//------------------------------// // Harmless Gossip // Story: The Sun Never Sets // by Mr Fislewait //------------------------------// It had been months since Sunset had moved into Ponyville and Rarity was immensely thankful that in that time things had returned to normal. For awhile she'd been a little worried that Twilight was taking the situation a little too personally. She'd seemed to have placed the burden of seeing to Sunset's recovery firmly upon her own shoulders and it had been noticeable to all of her friends that she'd been becoming increasingly stressed and tired. Now though things seemed to have calmed down. Sunset was for the most part able to take care of herself and with the exception of a few minor altercations had adapted to life in Ponyville very well. Perhaps she was a little bit of a recluse but that was understandable, it was a little sad really how Twilight seemed to be the only one she seemed willing to completely trust as since the map had begun working again Twilight would often be out of town on friendship business. On days like that nopony really saw Sunset about town. "Wow, I really can't thank you enough for this, Rarity," Raindrops turned a couple of times on the podium admiring her new dress from every angle. "Think nothing of it, darling, I always strive to see the customer happy," noticing a few minor flaws in the dress Rarity quickly went about finishing her adjustments, her magic quickly correcting the imperfections. "I know but it was at such short notice I was worried you might not be able to get it done," Raindrops sighed her face dropping slightly. "It's my own fault really, I've known about the wedding for months I just never seemed to get round to sorting out a dress." She admired herself once more in the mirror and smiled. "I just hope you haven't done too good of a job, I'm pretty sure it's bad form to show up better dressed than the bride." The two of them shared a quick laugh. Oh adventure was all fine and good but Rarity adored moments like these, getting to work on a beautiful dress, talking to a friend or acquaintance... "Say, Rarity... I don't suppose you've heard the latest piece of gossip floating around town have you?" Raindrops asked with a grin. "Why a lady does not indulge in such petty things!" Rarity joked. "But do go on," she quickly flipped the sign on the door to 'closed' and then sat down at her coffee table with Raindrops quickly joining her. "According to a less than reputable source, Prince Blueblood finally managed to knock up some poor mare in Canterlot! I mean everypony always assumed he'd been sleeping around, anyone who's met him wouldn't be surprised by that," Rarity could only nod in agreement, her own meeting with the stallion had proven his character to be lacking. "Except now he's gone and got one of his one night stands pregnant and Celestia is having to clean up his mess! Hay I bet the whole 'ambassadorial' thing he has going on right now is just to keep him out of the public eye till it all blows over." "No!" Rarity gasped. "Oh it all sounds so scandalous! I doubt it's all true though, the Princess is hardly one to cover such a thing up. May I inquire as to the identity of your source? Somepony in the Canterlot elite no doubt!" Rarity's eyes lit up with hunger. It had been far too long since she had heard a good bit of gossip. Her mind quickly ran through the possibilities of Canterlot ponies who might have let the news spill, casually listing a few of those ponies as potentially being the mother of Blueblood's child. "Roseluck!" Raindrops said with a conspiratorial grin. Not who Rarity had been expecting, Roseluck was a notorious gossip but it seemed unlikely that she would have a way of finding such a secret out. "Rose made a little wager with Berry months ago and apparently she won it. Now Berry has a little betting pool going on, which is pointless really because Rose already told everyone that Blueblood was the father..." "I'm sorry, darling, but I'm afraid you've lost me, how in Equestria did Rose hear about this? And what is this about a betting pool?" "Oh, it's just a few harmless bets as to who the foal's father is, as for Rose she worked it all out herself." "So it isn't so much a matter of Rose having heard of Blueblood having a child, as it is that she assumes a mare is carrying his child," a chill passed down Rarity's spine as the implication began to set in, an awful dread setting in as she began to realize whom Rose might have been talking about. "Pretty much," Raindrops nodded. "It's the new librarian," even if she wanted to it had become impossible to deny that Sunset was pregnant, between the frequent visits she had to the hospital and the increasingly obvious bump in her belly it had long since become pointless to deny the fact. "Random pregnant mares don't just turn up out of nowhere, and they certainly don't take up lodging with a Princess! According to Rose the only Princess that hasn't visited her is Luna. It all makes so much sense, Rarity, Blueblood got her pregnant and now the Princesses are trying to keep the whole thing quiet by looking after her and keeping her out of the way in Ponyville!" It took Rarity a great deal of self restraint not to do something rash, in the end she politely raised her hoof and called for Raindrops to be silent. "Raindrops, I know we aren't really close friends but if you value my friendship in the slightest please promise me that you won't spread this little rumor around the town. Having spoken with Twilight and Sunset I can assure you it is also quite baseless. Sunset has been through rather a lot and she isn't in the best place right now. Now I know you and Rose meant no harm by it but we really must stop this silly little gossip, I can only imagine how upset