For Yourself
A week's time found Sunset leaning on the fence at Sweet Apple Acres, tilting her head as she watched an orange pony scoop a small mound of moist soil from the ground at the base of one of her many trees, peering at it with a critical emerald eye. After a brief moment, she frowned, throwing the little glob of dirt down and shaking her head with obvious annoyance as she returned to the fenceline to speak to her guest.
“Too much water in the soil. Not gonna be the end of the world, but if the weather teams don't lay off there's gonna be more crown rot than I'm comfortable with come bucking season.” Applejack noted, her voice sour. “They oughta know better. I'll have to bring it up to Dash next chance I get.”
“I thought you'd like having a little extra rainfall? It save you having to water your trees yourself, doesn't it?” Sunset asked, inquisitive.
“A little rain's fine, but it's rained or drizzled every day for the last three. Too much moisture helps certain unpleasantries like crown rot take in some trees. Apple trees also have a mite shallow of a root spread compared to other fruit bearin' trees too, so all of this water constantly pouring down and soaking into the earth makes em a bit loose. If we buck em like that we run a real risk of them tilting wrong, especially when you're as strong as Mac is.” The farmer frowned as she wiped the sweat forming on her brow. “Of course, we wouldn't buck those trees, but that's product lost that we need to sell to make ends meet. Every bit counts when you're a farmer, Sunset.”
The unicorn blinked. “I mean, I knew that much. Are you guys really that hard up?”
Applejack arched her brows in response. “I wouldn't call it hard up. We got a roof over our heads n' food on the table, and that's really what's important, isn't it? We're not exactly rolling in spare bits, but we make enough to get by and that's all you really need.”
Sunset privately disagreed, but she did admire the earth pony's eminent sensibility. “I guess I can see that. You guys all work so hard, though...”
“That we do, and we see the results of it in good time.” The blonde-maned mare grinned as she tipped her hat back. “Some might call it a lack of ambition, but I call it being aware of what's really important in life. I got good land, good trees, a fine town. Friends, family, and food are what matter most, Sunset. The hard work...it makes for a satisfaction I guarantee you won't find anywhere else. 'Course I might be a tad biased, eheheh.” She chuckled.
Sunset was quiet for a moment. She tried to picture herself in Applejack's position; rising before the sun, tilling the fields, watering crops, weeding, bucking and processing. The more she thought about it, the more she smiled to herself, the expression wry. She couldn't do it, she concluded. That sort of simplicity just wasn't for her; she was too curious, too determined to master everything around her. To live as the farmer's family did was to submit, in a way, to the world's cycles and the caprices of the earth.
AJ opened a pair of saddlebags hanging on the fencepost nearest her and pulled out a clean rag, wiping her face once more in a vain effort to stave off the sweat. “But I feel like you didn't come out here to jaw about how we Apples like to live. What's eatin' you, sugarcube?”
“Ah, well...it's about Twilight.”
“What about her? Is she still glum over the talkin'-to y'all got from the Princess for bringing them sirens here?” Sunset rolled her eyes; leave it to AJ to sum it up in the most blunt way possible.
“I think so. She's just been very...uh, subdued all week. Spike said she'd probably get over it in a few days, but I think this one hit her harder than he thought.” Sunset explained, worry evident. “I thought I would try to cheer her up, but it isn't really taking. Do you have any thoughts?”
The orange mare frowned, tapping her just-wiped chin with a muddy hoof as she pondered. “Well, I reckon she's always been pretty wound-up when it came to Princess Celestia. Most times she got bent outta shape tryin' to please her, Twilight would usually realize she was overthinkin it after the fact. I wonder what's different this time...” She squinted, apparently considering. “...Well, I got nothin' for ya, Sunset. I'm sorry. Maybe she just wants somepony to listen to her for a bit? Seems to help when she gets stressed out, especially since Cadance taught her that trick for relaxing.”
The fiery-maned unicorn furrowed her brow. It couldn't be that simple; she and Spike were on hoof most of the time and if there was anypony she could speak to it'd be the young dragon....right? Her musing was interrupted as AJ continued.
“I guess I'd recommend asking the Princess about it, but I guess you'd have yer own hurdles there. In any case, I gotta get back to it, Sunset. If Twi says anything to me I'll give you a holler. Have a good day, y'hear?” She tipped her hat to the unicorn, who smiled and waved before hopping off the fence. She moved back to the main road, a frown on her face as she ruminated.
