//------------------------------// // The precociousness of children // Story: Sunset's Second Round of Childhood // by fmriver //------------------------------// Early morning light began to illuminate the room. A small bundle underneath the comforter began to wiggle about before a little head popped out, stretching and slowly opening her eyes. Sunset Shimmer came awake with a yawn, slowly rubbing her eyes and then carefully stepping down from the princess sized bed. She really had needed the rest. Looking around, she was alone, as expected, but she really needed to find Princess Celestia. She knew she had to hurry because there was only a two hour window every morning from sunrise till open court, and this schedule was kept to zealously by the royal secretary. It was the best chance she'd have before dinner. As she looked around the room, she finally began noticing that it didn't look like it was part of the Canterlot Castle, and she remembered what happened last night. She had originally wondered if this was a secret area built into the crystal catacombs, but Princess Celestia had told her last night that they were in the Crystal Empire, which she had never heard of before. Now that she felt more awake, she noticed the large window and walked up to it to look outside. She climbed onto two legs to peer out, and was surprised by the view. "Wooow... I'm definitely not in Canterlot. Pretty though! I wonder how they built everything using crystal?" She stood there for a while studying the city below, enjoying how the early morning sun reflected off the different crystal buildings, making the city look like a beautiful canvas of color. She got to see the coolest stuff as the royal student, though this was her first time outside Canterlot. Once she was done with the view, she trotted out of the bedroom. It led to a larger sitting area of the suite, where she noticed another set of doors. Upon opening the one across from her room, she saw it was another bedroom. This one had the heavy drapes over the windows, making it seem like a dark cave. She could see somepony huge was sleeping on the bed. As she crept closer to see who it was she realized it was the big alicorn princess Celestia had called sister, the princess Luna. Sunset quietly crept back out, and closed the door again. While she'd love to talk to the mysterious princess Luna and get to know her better, she didn't want to get into trouble for walking into a princess's bedroom and waking her up. Besides, she really wanted a familiar face right now. She used the other door, which led out to the hallway, and began to wander down. She noted how deserted it felt compared to the Canterlot Palace. Back home you couldn't go more than fifty paces without seeing a royal guard, a functionary of some sort, or even a servant going about their daily jobs. It was nice though, as no one was around to see her studying the walls, paintings and other things she came across. She wouldn't be called plebeian for being impressed by the opulence, like she would be at home around nobles at court. She hoped she was going the right direction, because she was getting really hungry. Soon enough she came upon a pair of guards in front of a large open doorway. The one closest to her simply glanced over before continuing to stoically stand there. She looked past him into the room, which was brightly lit, with a floating heart sculpture in the center. "Hi there, can you tell me what is that in the room?" sunset couldn't contain her curiosity. Besides, if they had the doors open so any passerby could see, it probably wasn't a secret. The guard frowned for a moment, before replying curtly. "That's the crystal heart. It's a relic that helps protect the Crystal Empire. That's also why we are guarding it right now." Sunset looked back at the floating heart, rotating above the pedestal. It definitely did seem to be radiating a lot of power. She did wonder, however. "Wow... How does it work?" The guard seemed to size her up, before slowly replying, "I'm just a guard." Sunset wasn't put off by the guard's gruff reply, as she was used to guards being relatively short when on duty. "I get it. Um, could you tell me where I may find Princess Celestia then?" Sunset asked, not wanting to push her luck with the guard that was just doing his job. The guard looked at her again before nodding towards the end of the hallway she had been walking towards earlier, "Look, they are serving breakfast right now, just keep going in this direction until you see a larger set of double doors on the left. Those will lead you into the private dining room, where breakfast is being served for the princesses along with the rest of their companions. If you see a balcony on your right, you've gone too far." Sunset thanked him and continued on her way, eager to meet with her mentor, and to get some food. As Sunset reached her goal, she noticed the doors were ajar, and she could barely make out the voices on the other side. She paused at the entrance, feeling a bit shy at entering the room since it sounded like there was a lot more ponies in there than she expected. "Girls, all I'm saying is that for now, we just try not to mention anything about what happened or what she did, okay? We just need to be careful of what we say for today, until she leaves back to Canterlot with Princess Celestia this evening alright? The princess doesn't believe she is ready to know that