Chapter Eighteen
Between the Lines
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As she examined herself in Twilight’s bedroom mirror, Sunset thought about how great the day ahead her should feel. It was the day of the Summer Sun Celebration, and she was making her first public appearance as captain of the Twilit Guard. Rarity even made her a uniform for the occasion, which she had shipped to Canterlot Castle in time for the event.
Distantly, Sunset felt some pride in her appearance. Rarity had designed the uniform with form in mind, rather than function, and Sunset certainly did look good in it. The Lunar, Celestial, and Crystal Guard could all keep their heavy armor. Sunset’s was styled after the traditional officer’s vest, but was set apart by color. The vest itself was blue, with darker folded over sleeves. It held two medals on it, one was gold and had six gems of different colors, representing the Elements of Harmony as Twilight’s official insignia, and the other was a shield with Sunset’s cutie mark, signifying her as the guard’s captain. Rarity had also taken Sunset’s discomfort with public nudity into account, giving it a dark blue skirt. Topping it off was a sash of braided purple and yellow, representing her dedication to Twilight and Fluttershy.
She loved every detail about the outfit. Even if she knew they didn’t think too much of it, Fluttershy and Twilight had named her captain, and Sunset was honored to play that part. Having the uniform made the whole thing feel that much more official, and knowing it had been designed completely around her made it even better. She had been so excited for the chance to show it off at the Summer Sun Celebration. As a princess, Twilight was attending the official event being held in Manehattan, so of course Sunset and Fluttershy would be accompanying her.
But then, Spike was supposed to be with them as well. They had been looking forward to meeting up with Luna and Celestia, and had talked about possibly using the opportunity to tell Celestia about their relationship. Now Celestia knew, but didn’t approve. In the two days they had been at the castle, Celestia had kept herself too busy to interact with them, citing the Celebration as her excuse. On the other hoof, Luna had been with them almost constantly. She would barely break from working through plans and reviewing child care laws with them for sleep, and sometimes it seemed like she wouldn’t at all if not for Fluttershy’s insistence.
Sunset sat down on the bed. When it got down to it, none of them really slept very well. Still, night time was easily Sunset’s favorite time. Before the night Twilight Velvet and Night Light took Spike away, Sunset had slept in her own room, separately from Twilight and Fluttershy. But they’d spent both nights in Canterlot sharing the bed in Twilight’s room at the castle. Sunset missed her old room and the feeling of familiarity it brought, but it was important they do whatever they could to make Twilight feel more comfortable. Besides, she would give up a lot more than that for the chance to spend the night cuddled up with her marefriends. She had been unsure of where she was supposed to sleep the first night, and even less sure if she should bring it up. Thankfully, she was saved by Fluttershy’s decisiveness. Before anypony had the chance to start any awkward conversation, Fluttershy was already bringing Sunset and Twilight up to bed, and seemed to take it as a given that they would be sharing a room.
She sighed and stood up. Twilight and Fluttershy had gone ahead to the entry hall, respecting Sunset’s need for privacy while she dressed. Now that she was, she made her way down to meet them. It was time to get the day started, so she could get it over with. All she wanted to do was come back to the castle and finalize their plans for coming out.
They had decided to wait until after the Summer Sun Celebration, since making a spectacle before attending a major public event would probably not do them any favors. It was bad enough that they would be hounded about details on the situation with Spike, news of which had spread like wildfire. The press was also sure to have taken note of Twilight’s absence from Ponyville, which wasn’t going to make things any better.
Pushing that aside, she entered the room with a smug grin, noticing Twilight and Fluttershy deep in conversation with another pony. “So I’m just gonna say it; pretty sure I make this uniform work a lot better than your brother does.”
The three ponies turned to her and she stopped in place, her grin falling away as she realized whom they were talking to.
“I don’t know, Shiny does look pretty handsome in his uniform,” Cadance said as she rose to greet Sunset. “Although I will agree with you on the skirt.”
“Uh…” Sunset blinked a few times, wondering what reason Cadance could possibly have for being in Canterlot. Sunset was supposed to be safe from this meeting until they reached Manehattan.
“We’ll have to disagree on this one, Cadance,” Twilight said. “I’d actually love to see Shining in a skirt.”
Sunset bowed, partly to keep from laughing, and partly because she didn’t know what else to do. “Princess Cadenza.”
Although she wasn’t looking, Sunset heard Cadance’s hoofsteps approaching. “Sunset, please, I don’t know how many times I’ve asked you to call me Cadance. And what are you bowing for?”
Sunset stood up, but kept her head down. She didn’t want to see Twilight’s and Fluttershy’s reactions. She had never gotten around to telling them she’d known Cadance before she left Equestria.
Without warning, Cadance pulled her into a hug. “Sunset, it’s so nice to see you again.”
“I, uhm… hi.” Sunset awkwardly wrapped a foreleg around Cadance while being forced to get a good look at Twilight and Fluttershy. Twilight’s reaction was as she expected; she was staring at the scene with her mouth hanging open, while one hoof hung forgotten about midair. However, Fluttershy didn’t seem surprised at all, just smiling happily as if the reunion was completely expected.
“You could have written,” Cadance chided as she let go of Sunset.
“I… I didn’t really think you’d want to hear from me,” Sunset said, taking the chance to look back down at the floor. “I’m sorry, by the way. I know I was kind of a bitch when we were younger, and then –”
“Sunset,” Cadance cut her off. Sunset looked up to see her smiling. “It has been more than long enough to let bygones be bygones. I’d be happy to put the past behind us even if you weren’t dating my sister, and since you are that’s just more of a reason to.”
“Wait a minute…” Twilight said, walking over to them. “You two know each other?”
Sunset shifted uncomfortably while Cadance chuckled. “You really never told them that?”
“It’s not that surprising,” Fluttershy said. “You look nice, by the way. The uniform really suits you.”
“Oh.” Twilight smiled. “Fluttershy’s right, you look very dashing.” She resumed looking perplexed and turned back to Fluttershy. “How is that not surprising?”
Fluttershy cocked her head to the side, apparently surprised that Twilight was surprised. “Well, they did both live at the castle.”
“Huh, I guess you’re right.” Twilight shook her confusion off and turned back towards Sunset. “I guess I just forget how much older you are.”
“Twilight!” Fluttershy scolded.
Twilight’s eyes went wide as she frowned. “Oh! I mean… I didn’t mean it like that, I just, uhm, I’m sorry.”
