Months Walk, Years Run (Edited 11/5)
It happened when Twilight was ten.
The worst day of her life started out routinely enough. Six sets of hooves crunched through the manicured grasses of one of Canterlot’s many gardens. Late-spring birds chirped in the trees, singing songs of joy that summer had arrived. Classes were over, tests taken and passed, and for three glorious months there would be hours to fill with whatever pleased at the moment.
Five years in the rigorous furnace of Equestria’s most prestigious and advanced school had forged the six fillies into young mares, and created powerful links between them.
Twilight hung back of the group, a half-step ahead of Moondancer. A book floated at reading height and the other studious pony was using Twilight’s tail as a guide. She had a habit of walking into things; ponies, light posts, uneven pavement, even buildings weren't safe from her face.
The head of their little group trotted a little ways in front of the others, a duffle bag slung across her withers. She'd gotten it into her head that the thing to do on this summer morning was baseball.
Betty was the most unique pony Twilight had ever met, the most unique in Canterlot maybe. While the other unicorns tended towards slender, Betty was stocky. It wasn't uncommon for ponies to think of her as an Earth Pony with a horn glued to her forehead. She was taller than the others as well, almost the full size of a teenager despite trailing by a couple months in age.
Her red coat offset a darker mulberry mane that framed her muzzle in ringlet curls and spilled across her withers, her eyes and aura a warm tiger-lily orange.
If someone stalking the little group closed their eyes and imagined, their accents could have an archetype assigned. Twilight spoke, and in the mind’s eye one saw cravats and spats, culture and wealth. Moondancer spoke similarly, but differently enough that she'd appear a yuppie New Money to Twilight’s blue blood.
Lyra’s upper-class brogue carried imagery of cardigans and yachts, and conversations about Pranceton and Hayvard.
Starlight Glimmer had a rather bland and exact North Luna Oceanic accent, but a cheerful warmth of tone of a well-read academic, possibly the host of the gathering in her paneled study.
Trixie Lulamoon had neither title nor wealth to her name, but the others loved her for her stories and trinkets gathered from across Equestria’s settled zones; an exotic-voiced outsider visiting with tales of adventure.
And then Betty would crash the party, a Wild West desperado, a cowpony blowing in from the range. She hailed from Mustangia in the Undiscovered West, and often regaled her friends with tales of her home. Her mother was a railpony, and had made her fortune laying track from the Celestial Sea to the Luna Oceans, connecting Las Pegasus and San Flanksisco to the rest of Equestria.
“Righ’ here. This dog’ll hunt.”
She smiled thinly and dropped her load, Starlight, Lyra, and Trixie grabbing bases and trotting out lines. Twilight grabbed a couple balls and a bottle of water before settling in roughly in the center of the square.
Moondancer set aside her carefully-annotated copy of The Compleat Baseball Compendium, slid on her mask, and settled into a squat with her mitt held between hooves over her barrel.
Betty tipped a wink and selected a bat as she watched Twilight prepare to pitch. Street theater was a long held pony pastime, and snooty wannabe-nobles watched the uncouth proceedings with interest, of course while attempting to convey that they were not in fact watching.
Betty reared up on her hindlegs and gripped the hickory bat between her forelegs like an Earth Pony as Twilight wound up to toss the ball with her magic. The ponies pressed closer with more thinly-veiled interest, breath holding across the park.
In the moment of silence, Betty’s molasses-thick and equally sweet drawl rolled across the grass.
“C’mon naow, Twai. Straight’n true.”
Betty’s hooves tightened on the bat’s grip. Twilight’s eyes narrowed as she watched Moondancer make a motion with her hoof. She nodded, and let fly.
CRACK!
“I still can't believe what happened to that first ball.” Lyra smirked as she folded her forelegs to support her neck.
Betty flexed self-consciously. “Well Ah needed ta break in New Hick’ry after Ah cracked the las’ one, an Ah figured bustin’ the guts outta a ball would be worth at least a run.”
The fillies had watched in mild awe, the baseponies dropping to the ground and covering their ears when Betty had swung low like a Major Leaguer. The thunderous crack of the cover flaking off and the cork shattering had been met with silence, the perfect atmosphere for Moondancer’s quiet voice to make the call.
