take eight minutes and divide / by ninety million lonely miles
“Everything going okay?”
Zipp made a small sound of surprise and whirled about.
In the sunlight which filtered through the stained glass windows, Zipp swore she could see a bit of lingering sparkle hovering about Sunny’s head and barrel. Ghostly afterimages of her well-earned horn and wings which seemed to cling to her, to follow her about despite their fading effects.
Only an illusion, though. Sunny beamed down at her friend from the top of the tall staircase, painted over in all the colors of the rainbow. “It’s definitely starting to look like an airship station in here again.”
Zipp chuckled. “Uh… if you say so, I guess.”
Sunny rolled her eyes and started down the stairs at a brisk trot. “Oh, come on. I showed you the pictures, didn’t I?”
“Y’sure did,” Zipp agreed. “Lots of times.”
“Do I need to show them to you again?” Sunny asked. A little smirk curled her lips, and she elbowed Zipp in the ribs.
“I think I’m good, actually,” Zipp said, chuckling lightly and batting Sunny away with one wing.
Sunny giggled. A sound that matched the sparkle of sunlight in her eyes. “So… what’s with the gloom and doom?”
“There’s no gloom,” Zipp said quickly, her wings snapping in at her sides. “No gloom, no doom.”
“Mm, I’m sensing gloom,” Sunny teased.
Zipp scoffed. “Must have your wires crossed, Sun.” She turned, back to Sunny, and looked up at the enormous stained glass window before her. “This is cool, y’know? I’m glad this place isn’t just a… a weird, secret science cave anymore. Start of a new era, or whatever…”
Her voice trailed off, little more than a breathy whisper as she gazed up at the window before her.
It was strange. Looking up at history like that. No longer wondering privately what those fragments meant, what story they told. Stranger still, she felt as if she were a part of it. As if the rearing pegasus shimmering in the evening light flickered with her own colors, with her sisters’ colors, the two of them phasing in and out of history.
The sound of slow, hollow hoofsteps approached her.
“Super convincing, Zipp,” Sunny murmured.
Zipp forced a half-smile, then cast her eyes down towards the floor. A weak chuckle rolled up and out, though it dissolved into nothing more than a short huff as it passed her lips.
Sunny’s teasing energy melted away in an instant. She sidled up closer to Zipp, eyes wide and glimmering with concern as she looked into her friend’s face. “Hey. What’s going on?”
Zipp shook her head. “It’s stupid.”
“No it isn’t.”
“You don’t even know what I—”
“It’s not stupid,” Sunny said insitantly.
Zipp sighed. She could have sworn she felt a wing wrapping around her barrel, giving her a comforting, sparkling, hissing-and-popping, bubbles-in-soda hug.
“It’s not,” Sunny repeated. “Nothing you’re feeling is stupid.”
Zipp arched a brow in Sunny’s direction. “Has that line actually worked on anypony?”
Sunny shrugged, a little smile tugging at her cheeks. “Izzy.”
Zipp snorted.
Sunny giggled again. A sound as light and barely-there as the magic which fizzed over her head.
“C’mon,” Sunny said, plopping down on the marble floor. “We’ve got a sec. Let’s talk about it.”
Zipp rolled her eyes, and dropped down next to Sunny. Her limbs clunked clumsily on the cold, hard floor, but she squirmed against the marble until she managed to find a position of relative comfort. Sunny, too, lowered herself all the way down onto her stomach, and rolled to one side to face her friend more directly.
“Look,” Sunny said softly. “I know you’re gonna miss this. It was your space.”
Zipp shrugged. “I mean, I guess,” she muttered. “It’s not like it was totally secret, anyway—my mom and my sister knew all about it.”
“They did?”
Zipp nodded. “This was my workshop, y’know?” she said, gesturing to the stacks of boxed-up tools and machinery in the corner. “They came down here for fittings and stuff. And to practice.”
Sunny nodded, but didn’t say anything.
“I dunno,” Zipp said with a shake of her head. “I’m mostly just relieved to get all this off my chest. I’ve been keeping this dumb secret my whole life. I’m just… over it.”
Sunny only looked at her.
Even without words, her eyes said so much. That precise tension in her brows, the way she thoughtfully chewed one lip… but mostly the way her eyes stayed riveted on Zipp’s. Unmoving, blinking slowly and surely, like a cat.
Zipp cast her a suspicious sidelong glance. “What?”
“Nothing,” she said. “Just listening.”
Zipp grimaced. “That’s dumb.”
