Sunny Starscout rolled out of bed and stretched. Her efforts to improve relations between the Earth Pony, Unicorn, and Pegasus tribes had produced dismal results thus far, but she was certain that this would be the day her hard work paid dividends.
It was hard not to be inspired by her heroes, as her room was a shrine to their ever fading memory. Posters decorated her walls, and she even had dolls of three of the six Elements of Harmony, the ponies who’d fought so hard for friendship: Rainbow Dash, Rarity, and Pinkie Pie.
She put on her sash, decorated with pins depicting the cutie marks of Fluttershy and Rainbow Dash, two of those legendary ponies. Most ponies thought she was a really ambitious Filly Scout, and that she wore her sash all the time. Nopony recognized the cutie marks of the past heroes, and if they had, she would’ve been chastised for admiring pegasi, the vermin of the skies. That’s what the other ponies of Maretime Bay called them, but Sunny didn’t go along with the herd. She had never met a Pegasus, and until such time as she came across one, she’d reserve judgement on them.
She headed to the Curio Shop, a thrift store she frequented, hoping to find vintage items to add to her ever-growing collection of “Generation 4” artifacts. That was how historians referred to the era of the alicorns. The first generation had been pre-Harmony, the second had been the first Golden Age, ruled over by the triumvirate of Chancellor Puddinghead, Commander Hurricane, and Princess Platinum. The third generation had been the shortest… and the most terrifying: the era of Discord. Not much had survived from that time or earlier, but relics from after that weren’t uncommon. Those artifacts came from the fourth generation; ponykind's second Golden Age. The longest and most successful era of peace and prosperity ponies had on record.
Most of the merchandise in the store was castoff junk from the last twenty years: toys that foals had outgrown, clothing that had gone out of style, and records by artists that hadn’t managed to stay mainstream. What she was after was significantly older than that – things that probably belonged in a museum, if only museums were interested in that era of equine history. Instead objects that were hundreds of years old still turned up periodically at yard sales and flea markets… and probably the dump, too, but the junkyard didn’t allow scrounging.
You’d think that ponies would celebrate a civilization that lasted for well over a thousand years, but instead they ostracized them for how Equestria had ended: friendship had been their undoing. Things had gone back to how things were in the earliest era of ponies, before the first Hearths Warming: the tribes had split up amongst themselves. Supposedly there was some shady trading between the tribes, but that was a gray market. Nopony talked about it, and the ponies engaged in the deals tended to meet in out of the way locations late at night.
“Just the mare I was looking for,” Curio Steeplechase greeted her as she walked into the store. “I’ve got a few things you might be interested in,” she added in a whisper. Sunny knew that meant she’d have to wait until the shop was devoid of other customers to see just what the shopkeeper thought would pique her interest.
Sunny looked around and to her dismay saw the shop was crowded. “I think I’ll go get breakfast.”
“Take your time. Perhaps come back at noon. I’ll close shop for ‘lunch’ today. But it’ll cost you: bring back pizza.”
Sunny nodded, used to the older mare’s eccentricities. Pizza was a small price to pay for exclusive first dibs on anything she might find interesting. Not that there was all that much competition, but why take chances?
She sat outside the Greasy Spoon Café, sipping on a steaming hot cup of tea and enjoying some croissants. Her attention was always skyward, hoping to catch a glimpse of an elusive Pegasus. Part of her doubted their very existence – ponies that could fly and walk on clouds? All logic said such a thing was preposterous. Equus sapiens was too heavy to fly, and clouds were far too fragile to support the weight of even a bird, let alone an entire city of ponies.
It was a beautiful day, as sunny as her name, with fluffy white clouds scattered throughout the sky, providing shade in spots. If pegasi were real they’d want to be out flying on a day like this, yet she saw nothing. She sighed and glanced at the clock – it was still an hour until she had to go back to Curio’s. There were no other ponies eating outside; the ones who’d been eating when she’d sat down had quickly finished and left. Nopony else had decided to eat outside once they’d seen her sitting there.
