A Happy Ending to A Lovely Day (Not!!)
As the sun started to go down over the town of Maretime Bay, Sprout Cloverleaf walked down a street, a yellow and white hardhat on his head. The bright red, slightly short stallion, who had white "socks" on his legs that faded into red around his knees, sighed as he took off the hardhat, revealing his slicked back, blonde mane underneath it. His tail was blonde as well, slightly wavy, and reached to right above his hocks. His green eyes glimmered in the sunlight, framed above by thick dark red eyebrows, and his cutie mark was a purple beet with green leaves.
"Man, what a day," He said as he walked around a corner. "I can't believe how much trash there was in that one alley," he continued, shaking his head at the memory. "But hey, after today, I won't have to worry about that again," He said with a large grin showing on his face as he happily stamped his maroon hooves. "I'll be done with my community service!!"
It had been a long four months since he'd grown mad with power, partially due to his mother's poor guidance and her/his paranoia of the other pony tribes, and taken over Maretime Bay while Hitch had been out chasing Sunny. He'd ended up declaring himself as Emperor and destroyed the lighthouse that Sunny lived in, before he'd been snapped out of it by Sunny's words that night as well as when his war machine had been taken down. Over the next week, he'd been kept in jail, which had been absolute torture to him, as he'd liked his own bed, and his secret stash of plushies (which he told no pony of, even making his Mommy swear to not reveal that he slept with them or even had them).
And then, he'd been sentenced to four months of community service, which started with him having to help clear the rubble of the lighthouse. That had been very awkward for him, as he'd not wanted to be near Sunny or Hitch for a long time. He knew they hated him for what he'd done. He'd whined and complained about the hard work, but his mommy had been insistent that he be a "grown stallion and clean up your mess." And begrudgingly, he'd agreed.
It had taken the whole month to clean up all the rubble, with Sunny and Hitch gathering up her belongings that they found amidst the rubble. He hadn't admitted it to anypony, but he had actually nicked two items he'd found while cleaning, stashing them underneath his helmet when nopony was looking. He'd found the small figurine of that cowpony Sunny talked about interesting, partially cause of the hat she wore. And the figurine of that blue pegasus, who he believed was named Rainbow Crash, intrigued him cause of her rainbow mane and tail. He'd always found multi-colored manes fascinating, even if they were on a pegasus, which at the time of finding the figurines he'd still not liked at all.
The two figurines currently sat behind one of his plushies in his room, hidden from sight. He'd take them out at times and look at them when alone.
After the rubble had been cleared, he had been sent off to help clean up the mess he made of the Canterlogic factory, while the other workers started rebuilding the lighthouse as a sort of apology gift to Sunny. He got hurt several times while working in the factory, with him smashing his face into doors, slamming heavy boxes and pieces of metal on his legs, and twisting his rear ankles at least three times.
Oh, he cried and whined, but again, his mother said, "You gotta fix the mess you made, sugarcube." And he did. A bit slowly.
As he'd worked, he'd found himself starting to not mind the pegasi and unicorns as much, as, despite what he'd been taught, they were not evil at all. The unicorns did not know how to melt brains, as they'd been without magic for a long time. Their horns were sharp, but they weren't sharp all over like razor blades. They only had sharp points. And the pegasi didn't steal foals from the ground.
At first, he'd freaked out when one day he'd said "Hi" to a pegasus flying overhead without even thinking about it. After all, they were the enemy!!
But over the weeks of working at the factory as it closed down, he realized that his thoughts on pegasi and unicorns were wrong, which was rather hard for him to do. After all, he was basically admitting that his mommy was wrong, which was awful to think about.
After the factory had closed down, he'd been assigned to cleaning the streets every day, as well as cleaning all the metal structures. That had been even more difficult, but he'd bragged to his coworkers proudly when he'd cleaned an entire light pole by himself. And when he cleaned an entire park bench of gum. And when he'd cleaned the fountain.
Things had been looking up for him as he'd started to change his view on things. But then, the Maretime Bay Day Festival had come. And things got weirder after that whole incident.
Earth Ponies had gotten their own version of magic!!
They were now much stronger, and they could grow plants with a tap of a hoof.
It had freaked Sprout out at first when he accidentally made a massive grapevine grow in the kitchen of his mommy's house after the festival, and when he'd ripped the doors off the fridge. But as he'd looked at his hooves that night as he'd laid in bed, surrounded by his plushies, he'd realized that he could do good with this power he now had, and went to bed with a smile.
And for the next several days, whenever he'd finished working, he'd run home to the backyard and experimented with his new abilities, making sure to keep an eye out for any spying pegasi, as he'd wanted to surprise the town by how good his control of his magic was.