“You're lucky I only called it as a foul. The Compendium says I could have called it an out, and benched you for the rest of the game.” Moondancer had done the unthinkable in response to Betty crying blue thunder, had kept her place and merely shoved the (highlighted) passage in the book to her muzzle.
The game had been fun, and the fillies had collected their supplies and dumped them near enough to the bag to be called picked up before sprawling across the manicured lawn of the garden.
“Well hell, out Tall Tale way they'd’ve called it a run an’ Ah’d’ve been carried round the bases.”
Moondancer rolled her eyes as she flipped a page, a haze of magic holding Daring Do and the Sapphire Statue over her snout at an angle perfect for reading and blocking out the sun.
“Well it's a foul, and you're too heavy for us to carry.”
Trixie muttered something under her breath, to which Starlight responded with a quiet titter. Her lilting accent rose as she shifted to look at her companions briefly before returning to the clouds above them.
“What's everypony got planned for summer vacation?”
The ultimate question, the only question that mattered on such a perfect late-June day. It was met with silence, and much more thought than any of them had devoted to exams.
Moondancer broke the spell first. “My sister found me a spot interning for the Royal Archives. She needs help cataloguing and sorting some things from an archaeological dig near Somnambula.”
Lyra’s easy, rolling rhythm answered next. “Oh, Ma’s takin us down the coast, we’re gonna spend some time out in Trottin'ham.”
Starlight sighed, “Back home to Sire’s Hollow, same as every year. Sunburst will probably stay here for the Archives.”
Trixie rose up on her haunches, gesticulating wildly. “Sar laci and'ekh vadra! Titles and money, like crabs in a bucket! Mama is taking me on tour with her this year, to see all the sights of Equestria and meet all of the ponies. Do not despair, dear friends, for Trixie shall return in time for school with gifts! Things you've never imagined, from places you've never been and your chains do not reach- snowglobes from Whinnyapolis with real snow, glowstone bracelets from Somnambula, and…” She faltered uncharacteristically, her voice dropping to a pout. “... I'll think of something when we visit Los Pegasus. And letters from the road! You'll write as well, if you're not too busy with your buckets, little crabs.”
She dropped back down and shuffled an inch closer to Starlight. The other pony making halting attempts at the burbling language Trixie spoke with her mother, to quiet giggles and quieter responses.
Twilight’s heart stopped and her breath caught at a pressure on her hoof, looking down to see a cream-colored one settled over hers. She smiled crookedly and blushed a bit, shuffling closer to read the words as they flicked by.
“Well shoot, I ‘spect with the railhead jes’ put in out Tall Tale way we'll be headin’ out ta cut ribbon on the station, ‘n then probably camp out on the Range.”
Twilight cleared her throat and closed her eyes. “Normally, we spend four months visiting the settled zone near the Everfree Sparkle Estate. But Mom and Dad left for the shipyard in Fillydelphia about a week ago. When Shiny comes home from officer school we'll probably take the new Star Light for a cruise before heading out to the country. I hope the airship will be more fun than that creaky old house by the forest. Even if I do get airsick every time I set hoof on those blasted things.”
The six friends settled into quiet contemplation of the cloud shapes rolling overhead, not trotting out old quarrels or starting new ones. Hooves wordlessly sought contact, and six young hearts thrummed with the knowledge that nothing would ever change.
Cadance’s lilting Cavellian accent carried fairly impressively across the observation deck of the Tower of Art. The highest point in Canterlot, and well within the jurisdiction of Celestia’s School, it afforded anypony who made the climb the chance to see the entire city and Equestria unfurl beneath them like a map. Not that anyone in Canterlot ever cared, with their noses high enough to drown if it rained.
“Oh no, they're arguing.”
Sunset rolled her eyes and looked up from the pile of notes before her. It seemed like every new week brought new revisions to her carefully-crafted lesson plans, as Twilight proceeded to demolish every expectation set before her. She unfolded her legs from beneath herself and stretched, trotting to snag one of the telescopes arrayed around the fringe of the tower.
