4 – Of Duty and Blame
Chapter Four
Of Duty and Blame
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There were things that duty called for. Time and again, duty had called Brass Badge to defend Equestria. But in his personal life as well. When he got married and it wasn’t what he expected, duty called him to stick with it and be the best husband he could be. When his wife had started a business, duty had called him to support her through it. And then when she came home with another stallion’s child inside of her, duty called him to take it as his own, for she was his wife and he had to stand by her even when she wronged him.
And now that the thing was born, duty called him to see it for himself. This was, as far as anyone should know, his child. These things were expected of him.
He had put it off for weeks, and if anyone other than the manor staff knew that then he would have already failed. And yet, that’s how long it took for Brass Badge to work up the nerve to see it for himself.
So he chided himself for allowing his feelings to get in the way of his duty as he walked to the room his wife and the baby were staying in. He prepared himself to hold back his anger, the same way he had to whenever he saw her during her pregnancy.
She didn’t stir at his entrance. Didn’t do anything to acknowledge his presence in any way. He found he preferred it that way.
Brass Badge walked up to her bed and stared down at her, and he did not feel angry. He did not feel much of anything, in fact. The mare in front of him bore so little resemblance to the headstrong mare he had married. She was so still that she might have been asleep if her eyes had been closed.
She was broken. That was the only thought Brass Badge had when he looked down on his wife. Perhaps he should be angry, perhaps he should pity her. Instead, he just saw her as she was, and felt nothing at all.
He turned to leave. There was nothing for him here after all. But at the sound of his hoofsteps, someone else finally acknowledged his presence. A little voice whining wordlessly, then the sound of a baby crying.
He stopped and looked in the direction of the cradle. He couldn’t see inside it, and now he found he didn’t want to. The sound of children crying had always been something he’d hated, and this was just a reminder that he was no longer safe from it.
“Your daughter is crying,” Brass Badge said to his wife. She did not show signs of moving.
In any normal circumstances, Brass Badge wouldn’t know how to handle a crying child, and these circumstances were so much worse than normal. But his wife wasn’t doing anything about the sound, and duty called him to fill in for her when she was unable to do what she needed to on her own.
He took the few steps to the cradle, putting a hoof on it to tilt it slightly towards himself so he could look in. As expected, a tiny filly lay inside, no longer sleeping.
She was so tiny. That’s what Brass Badge thought as he looked down at her. Just a little thing, her whole body was perhaps the size of his head. His mouth fell open slightly as he watched this little thing crying, left alone in the world by uncaring parents.
He reached his hoof in and gently touched her stomach. She put her little hooves on his and a miracle happened. Brass Badge smiled.
He encased her in his magic and lifted her to get a closer look. Sunset Shimmer. That’s what his wife had named her. It was fitting, her colors of amber, red, and yellow shining like a sunset.
Gently, he lowered her again, but not to her cradle. Instead, he lowered her into his own foreleg, doing his best to support her the way he’d seen other ponies carry their children. Sunset stopped crying in his foreleg.
He turned back to see his wife was staring at them blankly. She would be useless in this situation. Duty called that he fill in where she could not.
Without saying a word to her, he walked off, continuing to carry the small filly in one foreleg. Golden Lace did not say a word as he left the room.
He walked down the hall towards the master bedroom, surprising a member of the staff as he walked past. “Sir?” she asked. “Do you want me to take Miss Shimmer?”
He looked down at Sunset, seeing she had settled into his embrace. “No, she’s asleep now. I would like for you to have her cradle and other things brought to the master bedroom.”
She nodded. “Yes, sir. Will Miss Shimmer be staying there from now on?”
“Yes,” he said, turning away from her. “She’ll be staying with her father.”
As usual, Brass Badge regarded Sunset’s report card with interest. As usual, he found it held nothing but perfect marks. He passed it back to his daughter and nodded his approval. “As expected.”
He meant it too. His daughter had never given him anything other than the perfection he sought from her.
She took the report card back and put it away. “Thank you, sir.”
“Have you shown your mother?” Brass Badge asked as he returned to the plans he was working on. There was a wave of crime sweeping through Canterlot, and Brass Badge was doing his best to organize troops to assist the Royal Guard.
“She doesn’t care,” Sunset muttered.
Brass Badge looked up and raised an eyebrow. “What was that, Sunset?”
Sunset stood up straighter. “Nothing, sir.”