Sunset pawed at the ground, ears folded back. “It’s fine.”
Fluttershy cast Twilight a dirty look, then hugged Sunset. “It’s okay, we don’t care about how old you are.”
Sunset just sighed.
“It’s okay, Sunset,” Cadance said. “You’re not that much older than me.”
Sunset frowned. That wasn’t nearly as encouraging as Cadance seemed to think it was. But while she hated being reminded of her age, especially in relation to Twilight’s, she hated the idea of showing exactly how much it bothered her even more. “Anyway, what are you doing in Canterlot?”
“Actually, I came in last night to talk to Twilight’s parents.” All eyes turned immediately to Cadance, who smiled while she continued. “While I haven’t got them to come around just yet, I do have good news. They agreed to let you spend the holiday with Spike.”
“Really!? That’s fantastic!” Twilight lit up and threw her forelegs around Cadance in a celebratory hug. “Thank you so much, I can’t possibly explain how much this means.”
Cadance returned the hug, then held Twilight a foreleg away. “I’m glad to see you’re so happy, but there were a couple of conditions.”
Twilight’s shoulders slouched as her smile faded. “What were they?”
“Well, for one, they want me to stay with you the whole time.”
“Okay.” Twilight nodded. She began looking more confident again. “As much as I wish they didn’t think I need somepony to keep an eye on me, I certainly don’t mind spending the day with you too. Actually, I think that sounds like a great idea. It’ll be fun to all spend the day together!”
Cadance hesitated a moment, and glanced at Sunset. “There was one more thing, though…”
Sunset sighed. “I’m staying here, aren’t I?”
Cadance placed a hoof on her shoulder. “I’m sorry, Sunset, I really tried my best.”
“But that’s not fair!” Twilight exclaimed.
Sunset smiled and shook her head. “Twilight, this is still great news! I mean, they’re not trying to cut you out of his life completely, so that’s definitely a step in the right direction.”
Twilight sighed and hung her head. “I guess.”
“Hey now, none of that.” Sunset gently pushed Twilight’s head up by her chin. “Now, I want you to go have an amazing day, then you can tell me all about it when you get back.”
Twilight pulled Sunset into a hug. “You’re right.”
“Of course, I’m me.” Sunset winked as she let go of Twilight, earning her an eye roll, and a giggle from Fluttershy.
“There is actually something you can do while you’re here,” Cadance said.
“What’s that?” Sunset asked. She felt a little guilty for it, but doing something other than studying sounded like a relief. Of course she wanted to get Spike back, and was more than willing to scour as many books as she needed to for that to happen, but after a couple days of nothing but advanced law books, she was ready for a break.
“Twilight Velvet and Night Light are staying in Canterlot, and I was hoping you would meet with them.”
Sunset began longing for advanced law books and all day study sessions. “Are you sure that’s such a good idea?”
Cadance nodded. “I think it’s worth a shot. They already agreed to meet with you while Spike’s gone, so I don’t see what we have to lose. If they see the same side of you that Twilight and Fluttershy see, maybe they’ll realize there’s nothing to worry about after all.”
“I… I guess.” Although it made sense, Sunset couldn’t help but have doubts. Nothing about Twilight’s parents suggested they had anything but disdain for her, and she couldn’t see them changing their minds that easily.
“I understand how you must feel,” Cadance said, “but they’re good ponies. They only want what’s best for their children, and they’re scared about something they don’t understand. I really do think getting to know you might ease some of those fears.”
Sunset took a deep breath, then smiled. She didn’t really have a choice anyway; it wasn’t like she was going to pass up a chance to end all their problems with a single meeting, no matter how slim her chances. “Okay. Leave it to me.”
“That’s the spirit,” Cadance said, patting her on the back.
Twilight pressed up against her. “I know if anypony can do this, you can.”
“And remember,” Fluttershy said, taking a spot on the other side, “if it doesn’t work out, something else will.”
“Yeah, I know.” Sunset nodded, then wrapped her forelegs around both of them. “But trust me, by the end of the day we’ll be putting all this behind us.”
Sunset stared at the door to Twilight’s foalhood home. She thought over what she knew about Twilight’s parents. Of course, everypony had given her their advice, but Sunset preferred to focus on her own observations from the brief time they had met.
Night Light had remained collected, even after both Twilights had lost their cool. She suspected Cadance was right about him – he was only interested in what was best for his kids. Sunset would have to convince him that Twilight was still the best pony to raise Spike. He probably had his own logic to back his disapproval, and cracking through that wouldn’t be easy, but it was still better than his wife.
Twilight Velvet was a wild card. Between the two, she had shown the more emotional display, meaning she would likely be the more obstinate. She wouldn’t be convinced, but rather would need to find a reason to change her own mind. Sunset’s goal had to be finding that trigger.
She sighed, wishing she had more to go on. In the end, she’d just have to go with her gut. She’d spent so much of her life picking people and ponies apart, figuring out their weaknesses and how to manipulate them into doing or thinking what she wanted. It was time to see if she could do something good with her talent. She knocked on the door.
There was a noticeable pause where nothing happened, not even sounds from inside. Could be a message, but it didn’t necessarily mean anything. It was a big house, almost as big as her own parents’. She wondered if she should knock again, but the door opened before she could.
“Hello, Sunset. Please, come in.” Night Light smiled politely and held the door open for her.
“Thank you.” Sunset inclined her head and walked through the door. She followed him into the living room, where Twilight Velvet was waiting. Night Light gestured to a chair, so she took a seat. If not happy, he at least looked amiable. Twilight Velvet frowned slightly and didn’t make any attempt to acknowledge her aside from watching her every move. ‘He agreed to this, she’s begrudgingly going along with it.’
“I want to thank you both for agreeing to meet me,” Sunset said, smiling as if there was nowhere else she’d rather be. “It means a lot to us that you’re willing to give this a chance.”
“Well, there’s no harm in getting to know one another,” Night Light said. Twilight Velvet remained impassive. “That’s an interesting outfit.”
“Thank you,” Sunset said. She had decided to keep the uniform on. Even though she knew they were nowhere near as narrow-minded about who was a suitable partner for their daughter as her own parents were, she figured any parent would be happier knowing their child was dating somepony noteworthy. “It’s my new uniform as Twilight and Fluttershy’s guard captain. I just got it in today.”
