The Disavantages of Age
"That's it! I'm getting those stupid permits right now! I can't take another day of this mess!"
Sunset stormed out of the library, managing to only trip once on the leg of a disassembled examination table. Twilight may have had the majority of her focus on spell casting, but she did love to tweak around with potions and gadgets when she had the spare time, and now that she had the space of the library's basement down below, she could finally set up a dedicated lab. Of course Twilight, in her excitement, had decided to go out and buy all her new equipment before realising she'd likely need permission from the Mayor, as the library was a government owned building. As such, the library had been filled with odds and ends for 3 days now while town hall set up the necessary permissions to run a laboratory underneath the library. Dropping texts books and generally being unable to take 5 steps without bumping into something had become a pretty common problem. Sunset and Spike had been pestering Twilight all day to go and collect the permits, but every time she made for the door, she'd get distracted with some of her new equipment, or one of the ancient texts that Celestia had loaned her from the royal library. Finally, Sunset had had enough and decided to collect the permits herself. When she got back, she would drag all the stupid equipment down to the basement herself if she had too, but this had gone on long enough.
Spike seemed to agree with her as he poked his head out of the library to shout out, "Don't worry Sunset, I'll start getting things downstairs while you get the permits. I'll make sure Twilight helps too, or she isn't getting any of my famous spinach patties for lunch." the threat seemed to alert Twilight inside, as Sunset could hear the thump of a book hitting the floor and a scurrying sound as somepony starting shuffling equipment about.
With a thankful nod, Sunset turned and started her trek through Ponyville to the Town Hall. Sunset had come to absolutely love the peaceful air of Ponyville. Canterlot had been fun, but with her reputation, it hadn't been very pleasant when interacting with other ponies. Here though, she and Twilight had made four of the best friends a mare could have and she had found a town where she wasn't hated or judged for her past mistakes. Everywhere she trotted she could see ponies smiling and waving to her. Some she recognised like Masquerade's friends Vinyl Scratch and Octavia, the oddly paired Unicorn DJ with a slight OCD tendency towards cleanliness and the Earth pony Cellist with an odd love for heavy metal music. Others were new to her like the brown Earth pony stallion with the red neck tie and the weird pair of glasses with a red and blue tint being followed by one of the town flower sellers. All of the ponies, familiar and unfamiliar, gave a smile or a wave or even a brief shout of 'Hello!' as she made her way through town. Nopony in Canterlot ever just gave a stranger a friendly greeting, let alone her, but here it was seemed the most common thing in the world. Oh yes, Sunset absolutely loved it here.
As she approached Town Hall, a few ponies she didn't recognise approached her. The first was a blue Unicorn mare with an hourglass cutiemark and strong scent of toothpaste. She was followed by a grey Unicorn stallion with a wavy mane and a pin cutiemark, and beside him was another stallion, though he was an Earth pony with a blue coat and a musical note cutiemark. All three seemed friendly and hoping for a chat, so Sunset stopped as they approached.
"Hi there Miss Sunset. My names Minuet and these are my friends Pokey Pierce and Blue Note. We've seen you around town but we've never had the chance to say hello before now. How has Ponyville been treating you?" Minuet asked with a smile, leading the group over towards some buildings for shade.
"Oh it's been absolutely amazing. I mean, first day here was a little hectic, what with Nightmare Moon and eternal night and all, but its been great besides that. I've made a lot of new friends, my fellow element bearers, Rainbow Dash, Applejack, Masquerade and Sweetie Drops at the top of the list. Honestly, I don't think I've ever been able to fit in somewhere as much as I do here in Ponyville." Sunset was beaming as she thought over the limited time she'd spent here. This however seemed to stop her noticing the odds looks the 3 of them gave her.
"Wait, Rainbow Dash, Applejack, Masquerade and Sweetie Drops are your closest friends? You do realise how young they are right, they're practically kids to you." Pokey voiced drawing back Sunset's attention.
