Old Wounds Epilogue
To my immense relief, Golden stayed docile for the rest of the trip back to my tower. The spell I’d put on her probably would’ve kept her from trying anything, but not having it put to the test was a definite relief.
Once I’d gotten Golden secured, Strumming ran off to get the mercs I needed for guard duty while Puzzle took Chainbreaker back to the museum. I really needed to come up with some way to make swapping between it and the replica a bit less chaotic. I was halfway tempted to just keep it permanently and leave the fake there, but that ... wouldn’t be right. Chainbreaker might belong to me, but it also belonged to the rest of Freeport. Denying them such an important part of their history and cultural legacy just so I could have a new tool to use wasn’t right. Besides, for all I knew, Chainbreaker needed to be on public display to make itself more than a really sharp piece of metal.
Once I had all that settled, I pulled out the enchanted journal Celestia had sent my way a while back. A direct line of communication with her was exactly what I needed right now. I told her everything about what had happened with Solar and Golden, as well as a couple other things I’d had on my mind. I also did a quick check on where I’d learned the spell I used on Golden. The answer was ... a bit creepy. It had been one of Torch Charger’s old spells.
I needed something to distract me from all the messy potential implications of that, so I headed over to Solar’s cell to give him the news. “We’ve captured Golden.”
Solar scrambled up from his cot and came up to the barred doorway. I was still standing a few feet back from the door, partly because that was common sense prisoner management, and partly because I didn’t want to enter the wards I’d set up all around the cell. Defenses heavy enough to lock down an Archmagus weren’t exactly fun. There was an edge of desperation in Solar’s voice when he finally spoke. “Is she okay? She’s not hurt is she?”
“Yes, your daughter’s completely fine after facing a dangerous killer warlock, thanks for asking,” I grumbled just loud enough for him to hear. The flinch that got out of Solar made me feel just a bit of vindictive pleasure I probably shouldn’t have. I was supposed to be better than that. I answered the question he’d actually asked. “Physically, Golden doesnt have anything worse than minor cuts and bruises. Mentally? … I’m not an expert, but she clearly needs a lot of help.”
Solar’s ears had wilted down to the point of being flat against his skull. “What happened?”
I didn’t see any reason to mince words. “I tried to talk her down, but she had a psychotic break or something. There was a fight, but I subdued her.” I scowled and crossed my forelegs over my chest. “She belongs in a mental hospital.”
“I’ve spent over ten years of my life chasing her,” Solar pointed out. “I know she needs help, and I did whatever I could for her. It’s just ... there was only so much I could do for her without the Corps finding out.”
I scoffed. “And it never occurred to you that maybe they needed to know about this? Leaving aside all your duty to report this kind of thing as an archmagus, the sooner she was secured and getting treatment, the sooner she could start recovering. A decade on the run as a warlock can’t have done her mental health any favors.”
Solar sighed and shook his head. “I’m an archmagus, not a doctor. I was doing my best to try and get her somewhere she could get help. The Corps would have treated her like a criminal.”
“She is a criminal,” I pointed out. “I’ll let the courts and doctors figure out if the insanity defense applies, but she’s broken a lot of laws. I’m less than convinced your methods were sound. Right now, your idea of helping her looks a lot like obstruction of justice, if not aiding and abetting.”
Solar groaned and slumped down into the cot in his cell. “Sunset, can we not do this? Please?”
“Right. I’m not really interested in debating it.” Honestly there wasn’t much to debate, so it was more like me chewing him out over all the bad decisions he’d made. It was kind of hard to keep at that forever. I pulled up a chair, and sank down onto it with a tired sigh. “I’ve informed Celestia of the situation. There’s a team of magi on their way to Freeport to take you and Golden into custody and figure all this out.”
Solar hunched down, staring at the floor of his cell. “I suppose I should have known it was going to come to something like this sooner or later.”
I took a deep breath, then gave him the really bad news. “She said you’d be stripped of your Archmagus title, and probably be going to jail for a while.”
