So many pitched tents, so little time
The curtain of night was draped like a shroud over the barony—but the old corpse was quite lively and rumours of its death had been greatly exaggerated. On the vast plains outside of the box canyon, dozens and dozens of campfires burned. Voices were raised in song, celebration, and rollicking laughter could be heard in the night. The barony was up past its bedtime and Sundance, he was glad for this.
It was almost magical; the strumming of poorly played guitars could be heard, along with songs, ghost stories, and rambunctious revelry, as teenagers were wont to do. There were more than a few old timers scattered about with their number, and some of them were every bit as rowdy as the young ones. After a long day of labour, everypony, and everybody, was ready to cut loose.
No doubt, they would all stay up far too late, and there would be much grumbling come morning. But these were good times. Happy times. This was the sort of thing that one remembered and told stories about when one grew old. Salad days. The very sort of days that Sundance had never experienced for himself and he now found himself at a loss for what to do.
“I’ve never seen so many pitched tents in one place,” Hoe Hum said as she strolled past.
Sundance snorted, but did not pull his gaze from the fire. The night was cold, chilly even, not that it mattered. It was the sort of chill that brought ponies together, like Nuance and Quiet, who clung to one another as they huddled near the fire. Seeing them called to Sundance’s attention that he had no one, nopony. Skyla had wrapped herself in her wings and like Sundance, remained mostly quiet. Even Paradox seemed quite sociable and she watched everything around her with wide eyes that glittered in the firelight.
As for Turmeric and Corduroy, the two of them had gone off on a walk together.
“We never did talk about your house,” Nuance said to Sundance.
“Is there something to talk about?” asked Sundance. “I thought I’d be getting a dome home just like everypony else.”
Eyes closed, Quiet emitted a blissful purr.
“Well, as baron, you are expected to entertain guests. There’s an expected standard.” Nuance appeared troubled for a moment, but this vanished fast. “You know, some of these reasons just sound like excuses to have a nice home, even if they are valid reasons. I’ve never really thought about it before. I mean, I understand what is necessary, but everything I was about to say really draws attention to the fact that I live in a castle.”
When the last word left her brother’s mouth, Corbie snorted.
“No…” Nuance’s eyes reflected the flickering, dancing flames. “A dome home was not planned. There’s several tiny models on the ship, so you can choose from one. A wooden keep, a stone keep, a more traditional manor house—though that one is a bit small. More of a mini-manor, really. Mother Luna called it ridiculously cute and started talking about having one constructed in the arboretum. It’s… well…” His words trailed off in the form of a weary sigh.
“When you say it that way, you make it sound like a playhouse, Nuance.”
“Well, that’s what it is, Skyla.” Fretful wrinkles appeared in the corners of Nuance’s eyes. “I feel very uncomfortable right now. This did not turn out as intended. It almost feels… demeaning somehow that Mother Luna thinks of it as a playhouse. What is a toy for us is an actual home for somepony. I think I can feel my stomach knotting up again.”
“Nuance”—Skyla leaned in a little closer—“it’s fine, really. Don’t be distraught. It’s good that you’re having these realisations. Just struggle through them and find a way to be a better pony.”
“Thank you, Skyla.”
“Forget the models,” Quiet said as her eyes fluttered open. She squinted for a time, clearly pained by the bright firelight, but she was quick to adjust. “There’s a narrow opening for the box canyon. Construct a gatehouse and you have yourself the beginnings of a fine castle, if you use the natural architecture. Build up support on both sides, and then build a simple residence above the gate. It’ll give Sundance a good view of both the inside and the outside. While it isn’t perfect, it will do a lot to secure the area.”
“That… that…” Nuance struggled for words that would not come and he leaned against Quiet with a relieved smile on his face.
“Is purrfect?” Quiet’s terrible teeth could be seen when she cracked a smile. “Practical? Traditionally, guards would live in the gatehouse, but from the looks of things, Sundance does double duty as both the baron and the guard.”
“Can we do this?” Skyla looked around at the other ponies gathered around this fire.
