Sunset's human world origin

Katon family backyard
Date: Aug 14th, time: 2:00 pm

*Brigid’s perspective*

Brigid sat on the porch swing, watching the girls play their games while she prepared for her classes. Usually, Brigid would have a smile on her face, but the girls’ games had to be modified to be less dangerous since Emi’s bones are still fragile and she is becoming more fatigued. As a consequence, the girls can’t wrestle, run around at top speed, or do half of the stuff they used to do. The girls’ playing has just become another reminder that Emi was dying, and there is very little Brigid can do to protect her. The girls were playing a simple ball tossing game.

“Hey, Mom! Come take a look at this!”, Sunset called.

Brigid looked up from her work to see Sunset standing next to the fence. Brigid put her work down and walked over to where Sunset was standing. “What is it, Sunset?”

“I found this weird plant”

“Oh my,” Brigid knelt down and examined the plant more closely and found that it was growing up from Mrs. and Mr. Shot's side. This might actually be a good thing.

“What’s the plant?”, Sunset asked.

“Well, it’s a very special plant, but ya c’n’t tell anyone about it.”

“Why not?”, Emi asked.

“Because it’s so special dat other people will want ta take it from us if dey know we have it.”, Brigid explained to the girls.

“Can we tell Dad?”, Emi asked.

“It’s okay ta tell y’r fathe’ but no one else. Now, ya continue playin’. Ah’m gonna go talk ta Mrs. and Mr. Shot about da plant.” Brigid stood up and walked over to Mrs. and Mr. Shots’ house. Upon reaching the door and knocking, Mrs. Shot answered.

“Why hello, Brigid. Is there something I can help you with?”, Mrs. Shot asked. Mrs. Shot was a nice elderly lady. She and her husband were WWII veterans and liked their peace and quiet.

“Ah was hoppin’ ta talk ta ya ‘bout one a’ y’r plants. One a’ ‘em is growin’ inta our yard, n’ Ah wanted ta make sure ya know ‘bout it. It’s a very “special” plant. It has five leaves.”

“Perhaps we should finish this conversation inside.” Mrs. Shot gestured for Brigid to come inside.

“Thank ya” Brigid stepped into the house. Like most houses in the neighborhood, Mrs. Shot’s house used to be one of the six cookie cutter templates that were repeated in the same pattern, but like many of the remaining original houses, it had been renovated and was almost unrecognizable. The Katon house had the dividing walls torn down in the main area to make it feel less cramped. The Shot house had a similar treatment, but the livingroom and dining room were still separated. “So, Ah take it ya know what da plant is.”, Brigid said as soon as the door was closed.

“Yes, I do. It’s not gonna be a problem with your husband being a law man n’ all?”

“Me fella doesn’t care. In his own words, “I have real crimes to prosecute. Just don’t do anything stupid.” He doesn’t partake in it himself, but didn’t care when Ah did.”

“Well, that’s good, and it is sweet of you to make sure I wasn’t going to get myself into trouble by accident. You feel free to take whatever’s growing on your side of the fence.”

“Thank ya. Would Ah be incorrect in saying dat ya grow da plant ta make CBD oil?”

“You would not. It’s just about the only thing that works on my husband’s arthritis. Why?”

“My youngest daughte’ has been diagnosed with cance’. Eventually, she will need some very strong painkille’s, but Ah don’t want ta risk opioids. C’n ya teach me how ta make CBD oil?”

A mix of horror and sadness washed over Mrs. Shot’s face. “Oh yes, absolutely I can. I am so sorry about your daughter. Come now, I’ll teach you how to, right now.” Mrs. Shot started to lead Brigid into her basement.

“Thank ya. Let me just text my daughte’s ta let ‘em know Ah’ll be a little while longe’.” Brigid texted Sunset then followed Mrs. Shot into her basement. “Ya know, dis is like da start a’ some crappy low budget horror movie.”

“Pff-ha, yeah it could be called “The Night Grandma Strikes”

“Or maybe some‘hin’ minimalistic like “Granny’s house”

“Oh, I like that one.”

Mrs. Shot’s basement didn’t look like anything special at first, but Brigid’s opinion soon changed as Mrs. Shot pulled out a bag of unprocessed leaves from a hiding space in the floor and a bunch of stuff that looked inconspicuous on its own but its purpose became clear as you put it all together.

“Dere is absolutely no way da cops are eve’ gonna bust ya.”

