The Sons of Barricade. Part 1. Cooper

by Askre

Epilogue. Digesting the changes.

Epilogue

Junebug and Cooper finally arrived home as the sun was setting. After the game, Pinkie Pie had invited the whole team for a party at Sugar Cube Corner to celebrate their victory. It gave Cooper a better chance to talk with his father and get to know his sisters a little better, though he practically knew two of them somewhat already from school.

Barricade oldest daughter Cara and her grandparents, Mirage Rock and Hard Shovel had then arrived. The older ponies revealed they had also known about Cooper and who he was the whole time. Hard Shovel had then taken Junebug to the side and told her that he had tasked Private with keeping an eye on her and her son, to make sure Barricade was in fact leaving them alone.

Cooper had been taken a little aback by his older sister, she was brazen, cocky and snarked like nobody’s business. She seemed happy enough with her brother, congratulating him on the team’s win. Junebug remarked that the teen filly reminded her a little of Barricade. Dinky and Coal had helpfully pointed out that it was no wonder, considering who she lived with.

“Well what a week this has been,” Junebug remarked as she entered the living room with Cooper. “To think just last week, it was only us two, now you have your father, sisters, an uncle and grandparents.”

“Yeah,” Cooper agreed, feeling a bit beat, not just after the game but meeting all these new ponies now in his life. He crawled to a couch and lay down on it.

“So what do you think about all of this?” his mother asked, she was rummaging through drawers, pulling out some paper.

“I guess it was fun to meet them,” Cooper looked up with a thoughtful expression.

“Looking forward to more?” Junebug asked, she was now holding a pencil along with the paper. She sat down in a chair as her son nodded his head.

“What are you doing?” he asked when his mother started writing on the paper. Junebug dropped the pencil from her mouth.

“Writing a letter to Tulip, explaining the whole address situation with the foal support payments,” Junebug smiled and rolled her eyes. “I bet she’ll rush over here, loaded with ice cream and chocolates as a peace offering, thinking it was all her fault.”

Cooper giggled as did his mother, her old friend back in Baltimare was a notorious worrywart and often ready to take all blame on herself. Junebug picked up the pencil again and resumed her writing. The colt laid his head down again, too tired to really think about doing much else. He chuckled quietly to himself when remembering what Tootsie had told him.

“Mom, did you know Tootsie had a crush on me?” he asked.

“No, I did not. I hope she didn’t take it too bad that you and Noi have been seeing each other for the past few weeks,” Junebug said, the dating was pretty innocent, they were still just foals after all, whether it developed into something more as they got older, only time could tell. But she was keeping a close eye on things.

“She was a little surprised, but I think she was also relieved. I think she just wants to be my sister; she likes watching soccer so at least I have a sister who shares my interest,” Cooper told her, his mother nodded.

“What did you think of your grandparents?” Junebug wondered, she had been amazed that Mirage and Hard were Barricade’s parents. The old ponies could talk for hours about anything, though especially their sons, sharing some rather embarrassing stories about the twins. Private and Barricade had been less than amused but kept quiet, knowing there was no stopping them.

“Oh, they were fun,” Cooper rose up a little and smiled, it faltered a little though as he remembered that he really never had grandparents. “Guess I’ll never meet your mom and dad.”

“Not if I can help it,” Junebug snorted and scowled. “Sorry, I just… I was scared of Barricade and resented what he did, but he’s apologized, went out of his way to not interfere with me, knowing I was scared of him.”

“But my parents? I’m not even going to call them your grandparents. They are not, Mirage and Hard Shovel are. My so-called parents kicked me out of a house and home and disowned me. If they can’t accept I had a child while not married, then we want nothing to do with them,” Junebug said firmly, Cooper couldn’t disagree.

Junebug turned back to the writing, she never told Cooper that her parents had tried to reach her again, when he was still an infant. However, they had called her son a bastard and told her that they would take her back if she gave him up for an adoption.

For all his faults, Barricade at least accepted responsibility when he learned he had foals, Junebug thought bitterly.

“Mom?” Cooper addressed her; the colt was rising up in the couch.

“Yes, sweetie?” She glanced towards him.

“Is it okay I make myself a daisy sandwich for dinner?” he asked as he dropped down from the couch.

“Oh, sure,” Junebug nodded, Cooper knew his way around the kitchen and could fix himself some food on his own. Then she considered for a moment. “Can you make one for me too?”

“Yeah, okay,” Cooper nodded and headed out of the living room.

Tulip would call this child labor, Junebug chuckled and continued writing.

When she was done with the letter, she put it to the side for now, intending to find an envelope later and mail it tomorrow. She had stamps so she didn’t need to wait for the post office to open on Monday and could just drop it in a mailbox.

Junebug rose from her chair and trotted out of the living room to join her son in the kitchen.

---

Vanhoover.

A tired dark orange unicorn mare walked down the steps of the apartment complex to go to the front area where the mailboxes were. Her lighter orange mane was tied up in a knot and so was her tail. Holding a key in her yellow magic, the unicorn opened the mailbox with her name on it, revealing a single letter.

The mare just grabbed the letter and closed the box, heading straight back up to her apartment. When she entered, she finally glanced at the letter. It had just her name on it, written in horn script.

Slowly she opened the letter while closing the door, but before she read it, the mare glanced down at the floor of the living room. A six-year-old unicorn colt was sitting there, playing with his toys. Bluish green, except his muzzle that was brownish and blue gray mane. His indigo eyes shone with delight as he had his toy figures battle it out.

The mare smiled tiredly before finally looking fully at the letter. The smile vanished and her brow sunk into a heavy frown.

Hey Sunny.

I know you of all do not want to hear from me, like at all. I know just hearing my name might send you into a fit.

I treated you worst of them all. I am so sorry. You saw me at my worst, you got to experience my rage and anger. I know you still glance at other stallions worried, worried that they might do to you what I did.

I know no amount of apologizing will make up for what I did to you. I do not even want to repeat what I did in this letter. Sunny, I’m really sorry and I will always stay away from you. Your boy does not need to meet the pony who sent his mother to a hospital, just because he could no longer control his drunken rage.

I swear this letter is the only time I even remotely contact you in any form. You will never hear from me again. I just wanted you to know that I am really and truly sorry, I do not beg for forgiveness, I fully understand if you burn this letter before even finishing it.

Take care.

B.

Sunny Daze stared with emotionless eyes at the letter. Then without a word, used her magic to burn it to crisp, barely even ashes were left of it. For a moment she closed her eyes, a tear crawled down her cheek and the mare felt for her side, a scar was hidden under her coat.

The mare reached up to dry the tear away. She opened her eyes and resumed her smile and trotted past the colt, looking down to him.

“Who wants cookies?” she asked cheerfully.

“Me, I want cookies.” The boy threw his toys away and jumped up to his little legs and scurried after her.

“Oh really?” Sunny chuckled as she made her way to the kitchen corner of the apartment. “Chocolate milk too?”

“Yes, please,” the colt beamed and started to run in circles in excitement.

Sunny Daze smiled warmly as she got some cookies out of the jar and rescued a bottle of chocolate milk from the fridge. She put all of it on the kitchen table, got a glass to pour the milk into and served it to her eager child. Then she sat down and watched the colt happily munch on his treats. She smiled contently, already banishing the letter from her mind.

The end

Author's Note:

And so part 1 of this two part tale ends, I had fun writing this one, finally touching on Barricade's elder son.

Leave it with a little foreshadowing to part 2, when we divert the focus to the youngest, Chisel.