"Hurry, friends! Time for another adventure!"

"Adventure? I'm in!"

"Yee-haw! Let's go, ponies!"

"Earth ponies, take the lead! Pegasi, fly beside me! Unicorns, horns at the ready!"

"FOR EQUESTRIA!"

"What fantastical foe awaits us, Princess?"

"Is it something scary?"

"Or is it something awesome?"

"No matter what it is, we’ll face it together, for we are the guardians of friendship! With the power of our friendship and magic, we will…"

"Spread love!"

"Give hugs!"

"Fry brains! Yeah, I’m a unicorn and we’re evil! I’m gonna zap everypony with my horn lasers!"

"What? No! No, no,no! It’s all wrong!"

Ten years ago, a young Sunny, Hitch, and Sprout were playing in the lighthouse's lightroom. Sunny held a figure of Twilight Sparkle and Pinkie Pie, Hitch with Applejack and Fluttershy, and Sprout with Rainbow Dash and Rarity. "The ponies are all supposed to get along, remember?" Sunny said, putting the figures down on the center table.

"Yeah, but that's so boring!" Sprout said, jumping on the table. "Why can't we do it the right way for once? When unicorns zap us with laser beams, and pegasi fly to steal our friends!"

"But this is the right way," Sunny insisted. "Back in the olden times, earth ponies, unicorns, and pegasi were all friends! They never used their magic to hurt each other! They used it to spread friendship!"

"You're wrong, Sunny!" Sprout said. "My mommy said that the unicorns tried to zap us with their evil horn lasers to steal our food! And when we don't give them food, the pegasi come and snatch the colts and fillies up and take them away to feast on them!"

"Stop lying, Sprout! They would never do that!" Sunny said.

"So the earth ponies kicked their butts in an epic battle, and if they ever try to come back to Maretime Bay, we’ll kick their butts again!" Sprout grabbed the Applejack figure from Hitch and used it to knock the Rarity, Rainbow Dash, Fluttershy, and Twilight figures down.

"Your mom is lying! Hitch, tell him!" Sunny turned to Hitch, who gave off a weak smile.

"Well, that is how our history teacher said it happened..." Hitch said, but quickly noticed Sunny's decreasing smile. "...but, hey, oh! We can play the game your way, Sunny, I don't mind!"

"Well, I do!" Sprout said, causing Hitch to frown. "It's a boring game! Why don't we play Pegasus Barbecue instead? Or how about Zap, Zap Revolution?"

Sunny groaned. "Sprout, stop!"

"Earth pony burgers!"

"I'm going to tell my dad!"

In another room, Argyle Starshine - Sunny's father - was looking at a framed map of Ancient Equestria, pictures of Twilight Sparkle and her friends' cutie marks taped to the wall. The room was cluttered with books and papers on the ground. Argyle sat on a stool as he grabbed a paintbrush and started painting a lantern. Next to the lantern was a circular white crystal. He was focused on the lantern until the two colts and filly ran into his room.

Sprout held the Rarity figure while Hitch held the Twilight figure, each of them making "pew-pew" sounds as they pretended to shoot horn beams at the Applejack and Pinkie figures. Sunny had make-shift wings and horn as she ran to her dad. "Dad! Tell them that's not what they do!" Sunny said.

Argyle chuckled as he got out of his chair. "Hitch, Sprout, don't you think it's time to head on home? It's getting late, and you need to eat dinner soon."

Still playing, Hitch and Sprout headed to the door, but before Hitch could open it, Phyllis did. "Mom?" Sprout asked, shocked.

"Hi, Mrs. Cloverleaf!" Hitch said, waving at the adult mare, who just ignored him.

"Sprout, I've told you so many times that you cannot go trotting off without my permission!" Phyllis said, her gaze fixated on Sprout. "Especially not here," Phyllis said under her breath.

"And why is that, Phyllis?" Argyle asked, trotting to the door.

