MLP - G5 (A Rewrite)

The sun was hot and bright as it shone down on a beautiful summer afternoon. Sunny and her friends were slowly but surely making their way toward the town of Maretime Bay. Sunny and Hitch led the group as they reached the town, guiding them through the streets. Sunny turned her head and she spoke up as an idea crossed her mind.

"Hey, how about a tour of Maretime Bay?" Sunny asked. "Izzy's already given us quite the tour of Bridlewood, and I've got a while until I have to open the smoothie cart for the day."

Izzy, Pipp, and Zipp responded with excited agreement. Zipp had been very enthusiastic about flying ever since magic had been restored to Equestria, so much so that she had often flown off on her own to get a bird's-eye view of the town. Pipp, however, chose to remain with the group. Her eyes darted from place to place as Sunny and Hitch led her and Izzy about the town. Hitch and Sunny led the others to the town's tram station, catching a trolley to take them from place to place. Occasionally they would catch a small glimpse of Zipp passing by above them.

For a moment, Pipp had pulled to a halt. She had stopped to look at a building across the road. It was about three stories high, and despite being obviously run-down and abandoned, it was not in very bad shape. Pipp pulled out her phone, taking multiple pictures of it from various angles. Many ideas flashed through her head as though she was creating an instant vision board in her mind.

"Pipp? You coming...?" Sunny asked, before turning to see what had caught Pipp's attention. Her ears perked up. "Oh, that old place? It used to be a salon. My dad used to take me there to get my mane cut. It's been shut down for years now, though."

Pipp's eyes lit up with curiosity as she tucked her phone back into her pouch. "We totally have to come back here to get a closer look sometime."

"Why not?" Hitch's voice spoke up from behind them. "Though I'd have to check to see if it's safe to enter."

Pipp nodded, and the group continued their tour. Izzy bounced around various shops, humming cheery tunes and looking in windows here and there, once running inside and coming out with a few different containers of glitter. Hitch would occasionally shoot a dirty look at ponies he suspected of being up to no good. Even something like jaywalking or littering would earn you a stare from him. He was often praised for his dedication to his job.

Sunny and Hitch had brought them to every place they believed to be noteworthy. They visited various neighborhoods and dining establishments, stopped by the Sheriff's office, and made their way to the now-vacant Canterlogic warehouse. It was here that Sprout, during his time as "Sheriff" in Hitch's absence, had the citizens of Maretime Bay build the machine he had used to destroy the Lighthouse. Before this, however, it was used by his mother to develop various devices and contraptions meant to defend against any "attacks" by Unicorns or Pegasi. Sunny knew all too well how each contraption functioned. She remembered the day she first met Izzy. She had gotten caught in the demonstration of each device, something she'd rather forget. After a short walkthrough of the empty factory, they had concluded their tour of Maretime Bay. Hitch turned to Pipp.

"So, about that building you wanted to see?" he asked.

"Right!" She lit up. "I was thinking it'd be totally perfect for renovating. Plus, Sunny already said it used to be a salon!"

"Well, if we head back to the Sheriff's office, I could make a few calls, see if we could get a look at it," he responded.

Pipp nodded, glowing with enthusiasm as they made their way to the Sheriff's office once again. She was happy enough to the point where she seemed to be bouncing as much as Izzy was on a regular basis. Upon arrival, Hitch sat at his desk, setting himself to work. As the others chatted amongst themselves, Hitch sorted through various different papers and files, occasionally making a phone call or two. After a bit of confusion from Hitch, and a few moments of stopping to clear his head, he eventually came up with papers allowing them entrance.

Pipp did a bit of a small jump, squealing with excitement. "Do we have time to check it out?"

"Depends on Sunny," Hitch replied, turning to her. "What do you think?"

Upon a quick glance at the clock, she still had about 15 minutes to spare before she had to open for business. "We should if we're quick," she said, nodding.

Pipp gave a giggle and darted out the door, the others following close behind. As they approached the building, Hitch gave a nod to Pipp as the group stepped through the door. Inside was mostly empty, save for a counter and a few styling chairs and hair dryers. Whereas the others walked about with an air of curiosity, Pipp's expression was ecstatic. She quickly ran around the room, entering a small area behind the counter, looking in vacant supply closets, and checking the condition of what little furniture remained. Sunny ran a hoof across the counter, wiping away a small bit of the thick layer of dust that coated every surface. Izzy was, as usual, happily trotting around the room.

"Well, whaddya know? Take a look at this!" Izzy exclaimed, opening a small cupboard.

A small number of rats that had made a home for themselves inside the cupboard ran out and onto the floor. Pipp and Sunny jumped, the former now standing atop the counter. Hitch moved forward towards the rats, speaking softly.

"Must've been quite a spook, hm?" He asked, lowering himself a bit.

One of them squeaked something back in response, though Hitch seemed to be the only one to understand it. He was always notably good with animals, as Sunny often pointed out.

"Right, I understand. Don't worry, we aren't here to hurt anything," he replied gently.

The rat he was speaking to nodded before rejoining the others and moving back into the cabinet.

"Wow, Hitch! Never seen ya do that before!" Izzy piped up, ruffling his mane a bit.

"I'm not really sure what it is about me that makes critters seem to like me so much. Or why I can understand them, for that matter..." he trailed off, pausing to think about this for a few moments.

Pipp, climbing down from the counter, brushed herself off. "Hey, Hitch, how much do you think it would be to buy this old place?" she asked. "It could totally use the renovations, and I've got a few ideas in mind."

"I'm not sure; it might be listed somewhere," he responded. "I could check for you later if you like."