Sunny wasn’t surprised by that in the least – ponies weren’t interested in what she had to say. The iconoclastic mare had burned a lot of bridges between herself and her fellow citizens of Maretime Bay. It was a lonely existence.
She returned to Curio’s shop at the specified time, with a pizza just the way the other mare liked it – Sunny had been through this routine enough times to have Curio’s topping preferences memorized. Curio opened the lid of the box and took a deep breath, inhaling the intoxicating aroma of a carrot, onion, and sweet pepper pizza. She grabbed a slice and motioned for Sunny to follow her into the back room. The dark and dusty room functioned as Curio’s makeshift office, and contained the treasures the mare had yet to price and put out on the shelves. She pointed to a trunk and left to grab another slice of pizza.
There was no slow buildup of anticipation, as Sunny flipped the lid of the trunk open as quickly as possible. She wasn’t known for her restraint… or her patience. She gasped as she saw what was inside. The first thing to catch her attention was a Twilight Sparkle doll. She pulled it out of the chest, but was dismayed to find the unicorn’s horn had been broken off at some point. She set it on the ground, in the hope of finding the missing piece at the bottom of the trunk.
There were quite a few books, timeworn and hardly library quality, but they were titles she wasn’t familiar with. She was thankful the language hadn’t changed over the years; while the words were antiquated and many had fallen out of daily use, she could still read them. Many were journals, and she quickly opened one to see who the owner had been. Somepony named ‘Smolder’ who’d been a student at the School of Friendship. Her jaw dropped. “How much?”
Curio chuckled. “Filly, you haven’t even gone through the entire chest yet.”
“I’ve seen enough to know I want all of it.”
“I figured you might. One hundred for the whole chest. The toy’s broken, but I’m sure you can scratch build a horn. If not, it’ll serve as a placeholder until I can find you an intact one.” She reached into the chest and pulled out a pin. “Another for your collection – matches the toy.”
“Twilight Sparkle.” Sunny quickly added the pin to her sash. “Three down, three to go.”
“And the pièce de résistance.” Curio pulled out a shiny golden coin from the chest. “An authentic Equestrian bit. Solid gold.”
Sunny oohed in appreciation. “Where did you find all this?”
“A cave outside town. There was an edger there. A dragon. She hadn’t been seen in quite some time so I ventured into her territory. The rest of her hoard is mine – she had a lot of bits, so I don’t mind giving you one of them.”
In its heyday, Equestria had had the ability to turn other metals and minerals into gold. They’d used it as currency. Sadly, that magic hadn’t survived to the current day, and even if it had, it would’ve done the Earth Ponies no good without horns of their own. As such, bits were one of the few things from the Equestrian era that were still worth money.
“Just be careful you don’t end up an edger. There are… rumors going around about you. You say things that make others uncomfortable. We don’t associate with the other tribes. Period.”
Sunny quirked an eyebrow. “You don’t partake in any gray marketing?”
“Of course not. And if I did, I wouldn’t announce it to the world. You’d be wise to do the same, lest you end up exiled from town. You wouldn't make it a month as an edger.”
Sunny gulped. She’d explored the surrounding landscape near the town. There were ruins from the Equestrian era, a town that her maps indicated as Baltimare, but it was inhospitable and grown over. Perhaps a thousand years ago, they’d had the magic to clear the ruins and bring them back to their former glory. She didn’t. She was already an outcast, she didn’t want to end up living on the fringes of society; the edge. As much as she loved the previous era, she didn’t want to live in its remnants. No, her dream was to bring back those glory days to today’s society. It seemed an unlikely scenario, but she’d never stop trying. “Have you ever met a Unicorn or Pegasus?”
Curio looked around the closed shop, making sure nopony had stayed around after she’d shut down for lunch. “Aye, I have. It’s not something I talk about, nor would I admit this to anypony but you.”