"Because you are brainwashing them with all of your... nonsensical stories!" Phyllis retorted. "Excuse me for wanting to protect my colt from your "unity" nonsense."

"It's called research, Phyllis." Argyle corrected. "All of my "nonsense" is proven to be true, it's just you and Maretime Bay that can't accept it. If you really wanted to talk about brainwashing, we'd be talking about CanterLogic." Argyle coolly said. "Now, unicorn cupcake?"

Sunny held up a tray of unicorn cupcakes, to which Phyllis scoffed. "You know, Argyle, you're an earth pony. It's high time you start acting like one." As Phyllis walked away, so did Sprout. Hitch ran back home, saying goodbye to Sunny and Sprout before he did.

Argyle closed the door and turned around to see Sunny nowhere to be found. He looked around the house before he found Sunny in the kitchen, looking at her Rainbow Dash and her Rarity figures. Argyle sighed as he made his way to his daughter. "What's wrong, Sunny-Bunny?"

"Hitch and Sprout, they still don't believe me!" Sunny said, crossing her hooves.

"Are you sure about that?" Argyle asked, causing Sunny to look at him in confusion. "Yes, they don't show it, but I know they're starting to believe, Sunny. There will always be ponies in the world that will want to push you down, but as long as you have your friends, you can stand for what you believe in, okay?"

"Well, when I grow up, I'm going to show everypony that we're right!" Sunny said, standing up with a determined look. "And someday, we'll both meet a unicorn and a pegasus, and we'll be the bestest of friends forever!"

"Then, maybe today's that day?" Argyle said, rubbing his daughter's mane, causing her to laugh.

"Wait, Dad! I have an idea!" Sunny said, her eyes lighting up.

That night, Sunny was drawing with her crayons on a piece of paper. Argyle walked over to her as he took a look at her drawing. "'Dear Unicorns and Pegasi, you have friends here in Maretime Bay! Come visit us!'" He read.

"Can we send it? Pretty please?" Sunny asked, looking at her father with puppy dog eyes.

"Oh, alright! It's our duty after all." Argyle said. The blue stallion grabbed a paper lantern and placed the note inside. He lit up a candle as he let it go into the sky, the candle from the lantern lighting the night up. "Well, there it is."

"Can you tell me the story again?" Sunny asked.

"Again?"

"Pleeeeease?" Sunny pleaded, running towards her bed and jumping on it. Argyle chuckled as he made his way to his daughter's bed.

"Alright," Argyle said, the filly getting into her bed as she looked at him. "Once upon a time, many, many moons ago in ancient Equestria, there lived a very special-"

"-Unicorn!" Sunny cut him off.

"The unicorn was very bright."

"As bright as the sun!"

"One day, the Princess summoned her to the castle for an important assignment."

"To learn about friendship!"

"She soon made lots of new friends."

"Earth ponies, pegasuses, and unicorns."

"Pegasi." Argyle corrected. "Together, they showed everypony the magic of friendship, and how to live in harmony." Argyle lifted up the lantern he was working on earlier, surprising Sunny.

"You finished it?" Sunny asked.

"Pretty neat, huh?" Argyle asked. "Earth ponies watched in wonder as pegasi painted rainbows across the sky. The nights were lit up by a hundred unicorn horns." Argyle turned on the lantern, and silhouettes of earth ponies, unicorns, and pegasi lit up the room.

"It's beautiful," Sunny said, looking amazed. "I wish... I wish I had a friend that could fly, or float things. Why can't we be friends anymore?" Sunny said, yawning a second later.

"That, my darling, is a big question," Argyle said. "And maybe one day we'll figure it out. Together. We'll do our part.."

"Hoof to heart!" Sunny and Argyle said, laughing together.

Sunny's eyes snapped open. She lunged forward as she took deep, shaky breaths. "Where... where am I?" Sunny hesitantly stood up and realized she wasn't wet, somehow. "Hello? Is this... the afterlife?" Sunny looked around at where she was, some sort of world with only stars.

