Epilogue - A New Day
Sunset reclined in a pile of cushions in Luna’s salon, the sunset at her back, Tiberius in her lap, and a good book in her magic. Cadance sat across from her, similarly occupied, cradling a paperback in her wings. A rubbish romance novel, probably.
No, Sunset, she chided herself, be nice. In truth, she’d been finding it easier to be nice to Cadance lately. Sure, they didn’t have very many shared interests, but the pegasus Princess was an intelligent mare, and could hold a good conversation (when kept off the subject of her husband, he seemed to make her revert to fillyhood). Sunset wouldn’t consider them friends, exactly, but… amicable acquaintances, perhaps. Or, she supposed, cousins.
They’d met for what they called their Princesses’ Teatime, held on the evening of the first Sunday each month. It was an excuse for Luna to assemble and catch up with her favourite relatives (sometimes including Twilight Sparkle and Spike, if they were in Canterlot), held in the newly-built salon in the reconstructed west tower. The tower had been mostly constructed as it had been, but this pleasant little meeting room, close to its base, was a new addition, replacing a small art gallery Luna had kept. It was a purely personal room, according to Luna, and had never seen a diplomat. It was a family room, something she seemed to be considering much more important lately.
Sunset could see why; it was good to be back. She’d enjoyed her time in Zebrica immensely, and had found it to be a valuable time for her studies into magic and the natural world, but she hadn’t realised how much she’d missed Canterlot. The language, the views, the smells, and, she reluctantly admitted as Cadance giggled at her book, the company. Sure, the castle had been devastated by Daybreaker's brief realm, still years away from recovering all the defaced works of art, but it was her home. And it was good to be home. Even if Luna was late to their meetup. Again.
“I’m terribly sorry, my dears,” Luna opened the door, as if on cue. “You know how dealing with the changeling issues can be.”
“Don’t worry about it, Auntie.” Cadance waved a hoof. “As long as you remembered to order the tea this time.”
“That was a season ago, Cadance!” She protested, stepping onto the carpet of the salon. “Good evening, Sunset my dear.”
“Good evening, mother.” Mother. It was still a word that felt alien, especially in the context to which it was applied. But, half a year on, it was an idea that she’d grown more used to. And it made Luna smile widely.
“I hope you both don’t mind, but I’ve invited another guest tonight.”
Luna stepped further into the room, and another figure stepped into the doorway. She was an alicorn, taller than most ponies, but significantly shorter than Luna, with white fur and a pale pink mane that twinkled slightly in the light. She was hunched fairly low to the ground, peeking nervously into the room with bright eyes, looking as though she was ready to run at a moment’s notice.
“Princess Celestia!” Cadance was the first to react, standing and bowing, Sunset only a beat behind. “This is a very pleasant surprise. Of course you’re welcome here!”
Despite six months having passed since Celestia was returned to the world, the sun Princess had barely been seen. She’d taken over raising the sun in little time, but she did it with little pomp and ceremony, simply standing on the balcony of her east tower. And that was as much as most ponies had seen on her, a tiny figure on a distant balcony. And, at first, they had been perfectly fine with that, distrusting the pony that had once been Queen, but as time went by and her purity was made clear, they’d become curious. At every event, Luna had been asked where her sister was, and had replied with simple explanations of ‘feeling unwell’ or ‘taking time to herself’. Even Sunset and Cadance - ostensibly her nieces - had seen her for only a couple of hours each.
“Forgive us for our intrusion.” Celestia bowed in response, and the alicorns both took their seats, all of the mares sitting in a mid-sized cross in the circular room.
Sunset watched the alicorn carefully, lifting one hoof to let Tiberius scurry to Luna’s side. She was, it had to be said, beautiful - graceful, in the same well-practised way as Luna, opposite and yet equal to her sister. And yet she seemed nervous, out of place, as if everything and everypony was completely alien to her. She gazed, with sad, mauve eyes at a wide oil painting of the Everfree on the wall beside her, head cocked slightly and wings shifting idly.
“Reading anything good, my dear Cadance?”
Sunset smiled: that was Luna, through and through. She’d always been friendly, of course, but it seemed as though the summer’s events had made her even more so. It seemed like she couldn’t converse with anypony she loved without slipping in some term of endearment.
“Sunset Shimmer?”
Sunset turned to the voice of the smaller alicorn, bowing her head respectfully. “Princess Celestia.”
In a flash, Celestia had stood and bowed so low that her snout was touching the carpet, making Sunset jump back in shock. “Forgive us!”
“What?”
“What we did to you was terrible. Unforgivable. The manipulation and the harm and the lies… We are so sorry!”
The commotion had gained Luna and Cadance’s attention, and they watched silently as Sunset hesitantly reached forward, touching her shoulder. “Hey, it’s alright. I know that wasn’t you. You weren’t yourself. All is forgiven.”
She’d been angry for months - not wanting to even think about the other alicorn who had used her and tossed her aside like she was nothing. But now, seeing the Princess bowing low, tears in her eyes, Sunset couldn’t see Daybreaker. The Queen was gone. Forever, hopefully.
“Thank you.” Celestia whispered as she stood, wiping her eyes. “You honour us more than we deserve. We w- I was not myself, but that doesn’t change that it was done. Your mercy is a great virtue.” Sunset’s reply was interrupted by a staff member’s knock, bringing a trolley of tea sets and sweets. “The world has changed so.” Celestia finally said, once Luna had placed a cup before her.