“Hmph.” He didn’t like to hear Sunset speak of her mother that way. But perhaps it couldn’t be helped – it was true that Golden Lace took very little interest in what her daughter did. “Things are expected of you, Sunset. Never forget that.”
Sunset bowed her head. “I… I’ll show her my report card.”
“You’re eight years old,” Brass Badge reminded her. “You shouldn’t need me to tell you to do these things.”
“I’m sorry, sir.”
“Later, however.” Brass Badge pulled out a pocket watch and checked the time. “It’s time for your private lessons. Run along now, don’t keep Rosey Dawn waiting.”
Sunset nodded. “Yes, sir.”
He waited until Sunset was gone, then he folded the manilla folder that contained the plans he was working on. He straightened his jacket and tucked away the pocket watch in his jacket pocket, then he walked out of the room.
He knew where his wife would be, so he made his way to the minibar they kept stocked. It was midday, but she was already drinking heavily. He chose to ignore that.
“Our daughter’s report card came in.” He took the bottle from the counter and poured himself a glass as he sat down. “Perfect marks.”
“Good for her,” Golden Lace said bitterly.
Brass Badge frowned at her tone. “She’s your daughter.”
Golden Lace shot him an icy glare. “I haven’t forgotten.”
Brass Badge downed the shot he’d poured for himself, then set the empty glass down on the table with a satisfying sound. “At least pretend better.”
“You’re one to talk.”
Brass Badge turned to his wife and frowned. “Everything I do is for that child.”
“Please, she hates you as much as she hates me.”
“Watch your mouth.” Brass Badge stood up. He wasn’t entirely sure what he hoped to get from talking with his wife, but he wasn’t getting it. “Sunset will be by later to show you her report card. I expect you to pretend to give a damn about her.”
He turned to leave, but was interrupted by the sound of a glass breaking. “At least I don’t bully her to get what I want from her! You can act all righteous, but how much would you care about her if she wasn’t perfect?”
“She’s perfect because I care about her enough to mold her into someone who excels at everything. I was the one who got her the best private tutor, I was the one who pushed her into CSGU, I’m the one who keeps her growing temper in check.”
“Hers, but not your own.”
Brass Badge wheeled around and glared at his wife. “Do you really think you are in any place to pass judgement on my actions?”
“I’m not saying I’m mother of the year, just that at least one of us isn’t delusional.”
Since she’d already broken her shot glass, Brass Badge grabbed the bottle of whiskey in his magic and slammed it onto the table, spraying his wife with alcohol. “Don’t forget everything you have is because of me! I will not be talked to this way in my own house!”
Golden Lace was too busy looking dumbstruck to respond to him, so he turned to leave the room. “Clean yourself up,” he said without looking back. “I don’t want Sunset to see you like this.”
Leaving his wife to get herself cleaned up, Brass Badge climbed the stairs to the room they used for Sunset’s private classroom. He listened in at the door for a moment, but he couldn’t make out what was going on, so he pushed it open.
“…when you account for the Star Dweller effect – oh, General!”
Brass Badge nodded towards Rosey Dawn. “I’m just here to check in on how things are going.”
He was sure she knew that. He made a point of regularly checking in on Sunset’s education with the private tutor that he’d hired for her. It wasn’t that he doubted her – she was well regarded as the best in her field – but he liked to be involved in his daughter’s education.
Rosey Dawn nodded. “We’re going over some advanced magical properties now, and how they intertwine.”
Truthfully, much of what Sunset was learning was on the edge of what Brass Badge understood. He was a military genius, but magic? It was obvious that Sunset would very soon outclass her father in both knowledge and application, if she didn’t already.
It made him proud to know his daughter excelled so much in her field, and hardened his resolve to push her to go as far as she could go, just like his own father had done for him. Sunset was going to go farther in life than anyone yet knew.
He looked at his daughter and she looked at him. There was a mutual understanding there. She wanted to be the best, just like he wanted for her. And he’d throw every single resource he had at her to make sure it happened. “I trust you’re giving Ms. Dawn your full attention?”
“Of course, sir.”
Brass Badge nodded, then examined Sunset’s notes. As expected, he didn’t fully understand it, at least not at a glance. But her page was filled with different notes, so he trusted that she was committed to learning what her teacher was telling her.
“Very well, I’ll leave you to it. And Sunset?”
“Yes, sir?”
Brass Badge pondered how to say what was on his mind. He wanted his daughter to understand that he was proud of her accomplishments, that he was eager to see where she would go. But he didn’t have the words for that, so he said the same thing he’d heard his father say to him countless times. “Much is expected of you.”
