Sunset Chat
“There is nothing here.” Luna observed as she looked over the vast tundra laid before her. The skies were dark with heavy clouds that poured their contents of fresh snow onto the landscape, suffocating any hint of color with a blanket of white powder. “We thought you said there was a whole kingdom here, Starswirl.”
“There is-there was.” Starswirl spoke above the roar of the wind. The vicious and bitter air whipped at his face and threatened to take the hat from off of his head but several charms prevented that. “Look-” The older stallion said as he pointed to a distant mountain. “-King Bullion’s castle should be right there.” There was nothing, just the cold face of a mountain and layers upon layers of snow.
“Let us fly up there-” Celestia removed the hood from her head and the wings on her back pushed the cloak up, but they were pushed right back down by Starswirl’s hoof.
“Do not be a foal!” The old mage hissed at the young pony. “If somepony were to see you, what would they think?” The horn that poked out from under his wide brimmed hat became encased in a pale gray aura and a bubble appeared around the trio of ponies. “I trust Princess Platinum about as far as I can throw her. I will need to speak with her before your true nature is revealed.”
“If they are still alive…” Luna grumbled and brushed strands of blue mane from in front of her eyes. That, she decided, was a pretty big ‘if’. According to Starswirl, this place was supposed to be a verdant valley with little homes dotting it with an impressive castle dominating a mountainside. There was nothing of the sort, just a winter wasteland.
“You will keep thoughts such as that to yourself, Luna.” Starswirl glared at the younger of the two alicorns. “This storm has not claimed their lives, that is unthinkable.” Starswirl closed his eyes and put a hoof to the bridge of his nose. “Allow me to think…”
While Starswirl pondered about the fate of his civilization, the young alicorn pondered something else. There was something to be said about getting used to a new name. The name ‘Luna’ was, in Starswirl’s words, a ponification of her native name. She didn’t personally like ditching the ‘Celu’ part of her name and letting Celestia have that honor. They both could have had it, but Starswirl had rejected every protest LUna had lodged with the process.
“It has been over a year since Clover’s letter.” Celestia chimed in with a light hum. Her golden magic grabbed a bundle of her pastel mane and twirled it around in circles as she thought. “She did say something about leaving in that letter if things got any worse, yes?”
Every time that her older sister spoke, Luna had to giggle. They both still had accents, but Celestia’s was the thicker of the two. Especially in certain sounds it was very noticeable. To somepony unaccustomed to their native tongue, she might be nearly unintelligible. It was as if the older filly was speaking with a mouth full of sand, especially with the ‘th-’ sounds.
“Yes, she did.” Starswirl stroked his beard and his eyes scanned the featureless plains in front of them. “There is only one place she would leave something where I would find it.” He turned back to the two fillies in his charge. “You two will stay here. Celestia, put up a barrier to protect from the snow.”
“Where are you going?” Luna asked quickly, not even leaving a second between Starswirl’s words and her own. A sense of dread weighed down her heart at the thought of the stallion leaving. After all, what if he never came back? What if he left them there? The mere idea of that made her want to cry.
“There is a place not far from here, not many ponies know of it.” Starswirl stroked his beard. “If my protege were to leave me a message that only I could find, it would be there.”
“Can’t we come with you?” Luna wanted to cling to his leg or climb up on his back so that he couldn’t leave them. He had not been more than a few hundred feet away from them for almost two years now.
“No.” Was the simple response she received. “You will stay here. I will be back, you have my word.”
—-
Luna woke up with a start. There was no gentle lifting from the dream realm that she craved, only a bucket of cold reality dumped on her head. She sat up straight on the rather compact bed in her personal train car and looked around. There were no blankets of snow or distant mountains and Starswirl was not, nor was Celestia. It was just Luna, alone.
The landscape outside of her window sped by. It was nothing but dead trees and brown grass for the most part with little abandoned homes dotting once lively fields. It reminded her of the dream and the snow covered valley.
Dreams were always full of meaning, whether the dreamer understood them or not. Her mind had obviously pulled up something from her past and relayed it to her for a reason. Was it just the fact that in the grand poem of life this current stanza rhymed with that one long since past? Or was there something else? It gave her something else to think about.