“Oh.” Solar shrank down even further into himself. “I didn’t mean for any of this to happen. I never meant to break the law or betray my oaths as a magus, I was just ... I was trying to do the right thing.”
“I know.” I sighed and shook my head. “But you still committed a boatload of crimes in the process of doing the right thing. Equestria tries to be forgiving about that kind of thing, but you went too far and kept it up for too long. There have to be consequences for that.”
Solar grimaced and nodded, very slowly and reluctantly. “Yes, I know that. Still ... what would you do for a friend, Sunset?”
“A lot.” I frowned and thought it over. “Maybe even as much as you did. But I’d try to be a lot smarter about it.”
“It’s a lot easier to be objective about it when it isn’t your friends in trouble and you have the benefit of hindsight.” Solar sat there in silence for a long, awkward moment. “I hope you never get into any kind of situation like this.”
“Me too.” I thought back to some of the messes I’d gotten pulled into over the years. “I’ve had some similar ones, but nothing that compares to what happened with Steel and Ginger.”
“At least that,” he looked off to the side, not quite able to meet my eyes. “I’m sorry you’ve had to deal with so much.” His eyes lingered on my prosthetic. I still hadn’t replaced the covering on it, so the metal beneath was clearly visible. “I ... I should know more about what happened. Been in your life more. Feels wrong that the first time I’ve seen you in years is when you’re arresting me for all the laws I broke. Especially the last time I was in Canterlot we just went out to lunch, and to be honest, my mind was on Golden the whole time, and I left the next day. I haven’t really been much of a father to you, have I?”
“Not for a long time,” I agreed. “You could’ve picked a better time to realize that than right before you go to jail and I won’t see you again for years.”
“There are a lot of things I should’ve realized sooner.” He slowly ran a hoof through his mane. “Is it too late to say I’m sorry?”
“It’s never too late to say it,” I answered. “As far as me accepting the apology...” I hesitated, not quite sure what answer to give him. He’d screwed up a lot worse than Scarlett had, but he also seemed at least a bit more willing to own up to it. “Look, once you’re out of jail ... well, you know where to find me.”
“Yeah, I suppose I do.” He grimaced down at the floor. “I’m probably going to need to restart my life once all this is over. I’ll be out of a job, and a dishonorable discharge from the Corps means I’ll lose my pension and benefits. Not to mention the black mark on my résumé will make getting any remotely respectable job a lot harder. The few friends I have left in the Corps probably won’t be friends anymore once all this comes out.” He went silent for a moment in thought. “If I’m making a fresh start anyway, maybe Freeport wouldn’t be the worst place to do that.”
Huh. That wasn’t something I’d expected to hear from him. The idea of having my absentee father around in Freeport was something I’d never really considered before. I mean, I had a lot of very justified anger and resentment towards him, but it seemed like he was at least trying to make amends. I suppose it probably helped his case that I didn’t really have an alternate father figure, compared to how Celestia had pretty much taken over as my mother when Scarlett dropped the ball.
So the idea of having him in Freeport was... “Yeah, maybe you could move here.”
Solar let out a breath. “Maybe. I’ll write to you while ... while everything gets sorted out back in Equestria. Once I’m free again, we can see what options we have. I suppose it’ll depend on how Golden’s doing, too. If they need me around to help with her recovery.”
“Right.” I suppose I should’ve been more annoyed he valued Golden’s mental health over spending time with me, but I really couldn’t bring myself to care. Golden needed all the help she could get, and I’d gotten through life with absentee father just fine for years. Still, he had a lot of other responsibilities. “And ... I dunno, maybe see if you can sort things out with Scarlett while you’re there.”
He grimaced and very reluctantly nodded. “We’ll see. I’m not going to promise we’ll reconcile. In fact, if I was a betting stallion, I’d put bits against it. She seemed quite sure about being done with me once she found out about Golden, considering that was what finally made her file for divorce. She said she would give me a bit of time to confess before turning me in, but then everything went mad in Northmarch. I can’t imagine she’ll be happy with me dragging you into this either. Still ... I’ll try talking to her.”