yet. I'm sure once we better understand if it's permanent or not, the princess will explain things to her herself." That voice, Sunset recognized it as the pony that was sent to rescue her, Twilight Sparkle. It sounded like they were talking about Sunset, but she wondered what they were trying to hide. "So let me get this straight. You want us to lie to her? Sugarcube, I'm your friend, but you know I'm no good at deceiving folks," an accented voice replied. As Sunset peeked through the gap in the door, she saw it was a mare with a cowpony hat on. She saw that there were six mares along with a purple dragon in the room, seemingly about done with their breakfast. "I'm not asking you to lie, Applejack, just avoid bringing it up. Look, If any of you can't handle that, then just don't speak to her for now," Twilight replied as she and her friends all stood up, heading towards the door. "Come on, why don't all of you just go and do some more sightseeing around town. Last time we were here we stressed out so much about getting the nomination for the Equestria Games." Sunset, quickly backpedaled until it seemed like she was just now walking down the hallway as the door opened and the six grown ups came out. Twilight spotted her almost immediately. "Oh! Uh, good morning Sunset. Looking for some food?" Twilight spoke, but her friends all seemed to be freeze up, staring at her. "Uh... yeah. I was hoping to see Princess Celestia at breakfast, but I guess I missed her..." Sunset replied, scuffing the floor in front of her with her foreleg. "Look, why don't you go eat, and I'll send a message to the princess for you. Spike, can you please?" Twilight motioned to the little dragon. Sunset wasn't quite sure what Spike would do since he didn't seem to be what she would pick for the quickest messenger. "Right! Dear Princess Celestia..." Spike took out a scroll and begun mumbling to himself for a bit, until he seemed to be done. He rolled it up and then burned it with green flames, the ashes seemingly flew away before magically disappearing. "There we go, now we just wait a min-blegh!" Suddenly the dragon burped, a scroll popping out. He caught it in midair with a practiced move, before reading it out loud. "Let's see, I'll be there shortly, tell Sunset to eat breakfast please. Well then, got that squirt?" "Thanks Spike. Well Sunset, enjoy the food. We've got... stuff! Stuff to do around town so we will see you later," the purple pony stated as she and her friends quickly left. Sunset felt a bit sad that they didn't seem to want her around, but it wasn't surprising. Adults at the palace were always busy too. A couple minutes later, Sunset was busy stuffing herself with haycakes and daffodil salad. Oddly enough, she usually went for other breakfast fare, like fruits and honey, but she just had a craving when she saw them. She also kept peeking at the coffee carafe, wondering if she might have enough time to sneak a sip. However, just as she got the courage to try, the door opened for Princess Celestia. "Good morning Sunset, I see you are up early. I thought I would let you sleep in, but I suppose little fillies are full of energy, aren't they?" The Sun princess gave a teasing smile, seeming to be in a playful mood. "Princess, I always get up extra early, you know that!" Sunset burst out, blowing her cheeks up, before rubbing her muzzle thoughtfully, "Though, I guess yesterday was kind of weird... and I heard ponies get forgetful the older they are..." The Sun princess burst into light laughter at that. Celestia had almost forgotten how funny Sunset was at this age, where she would take in comments from adults that they may not have meant for little ears. Even before her trip through the mirror, it had been a couple of years since Sunset made a habit of meeting Celestia every morning. Not since shortly after giving her one of the communication journals. "Well Sunset, I do apologize for being a bit distracted. Now then, we will be leaving for Canterlot tomorrow afternoon. With everything that has happened, we've cancelled most of my itinerary, so my schedule is actually pretty open if say... somepony would like to explore the Crystal Empire with me?" The solar princess had a mischievous smile on her face that Sunset wasn't quite sure she had seen before. A regal white pegasus stepped out of the shadows of the palace arches and into the central plaza. Her pink hair waved in the morning breeze, with glinting the red and yellow highlights. On her back, mostly hidden in her tucked wings, a red and yellow unicorn filly rode, swivelling her head around. They looked like nothing less than an inter-tribe mother and daughter, which while more rare in the Crystal Empire than in the rest of Equestria, was still not unusual enough to warrant more than a passing glance to acknowledge that they were clearly not locals, and that the pegasus was a prime specimen, before continuing on their business. The grown mare took a couple glances left and right before trotting off towards the open market stalls. While originally set up for the Crystal Fair, there had been a large influx of tourism since the Crystal Heart had been found which had provided a critical injection into the thousand year-behind crystal pony economy. It also provided much needed exposure between the time displaced ponies and their contemporaries. They passed the food stalls, before slowing down around the first trinkets