She nodded her head, the same way he would when he was younger. “I know, sir.”
He nodded back, content that she understood that everything he did, it was all for her benefit. Comforted by the knowledge, he left her to her lessons.
Brass Badge thought he knew what it sounded like to have his world fall apart. It sounded like his wife telling him she was pregnant. It sounded like a child he never wanted and couldn’t fathom growing to love crying for the first time. What he didn’t know was how innocuous it could sound, or that he might not realize what the sound was until much later. He did not, under any circumstances, believe it sounded like a knock on the door.
The knocking, he assumed, was just a pony knocking on the door. It was the logical assumption. And, strictly speaking, it wasn’t wrong. There was a pony at the door. An unexpected pony, to be sure, but a pony nonetheless.
“Princess Celestia?” Brass Badge frowned when he opened the door. It would be an honor to have the princess over as a guest, of course. He’d been her guest a number of times, both for his own achievements and because she was Sunset’s mentor, but she’d never been to his house before.
And yet, Brass Badge frowned. She was here unannounced, which given his line of work was certain to be for bad news. If there was any doubt, the two guards she brought with her pushed it from his mind. He stood aside and let her inside, and his mind raced at what might be happening that she’d need to come see him personally.
Meanwhile, she turned to her guards. “Wait for me here unless I call for you.”
The guards saluted and answered as one. “Yes, Princess.”
With that settled, Celestia stepped inside. Brass Badge closed the door behind her. “To what do I owe the honor of your presence?”
“We both know this is no social call,” Celestia said. Her voice held no warmth, which was unbecoming of the Princess of the Sun.
“I thought as much. If not the honor, then in what way can I be of service, Princess?”
“Tea would be a start.”
Tea? She personally came to his house to see him, and she had time to ask for tea? As strange as the request was, he didn’t question it. “Right away, Princess. Please, the sitting room is just through that door. I’ll see to the tea then join you shortly.”
“I would like to meet with Golden Lace as well,” Celestia said.
Ah, so it was about Sunset. Still, if there was a problem with her education then she ought to have scheduled this meeting.
But he would learn that in time. All he said was, “Yes, Princess.”
Leaving her to see herself to the sitting room, he walked over to the kitchen. Fortunately, he ran into a member of his house staff while he was there. She had no doubt come at the sound of the Solar Princess’s voice; she was new, and as such, prone to such slips of professionalism.
“Is everything well, General?”
“Everything’s fine. Brew a kettle of tea, and make sure it’s something nice. When it’s done, serve three in the sitting room.”
She respectfully bowed her head. “Yes, sir.”
He nodded, then left her to it. From there, he made his way upstairs to his wife’s office. He didn’t bother to knock before he opened the door, and she looked up at him in irritation.
“Princess Celestia is here,” he said, which wiped the irritated look off her face. “She requested to see both of us in the downstairs sitting room.”
Golden Lace stood up and stretched. “Did she say why?”
“No, she did not. I trust we’ll learn soon enough.”
Golden Lace nodded, then set aside her work and followed her husband out of the room. The two of them walked downstairs in silence, neither having anything to say until they entered the sitting room.
Once they did, Golden Lace plastered on a wide smile. “Princess, it’s so good to see you! I trust you’re well.”
“I must confess I have been better. Please, sit.”
They did as instructed. “I ordered that tea be served,” Brass Badge informed her. “It should be here soon.”
Celestia nodded. “I’m sure you’re both wondering why I’m here.”
Brass Badge nodded. “I assume it has to do with Sunset if you wanted to see us both.”
“You assume correctly. Sunset has raised some concerns with me that I had hoped to put to rest.”
“Concerns?” Golden Lace asked.
Celestia nodded, but before she could answer, there was a knock on the door. A mare entered levitating a tray with a tea kettle and three teacups on it. “Pardon the interruption.”
She served the three of them. Brass Badge didn’t feel much like tea, but Celestia had requested it and he wasn’t going to appear in disagreement with her, so he sipped from his cup.
Once they were all served, the mare bowed. “Princess, General, Madam.”
“Please, have a seat by me, Rosewood,” Celestia said to the mare, whom Brass Badge would not even have been able to name.
She obeyed, sitting beside the princess. Brass Badge looked between the two of them and his frown deepened. “What’s going on here?”
