//------------------------------// // 13 – Expectations // Story: Acts of Love // by Krickis //------------------------------// Chapter Thirteen Expectations ⠀ ⠀ Considering they only had a week in Canterlot as a whole family – Sunset was staying a little longer than the others for a personal reason – they all wanted to make the most of it. And while they had some different ideas of how to do that, none of those ideas involved going to Sunset’s foalhood home to meet with her father. And yet, that’s what they found themselves doing. He’d gotten word that Sunset was in Canterlot and requested her to bring her family for a visit. Her initial impulse was to refuse, but they all knew they were on thin ice with the press after Twilight’s outburst when Morning got lost in Ponyville, and the last thing they needed was for tabloids to get word that they’d refused Morning’s grandfather the chance to meet her. So for publicity’s sake and absolutely no other reason, the family found themselves in a carriage heading into the wealthiest part of Canterlot. Sunset herself was staring out the window and glaring at the passing city streets. “I’m sure it won’t be that bad,” Twilight said hopefully. “Sure, it’ll be a little awkward, but what’s the worst that can happen?” Sunset sighed. “Yeah, I know. It just sucks.” “Is he mean?” Morning asked. “He can be,” Sunset said. Part of her wanted to sugarcoat things for her daughter, but that wouldn’t be fair. She needed a proper warning about how the day was going to go. “He’s certainly not a nice pony. He’s a jerk, and if there weren’t so many stupid expectations for me, I’d drop him from my life in an instant.” Fluttershy put her hoof on Sunset’s. “I’m sure it won’t be that bad. He barely said anything to you at the wedding. We’ll probably be in and out before we know it.” “I hope so…” Sunset grumbled. She turned to Morning again. “Listen, hopefully Fluttershy’s right and things go well and all that, but if he’s mean to you, you don’t have to be nice to him just because he’s an adult. If he’s gonna be a jerk, then he’s gonna get what he has coming…” Twilight grimaced. “Er, but only if he’s mean. If he’s not, then you do have to be nice to him.” Sunset rolled her eyes. “Yeah, even though it would serve him right if we all just treated him like a jerk, be good until he does something mean.” Fluttershy looked between her wives and cocked her head to the side. “But if he’s mean, we’ll probably just leave…” “Oh yeah.” Twilight blinked. “That makes sense.” Truth be told, Sunset preferred the idea of sticking around so everyone could give him his just desserts, but that wouldn’t be a very good lesson for her daughter. “Yeah, that’s true.” “Do… you have a mom too?” Morning asked. “Yeah, but she divorced my dad,” Sunset explained. “She’s really not much better anyway.” “She did write about us that one time,” Twilight said, which was true. For reasons Sunset couldn’t understand, her mom had decided to write in support of Sunset’s polyamorous relationship despite never having been interested in talking about it. And while Sunset had always wondered about that open letter, it didn’t really make up for a lifetime of ignoring her daughter. “Whatever,” Sunset said. “I’m just glad we won’t ever have to deal with the two of them at once anymore.” Morning stared down at the floor, and Sunset sighed. “Look, I’m making it sound worse than it is. It’s probably just going to be boring. We’ll talk about dumb adult stuff for a while, and then we’ll leave and have a nice dinner somewhere. Tomorrow we’ll do something fun.” Morning just nodded. Sunset felt bad for making her worried about the meeting. She’d thought that not swearing would be the hard part, and to be fair, she had slipped up here and there where that was concerned. But only now that it was impacting someone else did she realize exactly how grumpy she was most of the time. At least her wives were better at being cheerful for Morning than she was. Fluttershy started talking about how many different restaurants there were in Canterlot, and Twilight gave suggestions. Morning seemed a little overwhelmed with the idea of making a choice, but it was better than listening to Sunset being miserable. They kept Morning busy with food options for the rest of the trip. Sunset didn’t chime in too much, but she did say enough to