Solar Diarch
I stared in awe at the train. It was a streamlined object, glittering in smooth metal and polished crystal. Echo looked at me with a small smile.
“First time seeing a train?” she asked.
“No,” I said. “They just look different from what I’m used to.”
“Well, if we want to get to Canterlot proper to catch the connection to Ponyville, we need to board this one.”
I nodded and we climbed onboard the traincar, and I was surprised to see it wasn’t a train I was used to. Instead of cabins, it had rows of seats and ponies of all sorts just milled about, some climbing off with no baggage. Others boarded with us, briefcases and other business parcels with them.
“Why am I the only pony with luggage?” I asked.
“It’s a commuter train,” Echo whispered back. “It’s only used to ferry ponies from one end of Canterlot to the other. It doesn’t have any other stops.”
I blinked. “How large is Canterlot now?”
The young filly frowned as she thought. “Maybe a hundred square miles, give or take a hoof,” she answered finally. “Princess Sunset would know better, she comissioned the last mapping session of Equestria two years ago.”
“Princess…Princess Sunset? Where’s Celestia?”
“Headmistress Celestia is at her estate in the hinterlands as she always is when the school is on holiday,” Echo replied, a curious look in her eye replaced with understanding. “You weren’t awake for her stepping down and appointing her replacement. After a few years of mourning for Luna, she decided that her heart was no longer stong enough for ruling Equestria and passed the throne to her long lost protege, Sunset Shimmer. She’s been the Solar Diarch for nearly a century and a half now.”
I turned to her. “Can we get an audience?” I asked. “Today?”
She frowned. “I don’t know,” she said. “Day Court is usually tightly scheduled. It’s why my family always petitioned to the Night Court instead.”
“I need to speak with her,” I said. “She’s one of the only friends I have left. She’ll make time for me, I’m sure.”
The doors slowly slid shut, booming as the guards on the far side pulled them to. As soon as the echoes had died away, Sunset dropped the regal look on her face and fairly well pranced down the steps that led to the dias her throne sat upon. Even adjusting to the wings and the royal regalia she now wore, I could recognize the pony that had stumbled through the mirror all those moons ago to swap out a journal.
“Starlight Glimmer, you are a sight for sore eyes,” Sunset said as she slid up and hugged me. I returned it in kind, not realizing I had tears in my eyes until I stepped back and blinked.
“You're telling me,” I said. “And look at you, a Princess at last.”
She rubbed the back of her head sheepishly. “Yeah,” she said. “At last.” She smiled and looked at me. “How are you taking the news?”
I tilted my head downward a little. “It took some getting used to,” I said. “I don’t know a lot of the details, but you can only take in so much at a time.”
“I’m sorry,” she said. “I wish…ah, I can’t even wish for it not to have happened, because it’ll sound like I rather you had not woken up. And after listening to Twilight for the last two hundred years blame herself, I can’t be that mean.”
“Maybe to a point I wish I hadn’t woken up either,” I said softly. “But I’m sure there’s a reason I did.”
“Harmony only knows,” the Solar Diarch nodded. “Now, besides catching up, what brings you to my court?”
I smiled at her.
“I need some maps,” I said.
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635 words?
Well you can't be too picky, I guess
8554388
It’s been a long day. Tests and paperwork. I promise the next to be a more proper length.
Another great chapter I do hope Starlight is able to find her place in this new world can't wait for the next chapter hope you can update soon
Clever.
I'm getting quite excited about all this.
8554392
Yet another semester is coming to an end. I hope it goes well for you!
Intriguing... I'll be sure to look forward to new chapters.
Princess Sunny!
Good to see she's doing well.
8554030
They are entitled to their opinion. After all, I didn’t specify how long afterwards or if he let her know he was leaving...after all, shortly to a mortal is different to someone a few centuries old. I just hope that when I do that reveal it does their love of the best assistant a pony ever had.
huh not bad! 👍
you made my day with the addition of Sunset in the story. i wonder if chrysalis will return. i imagine chrysalis has unfinished business with Starlight
Le gasp! Luna's dead?
Short but sweet (bittersweet?) chapter. Definitely glad to see it. I feel like there is just the perfect amount of exposition going on here.
Seeing this world is capturing my interest more and more.
I wonder if donut joe had and good heirs take over his business, especially given it's a favorite of at least half of the new diarchy
Also looking forward to seeing if Starlight gets to "Our town"and what kind of legacy she has there now.
Anytime I see Sunset portrayed as an alicorn, it's obvious Starlight should eventually become one.
It's how I view the actual show. The only way I would ever accept Sunset ever becoming a princess in the show, is if Starlight became one too.
8555697
Alicorn Sunset. Just not the same one as my Homecoming Sunset.
8555711
Hey, no reading ahead!
Hmm, that looks really tiny for that kind of train considering that ponies (especially pegasi) are likely to be faster than humans. Unless pony miles are substantially longer...
8556445
Probably a subway or tram to help ease congestion.
Ha! Yes! Awesome! Just as I hoped for! All my love, Author. All of it.
8555171
She isn't dead, rather she contained the Pony of Shadows within herself and banished herself into Limbo. While still technically alive, no pony knows how to bring her back and purge the shadows from her, so everypony treats it as a sacrifice.
I wonder if she will run into Discord. I imagine the big softy was hit pretty hard by Fluttershy's passing. Probably tries to avoid making new friends with mortals, but I could see him taking after Flutters and wandering around, using his magic to perform random and unseen acts of kindness and caring for wild animals. After all, good luck is still random, and nature can be a surprisingly chaotic force. He'd probably insist it has nothing to do with that pleasant yellow mare all those years ago.
I mean, why would he ever constrict himself to just one or two brands of chaos? He'd done the whole crazy evil tyrant thing and the mad trickster act, why not be a random eccentric philanthropic hermit? It's certainly not because he felt love for the first time in his life, or that he's preserving the memory of the kindest pony there ever lived. Where would you get that idea?
I think it would be really interesting to see a Discord thoroughly reformed from the years he'd lived with Flutters. I don't personally ship the two, since their dynamic always felt more like an eccentric old man who never had children of his own adopting a young girl who reached out to him with kindness. He still loved her, and in a way possibly more deep and profound than romance.
Hinterlands
always
____________________
On one hoof! Yay! Sunset for Princess! On the other, it'll be sad that she won't be able to join their adventuring party.
Question:
Discord and Thorax?
8556470
excuse me good sir but for as long as I've been on this Earth I believe I get to whine like a child every now and then to recapture that feeling of Youth I used to have where I choose to whine is none of your business nor is it your business to critique my whining
In this chapter it says Starlight's been awake for a month. No one told her about her friend Sunset in all this time? Sunset wasn't informed and didn't make time to see her if even for a hug and to let her know she's not so totally alone?
8615301
This, in a nutshell, is the shape of her world now (ignoring other comments for the moment) where what everypony else thinks is commonplace and forgets to mention is a wave of revelation Starlight. She did just get out from a month of observation and testing. Sunset was alerted to the fact but for some reason doesn’t visit where Twilight is spending a lot of time.
“Curiouser and curiouser,” said Alice.