Chapter 43: The Gospel According to Tonya
Remedy lounged on the edge of the roof of the church as the morning was advancing towards noon. She was waiting for Rosetta's family to come drop Cathy off for the day and was getting very sleepy. Rosetta was in the air anxious flying in a loop above the church, on the lookout for her family's SUV. She had been at this for most of an hour now since being messaged that the family was on its way.
Looking down at the church grounds there wasn't much actual activity going on. The a large number of the unicorns and earth ponies had gone out for the day. Remedy had been curious where they had all vanished early on and done a quick fly around herself. She found a fair number of earth ponies in a few acres of woods nearby trying to sneakily build a farm with the woods as cover. Where the unicorns had gotten off to Remedy wasn't able to figure out on her brief patrol of the area.
The pegasi weren't present, except for Tonya. Tonya had taken back her spot on the back of the pickup truck and would occasionally another pegasus would briefly fly in, report to her, and be sent out again by her. Number Crunch or Blessing would occasionally wander out of the school to speak with Tonya before wandering back inside.
What Tonya was doing with her time as she sat around waiting for her patrols to report surprised Remedy. Tonya was laying down with a Bible open in front of her, occasionally turning to the next page with a wing. It shouldn't have been super shocking, given she had a very religious marefriend, but Tonya had a history of being very critical of religion in general. Reading a Bible didn't necessarily mean Tonya was taking up some newfound faith of course, but it still seemed at odds with what human Tonya would have done.
Eventually curiosity and boredom got the best of Remedy. She flew down to talk with Tonya.
"Hi Phobia, I'm surprised you are still awake. Did you have a good talk with your mom?" Tonya said as Remedy came down next to her.
"Yeah, it was nice to sit down and talk to her for a while. Get to know one another all over again," Remedy said with a smile.
"She's seemed more upbeat this morning after having talked to you, so pretty sure she agrees," Tonya said cheerfully.
"Are you reading a Bible to try to please her?" Remedy asked as she looked down at the book.
"Yes and no," Tonya said as she put a hoof onto the book. "Her faith is really important to her, obviously, and I want to be more informed about the things that matter to her. She has dreams and goals involving her faith, and I want to fully understand them."
"She didn't really talk to me about those. What kind of dreams and goals?" Remedy asked.
"She says she wants a purer form of Christianity that embraces ponydom as God's will," Tonya said as she glanced over at the church building.
"What's this purer form involve? What needs purifying in her eyes?" Remedy asked, genuinely curious. Also a bit uneasy again.
"Well, for starters she thinks the majority of the Bible is too concerned with strictly human things, she says this distorts the message. She wants it to be a complete focus on the Gospels, Acts, and an eventual additional book that will record various versions of the vision we all had. She views pony-ness as godliness, and those as best representation of pony-ness," Tonya explained.
"That's pretty radical for her," Remedy said with shock. "She just intends to toss out the majority of the Bible as too human?"
"Not sure," Tonya said with a shrug. "I think she is still developing her ideas. Which might be why she didn't talk to you about it."
"I said she was forming her own denomination to Rosetta the other day thinking I was half exaggerating. Turns out I didn't state it extreme enough," Remedy said with a shake of her head.
"You say it like it's a bad thing," Tonya said with a giggle.
"It seems strange to have you being all on-board something involving radical views on Christianity," Remedy stated as she looked at the smirking pegasus.
"It's like that quote from Gandhi, or whoever, I like your Christ, but I don't like your Christians. I actually do like the stuff described in the Gospels and Acts a good bit. It is what the politicians would call extremely liberal. Heck the church in Acts is essentially an example of communism, which is beyond even what I would have been on board with as a human," Tonya said as she pointed her hoof at the book.
"So you are converting over to this new Christianity of my mom's? I thought you didn't believe in God," Remedy questioned in mild disbelief.
"I'm not sure if I believe in God or not," Tonya admitted. "What I do believe in are the principles I see on display here in the books your mom wants to focus on; care for the poor, care for the outcast, treating the sick, actually giving a damn because you give a damn instead of a set of rules telling you to or not to. Those are things I do believe in, and it's the complete opposite of what I was seeing from so-called Christians growing up. She has my full support."
"Not all Christians are like the ones you dealt with growing up," Remedy said a little defensively. This was her faith too, even if she wasn't as religious as her mother.
"A minority aren't and I can appreciate those," Tonya said coldly. "But those fake Christians who try to boil life down to a set of strict rules without context or compassion, that's what I dealt with at almost every turn growing up, and it's those your mom sees as a problem too. There's a chance now to have a fresh start with Christianity done right, and it needs to happen."