Quiet made a sweeping gesture with her right foreleg. “Look at all these scattered stones. These used to be walls once. Houses. Buildings. Everything we need for building materials is right here. The box canyon can become Sunfire Castle… or whatever. We should look into enhancing natural security features, if we can.”
Sundance said nothing. The owlbear had dropped down from the top of the waterfall, so a gatehouse, while useful, wouldn’t protect them as much as he might like. With the owlbear attack fresh in his memory, he thought about his conversation with Skyla, and the importance of security. The fact that he often stood guard made others feel safer, if Skyla’s words were true, and he had no reason to doubt her.
But… closing off the box canyon and turning it into a sort of fortress, or, if one was generous, a castle of a kind might go a long way towards offering the illusion of security. His subjects might feel safer—which wasn’t a bad thing in Sundance’s estimation. There could be security ceremony, sort of like the changing of the guard, with him opening the gate at dawn, and closing it when the sun went down. Surely such ceremonies brought blessed reassurance? There had to be a reason that the changing of the guard was such a beloved public spectacle.
“Baron Sundance needs enough room to raise a family.”
Suddenly, all of his attention was focused on Skyla.
“That he does,” Corbie agreed.
“At such a time, a larger residence can be constructed, and the gatehouse can be used as a barracks, to house the guards.” Skyla spoke with a cool, calm confidence that was admirable. “No resources would be wasted with this construction. It would be… efficient, would it not?”
“You’re ending your statements in the form of a question to force us into considering your point of view.” Quiet cast a bit of side-eye in her friend’s direction and added, “But you’re not wrong. Good job reinforcing your position. Somepony has been paying attention to Sunburst’s lessons.”
“Thank you.” Almost beaming, Skyla offered up a respectful nod in return.
Now confused, Sundance tried to figure out what was going on, to make sense of what had just been said. A lot had happened in just a few sentences, but he wasn’t sure he understood much of it, and he was more than a little alarmed at the idea of starting a family. That… that would be a difficult task, seeing as how he was painfully single.
“Princess Celestia showed me paintings of this place back during its glory days,” Paradox said, finally breaking her long silence. “It had a gatehouse once. There was a tall watchtower up on that high rock. Inside, near the waterfall, it had a tall keep with a small footprint. It was considered an unassailable fortress. This place was mighty. Pegasus ponies patrolled the skies and kept peace on the streets. It was all that stood between the advancing Separatists and Canterlot. Princess Celestia told me that technology did what might and magic could not, and this place, a once impregnable fortress, was made a ruin.”
Though he knew very little, Sundance knew the outcome. “The final stand was made here, in the tower that once stood. They rained destruction down upon the advancing armies so that Canterlot would have time to gather its defenses. This place where we’re sitting right now, is a battlefield.” As he spoke, he had himself a sobering moment when he thought of how he was the guardian of those who had survived, or had been born just after. This place, once mighty, once prosperous, was now a ruin, an inheritance of nothing but the land itself.
“This place has strange magic,” Paradox said to those around her. “I am oddly stronger here. It’s subtle, but I can feel the difference.”
“You and I are connected to the land,” Sundance said to Paradox. “It calls to us. The earth ponies who live here, they’re touched by the magic too. That’s why they didn’t leave. It’s probably why some of them are still alive—”
“And so strong,” Paradox added.
“Cucumber was ancient.” Sundance’s gaze fell into the crackling flames and a grief-heavy sigh slipped out. “What might become of us, I wonder? How long might we live? In what ways will the land change us, Paradox? I don’t know about you, but I’m becoming… something else.”
“I don’t know.” Paradox’s response was almost a squeak.
Sundance’s many worries only multiplied as he poured his heart out to those around him. “Getting married and starting a family… how do I do that? I mean, falling in love already seems impossibly complicated, but now, now, now I have to find somepony that is good for the barony. It can’t just be anypony, no… somehow, I have to find just the right pony to be baroness. I can’t even begin to imagine. There’s all this talk of having to lower one’s standards and then making things work, but I don’t have that luxury. I have to up my standards to impossible levels so I don’t end up with somepony bad for the barony… or worse, stuck with some gold-digging socialite posing as a do-gooder, only for her to reveal her true colours after the marriage. I have bad dreams at night and I barely even allow myself to think about this stuff, because I just can’t handle it.”