show that she wasn’t determined to be irritable the whole way. Still, it was hard to feel anything else when they reached the manor. She got out of the carriage and looked up at the house she constantly hoped to never see again. Despite her resolution to be a little less down, she still let out a sigh as she saw it. There was a wing on her shoulders, so she turned to see Fluttershy. “It’ll be okay.” Sunset nodded. “Yeah, let’s get it over with.” After a quick kiss from Fluttershy, they made their way up to the building. Everyone followed Sunset, who turned to grin at them before ringing the doorbell. As expected, it was a maid who answered. She held the door open for them and stepped aside. “Princesses, please, come in.” They walked into the foyer, and the maid led them to a sitting room. “Please, make yourselves comfortable. Is there anything I can get for you? Tea, perhaps?” “Tea would be nice,” Sunset said. “Er, wait, Morning, do you drink tea?” “Yup!” Morning answered proudly. “She drinks floral tea, if you have anything like that,” Fluttershy said. “Oh, but not too strong, though. She likes it sweet.” The maid nodded. “Of course, I’ll be right back with tea for five, and I’ll send the General down as well, of course.” She left the room, and Morning turned to Sunset. “He’s a general? Like a soldier?” “Yeah,” Sunset said, suppressing a sigh. “He loves when people call him by his title too. He instructs all the house staff to call him ‘General’, he’s so pompous…” “We usually just call him ‘sir’,” Twilight explained. She and Fluttershy had never known what to call him, so they’d settled on the polite option. Sunset called him ‘Dad’, mostly because she was pretty sure it annoyed him. They didn’t wait long for Brass Badge to show up. Twilight and Fluttershy stood as he entered the room, although Sunset and Morning remained seated. He didn’t comment either way. “Welcome to my humble home,” he said, nodding and locking eyes with each of them in turn. “I trust you’re all well?” “Yes,” Twilight answered. “We’ve been pretty busy ever since we decided to adopt Morning, but we wouldn’t change that for the world.” Brass Badge nodded and took a seat himself. He chose one that separated him from everypony else. “I can imagine. New foals are a hoofful.” Sunset smirked. “Didn’t realize you had any idea about what that was like.” “Sunset…” Twilight muttered. Brass Badge just held up a hoof. “We perhaps relied on hired help more than we ought to have. I trust you’re doing things differently, then?” “Yeah, we don’t even have hired help,” Sunset said. “We do have my parents, though,” Twilight said. “They live with us and have been a huge help. And Spike, my little brother. There’s no shortage of helping hooves and claws around the castle.” “And of course, they all adore Morning,” Fluttershy said with a smile at her daughter. “Yes, of course,” Brass Badge said. He had never really cared to talk about ponies’ personal lives, but he was Canterlot elite. Whether he cared to or not didn’t matter, he was expected to listen to the goings-on of his peers. He turned his attention to Morning Glisten. “So, you’re my granddaughter, then.” “I… I guess so…” Morning looked at Sunset, who stroked her pretty rose-colored mane. “Are you studious like Sunset?” he asked as the maid returned with tea. She served the others while they talked. “I’m, er, I don’t know…” “She’s six, Dad,” Sunset said flatly. “She’s going into first grade.” “You were in Celestia’s School for Gifted Unicorns when you were six,” Brass Badge pointed out. “Yeah, I was the youngest ever, and then I was the youngest to graduate.” Sunset frowned. “I also hated everypony and didn’t even know what it meant to be happy. We’re doing things differently with Morning.” “Yes, of course.” Brass Badge sipped his tea. No one said anything for a moment, the maid moving around the room to serve everyone. When she got to Morning, Fluttershy smiled at her. “What do you say?” “Thank you,” Morning said to the maid. “You’re very welcome, Miss,” the maid said, before moving on to serve Twilight, who also thanked her. Sunset sipped her own tea. She would’ve thought to thank the maid if they were anywhere else, she told herself. This place just reminded her of bad habits and superiority complexes she’d been trying to get rid of. If her father had any thoughts on the