• Member Since 29th Apr, 2012
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D G D Davidson


D. G. D. is a science fiction writer and archaeologist. He blogs on occasion at www.deusexmagicalgirl.com.

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Jun
12th
2015

The Ending · 2:38am Jun 12th, 2015

My apologies to everyone who has hoped for an ending to A Mighty Demon Slayer Grooms Some Ponies and has not got what he wants. My readers have all been great and deserve better.

It has been quiet in my corner lately because I am working on an original novel, which contains many magical girls but not, I must confess, a single solitary pony. Because I am working on original writings and find myself lacking in the time, talent, and organizational skills to balance many projects simultaneously, my pony fandom has languished. I have not seen a single episode of season 5, and I am behind by four chapbooks and as many comic book issues. Considering my previous obsession with keeping up with the EU canon, something with which my long-time readers are familiar, this is a relief to me. Truth is, I burned out on pony, though I am still fond of the franchise.

I have been sitting for many moons on Demon Slayer's final chapter. I have its last scene written, but I admit I am not entirely clear on what builds up to it. I would be happy to hand this to someone else to fill in the gaps, at least if he would leave the final scene untouched. Read no further unless you want devastating spoilers.

I am unsure if the promised horse show happens or not. I suspect, in this new version of the last chapter, it does not, but the ponies are too late and must put off their presentation to the human race to a later day. They may have a sort of private horse show on the Williams farm, and then Celestia shows up.

Then comes this, which would cap the story:


Megan sat down beside Twilight and leaned against the barn wall. Out in the yard, dressed in her immaculate white trousers and shadbelly, Molly paraded a blushing Fluttershy. The sun, swollen and colored like blood, sat on the horizon. In the cool, green grass, the shadows of buildings, trees, and ponies stretched out and intertwined.

“You should come back with us,” Twilight said quietly.

“Rarity told me I should move to Equestria and open a spa,” Megan replied.

Twilight laughed. “Will you?”

“I didn’t think she was serious.”

“You could, you know.”

“Would I have any customers?”

“You’re Magog the Mighty. If you came to Equestria, you could do anything you wanted.”

Megan interlaced her fingers behind her head and stared up into the sky. “It’s funny, but I thought . . . well, after everything, I thought Ponyland threw me out, that it was done with me. Being invited back—that’s not something I expected.”

Twilight rubbed a hoof against her neck. “I don’t want to tell you what to do—”

“I’m your subject, remember?”

“Oh, right. Well, I still don’t want to tell you what to do. But I know everything happens for a reason—”

“Does it?”

“How could it not? It’s destiny. It’s fate.”

Megan reached down, picked up a smooth rock, and chucked it. It landed a few feet away, bounced twice, and lay still.

“What was the reason for that?” she asked.

“Only you know, Megan, since you’re the one who did it, but I think it was probably so you could ask, ‘What was the reason for that?’”

Megan chuckled and slumped against Twilight’s side. Twilight draped a wing across her shoulders and snuggled close.

Twilight said, “I think I went to Canterlot High and became human so I’d be ready to meet you, and I think the Rainbow Bridge didn’t open so we could meet everyone on your world. I think it opened so you could come back.”

“To do what? I’ll have you know I’m retired. I don’t fight monsters anymore.”

Twilight laughed. “Maybe so you could open a spa.”

“You think this fate of yours wants to give me a break?”

“If that’s your destiny. Destiny can be surprising—I never expected to make friends, or to become a princess. But looking back now, I can see how it all happened. I always knew I wanted to study magic, and when I got my cutie mark, I knew I was supposed to study magic, and then Princess Celestia sent me to study friendship, and friendship is magic—”

“That’s fine for you, Your Highness, but I don’t have destiny tattooed on my ass. Things aren’t so easy for humans.”

“I know. I’ve been one.”

The two were silent. Molly and Fluttershy displayed a pretty trot as the shadows blended together. A cool wind flowed from the woods, carrying with it white puffs of cottonwood pollen and the scent of blooming iris.