Celestia sipped her tea, then set down the teacup. “The truth is that Rosewood does not work for you, she works for me. I’ve been investigating the two of you.”
“What?” Brass Badge scowled. “For what purpose?”
“Because Sunset has told me troubling things about her life with you. She’s made it clear that not only does she not believe either of you care about her, you’re not providing the right kind of environment for her to thrive in.”
“Nonsense!” Brass Badge rose to his hooves. “I’ve done nothing but provide for Sunset since the day she was born!”
“I do not doubt you’ve provided every financial need she has. What I wonder about is your emotional supportiveness.” Celestia turned to Rosewood. “Which is what Rosewood here was investigating.”
Rosewood nodded. “While I’ve been here, I’ve witnessed Golden Lace ignore her daughter at every turn. But that’s preferable to Brass Badge, who belittles and bullies his daughter.”
“I have never laid hoof on her!” Brass Badge spat.
“Indeed,” Rosewood said, her tone perfectly level despite the outburst. “I mean that he is manipulative and insulting when Sunset doesn’t meet his expectations of her. I have never seen either parent harm her in any way.”
“No way other than emotionally.” Celestia sighed, then she looked up at Brass Badge with a fire in her eyes. “Ever since I met Sunset, there has been a deep sadness in her. I now see that her need to impress stems from more than a personal drive. She’s done everything to try and win over your favor, and you’ve only provided her with expectations to further your own personal ambitions.”
“Lies!” Brass Badge gritted his teeth. “Everything has been for her!”
“Even if you are telling the truth, and I have serious doubts of this, you are not taking care of your daughter the way you should.” Celestia rose to her hooves as well. “So it’s come to this. You will either change how you raise your daughter, or you will lose her.”
“You’re bluffing,” Brass Badge said. “You wouldn’t dare. You have no authority!”
“I think you’ll find you’re wrong on both points. I have the right to remove Sunset Shimmer from your household until an official investigation takes place, of which I have more than enough evidence to win without relying on the weight of my crown.”
“B-But… you…” Brass Badge was left spluttering as he grappled with his inability to form sentences in the face of these accusations. Everything. He had done everything for Sunset!
“I consent,” Golden Lace said. She had been so quiet that Brass Badge had forgotten she was there, but now all eyes were on her. “You can take Sunset and conduct your investigation. I consent.”
Celestia studied her, then nodded. “Your consent was not needed, but I will make a note that you did not resist the investigation.” She turned back to Brass Badge, her expression harder. “I think you’ll find whatever chance you may have to keep custody of your daughter relies on you following suit of your wife.”
“Hmph.” Brass Badge scowled. “Let’s ask Sunset. She understands I push her for her own good. She’ll choose to stay with me.”
“A fine idea,” Celestia said. “Sunset is fifteen. She is old enough to have a say in this.” She turned once more to Rosewood. “Wait outside with the guards. I do not think we’ll have further need for you, and I do believe it’s safe to say your time working here is over.”
“With pleasure, Princess.”
Rosewood left first, the three other ponies exiting the room after her. Brass Badge led the way, not looking back at either of the mares. He didn’t want to see either of them. Traitors, the both of them.
He reached Sunset’s room and made to open the door, then thought better of it and knocked instead.
Sunset opened her door, clearly surprised to see the ponies that were gathered outside of it. Her eyes scanned over her parents, then fell to Celestia. “Princess? What’s going on?”
“Greetings, my gifted student,” Celestia said, suddenly finding the warmth that had been lacking from her voice all evening. “I wonder if I might have a word with you?”
“Yes, of course. Come in.”
They did so, finding the room crowded with all four ponies. It was not small, but Brass Badge felt claustrophobic in the face of what was happening.
“What’s this all about, Princess?” Sunset asked again.
Celestia sat down on the floor beside Sunset. “Do you remember when you told me that you did not feel your parents cared about you?”
Sunset looked over to her parents with a panicked expression.
Celestia seemed to understand. “You need not worry about your parents’ reaction. Please, it is important that you be open and honest.”
Sunset swallowed and looked visually uncomfortable. Just when Brass Badge was about to intervene, she answered, “Yeah, I remember.”
Hearing Sunset’s confirmation was more than Brass Badge could stand. He wanted to leave the room, but worried what Celestia would say in his absence.
“Since then, I’ve been investigating your parents, and I’ve come to agree with you.”
Sunset blinked. “But… you told me that I was wrong, that they did care about me.”
