Chapter Two
Chapter Two
Spike quickly departed from her side, the drake waddling off to their apartment to gather Lemon Heart's gift. Sunset was aware, albeit distantly, that the mare was actually trying to invite her to the party but she had more pressing matters to attend, namely seeing if she could get an answer from Cadance.
She did watch Spike walk ahead, keeping an eye on the guards before finally moving on to where she thought her old foalsitter would be. She moved through the hallways, keeping track of the turns she was making. There was some vases and a few paintings to mark the different rooms but she still got confused from time to time. She was aware she could use the forbidden hallway as a shortcut to Cadance's chambers but that would mean risk upsetting Celestia.
There were not many rules that Celestia held to or really enforced but entering that wing of the castle was one of the few that she absolutely took seriously and had an incredibly dim view on those breaking that unofficial rule. There were always guards that stood by those doors anyway, only permitting Princess Celestia to pass through. Not even the maids were allowed to enter, and the one time that a young Sunset had gone through it by accident, she had received a very stern lecture from the princess, though the actual scary part was how cold her teacher seemed to be.
Shaking her head of those memories, Sunset continued on her way, passing through the guards and the ponies working on maintaining the castle and doing her best to avoid the guided tour. Last time that happened, she actually got removed from the castle grounds due to the guide refusing to believe she actually lived there. Fortunately, Princess Celestia had eventually gotten wind of it and had words with the guide.
Still, she wasn't going to take the chance again and stuck to the private hallways where only a very select few ponies were allowed, including-
"Hello Shimmer," the drawl of his voice and the snide tone cut off her thoughts and made her grit her teeth, staring at the white coated unicorn who was glaring back at her. "Prince" Blueblood (so known because he was descended from the rulers of the former unicorn kingdom that had existed before Equestria's founding and Celestia's ascension to the throne) was easily one of the most obnoxious nobles she'd ever met, and if she never saw him again in her life, it would be too soon. Unfortunately, he was the current leader of the noble court in the senate and his blasted title allowed him far greater reach than she or Cadance were comfortable with.
"Blueblood," she returned, her coat bristling already. There was always something about him that annoyed her, and she was still surprised she hadn't set him on fire yet, accidentally or not. "What brings you here today?"
The stallion narrowed his eyes at her. "Just showing the Princess some of the proposals for Canterlot's own celebration of the Summer Sun Celebration," he said, bowing his head slightly. "While I do understand Princess Celestia's desire to visit a rural town to remind the commoners that we do care about them, we cannot ignore our very own ponies here in the capital."
Sunset did not believe that for a second, and was trying to figure out what his real plan was before shaking her head internally. "That's very altruistic of you, Blueblood," she said instead, seeing his own coat bristle but he was too clever for his own good to say anything.
"I simply do not know what you mean Shimmer," Blueblood lied to her, showing off his flawless teeth. "I care for all of our ponies, here and abroad." Sunset could not help but snort at that lie, knowing how much of an elitist he could be. "In any case, I wish you well with your own tasks in Ponyville, Shimmer."
"Thanks," she said, moving past the unicorn and continuing on her way towards Cadance's suite/workroom.
After a few more turns, Sunset saw she was approaching Cadance's part of the castle. She had more personal touches than Celestia did, going out to buy artwork from lesser-known artists as well as any that had had 'trouble' in the past.
Walking past Cadance's personally selected guards (she had had to dismiss several for disagreeing with her ideals and refused to bow to Celestia's requests to reinstate them), Sunset raised her hoof to knock on the door only for her former foalsitter to call her in by name.
Rolling her eyes, Sunset stepped into Cadance's suite and was instantly buffeted by the hum of multiple ponies talking to each other as they looked over tables and pinned charts. Then, she saw Cadance raising her head from a crowd of ponies going over a chart, giving her a smile and walking over to her.
"Is that an alicorn thing or were you really expecting me to come in?" she asked as Cadance passed by her ponies to greet her with a nuzzle.
"I was expecting you a bit earlier, honestly," Cadance said with a bit of giggle. "I knew that Auntie Celestia was going to send you off to Ponyville and I expected you to come over to ask for some advice on what to do there."