“All you can do.” I wasn’t exactly optimistic about his chances either. Abandoning his wife for over a decade to chase after another mare was pretty marriage-destroying. Not to mention him going to jail and being a pariah in Canterlot society, especially amongst the magi. Scarlett wasn’t as much of a heartless ladder-climber as Golden claimed, but ... yeah, if the marriage would make her look bad, she’d be even less inclined to call off the divorce.
Solar probably knew that better than I did. He let out a harsh, humorless chuckle. “At least I’m going to spend the next couple years in Canterlot, even if it’ll be inside a jail. If she wants to see me, we’ll both have plenty of time.”
“And Golden will finally get help,” I pointed out. “It’s ... I’d like that part of this huge mess to at least have a happy ending.”
Solar nodded. “It would be nice to get her back eventually.” He sighed and ran a hoof through his mane. “I won’t say having her recover will justify all my horrible decisions, but it would at least let me feel like the last decade plus of my life wasn’t a complete waste.”
“I just want her to get better out of basic equine decency.” I grimaced and shook my head. “It’s ... I’ve never felt more pity for somepony I was in the middle of a life-or-death fight with. It seemed like there was a good mare in her head, trapped underneath all the damage.”
“One of the best I’ve ever known,” Solar agreed. “With any luck, we’ll get to see her again. I owe it to her after how badly I let her down. But then ... I suppose while I was busy trying to make things right with her, I let down a lot of other ponies.” He sank down onto the cot again. “I suppose we’ll see what happens after the Magus Corps shows up to take custody.”
“Yeah, we will.”
I started to get up and head for the door, but Solar called out after me. “Sunset! I'm ... sorry. Again.”
“I know.” I sighed and shook my head. “Maybe someday I can forgive you for ... all of this. It wasn’t malicious, just a case of really poor judgement while trying to do the right thing. Just don’t forget I’m not the only one you need to apologize to.”
Solar slumped back down on his cot. “No, but you were one of the most important ones. I never should have let you down, or asked you to clean up my mess.”
He wasn’t wrong, but there wasn’t a point in rubbing it in any further than I had already. Instead I just walked away, leaving him to think about everything a bit more.
I had a lot to do before Strumming and Puzzle got back from their errands. First and foremost, getting a fresh cover for my prosthetic. It was probably only a matter of time before the truth about that came out, but that was no reason to give it away when I didn’t have to. After all, I was going to have some mercs running around the tower guarding my prisoners, and no matter how good and reliable they were, trusting secrets to a mercenary was just asking for trouble.
Strumming returned about half an hour later. I was a bit surprised to see she hadn’t gone to the Doos like we normally did for merc backup, though perhaps that shouldn’t have been such a surprise. The Doos had a good working relationship with me, but they probably weren’t the best pick for containing a pair of magi. Not to mention their main base and most of their numbers were out in the islands. They only had a business office in Freeport proper.
Strumming grinned at me. “Good news Bacon, got the guards. I worked out the fees, and they’re working out the guarding so that you can sleep at night in your own tower without worrying about a prison break or a crazy pony stalking around your tower.”
“Good work.” I turned to who I assumed was the leader of the squad, since he had the biggest hat with the most fancy feathers in it. “Anything you need to know, or did Strumming cover it all?”
Either I’d guessed right about who the leader was, or they were flexible enough to roll with it. Fancy Hat stepped forward. “She covered everything. I presume you can modify your wards so there won’t be any issues with shift changes and breaks? Asking you or someone else to let us through every time would be a lot of extra trouble for all involved.”
“I can make temporary wardstones for you.” Naturally they’d burn out as soon as the job was done. Even if I could trust these mercs, the more keys to my wards were floating around out there, the less secure my tower was. “Just keep me apprised of anything I need to know about the prisoner or your movements.”