“The Tantabus is more preferable…” Luna grumbled as she dragged herself out of bed. At least she could be sure of what the dreams orchestrated by the fiendish construct meant. Granted, it was always the same message: she was a bad pony and needed to repent. It was a useful message and one she thought best not to forget. “It is just more nonsense…” Luna huffed and made her way to the other side of her train car.
In the main royal train carriage, the one not containing her bed but instead looked like a study straight out of Canterlot, Thorax and Cadenza were sitting down and chatting in a pair of chairs that sat on either side of a table that was bolted to the floor. There was a replica of Cadenza’s mask, or perhaps a spare, sat on the table while they spoke.
Before addressing them, Luna had to get over the feeling of sadness that washed over her. Waking up from a dream filled with nostalgia only to be thrust into a room that looked like something from her destroyed home was enough to make her heart ache. It was more dreamlike than the memory she had been subjected to.
The carpeting of the car was the royal purple of the now destroyed castle with threads of gold that swirled around it in ethereal patterns. The walls were painted white to look like marble and the furniture were all deep shades of blue or purple themselves. There was a portrait of herself and Celestia hanging on the far wall near the entrance. It was like she was back home, and that hurt.
“Oh Auntie Luna!” Cadenza beamed and waved over the elder alicorn. “King Thorax was just helping me with my little mask problem.” Luna joined the two and stood between their seats and looked down at the mask. Thorax had it encased in the sickly green glow of changeling magic and was manipulating the strands of Cadenza’s magic that already flowed through it.
“Well, change not fix.” Thorax responded with a grunt. “I’m no expert on magic, but I know a thing or two. The most I can do is attach an illusion charm to it to make it not be just a blank mask anymore.” Luna could see the strands of green magic pluck at Cadenza’s own charms, latch on and merge seamlessly with them. It was the magic of parasites through and through. Luna had to grind her teeth to stop herself from voicing those thoughts aloud. “Well, time to give it a shot!” Thorax exclaimed gleefully as he gently pushed the mask towards Cadenza.
The young alicorn turned away from her fellow royals and pulled the mask on her face free from its magical bond and placed it on the table. She then picked up the improved mask that was sitting in front of Thorax and placed it on her face. There was a flash of green light and Cadenza then turned around to face the soon to be newlyweds again.
Where once there would be a featureless white mask, now it was just Cadenza’s old face again. There were no blemishes or any sign that this was an illusion. It just looked like the Princess of Love as she had always looked. The face then changed expressions a few times, going from a smile, to a frown, to a scowl, and its tongue even stuck out.
“Did it change?” Cadenza asked, her eyes wide and hopeful. Her breath was light and airy, almost like she was holding her breath in while she spoke. “Does it look right?”
“It…” Luna’s words caught in her throat and she could feel the tears start to well up in her eyes. It was as close to a miracle as one could conjure in this world, even if it was a cheap parlor trick. “It looks perfect, Cadenza.” She forced the words out through her tightened throat and made a smile cross her face. “You look…like you.”
“Good emotive response.” Thorax chimed in with a light hum. “No visible glitches or seams.” The bug stood up and trotted around Cadenza as she sat and moved her new face some more to test it. “Yeah, looks good!” His wings audibly buzzed beneath his shell and he smiled at his work. “Not too bad, if I do say so myself.”
He didn’t have to say it himself as Cadenza leaped up and embraced him in a tight and deep hug. There was almost an immediate response from the King as his legs began to shake and Luna could see his mouth begin to water. Whatever emotion Cadenza was putting out into the world was evidently as sweet as honey and as intoxicating as any liquor.
“Cadenza.” Luna tapped her niece on the shoulder and gave it a gentle tug. “We think you might be overwhelming him.” Cadenza gave a sound of surprise and embarrassment as she pulled away and a blush worked its way across her faux face.
“Right. Sorry.” Cadenza sat back down and let Thorax get his bearings again. “But yes…thank you, Thorax. Truly. There is no way I can repay you.”