Pipp gave a small nod, darting off upstairs to take a look at the condition of the other two floors. Sunny glanced at the time, before realizing she was opening the cart in two minutes.

"Oh, I've gotta go!" she exclaimed. "I'll catch up with you guys later!"

With that, she dashed outside, running down the street and making multiple sharp turns. She eventually made it to her cart, though she made a note that she was four minutes late. Nothing too major, though she did take a moment or two to cool off from the run. After a brief rest, she retrieved the key to the cart from her bag. As she moved to unlock it, she was shocked to see that the lock was broken. Deeply concerned, she pushed the door of the cart open to reveal numerous baskets of the produce she used to make her smoothies had been knocked over, their contents spilling out onto the floor. At first, she wondered if some type of animal had gotten in, but there were no animals in Maretime Bay that could have broken the door lock. She stopped, grabbed a clipboard, and began taking inventory. She discovered quite a bit of produce had gone missing. After returning what was left of her supply of various fruits to their respective baskets, she stepped out of her cart to see if there was anything else that seemed amiss in the area, but to no avail. At least, not at first. After a bit of searching, she noticed a small, empty makeup container lying on the ground. She picked it up, looking at it with a quizzical expression. She eventually set it gently into her bag, before once again speeding off, this time back toward the old salon.

Pipp, Zipp, Hitch, and Izzy, upon viewing the second and third stories of the salon, had each retrieved brooms from an unchecked closet. Each of them set to work sweeping the dust-covered floors. Izzy bounced about, using it to clean the dust of whatever surface she could reach. Countertops, ceilings, doors, and seats were each quickly swept, revealing their much finer colors beneath. After a long while of dusting, the group stood back to look at the major improvement. This, in turn, made way for Pipp to notice other things around the area: cracked windows, chipped paint, and damaged drywall, to name a few. Just as Pipp was about to turn to speak to Hitch, Sunny came crashing through the door.

"Hitch!" she shouted, prompting him to come running downstairs. "The smoothie cart has been robbed!"

"What!?" Hitch said, shocked. "Are you alright?"

"Yes, nopony was around. The lock was broken and there was a ton of produce missing, though," she replied. "And I did find this outside."

She reached into her bag and retrieved the small container of makeup. Hitch took it, a confused expression on his face.

"Well, looks like whoever did it wasn't very careful," he said. "Come on, we can take the tram back over, and you can show me what you saw."

The others also showed interest in the matter, each voicing their concern.

"Who would break into a smoothie cart, of all things?" Zipp inquired.

"Something's deeefinitely off..." Izzy stated.

"We can save the cleanup here for later," Pipp said, setting her broom against the counter.

Sunny nodded, the group heading outside and catching the next tram to the smoothie cart. It wasn't as exhausting as running back to the cart at full speed, even if it took a few minutes longer.

Upon arriving at the cart once again, Hitch stepped inside to examine the state of things. There didn't seem to be much actual damage, aside from the door lock, though Sunny's produce baskets were disheveled and looked as though they had been ransacked. Checking the register, there seemed to be no money missing.

"Somepony only took the produce, there's no money missing or anything," Hitch said, stepping out of the cart. "Whatever it was, it wasn't interested in anything but food."

Sunny shook her head... what was she thinking...? She heaved a sigh. "Maybe it was just an animal or something... I'm sorry."

Hitch gave her a pat on the back. "Hey, it's alright. Whatever it was, I'm sure it will be fine. You just need some fresh produce."

"Yeah, I'll... go take care of that. Thanks, Hitch," she said, trotting off to a tram stop.

Sunny spent the next few hours restocking and selling her smoothies as usual. As the sun had just begun to dip beneath the sky, she made her way to take a tram back to the salon. Upon her arrival, she stepped inside to see the place scrubbed from top to bottom. It was still run down with holes in the wall and chipped paint, but the dust and grime that had coated the place just a few hours ago was now virtually gone.

"We stopped by the office on the way back to pick up some more cleaning supplies," Hitch said, grinning. "That's the first floor done. Who knew the lights still worked?"

"Well, you've done a great job with the place," Sunny responded.

Pipp chimed in quickly. "We can finish up tomorrow! All we need to do now is to finish the other two floors and then we can see if we'll be allowed to renovate!"

"That is... if we're able to afford it," Zipp said. "But I don't doubt that won't be much of an issue."

"I might wait until after the lighthouse is rebuilt to start streaming about this," Pipp said, thinking. "Either that or we could ask Mom. Do you think she'd be willing to loan us a bit if I'm starting a business and will pay her back?"

"Not sure, there's really no telling with her," Zipp replied.

They chatted among themselves for a bit before Sunny pointed out how dark it was getting. "It's a bit of a long walk back to Bridlewood... think it's too late to get back by dark?"

Izzy looked up at the sky. "Hmmm... well, maaaaybe if we were super fast? But yeah, probably."

Hitch took a couple of steps forward. "I've got a few extra beds upstairs in the office if you need someplace to stay the night. The office used to be an old family building from the last Sheriff."

The group each agreed as they stepped outside and caught the last tram of the day to the Sheriff's Office. They each entered, talking for a short while before heading upstairs to bed. Pipp and Zipp got to room with each other, though they each claimed separate beds as they laughed off the prospect of sleeping in the same one. Sunny and Izzy shared a room as Hitch stayed up on duty downstairs for a while.

As the moon slowly made its arc into the sky, silence and tranquility fell over Maretime Bay. A symphony of crickets arose as the stars lit up the sky. Everything was calm and quiet. It was a perfect night, for most ponies anyway. Everypony was at rest, their troubles melting away from them in their sleep. But for the thin blue mare shakily making her way into Maretime Bay... this night was by far one of the worst ones.