"Close, but I have a more personal question to ask, actually," Sunset said with Cadance's manner shifting instantly.
"Then let's go to my own chambers to talk about it," she said, walking past the ponies working to locate avengers' cells as well as keep abreast of any of their work or those who had their mentality, and into her personal chambers that held her bed, dresser and a few other odds and ends.
Sunset closed the door behind them, and then turned to Cadance. Once she'd made sure the room's built-in soundproofing spells were active, she spoke. "Princess Celestia claims that she didn't intend to send me a certain book," she said. "I'm not buying it. And really, I'm worried about her."
Cadance looked more serious now. "What book?"
"A history text, claiming she had a younger sister who got in a big disagreement with her and took a bunch of night-loving ponies to the moon a thousand years ago," Sunset said. "And... I can get that they have their differences; me and Spike don't always see eye to eye." She sighed. "I think Celestia still cares about her sister, and really doesn't want to have to hurt her if she comes back in a bad mood. And I'm worried about what'll happen to her if she doesn't at least try to defend herself when the time comes."
"That is if Luna does come back," Cadance said, shaking her head as she started to pace. "We have no idea how Princess Luna could be feeling but that is besides the point. That book you have is probably one of the few remaining references to her and that is no accident. The hallway that no one is allowed to be has one of the few remaining places that you can see pictures of her and that is by Celestia's own design. If Celestia wanted to have the best possible meeting with Princess Luna, she would have prepared for it a long time ago by introducing the notion of her and her ponies to us instead of saying nothing and doing nothing about the hate crimes against the nox ponies and those blasted avengers." She snorted angrily, shaking her head as she took a breath before continuing. "What I am more worried about is how their first meeting in a thousand years will go and pray that I can do my best to help mediate it."
Sunset looked taken aback for a moment; she'd seen Cadance angry and very emotional on some topics before, but never quite to this level. "I hope you can keep them from fighting then," she said, before blinking and looking up at her. "Princess Luna?"
Cadance nodded. "That's her real name," she said. "I'm... one of a very few who knows it, besides Celestia herself."
"She told you about her?" Sunset asked with Cadance suddenly looking awkward.
"Yes and no," she said deflectively. "I had figured out a few things, and asked her about it. She didn't intend to blurt her sister's name out then, but she was so startled..."
"And I take it you didn't press further?" Sunset asked.
"Oh no no no," Cadance shook her head. "I could tell she was feeling tremendous sorrow but at the same time, anger as well and I didn't want to make her even more upset."
"Right," Sunset said. "Look... I'm still worried about her."
"And justifiably so," Cadance said softly. She laid a hoof on Sunset's shoulder. "I promise you, if Luna returns, I will do my best to help keep the peace between she and Celestia. We've never met, and she probably doesn't even know I exist yet. But Luna is technically my aunt as much as Celestia is, and I've long hoped that when she comes back, we can reach a point where we can call each other family."
Sunset nodded slowly, and Cadance smiled at her. "And of course, you can always come to talk to me about anything," she said. "But I think you should probably go and pack now. Ponyville is waiting."
Sunset smiled. "Sure. And... thanks for listening to me, Cadance."
"It's no problem, Sunset."
Twilight knew that she wasn't needed at work until later that day, so she should have plenty of time to get to where she was going while she thought about what Luna asked her. Going to Equestria was... terrifying to say the least, but she knew that it couldn't be that dangerous if Luna had suggested that she be part of the teams heading down to Equuis.
Still, she had heard horror stories told by other foals to scare each other and while she didn't believe them, she had also heard some unnerving tales from the archives about the Night of Departure and a few stories from Luna's own lips about how bad things could be down there.
"Whoa, watch yerself there, Twily," a very familiar voice broke her out of her musing, making Twilight aware she had almost walked into her friend. "I guess somepony's deep in thought."
"Ah sorry Vinyl," Twilight said, blushing as she stared at the mare in front of her. Vinyl was a rather average-looking unicorn mare save for her eyes and the bit of metal that peeked out of her neck fur. "Yeah, I guess I was."