And a week after he'd started experimenting, he'd decided to show his coworkers what he could do. But it went to shit. He accidentally grew the plant too big, and caused a big berry to appear, with Hitch having to come rescue him from the giant berry as it fell and rolled after him and his coworkers.
And he hadn't wanted that. He hadn't really spoken with Hitch or Sunny, or that one unicorn mare who was constantly in town since he'd started community service. Or the two pegasi sisters that popped in a lot as well. He really didn't want to talk with them after he'd tried to hit them and their mother with the war machine. He still had bad dreams about him getting dragged to the dungeons of the castle they lived in and horribly tortured, with his plushies getting destroyed before his eyes. Or his nuts getting crushed.
He was certain that they didn't want to talk with him. He wouldn't if he'd been them. He'd disobeyed Hitch's order, destroyed Sunny's home, and attacked her friends.
Whenever he saw them, he did his best to ignore them or make himself scarce, fearful that if they did want to speak with him, that it would be ugly. And he couldn't handle that. That also meant he didn't get smoothies from Sunny anymore, which really sucked, as he loved smoothies. And hers were the best!!
After the berry incidents, as he'd tried his magic again later that day and made another mess that needed fixing by Sunny and her friends, he'd decided to do more training with his magic at home. He didn't want to have to depend on them to save himself.
His mother was pleased to see him taking some initiative about something, and helped him with documenting what he'd made with his magic, which was good progress for their relationship, as it'd taken a very big hit after the whole "Emperor" incident.
But they were adjusting, and getting better. He wasn't calling her "Mommy" as much, which seemed to displease her for some reason. But she wouldn't say why when he asked about it, just telling him to not worry about it.
It had been a month since he'd resumed training his magic, and the most recent interesting thing that had happened was an impromptu singing session led by Pipp the pegasi to find Hitch's adopted dragon baby Sparky, who had disappeared. Sprout had never told anypony, but he really liked Sparky. He was fascinating!! And funny!!
He secretly wished that he could spend a day with Sparky, but he knew it'd never happen. Hitch would never trust him to spend time with the dragon.
'I think I'll have that rainbow blast ice cream tonight to celebrate,' Sprout thought as he trotted down the street, a smile on his face. 'And maybe read that "Zanny Zeraffe and the Jumping Junebugs" book that I just got,' He continued, his smile growing and tail wagging slightly as he rounded another corner, waving at a nearby pegasus as he went.
He soon reached the small gates that sat in front of the two story red brick house that was his and his mother's home, and pushed them open, before he walked inside. He then tapped a hoof on the ground, and they glowed green, before a small vine grew up from the ground and pushed the gates shut.
He smiled as he tapped his hoof again, causing the vine to disappear, before he walked to the front door and went inside.
"Mom!! I'm home!!" He called out.
"I'm in the kitchen, sugarcube!!" Phyllis called back from deeper in the house, prompting him to walk again.
As he walked into the kitchen, he saw that she was just putting a pizza in the oven. One with onions, spinach, and broccoli.
Phyllis was a somewhat short Earth Pony mare with a light peach pink coat, slightly lighter fetlocks, reddish hooves, and pale blue eyes. Her eyebrows, tail, and mane were all golden blonde, the latter of which consisted of large curls bundled atop her head. She wore hot pink glasses with eyelash silhouettes attached via silver screws, as well as a pearl necklace and earrings. She had subtle lavender eyeshadow, and a somewhat slim body. Her cutie mark was a graph of three purple bars with a hot pink arrow going over it, representing rising stocks.
"My favorite!!" Sprout said with a smile upon seeing the pizza, causing her to smile as she closed the oven and set the timer.
"I thought we'd celebrate this wonderful moment with a treat!!" Phyllis replied happily as she walked over and hugged her son. "I'm so proud of you, my little man!!" She continued. "You've really changed for the better!!"
"Thanks Mommy-I mean, mom!!" Sprout said with a blush, his red coat hiding it, while Phyllis' peach pink coat got slightly pinker around her cheeks. "So, how was the meeting today?" He asked her as she let go of him and he walked over to the fridge to get a drink of applejuice.
"Oh, it went rather well," She replied as she walked over to the nearby counter and sat down, a glass of water in front of her. "We should be starting remodeling the Canterlogic Factory for new communication and electronics production in a few weeks," She continued as she pulled out her phone and started to look at it.