Sunset would be if she were to hear about ponies whispering behind her back." As she spoke Raindrops smile dropped and her face turned pale. "Oh dear..." "How... how many ponies have heard about this little rumor..." Rarity mumbled, from the look on Raindrops' face she wasn't going to like the answer. "I heard it from Cloud Kicker but there were a couple of other members of the weather team there with me. Ummm the betting pool though... when I asked Berry about it she said there was about two dozen ponies who'd already placed wagers," Rarity couldn't believe what she was hearing, this was just like the incident with Zecora all over again. Ponies had certainly seen Sunset walking around the town but the unicorn rarely spoke with the townsponies, just like Zecora she hid her body away and what little was seen was quite memorable. "Dare I ask what people are saying about her behind her back?" Rarity muttered. She wasn't so much angry with the others as disappointed, she thought they were better than this, thought they would have learned from their mistakes. "Well Blueblood is the most popular choice," Raindrops nervously answered, tugging at her mane. "Then on top of that there's ummm... I'm sorry Rarity but promise me you wont get too angry at some of these." Rarity sighed but motioned for her to continue. "Fancy Pants, Soarin, Hoity Toity, Soothing Spell, Dusk Duster..." Rarity raised an eyebrow at the last one, "apparently he's some distant descendant of Clover the Clever, I'd never heard of him either. Then there's also..." Raindrops paused again weighing up whether or not to tell Rarity. "Because she's staying with Twilight a few ponies have considered she might be doing a favor for family or a friend and they might have gotten it into their heads that... well Big Mac and Shining Armor are both on the list too." Rarities mouth dropped wide open. "There's ummm also a bet that Thunderlane placed, that she got pregnant in prison." "Prison?" Rarity gasped. It was one thing to imagine how bad Sunset might feel if she got wind of ponies speculating about her foals father, but to have them calling her a common criminal! "Where in Equestria did he get such an idea?" "He uh... he sort of thought she was kinda attractive even with the burns... and well... you know Thunderlane. He 'accidentally' bumped into her in Sugar Cube Corner hoping to get a look under the dress and he uhhh... he saw some things while she was getting herself back up." "What sort of things," Rarity grimaced. "She had some sort of thing wrapped around her horn, he said it looked a little like an inhibitor. He also said she has some sort of tattoo across her cutie mark, except it's just a string of numbers. Like identification or something. Look, Rarity, I'm sorry, I don't think any of us thought that this might hurt her. It was just a little bit of harmless gossip." "Yes, well, the damage may have already been done. I'll talk to Twilight, perhaps you could see about having Berry cancel her little betting pool. I'm sure if you explain it to her politely she will be happy to oblige." --------------------------------------- After Rarity had finished explaining the situation to her Twilight the Princess just sat there blinking. "They did what?" she asked incredulously, if Rarity hadn't gone into so much detail she would have asked her friend to repeat what had just been said to make sure she'd heard right. She could scarcely believe that this had been going on. "Yes, well I've asked Raindrops to try and explain the situation to Berry and I'll be going around the town hoping to mitigate some of the damage, don't worry, I shall be having words with Rose about what she has done," from the way she was talking Twilight imagined the words would be quite loud. "I should probably speak with Sunset," Twilight sighed, "hopefully she hasn't heard but... well hopefully she hasn't heard." "Heard what?" both mares jumped at the sound of the third voice, standing in the doorway was Sunset a mad grin on her face. "The part where I apparently slept with half the Canterlot nobility? Or maybe the part where I'm a dangerous criminal who's been let out of jail just long enough for me to give birth," a few tears were working their way down Sunset's face as she spoke. "What about the part where I was apparently talking to my own reflection in windows, did Raindrops tell you that too or did this Roseluck forget to mention that part to her," Sunset gave a hollow chuckle and stared at the floor. "Sunset, how much did you hear-" "Only the end of your conversation, Twilight, but a whole lot more the past few weeks about town. I'd have brought it up with you but... well I was pretty much expecting this to happen. I did warn you Twilight, this is precisely why I don't want anypony knowing who her father is," Sunset slumped backwards onto her hindquarters and rubbed a hoof across the surface of her belly. "Sunset Shimmer, home wrecker," she laughed again. "If this is how a few small town ponies are going to react, how would Equestria treat me... us if they knew the truth? He'd hate me for lying about having slept with him and everypony else, well they'd probably hate one of us, either me for for being some gold digging little orphan or him for refusing to take responsibility. Twilight, I'm going to raise this filly without his help, deal with it. Now you can either support me in this, and if Ponyville will have us then the two of might live here. Or I can go somewhere else, somewhere that ponies wont care about who her father is. Your choice, Twilight," rising from the floor Sunset strode out of the room leaving the other two mares standing open mouthed and visibly shaken. Until now they hadn't quite realized how touchy a subject the foals parentage had been with her.