A Convoluted Ploy to Give Sunny Starscout a Hug
"Look, I already told you, I don't have time to visit the beach today. I need to perfect the recipe on these ghost pepper smoothies by tonight or I'm not going to be ready for the 'new flavor of the week' this week!"
"Sunny, I don't mean to be the bearer of bad news, but that sounds disgusting."
"Don't knock it 'til you try it!"
You cross your arms as you give what is probably a very judgemental look to your orange friend, but she doesn't notice. The usually bright-eyed and optimistic Sunny Starscout has been really dour the past few days. At the moment, she is frustratedly messing with a blender, tossing in various amounts of ghost peppers. Alongside them, she has been working with many of the strange fruit hybrids that the earth ponies here in Maretime Bay have been producing as of late. You'll never really get used to that.
You arrived in Maretime Bay a few months ago. Apparently, a strange creature called Discord stole these "Unity Crystal" things which caused the magic that these ponies use to start going haywire. One such pony, a unicorn named Izzy Moonbow, was messing around with said magic at the time, and the result was a flash of light, a mild headache, and the sudden appearance of a strange alien-like creature called a human. That would be you.
While most of these candy-colored talking ponies were (and still are) mildly terrified of you, you did manage to find friendship in the aforementioned Izzy Moonbow, a pegasus influencer named Pipp Petals, her sister Zipp Storm, an earth pony stallion named Hitch Trailblazer, and your closest friend, Sunny Starscout. She is apparently a big deal, having solved some crisis going on in-between the three ponykinds and bringing magic back, gaining the ability to turn into an alicorn along the way. This information was... a lot to take in. As was the fact that they have no idea how to send you home.
So, for the time being, you've been living in the basement of the Crystal Brighthouse. You would love to pay rent or something, but nopony apart from the five friends you've made and a few stragglers like Jazz Hooves are brave enough to even think about hiring you. So, you've spent most of your time doing research.
That isn't to say it hasn't been enjoyable along the way, though. Ending up in a fantastical world full of magical talking ponies is strange, sure, but it's also a breath of fresh air compared to the routine you had gotten used to back home. Everything just feels more... colorful. Simple. Clean. It helps that you've gotten to go on adventures with these new friends of yours like you never would have dreamed about in your old life.
Pipp has a tendency to drag you into trouble. The short, somewhat pudgy, yet undeniably cute princess really enjoys her social media. She likes setting trends as much as she enjoys chasing them, and more often than not, she seems to genuinely want you to be involved. You were admittedly a bit leery at first. Social media was never your thing back at home, after all. But the earnest joy and enthusiasm that she shows when she drags you off to some new restaurant or to try some strange dance she thought up for the only biped in town is just so contagious you can't help but go along with it. She also really, really likes experimenting on your hair.
Zipp is much calmer than her sister, and while Pipp likes to drag you into her antics, Zipp only occasionally asks if you'd like to accompany her. She spends most of her time either solving "mysteries" around the bay like she's from some detective show, or working on her newfound flying abilities in the sky like she's some kind of athlete. During the former, you act as the Watson to her Holmes, helping ponies find their misplaced sunglasses or figuring out which raccoonicorn stole from the community garden. During the latter, you're mostly just there to catch her when she falls. Still though, you have to admit that she is fun to watch. You can practically see her skills improving by the day. All in all, hanging around with Zipp is sure to be a calmer experience than most of your other friends.
Izzy is about as unpredictable and wild as you could expect from the inventor of "unicycling." How many "crafternoons" have you spent covering garbage with glitter and sticking it to other pieces of garbage, only for Izzy to somehow turn it into a functioning calculator? On the plus side, her relentless optimism does a good job of making other ponies let their guard down around you, letting you fit in with the crowd just a little bit easier. You would also be lying if you said that her aforementioned optimism didn't rub off on you some. Really, Izzy is just a fun mare to be around, and there isn't much more to it than that.
Hitch tends to have his hooves full. Between acting as the only sheriff in the bay and raising an extremely chaotic baby dragon named Sparky full-time, his schedule is a bit packed. You've lent him a hand more than a couple of times, but considering that it's hard to keep the peace when everypony is afraid of you and that it's equally hard to take care of a baby dragon (you must reiterate: A DRAGON. Like, you know... A DRAGON) that coughs up magical fire, your usefulness is a bit limited. He still appreciates the effort, though.