Fancy Hat nodded. “That shouldn't be a problem. Miss Heartstrings already mentioned that you’d want to be kept in the loop while negotiating the contract with Colonel Regal, and General Peacock told us to offer you any and all reasonable accomodations.”
Strumming grinned and wrapped her wings around two of the guards. “They got this. They’re all nice and professional-like, but without that stuffy stoicism you get with a lot of soldiers. And giant fancy hats. Everyone knows giant fancy hats make everything better. Never trust a merc who doesn’t have a giant fancy hat. Well, I mean, you should probably be careful about trusting mercenaries regardless, but double don’t trust them if they’re devoid of hats.”
I ignored Strumming’s usual habit of going off on weird tangents to focus on what was in front of me. “General Peacock ... you’re from the Free Companions, right?” Fancy Hat nodded. “Huh. I would’ve thought guard duty was a bit mundane for a company with a reputation for being a bigger, more organized adventuring party.”
“Not every job can be a thrilling tale of death-defying adventure. And in any case, an archmagus gone bad and an infamous warlock aren’t exactly normal prisoners,” Fancy Hat pointed out. He leaned in a bit closer to whisper. “And even if this job is a touch more mundane than the sort of thrilling adventure we usually get dragged into ... well, after what the last wielder of Chainbreaker led us to, why not build up a good relationship with the next one?”
Oh. I suppose I should’ve known some folks would start taking an interest in me for that reason. I’d already gotten swarmed by tons of people trying to get a piece of my share of the dragon treasure I’d gotten from beating Blackfyre. Most of them backed off once it was clear I wasn’t going to fall for any scams or invest in any crazy pie-in-the-sky ideas. The political legacy of me having Chainbreaker hadn’t been as much of a factor yet, but that was probably just because political influence was a harder commodity to measure than money. Or maybe the political crazies got filtered out before I even found out about them.
Well, whatever agenda the Free Companions had, I would probably figure it out sooner or later. For now, I had some very good guards on a very dangerous prisoner. “Just be careful. You’re going to be guarding an archmage, and a warlock who's probably about on the same level. It won’t take much of an opening for them to try something. The warlock’s very unstable. She’s docile for now, but I’d rather not have her get set off again.”
“Whenever we do guard duty, we generally avoid any form of contact with the prisoners as much as possible,” Fancy Hat assured me. “It just makes complications. Mind if we have a look around for potential security risks before we get started?”
“That’s fine, as long as you don’t go more than one floor above and below the prisoners.” I kept all my private labs well away from the holding cells, naturally. “Feel free to use the kitchen and any other common areas, as long as you follow all the common sense rules.”
“Don’t make a mess, clean up after ourselves if we do make a mess, and only eat our own food instead of yours,” Fancy Hat filled in.
Strumming shot him a deadly serious glare. “I know exactly how many bags of crisps I have left in the pantry. If the numbers don’t match up once your contract is done, we’ll be having words about that.”
“I’ll bear that in mind,” Fancy Hat answered with a remarkably straight face. “If there’s nothing else, we’ll get started on that security assessment.” I didn’t have anything else that couldn’t wait until after they finished, so I waved them on. I could go through introductions once they made sure I wouldn’t have an insane ferromancer breaking out halfway through the small talk.
Once the mercenaries had headed out of earshot, Strumming turned her attention to me. “So I’m doing pretty good right now. Of course, I’m not the one who just arrested their own dad and godmother. If I was, I might not be doing all that hot.” She let that hang in the air for a second. “That’s my weird, long-winded way of asking how you’re holding up.”
“Been better.” I flopped down onto one of the couches in my foyer with a tired groan. “Celestia and the Corps know about Solar. There’s still the whole trial to deal with, or more likely whatever plea bargain his lawyer manages to work out, but it looks like he’s going to be going to jail for a while. Because of what I discovered and reported.”