Sunny frowned. “It’s not—”
“Why don’t you tell me how you’re feeling?” Zipp said, giving her friend a pointed nudge. “You’ve been, like, queen of good vibes lately. All zen and friendship-y. Aren’t you freakin’ out? Even a little?”
“Pft.” Sunny waved one hoof dismissively. “No! Where’d you get that idea?”
Zipp swallowed hard. “Well… I dunno.” She looked down at her hooves. “It would be understandable, wouldn’t it?”
Sunny cocked her head to one side, those wide eyes still boring into Zipp’s trying to catch the meaning behind her words. “O-of course it would,” she said. “Everything’s changing. I think everyone’s a little freaked out right now.”
Zipp shrugged again.
Sunny chewed her lip. She drew in a small breath, as if she was going to say something, only to let it out in a small sigh which echoed through the massive room.
“Pipp told me the other day that, uh… that there’s all these foals who have magic all of a sudden, right?” Zipp said, laughter lifting the edges of her words. “And, like, not only are the parents basically going through puberty again, but they have these out-of-control kids that are all magically-charged, blowing holes in the walls, jumping off the roof and flying out of reach… isn’t that crazy?”
Sunny laughed. “Pretty crazy.”
“And, y’know, there’s still some pegasi who can’t,” Zipp continued. “F-fly, that is. They don’t know what the problem is—if it’s genetic disorders or mutations or illness… unicorns, too. Some ponies just can’t.”
Sunny nodded. “Yeah. I heard about that.”
“So, when you think about it, there’s kind of a lot to be scared of, isn’t there?” Zipp said softly.
Zipp pulled her forehooves in towards her chest, cringing into herself, holding her breath tight and firm in the center of her chest.
“Even for somepony like me?” she added in a whisper of whisper. “Who has it good?”
Zipp sniffled. A quick hoof flew to her face, wiping away a tear with more force than was strictly necessary.
“Hey,” Sunny said softly, sliding closer to her friend. That tingly phantom sensation came over Zipp once more, like she was being wrapped in TV static and snuggled by its surprising warmth. “Zipp, it’s okay.”
Zipp made a small sound as she tried to fight back more tears. “Is it?” she asked. “I feel so stupid. I got the thing I always wanted, and all I’ve done so far is cry about it.”
“I’m scared, too,” Sunny said.
Zipp stiffened. She sniffled again, wiping a hoof under her nose and sitting up straighter. “Yeah?”
“I’m sorry I didn’t say it before,” she said gently. “I-I thought I was doing the right thing.”
Zipp shrugged. “It’s okay.”
Sunny laughed. “See? Everypony’s looking at me like I’m the leader of the revolution or something, and I don’t even know how to take care of you!” she said, tears nipping at the corners of her words. “Let alone everypony…”
“You know no one expects you to be perfect, right?” Zipp said.
“But they expect me to be something,” Sunny replied. “And… well, the truth is I didn’t think I’d get this far. I thought somepony smarter would swoop in and… I dunno. Take over, I guess.”
Zipp looked over at her friend. “There’s nopony smarter than you,” she said.
Sunny blushed. “Oh, come on.” She waved her hoof dismissively. “You’d more than give me a run for my money, Zipp.”
Zipp shrugged. “Okay, true,” she said with a smirk. “And, come to think of it, I did swoop in.”
Sunny laughed.
Zipp laughed, too.
The sound filled the room, tall and empty as it was.
“I really admire you, Sunny,” Zipp said.
Sunny snorted. “Me? Yeah, right.”
“I do!” Zipp insisted. “You saw a big lie, and you did something about it. I wish I’d been that brave a long time ago. Maybe things would be different.”
Sunny reached out a small, chipped hoof. It connected with Zipp’s—always pedicured to perfection, at the insistence of the court—and ran gently, whisper-soft along its edge.
“I don’t want things to be different,” Sunny said. “It’s scary, sure, but… good scary.”
Zipp swallowed. “Good scary?”
“Yeah,” Sunny said. “I mean, I’ve seen bad scary. Everypony at each other's throats and everything. Actually afraid of the unknown, y’know?”
Zipp nodded.
“That’s not what this is,” Sunny said. “This is… this is exploration.”
Zipp arched a brow. “Yeah?”
“Yeah!” Sunny said, nudging her friend. “We’re like explorers! We get to go out into the unknown together. And it’s scary, but it’s… it’s roller coaster scary. Nervous and excited.”
Zipp scoffed, trying to fight back a smile.
Sunny reached out with another hoof, taking Zipp’s foreleg in a grip that was firm and comforting, and giving her a small, hearty shake. “Aren’t you excited?” she asked. “About what’s out there? About what we can do together?”