“Isn’t that just a façade?” Twilight Velvet asked.
“No, ma’am. I really am the captain of the Twilit Guard. It’s all official.” She was a little disappointed that the first words out of Twilight Velvet’s mouth had been an accusation, but not surprised. She knew all along she’d have to work her way from the ground up to win them over.
“Well, it certainly does make you look the part,” Night Light said. “How about I go get us some tea?”
“Thank you, that sounds lovely,” Sunset lied. Her plan had been to primarily start with Night Light, while carefully observing Twilight Velvet until she knew how to talk to her. A plan that unfortunately hinged on Night Light being present, yet he was already walking into the kitchen.
With her only options being to talk to Twilight Velvet or silently stare at one another, Sunset chose the former. “You have such a lovely house, Mrs. Velvet.”
Twilight Velvet nodded. “It’s been in Night Light’s family for generations.”
A short and simple answer. The kind that suggested she was playing along, even though she really wasn’t. She’d avoided both thanking Sunset for the compliment and requesting the use of a less formal name. None of which made progress any easier. “I see. Is magic a family profession, then?”
“On Night Light’s side, yes.” Twilight Velvet answered.
“And of course, Twilight gets her love for books from you.” A sure way to get anypony to open up was to talk to them about their passions.
“I suppose she does.”
Or that could also fail. Undeterred, Sunset pressed for more. “Twilight introduced me to your books. I have to say, I’ve really been loving them.”
“I’m glad to hear it.”
“Whose idea was it to name Twilight after the passage from ‘The Heavens Above’?” Sunset asked. The Heavens Above was the book Twilight Velvet had been writing when she met Night Light, and he had used a passage from it, which included a reference to watching the twilight sparkle, in his attempt to woo her.
“Night Light’s. I was hesitant to have two Twilights in the family at first, but he won me over in the end.”
Finally. It wasn’t much, but she had shared a small detail more than the most basic answer she could. With some ground to work from, Sunset pressed for more. “I imagine that must have caused some confusion.”
“For a while, yes.” Twilight Velvet didn’t exactly smile, but she stopped frowning, which seemed close enough. “More for her than me, actually. She was surprised to find out her classmates didn’t share their mother’s names.”
Sunset laughed. “Shining Armor’s name didn’t clue her in?”
“I guess she thought it was only for fillies.” Twilight Velvet shrugged.
“She always did latch on to the oddest ideas,” Night Light said, returning with three teacups.
“Thank you, sir,” Sunset said, taking her tea and blowing on it to cool it down.
“You’re welcome. And please, Night Light is fine.” He took his seat next to his wife.
Sunset nodded. “You know, that’s not that strange though. Cute, but pretty normal for foals. Since they don’t have a lot of experience with how ponies outside of their home live, they tend to think everypony lives like them.”
Judging by the return of Twilight Velvet’s frown, she must have caught the subtext of Sunset’s statement. Night Light didn’t give any indication whether or not he noticed. “Well, I can certainly see that you and Twilight have something common.”
Sunset had hoped to learn a little more about the ponies she was winning over before broaching the topic of her relationship, but that seemed to be where the conversation was headed, and it wasn’t surprising. After all, they had invited her for tea, not lunch. They had never planned for this to be a long meeting. “Yes, I’m probably one of the only unicorns who can really keep up with her. Usually, anyway.”
“That’s right, Twilight did mention you were Princess Celestia’s student before her,” Night Light said.
“I was indeed.” Sunset took a sip of her tea.
“Did she introduce the two of you?” Night Light asked.
“Wait, she didn’t tell you about that?” Sunset asked. ‘Way to get a story straight, Twi.’
“Remember, honey?” Twilight Velvet placed a hoof on Night Light’s shoulder. “Twilight met her in that other world.”
“Oh! That’s right, the bipedal one.” Night Light suddenly seemed genuinely happy to have Sunset over. “It’s really fascinating to think about. Twilight told me there’s no magic over there, and I have to wonder what that’s like for a unicorn who studied magic her whole life.”
It was hardly how she hoped to win him over, but she would take what she could get. “It was a major adjustment, for sure. That’s what motivated me to get interested in technology. The things humans do with it is like its own kind of magic, really.”
“Channeling your energy into a different field definitely seems like the thing to do,” Night Light said. He tried a sip of his tea and decided it was still too hot.
Sunset sipped some more of hers. “Did Twilight tell you that the sun and moon move on their own over there?”
Night Light nodded enthusiastically. “She did, and it’s remarkable to imagine. I’ve tried to figure out how it could work so many times, but I can’t seem to wrap my head around it.”
“Well, the sun hardly moves at all, actually,” Sunset explained. “See the Earth – uhm, not the ancient pony country, that’s just also what humans call the planet they live on – anyway, the Earth moves around the sun!”
“What?” Night Light frowned and tapped his chin. “A planet inhabited by life moving around a celestial body? I can’t even begin to imagine the effect that would have.”
“It controls the weather and oceans, among other things. Humans don’t play any role in that at all, and actually a lot of times they can’t even predict what will happen day to day.” Sunset couldn’t help but grin at how clearly blown away he was.
“Astounding. I –”
“Honey,” Twilight Velvet interrupted, “I think we’re getting a bit sidetracked.”
“Oh, right.” Night Light’s sheepish grin was identical to Twilight’s. Sunset had taken it as a given that she got her penchant for easily getting absorbed in things from her mother, but it seemed that the whole family shared the trait.
“Now then, you were telling us how you met Twilight?” Twilight Velvet said. Sunset had hoped to drop that conversation entirely. “I’m very curious myself. Twilight rarely tells us about her exploits, you know. It’s fortunate there was already a unicorn there to help her when she went into that other world.”
Sunset had to fight to keep her composure from slipping. Twilight really didn’t tell them anything about how they met? What was she supposed to say? Simple enough. If Twilight wasn’t going to tell them, then neither would she. They already formed their idea, and she would just go along with it. Lying and manipulating. Hardly anything new to her.
“It was quite a shock to both of us. It had been years since I had even seen an Equestrian.” Although she had never given a single thought to creating a version of the story where she wasn’t the villain, the details came easily to Sunset. No matter how many times she tried to deny it to herself, she loved the feeling. The knowledge that ponies would believe her, because she could make ponies believe her. It felt like bending reality to her will.