"Figured as much," Vinyl laughed, her voice echoing slightly. "Come, let's go grab a bite bite bite bite." Then she frowned and closed her mouth with Twilight already using her magic to inspect her friend's voice box.
"You know you should get this checked out on a regular basis," she chided Vinyl, who simply rolled her eyes and grimaced as Twilight fixed the small short.
"Yeah, I know," she said in a flat tone before grumbling. "Oh come on Twilight, did you have to reset it to basic?"
"Sorry," Twilight apologized, knowing that the mare had a preferred voice to use normally when she wasn't experimenting with different pitches for her music. "You do have it saved, right?"
"Yeah but it takes a while for this thing to accept inputs," Vinyl grumbled without any tone or affliction, which was odd to hear. "Come on, let's go grab some donuts, my treat."
Twilight nodded her head as the two headed into the shopping district section of the primus dome, this time standing on the walkway and taking in the sights of her home. There were not many towering buildings in this dome, and instead a lot of parks and statues of the founders, save for Luna as she felt it was too self-aggrandizing. That hadn't stopped a few families from including ornamental effigies of her on their private property, but that was their business and as they'd used their own funds for it rather than public ones, she couldn't really complain. And of course, the view of the stars was spectacular.
All in all, it was a magnificent sight to behold, and Twilight was glad to call it her home, though she still had love for the tertium dome where she was born and raised. She knew her parents enjoyed the residential dome too much to move over to the primus with her or Shining and that she should also go visit them soon.
Shaking her head, she followed her friend into the café. There were a number of ponies already sitting at tables, drinking and eating while Donut Joe perked his head up.
"The normal ladies?" he asked with both Twilight and Vinyl nodding their heads as they headed to a booth in the back. "Be there in a moment."
"Thanks Joe," Vinyl said with everyone turning to face her as her voice was still flat. Groaning again, she dropped her face onto the table. Twilight just snickered at her friend who lifted her head and began to type on her PCA's holographic pad to try and get her voice fixed.
"So busy day so far, Twi?" the other unicorn asked as her ears flicked in concentration.
"I suppose you can say that," Twilight answered, wondering how much she could tell her friend. "I spoke to Luna about a future project she is thinking of having me take on." She then turned her head to thank Donut Joe for the vanilla donut and cup of decaf he'd brought while Vinyl thanked him for her own heavily sprinkled chocolate donut and triple espresso.
"Ah, so you're one of the other possible candidates," Vinyl said in her normal voice, her smile widening now.
"You're one of them too?" Twilight asked in surprise.
"Well, I'm one of the more visually different ponies in the Republic and I do know how to handle myself," Vinyl said with a grin and a shrug. "I also know how to spot things others don't and I can relate to others with similar disabilities."
"That does make sense," Twilight said, nodding her head. "So who are the other teammates or are you not allowed to tell me until I accept?"
"Well one of them is your dork of a brother that plays with my dork of a brother with their music and board games," Vinyl snorted with Twilight giggling. "He's going to be my partner, though I am not sure who Luna is going to ask to accompany you, providing you decide to go."
Twilight bit into her donut, stalling for time before looking at Vinyl. "Why are you going?"
"Because I wanna see what it's like," Vinyl said with a shrug. "I'm curious to see how they've done things, how ponies like me are treated and maybe get some new musical inspiration."
"That makes sense," Twilight nodded in her head. "And I suppose it would be a great sociological experience to see how our pathways diverged from a necessity to reach our current level of development."
"There you go Twi," Vinyl said, holding out her cup to her. "To new experiences."
Twilight clinked the cup back and smiled. "To new experiences."
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this is so cool this can go in so many ways i hope it show magic and science being epic partners!
there had to have been some ponies who went around on daring adventures around the planet then equestrian lands the moon had to have some old magic short cuts or artifacts of travel so some ponies had to have made a few trips between the moon and world but thanks to the hint about crusaders aka avengers about made it seem risky but it would be an answer for new blood for the colony fresh ideas and inspirations or need for exotic material not found in asteroids also gives a chance for finding more like mind cousins or nox ponies in hiding or outcasts.
maybe there actually a teleport circle or a ritual of travel a thing chance for some secret trade rings or mystic ways of looking around for information but more audio then sight maybe they trade with other places? maybe luna or lunar ponies do dream walking for ponies on eraqus that need a better life? she or others could give instruction on how to be summon to the moon but avengers make it a dangerous thing for that risky new life but it would add to rumors or lore adds to celestia frustration's maybe the moon has other races then just ponies only? be interesting thing that set the story apart from others!
