Legends Never Die

by bookhorse125

Legends Never Die

Sunny Starscout carefully pushed open the door to her brand new lighthouse, finally completed after only a few weeks of construction. Of course, having some magical friends did help, but she had still been anxious for the building to be done. At her request, a few renovations had been made, and while it did take a little while longer, Sunny felt that they were necessary.

These changes were not inherently obvious, but Sunny knew where to look for them. The first were the picture frames just next to the doorway. The one closest to the door was the torn and ripped photograph of a young Sunny and her father. It had been damaged with her original lighthouse, but she’d put the picture in a new frame and put it back in its rightful place. The engineers had offered to make sure that the picture wouldn’t tilt to the side every time the door closed, but Sunny had become so used to fixing it that she had declined. The second picture was a recent photograph of her and her friends in Maretime Bay, the sea at their backs, just after magic had first returned. The best part was that Cloudpuff had knocked into the camera just as it snapped the photo, so it was a bit tilted, but Sunny loved it all the same.

In the area that used to be her father’s study (Sunny had decided to leave most of his research in Zephyr Heights), there was a glass case sitting atop a golden pillar, adorned with a velvet pillow that held four crystal necklaces and one golden crown. Protected by magical enchantments, Sunny had been trusted with keeping the magic gems safe until they needed to be used again, which she and her friends all hoped would not be for a long time. But every time Sunny walked beside them, she wondered what they were and where they came from. They bore a striking resemblance to the Elements of Harmony that the Guardians used, but those had been connected to the Guardians. They couldn’t be the same ones…

The third change was in her room. She used to have a window with different images of the Guardians of Harmony’s cutie marks, but now it was a miniature replica of the giant stained glass window in Zephyr Heights. Sunny could now read the scroll with all of her ancestor’s messages in her own home instead of having to trek all the way to the pegasus city. The reflected images of the earth pony, unicorn, and pegasi crystals on her floor always joined together in the light of the sunrise.

Up on the top floor, underneath the giant lightbulb that shone out to sea at night, were the three crystals themselves, joined together and inserted into the stand. Haven and Alphabittle were a bit reluctant to let Sunny keep the crystals in her own lighthouse instead of in a royal vault or something more secure, but Sunny pointed out that she had Izzy put a magical protection spell around them, and that she felt that they belonged there, so they relented. Around the crystals, Sunny had set up her toy figures of all the Guardians of Harmony, and behind that was the lamp that her father made for her. With the earth pony crystal currently occupied, Pipp had supplied her with a fake crystal to put in the top that did the job just as well as the original. Sunny kept the lantern on at night, and the images danced across the room, reminding her of her father, of her family, and of her friends. She turned it on now, sighing in happiness as the familiar golden glow lit the room. She surveyed the dancing light one last time before leaving… but something caught her eye.

One of the ponies had both wings and a horn, but her father hadn’t made the lantern to show ponies like that. As Sunny watched, the image grew brighter and bigger until it galloped to stand in front of Sunny, now a full sized pony.

“Oh my stars,” Sunny whispered. “It’s you.”

The Spirit of Harmony smiled. It had once again taken on the form of Twilight Sparkle. “I see that you and your friends have now connected with the Elements.”

“Do you mean… those gems down there? What are they? How do they work?”

“The Elements of Harmony… you know about them. And I do not know exactly how they work, only that they do for the ponies that they represent. They may only be used for good, and I have no doubt that you and your friends will use them for just that.”

The weight of this statement settled on Sunny’s shoulders, and she looked at her father’s lantern for comfort. “So… me and my friends are meant to protect Equestria? Things like this might happen all the time? Do you know how crazy the past few weeks have been? How awful I felt in the past five days? And you expect me to do it all over again?” She took a deep breath to calm herself down. “Look, I don’t know who you are, but I do know that I can’t do this without my friends, and I nearly lost them. I can’t - I won’t go through something like that again.” She swallowed, blinking tears out of her eyes. “I can’t do this alone.”

The Spirit of Harmony gently placed a hoof on Sunny’s shoulder, and when she looked at it again, it had taken on the form of her father, Argyle Starshine. “Oh, Sunnybunny, you are never alone,” he said, and just hearing the sound of his voice was enough to make Sunny start bawling again. “I will always be here for you. You know that, right?”

Sunny sniffed, nodded, and wiped her tears from her eyes. “I know… I just miss you, is all.”

Argyle shifted back into Twilight Sparkle. “Listen to me, Sparkle,” she said gently. “You and your friends have a bond of such power that I have only seen a few times before. Believe me when I say that nothing - nothing - will ever truly do away with that bond.”

Now that the Spirit wasn’t her father, Sunny wasn’t bawling her eyes out, and she could more firmly concentrate on what the Spirit was saying. “So you’re saying… I won’t have to go through that again?”

“Most likely not something just like that,” the Spirit agreed. “That doesn’t mean that you won’t have trials, though. The bearers of the Elements of Harmony have many struggles that come with the responsibility of maintaining the Elements and keeping them from falling into evil hooves. But that’s what your friends are for,” the Spirit said hurriedly, seeing Sunny’s scared expression. “So that you can work through them together. That’s how the Elements are activated.”

“You say there will be trials… I don’t suppose you would mind elaborating on those?” Sunny asked hopefully. The Spirit of Harmony shook her head and laughed.