“I imagine that it has, your majesty.” Sunset replied, sipping her own tea. Scalding hot, the way she preferred.
“She wasn’t trained to rule, yet it seems that Luna has been a fine ruler. Art and science have certainly flourished under her watch.” Luna was deep in conversation with Cadance and the staff member, whose name that Sunset couldn’t quite recall, so this was a conversation for Celestia and Sunset only. “And it seems that she isn’t the little sister any more.”
There was a little sadness at the end of that statement, so Sunset decided to change the topic. “What would you say is the strangest thing about the modern Equestira?”
“Oh goodness, so much. We- I suppose it’s that the world is so much smaller.”
“Oh?”
“It would’ve taken days to travel from Canterlot to Trottingham, last I can recall, and now there are these wonderful trains.” She explained enthusiastically. “And the telegrams! To speak through wires, so much swifter than any messenger! It’s as though the whole country is only seconds away.” Sunset could certainly see what that would be a change from the past. “And don’t even get me started on the food. The teas! Oh, what I would’ve given to have so many kinds of tea!”
That made Sunset laugh, and she distinctly saw Celestia hiding a smile behind the rim of her teacup. But then the alicorn sighed wistfully, looking around the room.
“I am glad to be home. And I am glad to have a family with me.”
Smiling, Sunset nodded, taking in the other ponies - her family. “Me too.”
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Every good story has an end.
Good job and good luck with the next story!
This was a pretty wholesome story. I'm really happy it was seen through to the end. Good stuff my dude.
Extremely nice.
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Damn. Somehow I totally forgot about that episode. Lets just say that Granny Smith was exaggerating a little for the story, Ponyville's a very old town and establishing Sweet Apple Acres less created the town from nothing, and more revitalised a tiny, old hamlet that'd been stagnating for a long time. I'm the author, I can bend headcanon to cover my goofs as much as I like.
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Thank you all, I'm really glad that you enjoyed the story!
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Granny Smith = really ancient deity that just pretends to be mortal for fun is a more fun headcannon
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Thanks a lot! I absolutely will be writing a follow-up in this universe in the near future, I've become very attached to it, but I'm taking a little break to collect my thoughts and plan ahead first. Thanks for the kind feedback, and I'm really glad that you enjoyed the story.
Read this over a couple of days, and I thoroughly enjoyed it. There have been a few AUs where Luna and Celestia's roles were swapped, and I'd say this one handled the trope fairly well. What was your reasoning with keeping Cadance a pegasus? Was the butterfly effect strong enough to prevent the circumstances of her ascension from happening, or is it that Luna and Celestia are the only alicorns, period?
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Thanks! I'm really glad you enjoyed it. Regarding Cadance staying a pegasus, I always interpreted her ascension as being partly Celestia's responsibility, similarly to how she sort of nudged Twilight towards her ascension in the show. And in this au, Luna didn't do that. Both because she's not as big on forward-planning as Celestia in the show, and because she genuinely doesn't know that's it's possible for a normal pony to become an alicorn. I'm certainly not opposed to having more alicorns in the future of the au, and I like to think that Twilight would find Starswirl's unfinished spell on her own eventually, but I mainly did it as one more sign of how different Luna's style of ruling is in my interpretation.
Such a great story, fast pace but detailed just enough. Totally sad it ended where it did though, was really hoping for a lot more of the unresolved conflict between the sisters to be addressed and shown. Thanks for making this anyway and I do hope there's more in the future.
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I'm really glad that you enjoyed it! In terms of ending it here, I just feel that this is a nice place to leave it, at the end of Luna's loneliness. There will definitely be more in the future, but I am sorry that I can't give it right away.
Shame there's no more. It's this kind of AUs that i love the most.
Probably one of the best fanfics I have ever read aside from Mobile Suit Gundam: Gihren's Glory and Gihren's Greed: Cosmic Crusade by Kaiser Chris. I felt the time twilight spent with luna as a filly could have been fleshed out more and god would I love to see more but I understand if you don't write more in this AU but please keep up the good work keelekingfisher.
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Thanks a lot! I'm really glad that you've both enjoyed the fic so much. And rest assured, I will be back to this AU in the near future.
A wonderful story fisher. well done!
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Thanks a lot! I'm really glad that you enjoyed it.
Awesome story! Looking forward to your next one.
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Thanks a lot!
Fantastic story. I just finished binge reading the whole thing and simply had to dispense some very well deserved kudos.
I think you did an amazing job with the emotional deliveries of what Luna went through; and I look eagerly forward to potential future projects!
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Thanks a lot! I'm really glad that you enjoyed it
This was a fun read with a very wholesome ending. I'm looking forward to more of this AU.
Some parts I disagree with, but on the whole this is extremely amazing to read and heartwarmingly delicious to comprehend. The characterizations are great, and to quote someone else's comment, the butterfly effects are realistic enough to not feel like too much of an AU. Some things are just fated to happen, and you made them both the same and different masterfully.
Really worth the read, loved every word of it.
6 months since I've saved this story, I finally finished it. Although there were some parts that I believed were rushed, the story is immensely great.
So beautiful. Thank you so much!