“No.” Thorax responded with a shake of his head and a slight smile once he got control of himself. “This is my repayment to you, Cadance. You gave me a chance when nopony else would. You were the gate to redemption not only to me, but to my changelings as well.” The monarch made a strange clicking noise with his mouth. “It was the least I could do for you and it’s still not enough.”
“This is more than enough.” Cadance said quietly.
“It will never be enough.” Thorax responded in kind.
It was a sweet moment, one that was simultaneously only made by this world and one far too good for it. Luna looked upon it with pity. Maybe one day she could appreciate these moments again. She hoped that day would come sooner rather than later.
“Princess Luna!” Spike’s voice interrupted the calm in a hurried panic. The little dragon burst through the far door with a scroll gripped in a claw. He scurried across the carriage until he was standing by the Equestrian princess and placed the scroll on the table. “I-it’s from Princess Celestia and it’s marked urgent!” Luna picked up the scroll in her magic and opened it without delay.
Luna,
Turn on the radio.
-Celestia
Luna looked around the carriage and realized quite suddenly that there was no radio present. So she looked towards the chain that hung from the ceiling near the end of the car nearest to her sleeping cabin and gave it a tug with her magic. The sound of a bell echoed throughout the cabin and in the one ahead. In just a few seconds a guard was at the door and gave a sharp salute.
“Bring Us a radio. It is urgent.” Luna gave the command and the guard disappeared without a word.
“What’s going on?” Thorax was the first to ask the question. A worried expression played across both of their faces. Waves of nervous energy radiated throughout the carriage and they only increased as Luna began to pace back and forth.
“We do not know.” Luna mumbled out.
In less than a minute the guard returned with a radio set under his wing. He hurried across the carriage and set up the little box on the table. Then a switch was flipped on the back and the little thing lit up. There was a burst of static at first, but the guard quickly turned the dial until he found a station. On it played a gentle tune that was soon interrupted by a familiar voice.
“Hello my little ponies.”
Celestia’s voice flowed through the carriage, soft and sweet with a hint of sadness underlying it all. By the first word, all eyes were on the radio as if transfixed by the longtime monarch’s voice. Her presence, even through sound alone, was more powerful and comforting than any force on the planet. The guard who had brought in the radio was staring at the little box with bated breath.
“It’s been a while since I last spoke with you, and I apologize for that. Truly.” Celestia let out a light sigh. “It has been difficult for us all as of late, and you should know that it includes me. Like much of Equestria, I have been laid low by The Event. I was not safe from its ravages nor am I immune to the lingering malaise.”
It was Celestia’s formal way of speaking, but it wasn’t detached. For a princess to say such things, to state her vulnerability, was unheard of. It was candid and personal and her soft tone gave a sense of intimacy that many save for the two alicorns in the train carriage were not familiar with. The effect of such a personal message was immediately apparent on the guard who stood stock still near the radio. Tears formed in the corners of his eyes and Luna could see the breath catch in his chest.
“In my…depression I have forgotten about you, my little ponies. I have been so obsessed in wallowing in my own sadness that I have not thought of yours, nor of your suffering.” There was a pause, long and heavy to let those words sink in. “An old friend made me realize that I am not alone in this, and I want you all to know that neither are you. While things are hard, we still have each other. Friendship, love, and unity. We still have those and they will guide us through these difficult times.”
“Well We are glad she is not just moping in her room.” Luna mumbled to herself. She did wish that Celestia had waited until she was back from her trip to address the nation at least. Maybe then they could’ve offered more tangible hope to the ponies and not just nice words. Celestia’s nice words seemed to be effective in the small sample size before the other diarch, so maybe this would do for now.