"Great!!" Sprout said as he grabbed a bottle of applejuice and opened it, before he walked over and sat down next to her. "It's kinda funny, you know," He continued as he took a sip of juice. "A few months ago, I'd have never thought that we'd be working with pegasi and unicorns to change production," he said. "But yet, here we are!!" He continued with a smile.
"Yes, it is quite ironic, sugarcube," Phyllis agreed with a smile. "Especially considering what we used to make at the factory."
"Yeah," Sprout said with a chuckle, before he drank some more juice.
As he did so, his mother set her phone down, and looked at him.
"Sprout sweetie," She began, prompting him to stop drinking and look back at her. "Have you tried to speak with Sunny?"
At that, he frowned. "No mom," He replied as he looked at his juice bottle. "And I'm not going to. To any of them," he continued with a firm voice. "They don't want to talk with me."
Phyllis frowned upon hearing that. "Now I know that's not true," She said.
"Yes, it is!" Sprout replied, raising his voice slightly before he took another drink. "They don't!! They hate me for what I did!!" He continued, his mood going down a bit more. "I don't want to talk about this anymore mom. I don't want my day to be ruined." He then took another long sip of his juice, emptying the bottle, before he got up and walked away. "I'm going to be in my room."
Phyllis opened her mouth to order her son back so she could give him a good scolding, but she stopped herself. Something she'd decided to work on for herself was to not be so controlling of his social life, as she had been pretty bad in his younger years. 'Oh sugarcube,' She thought as she grabbed his empty bottle and tossed it into the nearby garbage can. 'If only you knew how wrong you were.'
'Ugh!! Mommy just had to bring them up!!' Sprout thought with a growl as he walked up a set of stairs and reached a second hallway. 'I don't want to think about them today!!' He continued, with images of them popping up in his head. 'No!!' he thought, shaking his head to try to get rid of the images as he reached his bedroom door and pushed it open, before he shut it behind him.
His room was rather large, and was a gentle blue color, with dark blue trim on the floor and ceiling. A couple shelves hung on one wall, with several action figures on them, as well as a very chubby stuffed unicorn bunny plushy. A bookshelf sat along one wall, while a couple potted plants sat in front of a window, the curtains pulled back to let sunlight in. A large closet door sat in another wall, while movie posters hung on the walls, some of horror movies, and others of comedies. There were even a couple posters of Pipp Petals singing, which he refused to look at currently.
Two very big blue and red chests sat at the foot of his bed, with large locks on them. His bed was red in color, with dark red sheets on it, along with a purple fluffy pillow.
"Ugh!!!" He groaned as he walked over to the bookshelf and pulled out a small book labeled "Handy Hoofcrafts." He then opened the book up, and pulled out a key that was inside it, before he walked over to one of the chests and opened it. Inside the chest were multiple plushies of various creatures, like dogs, unicorn raccoons, unicorn rabbits, and birds. He grabbed several of the plushies, before he got onto the bed and snuggled into them. "Why'd you have to bring them up mom?" He questioned, his voice muffled by the plushies he was holding. "Now I'm thinking about them."
'They don't want to talk with me,' He thought. 'And out of all of them, Hitch and that unicorn would be the only ones to accept my apology if i did apologize. Hitch would do it out of principle, and the unicorn...I don't know why,' He continued with a shrug, having not really gotten a good read on the unicorn mare. He was pretty sure her name was something like "Iggy" or "Inky" or "Itty-bitty," or something like that. He laid there for a few minutes, pondering over the situation he had with Hitch and the others, before he shook his head. "Ugh!! Enough of that!! I want to think about what I'm going to do now that my community service is over!" He said, before he tried to think.
"Okay, so what will I do?" He questioned, humming as he concentrated. "Hmmm, well, I'm going to continue training my magic and my strength," he said as he looked over at the potted plants, which he'd grown the day before with his magic. "No way I'm stopping that," He continued. "Mmmm, and maybe try to get a m-m-marefriend," He stammered, blushing a bit at the thought of getting one. "And a new job," he continued, remembering sadly that he wasn't deputy anymore. "Maybe I could work at Canterlogic as like a janitor or something. Definitely not a job where I'm in charge."
'I don't want a repeat in any form of the "Emperor" incident,' He thought with a shudder, remembering how having all that power went to his head.
He continued to sit there for several minutes, cuddling his plushies as he thought about what all he'd do now that he was free of community service. 'Hmm, maybe I could go visit Bridlewood and Zephyr Heights-no, I better not,' He thought to himself with a shake of his head. 'They've more than likely heard about me and wouldn't want me there.'
Before he brought his mood down again with his negative thoughts, he heard his mother call out his name.
"Sprout!! You have a message!!"