Megan grunted, closed her eyes, and stroked a hand through Twilight’s soft fur. “Move to your empire and spend the rest of my life grooming ponies? It’s tempting. It’s very tempting, Your Highness. I must warn you, though, that I will not acquiesce to your modern sensibilities. I will treat the ponies of today the same way I treated ponies five millennia ago.”

“How so?”

Megan lifted her head and planted a quick peck on Twilight’s muzzle. “I will kiss you on your soft, velvety noses.”

Her cheeks and the tips of her ears burning red, Twilight looked away.

“The sun is going down, and night is coming on. Is this your special time, Your Highness?”

“Dusk,” Twilight murmured. “I suppose perhaps it is.”

“Are you going to appear in a swirl of mist and offer to make all my wishes come true?”

Pulling back to look Megan in the eyes, Twilight frowned. “What?”

Megan closed her eyes, shook her head, and chuckled softly. Then, dusting off her jeans, she rose to her feet. “Never mind, Your Highness. Never mind me and my memories. Stay with the others, please. There is one thing more, before the day is over, that I have to do.”


Heart pounding, Megan walked slowly into the barn. In one fist, she gripped a curry brush, but she held it up as if it were a weapon. In her other fist, down by her side, she gripped a cloth sack. The sun was down, and the sky outside was streaked with red and gold, but inside the barn, the light was gray and dim. She could hear, but could not see, the horses breathing and occasionally pawing the earth.

Yet in spite of the dimness, Megan could see Celestia, who glowed with a warm light of her own. She cast no light on anything around her, yet she was nonetheless radiant. Her coat shone like a white cloud in a sunny sky, and her waving mane shimmered like a rainbow.

Megan’s throat was dry. She swallowed once. “Well,” she said, “we’re alone. Tell me, what are you?”

“The last of something old,” Celestia replied in a low whisper, “and the beginning of something new.”

Megan stepped forward. Her foot crunched against the hay scattered about the earthen floor, and Celestia shied away.

“Are you afraid of me, Your Majesty?” Megan asked.

“Yes, Your Honor. I am.”

Megan lowered her hand. Her palms were sweating, but her heart began to slow. “Didn’t Twilight tell you? I’m not your One True Judge.”

“To me you are. Will you punish the children for the sins of the fathers?”

Megan stepped forward again, and this time Celestia didn’t back away. Megan walked to her and placed the nubs of the brush against her left shoulder. Celestia’s flesh trembled.

Megan paused. After a moment, she put the brush down on a nearby shelf. She opened her sack, pulled out a carrot, and, with a loud, crisp crack, bit into it.

As she chewed, she said, “Want one?”

Wide-eyed, Celestia stared at her for a moment, but then her face softened, her ears turned forward, and she began to laugh.

Megan swallowed. “When I have a nervous horse to work with, I let him sniff my hand, and then I offer food.” She held her hand out. As Twilight had done earlier, Celestia bent forward and blew in steady puffs against her knuckles.

After a minute, she said, “I like your scent.”

“Thank you.”

“And yes, I’ll take a carrot.”

Megan opened the sack. Celestia’s horn glowed, and a carrot floated out into the air. With eyes closed and mouth set with great dignity, Celestia nibbled daintily from the carrot’s tip.

Megan leaned against a post and continued munching her own carrot. For several minutes, they ate together in silence.

At last, Megan said, “How old are you, Your Majesty?”

Celestia turned her face toward Megan, but her long, flowing mane fell across one eye. Her expression was soft, but her gaze was piercing. Megan shuddered, and she felt the urge to look away, but she set her teeth and matched Celestia’s stare.

It was Celestia who finally looked away. “I stopped counting,” she said, “though it probably wouldn’t be hard to figure out . . . my birthday is a national holiday, you understand, but they at least let me celebrate it in private—”

“You don’t like birthdays?”

“I love other ponies’, but my own ceased to interest me once I’d had enough of them. I passed all the milestones of life a long time ago, Your Honor, and I have not aged noticeably for many hundreds of years.”

