One More Slice-of-Life Chapter Before Shit Gets Real
The final bell marked the start of another precious weekend. Sunset loitered, walking with Rarity, Applejack and Rainbow to their lockers. The yellow redhead waved her arms as she talked, matching her friends’ calm contentment with bubbly cheer. “…And Rainbow, those running shoes? Perfect. I’ve started going with Celestia on her jogs and now I can actually keep up. Thanks so much for them.”
“You’re welcome.” Rainbow shared a knowing smile with Rarity. “Again.”
Sunset didn’t even hear. “You guys are the best. How many girls get a ‘Congratulations you got adopted’ party? Literally the day after I told you! I mean, the cake, the presents, the banner, there’s no way you put it all together in one night. It’s like you all knew before I did.”
Rainbow opened her mouth, but a nudge from Rarity’s elbow closed it. The fashionista gave a tepid laugh. “Well, you know Pinkie Pie. She senses things.”
“That are obvious,” Rainbow mumbled, drawing a sharper elbow from Applejack.
Sunset remained oblivious. “Hey, we got that big science test coming up. You guys want to come over tomorrow to study? It’d be cool to finally show you my room.”
“Rain check.” Applejack held up a hand. “Got plans.”
Sunset slowed, falling back in line with them. “What are you doing?”
“You mean, ‘who,’” Rainbow snickered, earning one more elbow-poke from Rarity.
Applejack chuckled and scratched the back of her head. “Funny story. Remember how Limestone offered to buy me dinner if I fought the lich with y’all? I didn’t, but I guess she did. We’re hittin’ the steakhouse, then maybe the gun range afterwards.”
“Oh,” Sunset said. She tried to recall a favorable memory of Limestone, failed, and shrugged. “Good luck. Um, call me afterwards.”
“In case I’m a cryin’ wreck?” Applejack’s grin shined beneath the freckles. “Don’t put the cart before the horse, here. For all I know she’s just sayin’ thanks all proper-like.”
“Which is why she gave you chocolates,” Rainbow noted.
Rarity blinked. “I didn’t hear about this.”
“It was classic Limestone.” Rainbow laughed, slapping the shoulder of a blushing Applejack. “We walked out of the school, right? And she just screams across the parking lot, ‘Hey, redneck!’ So we look and she’s got this heart-shaped box of chocolates that she’s hiding behind, and she goes, ‘I think you’re cool, will you go out with me?’ Then she flings the box at us and runs for the hills.”
Applejack offered a gentler laugh. “Girl needs a little more experience in the ol’ datin’ scene.”
The expression dropped to a serious frown. “And before anyone gets cute, I’m gonna remind y’all that Pinkie and I ain’t really cousins regardless of what we call each other.”
Sunset strode on confidently. “That’s not weird for me. Pony cousins marry each other all the time.”
Synchronized, the other three hesitated a step and fell behind her. Sunset turned and gave a quick wave. “I’m catching a ride today. Mom and Luna are going to show me around Professor Whooves’ workshop while we pick something up.”
The others waved their goodbyes and Sunset departed in a rush. The day had been a rough one, and an evening with Celestia looking at cool gadgets was just what she needed to turn it around.
A quick glance around the parking lot showed a purple sedan with Luna at its side. The blue woman waved her over and Sunset approached at a light jog, beaming. She traded a quick hug with her aunt and slipped into the back seat, next to Whooves and behind…
“Problem, Miss Shimmer?” Miss Harshwhinny eyed her through the mirror as they pulled into the street.
“No,” Sunset lied. “Just… rough day. Didn’t Mom say she was coming?”
Luna gave an apologetic shrug from the passenger seat. “Cadence called during eleventh period and was flipping out over something. Nagatha nicely volunteered to drive us to Whooves’ place while Tia checked it out.”
Miss Harshwhinny sniffed. “I did not volunteer, she asked me to.”
Luna waved her down. “Yes, yes, I don’t like you, either. Let’s get this over with.”
“Agreed,” was the frosty reply. Harshwhinny kept her eyes on the road while Luna’s turned to a handheld game, a truce that lasted all of twenty seconds.
“Miss Luna, would it kill you to put down the video game while we are working?”
“We are driving,” Luna said.
“A little bit of discipline and patience would set a good example.” Harshwhinny said as they eased into a traffic jam. “Even Sunset didn’t whip out her phone the moment we sat down.”
Oddly, or at least oddly to Sunset’s mind, no word was paid to Professor Whooves. The young man hunched over his phone and tapped away, content to both ignore and be ignored.