“At first I didn’t realize Twilight came from Equestria, of course. I’m sure she told you this, but the mirror changes the form of anyone who goes through it. It was the Element of Magic that attracted me, actually. I could, I don’t know, feel its magic somehow. Must have been resonating with my unicorn heritage or something, because other humans didn’t seem to think anything of it. When she figured out I was tracking the crown as well, she was pretty wary of me, as you can imagine. But once she confronted me, I realized she had to be Equestrian, since she knew so much about magic. Once we got everything sorted out, we were able to get her crown back, and eventually figured out how to stay in touch from different sides of the mirror.”
Sunset smiled to herself as she drank more of her tea.
“You know, Twilight told it a bit differently,” Twilight Velvet said.
Sunset managed to not spit out her tea, but she choked on it while trying to swallow, burning her throat. “Really?”
“I could have sworn she told me that you were the one to take the crown in the first place, actually.”
Sunset opened her mouth, looked between the two frowning ponies, and closed it again. She set her cup on the table and bowed her head. Twilight’s parents had beat her to it, feigning ignorance to test her answer. “That’s… yes, that’s true.”
“Hmph.” Twilight Velvet folded her forelegs. “I knew it. Twilight and Fluttershy would never have fallen into doing something so immoral on their own.”
“That’s not…” Sunset shook her head. “Yes, I was lying about how I met Twilight. I just… I didn’t want to give you another reason to hate me! That doesn’t make it okay, and I’m sorry, but please, don’t let that one mistake ruin any chance of you looking at this with an open mind.”
“There’s a lot more to it,” Night Light said. Although Sunset had been easily working her way into his good graces, that was clearly lost now. He remained calm, but any warmth he had was gone. “Regardless of what you might think, we do care about Twilight’s well being. We’ve been looking into this whole thing, and studies show that relationships with more than two ponies lead to lower success rates.”
“I know that. We all do.” Sunset took a deep breath. “And you don’t even have to say it; there’s no real research on what effect it will have on raising a child. But there’s hardly been any research into the effects of polyamory, the research pools are small, and more often than not there’s a clear bias present.”
“Some things are clear enough,” Night Light said, “and one of them is that no parent would want their child around an environment like that.”
“I don’t know what you think is going on, but I can pretty much guarantee you’re wrong,” Sunset said. “If you just gave it a chance, maybe you’d see. You were supposed to spend the week with us anyway, wouldn’t it make more sense to –”
“I don’t want to know what the three of you are up to,” Twilight Velvet said. “If it is even just the three of you.”
Sunset shook her head. “Is that… what, you think we’re some kind of sexual deviants?”
“We’re not discussing that,” Twilight Velvet said flatly.
“I wasn’t the one who brought it up!” Sunset reminded herself to keep her temper in check, and proceed more calmly. “As far as I’m aware, Twilight and Fluttershy have never had sex with anyone other than each other, and that includes me.”
Twilight Velvet glared at her, as if Sunset was the one who decided to bring up her daughter’s sex life. Night Light didn’t look any more amused. “Unfortunately, you’ve proven you’re not exactly trustworthy,” he reminded her.
Sunset slumped back into her chair. Her eyes fell onto the cup of tea, which was certain to remain half finished. “Then don’t trust me. But you can trust Twilight and Fluttershy. They put their faith in this, because they believe in it. You know them, you know they wouldn’t let anypony force them into doing something that isn’t right. And you know they wouldn’t do anything that would be bad for Spike.”
“And what makes you so sure this isn’t bad for Spike?” Night Light asked.
“Because we all have the same goal for him. We all want to see him grow to be the best he can be, and to help him along the way. None of us would risk putting him in jeopardy.”
Twilight Velvet narrowed her eyes. “Then wouldn’t it be better to do the right thing and leave them alone?”
For a moment Sunset’s words caught in her throat. How many times had she wondered that herself? “If I thought that would be best, I would. All we’re asking is that you give this a real chance, instead of just assuming it can’t work. I know you think I pushed them into this, but I didn’t. And it isn’t like any of us just decided this might be fun to try. We knew what we were getting involved with, but we’re working for it anyway, because we believe it can work. No matter how tough it gets, I know we’ll make it through because we’ll stick together. But it does get tough. Even if you can’t outright support us yet, your open-mindedness would mean the world to us, especially Twilight.”
“Twilight made her decision,” Twilight Velvet said. “She decided she’d rather have you over Spike.”
“Twilight decided to not let you control her life,” Sunset said, a sharpness coming into her voice. “You can call that a decision if you want, but it’s not a real one.”
“Don’t be overly dramatic,” Twilight Velvet said, her voice raising as well. “I know my children, and Twilight will be fine. She’s a strong –”
“You weren’t there!” Sunset got to her hooves. “You didn’t see Twilight after you left! If you did…” Her eyes narrowed as something occurred to her. “But you did see Spike. Tell me, was he fine afterwards? Has he been happy once since he’s been here? Aside from finding out he’d get to spend the day with Twilight and Fluttershy, that is.”
It seemed Sunset struck somewhere painful. Twilight Velvet wouldn’t meet her eyes, glaring instead at the floor. Even Night Light’s collected demeanor seemed to be wearing thin. “Spike is twelve,” he said bluntly.
“Is there an age where it doesn’t hurt to see your family ripped away from you?” Sunset asked. “I assure you that nopony is ever fine with knowing their parents won’t accept them unless they live the way their parents want them to. No matter what age, that still hurts.”
She held Night Light’s glare silently. Twilight Velvet looked like she was about to cry, and as soon as Sunset was out the door, she probably would. Since yelling at each other more wouldn’t solve any of their problems, Sunset decided to let her get to it. She walked to the door, but stopped and looked back before leaving. “I love Twilight, and I love Fluttershy. Maybe that’s not something you can understand, but you don’t have to. Just… think about what’s really right for your children.”
She saw herself out the door. She fumed down the walkway and stopped at the street, where she screamed. It didn’t really make her feel any better, and when she was done she noticed one of their neighbors staring at her.
“Fucking fantastic…” she muttered to herself as she began to walk towards the castle.
“Uh, miss?” the neighbor called after her. “Is there anything I can do to –”
“No!” she shot back, not bothering to look at him.
She wandered in the general direction of the castle. She had brought more than enough bits to get a cab for the trip back, but she needed time to clear her head. It wasn’t like there was really anything waiting for her there anyway. Really, she didn’t even want to be around Twilight or Fluttershy. She failed, and didn’t want to tell them that just yet. She would have liked a chance to talk with Luna, but she was also in Manehattan. So was Celestia, not that she was likely to bring any comfort either. Everypony else she cared about was in Ponyville.