Last but certainly not least is Sunny. What a gal. Having spent her whole life dreaming about making friends with other types of ponies, she has certainly been living it up having reunited all of ponykind and bringing magic back to Equestria. Luckily for you, that enthusiasm led to her greeting you with open arms... er, hooves? She is fascinated by your very existence, and it has more or less become a nightly routine for you to regale her with stories from the world you've left behind. You don't know if you're all that great of an orator, but when you speak about your surface-level knowledge of Earth's history, her eyes seem to glow as she hangs on your every word. When the two of you aren't doing that, she runs a smoothie truck in the bay, and she also oversees a lot of public projects. You've spent by far the most time with her out of anypony in Maretime Bay, and you find yourself gravitating towards her when you don't know what else to be doing with your time (which is often). She is unquestionably the best friend you've ever had.
You briefly entertain the idea that she might be more than that to you, but you quickly shake your head. Now isn't the time for that.
Right now, the usually energetic and outgoing mare is giving her blender a cold stare. Her ears lie flat on their sides, and her furrowed brow makes her seem unapproachable. Of course, you approached anyway, suggesting that she take some time off to visit the beach. It's a lovely day, after all.
She hasn't been doing great the past few days. After convincing Discord to give the Unity Crystals back and restoring magic once again, Sunny fell back into her usual routine. At first, she seemed excited. She has always been a history buff, and now that she doesn't have to worry about this Discord guy any more, she was free to gush about all of the things she has learned (and still has yet to learn) about the ruins of Canterlot. But as she found that the dilapidated city had much less to offer her than she was expecting, her disappointment became more clear. After deciding to focus on the bay for a little while, she realized that there was some very loud fighting going on between some local earth ponies and a group of unicorn tourists. With both groups respecting her status as an alicorn and as the mare that gave them their magic back, she was able to broker peace between the two groups. This seemed to take its toll on her though, as when she returned to the Brighthouse, you had to console her as she lightly sobbed into her pillow. She has been working so hard to get the ponykinds to live in harmony, but generations of fearmongering and discrimination don't go away so easily. While you were able to cheer her up to some extent, the rest of her week continued to be a train wreck. Her smoothie truck got tipped over in a storm, ruining all of the ingredients she had inside. The next day, she found that she had accidentally left one of the Brighthouse windows open during said storm, destroying some of the already sad-looking books she had uncovered in Canterlot that were left on a table near the windowsill. The day after that, she... had a migraine. Not much you can do about that.
And today doesn't seem to be going much better. Struggling with some severe smoothie maker's block would normally not bother her much, but with the way this week has been going, it's just the straw that broke the camel's back. She's angry, she's impatient, and in an extremely uncharacteristic turn, she is acting very unfriendly. You just... don't know what to do.
"Well, is there anything I can do to help?"
"No. No there isn't."
"Come on, Sunny, this isn't like you. It's okay if you aren't having a good day. There's no need to push yourself so hard if it's just going to make everything worse."
She sighs.
"Look, I appreciate your concern. Really, I do. But I don't have a choice right now."
She briefly looks up at you. You've become well-acquainted with those pretty eyes of hers, and you can tell just from that brief glance that she means it. She really doesn't want to be acting cold towards you, but she's just so focused right now that she can't help it.
Sucks for her that you're so stubborn, huh?
"...I'll be back in a bit, okay?"
"Alright. Hopefully I'll have this recipe down by then. You can be the first one to try them!"
Yeah there is no way you're going to try that death trap of a smoothie, but you aren't about to tell her that. With a smile and a thumbs up, you turn around and head out the door, descending the hill leading into the bay.
If a friendly conversation isn't going to do it, then you know what will. It's a secret weapon that these ponies like to use on each other, as well as on you, whenever one of them is feeling down: a tactical hug.
You could have just reached across the counter and done that already, but you have a feeling it wouldn't be enough. No, you need to bring out the big guns for this. You will accept nothing less than the best for Sunny! It's time for you to make a plan!