“They're always arguing. They're ten.” She swung the telescope down and across, fiddling with the focus to see what Cadance was watching. Her view of foals wasn't changed by Twilight, she merely found her the only filly in the world that wasn't inherently irritating. “Betty busted a ball. Again. I swear, that filly has zero restraint.”
Cadance glanced down and ran her hoof along the page of the book open before her, lips moving as she read.
“That’ll be a foul. Moondancer is a stickler for the rules.”
Sure enough, the argument ended with Betty resuming her position and a second ball lifting in Twilight’s telekinesis.
Both ponies jumped at the thunderous crack as hickory met cork, and groaned as it met a magic-hazed mitt reinforced by a pair of hooves, Trixie popping up from a roll and throwing herself to touch the base. There was a certain amount of crowing, before the lineup shifted and Starlight took the bat in her aura with a mildly self-conscious expression.
“You've got to admit, only they would be able to come up with a way for six ponies to play a game meant for eighteen.”
Cadance shook her head. “This baseball is so ‘ard to follow. I prefer hoofball.”
Sunset tugged over a sheet of paper and carefully marked it, squinting. The diagram filled up with pencil marks as the game progressed, keeping track of the notational runs, outs, and base hits made more complicated by the fillies constantly shuffling positions.
Before too long the game was over, and Sunset turned her attention back to the stack of books she'd brought along. Her attention was taken by a wordless squeal rising in pitch and rapid tapping on her shoulder.
“Tea’s ready.” She smirked, the keening sound Cadance made upon seeing something cute always reminding her of an angry kettle. She brought her eye back to the telescope and smiled despite the company. “Aw. Puppy love. I guess you're going to want to field that one?”
Cadance blushed and composed herself. “I appreciate you making an effort to realize that there are things only my talent can do for Twilight.”
Sunset made a face as she watched a purple ball present itself from the bag. No game in particular, the fillies just kicking it around.
“Yeah well… maybe the squirt’s got me thinking. Looking at myself, how I'm not much of a role model. How I'm…”
Cadance bit her lip and tucked her wings tight. “A bit of a bitch?”
Sunset gave her a Look, before the anger fizzled out of her like a rush of steam, leaving her hot and limp. “Yeah. Don't get me wrong, I still hate you for stepping into the life I always wanted and deserved without any effort but… You never deserved the way I treated you. How I'd pull feathers when you walked by or did things with magic to show you that you couldn't- or to make you afraid.”
Cadance smirked faintly and made a quiet pop noise. “My father always said that when you become a teenager that your head goes up your ass. He then said that one day you will hear a pop, and that will be it coming back out, and you will then be an adult.”
Sunset’s lips worked for several seconds, before she turned red and giggled helplessly. “I'm so telling Celestia that you said ‘ass’, Miss Priss.”
Cadance rolled her eyes. “Maybe part of the blame is mine. I should have spoken up, I should have stood up to you, I should have told Auntie that the way she treats you is unpony. She really does think of you as a daughter, you know… she just can't say it because she fears you will reject her.”
Sunset smiled a little self-consciously. "I know. She doesn't show it much, but I know."
She tapped Sunset on the nose gently with a forehoof. “But, it is okay. I no longer care how you act towards me. It is clear to me that despite five years of pissing and moaning you really care deeply for Twilight, as deeply as I do. That for the first time since I have met you, you love somepony other than yourself.”
They smiled at each other in the deepening twilight, before Sunset returned to her books and Cadance to the telescope as the sun dipped over the Eastern horizon.
“You're not so bad, Heartflanks, even if you are a filthy lifestealer.”
A tiny smirk. “And despite your constant bullying and self aggrandizing you are not such a bitch either. I only agreed to come here today because I know there's a good pony under there, she only needs someone willing to show her the way out.”
Cadance’s breath caught as she tilted the telescope up, brow furrowing.
“Ah, so that is the Star Light.”
Sunset lifted herself back up to peer through her own telescope. “She sure is beautiful, isn't she? I hope they didn't get ripped off.”
Cadance rested both hooves on the barrel of the telescope and squinted. “Truthfully, she is the first airship I have really looked at. Look there, on the left ah…” She made a circular motion with her hoof.