Rarity and Fluttershy had been similarly uncertain about how to approach Twilight, though she had their support if she needed them for an effort to try. She had yet to try talking to Pinkie Pie...and if there was anyone who knew how to cheer a pony up, it would have to be her. Even if they hadn't really had a chance to interact properly in all her time in Ponyville...come to think of it, Sunset was honestly surprised she hadn't encountered the cotton-maned mare since then deliberately. She felt a twist in her stomach; the Pinkie she knew was incorrigibly cheerful and intent on being friends, to the point of being obnoxious. Could this one be less outgoing?
“There's only one way to find out.” She said aloud to herself, trotting purposefully into town.
Sugarcube Corner was remarkably calm as she entered the door, the bell above her jingling merrily, oblivious to the somber mood that seemed to blanket the town like the cloud cover. Luckily for Sunset, the mare she sought was hunched over the counter, focused intently on placing a domino. The amber mare was taken aback; the little spotted column ran up and over the cash register on a set of boards and in a series of turnbacks and spirals that made her head hurt to look at. She remained silent as the pink mare set her piece down with a sigh as she looked up with a smile that flipped into surprise.
“Sunset Shimmer?”
“H-hey, Pinkie. Can we talk?” The unicorn waved awkwardly from the door.
“Sure!” The mare's bubbly attitude took Sunset aback, even if it did lift her spirits somewhat. She had expected a chilly reception, but then she wasn't even sure what a chilly reception would look like on a pony like Pinkie. She smiled as she went to take a seat at a table; while she was here she could get something to fill her stomach (and frankly she did miss the delicious confections from the Pinkie on the other side).
“So what'll you have today?” Sunset nearly jumped out of her seat as the mare seemingly materialized out of thin air next to her, mysteriously able to cross the counter and lobby in silence with frightening speed.
“Holy Celes--Pinkie, you've gotta warn a pony when you're--ugh, whatever. Could I have a lemonade and a sweetroll? Just something simple?” She was again shocked when Pinkie produced her order seemingly out of thin air and placed it on the table, but bit down on her questions before they could reach her lips. She was rewarded when her host plopped into the seat opposite her, a patient smile on her face.
A moment of silence passed between them. Sunset tentatively grabbed her sweetroll with a kinetic field and took a bite, narrowing her eyes as she chewed (it was a very good sweetroll, to be fair, with just the right amount of cinnamon). The earth pony just stared at her, blinking far less than Sunset felt she ought with those big blue eyes.
Another moment of silence as she swallowed and set her food down.
“....alright, this is getting weird. Pinkie Pie, I'm Sunset Shimmer. We've been introduced, but our introduction was a bit strained last time.” She had only barely offered her hoof when Pinkie seized the limb and shook it up and down at a speed that turned it to jelly.
“OHMIGOSH I'M SO HAPPY YOU CAME SO NOW WE CAN BE FRIENDS AND I DON'T HAVE TO TRY TO AVOID YOU SO AS NOT TO UPSET YOU OR TWILIGHT AND I CAN THROW YOU A WELCOME-BACK TO EQUESTRIA PARTY AND--Oh. My. GOSH.” She stopped, her expression one of stark horror. “I don't have a file for you! I was so busy trying not to bother you that I forgot to find out your happy things and not-happy things!” She pulled a clipboard and pencil from her mane and slammed them on the table before Sunset. “SPILL IT!” She shrieked at the unicorn.
Sunset's expression of shock morphed into one of indignation as she applied an adhesion cantrip to the pink mare's mouth, shutting it with a quick pull of magic. “EASY, PARTY GIRL. Let's slow it down some.” She flinched as Pinkie jabbed a hoof at her, her face one of menace as she alternated between pointing at the clipboard and the unicorn. “Alright, I get it! I'm gonna unstick your mouth, so relax, okay?”
As she expected, the party pony's mouth started running the moment she had a corner of her mouth open, prompting a quiet sigh as she pulled the rest of her little spell off. “Okay, first question is: what's your stance on boxers versus briefs?”
“Wh-what? We don't even--”
“I'll put you down as briefs! Next question, Pro-Reg or Anti-Reg?”