Strumming flopped down onto the sofa across from me. “Yeah, even if you two had been on the outs, that’s gotta sting. I mean, seems like your big issue with him is that he wasn’t around more than that he was a bad parent. Like ... if he’d been around instead of chasing after Golden ever since you were nine, you two’d have a reasonably healthy relationship. Probably. Or at least, that’s how you feel about it.” She shifted around into one the bizarrely contorted positions she seemed to find comfortable. Just when she’d finally settled herself, someone knocked at the front door. Strumming let out an especially loud and exasperated groan. “Don’t you just hate it when that happens right after you just got comfortable?”
“Yes. Immensely.” Especially when I really wasn’t in the mood to deal with visitors or anything else right now. Once the Free Company had everything settled, I was probably going to sequester myself in my private quarters and just not deal with the outside world for a couple days. Nonstop training, work, and lessons with Kukri were exactly what I needed to vent.
“Isn’t this the sort of thing Facon’s supposed to take care of?” Strumming whined. “You know, do all the scampering around for the adults so we can be lazy?”
“I sent her home.” Leaving her alone in my tower with Solar had just too many ways it could go wrong. There was no way Kukri would be able to resist the urge to start asking my father all kinds of questions, and that could’ve easily lead to something like him talking her into letting him go so he could help me with Golden. Not to mention that at the time I still hadn’t been sure that Solar wasn’t a bad guy.
Strumming groaned and feebly twitched from her awkward perch on the couch. “Can’t you just magic the door open like the big impressive magus you are? What’s the point of being able to kill dragons and beat an archmagus in a fight if you can’t even magic open a door?”
I rolled my eyes and opened the door with some basic telekinesis. Having Kukri answer the door was mostly just a matter of having a personal touch, plus she could do some basic gatekeeping. If my front door magically opened itself for anyone who knocked, my tower would be flooded with all sorts of weirdos.
Fortunately, this time it was Puzzle instead of some random lunatic. He trotted over to us, carrying a couple takeout boxes. “This one hopes it didn’t come at a bad time.”
Strumming stared up at him from her weird upside down position. “If you came with more work for us, then it’s a bad time. Otherwise have a seat. If that food is for us, we might upgrade you to having good timing depending on what it is. If it’s gaghracht, I’m gonna spank you. Now if it’s one of my very favorite variants on crisps...”
Puzzle chuckled and passed the takeout boxes to each of us. “After the day you’ve had, this one thought you’d both appreciate getting something tasty to eat. Even if it needed quite a bit of time and a couple extra ducats to convince the chef to make the Hearstrings-mare’s dish.”
I opened up my box, and grinned. Puzzle knew me well indeed. One of my favorite creamy pasta dishes from back when I’d been in Equestria, but with a bit of a Freeport twist. Some mild green peppers that added a bit of spice and a lot of flavor, a bit of seaweed, and some shrimp and scallops because they were pretty much the only seafood I consistently liked.
It was a good thing Puzzle got me something so tasty, because otherwise seeing what Strumming got would’ve killed my appetite. The nacho chips weren’t a surprise, given this was Strumming. The fact that the nachos were covered in melted chocolate and toasted marshmallows with chopped up haybacon on top...
I was sorely tempted to see if we could get Strumming put in the asylum while we were getting Golden committed.
Strumming grinned and rubbed her hooves as she gazed upon her culinary abomination. “Yeah, bug boy comes through again. You really know how to help a girl to be lazy.” She must’ve seen how I was looking at her alleged food, because she stuck her nose up in the air like a true Canterlot snob. “Bah, don’t knock it ‘til you try it. Not saying I’d want this stuff every day, but it’s a real treat after a doozy of a day like today.”
Puzzle chuckled and took a seat next to her. “This one finds it far less trouble to accommodate the Heartstrings-mare’s whims than fight them.” He opened up his own box, staring down thoughtfully at his heavily spiced rice dish. “Though this one does think it owes the Shimmer-mare a bit of an apology.”
I took a moment to finish chewing and swallowing before I risked speaking. “What for?”