“Rotor? What am I looking at.”
“Is it supposed to do that?” She made a wiggling motion of her hoof.
Sunset cursed under her breath about stupid alicorn eyesight and squinted. “Ah. That's called cavitation, and no it isn't. The rotor is being pulled backwards by its own vacuum and that's making it wobble. A competent captain can smooth it out though, nothing to worry about.”
Both ponies gasped as flickering light raced along the nacelle.
“The engine’s caught fire.”
They watched helplessly as the rotor sheared free and blades the size of a windmill’s arms cut through the skin of the airship. The fire had engulfed the engine, and was spreading towards the envelope. A few other craft and a small flight of pegasi sprang from the docks on the lowermost part of the city, and both of them pleaded that they'd be enough, and in time.
They weren't. The bones of the ship were visible as the canvas burned away and she listed heavily to port and started sinking. She collapsed against the side of the mountain, as ponies fruitlessly tried to combat the blaze. The hydrogen escaping quickly turned it into an inferno that nopony could have escaped.
“No gliders. Nopony ditched the ship. They had to have known…”
Both ponies were frozen, still as statues. Cadance wept openly, sinking to the floor and burying her face into her hooves. She tried to ignore, to forget what she'd seen- two of Twilight’s bonds blackening and shriveling like burned rope.
Sunset stirred first, swallowing and rising to her hooves. “I… I…”
Cadance lifted her face and had to shield her eyes from how brightly Sunset’s shackles glowed in the sight of her talent. “Where are you going?”
“You wouldn't understand, miss Perfect Life. I have to tell Twilight that her fucking world just ended.”
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now i see why you said your sorry.....
9200303
9200302
media.tenor.com/images/c7ac04eb9e14c7da7df22e2f8b584721/tenor.png
Dayum...
9200305
See above comment.
Did Shining Armour Just die? as if it was just one bond it is unlikely to be her parents
9200308
Shining Armor is still at OCS and will be for the next week or so as stated. The only ponies on board were Night Light, Star Sparkle, and a skeleton crew.
"Truthfully, she is the first airship I have seen."
I'm pretty puzzled by this line. She hasn't seen any others, in all the time she's been in Canterlot, and the court? Especially given that what appear to be airship docks in Canterlot are mentioned just a few paragraphs down.
9200309
Twilight's mother is called Twilight Velvet NOT Star Sparkle.
9200326
Cadance is a pony who doesn't look down much. Her world is pretty far above the clouds.
9200328
Twilight Velvet is a stupid name and always has been. Her name is Star Sparkle cos I said so.
I should know what my own mom's name is.
Wait What?!?! Does that mean Her Family died in the airship?!
9200362
Her parents, yeah.
That never means good things.
9200333
Twilight Velvet is the canon name, but you are free to call her whatever you want.
Might have said two bonds. Little confusing when one encompasses two ponies.
And that, kids, is why you don't use hydrogen for buoyancy
Poor Twily though, that's going to be a bitch. I'm almost sorry for whomever sold it to her parents though, that's bound to be an assassination and therefore heads will roll, for the daughter of the crown is pissed
9200333
Nah, Star Sparkle is founder of House Sparkle.
It's rare when name of pony is same as name of House.
Seriously, let's close this topic and just will call Twilight's mother as "Twilight's mother".
Because Star Sparkle is as stupid as Twilight Velvet. Sunset Shimmer or Starlight Glimmer is much, much better.
Stars don't sparkle and don't glow, they shine or glimmer.
— They killed Twilight Sparkle's parents!
— Bastards!
They actually have rules about destroying the ball with a swing.
that is awesome.
Poor Twilight.
ow my feels
9200399
I figured with a third of the population (and let's face it, the majority of ponies who actually would play baseball) having Super Strength as their racial ability, it would make sense.
9200388
Celestia is no doubt going to have to work quickly to prevent Sunset from earning a prison sentence for multiple murder.
9200407
Royal decree is outrank court's sentence.
My actual first reaction was to mutter aloud “...you fuck”
9200421
Wow, it's like... this is an Alternate Universe story...