Of course, there were also festivities around Canterlot. The streets were crowded with cheering ponies, but that wasn’t making her feel any better. Over there was a colt and his mother eating ice cream. Over there was a group of young stallions shooting off fireworks. Over there was a pub full of ponies cheering.
She stopped. There was something in Canterlot she could still do… But she’d promised herself she wouldn’t drink, at least not until she felt comfortable she could do so responsibly. She could just imagine the disappointed looks from Twilight and Fluttershy.
She grumbled about how unfair it was, but kept walking anyway. Then she heard somepony from the bar start singing. “Oh, all the money that e’er I had…”
“...I spent it in good company!” the rest of the bar joined in. Sunset had to laugh at how off-key they were, since she knew they all thought they sounded like a real choir. She backtracked a bit, just to look inside, and found it was every bit as lively as it sounded.
She watched for a few moments, but then turned away. It was best if she went back to the castle. She took a step, stopped, and turned back again. It was just… she really liked the song. She stepped into the doorway – just to hear it better, of course.
As they sang, she found herself singing along. She wandered a bit further in towards the end, joining in fully with the crowd. “And all the sweethearts that e’er I had, they’d wish me one more day to stay.”
Once they finished the song Sunset cheered along with the rest of them. She found herself wandering over to the bar and taking a seat. Just to rest her legs.
With how crowded the bar was, the bartender didn’t seem to notice her. Not that she minded, she was just enjoying the atmosphere. She forgot how much she missed it, really. Since returning to Equestria, she had pretty much only ever drunk by herself. Even when she went to the local bar in Ponyville, it was nothing like this. It had its own laid-back feel to it, which was nice, but this felt so alive. It was exactly what she needed after the day she’d had.
“Hey there, miss, what can I get for you?”
Sunset turned to see the bartender smiling at her. She told herself to say ‘nothing’, that it was already past time she left. But then she wondered, ‘Don’t I deserve this?’
It was just one drink, after all. And the Summer Sun Celebration was an all-night event, so Twilight and Fluttershy wouldn’t be back until the morning, and would never need to know. She’d have one drink, then be on her way, and be much calmer for it.
“Just… anything,” she said.
“One of those kinds of days, huh?” He bent under the counter and set down a shot glass.
“Make it a double,” Sunset said, speaking automatically.
“You got it.” He replaced the glass with a larger one and filled it with alcohol. Sunset took the glass and thanked the bartender. “Got anything you want to toast to?”
“To family,” Sunset said.
“To family,” the bartender and a few nearby patrons echoed.
Sunset raised her glass, and heard a voice in her head. ‘You’re better than this! I know you are. You told me once that you look up to me, but I look up to you too!’
“To heroes…” Sunset set the glass back down, still full. She reached into her purse and pulled out a pile of bits. She knocked loudly against the bar with her hoof to get everypony’s attention. “A round for everyone on me! The last I’ll ever buy.”
There were cheers and a few ponies laughing, saying they’d see her back again before the week was out, too drunk to realize they had never seen her before. Sunset didn’t worry about it, and walked back to the castle with her head held high.
Way to go Sunset! Finally overcoming herself and conquering her drinking habit
I teared up a little at the end there, I'm so proud of Sunset.
Captain Shimmer, if I didn't already have a Boss...
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Sunset won't be stopped
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That's okay, Captain Shimmer already has her pick of royal guards serving under her
Will there be a sequel to this to?
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This is part of a while series, which will indeed be continuing. I have so many plans for it, and I'll make a blog post about exactly what's to come next once Finding Home is complete, but the short answer is next will be a prequel, with a sequel to follow some time there after
I'm so proud of Captain dork! ^^ She did spent her money on alcohol but I can hear her liver sing its praise to Fluttershy
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Okay so now I'm only ever calling her that for the rest of forever
Ouch, Sunset blundered into that one. Well, Sunset was... bending the truth, ok, she was lying, but not like saying she was a power-mad expelled former student of Princess Celestia would have helped her case much anyway. Twilight's parents were against her from the beginning, seeing her as the corrupting influence in their daughter's life. Wonder how much Twilight Sparkle told her parents about Sunset before the relationship became an issue, and whether they already disapproved of Sunset (former enemy, disgraced former student) living in Twilight's castle. Twilight's been close with Sunset for a while too, even before Sunset moved back.
Sunset probably has all the social skills Twilight skipped when growing up, just without much compassion until the rainbow laser hit her in the face. Even now, she's good at sharp words if she wants to be, particularly that parting shot about how miserable Spike is. Spike is only 12, but still, I bet Sunset's words about children and parents applies to her own situation as well. And yay, Sunset said no to drinking. Hopefully that's the last time she really wavers. Especially if/when Twilight's parents hear about the drinking that'll be another mark against Sunset.
Ah, so Sunset and Cadance did know each other. Wonder how bad their situation was, I always find the potential Celestia-Sunset-Cadance family situation interesting, from Sunset's POV she as the unofficial daughter losing out to new sibling who is an alicorn on top of that, probably influencing her fall. For me, its one of the most fascinating things about Sunset Shimmer as a character. Cadance at least is a very nice reliable mentor for Twilight, probably a big relief after losing Spike to her parents and Celestia not exactly endorsing their relationship. Wonder if the parents would even criticize Luna for "pushing" the polyamory angle (Luna's own... open relationship with Amber isn't exactly a good stable role model for anypony, considering how miserable both are at the moment). Cadance on the other hand is their own daughter-in-law and is well positioned to be mediator. If the parents asked Celestia about Sunset, well, that would be a complicated answer.
At least Sunset resisted that temptation. She's going to need all her wits for what's coming up. Though the Sunset and Cadance background will probably be left to a prequel/sequel?
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Maybe that'll teach her not to be so manipulative (lol it won't)
They didn't seem to mind her when they thought she was just the captain of Twilight's royal guard. Really they can be pretty forgiving ponies, they care a lot more about her lying about her past since it suggests (to them) that she's also lying to Twilight and Fluttershy to trick them into polyamory. And yeah, alcoholism is certainly the last thing that need to add on top of trying to prove they can be good role models for a child. I doubt Twilight's parents would have taken kindly to it.