Celestia sighed and cast a look back to the parents she was openly criticizing. “I said what I wanted to be true, but I did take your words to heart. Now we come to a decision. I do not feel like your parents are suited to raise you, but you are old enough to make this decision on your own.”
“What… what are you proposing, Princess?”
Celestia smiled. “How would you like to come live with me in the castle? I know it might be a major change to your life, but I think –”
“Yes!” Sunset looked at her parents. “Yes, I want to live with you! Can we leave tonight?”
And Brass Badge learned once more what it sounded like for his world to fall apart.
Celestia nodded. “Then it’s settled. Perhaps I could help you pack, then we could be on our way?”
Brass Badge didn’t wait around for Sunset’s reply. He turned and marched out of the room, then went right downstairs to the foyer. He sat alone, and he fumed.
He had done everything for Sunset. Everything for the daughter that he had never intended to care about, who had come into his life so unexpectedly and who had won him over so completely.
And now, the daughter who had betrayed him. How could she do this after all he’d done for her? He’d given her the world only to have it thrown in his face.
He stayed where he was until Celestia and Sunset came down the stairs, though he didn’t look at them.
“Sunset,” Celestia said from the doorway, “do you have anything you’d like to say to your father?”
Brass Badge looked over to find Sunset looking at him with a victorious expression, as if she had bested him in a challenge. Perhaps, he thought, she had.
“No,” she said simply. “Let’s go.”
And with that, Celestia opened the door and they marched out of the room, and out of Brass Badge’s life.
He left for the minibar. He saw no reason to neglect himself a drink after that ordeal. He found his wife sitting there already. Silently, he took the seat beside her.
“This was the right thing to do,” Golden Lace said. “Sunset will have a better life with Celestia.”
Brass Badge poured a shot and drank it, then refilled his glass.
“If you really care about your daughter, then –”
Brass Badge laughed, cutting her off. He downed the second shot, then set the empty glass on the table. “I don’t have a daughter.”
In the years that followed Sunset’s betrayal, Brass Badge was called by duty many times. No matter what happened between them, there were things that were expected of him. He was still her father, at the very least in official contexts, and he was expected to take a certain degree of interest in his daughter’s life.
So they still saw one another on holidays and such, but largely, their relationship was over. Sunset lived with her teacher, and she certainly never showed any desire to repair the damage she had done to her relationship with her parents.
And she was seventeen. Soon enough, she would be free of them completely if she chose to be. There were things that were expected of her, but Brass Badge suspected she thought little of that.
Meanwhile, Brass Badge himself whiled away time as he had before she was born. He kept to his study, and he did not like to be disturbed.
Nevertheless, a knock came on the door. Before he could answer, it opened, which gave away that it was Golden Lace before he even saw her. No member of the staff would presume to show themselves into his study without his approval.
“Yes?” he asked, already finding he was not in the mood for whatever she had to say to him.
“Princess Celestia is here. She says she has news of Sunset.”
“Hmph.” No doubt she had graduated Celestia’s tutelage and they would be expected to attend some ceremony or other.
All the same, he stood up and followed his wife out of the room. Wordlessly, they walked down to the foyer. Along the way it dawned on him how odd it was for Celestia to come herself. She had only done that once before, after all.
When they reached the foyer, he found Celestia was waiting in it. It seemed she hadn’t requested tea this time.
“What can we do for you, Princess?” he asked as they approached her.
To his surprise, she bowed her head deeply. “I come bearing ill news, I’m sorry to say.”
Brass Badge blinked. “Has she been hurt?”
Celestia looked up at him, frowning. “She is… uninjured, as far as I’m aware.”
“As far as… has she run off?”
“I’m afraid she has.”
That didn’t make any sense… Sunset was on the track to greatness, what could possibly possess her to throw it away? “Why?”
Celestia bowed her head again. “It is my fault. I… I was too harsh with her.”
“You what?” Brass Badge stamped his hoof. “You came here to accuse me of being hard on her only to do the same? Ridiculous.”
“I have been foalish… And Sunset is the one made to pay for it.”
“Hmph.” Brass Badge regarded Celestia harshly. As a ruler, she was impeccable. But as a pony? She had shown how flawed she was. “Tell me everything, then we can organize a search for her.”
“I’m afraid there is no point, I… I know where she went.”
“And?”
Celestia sighed. “It is… complicated… There is a mirror. It connects this world to others, or at least to another. Sunset has gone through to the other world, and now the portal has closed.”