Shaking her head, she walked around. "Is anypony here? Hello?" Sunny called out, no response. "So, I'm alone- woah!" Below her was a trail of stars, but the stars started to disperse as they formed six symbols around her. "Are those... cutie marks?" Sunny asked, and sure enough, they were. A six-pointed star, three apples, a lightning cloud, three balloons, three diamonds, and three butterflies.

"Wait! These are Twilight Sparkle and her friend's cutie marks!" Sunny said. The cutie marks started to spin in their place until it became a blur for Sunny to tell what was going on. Once they stopped, six new cutie marks were in its place. A shooting star, a heart pin cushion, a music note shaped like an 'M' with a crown, a lightning bolt with a crown on it, a sheriff's badge, and a turnip. "Those are... me and my friend's cutie marks!"

Suddenly, the stars came together as they formed... a pony? She had curly hair, a light violet coat, and a purple mane with teal stripes. "Ack, what... oh!" The mare noticed, walking up to Sunny.

"Who... are you?" Sunny hesitantly asked. "Are you... Twilight Sparkle? Because if so, you look a lot more different than what I imagined."

The mare started laughing. "Hah! Me? Twilight? Please, do I look like an alicorn to you?" The mare asked, to which Sunny blushed. "My name is Starlight Glimmer, Twilight's first student of friendship. It's a pleasure to meet you, Sunny Starscout."

"You're Starlight Glimmer?!" Sunny asked, shocked. "And you know who I am?! Eek!"

"Yup! Well, everypony does up there." Starlight said. "We know you and your friends, Izzy Moonbow, Zipp Storm, Pipp Petals, Hitch Trailblazer, and Sprout Cloverleaf! You six are the ponies of prophecy, after all."

"Ponies... of prophecy?" Sunny asked. "What is that?"

Starlight shrugged. "Beats me, that's what Princess Celestia calls you six. She said you six were going to bring back magic and friendship, so, is that it?"

Sunny's ears flattened. "It isn't. I... failed. I wasn't able to bring back magic or friendship." Starlight gasped as she walked over to Sunny. "I don't understand! We had all of the crystals! Why didn't it work?! Is... magic really gone?"

Starlight was silent for a while before she spoke up. "Come walk with me, Sunny." Starlight started to walk away, the orange mare quickly following her.

"Where are we going?" Sunny asked.

"Oh, to the 'Hall of Memories!'" Starlight revealed. "And, oh! We're here!" The two reached a door with Twilight's cutie mark on it. Starlight opened the door as a scene formed in it. Sunny couldn't tell what Twilight was saying, but only that it was important. Three groups were levitated in a white aura, Twilight's friends, a group of different creatures, and another group that Sunny didn't recognize. Each of the groups sent a rainbow beam at Twilight, who in turn, sent it to three villains.

Starlight shut the door. "What... what was that?" Sunny asked.

"It was our battle with the Legion of Doom," Starlight wistfully replied. "It feels as if that was a thousand years ago! Wait, it was."

"I... don't get it. Why are we here? Why are you showing this to me?" Sunny asked.

"During that fight, Twilight had little to no hope that Equestria would be fine, but we still prevailed! During the day Equestria fell, Twilight put all of the magic in those three crystals. No one can break Twilight's spells, so, don't feel bad when it didn't work." Starlight comforted, though it didn't exactly help Sunny. "And besides, you're going to love it in the afterlife! Trixie has a show this weekend, wanna come?"

Sunny was about to accept when she got something. A spark of realization. "No thanks, but that won't be necessary," Sunny said. "You said it yourself, when you fought the 'Legion of Doom,' Twilight had little to no hope, but you still prevailed! So, right now, I'm going to hold on to my hope! Even if I can't bring magic back, who said anything about not bringing unity back as well? It won't be easy, but Twilight didn't lock all the magic in the crystals. We still have the most powerful magic of all!"

Starlight smiled. "And that is?"

