Gold Cobblestones (Edited 11/5)
Sunset closed her eyes and counted to ten. Cadance had every right to be here. The squirt had even said that the Pink One foalsat her, and that she would be doing so tonight. She let out a slow, sullen breath and dragged herself to her hooves, trying to ignore the pounding in her head.
Her muzzle split in her best winning grin, a wide toothy smile that didn't quite touch her eyes. The prissy Princess shrank a little under her stare, rather like a dog that had been kicked a time too many. She gently rested a hoof on the squirt’s withers.
“Just making sure my student makes it home safe, Princess.”
Cadance nodded a little too sharply, and scurried off somewhere. Presumably to the kitchen. Sunset gathered herself up and deposited herself and Twilight on the sofa, dragging her saddlebag into her lap. Something about the squirt’s puzzled expression gave her pause.
She froze. She'd invented that look. It was the one she'd turned upon Celestia herself one morning after watching her raise the sun.
It was a wordless question.
She refused to be broken by it. She returned it with a steely glare, a shard of fire stolen from the Unconquered Sun.
“No. I do not like Cadance. No, I will not tell you why. Yes, it's personal.”
She withdrew the book from her pack with a quick flourish and a grin.
“Now. I have homework for you.”
Twilight blinked, the Look broken. She merely nestled in against Sunset with barely-hidden glee as the cover of the tome was cracked. It was everything- a spellbook, a storybook, a history text. Everything a foal exhausted and bored by levitating blocks and lessons far below her ability would desire.
It was the book that started Sunset’s education, given to her by the Light of Dawn, Celestia Herself.
In the Beginning, Starswirl writes, the races of ponykind were created from the Fundamental Elements.
The tribe of Earth was called forth from the Stone.
The tribe of Unicorn was called forth from the Water.
The tribe of Pegasus was called forth from the Air.
These were gifted with animation by the Fire, and given thoughts by the Will. Got your notebook ready? Good.
The new Ponykind trotted the Earth, breathed the Air, and moved like Water. They lived and loved, with the Fire.
But from Will comes thought, and from Will comes Magic.
Starswirl’s First Precept: Magic is the Science and Art of causing Change to occur in conformity with Will.
Through Will, the Earth Ponies attuned to the Stone. They shaped the earth beneath their hooves and made it bountiful and much lush of life and greenery.
Through Will, the Pegasus Ponies returned to their native Element and took to the Air. They flew, and tamed the weather to their whims, calling storms to worry their enemies and gentle rains upon those they called Friend.
Ever-shifting and immutable, the Unicorn Ponies turned their Will within and without. Their Will flows through our world and became Sorcery.
Thus were the Pillars of Equestria created:
Strength
Healing
Hope
Beauty
Bravery
And Sorcery.
These are the Elements and traits found in Ponykind United.
Twilight stared in rapt fascination as the illuminated pages flicked by, and Sunset put on her best ‘Starswirl The Bearded’ voice. Cadance leaned her head in from the kitchen and smiled a tiny smile, meant only for her.
The Princess of Love could see the chains that bound one pony to another. She could see links forming between the ponies nestled on the sofa, and the tiny smile on Sunset’s muzzle whenever Twilight stopped her to ask a question.
She wondered. She had never seen a bond between Sunset and another pony. How would loving somepony other than herself change her? How would Sunset’s love affect the filly she had grown to love? Despite her best impulses, she resisted the impulse to interfere, to strengthen those chains.
Sunset read on, and Twilight listened, asked questions, and scribbled hasty notes. Soon enough it was time for supper.
Having not had the pleasure of growing in a fishing village in Cavelia, the two stared at the dish before them with doubt. Flesh stared back.
Fresh fish, baked with herbs and sprinkled with cheese.
Sunset and Twilight sat on one side of the long table of Sparkle Manor’s dining room, with Cadence on the other side withdrawn and fretful.
Unbeknownst to Sunset, Twilight learned all the time. The filly was practically a sponge for information and knowledge. As Sunset lifted a fork in a haze of turquoise telekinetic aura and dug into the flaky fish before her, Twilight learned the first of many important lessons at her hooves.
When somepony does you the Kindness of cooking a favored dish for you, you must repay that Kindness by trying it.
The already awkward silence stretched as Sunset pushed the forkful into her mouth with all the bearing of somepony tensing at the first striker-cap snap of a firing squad. She chewed thoughtfully… and dug in for a second bite.
“Thish is actually… really good. I didn't know you cooked, Cadance.”
Cadance had the decency to tuck her wings tighter and shuffle her hooves, before nodding. The musical Cavellian accent hadn't yet faded from her tongue to be replaced by the lockjawed permanent sneer of Canterlot.
