just wait a second." Sunny said now fully understanding the situation. 

Using his magic he levitated a photo album that was laying on a nearby shelf towards him. Once, the album was in his hooves he opened the album to particular page before pointing to a particular picture for Leon to look at. Leon could only gawk at the picture he was looking at.  

There in front of him was a picture of both Sunny and Sapphire standing side by side together holding up the framed diamond record which Sapphire had gained for achieving over 10 million sales of her latest album. They each also held awards in their other hooves with another six awards lined up on the ground in front of them. 

"This was taken a couple of days after the Equestrian Music Awards (EMA's). She's holding her award for the 'Best Female Artist of the Year' along with the other five she had won that night. As I'm sure you are already well aware of. After all, it was on the news quite a lot when the awards were given out, seeing as it was a record breaking number of awards for one pony to win in one sitting." 

"Yeah I know I watched the awards live on T.V." said Leon before he asked another question. "What about the award you're holding?" 

"Oh that. Well I wasn't at the awards ceremony to pick up my own award so on the night Sapphire picked it up for me. It was under my alias 'Mr.Sunshine' which was why you didn't know it was me."

"Hang on so you're the 'Mr.Sunshine'! The pony that won both the 'Best Newcomer (Songwriter)' and 'Songwriter of the Year' awards at the EMA's!" 

"Yours truly." Sunny said with a smile as his friend finally believed him. 

"Oh wow! I can't believe that you're THE 'Mr.Sunshine' that's always in the newspapers. You're like a celebrity man!" exclaimed Leon with new found pride in his friend. 

"Alright now that you know who I am, you have to promise me that you won't tell anypony who I am! I don't want the media to know simple because I just couldn't stand all the unwanted attention." Sunny finished whilst shuddering to himself at the thought of what other celebrities he knew had to put up with. 

"Don't worry your secret is safe with me!" said Leon knowing how serious this secret was. However, another thought entered his mind which he just had to get answered, "Sunny, I was wondering with you being so successful and all, could you perhaps lend me the money I need to buy the mansion."  When Leon realized what his words sounded like he quickly added, "It's not like I'm out for your money or anything it's just-" 

"Woah woah Leon calm down I know you aren't like that! You've been my friend since before I've become famous. So I know you aren't after my money. So don't worry about it." interrupted Sunny to try and calm him down. 

As soon as Leon breathe a sigh of relief at the fact that he hadn't ruined his friendship over something so trivial to him, Sunny continued to say, "As for lending you money. I'm afraid I can't do that for a few reasons. Firstly, like I said before songwriters don't earn that much in comparison to how much their songs actually make. So whilst, Sapphire's album made millions and millions of bits, I only ended up making just a little over a couple of million bits. Now I know that still leaves one million bits still left unaccounted for which would still help a lot in raising the money for you to buy and do up your place. But, that leads onto my second reason to why I can't lend you the money. You already knew about my family's situation right?" 

At this Leon nodded as he remembered from years back when both he and Sunny were still at school in Canterlot. He remembered Sunny telling him how he didn't come from a fancy background that most of the ponies in Canterlot did. In fact, back in Manehattan where he lived his family wasn't really that well off there either. Both of his parents had to work tirelessly throughout the day to just earn barely enough money to put food on the table and pay the schooling of both himself and his two younger siblings. Some nights they wouldn't even have dinner because of how little money was coming in from their parents low paying jobs. His parents had to make a lot of sacrifices in order for both he and his siblings to live the life they had at that point. 

The fact that he had gotten a scholarship to study with all expenses paid for at Princess Celestia's School for Gifted Unicorns was the only reason he was even able to go to the school in the first place. That day Leon had learnt a lot about how his Sunny's family's well-being is what motivated Sunny every day to work as hard as he could to help his family out and to make sure his siblings got much better education than what they had right now, which was below any acceptable standard. 

"Well with that one and a half million bits I was able to buy a much nicer home for them to live in as well as being able to pay for both my brother and sister's new school fees. My Mum no longer has to work and my Dad doesn't have to work himself to the bone every day. Plus, they have a little left over to do with what they want. So now that their all sorted out I can rest easier knowing that I've now made life a lot more comfortable for them to live." Sunny began to tear up as he thought back to the looks on his family when he told them they would never have to live another day of hardship ever again. 

Leon could only give him a reassuring pat on the back, as Sunny furiously wiped his tears away so that he wouldn't cry, especially in front of his best friend. 

After quickly recovering from his temporary emotional moment Sunny continued, "Now with all of those reasons that is near enough all of the money I've earned already spent . I only have a little less than twenty thousand bits left to last me for a good number of months, whilst I have a break from song writing. I would lend you the money I have left if you really wanted it Leon. But, I know that is nowhere near enough to the amount you need which is why I offered to let you stay here till you could get the amount you needed."

Leon now feeling bad at having doubted that his friend wouldn't help him in his time of need, Leon began to say, "Sunny...I'm sorry I doubted you." 