“What… what are they like?”
“They’re ponies. Like you or me. Except they’ve got horns or wings.”
“Then why are we scared of them?”
Curio scoffed. “Earth Ponies aren’t scared of anything, let alone a bunch of prissy Unicorns or flighty Pegasuses.”
“Pegasi.”
“Whatever. Pegasuses and Unicorns can all rot in Tartarus.”
“You can’t possibly believe that.”
“Perhaps I do, perhaps I don’t. But that’s the official line. That is what our tribe demands us to say. I’ve no intention of ending up an edger. I’d hate to lose one of my best customers to such a fate. You’re at a crossroads, Sunny. Conform to society’s expectations, make friends with your fellow Earth Ponies, and live a happy, fulfilling life. Or continue your path to ruin; insisting on befriending featherbrains and hornheads. It’s a path that can lead only to madness at best, or oblivion at worst. You have the tools at your disposal.” Curio motioned to the books. “Choose wisely, young Starscout.”
“I will. I promise.” Sunny pranced out of the thrift store, head held high and satchel overflowing. She would choose wisely… after she had read what Smolder had to say on the subject. Anything a former friendship student had to say was worth more than a pile of Equestrian bits.
Maybe it's just because I've read a lot of dark Pony fanfiction, but the synopsis makes this story sound like it should at least have a dark tag.
angry earwormed face
10708011
I don't think this qualifies as dark, so I should probably edit the synopsis. Thanks for letting me know!
It would be interesting if it really WAS centuries after G4
Oh, well, if you're basing the decision on what Smolder has to say on the subject...then life as an Edger it is. Because we all know full well that's the route Smolder would choose.
Anyway, thank you for writing this. Since the reveals of G5 broke, I've long been frustrated by everybody expressing dismay over how G5 is apparently "saying everything the Mane 6 did was for nothing" when that's a gross misinterpretation of the situation.
If that were truly the case, the likes of Sunny wouldn't even be here.
No, pony civilization may have grown complacent to the point that it lost sight of the goals of harmony the era of G4 established, but its certainly not gone. The groundwork is all still there, just waiting to be rediscovered, reestablished, and furthered on from where it left off, and that's where G5 truly comes in. If anything, it's picking up from where G4 left off on the subject of friendship, harmony, and magic.
Of course, that all assumes G5 will actually tie in that directly with G4, because despite the obvious references to it in Sunny's room, I'm not actually convinced yet they're set in the same continuity. I don't think Hasbro would really be that interested in having to deal with the baggage and restrictions that would come with that when they could just start over with a clean slate again. That is typically what they've done with the past generations of MLP, after all, as none of the previous ones have ever really been a real direct continuation of the last.
But even if it is still tied with G4...at least I know there's somebody else out there that gets G5's role in relation to it...and that nothing of G4 has truly been lost--it's just been misplaced for a bit too long.
10708128
I'm glad you enjoyed! With so little official word, there's not much to go on just yet, but it's obvious that Sunny knows who the Mane 6 are. It could be the far future, or G4 could be a media franchise of some sort in G5, or any number of other scenarios. From what I've seen, I'm also excited to see more. And I 100% agree: it wasn't for nothing. They've inspired Sunny, and Sunny will inspire others.
That said, if G5 has no magic, and if it's set in the far future of G4, there are a lot of things that need to be explained (for example: how the sun and moon are moving). So many questions and so few answers. I guess we'll find out sometime in September. I'm looking forward to it!
Ooh, this is neat!
10708183
Thank you!
Definitely an interesting story
10708168
Twilight Sparkle finally perfected that backwards orrery to automatically raise the sun, so that she could sleep in.
Now this was a good one, definitly saving this'n
ok my man i see you
10708128
"Because we all know full well that's the route Smolder would choose. "
Uh... huh. Well. I hadn't thought of that interpretation of that bit of the story, but it seems plausible; thanks.