"The magic of friendship!" Sunny said. Starlight nodded as Sunny was slowly lifted into the air. Orange wisps started to revolve around her as a wind started to blow at her. "What's happening?!" The orange wisps started to spin faster before they touched Sunny's body.

In Maretime Bay, the five friends mourned their friend at the cliff. "Sunny... no..." Izzy muttered. "She was so young... twenty! Twenty!" Izzy said, crying.

Zipp looked over at the edge as he noticed something. He wiped away his tears as he started to inspect it more, there was a glowing orange light in the water! "Uh, ponies? Come over here, there's something you all need to see." Zipp said. Izzy, Hitch, Pipp, and Sprout scurried to where Zipp was, and sure enough, there was an orange light in the water, which seemed to get... bigger.

Just then, Sunny shot out of the water, the Unity Crystals revolving around her. She wasn't an earth pony anymore, she had translucent orange wings and a translucent orange horn. Her wings flapped as she stayed in the sky, her horn glowing an orange aura.

"Sunny!" Her friends said in unison, relieved for their friend's safety.

Sunny's horn let out an orange shockwave, stopping the three tribes from fighting, and releasing the unicorns from their spell. "PONIES OF EQUESTRIA!" Sunny said, her voice louder than before. "Stop your fighting and listen to me!" Sunny said.

"Is Sunny... an alicorn?" Hitch asked, noticing the orange wings and horn.

Sunny took a deep breath before resuming. "When I was young, my father used to tell me stories about a time of peace, when the three tribes were all united. And I know for a fact that those stories were true, we really were all united in peace. Why fight a war when we can be friends? Our differences don't make us wrong, they make us stronger, better! You say earth ponies, unicorns, and pegasi can't be friends? Well, you're wrong! Me and my friends proved that fact!"

Izzy, Sprout, Zipp, Pipp, and Hitch were surrounded by a white aura as they were levitated under Sunny. "I thought, if I united the crystals together, magic would come back, friendship could come back, and that... and that I could achieve my father's dream. But it didn't, because the crystals are just symbols, instead of uniting the crystals, I should've tried and unite the three tribes. We can enter a new world era, an era of peace! Or, we can stay separated by our own fears and prejudices."

"I'm... willing to try," Haven said, speaking up. "I admit, I'm not so sure about this whole "unity" thing, but, if my children can make friends with other tribes, why can't I?"

The Pegasus Crystal stopped revolving around Sunny and started to float in the sky. Alphabittle sighed as he spoke up as well. "Before, a thousand years ago, unicorns were known to be of noble ranking. But when... magic disappeared, our city was overthrown by pegasi and we retreated into the forests. If you say we can be united again, I say... what the heck, I'm in."

The Unicorn Crystal floated into its place on the Pegasus Crystal, and the only crystal left was the Earth Pony one. Nopony from the Earth pony tribe spoke up... until Phyllis did, surprisingly. She got out of her robot and looked her son in the eyes, but he diverted his. She sighed as she spoke. "Growing up, I was taught that we had to fear unicorns and pegasi. That was... until I met Sunny's father, Argyle Starshine. His optimism was so infectious, it somehow made me think, 'Maybe the other tribes aren't so bad?' And for a few years, I believed him. That was, until I met my husband, Haywire. I loved him as much as I cared for Argyle. So one night, when I found out he died... to a unicorn, I was heartbroken. Sprout was just a little colt at the time, so he has no memories of his father. At the time, CanterLogic was a side project for me to work on, but after his death, I worked harder than ever before. I made machines, gadgets, to protect ourselves from the other tribes, to value him, but..."

Phyllis started to tear up. "If he was here now, he wouldn't condone my behavior. Sprout, I'm so, so, sorry. I'll do anything to make it up to you because you and your friends showed me that the other tribes aren't so bad. I'm in, I'll do whatever it takes to fix my mistakes."

