She genuinely thought it would work...
She genuinely thought that all of the hard work she and her friends have accomplished would actually work..
She genuinely thought that this was it. This was the big moment, the moment she had dreamed of when she was a filly, where magic returns and earth ponies, pegasi and unicorns can be friends again and could live in harmony once more, and return to the glorious heyday of Ancient Equestria under the reign of The Guardians of Harmony...
But, it didn't. The only thing that anypony ever got from that was not magic and harmony, but disappointment and sorrow, and the latter was true for Sunny Starscout.
The earth pony activist, with the help of her friends Izzy Moonbow, Hitch Trailblazer, and Princesses Pipp Petals and Zipp Storm, tried so hard to bring back magic to Equestria by uniting the unicorn and pegasus crystals so that things can go back to the way they were back in ancient times, back when harmony was still alive.
But all that effort was all for nothing, as when the crystals actually got united...nothing happened. No magic laser beam, no giant Sonic Rainboom in the sky, no glowing horns or flying pegasi, just...nothing.
Everypony who was there to witness it was devastated, but nopony was more devastated than Sunny Starscout. She believed, she genuinely believed that uniting these crystals would bring the magic back, so that everypony would stop hiding anymore, so that everypony would stop fighting against one another, so that everypony would let go of their prejudices and biases and welcome each other with open arms, so that everypony could be friends again. But alas, it was all just a pipe dream. It will always be a pipe dream.
Now the downcast earth pony was solemnly trotting back to her home of Maretime Bay, along with her fellow earth pony friend, Sheriff Hitch Trailblazer. She soon reached the lighthouse at the end of town she and her dad called home, and looked at it with sadness.
"I'm right here if you need to talk, Sunny," Hitch said, trying to comfort his downhearted foalhood friend.
Sunny could only look back at Hitch and give him a sad smile, appreciating his offer for help, but knowing that it won't make the situation they're in any better, before continuing to slowly trot back home. Hitch sadly sighed in defeat as he turns away from Sunny and trots in the opposite direction as the two earth ponies went their separate ways.
Sunny Starscout opened the door to her home, still as downhearted as before as she walked inside, before shutting the door hard, not even bothering to fix the position of the childhood photo of her and her dad, Argyle Starshine, something she always did whenever she entered or exited the lighthouse.
Sunny lifted her head from it's downcast position and looked around her home, the lighthouse looked a lot dimmer and more dull than she remembered, probably due to the cloudy weather at the moment and the mess Izzy made when she was here, but Sunny couldn't care any more or any less at the moment, all she wanted to do, was to sulk in her sorrows.
She slowly walked towards the lift made by her dad when she was a filly, and sat on it, while pulling the strings attaching the platform she's sitting on, lifting her up in the process. As she continued pulling the strings, she began reflecting about her past efforts to unite the three pony races over the past few years ever since her dad died, and the current state of Equestria.
"What will I do now? All my efforts to change hearts and minds were...meaningless". she pondered, as she continued to pull the ropes as more questions popped up in her head. "Why did the earth ponies, pegasi and unicorns get divided again in the first place?", "Why were the crystals made if they would never work at all to begin with?", "Were The Guardians of Harmony's efforts to maintain friendship and harmony around Equestria all for nothing?", "Will things ever be the same again?" Her train of thought soon stopped when she got to her room.
She hopped off the lift, opened the door to her room and plopped her aquamarine satchel on the ground without a second thought, along with her pins of the cutie marks of Twilight Sparkle, Fluttershy, and Rainbow Dash. She then heavily hopped onto the windowsill of her room, as the blue and yellow glass panes, with the cutie marks of The Guardians of Harmony designed onto them, shimmered upon her.
Sunny looked upon the window, more specifically her reflection in the window, feeling ashamed. She felt like a failure. Not only did she feel like she failed the entirety of Equestria, but on a personal level, she also felt like she failed at continuing the legacy set by The Guardians of Harmony, and her father. The latter hit home for Sunny the most. Every day for the past few years after her father's death, she wished that he was still there, alive, to guide her, to comfort her, to talk to her about her problems, and to reassure that her fight for the harmony between ponies was not in vain. Sunny lightly shed small tears at the thought of her dad.