subject of thanking the hired help, he kept those thoughts to himself. “I suppose this is the first time we’ve all been together in private like this.” “Yeah, here I thought we’d only see each other at weddings,” Sunset said. “I thought it was past time, under the circumstances.” Brass Badge gestured to Morning. “I want you to know if there’s anything you need from me, you only need to ask.” Sunset arched an eyebrow, and she was about to ask what they could possibly need from him. Fluttershy beat her to it, however, saying, “Thank you, that’s very kind of you.” “Perhaps I could hire a tutor to work on her magic.” Brass Badge stared at the way she used her hooves to hold her teacup. “She ought to be able to levitate by now.” “Twilight’s teaching her, actually,” Sunset said. “And after the summer vacation, she’ll be going to the local school in Ponyville where she can be with other foals her age and make some friends.” “And uhm…” Twilight cleared her throat. “Most unicorn foals don’t actually master levitation until they’re a little bit older.” “Really?” Brass Badge frowned. “Everyone in my family seemed to take to it pretty quickly. Of course, we always did have the best tutors.” Sunset jerked her head at Twilight. “I think even you’ll have to agree that the Bearer of the Element of Magic is qualified. Anyway, we’re not worried about Morning excelling in anything. We want her to be happy.” Brass Badge nodded and sipped his tea. “I suppose that is what younger parents are doing these days.” “That’s how my parents raised me, and I think I’ve done pretty well for myself,” Twilight said. “It wasn’t a criticism,” Brass Badge said simply. The three mares all looked at each other, and no one seemed to know what to say. Eventually Fluttershy offered, “Uhm, your house is lovely.” Brass Badge nodded as if it was just an understood fact rather than a compliment. “It’s been in my family for generations. Though I suppose Sunset probably has no interest in taking it after I’m gone.” Sunset chuckled. “Yeah, I kinda live in a castle, so…” “Hmph. Not like I have anyone else to leave it to.” “Yeah, I guess that’s true.” Somehow, that caught Sunset off guard. She never really thought about her parents dying. In a weird way, they weren’t close enough for her to ever think about that. And then he was going to leave his mansion to her? He loved this place, probably a hell of a lot more than he had ever loved her. “Sunset…” Brass Badge sighed and set his tea down. “I asked you to come here for a reason. There are… things you might hear. Things that might call our relationship into question.” Sunset couldn’t help but let out an incredulous laugh. “You can’t be fucking serious…” “Sunset…” Fluttershy said, her eyes darting towards Morning. “Sorry,” Sunset said quickly to her daughter, then rounded back on her father. “Did you really think I haven’t heard about the divorce? It’s been months! Not that you cared enough to tell me about it when it happened, so I don’t know why you do now.” “Watch your tone, Sunset,” Brass Badge said gruffly. “I am your father.” “Not by my choice,” Sunset muttered. Brass Badge stared at her for a moment. Then he sighed. “I am your father. That is what I wanted to say to you.” “You called me here to say that?” Sunset’s ear twitched. “Believe it or not, I haven’t forgotten.” “Yes.” Brass Badge met his daughter’s eyes. “I called you here to say that. I am your father, and you are my daughter. That is all.” “Yeah, okay.” Sunset rolled her eyes. She’d never quite understood what had possessed her parents to have a child, and frankly, she didn’t think she wanted to know. “So… what? You think that because Mommy and Daddy split up, suddenly I think they don’t love me?” “This isn’t about the divorce.” Brass Badge went back to his tea. “I just needed to say it.” “Alright, fine.” Sunset downed the rest of her tea. “You’ve said what you need to say. Happy now?” Brass Badge let out a single laugh and grinned. “Is that a joke?” Sunset found herself chuckling. “Yeah, guess happiness doesn’t really run in our family, huh?” “Seems like you’re doing pretty well, though.” Brass Badge nodded. Sunset jerked her head towards her wives. “Yeah, well, for some reason these two just won’t give up on me.” “Maybe because you never give up on us,” Twilight pointed out. “You’re worth sticking with,” Fluttershy