Luna grumbled something inaudible before raising her voice. “Hey Sunset, you said the day was rough? What happened?”
“Nice dodge,” Harshwhinny muttered.
“I am looking after my niece.” Luna shot her a checkmate smile before turning to the back of the car.
Sunset drew up her knees. “It was fine. Basically.”
“You want to talk about it?” Luna offered.
“Not really.” Sunset shuffled and looked away.
They had all dealt with teenagers before. A new truce settled, holding the silence for several minutes as Sunset fidgeted, checked her phone, and finally went off. “It’s been, what, a year? No, over a year by now; it was last autumn when I turned myself around. I’ve done a lot of good in that time, and I really don’t think it’s too much to ask for people to acknowledge that I’ve changed. I protect people, I volunteer, I’m nice and honest. Heck, I might have saved the world that night with the Dazzlings!”
“You didn’t,” Miss Harshwhinny unhelpfully added. “I was lining up a shot.”
“And you did nothing before then?” Sunset’s annoyed voice returned.
Harshwhinny shrugged. “I didn’t know there was mind-control at work. Frankly, I approved when Miss Celestia turned the little music pow-wow into a contest that demanded actual skill.”
“Okay, so maybe I saved the world, maybe I saved the Dazzlings.” Sunset went on, undeterred. “Either way, it was a good thing. Not even the biggest good thing I’ve done. They all know it. There’s not a single person on this world who can come and say, ‘Sunset, you’ve been a jerk this past year.’ Except maybe Adagio, and screw her.”
“What happened?” Luna asked quietly, and was ignored as the pent-up rant continued.
“I don’t even mind being reminded of what I used to be. It’s important for me to remember, so I can consciously avoid it. But it’s not okay for people to think the old me is still here. I really think I’ve done enough for long enough that people should know Sunset Shithead is dead and gone.”
Luna tried again. “What happened?”
This time, Sunset threw her head back with a loud sigh. “Sophomore year. It was supposed to be the battle of the century against Griffonstone’s soccer team, but Canterlot forfeited. The reason was we were the hosts and had to provide everything, but all the netting and balls and stuff got lost. The team looked like total idiots, and the perception stuck. These days they can barely recruit enough students to play in the leagues.”
Even Whooves paused his texting, giving the only indication he was listening. Sunset hugged her knees and gave a bitter laugh. “It was me, of course. The Wondercolts’ old captain refused to endorse me as Spring Queen, I told him I’d get payback, and I did. Spitfire wasn’t even a front liner then, but I think he told her when she became captain. So last night Soarin didn’t respond to my texts, and I come in today and Rainbow said Spitfire told the team about what happened back then. I wave at Soarin in the hall, and he gives this kind of half-wave back and doesn’t look at me. He’s stopped texting me, he’s not sitting at our table… I just want to grab and shake him and say it was two years ago, let it go!”
Miss Harshwhinny made an indifferent grunt. “Yes, how dare he judge you by your past actions.”
“Not ‘my’ past actions.” Sunset leaned forward, slapping a hand over her heart. “Hers. The bitch me who is over and done with.”
“Miss Shimmer, it is a convenient delusion that your suspicious change of heart somehow absolves you of what went on before it.”
“‘Suspicious?’” Luna and Sunset growled at once, drawing an irate sigh from Miss Harshwhinny.
“Calm your indignation, it was very suspicious at the time. An apology from a failed aspiring evil overlord can hardly be taken at face value.” Harshwhinny eased another dozen feet through the traffic, her frown softening. “For what it’s worth, I have come to accept that you’ve changed, and so will offer my perspective: the event was years ago, but for Soarin and the other team members it is fresh. They just learned of it. Given the consequences, it is not unreasonable of them to be angry.”
“So how do I get them to stop being angry?” Sunset asked.
The tan-skinned frown tightened once more. “You don’t. It’s on them. Once their anger fades, they will come to understand how different you are today and let the grudge pass. Or they will not, in which case no amount of smiling helpfulness will change their minds.”
“There’s got to be something I can do,” Sunset grumbled, settling back into her seat. “Or something I’ve already done! I’ve done so much good, does it mean nothing? Doesn’t it at least give me a little credit?”
Another quiet sigh escaped Miss Harshwhinny as the traffic sped to a slow crawl. “Good and evil isn’t a scale, Miss Shimmer. Sabotaging the team didn’t give you minus-ten morality, eliminated by plus-fifty morality from saving the school. Good is temporary, I think. You do it, and it’s done. But the evil you do stays. Lingers. Breeds. Returns years later to inform you it is alive and well.”