“Pinkie, can we do this another time?” Sunset asked, exasperation evident. “I'm glad we've got our misunderstanding cleared up (in record time, I think), but I'm here for Twilight!”
“For Twilight? Does she need a party thrown? Is she gonna entertain more guests?” She leaned in close, whispering hoarsely to Sunset, “Is it the yaks again?”
“Wh--no, no yaks. Twilight's just been down lately and I'm looking to cheer her up. You're the best pers--uh, pony at making others happy, so I figured you'd be able to help.”
Pinkie nodded sagely, putting the pencil behind her ear and placing the clipboard on the table. “Well, I'm pleased you came to me, Miss Shimmer. My professional cheer services are the best in town, and the best in the next town, and the next town, but not the town after that. The guy there's just too much; have you SEEN his material?” At the unicorn's silent denial, she continued. “I'll be more than happy to offer my hoof. First, though, I'll need to observe the subject and get a feel for the best approach. Toodles!” With that she practically flew from the store, the double-doors banging behind her wildly.
Sunset stared at the doors silently, a look of dull surprise and resignation on her face as she nibbled her sweetroll idly. She wasn't sure what she'd expected. Instead she opted to sip her lemonade and take a look at the form Pinkie seemed intent on filling out. To her complete lack of surprise, it seemed to be a crude crayon drawing of Pinkie Pie and herself that wouldn't be out of place in a kindergarten class. A part of her wanted to ask how the mare had managed to draw this with a pencil. Another part of her darkly remarked that this was likely to be some sort of code Pinkie used that made sense only to her. She shook her head; that was just dumb. Even Pinkie, inscrutable though she could be, couldn't make a hidden code out of childish crayon scribblings. She put the clipboard down and sipped her lemonade.
…could she? She narrowed her eyes at the picture past her cup, a bead of sweat forming on her brow. Maybe--
Her ruminations were cut off when Pinkie blurred back through the doorway, the bell jangling crazily on its perch (once more Sunset wondered how it remained up there with such violent entry/exits). She resumed her seat wordlessly, hooves before her face in what seemed to be an approximation of finger-tenting.
“I'm afraid this is a very serious case, Miss Shimmer.” The uncharacteristic gravity of her voice made the unicorn arch her eyebrows.
“I figured. You think one of your patented parties...?”
“I could try that...” She dropped the businessmare act abruptly, a sad smile on her face. “...but I think she needs a different kind of cheering up.”
Sunset leaned back, perplexed. “What do you mean?”
“Take it from me, Sunset! Not all sadness can be cured with a party. Sometimes a pony needs something less--or more!-- than a celebration. Sometimes it's just somepony that really gets them. Twilight's one of my best, most favorite friends, but even I can't say that I really understand all of her, so when she gets into a certain kind of mood, there isn't really anything I can do except try to be there for her to talk to when she's ready.” She rubbed the back of her head, a sheepish smile on her face. “It's a little embarrassing to admit, though.”
Sunset blinked, stunned. “S-so, what can we do?”
“Well, we can wait her out until she's ready to talk, or we could go to the Princess. Or!” She grinned, “You could talk to her. You probably know what's bothering her best.”
“Well, yeah. The Princess treated us like a pair of foals who broke a vase.” An errant blister of anger swelled in her head, reaching her face in the form of a scowl. “We were doing the right thing and we still got blasted for it. It was stupid.”
“So talk to her about that, Shimmy!” Pinkie replied, oblivious to the indignant surprise on her guest's face at the nickname.
“One, never call me that again. Uh, please.” Sunset amended, a sliver of guilt in her voice. “Two, I'll try.”
“Try not.” said the pink mare without warning, her voice croaky and seemingly shooting for 'ancient stallion with a strange speech pattern'. “Do, or do not. There is no try.”
“...so, do you just do impressions of little sage gremlins on demand?”
“I dabble!”
Back at the castle, Sunset found Spike in the lower reading room, browsing over a comic and looking mildly disinterested. Perhaps he'd already read that issue? Either way, he looked and up waved a greeting at Sunset. “Looking for Twilight?”
“How'd you know?”
Spike's response was a knowing smile that managed to be somehow understanding and smug simultaneously. “She's in the library, when last I checked. I think she's probably still staring at books.”
“That's called reading, Spike.”