His tone seemed to put her off a little, but she'd only met these ponies a minute ago so maybe they were just wanting confirmation, "Yes, they're my best friends. They helped Twilight and I stop Nightmare Moon. They went out of their way to make me feel loved and accepted, even after they learned... some disturbing things about my past (Whoops, almost let that slip. My friends don't mind I used to be a Warlock, but I'd rather that not get around Ponyville. I just got settled and I really don't want glares on me every time I go for a walk like in Canterlot). They're the best friends a pony can ask for."
The group didn't seem that convinced, as Blue Note spoke up, "We know they helped save Equestria, and they're certainly exceptional young mares, but they're so young. You must be in your 20's at least, and none of them have gone over 16 yet. Heck I'm fairly certain Dash is still 13, she's barely old enough to be employed. It just seems kinda weird for a pony of your age to be hanging around with ponies so much younger then you."
Sunset gave a frown, but before she could retort, Minuet chipped in, "You should really look for some friends your own age or ponies are going to start thinking your a foal fiddler. Anyway, it was nice meeting you, but we're going to go. If you feel like hanging with some grown ups come find us." and with that, the mare and her compatriots turned and left. Sunset just stood still taking in what had just been said.
Ok, so a couple of ponies think I'm too old to be hanging with my friends... its no big deal, I'll just ignore them and be on my way. Seriously, your just going to walk away after they insulted your friends and basically called you a pedophile! Yes I am, because it was just 3 random ponies I didn't know and aren't going to socialise with in the future. It doesn't matter what they think, nopony else does so I'm going to ignore it.With that, she turned and resumed her journey towards the Town Hall. However now she could see ponies looking at her, and the smiles they were giving didn't seem a real as before. They didn't all really think she was a Foal Fiddler because she hung out with ponies younger then her.
Did they?
*********************
My Little Ponies, My Little Ponies
Aaaahaaaaaa!
My Little Ponies
We used to wonder what friendship could be!
My Little Ponies
But here we finally see:
An Honest heart,
Everypony plays their part!
Lessons to attend,
Making time for a friend!
Kindness is sweet as can be,
And Friendship is the magic of you and me!
These are My Little Ponies!
It's great to have the very best friends!
*********************
"Gaah! Come guys, what are you doing?! Its supposed to be clear skies all week and right now it looks like we're preparing a storm!"
Rainbow gave a stern glare to her team hoping to get the message across that things were falling behind schedule. She really hated having to play mean boss, but sometimes it was the only way to get things done.
Raindrops her second in command gave a dutiful salute and doubled her efforts to break up the building storm clouds while Ditzy nodded and continued to smooth out the air currents before she moved to her general weather area near the Everfree. However the rest of the team was far less motivated.
Cloud Chaser and Flitter were both working on moving the crop watering clouds to the storage silo until use, but they weren't doing so in any kind of hurry. The two were just gossiping as usual, barely paying attention to their jobs. Worse still was Cloud Kicker and Blossomforth. Blossom at least seemed to be trying to get Cloud Kicker back on track, but Kicker seemed far more interested in watching hunky Big Mac tending the Apple cart in the market square. Rainbow could have forgiven that (as she herself had given in to the temptation to admire Applejack's stud of an older brother from time to time), but she needed to get the girls back on track so they could get the weather sorted.
The most difficult worker though was Thunderlane.
Rainbow had no idea what it was, but that stallion just seemed to have it out for her. Any time Raindrops or even Ditzy gave him an order, he'd hop to it with no argument, but whenever she gave him directions, he'd argue to no end. She could practically hear the angry rants he'd given her, 'It's way to early to start the stupid shower Dash, think ahead already' or 'Pfft, I'll move the stupid cloud when I'm good an ready Dash'. No matter what she said to him, no matter what tasks she assigned him, he'd always whine and complain. Half the time it seemed he just wanted to argue for the absolute heck of it.
Plus she knew he badmouthed her behind her back. Sometimes she'd keep an ear open while she worked to hear him telling the twins how stupid her leadership was and how ridiculous it was that a mare like her was promoted before Raindrops. It angered her to no end, but the weather team was small here in Ponyville, and while she could do it all herself if she chose to, she had other responsibilities to attend to, plus all her Wonderbolts training. She needed all hooves on deck here and for all his disrespect, he was a very competent weather pony when he actually got down to it. Heck, if it wasn't for joining the weather team later then the rest of the team (barring herself who had only joined the year before when she arrived from Cloudsdale) he'd probably be Ditzy's Lieutenant rank by now.