Yeah, Sunset and Cadance's history won't be explored much (if at all) in Finding Home, but there's certainly potential for it to appear in the prequel story I'm planning.
I've also wondered what they'd say to Luna. Never really planned out any conversations between the three of them. I imagine it would be an awkward conversation since Night Light works for her. And speaking of Luna, I'd say the only problem with her and Amber's relationship is that they didn't communicate enough. There's nothing wrong with open relationships but they absolutely require completely open communication, something both of them failed at
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There would also probably be some issues due to the differences between the nature of their relationships. Luna is having issues with an open relationship. Twilight, Fluttershy, and Sunset are working on issues with a polyamorous one. While the two concepts can certainly blur together due to having a lot of similarities, they aren't completely identical.
Using what you brought up as an example: Communication is important in any kind of relationship, but the role it plays can be slightly different. In Twilight's Trois, they still need to be clear about where they stand with each other, but all three are working under the notion that this is a committed relationship specifically between the three of them and no one else. Most of their communication problems come from trying to figure out where their boundaries are in relation to each other, but they have time to work it out. A relationship like Luna's, on the other hand, needs complete clarity from day one. If they're not totally on the same page from the start, well...you can get something like the breakdown with her and Amber.
This chapter, at least as I read it, pretty strongly suggests that Night Light and Velvet don't totally understand what polyamory entails. As Sunset implies, they seem to thinking of it purely from a sexual angle, making them feel that it's immoral and sexually deviant. Trying to explain exactly what their relationship is will be hard enough on its own. So at this point, trying to add the differences between "committed relationship between three specific individuals" and "relationship between a pair of individuals who agree they can see other people" to the mix could easily just confuse them and make things worse.
And I would just like to take a moment to say that I appreciate how you approach these debates. I've seen plenty of authors (and non authors, for that matter) who fly off the handle if you dare to disagree with them, whether it's about canon or something in the fic. It's always nice to be able to talk with someone about their story and not expect a fit of CAPS LOCK RAGE!!1!!!
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I certainly agree to all your points about Luna, and relationships in general. Specifically in the Luna and Amber situation, Luna is in the clear if thinking purely logically. They set rules, they never said anything changed about the rules they set, she followed them. But really, I do think they were both guilty of miscommunication; Amber failed to address when she was growing more attached to the relationship, while Luna, being the one far more experienced in these matters, failed to encourage more communication. She ought to have realized that periodically checking they were on the same page by just talking about it would be a good thing, and she probably should have realized from the beginning that while setting the rules they should have flat out addressed whether they wanted to know of each other's sexual partners, instead of assuming Amber would prefer not to hear about them.
Come to think of it, I'm not really sure what Twilight's parents know about Luna's relationship. Night Light works for her, but I've never imagined them as particularly close. Of course they'd know the rumors that spread around tabloid magazines, but I imagine Luna's eccentricities and high level of notability lead to many rumors, so I don't know if they'd even bother paying attention to them. In any event, bringing a discussion on open relationships to them would be absolutely the last thing they'd want to do, since they're already confused enough about polyamory.
Yeah, I've seen altogether too much of that as well If I have any say in it (and I certain;y think I should) the comment section on my stories should always be a debate friendly place. And really, I think it'd be a bit silly for me to not expect some debate when I decided to write about social issues in a story that prizes interpretation of characters over staying purely canon accurate (whether anyone else is or not, I'm aware of various ways I think my portrayal of the characters are different than the canon versions).
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I actually have a headcanon for this. I think that they (or at least Tirek) didn't get the abilities of the ponies, just the power. Say you could rank everypony's magic level on a scale of 1-10. Celestia and Luna have 10, Twilight Cadance and probably a few others are 9, typically ponies are 3-5, etc. Tirek just got the raw power, augmenting the abilities he already had. Discord may be a 12 because he's broken af, but that doesn't necessarily give Tirek chaos magic. Twilight does move the sun, but it's not clear if she can do this because she's just powerful enough to do it with the extra magic, or because it's a Celestia specific ability that she gets along with Celestia's magic.
This isn't to say the fight couldn't have been more interesting. I think DBZ was a specific style choice they made, although I would have personally preferred something more along the lines of RWBY's more diverse battles.
I think that was the only time I've ever actually been upset with the show's writers. Cramming all that stuff into like one year is just frustrating to me. Prior to that episode, I went with the 'each season is one year' theory, but that pretty much threw that out the window. However, it's worth taking a look at the winter episodes to figure out the timeline. Twilight arrives in Ponyville at the start of summer (evident by the Summer Sun Celebration), presumably nine months later we have Winter Wrap Up, as it ends winter. Then we have the first Hearth's Warming episode, presumably one year after that, which aired after she got Tank, supporting the theory that episodes in a season don't happen in order. Still, Hearth's Warming has to fall before the Winter Wrap Up, so unless season one and two are mixed together timeline wise, we've had almost two years at this point. Next winter episode is Tanks For the Memories, so now we're almost three years in. There's also the second Heath's Warming episode, but that could be the same winter as the Tank episode, if we're following the theory of seasons being out of order. Incidentally, this contradicts the timeline of events within my stories because I miscalculate when I was making my timeline a while back It's something I'm fixing later.
You raise good points, I suppose they must have found element bearers of a sort, at least in some timelines. We could try to fill in plot holes, and some of them wouldn't even be that hard, but we'd just be guessing when it came down to it. And I agree that it would have been nice to see it as a mini arc, and I'll even go further and say they could have made an entire season (at least another 13 episode season) out of Twilight exploring the different timelines, but it's important to remember that we're not the target demographic. The show is intended for kids, and at that it's intended for particularly young kids. Story arcs don't work well in that format, since five year olds usually don't have the ability (or at least desire to) follow story lines over a period of time, and don't have the attention spans to watch more than an hour to an hour and a half of content at one time. When they do reintroduce elements from a previous episode, it's always done in a way that explains relevant information, and doesn't actually require kids have seen or remember previous episodes. So while there's things I would love to see as an adult, I can't blame them for keeping kids in mind.
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I think it's just a case of the writers not really having a solid idea of how much time the series was supposed to cover until later on in the show. Situations like Celestia explaining how she's finally looking forward to the Summer Sun Celebration to Twilight (and I find it hard to believe Twilight just skipped one or two of them, since she's attended every one shown in the series and been involved in planning two of the three), Rainbow's confusion over Tank hibernating during their first winter, and other things like that seemed to start showing up around season four.