Remedy wasn't sure what to say to all that. Sure there was definitely plenty of those who fell into the categories Tonya described, and Remedy could definitely understand Tonya's feelings of resentment that came as a result of dealing with those. She could also understand her mom's own sense of guilt upon realizing that she had been one of those. Something just felt off a bit in a way she couldn't put words to.
"And what's this about a new book?" Remedy asked.
"Just something that has a compilation of various versions of the vision we all had; for the humans who never experienced it or for any future foals that might not get it. Your mom feels it fits well right alongside the Gospels," Tonya explained.
"But that vision was produced by either Sunset Shimmer or Josie...a night pony in Lazy Pines, and spread by night ponies. Not sure which of the two was the ultimate creator of it, but Josie was the first spreader of it,," Remedy explained.
"Your mom told me about the spreading, but that's the first I heard about the original source," Tonya said with interest. "Are you sure?"
"I'm completely sure it came from one of those two," Remedy assured Tonya.
"Guess we'd call it the Gospel of Sunset Shimmer or the Gospel of Josie then," Tonya said without any seeming concern about the origin. "Probably the Gospel of Josie, that name would upset the current humans less, and is accurate enough no matter what if she was the first to spread it."
Remedy just shook her head in bewilderment; Tonya was definitely committed this new version of Christianity her mom was envisioning. Tonya was definitely not the pony she'd have pegged as a religious reformer.
Before the conversation could continue Rosetta flew down cheering happily.
"Just spotted the car. They'll be here in just a minute or two," Rosetta squeezed.
"Who?" Tonya asked with a tilt of her head.
"My parents are letting my little sister spend her days here with other ponies. My family is mostly still humans, but my little sister is an earth pony. I'm just eager to see her get out of the apartment," Rosetta said happily.
"Oh," Tonya said with a smile. "Well, be sure to show her where the earth ponies are all hiding their little farm right now. I'm sure she'll love that."
"Definitely," Rosetta nodded, then turned to Remedy. "Come on, lets go out by the road to meet them."
"Sure thing," Remedy agreed. She nodded her goodbyes to Tonya and followed her lover to the edge of the road. Putting thoughts of religion out of her mind.
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Yeah, that doesn't sound Shimmerist at all....
Wonder how Josie would feel about that.
would the shimmerist be more celestiaists, sunset used the the image of Celestia in the vision ?
For the record: Motive.
Oh boy... this has a feeling about it that just really seems like Remedy's mom and her are going to end up fighting.
Awesome chapter looking forward to more of it soon my friend keep up the good work and may Celestia bless your writing
One wonders... given that Sunset Shimmer forced the transformation on humanity, and the Shimmerists are working towards viewing her as a prophet or martyr of sorts... does that not mean they also support the forced transforming of people?
8967293
[Life of Brian-ing intensifies]
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Sunset Blessing herself doesn't and is on record as saying that was one of Sunset Shimmer's mistakes, she is committed to trying to convince humans to want to be ponies, but it should be noted she is not the only Shimmerist leader out there. She is just the biggest fish in the pond in South Carolina. This is very early on in their development and it would be a mistake to think they are a united front yet.
Also would be a mistake to assume all the ponies she is leading are Shimmerists as well. Most the ponies under her are best described as indifferent when it comes to her beliefs. Only her direct lieutenants like Tonya, Number Crunch, and few others would fall under the Shimmerist category.
I'm mildly amused by the employment of #notallchristians here.
Ahh yes communism, constantly ends in deaths and misery yet always herald as some kind of utopian system.
I think we've managed to drift juuust a bit from canon orthodoxy here. As to Sunset's revisionist ideas, well,
the book itself seems to have a stated opinion on such endeavors.
I really like the discussion about ‘not all Christians are like that’, and the discomfort involved, because it reminds me a bit of situations I’ve seen everywhere. One example, is gay people complaining about straight people. Being bi, I can empathize with problems they’ve had- my parents aren’t exactly accepting- but it still bothers me when they complain about ‘straight people’ as a whole, instead of just ‘this one straight person’. I considered myself straight for a long time, and still partially identify with them- being bi- so it feels a bit uncomfortable to hear them say things like that about a group I still partially identify with, even if they do have valid points and complaints based on factual experiences. With Remedy considering herself partially Christian, I understand exactly how she feels in this uncomfortable situation.