said. Sunset smiled contently, but then she caught sight of her father staring at her. Rather than let it get her down, however, she forced a grin. “It’s called a functional relationship. I know that’s new to you.” “Sunset, that’s mean,” Fluttershy said sharply. “It’s no secret my marriage was never the greatest,” Brass Badge said. “Your mother and I actually discussed how your marriage differed from ours on the night of your wedding. That probably was what led her to file for divorce.” Sunset arched an eyebrow. “So my happy marriage is the reason you’re divorced?” “It wasn’t a complaint.” “You know,” Twilight said far too brightly, “it would be lovely to see more of your home!” Sunset suppressed a sigh. The last thing she wanted to do was go on a tour of her childhood home, but she wasn’t going to argue with Twilight in front of her dad. Brass Badge finished his tea and set down the teacup. “Very well. Follow me.” He stood up and led them out of the room, so everypony followed him. Sunset did chance a glare at Twilight as they left the room, but she was pretty sure that it went unnoticed. They started their tour of the house by leaving it. Out behind the manor there was a rather impressive garden. At least, the others seemed to find it impressive. Sunset couldn’t manage to care; it was all just bought and upkept with money, nothing either of her parents ever worked on. That didn’t stop the others from loving it, though. Worst of all, it seemed to impress Morning. “Wow, do the bushes just grow like this?” “The gardener cuts them into shapes,” Brass Badge explained. “Most of these flowers are exotic.” Sunset rolled her eyes. “Canterlot’s a mountain, Dad. Most flowers are exotic here.” “Exotic to Equestria, I mean.” “Everything’s so pretty!” Fluttershy leaned in to smell a big purple flower. “And fragrant, too.” “I like these little ones,” Morning said as she admired some orange and white flowers. “What are they called?” “Couldn’t tell you, I’m afraid.” Brass Badge looked over the garden. Sunset wondered when the last time he had bothered to actually look at it was. “My father was the gardener. He started all this, I just maintain it.” “I don’t think I’ve ever heard you talk about him, Sunset,” Twilight said. “He died before Sunset was born,” Brass Badge explained. “And my mother soon after, so Sunset wouldn’t remember her either, I’m sure.” “Oh, I’m sorry to hear that,” Twilight said. “Such is life.” Brass Badge gestured around him. “He left behind this garden, and I make sure it’s kept up to his standards.” “That’s basically how everything here is,” Sunset explained. “Some family member or something started it, and then it gets maintained by house staff forever.” “It’s like a museum of family history,” Fluttershy said with a smile. “What a nice idea.” Sunset frowned; she’d never found it very nice. No one cared about any of the stuff in the house, they just took care of it because they were expected to. It was a waste when a lot of it would be better off in a real museum. But arguing with Fluttershy in front of her father wouldn’t be any better than arguing with Twilight, so once again Sunset held her tongue. She had a feeling she’d be doing that a lot during the day. When everypony had seen enough of the gardens, they made their way back inside. After a quick stop by the kitchen so everypony could have a cold glass of water after being out in the summer heat, they made their way to the library. Which, of course, meant Twilight was enamored. Sunset had to hold back more than her tongue when she saw her wife looking around the room with genuine enthusiasm – frankly, it made her want to gag. “There’s a tradition within our family to expand the library with our own fields of study,” Brass Badge explained. “I’ve added a fair amount of military texts over my years.” “And here I haven’t added anything,” Sunset muttered. “Not true,” Brass Badge said. Sunset scrunched up her face, wondering what he met. She found out when he led them to a bookcase filled with textbooks. “All of the books on the study of magic that you collected while studying at Celestia’s School for Gifted Unicorns are stored here.” “Oh yeah, I forgot about those.” Sunset’s eyes skimmed across the books. Some of them she remembered, but most were from so long ago that she couldn’t recall them. Brass Badge took a random