But, as she continued to look at herself in the window, not only did she see a failure, but she also saw a fool. A fool who naively believed some pipe dream about pony unity that can never be achieved.
Soon, Sunny sighed as she averted her gaze from the window, and her miserable reflection on it. She then saw her old foalhood toys. Detailed, wooden model replicas of The Guardians of Harmony hoof-made by her father when she was a filly. Back then, she looked at those toys with admiration and wonder for their friendship they had with each other, despite their differences. But now, she looked at them not only with regret and shame on herself for failing to keep their legacy alive, but also sorrow as the era of harmony that they brought to this once peaceful land, would never happen again.
Sunny hopped down from the windowsill and slowly trotted towards the shelf where they're standing and grabbed the box underneath it. She places the box beside the shelf and slowly, but surely, starts putting away the toys one by one. Starting with Rainbow Dash, then Rarity, then Applejack, then Fluttershy, then Pinkie Pie, and finally Twilight Sparkle.
Putting Twilight away was a difficult thing for Sunny to do. Twilight has always been Sunny's personal favorite of The Guardians of Harmony, and was her personal hero, ever since her dad told her the story of how she and her friends defeated Nightmare Moon for the first time. But, the guilt Sunny felt. The shame she felt on herself over failing to keep her legacy alive, and the foolishness she felt for believing that she could continue the legacy that Twilight left behind, overtook any hesitance in her, she couldn't bear to look at any of them again after doing a poor job at keeping what little of their legacy they have left alive.
After packing away her toy replicas of The Guardians of Harmony, she looked over to her left to see only one toy left on the shelf, the lantern. That lantern was a personal item for her; it was the last thing her dad made for her before he passed away. There was a small voice inside of Sunny telling her not to pack it away; packing it away means that she's practically erasing his memory if she did that, but that tiny little voice was overshadowed by the rest of Sunny's subconscious; telling her to put it away along with the rest of her toys, as the lantern will only be a reminder that her dad's dream of earth ponies, pegasi and unicorns uniting once more, will never become a reality. Eventually, after much consideration from both sides of herself, Sunny simply sighed and gently grabbed the lantern and placed it in the box next to the other toys.
Sunny sighed wistfully as she looked at the box, she knew that things will never go back to the way they were, the way she wanted them to be, where magic roamed free, and everypony stopped fighting and all lived in harmony. Soon, she averted her eyes from the box and began to slowly trot out of her room. She turned her head to look at her room one last time, before solemnly trotting to the door, but as she was about to leave, she noticed something. Something behind the lantern, it was very small, but can be somewhat noticeable to the naked eye.
Filled with curiosity, Sunny trotted back inside her room to investigate. When she got to the box containing her toys, she realized the thing behind the lantern was a piece of paper, that was ejected out of the back of the lantern when she put it in the box.
Sunny quickly grabbed the paper to examine every little detail of it. The paper was small, felt old, and had a lot of wrinkles and dust, but was still in good condition. Intrigued, she turned the paper around and saw six words written in bold capital letters that were heavily underlined that say...
DO NOT OPEN UNTIL I'M GONE!
Sunny was initially confused at the warning written on the back of the paper. But as she continued looking at it, she noticed that the hoofwriting seemed...familiar to her.
She read the warning again, wanting to know why this hoofwriting felt familiar. The way the words were written and punctuated, and how they looked so formal yet so messy, felt like she had seen it before, more specifically, seen it being written before. As she read the warning for a third time, Sunny's eyes widened as her brain triggered a memory from her foalhood that points to the exact pony that wrote on this piece of paper.
"Daddy, what are you writing?"
Argyle Starshine looked behind himself to see his daughter, Sunny Starscout, looking at him with wide-eyed, curious intent.
"Shouldn't you be sleeping Sunny-Bunny? It's the middle of the night."