“Equestria is mourning.” Celestia continued. “I mourn with you. Every pony lost during The Event was a tragedy. Earth pony, unicorn, pegasus. It doesn’t matter. Every death was needless and awful and they all weigh on my heart. That’s why I want to start a national campaign for grieving and healing those that we lost.” The sound of shuffling came from the radio as if Celestia was moving something to show to the audience who could not see it. “I’ve been painting the portraits of the ponies who perished in Canterlot. All of their faces…I can’t forget them…” The words were as heavy as Celestia’s heart and the detached and distant side of the alicorn began to creep into them. “I don’t want anypony to forget those that they lost. So what I implore the ponies of Equestria to do is paint or draw a pony in your life who you lost during The Event. Remember their faces, their smiles, how they were at their best, and send them here to Manehattan. We’re going to display them all in the Manehattan Museum of Art as a memorial to the fallen.” There was another pause, this one just as pregnant as the last. “Don’t let anypony forget them. I love you all, my little ponies. Please never forget that. I’ll be back again next week to speak with you and I plan on doing this every week for a while. Let’s call them our Sunset Chats. Be well.”
—-
Cheerilee sat on the sofa right by the radio, enraptured by the little box that now spat out the Equestrian national anthem through its speakers. Princess Celestia’s speech ran through her head again and again. It was something she never thought she would hear, especially from the matriarch of the country. She was always a figure of warmth and comfort. To hear her be so…vulnerable. It was shocking to say the least.
“Good to know she’s not dead, I guess.” Muddy grumbled beside the teacher. “About time we heard something from her. I wish it was more than just a sob story, though. Would’ve been nice to hear about a plan or any kind of insight into how this mess is supposed to be fixed.”
“Hey, it’s important to talk about feelings too!” Scootaloo bristled at Muddy’s complaints and her wings buzzed angrily. “Princess Celestia is just trying to show she’s just as sad as all of us! She’s trying to make us not feel so alone!”
“Well that’s not her job!” Muddy yelled right back at the filly as he rose from his seated position and towered over the everypony else in the room. “Her job is to be a leader and she needs to do a little less crying and a lot more leading! Maybe instead of crying about her feelings she should look out a window and find something real to cry about!”
“Yeah!” Both Rock and Roll answered in unison as they got up and stood by their father.
“Ponies are hungry!” Rock said.
“And those boneheads are mooching off all of our hard work still!” Roll added.
“All of you, stop!” Cheerilee reached deep and pulled out her teacher's voice as she shouted at both sides. “I won’t have fights like this in my house.” All four of the bickering ponies around her grumbled in response. “No! No grumbling either!” She took a deep breath and centered herself before continuing. “I think we can all acknowledge that what Celestia said was a nice gesture. It’s good to know that we’re not alone with our feelings and there’s a certain freedom in knowing that even Princess Celestia is capable of feeling just as bad as we do when it comes to losing ponies close to us. Right?” Cheerilee made sure to prod that last word a little extra to elicit the response she wanted from the group.
“Right…” Muddy and his progeny all responded.
“And we can all agree that the government should probably give us a little more insight into how this is going to get fixed. While the message is nice, we need something a little more solid to hold onto. Right?” She looked at Scootaloo now.
“Right…” The filly mumbled.
“Both things can be true.” Cheerilee reiterated. “Since we can’t change what was said, there’s no use arguing over it. That’s the whole reason we’re sending somepony for this Stables thing, right?” Muddy gave a begrudging shrug. “Right.”
“Well…can we at least do the painting thing?” Scootaloo looked down at her hooves as she spoke, her voice now quieter. “I..I like the idea. I think, y’know, I’d like to draw my aunts and…and maybe…” There was a moment of hesitation. Cheerilee immediately knew who Scootaloo meant. Rainbow Dash. That couldn’t be allowed, though. They couldn’t let anypony know where they were really from and that would be a pretty big giveaway. “...maybe somepony else.”
“I’ll see if I can get some supplies.” Cheerilee said with a smile. She made her way over to her old student and placed a hoof on the filly’s back. “Princess Celestia is right, it sounds like a good exercise. I think it will be good for all of us.”
“Alright. Fine.” Muddy conceded with a heavy sigh. “I’m going to go see if I can help make sure everypony is ready to vote.” He grumbled and stomped out of the house, his boys right behind him as he went.
“Who are you going to draw, Cheerilee?” Scootaloo asked when they were finally alone.
