//------------------------------// // 3 – Sunrise to Sunset // Story: The Setting Sun // by Krickis //------------------------------// Chapter Three Sunrise to Sunset ⠀ ⠀ Everything was bliss. Well, not everything. Golden Lace did still have to go home to Brass Badge, and it got harder as time went on. But for the next few months, life was the best it had ever been, even with her wretched marriage. Warp and Weft only continued to grow, and it was slowly becoming self-sustaining. While she was in Canterlot, she led her business with increased vigor, and it gave her the satisfaction of a job well done. She entertained thoughts of growing it until it was big enough to leave her husband and then doing just that. Not that he was without his uses. Being the wife of a decorated hero caused her social status to soar, which in turn allowed her to make connections that improved her business even more. They were Canterlot’s darling power couple, and she loved it. But at home, things changed. Brass Badge had long been distant, but Golden Lace stopped trying to fight it. If anything, she encouraged more distance between them. They would see each other at meals and when they slept, and at times not even then. Meanwhile, Golden Lace took to discouraging any lingering intimacy in their marital bed. And, of course, there were the visits. Golden Lace made frequent visits out of town, always using her business as a cover. Seldom did business have anything to do with it, however. Instead, she would go where Sunspot was, and they would shut the world away. Everything was bliss. That is, until it all came crashing down. Golden Lace was sitting at a coffee shop attached to the train station. This was where they had agreed to meet, which meant it was where she was going to let the best part of her life come crashing down to her hooves. She sipped her coffee as she waited. She wasn’t waiting long, at least. A train came in and the crowd disembarked. When they dispersed, Sunspot was there making his way to the coffee shop. Golden Lace watched him approach from the window and tried not to cry. Somehow it became easier when he entered. Something inside her hardened when they were face to face. She took another sip of her coffee as he walked up. “There’s my Sunrise Girl.” “Hi, Sunspot. Take a seat. We need to talk.” His grin slowly faded. “That… sounds bad.” “Yeah. It is.” Without getting anything for himself, he sat down across from Golden Lace. “So… what’s going on?” Golden Lace sighed and set her coffee down. “I should start by saying I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to hurt you, but… I didn’t mean for us to become a thing, either.” “Lace, this sounds an awful lot like you’re breaking up with me.” “Yes, I am.” Golden Lace frowned, which matched Sunspot’s expression perfectly. “I’m sorry, but this is the end of us.” “But… but why? Aren’t you happy?” “I have never been happier. At least, up until I realized this can’t work. Please, don’t make this harder than it needs to be.” “Don’t make it harder than it has to be? Lace, you owe me more than that! You can’t just expect me to not question this!” Golden Lace sighed and bowed her head. When she looked up, she hardened her gaze. “True, I can’t. But I also can’t explain, so this is just something you’ll have to live with.” “What’s his name?” Golden Lace narrowed her eyes. “Whose name?” “Don’t play dumb with me, Lace. I know what’s going on.” Golden Lace gritted her teeth and stood up. “You don’t know anything. I’m leaving.” She turned to leave, but stopped and looked back one more time. “For what it’s worth… I truly do wish the best for you.” She walked out of the shop, but the sound of hoofsteps followed her. She wheeled around to find Sunspot there. “Does he love you like I love you?” “Love me? You don’t even know me!” “Don’t give me that. I know you better than anyone!” Golden Lace stamped her hoof. “Then explain how you didn’t know I’m married? That I’m rich, and that you’ve just been a plaything while I was off on business?” “A plaything?” Sunspot looked at her skeptically. “I’m not dumb, I know you’ve been faking business trips just to come see me. You love me.” “I don’t!” “You do!” He pushed closer to her. “And don’t you dare say I don’t know you! I know that you have a silver tongue, but you’re too afraid to use it. I know that you can’t cook to save your life, but you can outdrink any stallion. I know you don’t really like poetry, you just want to be the kind of pony who does. I know you’d shut the world away and just spend all day in bed with me if you could. And I know that you love me. I know you, damn it, don’t tell me I don’t!” Golden Lace turned away. She couldn’t stand the heat of his gaze, couldn’t stand to hear the words as he said them. “Sunspot, please…” “Tell me I’m wrong.” Golden Lace said nothing. He put his hoof on her shoulder. “Run away with me. Just the two of us, we can make it on our own. Forget your husband, he can’t love you like I love you.” “As if I could!” Golden Lace looked up with tears in her eyes. “You don’t understand! I can’t just leave him, things are expected of me!” “Buck the expectations! We have each other!” Golden Lace shook her head. “It’s not enough. All of Canterlot would turn on me for leaving my husband, and my business isn’t strong enough to take that hit yet. Maybe if this had happened in a year or so…” Sunspot’s hoof fell off of her shoulder and he turned his eyes to