Puzzle sighed softly. “In light of recent events, this one realizes it’s been neglecting a friend more than it should have.”
I waved his apology off. “You’ve had a lot going on lately. We all have. It’s not like I expect you to be around every day.”
“This one has been rather busy lately,” Puzzle agreed. “Its reasons for not being there for the Shimmer-mare all sound perfectly good. But then, that’s how it starts, doesn’t it? This one left Canterlot well before you did, because it had urgent business in Freeport and it told itself you were okay with the White Pony and the Heartstrings-mare. Even when you got back to Freeport, this one hasn’t been spending much time with you.” He grimaced and shook his head. “You might be handling the loss of your leg better than Golden did the loss of her eye, but this one knows you well enough to realize you’d also hide your pain from us as much as possible. You’ve lost a great deal, and just because you seem fine on the surface does not mean all is well.”
He wasn’t wrong, but I didn’t want to admit that. Which I suppose just went to show he was even more right. I was hurting, but I would never admit it to him, Strumming, or especially Kukri. I just ... had to keep moving. “It’s been a lot, yeah. But I managed. Thanks for caring, though.” I took another bite of food so I wouldn’t have to say anything else.
We all ate in silence, until I finally spoke up to change the subject. “Long as we’re on the topic of the future, remember that Archmagus plan we discussed? Well I pitched it to Celestia while I was updating her on everything else, and she’ll endorse it. Officially the Magus Corps gets the final say on whether they recognize me promoting myself to Archmagus of Freeport, but if Celestia’s openly in favor of it they’ll have a hard time saying no.”
“Especially since all your accomplishments make you pretty objectively qualified,” Strumming agreed in between bites of her crime against cuisine. “Even if taking down Blackfyre wasn’t a solo job, you did a lot of heavy lifting on it. Not to mention this.”
I wasn’t going to disagree with that. “So as long as the Council signs off on my promotion as well, everything should be fine. I don’t think they'd want to risk not going along with it. Costs them nothing, makes me happy, and since I’m doing it anyway, they don’t want to risk getting left out of the loop.”
“This one thinks you’re right.” Puzzle paused, then amended. “At least as long as they don’t want to be stubborn about it or it gets mixed up in petty politics...” He snorted and shook his head. “Well, we’ll cross that bridge if it comes to it.”
“Yeah, one problem at a time.” I stretched out on the couch, teleporting a bit more food into my mouth to save the trouble of just eating it normally. I was an archmagus now, I was allowed to waste magic just to show off. “Just glad I got this problem sorted out.”
“Seems like you’re holding up well enough,” Strumming agreed. “Unless you’re hiding all that pain and planning to handle it by doing something really stupid.”
I shook my head. “Today’s been a rough day, but I’ve made it through worse.” I glanced down at my prosthetic, checking its range of motion to make sure it hadn’t been damaged in the fight with Golden. She had tried to mess with it, after all.
Next thing I knew, I felt Puzzle and Strumming settling onto the couch, one on each side of me. “Yeah, you’ve been through some tough times, and probably more to come. Good thing you’ve got us to help you through it, isn’t it?”
I looked up at my friends, smiled, and wrapped one foreleg around each of them. “Yeah, I guess I’m just lucky that way.”
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Not bad I guess, yet I find the whole thing a bit... anticlimatic. Kinda had prefered Solar making a final revelation or escaping like his daughter once did from Strumming.
As for "Steel Rose", too much build up regarding how dangerous, resourceful and clever she was to reveal herself as a pathetic nutcase for Team Sunset to mop the floor with. Starlight did better than her with less experience.
SHe thought she had it rough. Now she a Arcmagus it;s going t be even rougher. She has a legendary reputation now.
9810390
Sunset also wasn't Glimmer's godchild, either.
An already conflicted mind trying to deal with that does not a strong duelist make. For that matter, it probably didn't help her previous pursuer, either. And she was, even with horrible decisions, more trying to research her way to a new eye than focusing on combat magic.