A quiet, male voice broke in. “The evil that men do lives after them. The good is oft interred with their bones.”
A second of silence, and Professor Whooves softly clarified. “That was Shakespeare.”
“Thank you, Whooves.” Harshwhinny’s tone may or may not have meant, ‘Go back to your phone.’ It was hard to tell with her.
Sunset scratched the back of her neck, frowning. “So what, if the team hates me now I can’t do anything about it?”
A wry smile twitched onto Harshwhinny’s face. “Strange of me to advocate inaction, isn’t it? But you can do something: forgive yourself, forgive them, and move on. You can’t erase the evil, but you can refuse its hold.”
Luna gently shoved the older woman on the shoulder. “You have been listening to my sister.”
“Pish. I told you both the same years ago.” Harshwhinny flattened her lips, a move that failed the hide their upward twinge. “Really, it’s just a very wordy, ‘Ignore them.’”
“Maybe that works for you,” Sunset said, though at least she was more thoughtful than angry. “I still want to talk with Soarin about it. Get things out in the open.”
A laugh barked from Luna’s throat. “If you come onto him in the locker room, I bet he’ll like you in a real big hurry.”
“Thanks, Vice Principal,” Sunset deadpanned, while Luna cackled and Miss Harshwhinny coughed into her sleeve.
“So! Moving on.” Sunset turned to Professor Whooves, grinning widely. “I haven’t talked with you much, and I haven’t seen you fight. What’s your story?”
Whooves blushed slightly at the attention and rapidly slapped down the phone, straightened his bow tie, and smoothed his corduroy jacket. “Not much to tell. I, ah, really don’t do the whole ‘fighting’ thing. I research, study, experiment… I’m a scientist, you know, I look at it all from that perspective. Most of my findings have unfortunately limited practical applications, but I have developed a number of inventions the hunters use in their work.”
Luna and Miss Harshwhinny exchanged a quiet, knowing glance. The word ‘scientist,’ though, triggered stars in Sunset’s eyes. “Inventions? Like what?”
“Well, like this! Here, I’ve been meaning to get this to you.” Whooves opened his suitcase and handed over…
“A hairdryer?” Sunset accepted it with a confused frown.
Whooves laughed. “No, no, a light gun. Ghasts and some vampire breeds burn in sufficiently bright light, correct? They hunt at night, so this lets you bring the sun to them! Seven seconds from a light of this magnitude is enough to reduce any of them to dust.”
“Much like one second of gunfire,” Luna whispered, drawing a subtle nod from Harshwhinny. Sunset caught the logic too, and her smile grew very polite as she slipped the tool into her jacket.
Oblivious, Whooves went on. “Actually, the most interesting breakthrough has occurred very recently, all thanks to my new assistant.”
He beamed, allowing a pregnant pause before explaining. “Miss Twilight Sparkle. Brilliant girl. Bright future ahead of her. All on her own, made a device capable of resonating with Equestrian magic. Not terribly relevant to our present needs, but the trick here is she did it with science. We know that Equestria and Earth have similar magic, and we know that a scientific device can detect Equestrian magic, so it only stands to reason such a device might detect more, shall we say, ‘hostile’ mystic elements. City-wide surveillance is a bit pie-in-the-sky at this point, but even a personal magic-sensing device can give us early warning, short-range tracking, etcetera.”
Interesting, but then he went off on a tangent. Theories of proton particles and Higgs’ Coxswains… it didn’t take long for Luna to get lost. A yawn crept out from her as the traffic once more hit a standstill.
She reached over to the dashboard. “Hey Nags, I’m gonna put on some music.”
A brown hand slapped hers away before it was halfway there. “No, you are not.”
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Wise words.
Well, that's certainly an ominous chapter title. Not to mention the news Celestia should be getting at the moment. So it could have been Harshwhinny and Cranky against ascended Sirens... I probably would pay to see a fight like that. Would they count as communists too (to Cranky)? That and the small matter of possibly fighting the rest of the school (including the Principals).
Well, that's as close as official permission to go into the boys' locker room Sunset, straight from the Vice Principal.
Luna is such a good big sister. I wonder how long Pinkie had that "Happy Adoption" party set up before she finally had the chance to throw it.
Chapter title game is on-point this week.
