Hot and Cold in the Capital City

by Casketbase77

Home

Author's Note:

As mentioned in the summary box, the epilogue is about overarching, worldbuilding stuff. It is worth reading Jaded Hearts's prequel fic before this part.

TIn Search of Sand and Signs

• MLP: FiM
• Adventure

Sandstone Shine, a guidepony to the Saddle Arabian desert, goes on a trek with a strange client.

• Violence
• Profanity
• Alt. Universe
• OC

Jaded Hearts · 8.3k words  ·  31  2 · 687 views

Shadowheart, marquis of the family estate, was the only one up and around. His sister was out prowling (or 'patrolling' as she called it). Vesperal, one of the family wards, was in her room either sleeping or working. Maybe both, since she had that bizarre lucid-dreaming hobby. The only unaccounted tenants were the two other wards, Sandstone and Sapphire. Out on a day date, last Shadow had heard. Though judging by some fumbling noises in the foyer, they were back.

"Didn't know you lovebirds were such nightingales," Shadow quipped in greeting. A sleepy-looking Sapphire smiled and waved at him. Then she went back to helping Sandstone tug off his stubborn windbreaker jacket.

"I can help with that," Shadow offered. He lit his horn, and after a self indulgent flourish, had Sandstone's jacket draped over a nearby hat rack.

"Good evenin' Shadow," Sandstone acknowledged him with a yawn. "Or morning, I guess. What're you still doing up?"

The dining room table, where Shadowheart had been sitting, was littered with newspaper clippings. Stacked among them were polaroid photos, hasty hoofwritten notes, and other evidence for his current forensics case. Face-down and away from prying eyes was today's inventory report from Stemma. Shadow was fond of Stemma, despite how new the changedling was to the family's informant network. The downtown museums had bad things in their backrooms best kept away from the public.

"I wasn't doing anything interesting," Shadow dismissed. "Just reading. Did you two have a magically whimsical time around town?"

He'd expected Sapphire to give a bubbly, motormouthed recap. Instead she just shivered shyly while Sandstone chuckled.

Sandstone. Chuckled.

Shadow was only an amateur sleuth, and not even Fetlock Holmes would’ve been able to puzzle this one out.

"We had a good day," Sandstone assured. He pulled his marefriend close, and she nodded blissfully. "Saw sights, talked to locals, even met another out-of-towner."

Whom you didn't let touch you, I hope. The comment formed in Shadow's head, but he made sure it died there. Not every random creature on the street was a bad actor swiping hair samples from Infuseds. He was just being paranoid.

"I'm uh... sure you two can tell me all about it in the morning. See you then?"

Sandstone nodded stiffly, which was more on brand for him. Then he hefted a giggling Sapphire onto his back. Shadow was no stranger to being left out of inside jokes, so he simply waved the pair off as they ascended the stairs. He had a feeling they wouldn't be sleeping in separate rooms tonight.

Shrugging that bawdy certainty from his head, Shadowheart returned to his seat at the table. Pensive, he traced a hoof over the week's relevant newspaper clippings.

All these covered-up crimes. These buried conspiracies. Deep-rooted lies and dangerous subterfuge that made Canterlot barely able to front as a normal place. If Sapphire and Sandstone were truly here for the long haul, Shadow couldn't keep them protected forever. What would they be left with after the innocence was all gone?

Shadows’s hoof continued tracing.

"Each other," he finally murmured with a lonely smile. "They'll still have each other."

He resumed his work.

Comments

[Casketbase77]

11188631
Begone, mobile game Bot Account.

[Str8aura]

11188860
media.discordapp.net/attachments/887346045967802501/955875563531300905/20220322_120804.jpg

And yet a trace of the past remains

Write up to come.

[Casketbase77]

11188941

Looking forward to it. A crucial lore tidbit for this AU: Canterlot’s deadliest cult call themselves “Jade Eye.”

Just keep those two words in mind while reading.

[Str8aura]

You absolute goon, you had me on edge the whole time with your little culty comment. I've written about more than enough cults in my day, and I just finished playing Echo, a visual novel about a guy returning to his small town in Ohio with his childhood friends and meeting a dark, paranormal secret. I even cued up a Fallout Equestria playlist for somber atmosphere- I 100% expected something to ruin this little date. What I got instead was a rom-com. You tease me so.

That being said,

“Huh? Nah, I uh…” Sapphire tossed back another gem, this time not even chewing. Sandstone swore he heard it hit the bottom of her calcified stomach. The sound wasn’t a good one. “They’re just dry, is all. Or maybe spicy? I feel hot. Do you feel hot? It feels hot all of a sudden.”

Biology, biology! I love biology. You praised me a long time back on my addressing of crystal pony nature, more specifically my questioning of how they could see with transparent color rods. Nearly a year later you do the same damn thing, and in a much longer, more comedic scene. A job well done!