Zipp snorted. “I mean, I guess I—”
“You don’t sound excited!” Sunny said, giving her friend another small shake.
“Izzy is really rubbing off on you, isn’t she?”
“Zipp, come on!” Sunny said, leaping to her hooves. “I’m scared, you’re scared—but we can choose not to be! We can be excited and adventurous together! And it starts with this station.”
“I mean, I would argue it started when I decided to steal the royal crown from my own—”
“Zipp.”
“Sorry.”
“We can do anything we want,” Sunny said. “Anything’s possible.”
Zipp was still.
Sunny stood there, in the light coming through the stained glass, looking out at the world beyond Zipp’s secret hideout. Even through the thick, colored glass, the swell of distant mountains was clear. The sign of places not yet traveled, of things wiped from history that had to be uncovered once more.
Those phantom limbs, hints of magic which still pulsed under the skin, floated out from her sides. Her wings spread in the sunlight, their own pieces of marvelous stained glass, stretching with effort that caused them to tremble. Wisps of golden magic curled from the tip of her horn and floated to the ceiling, ducking in and out of shadows.
But there was something else there, too.
Zipp scrambled to her hooves and came to stand beside Sunny, squinting into the stained glass with purpose and determination.
There!
A reflection.
And not of the ponies in the station.
A reflection of somepony else.
She was tall—really tall, actually—but not the thin, waif-like alicorns in ancient art. No, she was a little round. Youthful, but not in that unattainable way. In the natural way. Eyes bright and round, cheeks pink and peach-fuzz soft.
She wasn’t smiling. That was no surprise. Zipp had come to expect an almost alien serenity from alicorns.
But she wasn’t serene, either.
She was nervous. Brows furrowed, eyes darting over her own reflection with an urgency bordering on mania.
Zipp stepped closer.
As did another reflection.
This one small. Stocky. Her face old, but everything else about her almost eternally young.
She looked up at the alicorn beside her.
“You okay, Twilight?” Rainbow asked.
Twilight blinked, drawn out of the strange visions. By her friend’s familiar voice. “Everything’s going to change, isn’t it?”
Rainbow heaved a great sigh. “Y’know, Twi, one of these days we’re gonna have to get used to change.”
Twilight made a small sound, something meant to be dismissive but more in the cadence of a grumpy toddler.
“What’s so different about an airship station?” Rainbow asked. “It’s exactly the same as the last one.”
Twilight shook her head. “I-it’s not that,” she said. “It’s… the future.”
Rainbow furrowed her brows. “We’re in the future, egghead.”
Twilight frowned. “We’re… what?”
Rainbow spread her wings. “We’re in the future. Y’know, like back when we first met, this was always the future. Now we’re here.”
“That makes no sense.”
“Well, maybe you’re not as smart as you think you are,” Rainbow said. “Always knew I’d give you a run for your money.”
“You can’t ever be physically in the future, Rainbow,” Twilight explained, that old teacher-y edge returning as she pounded one hoof on the floor. “You’re only ever in the present.”
“What about time travel?” Rainbow asked.
Twilight grit her teeth. “Not the point.”
“Hey, you started it, Twi,” Rainbow said with a shrug.
Twilight bit her lip. “Something’s going to happen,” she said softly. “To all of this. It won’t last forever. What happens when it all falls apart?”
“Uh.” Rainbow shuffled her hooves. “This is getting a little too philosophical for me.”
“What happens when I move on?” Twilight went on, beginning to pace before the magnificent stained glass. “What happens if Luster Dawn doesn’t want to take the throne?”
Rainbow could only watch as Twilight’s march continued, back and forth, hooves pounding on the marble floor.
“What if there’s something out there—something worse than what we’ve already fought back?” she continued. “What happens if… if something happens?”
“Whoa, whoa!” Rainbow stuck a leg out, nearly tripping Twilight into falling flat on her royal face.
Twilight stopped short and took on a nervous, teetering stance, looking about as firm as a tree being chewed to shreds by a team of beavers.
Rainbow sighed. “Look, Twi,” she began, withdrawing her hoof in favor of a gentler wing. “As much as I admire you trying to plan away the future, things are always gonna happen. Things not even you can predict with that big, giant brain.”
“Rainbow—”
“Not the point,” Rainbow said, waving her wing dismissively.
“Then what is the point?” Twilight growled.
“That… well, we do the best we can,” Rainbow said. “For now.”
Twilight bit the inside of her cheek. “I hate that.”
“I know you do.”
