Book one of "Who We Become".
Sunset always knew that she was destined for greatness, but she never dreamed of how great she could become. Not until she had seen it - the mirror had shown her as an alicorn. Ignoring Celestia's warnings, Sunset goes l...
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Everything was white. It was blinding to see, but anywhere Sunset turned, there was just more of the same. She kept walking because there was nothing else to do; there was nothing as far as she could see, so she just had to hope that she'd eventually find something.
It took a while for her to notice the way the ground crunched under her feet. The white surroundings and the soft crunch of each step brought snow to mind, but when she bent down to touch it, she found it was warm. It left a powdery feeling on her hand, and she realized what it was.
Sunset was walking through ash, and that was all there was left in her world.
What had happened? Sunset had gotten the crown, that much was certain. Everything after that, however, was a blur. The only thing she could vividly remember was the pain; there had been a lot of pain.
Even if she couldn't remember anything after the pain, Sunset knew something very bad had happened. Something that she never should have allowed, but had never actually tried to stop. But she couldn't remember what it was, and she didn't know how to keep it from happening again.
"Hmph."
Sunset stopped in her tracks at the sound. It wasn't just because it was the first thing she had heard since everything had gone white, but also because she knew the voice. She hadn't heard it in more than eleven years, but that unsatisfied tone had never left her mind.
"You're going to have to do better than that."
Sunset turned towards the speaker and was met with the disapproving gaze of her father. Brass Badge was a tan unicorn with a dark blue mane and a perpetually unhappy expression, and Sunset couldn't stand the sight of him. "What's the matter? Am I ruining your perfect fucking legacy, asshole?"
"She's just a child," a mare said. She was also a unicorn, with a golden-yellow coat and a green mane, and she stood off to the side. She seemed to be focused on something else, but Sunset wasn't able to see what that was.
"Don't act like you're better than him," Sunset told her mother. "In fact, don't you have business to attend to?"
"Then stop acting like one!" Brass Badge demanded.
Sunset blinked. 'I'm not a child.' That had been her response at the time. She was watching a memory.
Brass Badge turned to Golden Lace. "Baby your daughter if you want, but I'll take no part in it. And besides, don't you have business to attend to?"
Golden Lace looked upset for a second before turning away. "Yes, in fact, I do."
Sunset looked from one parent to the other. She remembered this moment. This was when she realized that she hated them both. The hatred had always been there, but this was when she stopped buying into the idea that she should feel anything else for them just because they were her parents. Brass Badge was a bully, even if he never laid a hoof on his wife or daughter. Nothing was ever good enough for him, and Sunset had spent many of her early years hunting for his praise in vain.