She just couldn't afford to kick him off the team without adding on far too much work for the rest of the members to take. So she had to put up with his irritating attitude, at least for the moment.
Right now the stallion was collecting some of the storm clouds that had begun to build, though his technique wasn't allowing him to collect them as fast as she could. Deciding to give him a hoof to speed the job up, and maybe get at least a positive comment out of him for once, Rainbow zipped over and started zooming around the remaining clouds.
He'd collected the majority already, but the remaining clouds were combined in seconds with Rainbow's aid and the clouds were quickly wrangled back into regular cirrus clouds for Raindrops and Ditzy to dispose of. Wiping her brow with a hoof, Rainbow turned to Thunderlane with a smile on her face, hoping to hear a word of thanks. The response however was the opposite.
"What the heck Rainbow, I had the stupid clouds already! You just tell us all what our jobs are and then you immediately cut into mine! Go fix your own section, I don't need you doing my work for me!"
Rainbow's smile turned into a grimace at his words, then a glare. She'd had enough, and she wasn't going to stand for this, "Alright Thunderlane, what is your problem! I came over to give you a hoof to speed this up so we could all get done faster, and you tear my head off for it! You always yell at me and insult me behind my back! What is your problem with me?!"
The other weather members had finished their jobs and started to uneasily drift around the two ponies. Ditzy seemed worried and Raindrops had a frown on her face as she watched Thunderlane.
The stallion glared right back and gave a snort out of his nose, a sign to other ponies that things were getting heated and were going to escalate if pushed any further, "Alright Rainbow, I'll tell you what my problem is! It's the fact that I have to take orders from a 13 year old filly, while everypony else on this team is an actual adult with far more experience! I don't care what skills you have that got you promoted to this position, to me its appalling that I have to work for a snotty little brat fresh out of Cloudsdale thinking she owns the skies! I've been here for 3 years now, dutifully working with Raindrops, Ditzy and the others and then you show up out of nowhere, this smart mouthed little runt, thinking she's so awesome when she's really just a stupid kid and I'm forced to take orders from her! Well you know what Rainbow, I may have to work under you, but I sure as Tartarus don't have to like it!" and before Rainbow could utter a single retort (or a throw him a well earned punch in the face) he sped off and back into to Ponyville.
Everypony was silent for a moment as they digested the conversation. To Rainbow's distress, she could see a hint of agreement in Cloud Chaser and Flitter's eyes, though they quickly hid it away, while Blossomforth and Cloud Kicker just looked a little lost and unsure. The Rainbow maned mare suddenly felt a hoof on her should and turned to see Raindrops with a supportive smile on her face.
"Don't let him get to you. I can understand why he feels upset, but you've well earned this position regardless of your age and he just needs to suck it up and stop acting like a foal. I'll have a talk with him when I see him next and get him stop moaning and complaining."
Rainbow gave her a thankful smile before turning back to the rest of the team. Ditzy looked ready and at attention, and while the rest of the team was far more lax, they at least seemed ready to listen.
"Ok team, I think we're done for the day. Your all dismissed, though I want you all back here by Midday tomorrow to cut off any overdraft from the Everfree." Everypony gave a nod, or a salute from Ditzy and Raindrops, before dispersing and heading back into town.
For Rainbow though, there was one destination she had in mind, and she needed to get there urgently.
"I really hope the bar is open right now, I need a drink."
Author's Note:
Well, here's the first chapter of Age before Duty. My first work in the Sunsetverse, so I'm hoping it all comes together well. Be ready as Rainbow and Sunset suffer some more age related issues on the next chapter!To make things clear here, ponies reach adulthood at the age of 16, but can begin employment at age 13.
Sunset is currently aged 23 and far older then the rest of the mane 6, with the only other adult being Twilight at the age of 16. Rainbow is the youngest of the group at 13 years old and 10 years Sunset's junior.