book off the shelf to examine it. “I suppose these books wouldn’t be of much interest to you anymore.” Sunset shrugged. “Well, not really, no. I’ve pretty much outgrown them all by now.” “These books taught you to do magic?” Morning asked, looking up at the books that would all be much too advanced for her. “Well, these books and my teachers.” Sunset smiled at Morning. “You have me and Twilight to teach you, you’ll be just fine.” “Oh, you’re teaching me too?” Morning asked. “Well, I’ll let Twilight handle most of the academics, but sure. All three of us will be teaching you some stuff here and there.” Sunset glanced towards her father and frowned a little, but then smiled again for Morning. “That’s what parents are supposed to do.” If Brass Badge had anything to say about that, he kept it to himself. He replaced the book on the shelf, then resumed walking. They kept making their way through the memories and accumulated knowledge of Sunset’s ancestors. Occasionally Brass Badge would offer input about which family member had added a particular section, and Twilight would stop to admire some dusty old book or other. “I asked for a few extra shelves recently,” Brass Badge informed them as they passed through an almost empty section. “Really?” Twilight asked instantly, likely as much to prevent another sarcastic remark from Sunset as it was out of genuine interest. “Did you find more books tied to your family’s past?” “No,” Brass Badge said with a pointed look at Morning. “For the family’s future.” He made his way for the door, leaving the three wives to stare at one another. Twilight was positively beaming, and Fluttershy also looked very pleased. Only Sunset was left with a scowl on her face. Morning went running after Brass Badge, so the others followed as well. The next door they came to led to the wine cellar, which Brass Badge noted then walked past. “I think we can agree that would be inappropriate for our current company.” It wasn’t clear if he meant the fact that they had a recovering alcoholic or a child with them, but it was something they could all agree with. They made for the next room, which was a gallery of some sort, but which was rather sparsely decorated. “This is where some of Sunset’s maternal grandfather’s paintings were. Of course, Lace took those with her in the divorce.” “I didn’t know your grandfather was a painter,” Fluttershy said. “Starry Night,” Twilight said. “I was surprised to find out you were related to him, but I did read that he was your mom’s dad.” Fluttershy giggled. “He must be a pretty big deal if Twilight’s heard of him.” Twilight grinned. “Yeah, well, I’m not an expert or anything, but I’ve seen some of his work.” The room may not have had much in it, but what it did have was probably still priceless. Brass Badge showed them around and explained a little about what they were looking at. “This one looks funny,” Morning said as she examined a colorful zebra mask. It was painted wood with a burned-in design, and it looked a little out of place in the house, which otherwise only showed pony history. Like much of the Canterlot elite, Sunset’s family had a long history of racism. “That was a gift.” Brass Badge frowned. He didn’t like to talk about the mask, and even Sunset didn’t know anything about it. “A gift?” Morning asked. Brass Badge frowned at the mask, as if it had somehow offended him. “Yes. To my brother.” Sunset blinked. “Your brother? I didn’t even know you had a brother.” Brass Badge nodded. “Bronze Star was my older brother, and at the time, my commanding officer.” “Did… something happen to him?” Twilight asked. “He died. This was a long time before Sunset was born. I was just a kid, seventeen years old.” “Wait, hold on.” Sunset shook her head. “How am I just now learning that I had an uncle?” Father and daughter locked eyes, and for a moment, Sunset could see it. The unbreakable wall that was her father when she was younger. The impenetrable fortress of a stallion that would allow for no argument, that would never bow, would never show any sign that he was in any way equine. But Sunset was no longer a filly. For better or worse, she had learned his lessons, and she stared back at him, a silent challenge passing between the two. And then the wall cracked. For the first time in her life, the impenetrable fortress let down its gates in