The Earth Pony Crystal made its way inside the two other crystals. Each of the Mane Six's eyes glowed an ethereal white as a rainbow wisp connected them, starting from Sprout to Hitch, to Izzy, to Zipp, to Pipp, and then to Sunny, and then back to Sprout. The six shot a rainbow beam towards the Unity Crystals, which started shaking violently before... it stopped.

The Unity Crystals shot a rainbow beam into the sky as rainbow lights colored the night sky. Unicorn horns started glowing, pegasus wings started flapping, earth pony crops started flourishing... magic had returned! But, the Unity Crystals weren't done yet. The beam came down on the remains of the lighthouse as the ground started to shake. Suddenly, a new lighthouse appeared, one more modern. The Unity Crystals floated down into the top room as the rainbow beam covered the crystals.

The six were levitated onto the ground as Sunny folded her wings. "OMG! Sunny!" Pipp said. "I love the new look! It's so ethereal!"

"Ooh, glowy!" Izzy complimented, touching Sunny's wings. "Are you a princess now?" Izzy gasped. "Do we call you Princess Sunny now!?"

"Uh, no? Just because I'm an alicorn doesn't make me a princess." Sunny nervously said. "At least, I think not."

"Aw, I was really hoping to have somepony to keep me cheered up during boring meetings," Zipp said, the corners of his face turning to a smile. "Oh, well! Guess I'll have to ditch like I normally do."

"Hey, Sunny! Have you noticed the new lighthouse?" Sprout asked, pointing to the new lighthouse. "Wonder why it's so big."

"Yeah, I think that's a little too big for a single earth pony mare," Hitch added. "Unless the new lighthouse counts as a castle?"

"No, I think it's because..." Sunny eyed the Unity Crystals, which were inside the rainbow beam on the top. "The lighthouse serves as a testament to our friendship! I think we're supposed to live together, in unity!"

"Aw, what the heck? Why not?" Zipp said, chuckling.

"I can't miss out on the perfect opportunity for some new videos! Eee! Lighthouse tour!" Pipp said, pulling out her phone.

"Living with my best friends! Oh, this sounds awesome!" Izzy said, dragging Pipp and Sprout into a hug. "We're going to be together forever!"

"Normally, I would decline to stay a lighthouse but..." Sprout eyed his mother. "Can I join? I'm not exactly in a rush to get back home?"

"Uh, yeah! Oh, you're going to love it here, Sprout! We're gonna have game nights!" Izzy said. "And how about you, Hitch?"

"Well, unlike you all, I have a place in Maretime Bay," Hitch said, puffing his chest up. "One that didn't just magically pop up from the ground. Wait, is the lighthouse even safe? I better go check it." Hitch jogged to the lighthouse, a chuckling Sprout following him.

"We're going to talk to our Mom, see ya later, Sunny!" Zipp said. He and Pipp walked towards Haven, who gave her children a warm embrace. Sunny smiled wistfully at the scene, wishing that was her and her father.

"So, what's next, Sunny?" Izzy asked, trotting next to her friend. "Do we go on another crazy adventure?! Do we all become princesses!? I can imagine it now, Princess Hitch! Princess Sprout! Princess Izzy!"

Sunny laughed at her friend's excitement. "For now, we just enjoy the moment. Besides, we can deal with all this stuff later, right? We have magic back, and we're on the first steps to unity! Let's celebrate! I know I'm hungry!"

"Ramen?" Izzy asked.

"Ramen."

"I'm going to get Sprout!" Izzy ran towards the lighthouse as Sunny chuckled.

"I did it, Dad. I hope you're proud of me." Sunny said. Zipp and Pipp walked up to her as the three became airborne and flew to the lighthouse.

End of Arc 1.

Author's Note

AAAAAA! So, my exams been moved to November, so now I have more time! It was about high time I finished Arc 1! The intermission chapter will be coming soon, just let me take a break.

If there's any problems, spelling errors, or anything, please comment it or private message me so I can change it! Hate comments will be deleted, so don't even try and hate!