“It is a celebration meal. My mother cooked it for me when… I got my cutie mark.”
She offered nothing further, for fear of further attracting Sunset’s attention.
Over the course of the meal, the two older ponies teased out details of Twilight's first day- and the ponies who had been nice to her.
She and another two fillies had almost immediately grown bored of the instruction and had wandered off to their own corner. They learned their names; Moondancer, who was quiet and had read a book with Twilight, and Bouncing Betty, whose magic had a habit of erupting in fitful sparks and flashes when she grew excited.
The fire extinguisher had seen use throughout the day, and by the end of it Betty’s demeanor and unfortunate magical issue had quite exhausted it.
Before too long, last sips of tea had been sipped and last morsels swallowed. Twilight was nudged upstairs for a bath by Cadance, and Sunset volunteered to clean the dishes, giving Twilight a second object lesson;
When you are a guest in somepony’s home, it is polite to offer to assist in some small way.
Sunset flicked through the Primer, checking the skeleton of her lesson plan against the surprisingly neat hornwriting of her student. Cadance’s head poked over the stairs and her soft voice sang out.
“Twilight wishes for you to read her a bedtime story, Sunset. And please… no more of the Primer, or she will be up under the covers checking her notes with Miss Smarty Pants all night.”
Sunset took a deep breath, counted to four. Let it out, count to four. She herself had done the same to Celestia on numerous occasions, although a stuffed toy hadn't been in the equation. She selected a book more or less at random from her saddlebag and trudged up the stairs.
Twilight's bedroom was much as she had expected. It was large enough to contain a growing filly, walls lined with tall bookshelves and only a single untouched toybox at the foot of the rather well-sized bed, a dresser and armoire, and a worn writing desk. She smiled as she sunk hooves into the plush pile of the green carpeting, making her way to pull herself up onto the bed.
The light was turned out and changed for a nightlight, which really had Sunset gape for a moment. Far beyond a single candleflame attached to the wall, Twilight’s light threw a starfield across her ceiling, creating a perfect illusion of the night sky.
She swallowed and opened the book, taking a deep breath before beginning to read.
Once upon a time, in the magical land of Equestria…
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Well, night mares of dreams will come to some pony tonight.
well sunset is growing attached to twilight at least
... so... we have a filly named after a type of landmine?
9184148
Oh yes. Bouncing Betty. Her special talent is making things explode twice.
I still wonder why Sunset hates Cadence so much in this AU, hopefully we get a peek at that.
Enjoying this and can't wait to see where it gos
this was fantastic. i absolutely love how you're characterizing little twilight.
with the mention of moondancer, are you going to have a rotating cast or just have them in the backround?
9184164
Define "rotating cast"
9184156
You could take a stab at it mayhaps?
Mayhaps you might unveil the true answer.
"Starswirl’s First Precept: Magic is the Science and Art of causing Change to occur in conformity with Will."
Hm. :)
I wonder what that last line means...
Also, has the full title of the Primer not been given yet, or did I miss it somewhere?
9184234
I make no guarantees that I will ever state whether a guess is correct or not.
The only guarantee I make is that if uncovered through commentary, I will reveal a Clue into the true nature of this story and its universe.
This Sunset is not divergent in any meaningful manner from Canon, merely divergent in the events that follow the beginning of the story.
9184266
Up next on "Starlight Glimmer is a talentless hack!" It's Aleister Crowley's definition of Magic.
It's "Starswirl's Principles Of Sorcery".
Sunset is getting a bit better with Twilight
Ah children. Gotta love the age where it’s almost guaranteed they will ask a question with all the subtlety of a sledgehammer to the knee.
9145195
Well, here goes my hope...
Pink Mary "Deus Ex Machine" Sue will be all the time near.
Damn.
9184289
Cadence is the lyrical thing. Cadance is the pony.
9184277
"Up next on "Starlight Glimmer is a talentless hack!" It's Aleister Crowley's definition of Magic."
Oh, I thought it was a clever reference, actually (though to Dion Fortune, not Aleister Crowley).
"It's "Starswirl's Principles Of Sorcery"."
Ah, thanks.
9184304
It's explicitly stated in the text that she is backing off, talent-wise, from the relationship between Sunset and Twilight.
As far as Cadance and Sunset go, rest assured that I adore Equestria's #1 Power Couple and will not do anything to separate a Shiny from his Cadybug.