Three hours later and you realize that you are really, really bad at making plans. But, hey. This is the best you could come up with, so it's time to see it through.
Waiting at the base of the hill that the Crystal Brighthouse sits upon, you hear a static sound coming from your pocket. Retrieving a small, glittery walkie talkie, you briefly question why Izzy insisted on making these when cell phones would work just as well. You're even more curious as to how she made five of them in less than an hour, but that's actually somewhat typical of her.
"Isekai Protagonist 1, this is Tennis Ball 2, do you read me, over?"
"Izz, do we really have to do these code names?"
"Isekai Protagonist 1, this is Tennis Ball 2. Yes. Over."
You sigh. Might as well play along.
"Tennis Ball 2, I am in position with the necessary ingredients and awaiting confirmation, over."
"Good! Dragon Dad 3, how goes the setup, over?"
"Everypony in Maretime Bay has been informed of the Sundown Surprise, I'm just awaiting confirmation from Royal Bogey 4, over."
"This is Royal Bogey 4, everything on the beach is in place and ready for the signal, over."
"Oh, uh, I guess it's my turn. This is Diva Princess 5, the advertisement has been uploaded and Sunny has been made temporarily unable to see it. Uh, over."
"Diva Princess 5, good luck! You've definitely got the most difficult part of this plan. This is Tennis Ball 2, and I am also in position. Isekai Protagonist 1, you are free to engage, over."
"Alright, I'm going in. Good luck, everyone, and thank you for all of this."
Stuffing the walkie talkie back into your pocket, you make your way up into the Brighthouse. Taking a moment to steel yourself, you confidently open the door and walk into the kitchen. Just as expected, Sunny is still sitting there, the bags under her eyes revealing her exhaustion. It seems she still hasn't figured out that smoothie recipe yet.
"Heyyyyy Sunny, how's it going?"
"Oh, hi. Still not great."
She mindlessly dumps another handful of peppers into the blender and turns it on. After a few seconds, she removes the concoction and unenthusiastically pours a drop of it onto her tongue before shaking her head in disappointment and throwing the blend into the garbage.
"I've got something that might be able to help with that~"
You walk up to the counter and present a bunch of grananas. You know... grape bananas. Grown by Hitch Trailblazer himself. He calls it a marvel of earth pony magic. You call it an affront to humanity. Regardless, he insists that it's exactly what she needs, and you don't have any better ideas.
"Sorry, but I'm not really feeling a granana right now."
"Maybe not, but is your smoothie recipe feeling it?"
Sunny looks up at you for a moment with confusion, before her eyes suddenly shoot open. Snatching a few of the strange fruits from your hands, she dumps a couple into the blender along with half of a ghost pepper. A bit of blending and a single hesitant sip later, she smiles and hands you a strange brown concoction in a cup.
"Here, what do you think?"
Ohhhh dear. You'd better get this over with. Bringing the silly little bendy straw to your lips, you prepare yourself for the worst.
...Huh. It's not bad. You've never really had a granana, but it seems to compliment the kick of the ghost pepper. In fact, you were expecting said pepper to kill you, but somehow it tastes like little more than a mild spice in this smoothie. You could see yourself drinking this again, actually.
"That's... really, really good, Sunny. I think you have a winner."
"Ooo, finally! I need to finish making the sign!"
For the first time in a while you see her crack a smile as she wheels in a small chalkboard. With a chuckle you squat down next to her and help her finish the advertisement for her new limited-time "Granana Pepper: Sweet Kick Smoothie." With a contented sigh, she takes a step back to admire her work.
"Heh, thank you. Really. Sorry I've been such a downer lately."
"Sooooo? Does that mean you're ready to head down to the beach?"
"I'll admit I'm pretty tired, but sure, why not?" With a spring in your step, you grab her hoof, causing a slight blush to appear on her cheeks, before enthusiastically heading back towards the bay. "Wow, you're really excited, aren't you?"
"What? It's a nice day outside!"
The goofy grin on your face is probably giving you away, but you can't really help yourself. The plan started strong, you just need to keep up the momentum.
