//------------------------------// // Reaching out, tentatively // Story: An Orphan's Greatest Desire // by fmriver //------------------------------// Sunset laid the contents of the stuffed envelope onto her bed. She’d already read the short explanation page from the Orphanage that had wrapped around another pair of letters within the original envelope. One had an official letterhead, apparently copies of the proof that her supposed relatives had shown the Orphanage administrator. The other was a blank envelope, with the front simply having For Sunset Shimmer written in cursive. She looked at her name on that unopened envelope she had pulled out. It apparently held answers to questions she had refused to ask herself since she got out of the orphanage, and into the graces of Celestia's personal mentorship. And why should she have? Before, she had simply been another unloved filly, apparently abandoned by her own mother. Any dream of her real family coming to save her paled against the reality of being picked by Princess Celestia herself to live in the palace and be her personal student! She wasn’t her first student ever, but she was by far the youngest. She hadn’t thought much about the details of her apprenticeship in the beginning, simply being grateful to be chosen to live with the princess. However after a while, she realized that while it was a great honor, she hadn’t really gained a family, unlike the other fillies and colts that got adopted. She was still cared for by staff, who made sure to keep a distance, and Celestia was kind but formal. Sunset had been satisfied, though lonely, at least at first. It was what drove her towards trying to show her worthiness in fact, as with each of her accomplishments, she had been rewarded with extra time and attention from Princess Celestia. Now this letter forced her to remember those dreams she had for family, for unconditional love and acceptance. She was grown enough to know that she wasn’t likely to ever truly receive a mother’s love, but maybe an uncle and aunt’s affection would be nice. Cadance’s appearance had shown her that at least this would be possible. Honestly, when she first became aware of Cadance, Sunset had fallen to pieces. Within less than a month, Celestia had crowned a second princess, and adopted her as a niece. How could Sunset compare to another alicorn? She couldn't, and there was nothing she could do about it, or at least she had thought so. Celestia had always been coy about where Cadance had come from, and everyone's assumption was that she had been born an alicorn, and simply grew up hiding in the boonies.  However, if what Celestia said earlier was true and the mirror truly showed a future, then there was a way to become an alicorn somehow. It would explain all the oddities around Cadance, like her incompetence with magic. Sunset finally picked up the unopened letter that the Orphanage had forwarded from her newly discovered family. As she opened the letter, she mused at how odd it was that fate would have it arrive the same day she was presented with the mirror. Both gave her a glimpse of a path to gain something she dearly wanted.  The letters from her uncle and aunt weren’t very long, though her aunt’s was well written and heartfelt, in a way more so than even her biological uncle’s had been. Sunset had cousins. Twilight Velvet let her know that they wanted to have a relationship with her and be there for her, but she understood if her niece was hesitant to build one with her new family. She had ended the letter gently, with a request that Sunset give them the chance to meet with them and get acquainted with the rest of her family. She had also given their home address and invited her to send any mail there or at least let the orphanage know she had received her message, in the case Sunset did not want to meet them. Sunset also read through the copy of the investigation report from Ponyville that was attached, and felt ambivalent. On the one hand, it seemed she was orphaned thanks to her young mother’s stubborn stupidity rather than being abandoned intentionally by a whorse. Sunset felt relieved, yet angry at the same time. The teen mother had spent two years apparently raising her on her own and barely eking out a humble living. Sunset wished she could remember anything about her. She forced herself to put that regret aside for now, as that dead mare was beyond her reach in either case. Sunset tried to distract herself with some other reading from her textbook but her eyes failed to continue down the page, as her mind mulled over her aunt’s plea at the end of her letter. Soon enough she gave up and took out some parchment to write a reply. ======= The next day, Twilight Velvet was surprised to find a reply in the mail. She quickly shared it with her husband. Her niece had mailed it from the post office and had decided not to share her address yet, but had let them know she would be free all day tomorrow afternoon, which she would spend in a nearby cafe. If they wanted, they could meet her there and take it from there. “Shiny! Twily! Breakfast! Come downstairs please!” Velvet shouted up the stairs as her husband finally left for work. "Coming Mom!/Mommy!" The siblings greeted her as they came down, and the usual whirlwind at the breakfast table took off. Velvet took the time to let the siblings get settled and eat for a bit as she organized what she was going to tell them. "Children? I have something to tell you both this morning," She began. "I'm not sure if you knew this yet Twily, but your father had a sister that disappeared a long time ago, right around when we got married. We finally found out what happened." Velvet let them know about how they had found out what had happened to their missing aunt, and the fact that they had a surprise cousin. She fended off her daughter's barrage of questions, though honestly both kids looked shocked more than anything. "Wait a second mom, why are you telling us this now? Wait, are we meeting Sunset Shimmer?! When?! Oh gosh, I need to find reference material on how to make a best impression on long lost family members!!!" Twilight Sparkle finally blurted out the question that Velvet had been waiting for. "Twilight, I'll be meeting her this afternoon while you two are at school and your father is at work. I'm not sure when she will feel ready to meet the rest of the family, but I'm sure she's also excited to meet you and your brother too." Velvet replied. Soon enough Shining left for school, taking his sister to deliver her to her preschool on the way. Velvet sighed out. It was a shame she couldn't respond quickly enough to her niece in order to schedule for a time that the whole family could have made it, but at least