Here’s why Sunset hates Cadance. Sunset is/was Celestia's student. Celestia taught her and practically raised her. She thinks of Celestia as her mother and thought she was being raised/groomed to be her heir. She devoted her entire self to that. Then along comes Cadance, a PEGASUS with no training who achieves ascension and is immediately adopted by Celestia and coronated as "Princess of Love". Cadance has now swooped in and has been handed (hooved?) everything Sunset has worked her whole life for while Celestia still keeps Sunset emotionally at foreleg's length and treats her as a student. Even though they both know they love each other as mother and daughter, Celestia refuses to acknowledge that, and yet immediately accepts this random stranger into her family. Hence Cadance is the "Pink Life Stealing Whorse" in Sunset's eyes. She's stolen everything Sunset ever wanted, and the worst part is Celestia seems completely oblivious to what she's done to Sunset, how she has emotionally sabotaged her, and of the storm that's coming if she doesn't pull her head out of her cake-engorged plot.
9184156
It's probably because she feels that Cadance got everything Sunset wants
Cadance became an alicorn and was adopted by Celestia, two things that Sunset really wants, and she probably feels like Cadance didn't even try.
She might also feel that Cadance stole her destiny without even being given a chance to defend it.
In short: Cadance got everything Sunset wanted without putting in any real effort (according to Sunset)
9184330
Ding.
9184311
No, but there is a reference to my writing mentor.
9184345
Ah, I think I missed that then; sorry.
9184378
trot the Earth, breathe the Air, move like Water is Pon Ki Do, utilized by Diane in A Minor Variation.
9184386
Ah, thanks. :)
Someone has been reading Crowley. Just take everything in the Book of Lies with a grain of salt.
~Crystalline Electrostatic~
9184148
I was thinking that same thing. Rather unfortunate name. Hope nobody steps on her.
9184457
She does have an unfortunate habit of leaping about five feet vertically and scattering herself over a wide area.
Huh, this version of Cadance seems a far cry from the one that took on Chrysalis and Sombra ... I wonder just how badly Sunset has been bullying Cadance to get her this submissive (probably not the right word, but the best I can do at the moment)?
9184495
No, that's completely the right word.
9184326
The wait time is so long, and the chapters so short, but damnit, the content is so good...
9184641
Tbh I banged it out in like... an hour. I get stuck and the words get jumbled up and the plan gets a little crosseyed with what I gotta do and what I want to do and what will happen later and nothing comes out.
So I take those words and pickle them in vodka and shake well, put them on the Dizzitron on full gear for an hour and just vomit pure stream of consciousness writing whatever word comes next and then the next and then the next and before you know it I run out of words and take a breath, fix formatting, shut my eyes and post it.
And generally I never need to edit because there's generally few to no errors, or at least any egregious ones which is good because while I have people who I throw wordchunks at and bounce them off the back of their head and let them toy with the wordchunks a little bit, see what they can fit together and throw it back... I do not and never have had an editor.
I'm not popular enough. Prolific enough, liked enough to have an editor, and I generally do not need one, which suits me just fine because it doesn't suit my style. My style being to just explode and let the words flow and then it needs to print NOW while it's still hot and before I can decide it's stupid and it never sees the light of day.
Why is that last line colored white? Is it supposed to be a thought in Twilight's mind or something?
9184672
What last line?
9184686
It appears that you deleted the "Why do you hate Cadence?" line. Oh well.
9184805
What are you talking about?
Bouncing Betty's best bet isn't blowing up batter before baking begins.
9184269
I'm confused. What's the meaning of this clue business?
Lol this twilight is adorable
Wonderful to see Sunset be a good influence, and to see her mend bridges with Cadance a little. I can only imagine what she's put the poor girl through before now.
And those Clues... This world seems a lot more metatextual than I first thought. I may need to do some rereading.
9184155
I'm imagining a cutie mark of an explosion inside another explosion. The Guard will want to either recruit her or imprison her by the time she's fourteen, and that's before taking into account the effects of friendship with the bookhorse twins.
9184155
Bouncing Betty...
Well, I know Canterlot's insurance costs just went up.
9184317
Fuh
Leave Purple Smart to Walking Dynamite Keg, miss Goody Two Shoes, your Dork Prince is in another castle.
9184896
If I tell you then they're not Clues then are they?
9184905
I imagine that looking somewhat like the stereotypical minion "POW" mark, while signifying a special talent in demolitions. I see a future for her as EI6/SMILE.
This was a good chapter and I liked the growing connection between Twilight and Sunset. The reference to the Pillars of Equestria was nice.
9185012
Given the clues, it sounds as if you're implying none of this is actually 'real' given how jump cuts may actually exist and Sunset's perspective is the underlying thread behind the narrative.
9184636 She only learned to make the habits worse
9185064
It's real.
9185473
Oh. Then I'm stumped.
Fascinating world-building with the basis of the three types of pony magic according to Star Swirl. I also like the depiction of Cadence's enigmatic "love magic."