"But I can't sleep daddy! Can I stay up a little late. Please?" Sunny pleaded as her pupils dilated to make herself look as cute and guilt-trippy as possible.
Argyle simply smiled at Sunny, chuckling at her cute antics that nopony, not even Phyllis Cloverleaf, could resist, "Okay cupcake, you can stay up. But only for tonight, after this you're going back to bed." he sweetly said, scooting to the side of his chair to make space for Sunny.
Sunny smiled as she quickly ran to her father and sat next to him. Argyle soon continued to write as Sunny watched.
Sunny looked around her father's desk, as artifacts from Ancient Equestria came into view as they were everywhere in this section of the lighthouse. She gazed in wonder as she looked at all the remnants of a time long gone, from Zecora's masks, to the Starswirl The Bearded painting, to even the model replica of Grogar's bell. She was in a state of pure bliss, that is, until she spotted her dad's medicine right next to the paper. Her expression turned from blissfully happy to melancholic in a matter of seconds as she remembered her dad's medical condition. It has been a week since the blue earth pony stallion was diagnosed with lead poisoning, his health has been slowly deteriorating over the past few days as his muscles weakened, gets multiple headaches a day, and has regular abdominal pain, making Sunny Starscout concerned for his well being.
"Daddy, will you ever be cured?" Sunny asked as she leaned on her dad's body.
Argyle momentarily stopped writing, and looked at his daughter with a wistful look. He sighed sadly as he looked away from Sunny to continue writing. "I don't know Sunny, I just don't know."
Sunny watched as her dad continued to write on his paper, with the soft sounds of his purple quill filling the now silent room. "I don't want you to go," Sunny said sadly as she nuzzled on her dad's soft fur.
Argyle stopped writing again to see his daughter, looking at him with heartbroken eyes at the thought of him leaving her. He simply gave Sunny a sad smile as he hunched himself to look at her face-to-face. "Sunny, I don't know how long I'll live, or when I'll die, but you gotta promise me this." he said as he put his hoof on Sunny's shoulder "Never stop fighting for what you believe in, Sunny. Try to spread the magic of friendship as much as you can throughout Maretime Bay. That's what the Guardians of Harmony would've wanted, and that's what I would've wanted. Because one day, you will be able to meet a unicorn, or a pegasus, be best friends, and do things only I could dream of, Sunny. Cherish that, and I assure you, you'll be able to enjoy the fruits of your labors."
Sunny continued to look at her father with worry and sorrow as he hugged her tight, not wanting to let her go, and after moments of silence from Sunny, she simply sobbed as she reciprocated the hug, never wanting to let go.
The room was silent as the father and daughter hugged each other as tight as they could possible could while silently shedding tears, never wanting this moment of emotional bliss to end.
"Dad..." Sunny sobbed as she finished remembering that foalhood memory. The paper she was holding on her hooves at the moment, was the last letter her dad ever wrote.
Sunny looked at the paper with immense sorrow, due to being reminded of her dad again, but also with curiosity as to what he had to write before he passed on. Then, she slowly unfolded the tiny paper, one furrow at a time. As she continued to unfold it, words started showing up on the paper as the crinkling sounds began to become louder and the paper started to get bigger as Sunny continued to unfold, determined to know what her dad's final words. Then finally, the last furrow was unfurled, and the paper was unfolded, free from its small posture.
Sunny looked at the paper, practically astonished at how this little letter was kept inside of the lantern for the past few years without anypony even noticing. Soon, after staring at it for a few minutes, she started to read it, starting from the top.
Dear Sunny Starscout,
If you're reading this, then I am dead, or, at least, not around anymore. As of the time I'm writing this, I'm in the hospital, on the bed, with you sleeping beside me, hugging me as tight as you could, never wanting to let go. I guess one of the benefits of the pain is that it's hard to sleep. Which meant that I had a lot of time to think about the future, and about you, which is the reason why I wrote this letter: To give you somethings to remember me by, and to give you some closure about, well, my death.