Skyla—who now sat beside Nuance—wrapped one wing around both him and Quiet as she said to Sundance, “You know, you could talk to my mother. She could help you find somepony. That’s what she does.”
These words struck him like an anvil and Sundance stared at the alicorn filly as if she’d grown a second head. When a lump rose in his throat, he couldn’t swallow it, no matter how hard he tried, and his lips felt extra dry when he licked them. He watched as Skyla took her other wing and brushed Nuance’s mane away from his face. Talking to Princess Cadance? Something about that filled him with dread and unease, but he couldn’t fathom why.
Yet, he could not deny that it would be a perfectly adequate solution.
“You think you have it bad… try being me.” It looked as though Corbie might collapse in upon herself at any moment. “My mother is Celestia. She of the Radiant Dawn. My father is Gosling… the Great Reformer. Radiance, my brother, is already being called one of the greatest military minds of this era, and Nuance”—she cast a quick squinty glance at her sibling—“he shows signs of greatness when he’s not acting like a spaz. I’m surrounded by ponies who get more done in an hour than I’ll ever accomplish in my life. I didn’t get my mother or my father’s good looks. Brains? I don’t have them. You… you’re a baron and you’ve got all of this wonderful purpose… purpose that I’d give anything for. I’m not good at anything. I’m not special. And hearing all of you talk about all these meaningful things when my own life feels like dead wind… it just makes me miserable.”
In the fire, a log popped and crumbled into glowing embers.
“These conversations always just sort of leave me out in the cold, you know?” Corbie wrapped her wings around herself, and then fell silent. The reflection of the flames could be seen in the lenses of her glasses and her mouth contorted into a lemon-sucking scowl.
It was Nuance who responded to his sister’s distress. “Corbie—”
“Don’t ‘Corbie’ me, Nuance.” The normally cheerful filly scowled at her brother, and behind the flames reflected in her glasses, her eyes were dark. “Today, I had an almost-perfect day. I got to read to a sick filly and I didn’t feel totally worthless. It was great. But now… now I’m here, with all of you, and I’m reminded of just how barely adequate I am and it sucks.”
To his credit, Nuance tried again. “Corbie—”
“No!” She raised one hoof while cutting her brother off. “It’s even worse coming from you. Look at you. You’re sitting in the dirt. I still remember when just touching dirt or getting dirty would give you anxiety attacks and your nose would start bleeding. You’ve made friends with Skyla… somehow, you’ve won over your worst enemy. Just look at you two, all close together like you’re besties. You’re doing something with your life, even if it’s just fixing your issues. But me? It seems like no matter how much I flap my wings, I don’t budge an inch.”
For the third time, Nuance tried to come to his sister’s aid. “Corbie, please—”
“I’m going to bed,” the flustered pegasus filly announced. “Really sorry I ruined your nice time. Olive! Olive! Where are you? I need you! I want to go back to the ship right now!”
Watching as poor Corbie rushed off felt truly miserable, and for Sundance, this was not how he wanted to end his day. Perhaps tomorrow would be better. After a quick glance around, he could see how miserable his companions were, and he wasn’t sure how to help them. Out of all of them though, Nuance had it the worst, and his expression was one of intense pain, as if he’d stepped on a thorn.
“It doesn’t feel right,” Nuance muttered, “to have my fortunes rise while those of my sister sink…”
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What sucks even more for Corbie is that as a foal I think she was the most well liked of the three too.
Corbie~!
..
Corbie would make a good baroness.
I liked Radiance and Corbie as foals. She doesn't deserve to feel so down about this.
One of you nuggets go help that lovely filly!
9568561
She's a child. What are you suggesting, exactly?
9568588
Well I completely misunderstood their ages...
Down fucking vote!1 You use the name of a great story jokingly in this farce....
9568596
Behold! The dangers of showing rather than telling.
9568606
I'm sorry, but what?
9568616
Remove flower from your story's title and look that story up.
9568616
Remove flower from your story's title and look that story up.
9568622
How does that make this a farce, and why the attitude?
9568624
"cough cough" being a troll is what I do "cough cough"
9568632
And block people is what I do. Tootles!