“But what if—”
“Y’know, I was reading the other day about the Well of Shades,” Rainbow said, plowing right through Twilight’s nervous tittering. “Something about magical radiation? Whatever it is, it’s gonna last way, way, way into the future. Longer than you or I or any of us will ever be around to see it.”
“Yes, Rainbow. I know about—”
“Lemme finish, okay?” Rainbow said, holding up a hoof. “The problem is they wanna make sure ponies stay away from it as long as it’s dangerous, but they have no way of knowing if anypony’s gonna remember what happened. Or even speak the same language. Or have a record of our time at all.”
Twilight tapped her own hoof impatiently. “Mhm. I know. I read about it.”
“And there isn’t really an answer,” Rainbow continued, unperturbed. “All we can do is try to make it look dangerous, and hope ponies in the future are smart and good and careful enough to avoid it.”
Twilight looked down at her hooves. “Uh-huh.”
Rainbow made a face as her train of thought derailed. “I guess what I’m saying is that… well, maybe ponies won’t always be good,” she admitted. “I can’t guarantee that. But there will always be good ponies. Ponies who do the brave, scary thing and protect everypony else.”
Twilight looked up. “How do you know?” she asked. Soft. Vulnerable.
Rainbow smiled a small, gentle smile. “Because I know you,” she said. “And I know the Pillars. And I know your students. Someone will always be good.”
Twilight thought about that a moment. Then she bit down on her lip and nodded once.
“So quit freakin’ out about the station, okay?” Rainbow said, giving her friend a hearty clap on the shoulder. “No more doom and gloom. Let’s cut a ribbon, okay?”
Her duty done, Rainbow turned on her heel and prepared to zip back through the empty station.
“Things really are changing, though,” Twilight said.
Rainbow sighed. “Things are always changing, Twi.”
“I mean, first the station,” she said, laughter biting at her words, “now you’re reading…”
Rainbow turned. “Twilight, I swear to…” she trailed off, lost for words. “I swear to you, I’m gonna kick your flank.”
And Twilight laughed.
And it filled the empty room, a sound to match the light of the morning sun through the stained glass window.
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Howdy, hi!
Ooooooh, I like this. You were talking about this one earlier and I was excited to read it, and I'm glad it's finally up. This was a fun echo of Zipp/Rainbow and Twilight/Sunny. It's always interesting seeing an argument with the same root but played out differently between two sets of characters. That even a hundred or how many years between generations happened, there's still the same worries and same reassurances being told back and forth.
Anyways, I like the characterizations, I like the conversation, and I like your stained glass mirror reflection of said conversation. Good fic, take my thumb and hope to see more ~!
Loved this, mushroompone! Always happy to see another contribution to G5's growing library of fanfics.
I wanted to make a small observation. Most stories of this sort, I would imagine, would have had some kind of section break or horizontal rule right as the story shifted from Zipp and Sunny to Twilight and Rainbow, but I note that no such a thing exists--the story simply moves into it. I think that's rather effective at conveying a sense that time is being played around with, and that it fuels something implicit in the conversation between Twi and Rainbow. Whether or not that was intentional, I wanted to say that I really enjoyed that feature.
A wonderful story.
I loved what you did with Sunny here, that almost-there bit of magic lingering about her was the perfect touch on this introspective piece. The atmosphere here, you absolutely nailed it.
You, there aren't too many stories that focus on Sunny and Zipp, which after reading this, I think is a bit of a shame. Also, I really liked how Twilight and Rainbow Dash's conversation mirrored Sunny and Zipp in the end. Nice touch.
If that's the case, then Zipp's flight lab would be far from obsolete - her studies in aerodynamics could be very helpful to those ponies. If G5 were to give us another handicapped pegasus (early drafts of the movie starred a pegasus with a half-functional left wing), that could make for a lovely story.
11074477
Well-spotted!! This is actually a concept I've been giving a lot of thought - I myself am in the business of designing disability aids, so it's something that's on my mind a lot (and something that sneaks into my writing semi-frequently). Unfortunately, as much as I love the concept, a captivating plot to go with it hasn't come to me just yet :) maybe one of these days!
11074468
Thank you! I'm personally a bit of a SunnyZipp shipper, and there's simply no content for them yet! I'm hoping to get some fluffy one-shots out there and kickstart the ship
lol
11074484
As far the G5 ships go, that doesn't sound like a bad idea.