“Not when you're not actually taking in what you're looking at, Shimmer.” He corrected, a grim smile on his face. “She's still pretty bummed out. I'm pretty sure I saw Pinkie on the outside of one of our windows; I take it she has a plan of some kind or another?”
“Nope, not really. I'm gonna try to talk to her; it's not like we have anything to lose.” Sunset replied dryly.
“Fair point. Good luck, Sunset. If you need me, I'm here.” He waved at her and turned back to his comic, his look of mild disappointment returning. “...aw, come on. That guy's died like seven times.”
Sunset left him to is annoyance with whatever he was reading and threaded a path through the castle to the larger of Twilight's libraries, pleasantly surprised at how easily she found her way. She stopped before the library's doors, looking around the corner. Sure enough, there was Twilight. She might be mistaken for reading at first pass, but Spike's assessment had been correct; her eyes were hardly moving and she wasn't turning pages. Her heart wasn't in it. The unicorn felt her stomach sink. She resolved to get some kind of response out of the alicorn, even if she had to be annoying to do it.
“Hey, Twilight.” The alicorn looked up at the voice, appearing for all the world like someone who'd just been roused from a drowsy spell. Sunset paced into the room slowly, taking a seat on a cushion adjacent to the lavender mare. “How're you doing?”
Twilight summoned her best fake smile (Sunset was by now quite adept at spotting them out) and replied, “I'm fine.”
“Right, and I'm an alicorn.” Sunset rolled her eyes. “You've been gloomy all week. Are you still down about Princess Celestia yelling at us--er, scolding us?” The downcast expression from the younger alicorn confirmed it for her. She sighed, cupping Twilight's face in her hooves. “Alright, listen. You need to get over it.”
The alicorn scowled, pushing Sunset's hooves away. “Excuse me? There's nothing to get over, and even if there was, it's my business whether I decide to be glum about it or not. Is that all you had to say?”
Sunset furrowed her brow. “There IS something to get over, so don't pretend there isn't. It's not helpful or healthy. If there weren't then why've you been sulking for so long?”
“I-I haven't been sulking! That implies I'm being puerile and pouty about having been caught doing something wrong!”
“Okay, so what's your word for it?”
“I feel moping is a better word. I-If I were to be doing it at all, which I haven't been!” Twilight insisted, stamping her forehooves to punctuate her words.
Sunset was unconvinced and it showed on her face. “You're totally moping.”
“I am not--UGH!” There was another of her trademark groans of frustration. They were sorta cute, Sunset mused, if one ignored the unpleasant conditions necessary to draw them out. “Alright, so I'm feeling a little down about being scolded by my mentor, the pony I look up to the most, even when we thought we were doing the right thing. Isn't that to be expected?” She slumped on the table, pushing her book aside. “We disappointed her.”
“We were doing the right thing, Twilight. We did the right thing.” Sunset interrupted, her annoyance rising. “Celestia literally said we were making the best decision morally.”
“But it was the wrong decision practically!” Twilight insisted. “Even if we did the right thing we did the wrong thing by doing the right thing! We should've...we should've sent word, or something. We...” She pulled a face even as she said it.
“We did the best we could with the situation we had.” Sunset responded forcefully.
“But we...I should've thought more. Should've thought further ahead; the Princess is right.” said the alicorn somberly. “My decisions are bigger than me now. I'm not...allowed to make those kinds of choices on a whim.”
“But you didn't make it on a whim OR alone!”
“I'm one of the leaders of this kingdom, Sunset! How could I have knowingly endangered the populace?!” Twilight wailed, covering her head with her hooves as another groan passed her lips. “I have to..I can't just--”
Sunset brought her hoof down with a resounding crack, the sound echoing in the library and making the lavender mare jump in surprise.
“Twilight,” the unicorn ground out, “You're not the leader of anything.” At the alicorn's look of hurt and shock, she continued, her voice somewhat less harsh. “You said it yourself, you don't have any real authority. You don't run any aspect of the country and your public service is relegated to appearances at events and occasional lectures at Celestia's school. And that bothers you, doesn't it?” Her host nodded despite her miserable expression.