Ah yes, this I can relate to. The problem with having a head perpetually filled with cool classic literature quotations is that nobody else has their head perpetually filled with cool classic literature quotations.
Well, that title fills me with joy and optimism about what's gonna happen when they get there!
Poor Sunset.
Well, this was a nice chapter involving character growth and unexpected speeches from good ole Harshwhinny.
[Reads the title]
Well crap.
Nice chapter.
That light gun would actually be very useful as a kind of last resort or time buying crowd control weapon
Higgs coxswains, i see what you did there XD
So by being paranoid sticks-in-the-mud, Harshwinny and Cranky both were immune to the Dazzlings. That's absolutely hilarious XD
I need one chapter of this story to Cranky's Vietnam-esque retelling of his and Harshwhinny's partisan operations against the Dazzlings. I really really do.
Higgs Coxswain...? ...
...
Boson... Bosun... Coxsw... YOU ARE A BAD PERSON.
Loved the nautical joke you slipped in there.
7609244
7610503
"A race of people who sing a sweet, seductive song that sets people against each other, sowing chaos in preparation for their ruthless rise to power."
*Nods sagely*
"Communists."
7609253
The good news is that you can either,
A) Post relevant ones at the start of each chapter to sound really profound, or
B) Have your characters say or reference them. Those few who actually get it will be tickled they're not the only one, and those who don't will think you're really wise 'n shit.
Oh, Sunset has a sunlight gun.... Chekhov would be proud.
Odd, I see this story in the updated list but there's no new chapter... FIMFIC WHY TO LIE TO ME T_T
7615869
Accidentally hit publish while proofreading a chapter. I clicked it back immediately, but the damage was done and now I get to see my mistake stretch out across the hours.
img11.deviantart.net/343d/i/2012/040/2/0/derpy_by_loomx-d3a2j0i.png
7615886 Oh well, I guess no harm is really done. Confused some people but that's always funny :P
7615886 That explains things. No worries.
7615886 Meh, it happens, no worries.
7615886
There's a chance now that when you are finally ready to publish the next chapter, some folks may not receive an update notification. One fix for this is to copy all the text in the affected chapter, delete it from the story, create a new one, paste the text back in and save. That should refresh whatever switch got flipped when the chapter published by accident. It doesn't always work though, so you might not even want to bother.
I'm legit confused that knighty hasn't moved those buttons farther apart yet. I mean it's been what... five years?
7615886 why have you betrayed me Soldier of Rune Dan
Looks like Sunset loves Adagio.
7616507 Just this:
I have just noticed I stayed up all night marathoning this story. And now I'm caught up.
Writing a story that is compelling enough to beat sleep? For shame, Dan. For shame.
It took me a moment to process the "Higgs’ Coxswains," but once I did, I was laughing for far longer. Well done there.
In any case, feces is about to be reified. I look forward to it.
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I don't know why. The light gun needs focused fire, and the baddie ain't about to hold still and let you do it. It's obviously useless and will never come in handy ever.
dashie.mylittlefacewhen.com/media/f/thumb/mlfw835.gif
Is it bad that this would work on me?
7623088 So it's either Halo's "Spartan Laser" or Dragon Ball Z Piccolo's "Special Beam Canon"/everyone's "Solar Flare"?
Prototype Gun del Sol.
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Nah, nothin wrong with that. In fact that's pretty much how I proposed to my wife
Can Whoove have his 'Moment of PURE Awesome' yet?
I am now imagining a cabal of assassin ponies whose sole mission is to take out individuals such as Pinkie Pie and Cheese Sandwich when they get out of control.
I know a way to get them to forgive you but sadly this story is only rated teen maybe try brownies or a couple of pizzas or set them on fire they'd have no chose but to forgive you for the balls then
What you did here. I sea it.
Harshwhinny continues to be pretty great.
More accurately, she's driving
And the cost difference?
I'm just saying if you can save a couple dollars without too much of a risk then do it
> Pony cousins marry each other all the time.
Uh, really? Anyway, if they are cousins, it's around fourth. Past second it hardly matters unless you're fourth cousins in every direction or something like that.
You know, I am not at all surprised at this....
So, Limejack is a go! In the most Limestone way possible, love it!
Nagatha.. is not wholly wrong, but that doesn't mean there aren't things Sunset could do to help then get over their anger quicker. Still sucks that no matter how much you do right, it's you fuck ups that everyone remembers.
And Celestia is going to check on Cadance, in sure that isn't going to go badly at all....