“I learned just about everything I know from my son. He grows this stuff professionally deep in the Everfree. He has never been caught in his twenty plus years in the business. Of course, the clueless old lady act is all me. hehehe”

For the next hour, Mrs. Shot taught Brigid how to extract CBD oil, and Brigid and Mrs. Shot discussed horror movies. Once Brigid had gotten the extraction process down, Mrs. Shot set Brigid off with a couple of bottles of the oil, and Brigid gave Mrs. Shot an open offer to come over and watch horror movies with her and Minerva. Walking back into their house, Brigid found the girls playing on one of their consoles. She sprayed herself down with the decontamination spray then walked over to the girls. “Girls, c’n we talk f’r a moment?”

Sunset paused the game and the two turned to face Brigid. “What’s up?”, Sunset asked.

“Ah have some‘hin’ ta show ya both.” Brigid pulled one of the bottles out of her pocket. The bottles had fake labels with “Dr. Fausse’s painkiller oil” printed on it. The ingredients listed on it were a bunch of random essential oils. Brigid figured it was all meant to make cops think that whoever had these bottles were just desperate people who got scammed. “Dese are painkille’ medications. It c’n also help with nausea and lack a’ appetite. Emi, if y’re in pain, ask someone ta put a couple drops on a cookie f’r ya. Ya c’n also take it straight, but dis stuff isn’t dat appetisin’. Ah’m gonna keep dese in da upstiars bathroom cabinet.”

“Okay”, Emi said. “Can Ah try some now?”

“Do ya jus’ want a cookie?”

“Maaaybe”

Brigid shook her head and got up to grab a packet of cookies. “Girls, come ove’ here. Ya should learn how ta do dis.”

The girls hopped up from the couch and into the kitchen. Brigid showed them how to properly measure out a dose and then gave the medicated cookie to Emi.

“It tastes weird.”, Emi said.

“Dat’s what Ah was talkin’ ‘bout when Ah said dis stuff wasn’t dat appetisin’.”, Brigid said.

Emi shrugged and ran back off to the couch.

“Does that stuff have anything ta do with that plant?”, Sunset asked.

“Da less ya know, da bette’.”

“Is this stuff illegal?”

“Da less ya know, da bette’.”, Brigid repeated. Brigid then grabbed the bottle and took them up to the upstairs bathroom.

Katon family livingroom
Date: same day, time: 3:15 pm

*Sunset’s perspective*

Sunset watched Brigid walk upstairs with the bottle with a speculative eye. How illegal is what she’s doing? Sunset turned to look at Emi. Her arm was still broken and would take another six weeks to heal. She was getting weaker, her nose bleeds were becoming more common, and these symptoms were only going to get worse, and she would start developing more symptoms. Sunset knew that she was willing to kill for Emi, because she nearly had to kill for Spitfire. So, how far are Mom and Dad willing to go? If Sunset had to guess, she would say nothing was too far for Emi.

Sunset pulled herself back to reality and walked back over to the couch. “Ya ready to get an ultimate smack down and be humiliated?”

“You mean, are you ready to face the fury of Amoebaby and ta defend your honor?”

“You dare challenge my honor? The Great Sunset da Conqueror has never let a challenge of her honor go unpunished.”, Sunset said in a grandiose voice.

“Well then, choose your fighter, because Emi da Powerful is ready ta fight.”, Emi said, mimicking Sunset.

“So, be it then.” Sunset hopped back onto the couch and picked up her controller. Sunset picked her goto fighter, Bracket. Bracket was the green clad humanoid from the crossbow game, and that game was the reason Sunset loved that character.

Sunset’s bedroom

Date: Aug 16th, time: 12:30 am

*Sunset’s perspective*

Sunset sat up in bed, examining the Mac Carthaigh ring. It was a truly amazing piece. The silver still shined as bright as the moon, even after nearly twenty years of neglect. The ruby sat snuggly in the ring. It poked out just enough to display itself but not too far as to over state itself. Over the undoubtedly many times the ring needed to be resized, the knot has remained flawless. Sunset slipped the ring onto her finger. It was big on her, but she was still growing.