"Hey it's no big deal man! I probably would've been the same if I were in your position. Now let's get this luggage to your rooms and get you settled in shall we?" Sunny finished as he levitated the bags upstairs and proceeded to walk up the stairs. Leon could only follow Sunny up before, they spent the next few hours unpacking all of their things. 

A few hours later... 

Leon lay motionless and fully awake despite trying to get to sleep for an hour now. The room that he was staying in was quite spacious...as were all the rooms in Sunny's house. The bed was incredibly comfortable...and, yet he could not get to sleep.   

It was the continuous thoughts of how he was going to earn the one and a quarter million bits to get that mansion that held so many cherished and dear memories to him, that plagued his mind and prevented him from going to sleep.  He could hear the distinct sound of his sister snoring through his bedroom wall, as her room was right next to his. But apart, from that all was silent in the house.  

That was until the sweet melodious sound of an acoustic guitar danced it's way through the dark and empty hallways and into Leon's room to nestle itself comfortably into the crevices that were Leon's ears. Intrigued by the blissful tune Leon got out of his bed and followed the trail of musical notes that hung in the air, all the way to the location of it's source: the balcony.  

Opening the sliding door gently so as not to alert the pony playing the guitar, Leon slowly tip-toed on his hooves to get a better look at the guitar player. Obviously, it was none other than Sunny who held the guitar in his hooves. The young stallion was staring up into the beautiful starry night sky. More specifically, the bright full moon that bathed everything in a pale yet eerie white light. The light illuminating Sunny's features against the dark background. The gentle night breeze blowing through his fiery mane, that also lit up under the moonlight. He was sitting down in one of the many chairs on the balcony, simply lost in his own little world as he serenaded the Moon with his peaceful tune on the guitar. 

Leon could not help but close his own eyes and enjoy the music that drifted into his ears. His own thoughts and worries seemingly melted away at the sound of the guitar strings being plucked and strummed away on.  

Soon, the tune came to an end and as Sunny strummed the final chord to the song he was surprised to hear the sound of clapping. Quickly turning around to see who had given him a shock, he gave a huge sigh of relief when he saw that it was just Leon.  

"Celestia's sake Leon! You nearly gave me a heart attack!" said Sunny, whilst clutching his chest to emphasize his point.  

"That was an amazing song! What's it called?" Leon said choosing to ignore Sunny's earlier comment. 

"Thanks, the song's called 'Never my Love'." replied Sunny.  

"Well with a song title like that, and the way you played it just now, you should have no problem sweeping the mares off their hooves..." Leon said, before a smirk spread across his face, "...Or maybe you already have a mare in mind. A certain lavender pony we both know, hmm?" At this Sunny blushed at what Leon's words were implying.   

"N-no! It's not like that! You of all ponies know that we both split up ages ago!" said a  now flustered Sunny who's face had gradually turned red as his blush intensified, perhaps revealing a bit about his feeling for the lavender pony still... 

"Sorry man! I was only joking about the whole you and Twilight thing...I know fully well you guys are broken up," said Leon, who now felt bad at perhaps having taken his joke a little too far.  

"It's alright. I guess I kind of over-reacted there a bit,” sighed Sunny as he looked out to the moonlit front garden that looked twice as beautiful at night as it did during the day. Sunny continued, "So what's been keeping you awake then?"

With a sigh of his own, Leon pulled up a chair next to Sunny and sat down next to him as they both watched the full moon shine brightly amongst the hundreds of glittering stars that dotted the pitch black canvas of the night sky. He then answered:  
"It's just the thought of trying to figure out how I can possibly raise the money to buy the mansion. It seems more impossible every time I think about it."  

"Dude you have eighteen months to figure out a way to make the money. You don't have to think up a way right this minute. I'm sure we'll think of a way together."  

"What are you talking about 'we'll think of a way together'? I've already caused enough of an inconvenience just by taking up room in your home. No I need to figure this problem out on my own!" he finished stubbornly.  

Sunny face-hoofed at how stupidly Leon was acting, before, he said:  

"Leon I'm not sure if you noticed this but there are plenty of empty rooms here for the purpose of housing guests. That's what you are Leon; a guest. You aren't an inconvenience to any pony, at all! You're my friend Leon! How could I think of you as an inconvenience? Furthermore, as your friend I have a right to be worried about you. Also, I'm not offering my help because you need it, or because I feel under pressure to. No! I'm offering my help because I want to! I'm sure Twilight wants to help you out as well! So don't be a stubborn mule and think you need to do all of this on your own, when you have friends who are more than ready to help you! We all care for you Leon and, if that mansion is something you really want then I guarantee you that we will get the money to buy and do up that place...together."   

Sunny finished his rant, whilst holding out his hoof to Leon for a hoofshake. Leon couldn't help but smile as he realized that he had friends he could truly count on in any time of need. As he gave his own hoof to complete the hoofshake, he couldn't help but smile, as he re-uttered the one word that re-sealed their friendship after five years of being apart from one another.

"Together."