Also, to AlwaysDressesInStyle, I was planning to just say this in a comment on the blog post, but since I'm commenting here anyway now: I think, in general, it's great that G5 is already inspiring so much creativity, and this story seemed a good example of that. :) Thank you for writing!
Very nice, but then again I might be biased.
10708168
I like to think that the magic went into the sun and moon so they would move themselves
This is a very good story. I enjoy the concept of the edgers and all I can think is, what happens when enough people on the edge of those communities come together to create their own communities
I really enjoyed the fic.
The premise of tribe segregation in g5 does give me an uneasy feeling. It feels like Hasbro is trying to make a ‘kid-friendly’ version of Apartheid to show the issues of racism. Depending on the presentation it could turn into something ugly if they over or under sell different parts of the problems.
This has a kind of maudlin feel to it, I think. Kind of in line with Hope Hollow, I think. Some ponies still hold out hope for things to go back to the way they were before, while others accept it as normal.
I do agree with 10708847 that the idea of tribe segregation is . . . well, to use the British expression, ‘brave.’ Especially given the focus of G4. That having been said, I’m willing to give it a chance. What little I saw of Pony Life, I really hated; what I’ve seen of G5 so far looks pretty good.
And yeah, the idea of people, or ponies, living on the edges, there’s a lot of human history there, too. Although I will admit I misread “Edgers” at first as “Edgars,” and I was trying to figure out how that made any sense at all.
Overall, a fantastic story, and a good way to dip my toe into G5 speculative fics. I already love Sunny.
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Now let’s find out why Izzy wears an anti-pointiness safety device.
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10709447
Same here on both. Pony Life just seemed like an excuse to generate memes, which just aren't my thing. I watched maybe a dozen of the episodes. G5, on the other hoof, has piqued my interest.
This is true. Lol @ Edgar. Now that I've seen it, I can't unsee it. Maybe I should leave Edger uncapitalized to avoid that.
Because she's pointy?
If she has Smolder's journal, she will learn enough to take her to the next step. Of all the journals she could have, that would be up in the top 5%. A nice outsider's view on friendship and ponies.
One thing that concerns me about G5 is the loss of magic. That must have hit the unicorns HARD. It also doesn't seem fair if the earth ponies keep their strength and the pegasi can still fly and walk on clouds.
Fuck me, I was reading edge-er as ed-ger that whole time getting really confused on who this edger person is, why they are so reviled and how one assimilates into the edger collective.
: *confused pegasus noises*
Yeah; we don't speak about that one.
No matter which era, Pizza always works.
Hopefully the dragon won't be able to track the treasures back to her should she one day return to the cave...
Good story with an intriguing background!
I enjoyed reading it.
10709447
Depending on how seroius that question was consider having a look at this analysis of Dr. Wolf:
10709592 it would be fun if they have adapted to the loss. Like, all ponies became more real-horse-Esq.
Earth ponies are much bulkier and thier strength now comes from just thier physical form, and no magic propensity for plant growth.
Pegasi are the lightest, though not hollow-boned. They can only glide with their small but well feathered wings. They cannot control the weather.
Unicorns have spear-horns meant for stabbing, and are quite fast. They charge and impale, their horns are aliken to rhino horns(unlike old unicorns, who had deer-esq horns covered with velvet the same colour as their coat).
The Edgers squatting in the ruins reminds me of the "old world blues" in Fallout.
The idea of a dragon in Baltimare might have been one of them is even sadder. She watched the centuries pass and the city fall to pieces around her and was unable to stop it, and one day she just gave up and flew away.
Well this was a pretty interesting story but it's also kind of upsetting to see this happen today and this sunny feels like a pony who wants to change the world and bring back that friendship and peace to her generation someday she will and she even got the story From smolder and she's going to be surprised that the smolder is a dragon but this was a pretty good story keep up the good work
Based on the comments, I can see that this came out before the movie, but even in the early released pictures, we see that the buttons are on the strap of her messenger bag.
Not on a sash.