The Last Cleanup

by Harrison Sparrow

4. An Old Friend

At Lily's house, she and Sunny are still sleeping in their beds, when suddenly...

"LILY HEARTSHOE!!" Someone shouted.

"AH!" Lily woke up in a fright. "Oh my gosh!"

"Wh- what is it?" Sunny said whilst waking up.

"It's Dad! And it's nearly past breakfast time! WHAT THE HECK ARE WE DOING!?" She got out of her bed and grabbed Sunny's hoof in a hurry. "C'MON!!"

"Whoa-whoa-whoa!"

Lily took Sunny downstairs to the kitchen, where her dad has made breakfast for both of them. "So sorry I'm late, Dad! I-I was just-"

"*sighs* Never mind about that, Lil. I just can't afford to see any of this oatmeal going to waste. Especially since I made two of them here!"

Lily was confused. "Hang on, you knew about-"

"About your new friend? Yeah, I heard you talking with her last night. And made her have a sleepover."

"Oh, well... see, the thing is, she's..."

As soon as her dad turned around, he saw Sunny in surprise.

"An earth pony?" He said, as Sunny gently waved her hoof at him. "You brought an earth pony into our house?"

Lily nodded her head with a sweet grin.

"Uh, it's nice to meet you, sir?" Sunny said, as she raised her hoof, hoping for a hoofshake.

"I thought you were another unicorn. Guess I was wrong."

"Her name is Sunny Starscout. I found her alone at the river last night."

Her dad was in shock over what she said. "You have GOT to be KIDDING me! You went out?! Again?!"

"Dad, look, I can explain-"

"No, Lily! We talked about this every single year - you go out every night, unsupervised, and put yourself in danger! Do you have any idea how much I care about you?!"

"I know that, Dad, and I'm sorry, okay?! I can't help it! It's who I am. And besides, I had to help her. I was just... trying to be a good friend. I really hope you understand that."

Her father sighed in frustration. "You are this close, Lily. THIS CLOSE... to being grounded. Now go and destroy your oatmeal." Lily nodded her head in shame and went to the table. "That includes yours, too. Starscout." He said to Sunny.

"Thank you. Sir." Sunny said, as she went to sit next to Lily. And whilst she was eating her oatmeal, she discovered that all her broken stuff was put on another table. "Hey, why is all my stuff over there?"

"I moved them." Lily's dad said.

"You did?! Why!?"

"Ah, well, I just... thought I take a closer look."

Sunny was in a shock as she quickly left the dinner table and ran up to him. "No, don't touch them!"

"Why not?"

"Because... they mean everything to me." Sunny said, as she put her hooves over them.

"Those ponies are the Guardians of Equestria." Lily said about the figures, as she walked over.

"Ancient Equestria." Sunny corrected.

"Oh yeah, that."

"Really? And who made them? And this... weird lamp?"

Sunny's face saddened as she said... "My dad."

"Your dad?"

Sunny gently nodded her head, and she shows Lily's dad the picture of her as a filly, hugging Argyle Starshine on his back. Lily looked over the photo and gasped in awe. "Aww, Sunny, look at you! That's a sweet photo."

"Yeah, it is. We had this taken years ago."

Lily's dad looked closely at Argyle. "Do I know that pony from somewhere?"

"His name is Argyle Starshine."

Lily's dad raised his eyebrows, as he felt that something was coming back to him. "Argyle...?" He said softly. "Sunny, you're... you're Argyle Starshine's daughter?"

"Yes, I am."

Lily's dad felt surprised. "I... I don't believe this!"

"Wait, what don't you believe?

"I'm with Argyle Starshine's daughter!" Lily's dad said happily. "What am I doing with myself!?"

"I don't know. Maybe you're... not being you right now?" Lily said, feeling puzzled.

"Hey, I didn't ask you that."

"You knew my dad?!" Sunny said in shock.

"Heck yeah! We used to go way back since we were your age."

"He... he never told me about you."

"Didn't he?"

"No!"

Lily was shocked as her jaw dropped. "Well, this is a huge surprise!"

"Oh, it really is!" Sunny replied. "So, sir, how did you-" She asked Lily's dad, but he cut her off.

"Carter. Call me Carter."

"Okay, Carter. How did you knew him?"

"Years ago. When I was younger, I came across your dad when he was strolling through Bridlewood. Of course, everypony still lived apart without Equestria's magic back then. He looked at me and, well, I was a tad scared, but he didn't see me as a threat, so that's how we got along."

"He must've told you the stories about the guardians then?"

"He sure did. Every single one of them. And I believed him."

"Wait a minute, you never told me anything about your childhood friend!" Lily said. "And he was also an earth pony?!"

"Well, you never asked me anything about my past."

"So you skipped school your whole life?" Sunny said.

"I did. Ever since Argyle told me those stories, I stopped believing all that nonsense. So we hung out together, playing games and all that jazz... but when he met your mother, that was when everything changed. We got torn apart and... we never saw each other again."

"I still can't believe you and Dad were friends at the time."

Carter smiled. "Yeah, me too. So... how is he? I haven't seen him for years."

Sunny's smile faded and she stuttered for a couple of seconds. "Uh, he... *sighs* he-"

"He died, Dad." Lily interrupted, and Carter and Sunny looked at her, both in shock. "Sorry, wasn't I supposed to... I-I'll just go and finish my breakfast." She went back to the table whilst carrying her breakfast with her magic.

Carter looked at Sunny, feeling stunned. "Is it true?"

Sunny nodded in sadness. "Sickness took him. I grew up with him for ten years ever since Mom died at childbirth. And when he also left, I was living on my own in my lighthouse for six years. I had to figure everything out on how to live independently. I felt so scared... but I only had Hitch taking care of me. But he never believed the stories of the guardians. He thought they were just made-up bedtime stories. But then, I met Izzy, even though she didn't have any magic. So we went on a quest to find the crystals, so that magic would return and everypony will live in harmony again."

"So, when my magic returned... was it really you?"

"I brought back the magic." Carter felt relieved. "But before that moment, Sprout destroyed my house and broke all of my toys with his machine... and I thought I lost everything."

Carter felt terribly ashamed for her. "I'm... I'm sorry, Sunny."

"It's okay. It's just that... I miss Dad so much...."

"Yeah, I miss him, too. You know, Sunny, I remember a time, when me and Argyle were playing with my own toys. He accidently broke one of them... but he said sorry, so I forgave him. And then, we fixed it together."

"So, do you fix things?"

"Of course I do. And if these things really do mean so much to you..."

Sunny smiled at him. "Thanks, Carter."

"And, you may not know it yet, but there's a lot more to friendship than you know." As he and Sunny embraced each other, his phone rang. "Whop, gimme a sec..." He picked it up and answered. "Hello? ... What? ... Whoa, that sounds serious. Okay, I'm inbound. Later." He hung up.

"What is it?" Sunny asked.

"Got a job to do. And I should probably take care of these for you." He took the white bag with Sunny's stuff in it. "And Lily?"

"Yes, Dad?"

"Stay outta trouble while I'm out."

"Otherwise, I'm grounded. Don't worry, I get it. You know I love you, right?"

"Love you too. I'll see you two later." Carter said, as he closed the door and left the house.

"*sighs* So, uh... do you wanna watch TV, or, play outside?" Lily asked Sunny.

"Actually, Lily... I know what I like to do first."