I'm kind of hoping for mlp moon has air but the tertium dome more for protection against the dangers of fast little asteroids breaking bones or killing and low gravity and temperature being a problem.
I'm looking forward to the history for that lunar home 1000 years has to have some history how did they do the first dome if science was so little back then? and there had to have been some hiccups like flames act weird in low gravity did Luna have to have held it all together at first with magic taxing her health till ponies figured out tougher glass and better space magics??? did they do magic in turns recharging a shield? did Luna have to teleport and steal resources for survival? where there surprises and disasters unexpected on the moon to solve? do the crusader ponies have a few ways to track moon ponies?
This a slight copy of another fic The Thousand Year Change, well, at least the idea I guess the author was inspire by that other fic, I really hope is not a copy and things turn out different than the other one.
10772422
Oh, believe me... Evilhumour may have been inspired by The Thousand Year Change, but our take on the concept is going to be very different.
Until next time...
Anon e Mouse Jr.
Thanks very much for getting this next chapter up. I really appreciate you going to the effort. Definitely enjoyed Sunset and Twilight's reflections on their cultures (in addition to, in Sunset's case, the forbidden hallway AND on the surprising degree of self-control she had with Blueblood, despite the latter being so darned annoying) as well as Sunset's dialogue with Cadance and Twilight's dialogue with Vinyl (especially since Vinyl DID provide some good reasons for wanting to go).
Anyway, the exchanges, characterizations and future chapter set-up are all pretty well done and I'm definitely looking forward to more of this.
Interesting ....
I thinks these "avengers" are going to be a problem, and I wouldn't be surprised if the MoonPonies are accused of being spies from a hostile power when they get found out.
Loving more info into these 2 established cultures, I fear those *avengers* that got mentioned may become a source of conflict when the 2 groups finally meet!
pog, yes yes yes very pog very yes pog yes very
10772438 You certainly have my attention. I'm hoping this is the fic I wanted 'Thousand Year Change' to be.
I wish we could get more description of the Moon life. For instance, I can't even tell where are the cities on the moon? Which side of the moon are they facing? If they are on the planetside would the ponies below not be able to see their distance relatives with telescopes? A thousand years on the moon would likely also create different genetic differences between them as well. Subtle, but they would be there. (Like all the Lunars having thestral serpent like eyes.)
As long as it doesn't end in, "It was all just a dream!" like the other fic under this premise, it'll be 10/10.
Oh god I need more of this! You've got me hooked!
Well Captain America is obviously doomed if Cadence is on the job. Unlike Stark she won’t let ego and politics get in the way.
Well, one thing this storyvhas ove TTYC is that it feels more organic and slightly(?) less focused on the Princesses. Why do I foresee an approaching meeting between Celestia's personal study and Luna's precious student? Would definitely be interesting. That is perhaps the one true fault of the other story, it focused too heavily on the Princesses and the consequences of their bickering, not the lowborn ponies we ACTUALLY wanted to read about.
Oh and that reminds me, if there's ONE thing I ABSOLUTELY approve of, it's that you've brought Sunset Shimmer into the story! Not sure if she's gonna be or become a wicked mare she initially was in canon when the secret of the Lunar ponies become known, but since she's apparently playing Twilight's role, I'm not too concerned. It would be a nice change of pace for her to play.
Before I leave, I just thought I'd leave this. If you're willing, I'd truly love to help you brainstorm for plot arcs, characters, and whatnot. Just send me a PM and we can get started whenever you're ready.
Until next time...
Well now I'm just curious
Hmm, wonder what that's all about?
That's a good point
I'm also getting quite curious about these "Avengers", but given the context I think I'm getting a decent idea of what they're about
10777019
Without spoiling anything, they can be safely summed up in one word: jerks.
Until next time...
Anon e Mouse Jr.