the form of a sigh as Brass Badge declined to meet his daughter’s eyes. “There never was much to say. He died, and I was only a kid, and nothing was ever the same again.” “It sounds like he meant a lot to you,” Fluttershy said. “Hmm? Oh, I barely knew him.” Brass Badge looked at the mask. “He was called by Equestria to aid our allies in the zebra lands. I was meant to go with him, but he said I was too young. Then he died, and the zebras sent him home with this mask. It’s meant to be an honor in their culture.” “A big honor, if I’m not mistaken,” Twilight explained. “If that mask means what I think it does, then whatever he did for them, they accepted him as one of their own.” Brass Badge nodded. “He really was something. He had a gift for words, like Sunset and like her mother do, and like I do not. And he was a good soldier. I’m not surprised he won them over.” Sunset stared at the mask, almost wishing she had met this uncle of hers. She had some family on her mother’s side, but on her father’s side there was just him. Brass Badge turned unexpectedly towards Morning. “Do you like it?” “Oh, uhm, it’s neat,” Morning said with a look towards Twilight, who nodded encouragingly. “Is it like a real mask that you can wear?” “I’m sure it’s too special to wear,” Fluttershy said. Surprisingly, Brass Badge seemed to disagree. “If you’re careful with it.” He took the mask in his magic and levitated it off the wall, then he placed it on Morning’s face. Almost as surprising as that, he smiled afterwards. “You look very wild.” The mask didn’t fit her any more than the smile fit the older stallion. Brass Badge had to keep the mask in place with his magic, but Morning laughed and looked around. “It’s hard to see out of this thing!” “Well, you are a little small for it,” Twilight said. “If you like it, we can ask our friend Zecora if she might help you make one of your own. It wouldn’t be a real ceremonial one like this, but it would fit better.” Morning gingerly pulled the mask off. “Thank you for letting me try it on.” “You’re welcome.” Brass Badge put the mask back on the wall. “Bronze didn’t leave much left behind for the family collection, so this mask is his legacy now.” “And you’re suddenly okay with letting someone just wear it?” Sunset asked testily. “What the hell is going on here?” “I should think my granddaughter isn’t just ‘someone’.” Brass Badge locked eyes with Sunset again, once again the unbreakable wall. “I would have thought you’d agree with the sentiment.” “I’m just saying this isn’t like you.” Sunset narrowed her eyes. “Nothing about today has been like you. What game are you playing at?” “There’s no game, Sunset.” Brass Badge turned away. “I’m not your mother. I don’t play games.” “Bullshit.” “Sunset!” Fluttershy chided, but Sunset ignored her. “You’re up to something. You’ve been… for fuck’s sake, you’ve been nice! There’s no way divorce changed you this much! So what, are you trying to win over my daughter for some reason? Maybe you think you can use her to control me again.” Twilight walked past Morning to pull Sunset’s attention away from her father. “That’s enough, Sunset. What’s gotten into you?” “Coming here was a mistake.” Sunset turned away. “We’re leaving.” “Fine.” Brass Badge’s voice didn’t betray any of his emotion, as usual. Not for the first time, Sunset wondered if he felt anything at all. “Just remember what we talked about today.” “What, the whole ‘I am your father’ thing?” Sunset glared at him. “You’ve never been my father in any way that mattered, and now you want to play the grandfather card? The only thing you’ve got going for you is biology, and Morning’s blessed enough to not have even that connection with you.” “Sunset!” Twilight spat with a glare. Sunset knew she screwed up by bringing up the fact that Morning wasn’t biologically related to them, something they’d all been in agreement would never matter in any way. Still, she envied her daughter for having that separation from such a despicable stallion. “Come on, let’s go.” Sunset started walking, and with some reluctance, the others fell in step behind her. She heard Twilight apologizing profusely to Brass Badge, but she didn’t pay much attention to it. She just needed to get out of there as soon as possible. Thankfully they had never left the ground floor, so she reached the exit quickly. Only then