“You told me that you and Celestia were supposed to be equals now, that you were no longer teacher and student, director and subordinate.” Sunset paused, taking a moment to breathe. “That's...that's not what's happening here.” She waved her hoof dismissively as she continued, “Maybe it's not my place to comment on, considering I'm just the most recent failure student before the greatest success story, but in my experience an equal is someone that isn't treated like a child for doing the right thing. An equal doesn't get castigated for making a tough call and dismissed as though they were a naughty filly.”
“Sunset, she's my senior by a thousand years minimum.” Twilight protested, “Of course I'm going to defer to her--”
“There's a difference between respecting her experience and being a servant, Twilight!” Sunset all but shouted, punctuating her cry with another stomp of the table. “You're doing the latter! You're beating yourself up over this when you have NOTHING to be ashamed of! You did the right thing! WE did the right thing! Together! We both made this decision. Should we maybe have sent her a letter or something? Perhaps, but time seemed to be of the essence! Did we jump the starting bell? Yeah, but we were doing it to help ponies who might not have had time for a full stinking tribunal!”
Twilight leaned down, ears pinned back as Sunset stabbed at hoof at her, limb shaking with barely contained emotion.
“You made a call as a Princess of this land, and if you're really the equal of all the other Princesses, then that should be respected! Not mocked! Not denigrated! Not handled as though you'd gone and deliberately broken a rule!” Sunset paused, breathing heavily. The alicorn had tears forming at the corners of her eyes, close to open weeping. The amber mare's heart wrenched painfully; she hadn't meant to...she changed tack, settling down and scooting over to Twilight to lay a hoof around her.
“Twilight, I...I'm sorry. I didn't mean to...” She sighed, rubbing her temple with her other forehoof. “No, I did. I did mean to say that.” She looked again at her host who was silently hiccuping as she tried not to cry. “You shouldn't...I don't want to see you feeling like you're less than you are, Twilight. Nopony should make you feel that way. Least of all Princess Celestia.” Sunset glowered, looking past the alicorn. Even as she did, shame bubbled in her mind at the very idea that she had any legitmate grievance with the eldest Princess, but it was tamped down in (what she hoped was) righteous anger. She gave Twilight another gentle squeeze as she continued, “It's okay to not agree with her, Twilight. You're not...you're not her. You're Twilight Sparkle, PRINCESS Twilight Sparkle. Not Princess Celestia Mark Two, not Celestia Jr. You can make your own decisions without running things by her. You didn't ask her for permission when you invited me to stay with you, did you?”
The alicorn shook her head, a wobbly smile on her bleary face. Sunset felt stricken as she saw that Twilight had transitioned into weeping after all; she gave a bracing grin and continued, “And look how well that turned out. I'm feeling loads better than I was, and now you've got a little fire-colored demon on your shoulder daring to imply that maybe you can do things some Princesses might consider un-princess-ly.” Twilight's croaky chuckle made the unicorn's spirit soar. “Just...don't beat yourself up like this, Twilight. Maybe Celestia's not wrong, but she isn't entirely right, either.”
She turned to the alicorn, cupping Twilight's face with her hooves again, the slightly reddened lavender orbs looking at her wetly. “Don't try to sit on this stuff by yourself. That's...like...Friendship 101, isn't it? Talk to someone. If it's this sort of thing, talk to ME. If there's anyone among your friends who knows about entertaining conflicting thoughts regarding our glorious leader, it's me. I'll listen, Twilight.” Sunset blinked, a genuine smile on her face. “Two heads are better than one, after all.”
That earned her a chuckle; she pulled Twilight in for a hug that the lavender alicorn returned firmly as she took a few deep bracing breaths.
“Thanks, Sunset.”
“Anytime.”
A silence passed between them; their embrace lasted perhaps longer than was strictly necessary and they both realized it simultaneously as they disengaged hurriedly, Twilight stifling a giggle and Sunset coughing conspicuously.
“Oh, did I tell you I talked to Pinkie?”
“You did? Did it go well...?” Twilight asked huskily, rubbing her eyes.
“Sure did; honestly not sure why I didn't do it before.” Sunset wore a wry smile. “Story of my life, I guess. She started asking me to answer a questionnaire of some kind, though...”
“Oh, be careful about some of those. I'm not sure how she uses them but she gets pretty prickly about dishonest answers.” Twilight noted.
“How would she know any different, especially in my case?”
“She just knows, Sunset. Don't try it.”
Another ominous silence passed between them before they both broke down in giggles.
