Group Precipitation

by FanOfMostEverything

Lazy Sun Day, by FoME

That first year of college was awkward for most people. New routines, new peer group, new horizons…

Twilight Sparkle had had her horizons blown out clear to the universe next door in her junior year of high school. She wasn’t impressed. She was, however, quite happy with her “dorm room”—if one could call a two-level loft apartment in her hometown that—and her roommate. “So,” she said as she plopped next to said roommate on the couch, “how do you want to spend the Golden Sabbath?”

Sunset answered with a groan, not even looking away from her latest game of Test of Time VI. Though she did seem much more intent on conquering Veneighs. “Not acknowledging that my worshippers arbitrarily decided that the autumn equinox should be some especially momentous and sacred day without getting my input on the matter?”

“You did pick out the name,” Twilight noted.

“Indirectly. It’s not my birthday, it’s not the day I first came to this world, it’s not the day we changed everything…” Sunset fell back into the cushions, hands flying up from the keyboard. “Heck, because of how the calendar and solar system work, it’s not even the same day of the year every year! Which still bothers me.”

Twilight smirked at her. “Hey, you want to put the planet’s axial rotation on manual override, that’s your call.”

“Yeah, no. Princess Celestia told me what it’s like having to spend centuries waking up before the sunrise.”

“You barely sleep anymore.”

“Doesn’t mean I want one more thing on my plate when most of my power is devoted to fixing things so I don’t have to maintain them constantly.” Sunset took a look around the apartment. “Honestly, finding this place helps a lot. Reminds me there are versions of me out there who don’t have to deal with this kind of thing.”

Twilight frowned and poked Sunset in the shoulder. “Well I’m asking for an excuse to do something special for this instance of you.”

Sunset put an arm around her and nuzzled her. “You are something special for this instance of me.”

“Sap.” Not that Twilight did anything to stop her.

“Besides, don’t you have class?”

“Just a mandatory soft science course.” Twilight rolled her eyes as she thought of the more ludicrous requirements she was getting out of the way this semester. “Half of the class is already skipping, and it’s mid-September. We could go check out Equestria Land.”

Sunset shuddered against her. “The fact that that place even exists bothers me on levels I’m still processing.”

“They laid the groundwork before we changed the world, and the animation studio’s been around for decades. My best guess is someone stumbled through the portal at some point in the Thirties or Forties. That or the sirens sold the intellectual property rights to a number of Equestrian concepts around that time.”

“They would, wouldn’t they?”

“Probably, though asking Sonata for specific memories is like trying to read da Whinny’s original notes. The ones that he wrote backwards, in Equin. And we’re getting off track.” Twilight wrapped her arms around Sunset in a completely inescapable hold, as long as Sunset didn’t actually try to escape. “This is a special day for you, like it or not. What do you want to do for it?”

Sunset sighed and settled into the embrace. “Honestly, staying in, ordering something salty enough that they couldn’t serve it to foals, and binging something dumb on Webflix with you sounds like Elysium on Earth. Plus, it’ll keep us from having to deal with a bunch of supplicants hoping for divine selfies.”

“I’ll allow it.” Twilight sealed their compact with a kiss to the top of Sunset’s head. “But I reserve the right to post the Wellspring of Sanity sprawled on the couch in her pajamas to Immediagram.”

Sunset glanced outside. “Well, if you don’t, someone else will certainly try to.”

Author's Note:

You didn't think I'd let Sunset Shimmer Day go by without something, did you?

Comments

[FurryBrony]

Binging on Netflix is a bit controversial now, with the choices they've been making.

[Thought Prism]

A nice tidbit of daily life for our favorite couple.

It occurs to me that if Sunset doesn't like being deified, calling her the Sorceress Supreme might work. She and Dr. Strange do similar work with similar powersets.

[Crack-Fic Casey]

“Indirectly. It’s not my birthday, it’s not the day I first came to this world, it’s not the day we changed everything…” Sunset fell back into the cushions, hands flying up from the keyboard. “Heck, because of how the calendar and solar system work, it’s not even the same day of the year every year! Which still bothers me.”

Twilight smirked at her. “Hey, you want to put the planet’s axial rotation on manual override, that’s your call.”

"Yes," Twilight said, snarking at someone for being bothered by an arbitrary schedule thing.

[Darkstarling]

"So salty they couldn't serve it to foals." It's the little details.

Sunset, show some creativity. You don't need to put the planet on manual override, you just need to nudge the orbits around a bit. It worked for Roshar. Darn OCD gods...

I know it's not the case in this universe, but I like the idea that the Siren's memories are muddled because of a literally indeterminate amount of Comic Book Time caused by the Time Twirler being part of the prison.

Why did the Autumn Equinox wind up Sunset Shimmer Day? I mean Summer Solstice is canon for Celestia, so there's precedent, but Luna's is Nightmare Night and that's Samhain. Unless she's also got the Winter Solstice anyway, which would make more sense. Cadance you basically have to make either Spring Equinox or one of the nearby days. I kind of want her day to replace Easter. Hmmm... Calendar symbolism is fun, but weird. Stupid small gods not fitting into my classification scheme.

There's a certain irony to a Twilight being hard on soft science when her princess counterpart literally founded a school to teach said social sciences to the population at large.

[Darkstarling]

Odd thought. The Sunset we know, as a the human scale avatar of a far greater cosmic entity... do you think she might decide to mess with the Church of Baconhorse by attending services to worship herself? Or would the ensuing theological knot be more trouble than it was worth?

Also I keep meaning to ask, we know how much of a mess magic arriving caused on this planet. But it's a big universe. Do we want to consider what's happening elsewhere? Do other planets all have their own Sunsets? Has Sunset told herself about that yet?

10453994
Maybe, but then she'd have to deal with the Bacon Supreme not-jokes from her worshippers.

[Eroraf86]

“They laid the groundwork before we changed the world, and the animation studio’s been around for decades. My best guess is someone stumbled through the portal at some point in the Thirties or Forties. That or the sirens sold the intellectual property rights to a number of Equestrian concepts around that time.”

Well, that makes more sense than half that special. I’d buy it.

10453994
Sunset Shimmer meets Doctor Strange. I need this in my life now.

[nlinzer]

Damn you Twilight the Social Sciences are important! Do you want to live in a world like Equestria where no one remembers anything about their own history?(also all knowledge is valuable) ugh the fact Twilight is skipping the class is disgusting. Does she want to live in a world without art and beauty(the humanities)?

[Darkstarling]

10454113
Equestria really is a cautionary tale of a purely Hard Science focus. And I consider the pony xenophobia and tribalism to be a significant part of that. You already cited the lack of history of course. Celestia being ruler and having a thousand years of living memory doesn't do anything for anypony else. Fortunately PTwi learned better.

Sci-twi, though, still has some unlearning to do from her Crystal Prep days.

[EnderHooves]

10454086
There was a chapter a while back (unfortunately, non canon) that had her meet The Ancient One. It would be a cool meeting, maybe a Strange could be chucked from his universe and into one of the more thin spots of Universe Shimmer? Maybe give her a few tips.

[ArtieStroke]

10454059
Giving this comment a thumbs up because I never expect to see a Cosmere reference pop up