Brilliant characterization on Sunny and Zipp. I really like the idea of Sunny being a more reluctant leader and explorer and having her help Zipp train an ENTIRE civilization in an essentially ancient skill. I like that Zipp is nervous about those who already are getting left behind, but there are also those who trudge along and pull ahead to admire/worry about, as they might think to serve their own interest first before helping others.
Their dialogue felt natural and heartwarming, though I find myself just wanting to read more about them and not that much about Twilight and Dash. Not because you wrote the latter wrong, but because it felt like two different stories clashing together for space. I know the common theme is the "Worry about the future," but Twilight and Dash's conflict is completely different to Zipp and Sunny's.
One worry about the collapse of something they built and the other's worry about how to develop something new they found out.
Add to it that the transition was a bit jarring and I don't see these two meshing together in such short notice.
Still liked it! Thank you for writing it!
TL;DR: Loved the first half, why couldn't the story just be about the first half. Jarring transition to the second half, didn't emotionally or rationally connect the conflicts together
11074480
Do you have any blog posts talking about your experiences doing this? I'd be real curious about what sort of things this entails
11074964
Sorry, no. Frankly I write enough about it at work, I wouldn't wanna come on here and write about it all over again
I'm sure someone out there is talking about it, though!
11074480
I myself have looked into getting into prosthetics (my background is in mechanical engineering), but it seems nearly all the companies doing anything cool are in other countries.
For what it's worth, that's why it's kind of bothered me that back in G4, nopony ever introduced Scootaloo to any of the examples of aeronautical engineering shown off throughout the show - I look at her and I immediately think "plenty of thrust, not enough lift - easy fix".
11075668
I can see it now: Scootaloo climbs into a cannon. The fuse burns down... Boom! Off she flies in
a beautiful ballistic trajectory. Down down down until splat! She pancakes into a brick wall. Either she falls off looking squished into an actual pancake of she just kinda oozes down the wall like goo.
Or maybe like this?
11075697
I was thinking more along the lines of that glider thing from issue 81 of the comic (that helped an earth pony get into the Wonderbolts). Prosthetic wings might also be an option when she's fully grown. Even a modified version of Tank's propeller would work.
11075713
Oooooo I like the prosthetics idea. That sounds like a sensible option as well as a great way to test how far, high or fast they can go.
I was just playing up the cartoon stereotype for a laugh. I hope it got a chuckle out of ya.
Wow this was actually a pretty interesting story and yeah sometimes the future can be very scary not knowing what's going to happen but somehow we all have to go through For Better or worse and all we can do is to move on and I really did like the talk between Sunny and Zipp and going to the past of Twilight and Rainbow having the same conversation this was a pretty good one keep up the good work
5.3333…E−6 Seconds
Sun in an Empty Room is one of my favorite songs, this story really matches that vibe well.
11076292
only partial credit; units are not in time/distance
Oh this was really sweet.
First off, just saying you nailed the characters. Everything Sunny says sounds exactly like something she'd say in the show when it comes out, and moody Zipp is one of the best things I've ever seen. I really appreciate how genuine you made their friendship, and that there are times where neither really knows what to say. It really adds to the story a lot for me.
The big concept here is stunning. Zipp and Sunny going through the same thing that Twilight and Rainbow did in the past is such a brilliant mirror, and I also really like how it's kind of a role reversal. Zipp is Twilight and Sunny is Rainbow.
One thing I noticed about the story is that, it's not really just one thing that Sunny and Zipp talk about. Instead of just the flight lab it's about the magic and leadership and exploring new horizons. It's a flowing conversation about their lives, no set talking points, and it really adds to the friendship point I mentioned earlier.
The phantom limbs are a fun little tidbit, and it's also a sneaky way of including both possibilities of how the alicorn thing turns out. The way it's almost like Twilight is helping Zipp with Sunny is a beautiful moment, and it leads into the twist really nicely too.
In short, the main selling point of this story are the excellent characters and fun world building, and it really exemplifies the themes of friendship in the new series. Wonderful work!
Hello! Have a review. Okay, I know you've seen it already, but I like to put the comment in as well, so that I remember to dish out the upvote! I'll simply note here that my favourite aspect of this story was the great characterisation -- considering this story appeared before Tell Your Tale started, and Zipp didn't get much to play with in the film, hers is particularly satisfying.
I feel for Zipp, and it's part of why I admire pones.
I only wish I could have the same faith that Sunny has/Rainbow has in our world. But it's overwhelming and depressing seeing how it seems for every step forward we take fifteen steps back. I could sign a million petitions and feel like we've gotten nowhere.
In any case excellent story, the reflective nature was well done, and as others have already said, this feels like something that could actually be in an episode.