It was early in the morning on Father's Day. In Maretime Bay, the sun had only just risen over the horizon, its rays only just starting to shine down and flood everywhere with its bright, blinding light.
Within the confines of the Crystal Brighthouse, Sunny Starscout was busy writing a letter. It was to a pony she knew would never be able to reply to any letter she would send. But to her it didn't matter. Just writing to that pony was enough to make her feel like he was still alive, like she could talk to him whenever she wanted to.
And there was so much she had to say this time compared to the last time she'd sat down to write one of these letters. So Sunny set to work, determined to finish and deliver the letter to its intended recipient before she would inevitably be called away by her friends.
Pen firmly in hoof, the chipper earth pony mare with a lovely orange coat began to write. The letter went as follows:
Hi Dad,
It's me again. Sorry I haven't written to you in a while, I've been very busy. There's so much I want to tell you, so much I wish you could be here to see! Has it really been so long already since I discovered the crystals and brought magic back to Equestria? It seems like it was only yesterday.
Well, best to start from the beginning, I guess. It turns out those crystals were part of some master plan by Twilight Sparkle herself. She was trying to protect Equestria and its magic from Opaline Arcana. My friends and I still aren't sure what exactly Opaline did in the past, Zipp suspects Opaline played a role in suppressing or destroying information. What we do know is that Opaline wanted all of Equestria's magic for herself. And not just the magic of ponies either, she wanted dragon fire magic too. And she almost got it.
That's what the crystals were for. They were used to seal away the magic Opaline stole so that she couldn't get it back. And as for the dragons, they had to leave and go into hiding, Spike went with them.
Oh yeah, did I mention that my friends and I finally met Spike? He's dragon lord now, apparently has been for a long time. He now lives with the other dragons on a place called the Isle of Scaly. It's their own little colony out in the middle of nowhere, you can't just travel to there on a whim. We've only gone back there once, just to celebrate Opaline's defeat. I wish you could've been there to celebrate with us. I think you and Spike would've really hit it off. Knowing you, you'd have sat there for hours asking him every question that came to mind.
It's funny, really. I know it's been years, but not a day goes by where I don't think about you. It was all so sudden. One day you seemed just fine, and the next day you were gone. Apparently, Hitch knew better. He says you confided in him that you weren't going to be around for much longer, and asked him to look after me. You must've realized you were dying, and you didn't want me to worry about you. You were trying to protect me, like you always did.
And yet I nearly ruined it all because of my desire to continue your research. I got so opinionated, even Hitch started to get mad with me. If Izzy hadn't shown up when she did, who knows if I'd still have had a home in Maretime Bay?
I still wonder if you knew about the crystals when you built that lantern for me. Maybe it was meant to be for you to find it and for me to discover it. Well, even without the crystal, the lantern's still with me. Izzy fixed it up for me, and I'm so glad she did. I'm embarrassed to admit it, but I like to sneak the lantern out of its case and sleep with it because it reminds me of when I was a filly, when you were still around.
While I'm on the subject of my friends, you'd be happy to know I've made more new ones. I already told you about Izzy, Zipp, and Pipp. But recently, we've added two more friends to the group: Misty and Comet. Misty was actually working for Opaline, pretending to be our friend so she could get close and kidnap Sparky. We were shocked to learn about that. But it was thanks to all that time we spent hanging out with Misty that she was able to get her cutie mark and rebel against Opaline. Without her help, we wouldn't have succeeded.
Then there's Comet. We met him just after we defeated Opaline. There was a portal in the ruins of her castle, and it led us to a place called Starlight Ridge. It was a winter wonderland populated by these strange unicorns called auroracorns, and Comet is one of them. He's kind of clumsy and a little on the shy side, but he's slowly been coming out of his shell since he joined us. It helps that he makes really good hot chocolate.
Well, I say he joined us, but the fact is that we really helped him and his village out. They were being controlled by this strange flying leopard called Allura, who wanted them to help her find this one of a kind crystal. We're not sure why, Allura wouldn't tell us anything before we chased her away. And afterwards, Comet told us he wanted to come with us when we headed back to Maretime Bay, he wanted to see the world we came from and how much fun it could be. Of course we said yes.
Since then, life's been kind of quiet, not that I mind it. Pipp's still running that mane styling salon of hers, Izzy's still traveling around on that old scooter she fixed up, Zipp mostly gives flying lessons or takes up mysteries as they come by, and of course Hitch is still the sheriff. Misty and Comet just kind of do odd jobs, and I've still got my smoothie cart. But I've also been digging through your notes and research again, trying to find out if there's anything I might have overlooked.
You should know that I found that one scroll from Mom. I know you didn't like to talk about her, or about what happened to her. I have a feeling she might be out there, somewhere. Or maybe she's with you, watching over me.
There's more I want to say to you, but I'm running out of room. Now that life's quieted down and it's not as hectic all the time, maybe I'll have time to write to you more often.
Love you always,
Sunny Starscout
"Hey, Sunny!" Zipp called from the floor of the Brighthouse. "Are you coming or what?!"
"I'll be down in a moment, Zipp!" Sunny replied, quickly folding up the scroll on which she'd written the letter and placing it into an envelope. She quickly sealed it and planted a stamp firmly in one corner. A formality more than anything. Then the earth pony mare grabbed her saddlebags and raced downstairs. She would make time to deliver the letter to her father later on. For now, it was time for another day of fun with her friends.
Author's Note
I know, I know, I already did a fic kind of like this two years ago. And once again, I'm drawing partially on Hitch's Heart for what happened to Argyle and why he's not around.
I still feel like they could easily do something like this in G5 if they want to, though it seems they would rather not dwell on Sunny's past at all.
