It didn't take Sunset very long to realize that Maretime Bay was a considerably livelier town during the day. Trolley cars, pulled carts, and pedestrians everywhere. It didn't quite match the feeling of downtown Everfree, due to the lack of vehicles. In fact, she hadn't seen anything remotely close to the vehicle they had drove here in, maybe it was the first of it's kind.
Not that she minded; aside from the occasional trolley, ponies had the run of the streets. It was almost a perfect blend of what she had gotten used to in Everfree, and what she remembered from her protege days in Canterlot. She also noticed how just as there was the occasional earth pony and unicorn on the streets of Zephyr Heights, it was mostly earth ponies here, with a unicorn and pegasus every now and then.
Sunset couldn't imagine an Equestria divided. After everything that Twilight and her friends had done; after everything that Twilight had done for her, what could have possibly happened?
On the other hoof, things could change over time. Cultures and practices could easily shift over the course of a generation, and depending on how many there had been, everything Twilight and her friends stood for could have absolutely faded over time.
Sunset wondered what fate would have befallen her if Sunny hadn't shown up just hours later. Queen Haven seemed benevolent enough, and that was hardly a dungeon they had tossed her into; it was a day spa with bars and one spectacular view. Not even the unicorns of Canterlot had been that luxurious towards prisoners.
So, treating Maretime Bay as any tourist would, Sunset eyed her map carefully, and spotted Pickings For Pets on the corner two streets down. She was halfway down the block when she realized that since Ray had also changed form when he had made the journey through the portal, that his diet had likely changed as well.
What had Spike eaten over here? Gems? Hopefully the pet store would have some information, or she might have to spend a good portion of the day doing her own research.
"You still like insects and some occasional salad and fruit, right little guy?" Sunset asked the winged lizard riding in her right saddlebag pocket. Ray had been a fantastic exterminator in her apartment that basically worked for free. She was hoping that even though he was now five times the size, he wouldn't require five times the food.
She came to the corner shop and after detaching herself from the cart, entered through the front sliding doors, a chime signaling her entrance.
"Hello, and welcome to Pickings for Pets, looking for anything in particular today?" the mare greeter asked. She was a light tan earth pony in a white vest.
"Yeah, I'm looking for a terrarium for this little guy," Sunset replied, motioning down to Ray, who was looking up at the new face, and taking in his surroundings.
"Well hello there, little guy. Been awhile since I've seen a dragon that big. Our terrariums are right over in aisle two, and decorations are one aisle over in three."
"Awesome, thanks. Any diet recommendations?" Sunset asked.
"Hm, well if he's like other dragons, I imagine he's an omnivore, so leaf greens, berries, even gems. If you let him have free range of your residence, they also make great insect control," the greeter said.
"Yup, already experienced with that. I just moved here and his terrarium wasn't one of the things I was able to bring along," Sunset explained.
"Mmm. Always sad leaving stuff behind. But at least you're here, and I can assure you that our terrariums are hoof-built to last, and come with our best warranties. Take all the time you need to look around," the store rep told her.
Sunset nodded with a smile, then headed towards aisle two. She recalled plenty of the pointers from when she first got Ray from the pet shop in Everfree; a terrarium needed a wet area, a hot area, a humid area, and a cool area. With his increased size, she figured 20 gallons was too small, so she immediately moved down to the 50 gallon tanks. These would just barely fit in the cart out front. They were luckily having a sale, and she able to get an affordable glass one; that would be easier to clean and disinfect; she'd just have to be careful getting it back to Sunny's lighthouse. Next up was what would effectively be the ground; river pebbles. After that, it was a matter of decorations and hideaways. She grabbed a variety of preserved logs and rocks, some hollowed out, some solid, and lastly, a heating pad that would go under the terrarium.
Carefully placing these all into a cart, she went to the checkout counter, and only now did she hope that Sunny gave her enough bits.
"Alright, with the sales, your total comes to 96 bits," the cashier said.
Sunset let out a quiet breath of relief as she emptied the entire bit bag and got four 1-bit coins back. It took a couple minutes with the greeter's help to carefully load up her cart outside, but after that, she was on her way back to the lighthouse.
"Alright, Ray. Let's go get some food, and then get your living arrangements set up."
Sunny bit her lip softly as she very slowly and very carefully set the greyed Crystal Heart onto the steel wire stand she had spent the past thirty minutes carefully bending into shape. With that done, Izzy lifted up the glass case with her horn, and gently set it down into the recesses of the wooden display stand.
"Quite an addition to the wing, that's for sure. Glad you made it up there and back safely, Miss Starscout," Cinnamon said, looking at the Guardians of Harmony wing's newest display. A podium in front of the case showed an image of the Heart in it's original, pristine appearance.
"Certainly not the most interesting thing we found on our trip," Sunny commented.
"In addition to the thousands of books we'll need to go back and get once Sprout gets that trailer built. I can't believe he's started on it already," Izzy added.
"Well, we open in fifteen, so if you want to sneak out to the back to get a quick bite to eat, now would be the time," Cinnamon told her.
"Nah, I had a good breakfast. But I do need a favor. I need to bring somepony in after hours for a private viewing, if that's alright with you, Mr. Cinnamon," Sunny said.
"What, like a V.I.P.?" Cinnamon asked.
"You... Could say that, yeah," Sunny replied, not wanting to give too many details yet. Restoring unity and magic across Equestria was one thing, but interdimensional time-travel was something else.
"Well, no objection from me. Now let's have another great day of teaching history!"
Sunset shimmer needs a job
Neat little chapter, always enjoy this stuff.