Entering the town properly, you begin to take the long way around, a specific route in mind. If the two of you head down Main Street, you should pass right by Mane Melody, where Pipp will ready to-
What is going on here?
In the street just outside of the salon, a veritable sea of ponies of all kinds excitedly stares into the windows of the salon. Glancing over at Sunny, you notice that she looks just as confused as you do.
"What's going on? Is... is Pipp okay?"
"I have no idea. Should we check on her?"
"I think I would feel better if we did!"
Doing your best to force your way through the crowd, the two of you slowly make your way towards the pink building. If it wasn't for your comparably massive stature, there was no way you would have gotten past this many ponies. Unfortunately, the inside looks just as hectic as the outside. Every possible seat is taken, with plenty more ponies just... taking up space. Jazz, Rocky, and Pipp are all frantically darting between ponies, doing their best to handle as many requests as possible in as short a span of time as possible. The frazzled Pipp notices your presence after a moment and darts over to you, forcing a nervous smile.
"Heyyyyy, how's it goin'?"
Sunny speaks up before you can, concern plastered on her face.
"Pipp, what is going on? Are you okay?!"
"Me? Pffffft, I'm fiiiiine, never been better! We're having a special today, and it..." She turns to look at you, the smile on her face doing little to hide the panic in her eyes. "...ended up being way, WAY more popular than I expected! I would love to help you, but I really, really need to hop to it. Good luck!"
She gives you a nod before turning around and heading straight to a stallion mid-hooficure.
"Why did she wish us luck?"
Well, you know the answer to that, but you can't exactly tell Sunny that she was talking to you specifically. With a slight groan, you practically lift Sunny off of the ground before forcing your way back outside and through the crowd, eventually finding refuge in a nearby alley.
"I hope they're going to be okay."
"I'm... I'm sure they'll be fine! It IS Pipp we're talking about, after all. She's great with attention!"
"Well... maybe you're right. I just hope she isn't working herself too hard."
"Heh, remind you of someone?"
Sunny ponders your words for a moment before she starts laughing, playfully hitting your leg along the way.
"Anyway, should we start heading to the beach?"
You turn back to look at the crowd. This wasn't part of the plan. Pipp was supposed to excitedly bring the two of you inside and give Sunny the full treatment for a quarter of the price. Putting out an advertisement for such a deal on her social media pages was supposed to give Sunny the impression that this wasn't just for her (retroactively of course, if she had seen the ad prior to arriving it would have ruined the surprise), but apparently you both greatly underestimated just how effective this advertisement would be. With that part of the plan going under, you have little choice but to move on to the next step.
...Uhh, how are you going to do that? Izzy was supposed to meet you outside of Mane Melody once you were done, but with that crowd, where are you going to find her?
Oh, there she is.
Down the barren street running perpendicular to the one Mane Melody is on, you see Izzy frantically circling Sunny's smoothie truck, along with Hitch and... Misty? What's she doing here?
"Hey, what's going on over there?"
Ah, it looks like Sunny noticed them too. Oh, and she's already making her way towards them. This plan is going just great.
Following closely behind her, the two of you approach the truck and assess the situation. Izzy appears to be holding Sparky, the baby dragon Hitch is raising. Said dragon has a bad case of the hiccups, and its magical fire breath is wreaking havoc on everything it touches. Most of said things appear to have been the various ingredients and essentials in the smoothie truck. Izzy is doing her best to prevent more of these hiccups from causing any further damage, while Hitch is trying to calm both Sparky and Izzy down. Misty is... well, she's definitely here too.
"What happened here?"
Upon hearing Sunny's voice, all four of them stop dead in their tracks. As if on cue, Sparky's hiccups come to a stop. Hitch takes the opportunity to snatch him up, with the dragon immediately making himself comfortable on Hitch's back. Izzy responds first.
"Sorry, Sunny. I, uh... forgot some of my unicycling materials at the smoothie truck and came to get them!" Her anxious smile makes it extremely obvious to you that she is lying, but whether or not Sunny notices is a different question. "But, uh, Sparky suddenly got the hiccups, and everything went wrong, and I think he got some of your smoothie stuff in the process."