"A message?" he said with surprise and confusion as he got off the bed, putting his plushies away and locking the chest. He then put away the key in the book and headed out of his room. "From who mom?" He asked as he walked to the stairs and headed down them.
"Come and see!!" Phyllis said, her voice sounding slightly nervous, which he picked up on.
'Why is mom so nervous?' He thought as he walked down the stairs and headed towards the kitchen. 'Did somepony find out about my experiments with the plants and decide to fine me?' he continued as he entered the room, where he saw his mom looking at a rolled up white scroll.
"Here Sprout," Phyllis said with some more nervousness as she held out the scroll, which he saw was sealed with purple wax.
As he took the scroll, his eyes widened upon seeing what was on the purple wax. A pair of pegasi wings connected with a curved arc at the bottom sat embedded in it. "Th-Th-This is from Z-Z-Zephyr Heights!!" He stammered with shock and some fear.
"I know sugarcube," Phyllis said. "Now open it," She continued.
He gulped at that, and slowwwwwwwwly nodded, before he grabbed the edge of the scroll with his teeth and pulled on it, breaking the seal. The scroll then unfurled in his hoof, letting them see the words on it.
Dear Sprout Cloverleaf
You are being royally summoned to the Royal Palace of Queen Haven at Zephyr Heights, in order to serve out your community service, as agreed to by the city of Maretime Bay and the ponies of Zephyr Heights. Please pack your things, as you will be living in Zephyr Heights during your service. You will be taken to Zephyr Heights tomorrow morning and given your assignment. Please be ready by the time the sun has risen.
Sincerely,
Queen Haven
The two ponies stared at the scroll for several silent minutes, rereading the script, with Sprout starting to breathe heavily.
"Oh man!! Oh man!!" He said as he dropped the scroll, breathing in and out heavily as he started to panic. "I should have know this would happen!! I'm going to be thrown in the dungeons and never see the light of day again!! They're going to destroy my plushies and my nuts!!" He continued as he started to pace.
"Sugarcube," Phyllis said to him firmly, trying to catch his attention. "Sugarcube! SUGARCUBE!!" she yelled, causing him to jump three feet in the air and land on his rump. "Calm down!!" She continued, resting a hoof on his shoulder as she reread the scroll again. "You're not going to be castrated," She said. "I'd never let that happen. You're just doing community service there, not being imprisoned for the rest of your life."
"But-But I tried to hurt Queen Haven when I was Emperor!!" He replied, tears forming in his eyes. "They're all going to hate me!!"
"I know," Phyllis said with a nod. "I was there," She continued. "And they might, at first. But you're not the same pony as you were back then," She said. "Are you?"
"N-N-No!!" Sprout replied with several sniffs, rubbing his eyes as he did so. "I'm n-not!!"
"Then there's nothing to worry about, sugarcube," She continued. "Show them that you've changed, and they'll change their minds about you as you serve your sentence," She said. "You've already done that here, so it shouldn't be that difficult to do there," She continued as she hugged him.
Sprout sniffed a few more times upon hearing that. "Y-Y-Y-Yeah, you're right Mommy-I mean, mom," He said as she let go of him. "I th-think I can do that," He continued, smiling a little.
"Good," She replied with a smile, before the timer for the pizza went off. "Now then, how about we eat this delicious pizza?" She asked as she set the scroll to the side, before she walked over to the oven and grabbed a mitt. She then opened the door of the oven, and pulled out the pizza, causing its aroma to waft through the air, which made his stomach growl with hunger. "And then we can pack your things," She continued after setting the pizza down on the stove to cool.
"O-O-Okay, mom," He replied with a nod, still feeling very nervous and somewhat worried about the scroll.
As Phyllis grabbed a pizza cutter and started to cut the cooling pizza, he glanced at the scroll, his mind buzzing with questions.
How long would he be staying at Zephyr Heights and doing community service? What would he be doing? Where would he be staying? Why be summoned now?
He stared at the scroll for a few more minutes, before he was distracted by the pizza slice put before him. He then took a bite of it and hummed happily at the taste, his mind dragging itself away from the scroll and onto the subject of the delicious pizza.
He had no idea that this community service would end up being quite memorable for all those involved.
Author's Note
The Maretime Bay image, Sprout image, and Phyllis image are from the g5mlp fanon website.
I proposed this story idea to a fellow writer, but they refused, saying it didn't interest them. (Which I get. Certain ships are not for everypony.) They informed me that it was a good idea though, and that maybe i should try to write it. So, I'll try to do just that.
I did my best to keep them in character. Let me know if i got them wrong or not.
And I'm curious to see what you guess is going to happen.