the ground. His voice was quiet when he next spoke. “If what had happened?” Golden Lace covered her mouth with her hoof. She hadn’t meant to let that slip. Sunspot looked up again, and for the first time ever, he looked angry with her. “What happened, Lace?” She turned away from those angry blue eyes. “You know what happened.” Neither of them spoke for a moment, and his voice was thick when he broke the silence. “Is it mine?” All she could do was nod meekly. “You can’t do this to me, Lace.” His voice was equal parts anger and hurt. “You can’t keep this child from me!” “You can’t afford it!” Golden Lace shot back, suddenly finding anger of her own. Maybe that anger didn’t belong to him, but she directed at him anyway. “You barely afford to live off your paycheck and I’d lose my business if I left my husband! We can’t afford this! I’m trying to do what’s right for this child, and I’m sorry, but that is not you!” “Trying to do what’s right for the child or for yourself?” Sunspot asked, and Golden Lace wished he hadn’t. How many times had she asked herself the same question? For the child, she’d answered every time. But the truth? She didn’t care about this child, she didn’t even want it. This was just the wake-up call that told her what she was doing with her life. “Goodbye, Sunspot.” Golden Lace walked away slowly, but Sunspot didn’t try to stop her. He did call out to her as she left, however. “Name our child Sunrise.” Golden Lace winced, then she kept walking away. There was no hiding it. Not for long. It wasn’t the type of thing that she could keep hidden until it went away. No, there were only two options. She had been seriously tempted to get an abortion. It was something that she had always thought poorly of until it was her that needed one, which had suddenly changed her mind on the subject. She didn’t want this child, and then she could pretend this whole thing had never happened. But… this wasn’t just her child. Sunspot would never see his son or daughter, but it still existed as a testament to the love the two ponies had once shared. As much as she hated it for existing, and hated herself for being foalish enough to allow it to, Golden Lace couldn’t get rid of it. And then, of course, Golden Lace was a coward. There would be scandal if it got out that a respected mare of the Canterlot elite got an abortion. And, of course, she would actually have to do it. Have to walk into a clinic and see the kind of ponies who did that sort of thing. In some ways, it was easier to do nothing. Which left Golden Lace with only one choice. She could no more get rid of the child than she could stomach the thought of leaving behind the life of comfort and money in exchange for love. And so, it was inevitable. She sat at the dinner table, barely eating her food. If Brass Badge noticed, he didn’t comment. They sat across from each other, but he barely looked at her – too absorbed in a portfolio containing some sort of work. It was tempting to do nothing here too. But that was foalish. She was already starting to show, whether he noticed or not. Soon even her oblivious husband would have to face the facts. There was no telling what would happen if he figured it out on his own. It was hard, but she had to tell him. She just… didn’t know how. Still, she had to try. She cleared her throat. Brass Badge looked up at her expectantly. Golden Lace took a deep breath, then looked down at the table. “I have something to tell you.” “Mmm?” Her eye twitched. He couldn’t even spare a word for his wife when she was doing what might have been the most difficult thing she’d ever done. Just a sound, and a disinterested one at that. She took another deep breath. Just say it. Get it out. Get it over with. “It’s… not easy to talk about.” “I didn’t realize there was anything you couldn’t talk about,” he said with a vaguely accusatory tone. Say it. Just say it. “Yes, me either. Not until this.” Tell him. “And you should know, I never meant for this to happen. Of course.” Just. Say. It. Brass Badge sighed. “What is it?” Golden Lace winced. “I’m pregnant.” He pushed his portfolio to the side. “How?” He didn’t even sound angry. In a way, that was worse. She was used to his anger. Perhaps that was why she narrowed her eyes at him and spat, “You know how.” He frowned. “I hope you don’t think I’m stupid enough to think it’s my child. Not when you’ve shunned me in our bed for months.” Golden Lace squeezed her eyes shut tight. “No. No, it’s not your child.” “Then whose is it?” Golden Lace inhaled a shaky breath. “You… you wouldn’t know him. He’s just a worker.” “One of yours?” “No.” She let her face fall on her hooves. “He’s someone I met on a business trip.” “Pick your head up,” he said sharply. “Look me in the eyes when you tell me this! You can at least do that much.” “You have no idea what this is like!” Golden Lace shot back, lifting her head. “My life is over!” “Please, this is your own doing.” “I know that!” Tears began to well up in Golden Lace’s eyes. “This is my fault because I’m an idiot. Don’t you think I realize that!?” Brass Badge slammed his hoof on the table. “Enough! Was the damn boy at least a unicorn?” Golden Lace knew her husband believed unicorns to be superior to other ponies, but it surprised her he would care about that under the circumstances. “Yes, he’s a unicorn.” Brass Badge huffed. “At least you had some sense. The child better be a unicorn too, otherwise we won’t be able to pass