I wonder can Sunset get a pair of prosthetic wings and pretend she became an alicorn.
Oooo, the diary. Nice to see that show up.
Hey, he is still a talented magus, maybe they can do a highly supervised work release program.
It's an interesting idea at least. Plus it would keep him supervised post-release.
That would be a nice conclusion.
Giant fancy hats, check.
I'm happy to see the Free Companions show up a bit more. They could be very useful allies for Sunset to cultivate.
Makes sense.
Considering that the topic was touched upon in Tears in the Rain, INB4 Skyra and Puzzle talked about kids and decided to go for it. But then again, she's wierd even without being pregnant.
Nice.
Oooo, the diary. Nice to see that show up.
Hey, he is still a talented magus, maybe they can do a highly supervised work release program.
It's an interesting idea at least. Plus it would keep him supervised post-release.
That would be a nice conclusion.
Giant fancy hats, check.
I'm happy to see the Free Companions make another appearance. They could be very useful allies for Sunset to cultivate.
Makes sense.
Considering that the topic was touched upon in Tears in the Rain, INB4 Skyra and Puzzle talked about kids and decided to go for it. But then again, she's wierd even without being pregnant.
It's also a bit of a status upgrade for Freeport. You are a more serious country if you have a mage corps policing the local magic use, and an archmage with plans to start her own school is a good start for that.
Okay, no, that crosses a line. Completely unacceptable.
Can't wait to see what comes next for Sunset.
And so another story ends. It puts another one of Sunset's "Family Issues" to rest.
So now she is going to be Archmagus. I doubt the council will like that too terribly much. They have to feel pretty threatened by now, with Chainbreaker and everything. The more people learn about Sunset's connection to it, the more people will be behind her. She's taken down Blackfyre, now a rogue warlock that's been on the run for a decade. She has the backing of Celestia and soon the Magus Corp. Her rep just continues to increase.
This is probably just a case of Strumming being Strumming, but given what's come up in Tears in the Rain, part of me wonders if there's another reason she's having weird cravings....
Another fine story! Felt a lot like the "Spiderman Far From Home" to Northern Venture's "Endgame." Northern Venture was the better finale, but this one did a lot to tie up the remaining plot threads while leaving room for the next series.
"Shimmer-mare, you wound this one."
"You're not a father figure, Puzzle. You're an obnoxious uncle figure at best."
One day I hope Strumming meets some Jaegermonsters.
Hmm. As has been noted, it's hard to tell if the nacho s'mores are Strumming's usual taste or a hint of a grub on the way... though Puzzle himself has said he'd probably be the one to carry it to term if it came to that. Still, wouldn't be the first time he misread Strumming...
In any case, a... relatively happy ending. Sunset learned from the mistakes of her father or godmother and doesn't plan on repeating either. And she's well on her way to archonhood, not that she knows about it yet. Thank you for another great story.
With the way Solar was talking, I was almost sure that was a death flag/tempting fate, that "Steel Rose" would break free and then he'd die stopping her. Its not a perfect ending of course but considering the circumstances, as happy as possible considering. Solar is still a bit in denial but at least its finally over, for both him and Golden.
And I find the idea of Solar in Freeport interesting, that would make for an... awkward addition to Sunset's family in Freeport (since Puzzle and Strumming basically count as family by now, and Kukri). I wonder if he could teach at Sunset's school. He's skilled enough but not sure I'd trust his judgment again. No idea how long he'd be in jail for, depending on his lawyer though (maybe out in time to see Sunset become Archon?). Well, if Sunset has foals maybe he'll be a better grandparent.
And so there are the Free Companions again. Yeah, I bet Sunset's going to find herself with a lot of new "friends" as her reputation improves. Too bad not much focus on Torch Charger's spell, but that'll probably be left up to future stories. Extra power is one thing, having their memories mix in with hers does sound... troubling. Thanks for another great Freeport story. Hopefully that's the last of Sunset's family issues.
And the end of another great story. I wonder what Sunset and gang will get up to next?
