It had been about a week since the... incident at Sunny Starscout's lighthouse. Sprout Cloverleaf, the resident spoiled man-child, had rammed a robot of his creation into the side of her home. All of this, because of, according to Maretime Bay law, "harboring undesirable individuals" and "conspiring against the town." In actuality, this was an attempt to reunite the three pony races: Earth Ponies, Unicorns, and Pegasi. Of course, the latter two were always looked down upon, feared, even hated, especially with Sprout in control during Sheriff Hitch Trailblazer's absence. Despite this, of course, she was successful in what she had set out to do. With the reunion of the three Unity Crystals, combined with the newfound peace between the three races, magic had been officially restored to Equestria.

Sunny was a young mare with a bright, apricot-colored coat. Her mane was magenta and always kept in a braid that wrapped around her side. She had kept herself busy in the area surrounding where her lighthouse once stood. With her home under reconstruction, she had found herself staying with Izzy Moonbow, an enigmatic yet excitable young mare, in Bridlewood for some time. This was no issue, of course, as she knew she would always find herself welcome. As she trotted through the rubble that remained of her old home, she would often come across bits and pieces of what she considered to be important memorabilia. To an average pony, these would be ordinary things; a wooden doll here, a tattered poster there. To any other pony, none of these would be important, except to her father, but he had passed on years ago. Even so, Sunny still maintained her optimism despite the somber circumstances.

As she was gazing at a recovered photograph of her and her father, a high-pitched and energetic voice broke the monotonous buzz and hum of the construction around her. Izzy had noticed her and was now bouncing her way over.

"Heya Sunny!" Izzy said. "Whatcha dooooin'?"

"Oh, nothing, just-" Sunny began, but was cut off as Izzy grabbed her by the hoof.

"Good, c'mon!"

Sunny soon found herself being dragged off by the purple mare. This wasn't the first time Izzy had done something of the sort, of course. Sunny had been made quite familiar with this habit of Izzy's during the time she had spent with her over the past week in Bridlewood. Izzy was quite the tour guide, Sunny had often thought to herself. The pair of them were headed down the hill on which Sunny's lighthouse had once stood. At the bottom, a couple of her newfound friends could be found waiting for her: young Zephyrina Storm and Philomena Petals, or Zipp and Pipp, as they preferred to be called. Zipp was tall, with a sleek white coat and mane that consisted of pink, cyan, and magenta, and wings that consisted of blue, pink, and purple. Pipp was short and slightly chubby, with a fluffy pink coat and fluffy wings of a brighter shade, with a styled violet mane. The two sisters were royalty in Zephyr Heights, with Zipp being the heir to their mother, Queen Haven's, throne. She was leaning against a tree as Pipp was speaking to her fans, livestreaming. Once reaching the clearing, Izzy had released her grip on Sunny. Zipp had walked over to speak as Pipp moved farther back so as not to be an interruption.

"Yo, Sunny, doing alright?" Zipp asked. "You've been hanging around that place a lot."

Sunny seemed distracted at first, but with a shake of her head, she responded. "Oh, er... it's nothing. Just been looking through the rubble to see if there's anything I can salvage."

Zipp took a moment before placing a hoof on Sunny's back. "Hey, it's gonna be alright. I'm sure you can get something out of there."

They all stood in silence for a moment before Hitch made his way over. The Earth Pony sheriff of Maretime Bay, Hitch was what most stallions aspired to be: tall, strong, and handsome. Hitch sported a soft orange-yellow coat and a turquoise and blue-green mane with a small bit of a beard beginning to set in. He was always gentle and was known to be great with animals, often taking care of them when necessary. Sunny had always found herself thinking of him as an older brother, and despite not always seeing eye-to-eye, they were both always around to watch over each other when needed. As he approached, he paused to take a glance at the construction up the hill before turning back and pulling to a stop among the other ponies.

"Looks like construction's going well," he commented. "Shouldn't be too long, maybe a month or two."

Sunny nodded, turning her attention to the bag she had worn on her side. She pulled it off, carefully emptying its contents onto the ground before her. What she once knew to be various historical objects her father had collected over the years, as well as some her father had made for her, were now mostly destroyed beyond repair. A somber expression washed over her.

Hitch and Zipp glanced at each other before walking slowly to Sunny's side. Sunny spoke with a tone nopony had ever heard her speak with since the day she had lost her father. "Everything he left behind is gone."

They all sat in silence before Izzy spoke up with a glimmer of optimism shining through. "Not everything," she remarked. Sunny slowly turned to face Izzy, who had handed her the small, framed photograph of her and her father. "You dropped this."

This got Sunny to smile, breaking the tension in her voice. "Thank you, Izzy."

Izzy beamed happily, giving Sunny a pat on the back. "Anytime!"

Sunny gathered her things and placed them as neatly as she could back into her bag as Pipp made her way over to join the group. "You will not believe the amount that the fans are contributing to help fund the Lighthouse being rebuilt," she exclaimed. "Turns out you really did make a difference around here, Sunny!"

"Yeah, I guess so," Sunny replied, returning her bag to her side. She stood and gave a sigh, taking a glance at her friends. "Wanna come with me back up there? See how everything is going? Do a little more digging?"

The others agreed, as they had all made their way back up the hill toward the lighthouse. As they walked, something crossed Sunny's mind and she turned to Hitch.

"Hey, Hitch...?" Sunny spoke. "What happened to Sprout after the robot thing...?"

