"Alright, my little sunshine..." Sunset coo'd, lightly running the tip of her hoof along Ray's top scales, which he stretched into fluttering his new wings. "You're not gonna give Sunny a hard time while I'm gone, right?"
The winged lizard gave a flap of his wings to climb up the unicorn's hoof as she brought him up to her muzzle. He gave her snout an affectionate flick of his tongue before Sunset nuzzled him in response, before setting him back down in his new terrarium. She made sure he had fresh water and a full food dish before adjusting the lid to give him the space to come and go as he pleased.
"So he won't jump out of a corner at me or anything, right?" Sunny asked.
"No," Sunset answered with a chuckle. "He likes hanging out near houseplants, at least he did back in the mirror world. I imagine he'll want to use his new wings a bit, and he's smart enough to know that his food and water are here in the terrarium, so he'll never go far."
"I'll move one of the taller plants in here for him to explore," Sunny said as the two mares went back out into the hallway.
Sunset had instructed her on how to clean the terrarium, and what his diet was, in case his food ran out. She was leaving her chest at the foot of her bed, but taking some of its contents with her, such as her yearbooks and guitar, after Pipp told her they could definitely find her a small amp in Zephyr Heights.
They made their way out into the bright afternoon, where Pipp was already waiting, taking a selfie with Sunset's packed cart. It took a bit of rearranging to make room for the pegasus' camping supplies, but after that, the unicorn and Pegasus were ready to go.
"Well, I hope you enjoy your time up there, and I'll see you when we head for the Crystal Empire in a week or two," Sunny told Sunset.
"If you're coming along, who's going to watch Ray?" Sunset asked as she did a final inspection of the cart.
"Hitch is great with animals. Like, great to a fault. He'll be in good hooves," Sunny assured her.
"Well, thanks for everything so far, Sunny. I'll see you in a bit."
The unicorn and earth pony shared a short hug, before Sunset got hitched up to the cart, and she and Pipp were headed northeast into the hills.
"I hope my fans enjoy this set of posts. Hashtag 'roughing it'!" Pipp said as she posed for a selfie in front of Sunset's cart, with the hills outside Maretime Bay becoming more distant as they quickly approached a forest of giant sequoia trees.
"So... Tell me something. Without the need to raise the sun and moon, without flight, without magic... How did your family come to the position it's in now?" Sunset asked as she pulled the cart of supplies behind her.
Pipp's ears flicked for a moment as she put away her phone and slowed her pace just enough to walk beside the unicorn.
"Coming clean already? Yeah, I suppose I could do that, what with the first less-than-warm welcome mom gave you when you arrived. Better you hear it from me than someone else. My family has always been performers. Not only did we know how to look good and pass illusions off as the real thing, but we knew ponies who could help us do that, put on a show. Once city-wide media became a thing, I don't even know how many moons ago, we got the entire city convinced that the royal family got their magic of flight back, and that we were using that magic to protect the city. We never could have done it without the help of all the stagehands working in the background with the wires and lighting. I suppose they felt the same way we did; maintaining the illusion of flight would be better for everypony and keep panic from spreading."
"So I'm guessing that didn't last?" Sunset asked. Pipp shook her head.
"The guards on outer patrol spotted Sunny and Izzy coming towards the city, and brought them before mom. She had them put into the dungeon until she could question them, but she obviously wasn't in any hurry, because Zipp and I were the first ones down there. I was down there for the content creation I could do, but Zipp was far more interested in the reason they were there; restoring magic for all of Equestria. Maybe... Maybe I would have been a bit more interested too if I didn't have a show that night... Which they managed to sneak into and try and take the crystal on mom's crown. In their sneaking around, they freaked out the stagehand controlling my wires, and that's when the cat came out of the bag. We were all over the news within minutes. I managed to get free of my harness and into the alleys before the guards surrounded us. I saw that they were after the gem and grabbed it on my way out. With nothing to lose and mom in custody, I figured the best shot would be to tag along and see what came of it."
"Well, something good obviously came of it," Sunset commented. "So, they actually let you guys back into power?"
"We were as surprised as you were. But I guess that news quickly spread that the royal family had a few hooves in bringing magic back. And... Well, she enjoys the luxury, but I have to give mom credit where it's due; she's great at handling the bureaucracy of the day-to-day city operations."
"Sounds like it's working out so far for everypony."
"You'd think so. Having a city of pegasi that can suddenly fly is proving to be a struggle. You know, mid-air collisions and such."
"Yeah, I can understand how that would take some time to figure out."
"So how's the phone working out?" Pipp asked.
"Great. I mean, Sunny and her museum remain the most accurate source of history. I haven't had a lot of spare time yet, but I have made the time to check out some of your vlogs, especially your series on exploring Twilight's castle. Pretty impressive footage."