Strumming knows her Jaegers
Are we sure Puzzle hasn't knocked her up? Or alternatively that she's the Lunaverse version of Trixie in disguise?
This may be labeled "epilogue" but it really felt like the climax. Easily my favorite part of the story.
Well, that was short.
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This!! I had the Sam though about her cravings.
Something tells me at some point in the decently far future Sunset's godmother might become a stepmother. Not to far fetched that they would spark something.
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It was established warlock underground was an extremely darwinian one. To endure that lifestyle and build a feared reputation like "Steel" did requires talent, ruthlessness, brains, survival instinct... and being a baddass bitch in general.
Someone like that shouldn't melt as quickly as Golden did, not even for a family reunion.
Puzzle just a big softie, isn't he? Besides Sunset, he's definitely my favorite character.
It's good to see the Free Companions again.
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As someone who is normally very controlled and was raised that way. I think you'll be surprised as an adult how certain people you haven't seen in a while can illicit an emotional response your not prepared for. Especially her who is normally around people she doesn't care about or doesn't know all the time.
Looks like I was wrong about Solar breaking out to take part in the docks fight. Curious incongruity in the cover art, then. Maybe it's a detail that changed from conception to the final draft?
Anyway, liked this one a lot. Felt a lot like the earlier Freeport Venture stories, just focusing on Sunset facing down a single episodic villain that was easily within her weight class, while dealing with some personal issues along the way. Though, I feel like the writing's a lot tighter here than it was in those earlier stories. You can really see the improvement as the series has progressed.
Plus, I really like how thematically cohesive it is. Old Wounds really is the perfect title for this story, because its three principal characters are all, in some way, wounded, whether physically or emotionally, and the story is all about how they deal with that. So it's a title that fits perfectly, and works on multiple levels, on top of just plain sounding cool. I had a lot of fun reading this. Thank you for writing it.
So next is... another Rising Fire story? Looking forward to that one, and to the conclusions of Tears.
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Sometimes for cover art we go more for capturing the theme/feel of the story than a perfect recreation of a scene that takes place in the story.
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i.imgflip.com/1x2ke8.jpg
Strumming would get along just fine with the Jaeggermonsters.
Ah, Strumming does care
That ... went much better than I feared it would (Sunset even had the forethought to keep Kukri away from her father
)
This isn’t as ridiculous a meal as you might think. Dessert pizza’s exist with chocolate and marshmallows on a pizza base. You can swap out the pizza base for plain corn chips. Chocolate bars with corn chips in them exist.
https://www.cadbury.com.au/Products/Cadbury-Dairy-Milk-Blocks/Cadbury-Dairy-Milk-with-CCs.aspx
And we know bacon works with sweet food like maple syrup and pancakes so a meal like this may actually taste nice, especially for someone with a sweet tooth like Strumming.
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What is a Jaeggermonster if I may inquire?
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If they are talking about what I think they are, Jaeggermonsters are characters from a web comic series called Girl Genius. They really like fancy hats.
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cool thanks
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No prob
They're all such sweet friends!!
They all have their own issues, including one they all share regarding getting close to others and being open and trusting, but by golly they are growing and healing together! It's a beautiful sight and great character development!
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Not to mention being a major contributor to Blackfyre's defeat is a HUGE accomplishment in and of itself...
Another nice addition to the verse. It look like you are weeding out old plot threads that were planted in earlier stories to make place for future events.
But if I could make a suggestion, it might be time to add more people to Sunset inner-circle. She is getting more and more busy with everything going on so it look like she need a secretary of her own, especially with the school project advancing. And maybe a lab assistant. She got Kukri as an apprentice and Hearthstring as and assistant in the field but having a research assistant in the lab would allow for more progress. It would also add some more recurring people in your stories for little roles.
Wow, I knew Sunset was intelligent, but this is a whole new level. It's practically genre-breaking.
Eyupp. She's a bright one. Must be all those books she reads.