"Well, obviously he couldn't just destroy a private residence and not face repercussions," Hitch explained. "So I took him in, doing something on that level will get you at least five years. But of course, his mother bailed him out."

"Think he learned anything from it?" Zipp asked.

Hitch shrugged. "Probably learned more from almost getting himself killed after crashing it, if I'm being honest."

Nodding, Sunny pulled to a stop as the crew arrived at the top of the hill. Once again, the sounds of construction filled their ears. As the five of them wandered toward the rubble, a voice spoke up from behind them. It was Sprout's mother, Phyllis Cloverleaf.

"Well... getting repairs, are we?" Her tone was, as usual, stuck-up and borderline arrogant, something Sunny was all too familiar with, as she had a knack for talking down to Sunny. The only time she could ever remember Phyllis speaking to her with a halfway-decent tone was at her father's funeral.

Sunny opened her mouth to reply, but Hitch spoke first, a slight amount of irritation in his voice. "What is it, Phyllis?"

"I'm simply here to keep tabs on progress. It is a public space, is it not?" she retorted.

Hitch let out a sigh. "Right..."

A grin formed across Phyllis' face. "Lovely," she said, briskly passing them by to survey various aspects of the construction process. Hitch moved to the side, keeping a watchful eye on what she was doing. He wasn't as trusting of her as he once was after the events that had unfolded recently. Sunny watched him disappear into the crowd of workers, before turning back to the rest of her friends.

Izzy was bouncing about the area as well, greeting all of the workers as she'd done every morning for the past three days. Zipp was practicing flying and weaving in and out of the framework. Sunny had sat down next to Pipp, who was streaming to her fans and showcasing the current progress of the reconstruction. She wrapped a hoof around Sunny, pulling her over and setting her down next to her, speaking to her as well as her viewers.

"And here's the mare herself!" Pipp exclaimed. "Sunny, what can you tell us about how things have been going with the lighthouse being rebuilt?"

Sunny's eyes darted around a moment. "Oh- well, um... I've been staying with Izzy in Bridlewood, which has been great. There are a lot of things going on right now, you know, but I'm doing my best."

Pipp gave her a couple of pats on the back. "Here we have it, everypony! Staying strong in the face of adversity, that's what we like to see!"

Sunny gave a chuckle and returned Pipp's pats, standing as Pipp continued to speak to her viewers. She wandered through the various workers, covering her hears to drown out the noise, until she bumped into Phyllis amidst the clamor.

"Watch where you're going, girl," Phyllis said. "Have you no regard for personal space?"

Sunny was quick to apologize. "Sorry, Mrs. Cloverleaf, I-"

Phyllis cut her off. "You know, what you're doing here is going to lead you down a dark path. I was protecting Maretime Bay from these... threats to public safety."

"Mrs. Cloverleaf, please. They haven't done anything wrong," Sunny replied. "They're not dangerous."

"You don't know that!" Phyllis snapped back. "For all you know they could be biding their time. What if they discover what they can do once their magic has been restored to its full potential?"

"Ponies used to live in harmony all those moons ago, I'm sure they can do it again." Sunny spoke with a confident tone, which caused Phyllis to become slightly agitated.

"Fine. But when those... beasts begin wreaking havoc among us Earth Ponies, don't tell me I didn't warn you."

With that, Phyllis turned and set back down the hill, headed back to Maretime Bay. A part of Sunny wanted to ask why Phyllis hated Unicorns and Pegasi the way she did, but she knew it would be futile. Surely she'd have a reason, right? She thought to herself about how this trait had been passed down to her son. And of course she must have noticed where that led, given the current events. For a moment, she thought about what could have happened if Hitch had been as inclined to listen to Phyllis as most other Earth Ponies were. Even then, the majority of them had come to accept the newfound harmony. Or... could it really be called harmony yet? Before she could think too hard on this subject, Hitch came wandering back.

"I saw her talking to you," he said. "What was that about?"

Sunny rolled her eyes. "Just typical Phyllis... saying that at some point the others are gonna turn on us, you know." She shrugged, the two of them starting to walk away from the construction.

Briefly chuckling, Hitch gave a short sigh. "Yeah, she's a real piece of work... but hey, don't listen to her. She's trying to mess with you."

"Yeah, I know," Sunny replied. "It's gonna take a lot more than that to throw me off, though."

As they approached the small clearing, Izzy came trotting her way back, humming a cheerful tune. She was followed by Pipp and Zipp, the latter flying higher than anypony had seen her before, before diving through the air and pulling to a perfect landing. This garnered much praise from the others, who commented on how quickly she seemed to be learning. As Pipp joined the group, she waved a goodbye to her viewers before ending her stream and tucking her phone neatly into a pouch at her side.

"Well, good news, ponies!" she spoke happily. "One more charity stream and we'll have raised enough to cover the full expenses of the reconstruction!"

The group cheered, all giving Pipp a pat on the back for the great help she had provided. She insisted it was not a problem at all, saying she was glad to help out in any way she could.

"What are you guys up for now?" Zipp asked.

"Well, I've got to open up my smoothie cart for the day," replied Sunny. "How about a round of them on the house?"

"Sounds great to me!" Izzy piped up. "Hot day out and all!"

The rest agreed, and as they headed out to town, a relaxing sensation washed over each of them as they chatted and laughed along the way.

Author's Note

And here's my first chapter. I've never done a writing project like this before, so... let me know what you think. I do plan to keep going, as I have a clear storyline in mind.