"Oh, that's alright, Izzy, don't worry about it!"
Hitch responds next.
"I just don't know how he got those hiccups in the first place! We came to check on the crowd gathering outside of Mane Melody, and suddenly dragon fire was going everywhere! It's not like him to just get the hiccups out of the blue like that."
Finally, Misty speaks up for the first time today.
"Haha, yeah! How strange!" Between her eyes frantically darting all over the place and the cold sweat forming on her brow, you would normally believe that she is up to something. But... she's kind of always like this. Definitely an odd mare, that's for sure. "Well, with that out of the way, I guess I'd better get going!"
Without even offering a proper goodbye, she practically sprints away from your group, leaving the four of you in awkward silence. With a quick glance into the truck and then back towards you, Izzy is doing her best to act like everything is fine. Unfortunately, it looks like this step of the plan is a bust as well.
After leaving Mane Melody, Izzy was supposed to be waiting with the smoothie truck, ready to "coincidentally" suggest adding grananas to Sunny's new recipe. With Izzy having already made several dozen of the smoothies, Sunny would realize that through sheer chance, she had most of her coming work already done for her. Right now, though, said smoothies appear to have been turned into a pile of pineapples. Still tasty smoothie ingredients, but not really what you need right now. A sigh escapes your lips. You hope Sunny didn't notice.
Apparently noticing the tension in the air, Hitch speaks up again.
"Well, I guess I'd better get back to my post. The Sundown Surprise is going to be starting soon, you know!"
Sunny tilts her head at him.
"The Sundown Surprise? What's that?"
"Oh, you haven't heard? Heh, I guess you have been cooped up in the Brighthouse all day. It's..." He turns to look at you. "...Well, I won't ruin the 'surprise' part. Just head on down to the beach whenever you're ready!"
With that, Hitch and Sparky turn around and start heading towards the coast. Leave it to Hitch to retain his composure and keep the plan rolling. With the two of them gone, it's just you, Sunny, and Izzy left at the truck.
"Well, since it was kinda my fault, I think I'm going to clean up the smoothie truck. You two should get going!"
"Oh, Izzy, I can't let you clean up my truck all by yourself."
"I insist! Go on! Git!"
Pushing on both of your backs, she practically forces you to start walking towards the beach. Unlike Hitch, she isn't exactly subtle.
"Well, that was weird."
"Yeah, I'll say."
"...Is something wrong?"
"Uh, no! Everything's going great here!"
You know, if your voice hadn't cracked, you probably would have sounded a lot more convincing.
"If you say so. Well, do you want to finally head down to the beach? I want to know what this whole 'Sundown Surprise' thing is about!"
Mirroring how you were acting back at the Brighthouse, she takes your hand and starts pulling you towards the beach. At least she seems to be cheering up a bit.
Taking a detour to avoid the crowd, the two of you finally make your way to the steps leading down to the beach, only to be greeted with a peculiar sight. A number of disappointed-looking ponies are leaving the beach, their heads hanging low and none of them saying a word. Looking past them, you see that the beach is now almost completely empty, with the exception of a few foals still playing in the sand and Hitch and Zipp having some sort of discussion near the water.
"Zipp? What's she doing here?" The two of you descend the stairs and make your way across the beach, eventually meeting Hitch and Zipp right where the waves reach the sand. "Uhh, is something wrong?"
"Sunnyyyyy! Hahah, noooo, there's nothing wrong!"
"Really? I figured that there would be a bit more going on for this 'Sundown Surprise' right now."
"Whaaaaaaat? Pssshhh, nawwwwww!"
Are you all just the world's worst liars or something?
"Zipp, you're clearly upset about something. What happened?"
"I..." She looks to you for approval. At this point, the plan has completely fallen apart. You give her a nod. She sighs before continuing. "The surprise was supposed to be a fireworks show, but I set them up too close to the water. One particularly large wave later and whoosh! An afternoon's work gone with the tide."
"Aww, I'm sorry, Zipp!"
"Why are YOU sorry? The fireworks were for you."
"I... huh?"
Zipp quickly covers her mouth with her hoof. She has said too much.