Some hours later, Spike tiptoed down the hall, leaning into the library to check on his favorite sister-nerd and newest friend.
There were Sunset and Twilight, sitting practically shoulder to shoulder as they pored over a tome, the former occasionally asking for clarification or making a snide comment on the things they found within as the latter was alternatively helpfully informative and giggly as a schoolfilly. The young dragon grinned widely to himself as he noted that their tails seemed to be intertwined with one another; probably not anything they were aware of, but still. He leaned back around the corner and shut the door as silently as he was able. With a silent but vigorous fistpump of victory, he went back downstairs to get cracking on dinner.
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Great chapter. Cheering Twilight up like that was downright perfection.
Fuck Yeah Sunset!
Quick question before I read this, is this story set in the equestria girls universe, or the mlp one?
7211333 I'm a little curious before I start myself. though I believe as the synopsis is depicting, possible time in the EqG-verse as the set up, then eventually a return to Equestria.
I'll probably just dive in before the author's reply comes in
7211359 ah, I'm slightly worried if it is an equestria girls story, cause I haven't found ANY sunset shimmer stories where she returns to equestria....well, I have, but most ended prematurely, some are on hiatus, and a few simply deleted.
7211430 Check out Sunset Reset, it's a good read
7211333
7211359
It's mostly set in Equestria with the occasional chapter in EQG. Hope you guys enjoy reading, it's a great story.
7212134 As noted in another comment, she is unlikely to appear in this story.
Sorry, not my cup of tea.
At first it was interesting but I start to lose interest as time went on...
7212142 Ok, then.
7211437 Where can I read that story?
This story sounds like it needs a sad tag. Why doesn't it have one?
7241505 Hm...well, it has sad moments, but I don't think sadness is a major part of it, if that makes sense. Self-recrimination, doubt...but I feel that it would warrant a sad tag more if it wasn't a decidedly optimistic story.
I mean, if you're dead certain it needs one, I'll consider it, but I'm pretty sure it doesn't qualify for sad yet.
But they didn't do the right thing, Twilight is correct in that. Doing the moral thing is merely commendable. When you are a leader, you have to do the practically correct thing. "I helped people!" is different than "I brought back three extremely dangerous criminals who show no desire to change their ways and have even emphatically expressed they can't, couldn't, and won't. All because they said they were dying."
I mean, what if I said I was releasing a bunch of unruly rapists and murderers into a peaceful hamlet because I felt sorry for them? Sure, I helped people who were being tortured by being locked up. But they got themselves put there, they deserved it, and the ones I let go didn't want to become better people, they wanted to get back to doing what got them locked up to begin with. I would expect people to believe I was insane, to view my decision as betrayal, even try to kill me in some cases, to protect their families.
Twilight is more than Twilight now, regardless of whether she has a full bevy of Princess-like responsibilities yet. Which is entirely unimportant, because she's not even thirty yet, she has time to learn how to properly rule - which she is NOT ready for yet. And her lack of seniority does mean she is not equal to Celestia and Luna even if she holds the same crown, she lacks experience, she lacks wisdom, she lacks comprehension, and judging by her reactions and expressions in the human world when dealing with the Dazzlings she's still too gullible and emotionally swayed. She might be a Princess but she's still essentially an apprentice, acting like or demanding she be considered equal to someone who's seen empires rise and fall, who has ruled ALONE for five times as long as the United States has existed, and as a diarch for longer is not only folly but massive arrogance. Her position at the moment is to be useful, to ply her talents to assist the nation while she comes into her own, building experiences and taking guidance from her seniors, so centuries from now she can be as adequately wise and all-encompassing as she needs to be to make decisions that affect the nation and the world at large. She is too young to be doing so now.
If this story goes the way of having Celestia grovel and being whipped by Sunset and Twilight when she was completely in the right, just to make them feel better and to pander to readers who don't understand anything about the subject, I cannot in good conscience continue this. Really, really annoys me when a good shipfic suddenly throws in 'Celestia, the Antagonist - as seen by the audience' and there's all this lunatic raving by simpletons whenever she doesn't make a decision that isn't rainbows and cake for everyone involved. Especially because she made the right call in this situation and the readers who whined and complained were incapable of understanding that while they echo-chambered and voted each other up over it.
