The Sun and Stars: Lightning Round

by JKinsley

Sunset Shimmer: Forgotten - Knight of Cerebus - March 14 to 21, 2015

By Knight of Cerebus

“I brought somebody to see you, Sunset.” The young, bubbly blue-coated volunteer cast a smile over at the pony currently reading the Canterlot Times. “She’s an old friend of yours.” The quiet gold-coated mare looked up from her place beside the fireplace, setting aside the paper with a smile.

“Who do you have for me this time?” She crooned, peering out through her reading glasses to watch the other pony. Before her towered a giant of an alicorn, her thick blue and pink mane swirling in a cosmic breeze that wasn’t there. She set forward a set of flawless lavender hooves, step by careful step. Though everything about the alicorn suggested a sense of harmony and peace, the pony in the rocking chair beside the fireplace cringed in place and recoiled from the sight.

Twilight gave Sunset a bittersweet smile. “Hey, Sunset, I just came to drop off some more books for you. I know you wanted to finish all the greats before--well, you know.” She gave a wince. She set down a copy of Tropic of Prancer beside the other twelve that had accumulated thus far, then placed the fifth edition copy of Hoof of Darkness over by the fourth and eighth editions she’d brought the last two times. The rest of the books were new. She liked to remain optimistic.

Sunset, for her part, was still making her best effort to disappear into her chair. “Principal Celestia! How did you even--? I--never mind. I-I-I know this looks bad, and I know it probably is bad, but--”

“Shhhh.” Twilight’s well-practiced librarian voice proved its worth once more. “It’s not her, Sunset. It’s Twilight Sparkle, remember?”

“Twilight...Twilight?” Sunset grasped the book between her hooves protectively. “What have you found out about me this time?” Her eyes narrowed. “The crown is mine! I deserved it! No...wait...we weren’t...we were friends, right?...I taught you how to write, didn’t I?”

Twilight smiled that smile that hurt to wear again. “Of course you did. I just...wanted to see how you were holding up.”

Sunset smiled to herself. “It’s been great! All the time spent with friends...or that was spent with friends.” She frowned all of a sudden, and realized the odd sensation of her heart breaking without her knowing why. “I...think it’s still spent with friends, isn’t it? Have my reports to you been okay? I hope you learned something from ‘em. I know I did.” She gave a nervous chuckle, then winced when it came out a croak.

“Maybe we should reschedule, your highness.” The young helper pony chimed in. “You know how she gets. Some days she’s sharper than me and twice as busy. Then you get some days like this.”

Twilight sighed. “I know, Humble. But you don’t need to be as sharp as she is--was--to know that the good days are getting shorter, and she doesn’t have them half as often as she did.”

“They’ve been good days.” Sunset said defensively. “Except last week. You know how Dash can be.” She gave a wry chuckle, and Twilight made a token effort to join her.

“Yeah, I do.” The alicorn swallowed on a ball she hadn’t noticed forming in her throat. She turned back to the nurse. “How long do you think she...do you think she has?”

The smaller pony shook her head, her mask of smiles slipping to reveal an aura of exhaustion taking shelter underneath. “It’s never clear in cases like these. It could be two months or it could be next week. But what you’re doing is good for her. You have to keep them busy and keep them loved. You’re doing both, and it’s been great for her. For both of us, honestly.” She gave Twilight a smile that was decidedly genuine.

Twilight gave a good-natured smile back. “You’re reminding me of my wife. I keep trying to get her to come here, but she says it’s ‘not time yet’. Heh. She’s just too proud to admit how much it tears her up. Seeing her old student like this, I mean. I love her to bits, but that pony couldn’t show her heart to the world if it would kill her. Anyway, ah, I should be thanking you for everything you’re doing, not the other way around. Even if I had the time off, there’s no way I could stand seeing this every day,” She gestured quietly at Sunset’s currently blank stare and open mouth. The bookish alicorn made her best efforts to pull her out of her stupor. “Would you like to read with me, Sunset? For old times’ sake?”

The elderly mare’s face reclaimed her recently-lost trademark wicked smirk, which peaked its way out through the wrinkles and gray hairs along her muzzle. “Think you can keep up, egghead?”

Twilight shot back a quiet, painful smile. “I think so, yeah.” She said more to herself than to Sunset. She set a book in front of each of them, resting a young and vital hoof over top of her old friend’s own withered and slender limb. She set to reading alongside the older pony, trying to ignore how quickly she was going compared with her famous counterpart. It was only because Twilight chose to ignore it that she didn’t notice Sunset’s eyes run over the same photo of herself and six other girls again and again and again.

Comments

[RoyalBardofCanterlot]

Beautiful.