Wonder who the baroness is gonna be?
It’d be awesome if it was a gringineer
*edit
Whole post, due to a misunderstanding in the age difference
9568648
She's a child.
9568635
Funny that I'm just re-reading "House of the Rising Sun" right now. There's no connection between "Sunflower" and that other story. Ignore him.
That said, it's a pretty good story. If you don't mind HIE and prostitution.
9568652
Sorry, thought the timing was a bit different, for children they’re very well spoken and seem more like young adults/teens, unfortunately when you show and not tell, it makes it hard to guess ages, my bad.
9568659
Best education money can buy.
I've already admitted that showing and not telling is a problem.
9568660
Yeah it can be (hence my edited post) maybe setup a small table of ages for the characters In this story at some point? Just to help with clarification
And to prevent any future misunderstandings
9568663
Check the forums. There's a timeline! Link in description.
9568652
You keep saying that, but you've also established that Sundance is a young adult; the age gap between him and these children will not be very significant several years down the road.
9568690
He's in his mid-twenties.
9568699
And they are in their teens, no?
Give it ten or fifteen years, and what was once severely "NO!" won't do much more than maybe raise an eyebrow.
9568702
Tweens. Not yet teens.
9568680
So I’ve checked the timeline, they are at least 7+ years old, but there is no actual date in the timeline as to when the triplets were actually born, so it’s still a little confusing
9568745
We know which stories feature Celestia pregnant, and where those fall on the timeline, and we know gestation is 11 months.
So have a puzzle that rewards the observant reader.
9568750
The only thing is though House of the Rising Sunflower takes place during the “undetermined” amount of time in the future tab, so it still puts them at a minimum of 6-7years old, so until the story gets a defined date we don’t have an exact age for them.
9568762
Yep.
Very interesting chapter seeing how Skyla, Nuance and the others have grown. Poor Corbie not sure middle child syndrome really covers it since she isn't just comparing herself to her siblings but her parents and other royal children
I kinda like that rookery idea or whatever from last chapter's comments. It conjures to mind a slit in a sun-baked cliff face of infinite height, in which a fortress is dug into the stone. It would have speckles of holes in the face for windows and such. In your geography, though, it'd probably be accessible by stairs.
9568767
Have you figured out when exactly sunflower takes place yet? Or is it still going to remain undetermined?
9568924
It is undetermined to keep it detached. It is, for the most part, a stand-alone story. Reading previous stories helps, but it is not totally required.
9568710
Tweens means about twelve right?
And Gosling got married at fifteen, and fourteen is legal age...
Again... I’m perplexed by the age consideration in marriages. As I was perplexed by the STRONG reaction of Gosling about the “age” of Luna...
9568959
Tween: between the age of 8 or so and teen numbers.
speedy updating man !!!! keep it up !
Ironcally, i could see Corbie going on to have a nice and quiet career in charity and such, while Radiance and Nuance seem like the people who will have careers full of late nights and undue stress.
Also, they could just slap 3-4 of the dome huts together to make a Baron's residence with an extra office and sitting room for guests.
Honestly, historically, castles often weren't more than 3-4 rooms. I think Sundance will be happy in a gatehouse rookery from which to keep watch.
That's a good idea.
I get the feeling that the problem isn't, that Corbie is falling behind, but more that she is the only one acting her age.
But for a kid her age, it would be next to impossible, to see that she is the normal one of the group.
I also think her strengths lie more in the softer subjects than the others. She is a caretaker with a big heart.
I wonder if she would feel more at home amongst Cadances social workers/helpers
Radiance sounds like a dangerous hawk. Its a shame Celestia hasn’t redirected his energy into something less martial.
9569798
That's his cutie mark.
How do you propose she goes about doing what you suggest?
9568606
You do realize that "House of the Rising Sun" is literally the name of a piece of popular music well before any bit of ponyfiction, riiiiight?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MJkr0DWbhTk
Corbie may not need to be great on her own, but to be with someone to make something great. And until she finds such a thing, it's gonna be rough.
My shipping senses are tingling
That is....ow. Poo Corbie and Nuance
9570336