“I’m afraid that is not my place to say, my little pony. But do not worry. This is not the last you will see of me. And the trials will start soon, much sooner than anypony would have liked. Your friends… I hope they are up to the task.”

“They are,” Sunny said with a certain voice. “I know it.”

The Spirit of Harmony smiled. “I know you do, and I know it, too. But do they know? They must be ready to risk themselves again and again, fight for friendship and harmony, but this is no easy commitment. It is something that will consume your entire life, making it your sole priority. I must be sure that they are ready to do something like this.”

Sunny sighed and nodded. “I was just wondering… Sprout. He’s just as brave as the rest of us, if not braver. He deserves to be a part of this, but… everything that’s happened seems to suggest that he isn’t. Why?”

The Spirit sighed and turned to look at the lantern, the golden light reflected in her eyes, even though she was semi-transparent. “I wish I could, Sunny Starscout,” she said heavily. “But I do not have any power over the ones that the Elements choose. I am merely here to guide them. I wish I could.”

Sunny nodded, though she was disappointed. Her friend deserved so much more than he had… “I’m not giving up on him,” she said quietly. “I don’t care what you say. I am not giving up.”

Twilight Sparkle smiled. “Good luck, Sunny Starscout. I am honored to be on this quest with you.” The Spirit glowed gold and galloped to join the ponies on the walls. Within seconds, the Spirit of Harmony had vanished. Sunny’s eyes followed the shape of the alicorn on the glass and noticed a red earth pony standing on the lift. From his expression, she could tell that he had heard most of the conversation.

“Sorry,” he said hastily. “I didn’t mean to eavesdrop.”

“Apology accepted,” Sunny assured him.

Sprout shuffled his hooves nervously. “So… who was that? She looked kind of familiar. And… did it turn into your-”

“My father, yes.” Sunny forced herself not to cry. “I’m not entirely sure who she is, but I have a feeling that wasn’t the last time I - we will see her again.” She walked over to the former deputy and put her hoof around him. “I meant what I said - I am never giving up on you, Sprout.”

He smiled, and his own eyes were a little misty. “Thanks, Sunny. Hey, um, I never got to say… I’m really sorry. About what I did. I don’t know what happened, but that doesn’t make what I did okay. I made fun of you and your father for believing in something amazing, I roused the whole town for something based on fake suspicions and lies and false stories, I put the lives of you and your friends in danger, I destroyed your lighthouse, I let my own ego corrupt me…” He broke off with a sob. Sunny politely looked in the other direction and pretended not to notice as he wiped away the tears that were rolling down his snout. “I’m sorry.”

“And I forgive you.” Sunny pulled him into a hug, and for a while they stayed like that, hugging and crying, until at last Sprout pulled away, looking embarrassed.

“You know what my father always said?” Sunny asked. Something in the earth pony’s eyes flickered as he tried to remember.

“We’ll do our part…”

Sunny touched Sprout’s hoof, then placed it on her chest.

“Hoof to heart.”

Author's Note:

And... done! Posting a day earlier; surprise!

I wrote a bunch of short stories to bridge this story and the sequel, the first of which can be found here.

Not going to post anything next week, what with Spring Break and wanting to work on the sequel's title page a little more. See you in a couple weeks!

Comments

[Phetiamwantip]

I'm glad Sprout have finally apologized to Sunny.

[Yoshifan30]

So after a few days all this craziness she finally got her house fix up and yes it is a little different but at least it was her friends who helped their and including Everypony who helped her with her house she even keep the elements of harmonies if there's any time there will be trouble they can use them when she looked around the tree of Harmony showed up again and this time she is here and she thank Sunny for everything even though she went to a lot of heartaches throughout those days she never gave up and she was wondering about sprout because he did help them out and he did took the blast from the memory Stone for sunny but I guess he's still got a long ways to go but he is in the right path speaking of him when the tree of Harmony was finished talking with her he showed up and kind of heard everything what they were talking about but he did came back here to tell her how sorry he was that all the things that he done to her but Sunny forgave him which I think that's pretty nice and whatever the future for Sunny and her friends I'm sure she will never do it alone this was a pretty good story here keep up the good work

[Phetiamwantip]

This is the best story I've ever read, bookhorse125. I like it!

[Teraunce]

Good story but I will be upset until he gets his chance at redemption as they don't have a full set.

[silverMEGAlicorn]

11136714
I’d like to think so. Dragons likely have a different kind of magic

[Lexiebommel10]

This story was pretty good but it also felt a little over the place. Like everyone trying to find the solution then gets brainwashed back to day one feels like 2 different story's smashed together. But for some reason they don't question thier regained magic and didn't Izzy get her magic stolen too how did she jam the splatapult. Or how sprout was here crying without his chair took a nose dive but it still wasn't enough, felt like a clear plot point chopped for time. And the Illuminati wasn't a horrible idea but I couldn't get behind any of them no backstory no a unicorn stabbed my mother nothing just I will stop at nothing to kill them all cus screw em I get the herd instincts be making em stupid but candy floss at the top so why is he such a biggot.
Decent story 6/10⭐

[PonyofEntropy]

Great story!

[StarzGecko]

I wished I read this when it first uploaded… welp time to read all of them