“I…hmm.” Cheerilee hadn’t given it much thought in the few minutes since the end of the address, but now she realized that she hadn’t lost anypony during The Event. Maybe she could draw some of her students, but then again if their parents were still alive they would surely be the ones to honor them. Her own parents had died before The Event.
“Elytra?” Scootaloo offered.
“I don’t think she’s dead.” Cheerilee shook that thought right out of her head. “At least I hope not. Maybe things have changed since Princess Luna told us what happened with her, but she’s a tough bug.” That didn’t give her a better answer. She had seen plenty of death during her time in Ponyville, but none that she could pin down as truly hers. “I’m not sure…” She mumbled. “I’m sure something will come to me…”
A pit opened in Cheerilee’s stomach, one that she had not come across before. Again, she had seen death during The Event, perhaps too much of it, but all of a sudden she realized that most of it had meant nothing to her. It had all been tragic and awful and every single one had shaken her emotional core, but none of them had been personal. They had been ponies she had known, but there were no lovers or family members or best friends. They were all acquaintances.
All of her losses were communal.
“Are you okay?” Scootaloo tugged at one of her legs, bringing the mare back into the moment. Cheerilee gave a quick nod and put on a brave face with a faux smile. “I know I’m not looking forward to being sad about it again either…but Princess Celestia said it will help.”
“I know.” Cheerilee sat down and pulled Scootaloo into a tight hug. She buried her face in the fillies mane and closed her eyes. While her losses were hard to quantify in a meaningful way, the thing that she had gained was right in front of her. That was tangible. It was something she would continue to cling to, no matter what.
—-
Twilight Sparkle tapped her hoof impatiently against the tiles. Normally she wouldn’t b e one to rush Princess Celestia, especially when the former sole monarch finally came out of her shell, but the amount of time this was taking was bordering on ridiculous. They had arrived via Twilight teleport almost three hours ago and Celestia had only just finished with her message and now she was chatting with the radio technicians.
“Somepony’s frustrated.” Flash Magnus was leaning against the wall beside Twilight. He had traded in his old pegasi armor, a genuine relic that Twilight had made sure to squirrel away for future study, for Royal Guard armor. “Let Celestia talk. She needed to get out.”
“I know.” Twilight sighed but couldn’t stop her hoof from tapping. “I just want to get back. I don’t like being out here…around ponies.” A nervous knot had formed in her stomach as soon as she left the Royale and it hadn’t subsided since. She wished nothing more than to retreat back to her safe haven high above the Manehattan streets.
“Weren’t you just on a months long odyssey across the whole country?” Flash asked with a raised eyebrow. Twilight now regretted spending so much time with the Pillar and telling him of her journeys. Maybe she should’ve kept that to herself.
“That was different.” Twilight huffed and wrinkled her nose at the stallion. “That was just Starlight and I. We didn’t really come across many ponies. We did our best to avoid cities and towns unless we absolutely needed something.” She now would beg for those days back, when she had purpose and reason. It was easy to focus on her mission and not get lost in the poisonous thoughts that swirled through her mind.
Back then she had been so sure that once she had brought Starswirl and the Pillars back that she would be done. She had planned to go back to her castle and put an end to the pony known as Twilight Sparkle. Now she was still here in a world that hated her despite her best laid plans.
“Maybe that did more harm than good.” Flash offered. “Maybe if you had taken some detours and made an effort to see how bad things-”
“You think I don’t know how bad things are?” Twilight hissed at her ‘personal guard’. He had tried to make this same assertion a few times since he took up the responsibility of keeping an eye on her. She had done her best to sidestep it to keep in good standing with him, but her patience was now gone. “That’s all I think about!” She rounded on him, her wings flared out and every hair on her body bristled with anger. “I did this! I caused this! All of this misery is my fault and that fact is always on my mind!” She jabbed a hoof in Flash’s armored chest. “I don’t need to see how bad things are because I know. I know what a month of straight sunlight did to everything. I know how many ponies died. I know what’s going on.” Twilight could feel the angry tears welling up in her eyes and she couldn’t stop them from falling. “Do you know what happens if I go out there? They’ll ask me what we’re doing to help. They’ll accuse me of being useless. Worst of all, they’ll be right about it all.”