It didn’t matter if Celestia was a princess or an all-powerful alicorn. In that instant, Brass Badge was very near strangling her.
He might have tried, except Golden Lace stepped forward. “And is there a way to open it again?”
“It will open on its own in time. Sunset knows when it will open again, and I have faith that she will return when that time comes.”
“So we wait?” Golden Lace asked.
Celestia nodded. “I’m afraid it is all we can do now.”
Brass Badge looked between the two mares. “I hope you both realize this is your fault.”
Celestia shrunk at the accusation, but Golden Laced narrowed her eyes. “No blame for yourself, then?”
“I strove to do what was best for Sunset.” He glared at Celestia. “If you hadn’t taken her away –” he turned his gaze to Golden Lace “– and if you hadn’t let her slip away from us, this never would have happened.”
“And what about you!?” Golden Lace pushed her face up close to her husband’s. “If you hadn’t been such a bully, always pushing her harder than she could take.”
“Even if I was, where were you? Off running your little business.”
“I’m not saying I’m guiltless, but I’m better than you!”
“Please,” Celestia tried, holding up a hoof to quell them. “This isn’t going to help get Sunset back.”
“As you said, Princess,” Brass Badge said, filling the title with as much malice as he could, “nothing we can do will help get Sunset back.”
“I do not believe taking your frustration out on your wife is just,” Celestia said resolutely. “If you must blame someone else, blame me and leave it at that.”
Brass Badge scowled. “With all due respect, you don’t know the half of what this mare has put me through.”
Golden Lace turned tail and walked away. “I never should have come back to you.”
“No,” Brass Badge shot after her. “You shouldn’t have.”
“General,” Celestia said as calmly as possible.
Brass Badge looked down at his hooves and spoke slowly, but with resolve. “Get out of my house.”
Celestia sighed. “I had hoped we could understand each other through this. But perhaps we understand each other too much.”
Brass Badge just glared at her until she left, head hung low.
Then he was alone, with no one left to blame but himself.
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i could literally feel the emotions coming through your words. extremely well done sir
10465447
lol well I'm not a sir but thank you! Been waiting for this chapter to drop
10465466
my apologies Ma'am
10465485
No worries!
I honestly feel a little bad for Brass here. He did care. He just didn't know how to do it the right way. That doesn't change that he messed up, but unlike Lace, it wasn't malicious. It's not much, but it is something.
10465529
Yeah, I was waiting for this chapter for people to see that. Everyone took it as a given that he's a dick because Sunset's not his kid biologically, but he's a dick just because he doesn't know how to act lol. I don't think Lace is malicious as much as apathetic, but when it comes to child neglect, it doesn't matter much in any event
...so this is how Brass Badge considers caring for a child that isn't even his? Product of his upbringing, I suppose, that he didn't remotely see anything wrong with this. That he turned out fine is one thing, but that doesn't mean this style of parenting works for everyone. Or works, considering he's pretty emotionally stunted. Still, at least he made somewhat of an effort. That...doesn't really get him much, I guess, but Golden Lace's complete apathy isn't better either. Again, I still wonder that it took them so long to divorce. They were unhappy from the beginning, and Sunset didn't help matters. Brass Badge took care of her out of duty, not love, just like how he financially supports his wife.
Well that was an interesting chapter I could feel the tension the whole time it's nice to know brass was at least attempting to care for sunset(and now we know where her drive to be the best comes from)he just couldn't show it very well,and it would've be nice if he did it out of love instead of duty. and while it's true golden wasn't mother of the year ( and honestly I was irritated when she just let celestia take her) by not caring about sunset but at least she willing to accept some of the blame brass just wasn't willing to accept he failed. Really eager to read the rest
10465586
Adopting out Sunset would have been preferable, but I imagine it could have been a scandal and that was something they wouldn't have gone through with, being obsessed with their image.
This is everything what I was trying to capture with this story, you just really hit the nail on the head in all aspects
10465588
Did Brass Badge really turn out okay though? He turned out successful, sure, but like you said he's not emotionally mature and I don't think he's particularly happy, either. That said, I do think Brass Badge actually cares about Sunset, even loves her. Not that it justifies his actions, it's not enough for him to care, and he's still a shit parent who never should have had a child, but he did care.
10465643
There's a lot that could be said about who was worse between them, but yeah I think Brass had better intentions than Lace did. Not that intentions count when the actions are fucking up a child, but still. And I think he really cared for her, not just out of duty, but he genuinely cared. Again, that only matters so much here...