Another interesting thing to note is how consistent the show is about the number and order of major celebrations (both real world analogues and those specific to the show) in the series. We get two Hearth's Warmings, two Nightmare Nights, two Sisterhooves Socials, two Summer Suns, two Grand Galloping Galas...in some shows this might not bother me, but we're talking about an immensely popular Hasbro franchise. I find it hard to believe that Hasbro wouldn't milk the hell out of the holidays without a reason. Especially since, at least going by production order, the events all happen in the same order. And - surprise, surprise - all of those instances of the holidays occurring for the second time also take place after season four, when they started making the statements implying that it's only been one or two years.
So yeah, my best guess is that they either didn't know how much time they wanted the series to cover, or decided to retcon how much time it was supposed to cover, and basically forced us to assume that the episodes in season one/two occur out of order (and possibly mix the seasons together) as a result. Season 1/2 being mixed around might actually explain one or two of the stranger things in earlier seasons as well. For instance, if Nightmare Night (as an obvious take on Halloween) takes place in the same season as its real world counterpart, then it would put Luna's arrival in Ponyville much earlier in the series, explaining why she was still so oblivious to modern customs more reasonably than "She just spent a year hanging around the castle learning nothing about modern times." Though it does kind of ruin the fun of the whole "Trollestia told her the Royal Canterlot Voice was still totally normal" joke, so maybe it wouldn't be worth the trade off...
True, but you have to admit that the show was definitely willing to explore some darker, less kid-friendly issues in season five. If they thought kids could handle seeing Dash with a prosthetic wing, eye scar, and torn ear, surely they could have spent an extra episode to show Twi interacting with Discord, give Tirek some new footage instead of rehashing his season four animation, give us some more info on the Flim-Flam thing, and maybe give us a little more development for Starlight.
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I suppose the timeline comes down to two possibilities, neither of which is ideal. We either assume it bunches together a whole lot of stuff and shows everything prior to season four being out of order, or we assume there's holiday stuff going on off screen and Luna's Nightmare Night appearance makes less sense. I'm going with the latter, because I absolutely hate the idea that Twilight goes from 'understanding pretty much nothing about friendship' to 'literally being the princess of that exact thing' in less than a year. I think canon would probably disagree with me though, if they ever decide to make it more clear. In any event, I'm sure you're right: they just didn't think of things like keeping a neat timeline in the beginning.
Indeed, I was incredibly surprised with some of the season five content. In particular, Do Princesses Dream of Magic Sheep? covering the topic of self harming was totally unexpected, although I did indeed love it. It's easily my favorite episode.
But I think there's a difference between 'can kids handle seeing this?' and 'would kids be interested in seeing this?' Going purely on my experiences with kids (which amounts to living with my niece and nephew when they were approximately the age of the target demographic), everything seems like it would need to be wrapped up in a two part episode, because I can't see them being interested in following a story that continues each week, even in shows that they watched regularly. I'm sure there are kids that are exceptions to this, but Hasbro needs to consider if there were enough to make it worth while.
That Starlight redemption sucked any way you look at it though
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Yeah, it's kind of a cluster. Like you said, it basically requires bunching 1-3 into a single year, or requires making various statements and character actions in 4-5 make no sense, and neither of those is really a great option. Personally, as much as I dislike the idea of all this happening in one year, I tend to lean towards that angle when talking about what's canon simply because it has the most in-universe support and contradicts less. That said...I really have no issue with people ignoring it for the sake of the story, because I can totally understand why people find it irritating and stupid.
Seriously. Between Our Town, Luna's self-imposed punishment, the death metaphors with Tank (though they obviously didn't go all out and kill the little guy), Diamond Tiara's abusive mother, and the brutality and destruction we see in the finale, I probably would have probably pegged it as a show for at least young teens if I this was the first season I'd watched.
I'm still a bit iffy. Different companies managed it with shows like Teen Titans and Avatar: The Last Airbender. Admittedly, those are for a slightly older target audience, but given the material in S5 I'm pretty sure Hasbro and the writers have all realized that they have a pretty big audience outside of just their target audience. It might not be easy, but it would definitely be possible. Of course, that makes it a bigger risk if it fails, so...
I dunno. There were certain aspects of it that I liked. I enjoyed that it didn't just come down to blasting the enemy with some sort of magic, and that Twilight actually had to talk her down and convince her to stop on her own. That was a nice change of pace. And I enjoyed the actual conversations they had when Twi was showing her the alternate timeline, and during their final confrontation when she was tearing the scroll apart.
Really, to me it comes down to not giving us enough reason to empathize or sympathize with her. I think if they'd just given us a bit more history with Starlight, it could have been a great redemption story. Like...show us more than just Sunburst. Show us more examples of her seeing Cutie Marks causing problems, or have her tell us about times where she's seen her situation repeated with others. Make it more clear that she actually was abandoned and not just seeing it from a child's view, or put more emphasis on the way Sunburst was important to her, or show us that without Sunburst she was bullied CMC style as the only one who still didn't have her Cutie Mark. You know, things like that. Also, put a wee bit more emphasis on the fact that she's being drive more by revenge for her defeat in Our Town at this point than by her original motive (which, to be fair, they actually did in the S6 premiere).
If they'd actually taken more time to make us relate to Starlight, I think most of the actual redemption part would have been more or less fine as it was.
Now that I've slept on it, this is bugging me: Sunset may have fabricated how her meeting with Twilight went down, but Velvet and Night Light still started the deceit with their knowledge of the story. I kind of wish she had pointed that out. Like...
...or something. That bit hypocrisy just rubs me the wrong way.
EDIT: Not that Sunset's lie was more justified because of this; just that the parents shouldn't be allowed to pretend the high ground either.
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I can agree. I often have differing opinions when it comes to what I think is the more accurate interpretations and what I choose to write about. Celestia, for example, seems much less cold in the show than how I write her (the 'gotcha' joke with the Cakes comes to mind), but she fills the role I need her to. The timeline thing is similar; what fits well in the show doesn't always work well with more adult oriented content.
Yeah, they do indeed seem interested in branching out. Maybe as a result of reaching the older audience that they always had but never specifically made content for in the past, or maybe because the kids that started watching the show when it first started are growing and they want to keep their interest as well. I still wouldn't blame them if they never decide to do anything longer than a two part episode, but I also wouldn't be terribly surprised to see it happen. They do seem a bit more interested in continuity lately (especially with Starlight) so maybe it's only a matter of time.