“Then do something about it.” Flash swatted Twilight’s wing away with a hoof and shot a glare right back at her. “Do you know what we tell pegasi who come home from battle and have this sickness? We would send them back out into the fray. At home they would become sad and overwhelmed with the quiet.” He gave the princess of friendship a light shove. “If you were better off finding a problem to solve, then do so again. Do not sit here and wallow. You are a warrior, go find a fight.” He stepped up and pressed his chest right against hers and the two ponies glared at one another. “If you know things are so bad, then do something. Luna is negotiating with other rulers to make things better, Celestia wants to help the ponies heal emotionally. You are sitting here and crying.” He leaned in so close that Twilight could feel his breath wash over her face. “So if ponies think you’re useless, maybe they’re right.”
Twilight’s eye twitched. She had been calling herself useless in her head for a long time now, but hearing somepony else say it made the words hit differently. A switch in her head flipped and she turned the anger right on the stallion.
“I brought your sorry flank back from limbo!” She pushed back against him and gave him a light shove. “I’ve saved Equestria more times than you can count on your hooves!” She advanced on him with every word until he was pressed against the wall. Despite the fact that he was retreating, a bemused smirk never left his face. “Don’t you ever call me useless!”
“If you’re not, then prove it.” Those were the only words that left his smirking lips.
“Fine. I will.” Twilight didn’t even wait, she simply disappeared in a flash of light.
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This is a good wakeup call for Twilight imo, she really has been, as far as equestria's population can tell, useless, and if what it takes is a bit of spite as a motivator to get her to snap out of it and start fixing things rather than just staring at them remaining broken, then that's what had to happen.
Some major developments here. Celestia finally stepping up and trying to reunite everypony, Flash giving Twilight a brutally honest pep talk, and Cheerilee and the rest of the town getting ready for the vote.
My history geek is really amused by Celestia's "Sunset Chats". The inspiration is great. The Fireside Chats Franklin Delano Roosevelt gave during his presidency were instrumental in healing an ailing United States that was just coming out of the Great Depression and heading right into World War Two.
Hopefully they work just as well here. The paintings exhibition in Manehattan is a great first step to help ponies grieve and begin to move forward, although there is also the potential risk that some may use it as a platform to further justify their discrimination towards unicorns.
I'll also say that I'm really, really starting to dislike Muddy. The initial charm and gentleness he had is starting to wear off, and it feels like we're beginning to see the real pony that lies beneath. Somepony who dislikes unicorns and pegasi to such a degree that it could pose a genuine danger to them.
Oh dear God, I've heard this exact sort of thing in real life before. Ugh...
You don't do that. Scootaloo's a young girl. I don't care how strongly you feel about something, you don't yell at a kid like that. Especially when she's not even yours.
Happy Valentines Day to you as well.
Also in addition to Luna's light speciesm about the changelings, I dread how Muddy will react to Elytra.. I can only hope that whoever Luna has watching Cheerilee will be able to intervene if needed.
Well, hopefully this doesn't backfire horribly.
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Oh
Two words, Mental Health
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Here’s hoping it doesn’t
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Huh you learn somthing new everyday
Meanwhile on a airship in the sky
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Yeah, hard agree with the 'don't yell at kids' part. Kinda agree on the 'less crying' bit, but I understand why Celly would cope in such a way.
When will cmc be reunited again
(Or at least reunite equestria)
Brace yourselves everybody, Baero is back on that regular update grind. After trying to write on my own I have to wonder how it’s even possible to get this much written so quickly, and so well too. Excellent work and thanks so much for making this wonderful story!
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I have a backlog. I have chapters for the next two weeks already prepared.
Which is good because I have lost all motivation to write after the events today in KC. Hopefully I'll be back by the end of February/early March.
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God, I'm just now finding out about this tragedy. Take your time, your mental and emotional well-being is more important. Be well and take care.