Hmph. That's all I have to say. I wasn't going to comment on this story until it was finished, but, well, HMPH.
By the way, Krickis, I had a dream about one of your stories last night. I was at my PC, a new chapter had just dropped, and I was about to read it. I clicked on the chapter when my eyes happened to flick across a "1m" near the chapter title. When I went back to look, I discovered that the chapter had one million words in it. As much as I love your stories I certainly hope none of the chapters ever get THAT long!
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Lol that's a fair reaction. And omg I'm super thrilled to have invaded your dreams, and I promise to never write a chapter that long hahaha
What's that that nice and cocky line that Sunset says from time to time?
"Turns out I'm as great at that as I am at everything else I do."
Well now I won't be able to read that without being reminded of the terrible parents of hers.
Yeah, he genuinely thought he was raising her right. Spending money on her education instead of spending quality time nurturing her. Not reading any parenting books because he found his upbringing beneficial to his work and wanted the same his daughter. Never seeing past what he wanted to see, just him 'helping' her.
It's an interesting reversal of other WWB stories where family is the people you choose, care for and who support you. He chose to try and care for and support her but that didn't get reciprocated because he's terrible, and her mother is committed to her mistakes (in a rather Sunset Shimmer way actually).
When the spy servant was revealed I thought Celestia was going to figure out that Brass Badge wasn't the biological father. Although of course that matters little compared to the way Sunset was treated, I just thought it would be interesting to see if Celestia would tell Sunset or not and why.
Not sure what to make of this. A moment of clarity, or from his perspective living with the princess is better than living with a general and a business owner?
As much as I dislike the character I still don't think he really mean that. Sure there was 'betrayal' and next to no love but I just don't think he is capable of seeing her as anything but his daughter.
You know, the misunderstanding of Brass Badge with raising Sunset was a bit like that CMC episode where Rumble thinks a cutie mark only makes you good at one thing. Because he was completely focused on his carrier (and his daughters future one) and he never seems to do anything else. maybe? I'm not too sure now I write it out.
Well. This certainly explains quite a lot.
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I don't think Lace goes around admitting that to ponies, so it would raise questions about how she found out. I guess she could have gone snooping through Lace's things and found proof of the affair, but she was just there to watch them as parents, not to find out their other problems. But it does raise the question of would Celestia tell Sunset about that, and honestly, I'm not sure.
More that she got something she wanted that he would have stood in the way of. He just sees it as a loss and Sunset as the one who caused said loss.
lol you're right, he doesn't have much of a life outside of his career. This comes back up later.
It's interesting to me that you draw the parallel between other WWB stories and how they handle family, mostly because I'm writing a fic where family is one of the main themes right now. I don't think this necessarily contrasts that, but rather is the dangers of staying locked into the family your born into when said family is terrible for you.
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Yeah, I was looking forward to this chapter since everyone assumed Brass was just a dick because Sunset wasn't his bio kid
Narrator: She didn't understand.
Good chapter, though wow, this covered a big stretch of time. It feels a bit odd that nothing really changed in Brass and Golden's relationship for 17 years, even after Sunset left the house. It's sad to see how broken Golden became.
Also woah, Celestia with the spies.
Crossposted from Offprint
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Yeah, I imagine how much time this covered is strange for readers who haven't read other WWB stories. I admit I hadn't really thought of that until seeing your comment. The first three chapters were all new info, as nothing prior to Sunset's life had been shown in this series before, but this chapter was different as there have been several flashes to Sunset's time in Equestria. So basically this didn't feel like it was too much material to me because it was covering material already touched on elsewhere, just from a new perspective. I fear the next chapter may be much the same (it's another "seeing from a different perspective" chapter), while the final chapter will be like the first three (that one takes place after all the preceding WWB stories)
Bun, my feelings are like a Make-A-Wish kid, and your ability to make me feel things with your words are like stage four cancer in the best way possible.
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I can't stop giggling at this comment
Never thought I'd see him do that, but I'll take it.
It feels so weird seeing Sunset call her father sir over dad or daddy.
Oh my god!
Ngl, I'm not surprised by this.
The winner of the mother of the year award fillies and gentlecolts.
Saw that coming a mile away.
Which is unfortunately true.
Again, self-centeredness, avoidance of accountability, "knowing what's best"...
...They've deserved every barb Sunset's thrown at them.