this was quick. Velvet took some time cleaning the house before trotting into her office. She knew she wouldn't be able to focus on her novel writing or editing for the day. Instead she grabbed the old album her husband had pulled out the other day as well as a few other family pictures she had made copies of in the past. Velvet took them to the nearby photography store and had all the pictures with Shining Dawn in them copied and a new scrap book purchased. Once home Velvet took the rest of the morning putting together the photo album. She also tried to list out questions to ask her niece. Finally it was lunch time, so Velvet left for the cafe after she made sure to pack her camera in her bag. =============== "What am I doing here?!" Sunset whispered to herself as she kept fidgeting in her seat. She hadn't really let herself think through what she had been doing till after she had sent her reply yesterday. This morning she had woken up frazzled from the nightmares she had about this meeting. What was worse, the way Sunset had set it up, she had no clue when or if they would show up. So now Sunset had accidentally tricked herself into a stressful wait, possible for the entire afternoon. Sunset had even made it to the cafe 20 minutes before noon, which was an hour ago. Everytime the bells above the door chimed, Sunset would flinch before trying to spy on the new ponies entering the restaurant from the corner of her eye. With how distracting this all was, it was a surprise that the book she was trying to read was even the right side up. The door opened again, letting in a mare on her own, with a light grey coat and lavender and white mane. Sunset let out a breath. That wasn't the couple that she was waiting for. The mare spoke with the Pony behind the counter, before looking around and beginning to walk to the back of the cafe where Sunset was sitting alone. Sunset ignored her as she heard the door chimes tinkle again, before sighing as she saw a group of Fillies walk in and order coffees at the counter. "E-excuse me? A-are you Sunset Shimmer?" Sunset jerked, nearly dropping her book as turned to stare at the mare that was now beside her table. "Oh sorry for startling you!" The grey mare stated, reaching her forehoof out before pausing and thinking twice of touching her. "I'm Twilight Velvet." "... oh." Sunset let out, staring at her before finally shaking herself awake. "Oh! um, yeah I'm Sunset Shimmer," She looked back towards the entrance. "Where's my... uh... I mean, where's your husband?" Sunset asked. She'd have expected her actual biological uncle to be the one to come to the cafe, not his wife. "Your uncle Nightlight couldn't make it till after five, but I thought it would be better to let you know rather than leave you in suspense all day." Velvet replied as she sat down at the table. "You're not here by yourself are you? I hoped to meet your adopted parents." Sunset was a bit miffed and confused, though she tried not to let it show on her face. Clearly this lady didn't know anything about her current situation. "I actually have a scholarship to Celestia's School for Gifted Unicorns, and I've lived on the student housing for years. Don't know why you thought differently, but I was never adopted. I suppose the school head may technically be my guardian, not sure. I'm not immature like other students there, so they give me lots of independence and even a stipend." Sunset defended herself. Velvet looked at her, surprised and a bit askance to find out her niece was alone this whole time. Calm down Velvet. Now's not the time to over react. Don't scare the filly off. She couldn't believe the orphanage hadn't been willing to let them know even that much. "I-I see dear... Well, I suppose you're a smart pony then! You know, Shiny- I mean- your cousin, Shining Armor is also very studious, and Twilight Sparkle, my youngest daughter, is still in preschool but she already loves reading. Seems like you three have that in common!" Velvet deflected instead of asking the questions she truly wanted with the new information that Sunset had provided. "So what do you and your husband do Mrs Velvet?" Sunset replied back, taking the chance to get more information from the older mare. "Oh, well funnily enough, Night Light's cutie mark is a pair of moons. Most people think it's related to Astronomy, but it actually is related to Optics, or making things look bigger and closer. He actually works on specialized equipment like telescope lenses for the Canterlot Observatory and microscopes for labs." Velvet paused to give the waiter her order, before continuing wistfully, "I'm an adventure novelist actually, though lately I have picked quite a bit of work editing for other authors as well. It lets me work from home and be flexible for the kids." Sunset frowned, "Wait, but how does your cutie mark tie into writing?" she asked a bit rudely. She'd already noticed that Velvet's cutie mark was a trio of five pointed stars, which she would usually have connected with a talent in some form of magic. It was a bit aggravating that neither grownup relation shared her passion for magic. Velvet took a moment to think about how to respond. "Well, I gained my cutie mark at a filly guides camp out. The rest of the fillies in the troop decided to organize a competition for best storytelling while we were at the campfire, and I got so into it that it was almost magical. Next thing I know, everypony votes for my story, and I got three candy apples as my prize. I realized how fun it had been to imagine going on adventures, and next thing I knew I had my cutie mark!" Velvet paused to drink her tea, mulling something, "I wasn't sure what it meant for years though. I actually figured out what I wanted to do after I started babysitting actually. It was so fulfilling to make up bedtime stories for foals, or reading them stories about pirates or far off places." They ended up spending a couple hours simply talking, with Sunset mostly prodding to know more about the other living family she had, while Velvet tried to be as open as possible. It was a bit odd that Sunset hadn't asked much about her mother, though Velvet assumed it was likely because she had assumed she'd have to wait for Night Light to get those answers. "Sunset? I was actually hoping you'd be willing to meet the rest of the family. Twily will be out of preschool soon, we could pick her up and walk to the house and continue there? If that is too much for today we can always set up a better time for you however?" Velvet finally asked the other unicorn. Sunset looked undecided but thoughtful. "Fine. Let's pick up your daughter. I'll think about staying for longer though." They set off after paying for their drinks and snacks.