The included images of Sunset at the end are cute
Can't wait for sunsets reaction of the unicorns superstitions
Exactly so. Her time period is called ANCIENT Equestria for a reason.
11131610
Curating the wing seems like a good fit.
11131610
She was Celestia's personal student, she should know more unicorn spells than any of the current population.
Awwww, glad Ray's sticking around! Next stop, the tour!
That's also a good question what happened when did this all the fighting started
A lizard with wings what kind of creature is that
11131610
Well, she shouldn't have TOO much difficulty in finding one.
In fact, I can think of three possibilities right off the bat (in addition to the stuff other reviewers have probably already said):
1. With Sprout resigning as Hitch's deputy to focus on Canterlogic research and development, Hitch IS going to need a new deputy. Since Sunset is probably currently the most powerful unicorn in Equestria plus has experience against the Dazzlings, Gaea Everfree and assorted other threats, she could probably handle work as high risk as law enforcement.
2. (this is tied as one of the two more likely) She could make a great teacher to many of the other unicorns on the full potential of their magic (as well as other ponies wishing to learn more about friendship).
or
3. (this is tied with number 2 on likelihood) She would do quite well as a researcher/historian.
Okay so it looks like Sunset is getting a new tank for Ray but he's a little bit bigger and has wings after entering the portal surprisingly the ponies here knows what dragons are despite we haven't seen any of the creatures yet but still at least she got something for Ray meanwhile sunny and Izzy are setting up the Crystal Heart not always at getting ready to show sunset what they found and send a tells me she's going to get very emotional guess we'll find out next time
11131638
To be fair, most of those superstitions probably got considerably reduced after magic returned (they almost certainly lost the one regarding the mention of "magic" after they regained their ability to actually use it).
The only one I'm really worried about is the mention of - a certain food topping.
Hey there. Thanks immensely for getting the next chapter up. I really appreciate you going to the effort. Again, the work that went into the exchanges, characterizations and future chapter set-up are all wonderfully done. Definitely liked Sunset's reflections on how lively Maretime Bay is during the daytime as well as how everything Twilight and her friends worked so hard to build could come crashing back down so hard. Also really appreciated the stuff at the pet store while she was getting Ray some new supplies. And the dialogue between Sunny and Cinnamon about getting Sunset permission to help out (Sunny being as truthful as she COULD be without sounding like she was completely insane) was great too.
VERY definitely looking forward to more of this, but also willing to respect if you need to take some "me time" ever so often.
11131610
She can chase Sprout with a rolled up newspaper.
Interesting that dragons have become a common pet. Was their sapience a casualty of the loss of magic? Are some pet owners in for a rude awakening?
11131753
Well, yeah. And even Sprout (at least in this series) would probably admit that he deserves it.
11131762
Hopefully not TOO rude in the cases of those actually treating their dragons reasonably well. Though the pet owners getting shocked by the dragons literally voicing a sincere "thank you" to the owners treating them well and politely asking to be considered equal friends would be a good comic relief moment as well as heart-warming.
So many questions created by a brief exchange! Ray turned into a dragon? Dragons are common pets? Weren't they sapient beings before? Couldn't they grow to enormous size? What happened to take away dragons' agency in this world? Does he breathe fire now? Why isn't Sunset asking these same questions, since she knew a sapient dragon personally?
In all, another fun installment that has me looking forward to more.
It's still quite the shocker if you ask me.
Not to mention some might not believe it.
Allright now, that's interesting. Dragons are apparently still around, but this would imply that a) they've gotten significantly smaller over time, since judging by this even Spike would have been considered unusually big, and b) they're now simple animals.
Ooh, the ending with Sunny... I'm just preparing myself for some tears when Sunset gets there.
11131762
Yeah, this is kinda what I was wondering... And why Sunset didn't react to said information. I mean, it was one thing for Spike to turn into a dog in the human world, but even then he kept his intelligence. Yet here we see a gecko turn into a "dragon" and yet it seems perfectly normal for them to be kept as pets. Just seems like that should have evoked a bit of a reaction.
Humm wondering if with the return of magic if the Crystal Heart might recharge now, if it does it will take a while after having all it's magic exhausted and being inherit form decades.
11131964
Well sapient dragons might still exist but be isolated and on!y thier simple minded cousins are known outside the Dragonlands.
I'm going to assume all the other races still exist but like Equestria they became isolated.
11132014
With the events of the previous story in mind, I think the only way for the Crystal Heart to be restored is if a certain ritual/spell were performed with the artifacts from the movie since the Crystal Heart created them.
Restoring the Crystal Heart may also risk undoing Flurry Heart's work that banished the windigos. Queen Haven could also need a new crown as the artifacts might be consumed in such a ritual.
11131792
One possibility is that the name "dragon" is just applied to a creature that looks like the dragons from antiquity (or even from outside public memory).
I wonder about the trio appearing in this future as well?
I could definitely see Sunset taking in Cozy to help reform her
11132014
The heart is dead.
I’m sorry cadence…
It's too bad that nearly all of Equestrian society ceased to exist, I'm sure Sunset's bank account would have a lot of interest by now.
Also as the only living member of Celestia's court, she probably has a pretty airtight claim to the throne, which also doesn't exist anymore.
11132727
Claim to the throne. That’s an interesting thought. She would certainly likely know what’s needed in order to renew the relationships with other nations and creatures
11131638
Mayonaise!
11131638
11133979
You don't think they would have started to get over those superstitions by now?
11133984
perhaps the older ponies still believe
11133984
It may take a couple years to a couple decades, and even then some may continue to do so because of custom and tradition. Though some might become even more fervent now that magic is back. After all now something with magic may be able curse you.
11133979
Bingbong!
Wait, I'm not a unicorn...