"Seriously, what is going ON today?" Finally catching on, Sunny turns to you. She looks like she is getting aggravated. "Were you a part of this? What have you all been up to?"
"I... uh..."
"And please don't try to hide it. I noticed that really conspicuous walkie talkie sticking out of your pocket when we left the Brighthouse, but I gave you the benefit of the doubt. Are you all trying to prank me or something?!"
"No, no! We were trying to help you!"
"Huh?"
"Look, I..." Well, the cat is out of the bag now. "I was worried about you. We all were. We know you had a terrible week, and we just wanted to give you a nice day. So, we made a plan. I'd help you finish the smoothie recipe, then we would 'accidentally' bump into Pipp who would treat you at Mane Melody, then Izzy would 'just happen' to be outside with the smoothie truck and show you that she got a lot of your work done for you already, and then we would finally come down here to the beach where Hitch and Zipp organized a nice fireworks show to go off when the sun started to set. And then, I was supposed to give you a hug, because you really, really looked like you needed one."
"Wow, uh, that's... that's a lot."
"I'm really, really sorry, Sunny. Pretty much everything went wrong today. I didn't mean to-"
She cuts you off by standing on her hind legs and wrapping her forelegs around you, pulling you into a tight hug. It takes you a moment to process what's happening. You don't really know what else to do here, so you wrap your arms around her as well and return the hug.
She's really soft.
"It sounds to me like you're the one who needs a hug right now." Well, you'd be lying if you said that the complete collapse of your plan hadn't put a damper on your mood. "Hmhm, thank you. Really." She turns to look at Zipp and Hitch. "All of you. I'm feeling a lot better now, plan or otherwise."
With a relieved smile, Hitch begins to walk back off of the beach with Sparky in tow.
"All's well that ends well, right? I'm going to head to back to the station. It's just about time for Sparky's dinner."
Zipp starts to follow him.
"Speaking of, it's my turn to cook dinner tonight, isn't it? I'll meet you two back at the Brighthouse, okay?"
With a quick flap of her wings, Zipp takes to the sky, quickly disappearing from sight. That just leaves you and Sunny on the beach.
The sun is slowly disappearing over the water, bathing the beach in an orange light and reflecting beautifully off of the ocean. Sunny slowly lets go of you, an obvious blush on her face. Not knowing where else to turn her attention, but too embarrassed to keep looking at you, she turns to watch the sun as it sets. Taking a seat on the sand, she motions for you to do the same. You're a fair bit higher off of the ground than she is, but you sit down anyway, causing the two of you to be almost at eye level.
"Even if there aren't any fireworks, the beach at sunset is still really nice, don't you think?"
For all the time that you've been here, you've never really taken the time to just watch the sunset like this. Whether you were too stressed or too busy or too scared of running into ponies that wouldn't react well to your presence, you're not sure. Still... this is incredible.
"Yeah, it really is beautiful."
The two of you sit in relative silence for a while, listening to the sound of the waves hitting the shore. Eventually Sunny breaks the silence again, never turning away from the sunset.
"You know, even if your little plan didn't work out, I still had fun today."
"You did?"
"Sure! How could you expect me to stay upset when all of my friends are working so hard to cheer me up?"
"But we failed, didn't we?"
"Oh come on, you know better than that! It's not about what we do, it's about getting to spend time together. And I really like spending time with you!"
She turns to you and gives you an earnest, if not embarrassed, smile. Her happiness is contagious, and you find yourself smiling right along with her.
"Hehe, I guess you're right. Didn't think you'd be cheering me up today, that's for sure."
"Guess we both helped each other out, huh?"
At this point your attention has turned away from the sunset as you both look into each other's eyes.
Why is she so darn cute?
Without giving you any time to react, she lunges forward and gives you a quick peck on the cheek before standing up and heading towards the stairs.
"Come on, let's go home. I want everyone to try the Sweet Kick Smoothie!"
She turns her now beet-red face away from you and starts walking in the direction of the Brighthouse. You imagine you must look pretty similar judging by the heat you can feel rushing to your own face. With a sheepish smile you stand up and follow her, ready and eager to see what tomorrow might bring.
It brought a migraine. Oh well, they can't all be winners.