"But my people know most languages instinctively. An evolved quirk that helped our ancestors... keep up appearances , if you know I mean."

This fic is entirely dialogue and anecdote based, so I can praise the smaller things like headcanons I like. Yeah, I'll incorporate that into my circle of headcanons.

"If you're fantasizing about national secrets encoded in patchwork stitches, I'm sorry to disappoint.

Your reference pool is still a mystery to me. This is either Fullmetal Alchemist, or an obscure guitar song on youtube with <1000 views.

Sandstone nodded, and the Changeling guide gave the group a well-rehearsed recitation of the first time Yaks and Ponies encountered one another. In typical Yak tradition, there had been much celebratory smashing of the surroundings. The only surviving objects of the happy meeting would have been unsmashable textiles like the rug here.

You yet again share your belief that a rug is Unsmashable. Sadly, I can confirm this is untrue.

The hybrid clicked its beak invitingly and flared two densely feathered wings. The dowel rods tumbled to the ground and the plates went from a spinning pattern to a juggling one. By now, Sapphire's rump was on the sidewalk, freeing her forehooves so she could tap them together in foalish applause. Sandstone himself was transfixed by the mishmashed creature's movements. Colors flashed from those rapidly tossed and re-tossed plates. Red, black, blue, green, repeat. The creature was audibly panting from effort, and so the routine ended with a final flourish: The plates dropped into a neat stack near the sticks.

I'm not ashamed to admit I misread this as describing a Clowncore griffon whose pelt and feathers are of multiple, Zillyhoo-esque, eyeball straining pastels.

I like to write my Equestria as an urban spoof of modern Earth. You write yours as a grounded, realistic fantasy. We both agree on one thing; it's never more interesting than when it's exploring the boiling pot of cultures and species across the gamut of folklore. Rarely does a single species go unloved by you, and you always find something interesting to add to the talk.

You'll note I haven't talked much about the main leads; obviously, they contribute to the point I just brought up, being a lanky Saddle Arabian and a shiny Crystal, respectively, but it's much harder for me to discuss a character dynamic I like when I'm not at the pedals. Their interactions were natural, and despite being one perspective nearly the whole way through, both of their problems and anxieties were relayed to us naturally, although Sapphire's were shown in light of hindsight. For introducing two brand new characters, rapport and quiet moments are the way to go about it.

[Comma Typer]

It's fun enough to see a Crystal mare and a Saddle Arabian stallion be in love in a completely new place. That alone is an intriguing premise, but to have both Sandstone and Sapphire be in turmoil for much of the fic, even outside the encounter with the griffon... I don't read that many romances, so there are grains of salt to be had with how "easy" this might seem, but it's refreshing to see that conflict laid out there without stating the obvious (and you manage to mask much of Sapphire's tension in the first two chapters as simply being nervous about eating crystals[?] and vomit-inducing anecdotes).

The minor characters get a thumbs up due to how unique they are in their chosen setting. Fitting that the most jarring combo, a dragon waitress in a fancy diner, helps kick the story off, but a changeling tour guide in a museum getting all the attention (I should tell you that he now just reminds me of a Max Lucado excerpt about attention-hogging museum tour guides blocking the painting from view), and a griffon doing street tricks are all... off compared to how we usually see them in fan fiction, off in a good way. Of course, they're not alone. These characters as devices are again good launchpads to that tension, and it's enough tension built up that it's more than enough to fuel the second-to-last chapter when it's just the two of them...

The whole world shrinks to just the two of them, and the contrast between being in public for the first three chapters and being personal and private in that one was the deal-maker. To truly love, there must be vulnerabilities, yes, and while I'll bounce off here from str8aura that we only get to see Sapphire's tension in full light in hindsight, both of them do end up confessing to each other their fears... and only when they embrace opening up their own weaknesses to each other and yet still holding onto each other...

"You flatter me, big guy; Peppiness is just a hobby I have. On the walk up, I was actually fretting that you put up with too many of my quirks. Guess we're both too hard on ourselves, huh? But at least we both see the other as... someone worth admiring...."

"You're right," Sapphire eventually admitted. "Canterlot is just a place. But it's a place you came to. To be with me. That makes it the best place. In all of Equestria."

Without the context of the prequel, it's already a good character deep-dive. With it, it's even more. Even without knowing everything about the dark underworld that comes with their secret powers, maybe that makes their romance/love more precious. I don't know the full story of Vesperal, but in contrast to her broken yet determined loneliness of someone who's gone into the abyss, Sandstone and Sapphire being in the optimistic honeymoon of both their love and their greater context of this Lovecraftian other-world provides a foundation of hope.

What would they be left with after the innocence was all gone?

Shadows’s hoof continued tracing.

"Each other," he finally murmured with a lonely smile. "They'll still have each other."

It's a great fic, especially knowing the AU that it's set in. Thank you for it!