it off as mine. Somehow those words pierced through the wall of misery Golden Lace had constructed around herself, causing her to pause her crying. “You… you’ll raise it…?” “Well, what else am I going to do?” Brass Badge scowled at her. “Imagine the scandal if word got out that my wife had a foal with another stallion. And a low born one at that.” Golden Lace bowed her head. She thought maybe she should thank him, but she knew he wasn’t doing this for her. And after this, it was safe to say nothing he did would be for her. Brass Badge stood up, levitating the remains of his dinner beside him. “I’m going to eat in my study. Don’t wait up for me.” Golden Lace couldn’t manage a reply, and Brass Badge didn’t wait for one. She didn’t even look up; the sound of hoofsteps told her she was alone. Alone, like she always would be. Alone with this thing growing inside her, this reminder that her life was over. Something that had the audacity to be related to Sunspot, to the one bright patch in what was otherwise to be a dismal life. A bright patch that was gone. Her sun had set, she would no longer be his Sunrise Girl. The birth was, she was told, free of complications and altogether quite simple. Of course, it hadn’t felt like that to Golden Lace. It was roughly eight hours altogether, two hours or so of the actual birth, and it had been excruciating. All for that thing. That little girl that just had to look so much like her father. Her coat was darker, somewhere between her father’s pale yellow and her mother’s gold color, although her mane was exclusively her father’s – streaks of yellow and red to match Sunspot’s orange. Golden Lace couldn’t even look at her. She lay in her bed, recovering from the ordeal while the nurses cleaned up the unicorn filly. At least she was a unicorn. Golden Lace had no idea if Sunspot had any pegasus or earth pony relatives, but both her family and Brass Badge’s had been unicorns as far back as their lineage could be traced. It would be impossible for them to have had anything but a unicorn if it had truly been their own child. “There now,” one of the nurses said. “Little dear is all cleaned up. And just look at that beautiful face!” Although she would have to eventually, Golden Lace continued to put off looking at her daughter. She had seen enough of her already and didn’t want to see her any more than she had to. “Oh, I know what’s troubling you,” the nurse prattled on, as if she could ever know what Golden Lace was going through. “Trust me, the General would be here if he was able to. Shame he had to work today of all days, but I’m positive he’ll make up for it tonight.” She couldn’t possibly say so, but Golden Lace wished he would just stay away. She had no interest in seeing her husband either, and loathed to think of what he would have to say about her daughter that was not his. “Come on now, Mom. You want to see your baby, don’t you?” Maybe if the damned thing would stop crying so much, if Golden Lace could just have a few minutes to get herself together, maybe then she could put on the façade of a happy mother like she was expected to. But whether she was ready or not, the nurse brought her daughter closer to her. “There now, see? It’s alright little one. Mommy’s right here.” “How long…” Golden Lace’s voice sounded weak. She forced herself to swallow, then tried again. “How long until she stops crying?” “Oh, she’ll calm down soon. I’m sure a cuddle with Mom would help her plenty.” Golden Lace sighed. “Give her here.” The nurse placed the foal into Golden Lace’s forelegs. She had heard so many ponies prattle on about how the bond between a new mother and a child was as instant as it was unbreakable. She found this to be true, in a fashion. It was not instant, and it was not unbreakable, and so it was both in equal measure. It did not, in fact, exist at all. She looked down at the little filly that even had blue eyes like him – a little lighter, but still so like his. She looked at the filly, at those eyes, at someone who was so obviously his daughter in every way, and what she felt in place of a deep bond was a curse. A reminder of her failures. The nurse saw nothing of the sort. “The little dear needs a name, you know.” “Name our child Sunrise,” he had said. It was the last thing he said to her. But she couldn’t. She was supposed to be his Sunrise, not this… this… this thing, this reminder of a life that could have been but was now lost forever. “Sunset,” Golden Lace said. It was the only name that would be fitting to this foal. Sunset, like what she brought to Golden Lace’s life. “Sunset Shimmer.” “What a nice name,” the nurse said, completely oblivious to what it meant. “Sunset Shimmer, then. A beautiful name for a beautiful girl.” “Sunset Shimmer,” Golden Lace repeated. It was the end of her time as the Sunrise Girl, the end of her golden life. All that was left for her was Sunset, and then darkness. Golden Lace did not cry. She had no tears left, and this creature was not worthy of them. Instead she lay back, closed her eyes, and pretended Sunspot was there beside her. He’d be so happy that he would even make Golden Lace happy. Or he’d be angry with her for being so cold to their child. He had only once gotten angry with her, and that was over this thing. Yet another reason to resent it. In the end, not even the thought of Sunspot could cheer her. This was what awaited her. Her Sunset, and the darkness it brought to her life.