First, I want you to have my journal. It was your great-great grandfather's, and has been passed down from generation to generation in our family, and I want to continue that tradition. Use it to document everything you can possibly find out about Equestria, and do the things I could've done, If I were in my prime. I wanted to give you this earlier, but due to my unexpected collapse earlier this morning, I guess you have to find it on your own.
Second, there's another thing I want to give you. It's an important family heirloom found by your great-great grandfather when he was in his prime, so listen very carefully. In your lantern, the one I gave you a week ago, there's a gem on top of it. Now, it's no ordinary gem, that gem on top of your lantern is one of three crystals that were the apparatuses used to remove magic from all of Equestria.
Sunny immediately stopped reading the letter after she read that, "There was, a third crystal?" Sunny thought. She then immediately slapped herself on the head for her ignorance. "Of course! Why didn't I think of that, I should've questioned why only the unicorns and pegasi had crystals!".
She dropped the letter on the ground, and ran to the box where the lantern resided. She grabbed the lantern as quickly as she could With her fragile hooves and gently removed the top of it, and true to the words from the letter, there was an actual gem on the top! In all of its shiny glory.
Sunny's eyes widened at the sight of it, amazed at how this gem was hidden in plain sight for the past few years. She soon became ecstatic, to the point where she was trotting in place all around her room. She was about to run out of her room and tell everypony the great news, until she remembered the letter. Sunny turned around and looked at the letter, now forgotten on the floor. Sonny's eyes softened at the sight of it, feeling guilty for quickly abandoning her father's last words as soon as she found the crystal.
Sunny gently placed the gem on the drawer next to her mirror, and walked towards where the letter was dropped. She carefully picked the letter up again and continued to read.
Now, I know that this might be a little too heavy of a responsibility, but I trust that you can handle it and keep it safe. My father gave this to me when I was a colt and his father did the same for him up until your great-great grandfather. And for good measure, I even created a panel on the top of the lighthouse that can house all the three crystals if earth ponies, pegasi and unicorns decided to be friends again
But to know why this gemstone is so important, we have to go back, back to when Princess Twilight Sparkle was still ruling Equestria.
This land was at peace during that time, earth ponies, pegasi and unicorns were still living in harmony, along with other creatures such as dragons, changelings, yaks, griffons, and hippogriffs. We even had close relations to bipedal ape-like creatures from another dimension called "Hyoo-mans" (Despite all my years of research on this era of Equestria, I still can't pronounce that word right) who gave us the technology that we use today.
But sadly, all good things must come to an end, as many moons later, Twilight Sparkle and her council of friendship retired due to old age (Little known fact: Alicorns aren't actually immortal, they just have a longer life span than the average pony), and soon, Equestria appointed a new ruler, King Odium, the first stallion, and unicorn, to rule Equestria in over a millennia.
At first glance, he acted like a kind, friendly and accepting pony: the perfect successor to Princess Twilight, but unfortunately, that was all just an act to become king as he did not truly understand Twilight's teachings of friendship & harmony among others despite the differences they may have, and soon, just days after his coronation, started planting seeds of paranoia, prejudice and mistrust among the ponies, and the other creatures to make them turn their backs on each other. Then he suddenly declared war against the earth ponies, pegasi, and creatures from beyond Equestria due to his prejudices, biases and unjustified hate against them.
Soon, the other creatures from beyond Equestria left and returned to their own home lands so they wouldn't get caught up in the conflict. Odium, thinking that the other creatures were cowards for avoiding the conflict, decided to focus his hate on the earth ponies and pegasi, and soon the war between the three pony tribes raged on, with the magic from the unicorns, strength from the earth ponies, and the pegasi's ability to fly making the battle all the more brutal, and what's worse, the Windigos returned.
The Guardians of Harmony tried to ease the tensions between the ponies and the other species, but their efforts barely made an impact, only made things worse, and practically encouraged the war to commence. Eventually, after months and months of continuous war, Twilight had enough. She then made three magical crystals with the help of her friends, one for the earth ponies, one for the pegasi, and one for the unicorns, to remove magic from Equestria. Then, The Guardians of Harmony used all of the power they had to supercharge the crystals so they can remove all signs of magic in Equestria and stop the ongoing war, and in doing so, gave up their own lives.