7373184 One could say it was wrong to bring the Sirens back to Equestria. One could also say it was wrong to send them to Earth in the first place and that Twilight was just fixing that error. Yes they needed to be punished, but sending your enemies to another place to terrorize and attack its citizens isn't a very friendly thing to d o either. I say Starswirl screwed up from the beginning.
7373184
That's debatable... In basically every way. While she does "need" to do the "practically correct thing," what that is is not always clear cut. The story went into quite a bit of detail about how the Sirens had lost a great deal of their power. Even if they went immediately on the offensive and weren't on death's door, we're talking Rainbow Powered Alicorn Twilight waiting for them on the other side of the mirror, not "human for 4 days" and powerless Twilight. With a powerful (in this story at least) Sunset right behind her and if needed her friends in easy reach. Even Spike on hand to send a letter to the Princesses and a "friendly" Discord. There isn't anything like a major threat apparent in the Sirens coming back, at least nowhere near when Celestia brought Discord to Twilight for reformation.
The Sirens "deserving" death is again questionable and they aren't really comparable in any way to rapists and murderers. Also it's a good thing mob justice isn't an acceptable thing isn't it? Mobs aren't known for making informed, intelligent, or correct judgements. They're much more prone to fear and hate, justified or not.
The show writers made it clear Twilight will not outlive her friends so unless they all become immortal, Twilight will not become an immortal ruler like Celestia. Also note that neither Twilight nor Sunset started that "Twilight is Celestia's Equal" thing, Celestia did. She is the one telling Twilight they are equals and yet still treats her like a child. While I have no disagreements that Celestia has far more experience and that Twilight should certainly go to her for guidance when making decisions she still needs to be making those decisions. Also Cadance isn't much older than Twilight and is ruler of a nation for no more reason that she had the cutie mark for it. It wasn't because she had more experience than Twilight at leading so lets not look too deep into her "lack" of qualifications when making decisions. After all, Twilight is much more experienced than Celestia when it comes to reforming (and arguably subduing and confronting) villains, by Celestia's own estimation no less.
Yeah see, you have a perspective on how this is playing out but that doesn't actually mean that it's the "reality" of the situation. You can't fill in the blanks yourself, draw conclusions, and then harp on people disagreeing with you.
No technical errors this time! At least, not that I could see. Instead, I'll note this bit...
The reference is both nostalgic and cringe-worthy. Oh, Pinkie, with your interdimensional wit.
Characterization, man. I'm a sucker for it. And you, Orpheon, are too damn good at writing characters. Not only are you writing canon characters true to themselves in headcanon scenarios, but you explore aspects of these characters' personalities that we don't even get to see in the show and make them both believable and entertaining. I don't think anyone is giving you enough credit for that. The amount of thought you put in to things like Celestia's reaction to Sunset's return, the Remane Five's initial reactions, Spike's wise-beyond-his-years demeanor; not all of this is easy to write, but it all comes out naturally here.
Oh, and the last small section of this chapter... I'm dead. What with the intertwined tails and the smiles and such. You're really catering well to what a relationship is supposed to look like as it buds, instead of just throwing them in a room and making them kiss. I love that. At this point I trust you to pace the romance with the rest of the story, even if the introduction of the Dazzlings' problem was a bit messy.
Still can't wait for that first kiss though, not gonna lie
Ah yes, moral vs practical. Short to mid term benefits vs mid to long term. Classic case of 'how to destroy lawful good'. You can choose neutral good or lawful neutral but not both. It also feels like here Celestia could and maybe would challenge and denounce the decision regardless of which one it would be.
As for myself, I'd go with the moral choice. Sirens need living, breathing and healthy ponies to exist, unlike, say, changelings. This makes the worst case scenario not that terrible. And honestly even if they would later become a critical problem, even death by glorious combat is much more preferable to starvation, and this is a notion the Dazzlings would wholeheartedly support. On the plus side, a successful case of moral priority solution would help Twilight long-term. It's kind of her thing, Friendship isn't exactly a practical domain. Reinforcing the belief in herself would make her stronger and as a result, more useful for the Diarchy. Celestia recognised that, but it felt like her 'people skills' kind of sucked in a situation she wasn't preparing to for the last 20 years. She really isn't great at improvisation.
Awww Sunset, look at you doing motivational speeches!
Loved the chapter and fluff, I really love fluff (but I love angst more)