"Wow, thanks! Always great to have another fan. It was at the perfect time too, when more ponies were getting curious about Equestria's ancient history. The different museums have been swapping artifacts and working to get our stories more straight. We can take a look at the Zephyr Heights museum when we get there if you like," Pipp offered.
"That definitely sounds like a plan, Pipp. Let's do it."
It's going to be interesting to have her explain what used to be where before the Collapse.
Don't tell me his family is a descendant of Trixie...
And so off to Zephyr Heights we go...I wonder what awaits Sunset there...
I still think Sunset is Equestria's most powerful magic user as far as we know.
I hope against hope there is some lineage of Pinkie Pie's Gummi Alligator somewhere that Sunset recognizes.
Would be very fun.
Don't you mean "stagehooves"?
11153635 She wasn't much of a slouch before either
11153663
No she wasn't but now in a world with a lack of magic like it has, with Celestia, Luna, Twilight and Discord all dead along with all of Twilight's possible students, it would leave her as the sole truly powerful unicorn left in equestria.
So it looks like Sunset decided to go to Zephyr Heights and pipp offering her to lead her to the city and she even told her what happened ever since the incidents from good to bad but hey it worked out in the end and it was really nice to see her and her family are doing okay so I wonder what they're going to do at Zephyr height I guess we'll find out next time
Waaaaaaaiiiiiiiiiiitttttt!
Descendent of Trixie perhaps?
Back in my day, the 'hashtag' was originally called the 'pound' symbol, and it's what you'd use to program speed dial on landlines.
Well this is going in interesting places
A nice bit of exposition there, and I think you got Pipp down well. Good job!
(One little thing, though. When they are prepping to leave you have the phrase:
It took a few passes for it to sink in you were just talking about Sunset and Pipp. From the phrasing, the first thought I had was, "Wait, is Izzy there with them?")
The buildup. Oh, the buildup.
11153725
Ah yes, the good ole' days. Though robots do still call it the pound sign ("Leave a message after the tone, or press 'pound' for more options." )
11153769
Thanks for the spot, fixed.
11153773
Less buildup and just fluff.
Congratz on the story being featured on the front page :)
11153725
I seriously wonder why they changed the name to 'hashtag.' I mean really, it already had a name, and a simple name thats quicker and easier to use! (Shakes head...)
Not much I can say beyond, once again, really good job on the exchanges, characterizations and future chapter set-up. Definitely appeciated Sunset's scene with Ray and last minute instructions to Sunny as to Ray's care. And, yeah, Pipp's story about how her family came to be royalty makes sense (especially since it kind of implies that Trixie was one of their ancestors too) plus the additional nod of how they got back into power after the magic returned (I imagine Haven probably WAS better at handling the day-to-day than any of the other ones who would have sought that position).
VERY certainly looking forward to more of this.
11153715 Maybe, if Trixie's family line had pegasi (or Trixie married a pegasus and had kids).
11153725
>>hashtag
octothorpe
11152338
Don't quote me on this but I seem to recall reading somewhere that the order the episodes were shown isn't necessarily the same order as they were produced. Also, some of the time there were viral leaks that made episodes come out sooner than they were supposed to.
I also remember reading that G4 was originally only supposed to go up to Season Three but Hasbro's marketing got wind of us and pushed for another season and another, et cetera.
11153635
Probably.
Definitely the most experienced. :)
Yep, they practically love him just as much as fluttershy.
I have a suggestion for what could happen later in this story. What if Sunset Shimmer applied for a job at CanterLogic? Sunset’s very smart, and seeing as how well she bonded with Sprout, I can see them working well together. Plus, with Sunset’s magical abilities, and experiences as a unicorn, she could help the company advance much further than they previously could.
11154340
I think as Sunset expected to be an Archmagus or some such that Magic teacher might be what she would do, when is the most magicly educated pony alive and could help unicorns learn to cast spells not related to thier cutie marks (those spells seem to be instinct)
Was that word supposed to be, into, because I don't think that word makes sense in the sentence.
11153626
I wonder how many downvotes I would get if I suggested Sunset would see a disturbingly familiar male pegasus?
I probably shouldn't suggest such things.
I had a more serious idea for what happens when Sunset gets to Zephyr Heights. What if, during her wandering, she finds an old, sealed off/collapsed cave that leads her to one part of Canterlot that might have been overlooked...
I wonder if they ever fixed that mechanical index? Though it might have broken again given the time that has passed.
11154974
MFW a reader suggests something that I've been planning for two weeks...
11155089
GASP!
11154453
Yeah, that's a good idea too.
11153725
It's an octothorpe, you luddite.
11158342
I don't think it has enough tentacles.