This could also have been called "Promotion To Parent: Get."
9200333
http://www.mylittlewiki.org/wiki/Twilight_Velvet
Holy shit!
So if both parents died... why did only one bond to Twilight shrivel and blacken?
A Double Disney, you killed both parents.
guess twilight parent are dead and somehow sunset become twilight legal guardian,
9200421
AU. buuut, it's like SAO, expecting us to go with the romance thing despite the timeskip bushing past it all.
Oookay, that happened. You know you didn’t have to kill them off? Could have had her just grow close to Sunnybuns naturally while her birth parents are off doing whatever. Like in the show, with Celestia. I don’t think this was the best way you could have gone about it.
Only one bond burning does seem to imply only one parent died.
But anyways, Moondancer x Twilight? Moonlight! Haha, so clever.
9200432
the AU was developed when Sunset stayed in Equestria and became Twilight's mentor. Dropping this in four chapters seems a sudden change. Plus the cover art certainly didn't leave me expecting a time skip
Well... I don't mind the time skip, as trying to cover ten years would be a bit dragging, but how did these six get to be such close friends? A slight bit of context wouldn't go amiss. Also, I think I'm suffering from plot whiplash as one moment we are playing baseball, then seeing Cadence and Shimmer getting along a bit better, then BAM! parents dead.
Still interested to see where this all go's, but I think I'll need to buckle in better next time.
Yeah I have to agree with some of the other posters in that the time skip was a bad idea. Not only would it better flush out Twilight's and Sunset's relationship, but it would also give you the opportunity to introduce Twilight's parents as characters so that we would feel worse when you would eventually do this. Not only that we could see how their dynamic would change as the result of the deaths of her parents.
cavitation only occurs in liquids, there is no speed at which cavitation can occur in a gas. cavitation is the formation of gas and/or vacuum bubbles in a liquid due to rapid and extream pressure differentials. the wiki explains it in more depth. another thing, anything that pushes a fluid, be it gas or liquid, can not be pulled in the direction it is designed to push by said fluid when it is actively pushing said fluid.
if you are going to have something go wrong have it do so in the right way, for an example instead of what you have you can try something like:
this implies that the wobble is not natural and makes it more concise.
9200560
Sunset also has no idea whst the fuck she's talking about and wants to sound likr she does.
9200420
My first reaction was "I'm so so sorry".
9200421
I assure you that I know exactly what I'm doing.
9200482
That's your prerogative.
9200484
Parental bond being shared? I dunno dude they're figurative not literal.
9200590
That's nice. Bye.
Also- "unexplained group of friends" what, roughly the same friends Twilight had in canon?
9200582
That's nice. Bye.
9200599
I didn’t meant it as a negative, I just didn’t see that coming. I just figured the sorry thing meant Sunset was gonna get in a huge fight with Twilight or Celestia or something
9200492
So a Double Disney is equivalent to a Single Batman?
Not sure I'm a fan of the sudden introduction of a number of different accents for the six characters, but that's just a brain processing problem on my end, I'll have a hard time keeping track of them and how they're supposed to sound. Otherwise I think this is pretty neat so far.
9200729
Your comment was very cruel, rude, and hurtful. I didn't appreciate it.
9200622
Look guy I don't care. Her name isn't changing because you wheedled at me.
"...the other studious unicorn levitating a book at reading height and using Twilight’s tail as a guide..."
Ok, now I can't help but see a line of unicorns across the campus, all with their noses buried into books and following the one ahead of them until...
Green Grass bumped the front door of the frat house open with one shoulder and strolled inside, still with his Thaumaturgic Disorders of Horn Growth textbook crooked in his foreleg, which slowed his gait across campus in order to keep reading. Final exams tomorrow was going to be a nutcracker of a day, with three of them back to back to back, a brief pause to inhale lunch, and a double-length promptly afterward. He kept moving to his bedroom and put the book down on his desk, then paused at a peculiar noise.
There were five unicorn mares in a line behind him, a line that stretched down the stairs and most probably out into the street.
"Ladies," he announced in as calm a voice as he could manage, "can we wait until after Finals?"
9200756
That just pulled a bout of raucous cackling from me.