Soon, all magic from Equestria was gone. The unicorns lost the ability to do spells, the pegasi lost the ability to fly, all magical creatures like the Windigos or Discord faded out of existence, and even the portal to the world of the "Hyoo-mans" was drained of its power.
The three crystals scattered all over Equestria after the supercharge, and were soon found by one member of each of the three pony tribes after they split up, seeing that attempting to fight without magic was useless. Soon, King Odium died of an unknown illness from, the north-eastern part of Equestria, and since then Equestria was never the same, and then evolved into the Equestria we know of today.
The story I've just told you has been passed down in our family ever since your great-great grandfather witnessed it all happen with his own eyes.
Finally, I just want to say that you have been the best thing that has ever happened to me. Ever since your mom died giving birth to you, I thought that I would never experience happiness like the one I got from her ever again. But raising you gave me so much joy, and that filled the lonely little void I had inside my heart.
I'll always treasure the times we talked to each other, the times I taught you about Ancient Equestria and the ponies who shaped it, the times we played and laughed together, and the times we comforted each other whenever we were in a tough spot. I wish we had more time together, but it seemed like life had other plans. But, you have to promise me this Sunny, not just for my sake, but for the sake of everypony in Equestria. Never stop spreading the magic of friendship, Equestria needs it now more than ever. It's what The Guardians of Harmony would've wanted, and it's what I would've wanted.
So, I guess this is farewell, not a goodbye because I know that one day we will meet again. I don't know how, and I don't know when, but one day we'll see each other again. And when I see you again, I'll give you the biggest bear hug imaginable.
I love you Sunny-bunny, and I hope that the words in this letter will inspire you to do our part, hoof-to-heart.
Sincerely, Dad.
Sunny was in tears after reading the letter. She knew that reading it would make her emotional, but she didn't expect herself to be an emotional train-wreck throughout the entire letter, especially near the end. She felt sad, of course, but she also felt a strange sense of hope.
Soon, Sunny quickly grabbed her satchel and pins and wore them around her neck, proudly sporting them again. She then carefully put the crystal inside the satchel, and gave the biggest smile she had on her face in a long time as she opened the door and rushed out of the room. She rushed to the lift and pulled the ropes as fast as she could to reach the top of the lighthouse. She soon reached the top and jumped off the lift in pure exhilaration as she ran to the center of the room as quickly as she could. She reached the center and quickly pushed aside some of her childhood drawings blocking the view, and also true to the words of the letter, there was a panel in the center that featured the shapes of the pegasi crystal, the unicorn crystal, and the earth pony crystal.
Sunny looked at the panel with wide eyes as she unintentionally dropped her satchel in response. She lightly gasped and covered her agape mouth with her right hoof in shock, and in joy. After a few moments of staring, she removed the hoof from her mouth, and an even bigger smile started to form on Sunny's face as she continued to look at the panel.
With the third crystal being found and the discovery of the panel, there was still hope that maybe it could happen, maybe magic could return, maybe she could see Izzy, Pipp and Zipp again, maybe everypony could stop fighting and live together in harmony again, maybe her dad's dream didn't go to waste, maybe things could go back to the way they were in Ancient Equestria.
Maybe, today was gonna be her day...
Author's Note
Hello, this is my first FanFiction on this site, so please give me any constructive criticism to improve.
The reason why I wrote this little FanFic is because I felt like the movie didn't do that great of a job at explaining the crystals, their purpose, how Argyle got ahold of them, and why the lighthouse had a panel where the three crystals would fit.
And during the production of this fic, I realized that this FanFiction was unintentionally inspired by a scene in the 2020 film "I Still Believe" where Jeremy Camp finds a letter from his deceased wife inside his guitar. I recommend you'd watch the film, it's a pretty good christian film.
So, with all that said, thanks for reading and I'll see you in the next story.