I suppose I was a bit too brief on Starlight I meant more the redemption story in general rather than the redemption itself. You pretty much hit my thoughts perfectly; the redemption is fine, but there's not enough reason given as to why it was necessary.
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I can agree on that. Still...why, Hasbro? Why can't you stop being stubborn and cheap, and shell out for an hour long time slot to put out two thirds of a three part episode!? Show a thirty-minute episode to get them hooked, then finish with an epic hour of awesomeness next week!
Seriously though, if they were going to stick strictly to a two part finale, I think it would have been better overall to cut some of the fluff from the alternate dimensions (they established what was going on well enough in the first one, so extending Chrysalis and Nightmare Moon's worlds wasn't really necessary, even if it was awesome to see them again) and focus more on delving into Starlight's past, ideals, and relationship with Twilight. Don't go down the same path as Legend of Korra's first season - if you only have a limited amount of time, only do what's necessary for the main plot instead of trying to throw in every tiny subplot that crosses your minds.
Ah, gotcha. My bad. In that case, yeah, completely agreed.
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Yeah, Sunset got played at her own game, the hypocrisy was intentional.
Her mind was more on trying to fix the situation than anything. Going off on them for that would only serve to vent her frustration and further the rift between her and Twilight's parents. No one is ever convinced their wrong because they get right finely bitched out, even if they deserve it. Sunset's pretty level headed most of the time, and her temper shows through when she's defending her friends or lovers, not herself. It wasn't until Twilight Velvet started insinuating things about Twilight and Fluttershy that Sunset lost it, although I suppose she could have brought that back up once she did decide to go off on them.
7110981 Actually, that might be something that could benefit her in the long run. If they get into another argument like this later down the line, she could easily pull that out to work in her favor. You know, "Look, I'm sorry I lied, but I just wanted you to give this a chance. I'm trying to fix this. Even when you were giving me the third degree for lying to you, I didn't call you out on lying to me because I'm trying my best to make this work, so the least you could do is return the favor and give me a chance." That sort of thing.
Not only does it show that they don't have the high ground because they did the same thing, but it gives them some common ground (they were lying in an attempt to protect Twilight by judging Sunset's character, Sunset was trying to avoid something that could stop them from giving the trio another chance - and in turn, avoiding something that would hurt Twilight), and also puts the ball in their court by making them look stubborn and unreasonable while she's been making an effort and owning up to her mistakes.
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I'm a bit torn on that one. On the one hand, I would very much have loved a better look into Starlight's past. On the other, the alternate timelines are really what made the episode great to me (plot holes or not) and I'd hate to see them shrink any less. If anything, I would have cut out everything after Nightmare Moon, since those were all just pointlessly small glimpses anyway. True, it only would get a few extra minutes to devote to Starlight, but if done well a few minutes can actually add a whole lot. Hell, shows like Adventure Time and Steven Universe can fit entire emotionally poignant episodes in twelve minutes. Plus I'd cut that Flim Flam bit even if it offered no benefit whatsoever
I am split minded right now (did i said that so right?) on one side i can understand Twilights parants
Cause i don't like this paring either(i would have writen an other excuse here but nothing comes in to my mind or it is to hard to translate) but on the other side they should rly just go openminded on that type of thing. Still a great chapter7218477
I like to think Twilight's parents here are at least understandable, even if I'd also like to think most of my readers don't actually agree with them Even if we can't help whom our loved ones fall for, as parents they still have valid concerns for Spike's well being (even of their 'solution' is problematic)
And split minded is indeed the correct wording
Welp, that went about as well as expected
But Sunset's decision at the bar there was nice to see.
Sorry about this but the sun does move whether you consider the motions of its own orbit around our galaxy or our galaxy moving from the point of the Big Bang or more relevant to your point the Earth, Sun and all the planets in our solar system are orbiting around the center of mass of the solar system; the center of mass in our solar system if practically the sun’s center is but not quite. In binarystar systems this is easer to see because you have 2objects with extremely large gravitational pulls in one system. But yeah stars move allot.
Unfortunately I couldn’t find a video to explain this visually but I hope my paraphrasing of a website suffices.
Again sorry but it took me out of the story a bit.
Pity I liked twilight velvet and night light so much in the previous story.
Never really seen them as antagonists before so that’s new.
Oh and of course
sunsetCaptain Shimmer going cold turkey even when temptation strikes is amazing to read but I bet you already knew that.The twilit guard huh that’s also cool and new.
I have to say, I totally forgot about this
I actually believed Twilight when she said that Sunset never met Cadance. I might or might not be okay
What is there to loose? Sanity, I'd say but of course, I wouldn't
Gods have mercy
AAAAAAAAAAAH
oh shit
That's messed up
Everything really
Sunset's silver tongue ruins the day yet again
9962242
Sunset for played
So proud of Sunset. I got really worried when she walked into the bar and started justifying the drink. Because she knows that one drink would not be the last of it. But she walked away. She put the drink down, and walked away.
:)
yay reconciliation
ah
this will go just fine
right?
oops
no, bad sunset
hmmm
hmmmm
really...?
At long last….alcohol is defeated
Please tell me there's fanart somewhere of Sunset in her uniform.
A very kind way to tell someone they're old. :V
Oh hell, she done got played. D:
Oh wow, I thought she'd fallen back off the, uh, human there. <.< Went right up to the breaking point, but she made it, go, Sunset!
I can already picture it in my mind!!!
Sister-in-law technically. 😒
Oh boy!
Hopefully it will. 🤞
Huh, that's interesting.
Sounds similar to how my aunt was when she named her son john like her husband which was normal up until they got divorced a decade ago.
Holy shit! I didn't expect they'd know about the human world from Twilight!
Huh.
Damn it!
I'm with Sunset on this one Velvet. 😠
Oh Sunset...
Well meeting that could've gone either way, I guess. Sunset's a capable mare but still kind of...emotionally compromised in this situation, I felt. I wish I could've given it a true 50/50 but I expected it to go down and lo and behold.
The subversion of expectations at the end with the bar was really nice to see, though. I'm proud of Sunset making a good decision in this situation.
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Yeah, was more just something that had to happen than something I expected would surprise anyone. It was also a chance to flex the "Sunset is good at this" muscle while also getting her caught in a lie.