Sunset’s pony family never had any heirlooms like this. It was tradition to bury a warrior in their armor and with their weapons. It came from the Po’haidism belief that they must prove their worth as a warrior to the god, Po’haid. According to the stories, if a warrior could prove themselves to Po’haid, they would be welcomed into his armies to prepare for the Great Battle of Rafehra. The Great Battle of Rafehra was basically the pegasi version of Ragnarök. Just replace Loki with Grogar and no rebirth of the world, and you got Rafehra. Nowadays, all ponies pretty much believe that they will go to Elysium when they die or be sent to Tartarus for eternity, but pegasi warriors are still buried in their full armor. Pegasi also don’t do the whole ring thing, no place to put them. Instead, it was an exchange of weapons, typically daggers, and those were always buried with the pegasi when they died. Earth ponies tie their tails together for a day, hence tying the knot, or plant a “seed of love” or both. The “seed of love” bit is far less dirty in Ponish. They typically have the simplest ceremonies of the three tribes. Sunset once went to one of her earth pony relative’s wedding when she was a foal, and it was literally just show up, watch the couple get married in one of their fields, eat food, help clean up, go home. You didn’t even need to wear anything if you didn’t want to. Sunset so much preferred that over the fiasco that was a unicorn wedding. There were so many moving parts, so much going on, and it could oh so easily fall down on their heads, and those dresses were a nightmare. They were a nightmare to get into, to wear, to get out of, and they were mandatory, and she wasn’t even in the wedding party. She was just there with Celestia because it was nobles getting married. Sunset was so stressed out at the end that she needed to be consoled by her mother and Celestia, and she wasn’t a young kid when this happened. She was fifteen years old. The pegasi wedding she went to the year after was so much more relaxed. Which is really saying something because pegasi weddings are taken very seriously. Everypony is expected to wear formalwear or dress uniforms, but the formalwear is of the wearer’s choosing. Everything is extremely structured, and there are backup plans in place to ensure everything goes smoothly. The exact details of what happens differ between military and non-military pegasi, but the expectation that the couple will stay together through life’s and the afterlife’s hardest moments and come out the other side all the stronger for it stays the same.

Sunset has done research into human weddings, and the weddings are just as varied as the cultures they come from. Some cultures don’t have wedding ceremonies. You just go from not living together to living together. Some cultures have weddings that span many days. Some of them were - disturbing, like bride kidnapping from Kyrgyzstan. Others are funny. Sunset couldn’t remember what culture this one was from, but in one ceremony, the friends and family of the couple, and the couple themselves gather together and embarrassing and funny stories about the couple are shared. Sunset quite liked that ceremony.

Sunset pulled her attention back to the ring. She could feel the residual energies of its previous wears. The strongest of those energies belonged to Riona. “So, I’m the new princess of love. Watch out Cadence. I’m coming for your title. Hehehe” Sunset’s mood turned into a contemplative one. “I don’t deserve this ring. I’m not a Mac Carthaigh woman, and I can’t love everybody like you or Mom do.” Sunset looked up at the moon. “Where do I even belong anymore?” Sunset waited for some kind of an answer, but when nothing came, she decided to just go to sleep.

Mac Carthaigh Farm
Date: , time:

*Sunset’s perspective*

Sunset sat utop one of the sprawling, green hills. The wind was blowing, making the tall grass look like a green ocean. For the first time in a while, Sunset felt at peace.

“Beautiful sight, isn’t it?”, a woman with a pea soup thick Irish accent asked.

Sunset looked up to see the figure and found Riona standing next to her. “Nana?”, Sunset asked, bewildered.

“Well, who else did ya expect? Elvis Presley?”

“Um, no one really. Aren’t ya supposed to be in Ireland?”

“Ah was in Ireland.”, Riona said while sitting down.

“Then, how are you here?”

“Why don’t ya take a crack at figurin’ it out?”

“Great, you’re one of those teachers.”, Sunset deadpanned.

“Ah thought ya liked riddles.”, Riona said coyly.

Sunset gave Riona a smile then began to think. “The fact that you’re here means that you’re not haunting the house, like I originally thought. - You’re haunting the ring, aren’t you?”

“Ding ding ding, we have a winne’. - Sunset, ya may think dat ya c’n’t love like a Mac Carthaugh, but ya c’n. Y’r love f’r Emi bein’ proof.”

“Then, why am I so angry at everything?”

“Dere was an expression me fathe’ liked ta say, “love is da first emotion”. It means dat love is da first emotion we feel when we are born, n’ dat all othe’ emotions come from love. Ange’ comes from when someone or some‘hin’ hurts someone or some‘hin’ we love, n’ we love more deeply dan anyone else in da world. Ya are angry at every‘hin’ because a’ how much ya n’ dat which ya love have been hurt. Y’re angre’ because ya want ta protect what ya love.”

“That doesn’t help.”

Riona said nothing and just began rubbing Sunset’s back.

Sunset’s bedroom

Date: Aug 16th, time: 6:30 am

*Sunset’s perspective*

Beep beep beep

Sunset was awoken by her alarm clock. Even though Sunset’s dream wasn’t scary, her sleep wasn’t restful. I guess communing with spirits isn’t good for your sleep. Sunset stumbled like a zombie out of bed and into the shower. The warm water was doing nothing to help wake Sunset up. So, she decided to bite the bullet and turned the water to cold. There was no way she was going to sleep through today. Today, Grandpa, Aunt Ryoko, and Oda are coming to visit. Sunset finished up and quickly got dressed. Once she was dressed, she gathered up some things that she made for Ryoko and Oda. Once that was done, Sunset joined her family for breakfast.