did she stop to look at the others. Twilight never really understood Sunset’s struggles with her parents, but even Fluttershy looked uncertain. That was unfortunate, though not unexpected. But the worst of all was Morning. She had her ears folded and was staring at the floor with a defeated expression. Sunset had planned for what to do if her father was mean to her daughter, but she’d never stopped to consider what to do if he had been nice to her. It tore Sunset up to see her daughter like that, but she couldn’t back down now. She opened the door and stepped outside. “Sunset,” Brass Badge said. “Save it.” There was a hesitation, then Brass Badge sighed. “Fine. I’m sorry to have wasted your time.” Sunset rolled her eyes and walked out towards the street without answering. She did listen in to the others, though. “I’m so sorry,” Twilight said. “She’s usually not like this.” “She is with me.” As usual, Brass Badge didn’t show signs of how he felt about this. “Thank you for showing us your house,” Fluttershy said. “Yeah, it wasn’t boring adult stuff or anything!” Morning said, causing Fluttershy to laugh a little. “It was nice to meet you, Morning.” “Let’s go,” Sunset said over her shoulder. She knew she shouldn’t push them, but she didn’t like hearing him talk to Morning. “I’m… not sure if we’ll meet again.” Brass Badge almost sounded sad, which Sunset was pretty sure was an emotion he was incapable of feeling. “Enjoy the rest of your stay in Canterlot.” “Okay.” Morning looked between Sunset and Brass Badge, then ran off towards Sunset. Twilight and Fluttershy weren’t far behind. Sunset was the first in the carriage. Twilight helped Morning in, then Fluttershy was the last. Twilight and Morning sat on one side, Sunset and Fluttershy on the other. Once the door was shut, Twilight glared at Sunset. “That was uncalled for.” Sunset just looked out the window. “Sunset…” Fluttershy leaned against her. “Do you want to talk about what just happened?” Sunset sighed. “I know he’s up to something. He’s not like this normally.” “Maybe the divorce did change something with him,” Fluttershy said. “I think, well… I understand if you don’t want to let him in, but uhm, maybe he’s trying to be a better father?” “Too damn late.” “Language,” Twilight grumbled. “Not that you’ll listen to me…” Sunset winced. “Sorry. I’ll just… stop talking.” “I, uhm, I thought he was kind of nice…” Morning said. “Are we really never seeing him again?” True to her word, Sunset didn’t answer. Unfortunately, no one else seemed to have the answer to that either. Eventually Twilight said, “I don’t know. Forever’s a long time. He’s never been a pony we’ve seen a lot of, but we’ll probably see him sooner or later.” In a way, Sunset envied Fluttershy. Not what had happened to her, of course, but the ability to say she was done with her father and have that be the end of it. Sunset wondered what would happen if she tried to do the same thing. She didn’t expect Twilight would support that decision, in any event. The carriage rolled on, heading out of the ritzier side of Canterlot into somewhere they would all feel more comfortable, where they could find a restaurant and put the whole thing behind them. But Sunset’s thoughts didn’t go with them – they were back at the manor. “I am your father, and you are my daughter.” Yeah, right. He wasn’t a father, he never was. What did he think he was trying to pull now? Sunset was better without him. She cast her eyes to her daughter. He was something, at least. He was a good lesson in what not to do as a parent. “Look, Morning… I’m sorry. I wish you didn’t have to see me at my worst like that, but… Well, it doesn’t matter. I shouldn’t have acted the way I did.” Morning just nodded. Sunset forced a smile. “I guess both of us have a little to learn about controlling our temper sometimes.” Morning looked up at Twilight. “Is Sunset going to be grounded?” All three mares laughed. “Well, maybe.” Twilight grinned at Sunset. “She can try to make up for it by figuring out dinner plans for tonight though. That way the rest of us can all relax a little.” “I guess that’s fair.” Sunset looked out the window and watched as they approached downtown Canterlot, where some of the best restaurants would be. Still, her mind lingered on that one moment. “I am your father, and you are my daughter. That is all.”