stall, which was selling beautiful crystal figurines that almost seemed to have been grown into shape rather than sculpted. There were ponies of all types and colors, even ones of specific famous personalities such as Spike the Brave and Glorious and Princess Cadance. "G'morning ma'am! The name's Gem Rosecut, and I can't help but notice how much your daughter likes these figurines. They're very collectable, and much stronger than they appear, so you don't have to worry they will shatter by accident!" The vendor smiled as the filly's face looked in wonder at the little crystalline figurines. The vendor was apparently an earth pony, with a crystal egg for a cutie mark. The white pegasus looked at the filly on her back with an inscrutable expression, before turning to reply to the salespony. "Actually she's -" "How'd you make them?" the little filly piped up before the pegasus could say anything more. The salespony grinned at them, feeling that she may just make a sale this morning, even though her usual clientele was older. "Well, if you pay attention in school, you'll know that earth ponies have a connection to the land. Well, my family has worked hard in learning how to grow and even shape them a bit. I finish them with these little tools over here, and I soak the different areas with these different crystal dyes to make the multi-colored ones. Each of them are made of a single piece of grown crystal." "And how long does it take to grow one? Can a unicorn do it?" the filly asked as soon as the artisan paused. "We-ell… these smaller ones take about a couple weeks, while the biggest ones over there can take up to 5 years just to grow the crystal… As for using unicorn magic? Not sure, but I do know there's no shortcut to learning how to work your crystal!" the salespony replied finally with a smile. Speaking once more towards the elder pony, the mare continued her pitch. "I have a yellow unicorn filly over here, as well as a stylized adult pegasus, if you'd like to come back in a couple hours, I could even have the manes dyed to match you both?" For some reason the little filly seemed to studiously be looking away while her mother thought it over. "Can you make two sets?" With that the sale was closed, and the pair walked on. "Wheeeeeee!!" went the little fillies and colts on the carnival ride. A series of tea cups that orbited as well as revolved in a dizzying display. In one were two fillies, one with a red and yellow mane, the other green and pink, with their forelegs held up in the air, as they were seemingly having the most fun of all. "Our daughters seem to be having a lot of fun together." An older earth pony mare sharing the earth pony filly's green hair stepped closer to the white pegasus focused on the twirling teacup of fun. "Hm? Oh, yes they seem to be having a grand time, don't they?" the pegasus replied with a wistful smile on her face, though it seemed to be tinged with melancholy. The earth pony wondered if she was reading a bit too much into her companion’s expression, but just in case... "You know, I'd noticed you two a bit earlier walking about the fairgrounds. You looked so cute together! And... well… It's none of my business what you're trying to forget with this visit… but, no matter what's going on, just remember that that little ray of sunshine adores you. As long as you remember that, it'll turn out okay, I'm sure." The pegasus mare looked startled for an instant, before smiling widely to the green-haired parent, "Oh, there's no tragic backstory… Sorry, just feeling a little guilty for letting responsibilities distract me from spending quality time with the little one." "Well, work can do that I suppose, but they understand as long as you make sure to remind them how much you love them, and I don't think you'll have trouble doing that!" The mother comforted her and patted her on the shoulder. In reply, the pegasus gave a wide smile, before once again focusing her attention on the fillies. A couple hours later, Sunset was back in the sitting room of the bedroom suites, looking through her small pile of new treasures. Along with the set of crystal figurines, she had a flugelhorn, a stuffed purple dragon, a couple photographs, some books and a small bag of hard candy. This was probably the best outing ever with her mentor. She hadn't even known that the princess could hide her identity like that, and they got to have fun without any guards or attendants around either! Sunset did feel a little guilty about interrupting Princess Celestia from correcting strangers whenever they assumed she was her mom, but in her defence they were going out incognito. Sunset knew that Celestia would probably not bring it up, so It was pretty wonderful to pretend they were actually family. She made sure not to refer to her as such herself though, otherwise she was sure that would be one step too far. Kibitz, Inkwell, or somepony would hear of it and lecture her on appropriate boundaries and respecting the royal personage. Again. She carefully packed up her things except for one of the books, and then sat down to read. Sunset assumed that Princess Celestia got these for her as part of her lessons, so she would show Princess Celestia how much she appreciated the outing by memorizing the whole book. An Introduction to the Crystal Empire seemed to be an interesting read anyway, and she was pretty curious about the history of the place she found herself in.