Megan put down her bag. Then she placed the fingertips of one hand on Celestia’s withers and began to scratch, imitating the motions horses made with their teeth when they groomed each other.

Celestia’s ears, a moment ago pricked forward, now flopped outward. Her head lowered, and her lips twitched. Megan smiled; a dominant horse in a herd would sometimes reassure the others by grooming them in this way. If Celestia was still afraid, this should calm her down.

Celestia laughed quietly under her breath.

“What is it?” Megan asked.

“My sister and I used to do this all the time. It’s been a while.”

“Used to?”

“Modern ponies don’t groom one another—”

“So I’ve heard.”

“So we haven’t. Not since she came back.” Celestia paused, licked her lips, and said, “Your Honor, would you mind—?”

Megan took a step back so her body was closer to Celestia’s face. “Go ahead.”

“Where—?”

“See if you can reach my hip right here. No teeth, though. We humans are delicate.”

“I’ll try to remember.” Celestia turned her head, pushed her nose against Megan’s left hip, and began to nuzzle.

“I taught my pony T.J. to do this. It was a lot of work, but it made him easier to handle.”

Celestia sighed, lifted her face for a moment, and rubbed her lips over her teeth. “I’ve missed it. There’s a wonderful exclusive spa I go to from time to time, but I can’t get in there very often—and it’s not really the same anyway.”

Megan laughed. “Modern ponies don’t know what they’re missing.”

“No, they don’t.” Celestia lowered her head again and continued grooming Megan’s hip. As they worked, the barn grew steadily darker until at last Megan’s hand was but a black silhouette against Celestia’s gleaming coat.

“I’ve never been to a spa,” Megan admitted.

Celestia’s head snapped up. “You haven’t?”

“No.”

“How terrible. Come back to Canterlot with me, and I’ll take you. I’ll be sure you get the royal treatment.”

“I might just take you up on that.” Megan stepped past Celestia’s shoulder, out of the reach of her muzzle. “Here, spread your wings out.”

Celestia’s large, swanlike wings opened. Megan took the left one in her hands. She could feel taut muscles, like iron bands, under the feathers. Slowly, with long strokes, she began to knead them out.

“You’re tense,” she said.

Celestia swallowed, but didn’t answer. Megan continued to knead.

After a minute, Celestia’s head lowered again, and some of the tension went out of her wing. Megan shifted so the wing could rest against her shoulder as she worked, and she moved her hands down to the heavy muscles above Celestia’s foreleg. “What were you before you were an alicorn?”

Celestia rubbed her lips together for a minute before she answered, “I was born this way.”

“Your sister, too?”

“Yes.”

“Twilight told me you were the first.”

“She probably thinks we are. I’ve never told her about Argyte.”

Megan paused. Celestia’s skin twitched under her fingertips. “Are you from Argyte?”

“In a way. You’ve heard of it?”

“I have.” Megan slid her hands from Celestia’s shoulders to her neck, looking for tight spots. She kept moving until she brought her fingertips behind Celestia’s head, where she kneaded the muscles around her mandible. Celestia pulled away and stamped a hoof.

“You’re sore,” Megan said, “from too much stress. You need to stop clenching your jaw.”

“I have a difficult job—oh . . .”

Megan gently pushed her fingers under Celestia’s jawbone, forcing the muscles there to relax. Celestia squinched up her eyes until Megan released the pressure.

Sliding her hands back along Celestia’s neck, she paused and rubbed whenever she felt knots, or when Celestia blinked.

“As I was going to say,” Celestia continued, her voice more mellow, “there are others who make the burden lighter. Raven, my secretary, is very capable. Chief Gelding Parsnip is the best majordomo I’ve ever had. And there’s Kibbitz, my personal chronomaster. He’s quite good.”

Megan pushed against a knot. Celestia tried to pull away again, but Megan moved with her. After a minute, Celestia relaxed.

“Better?”

“Better,” Celestia whispered. “Thank you. I must say, you’re more thorough than the masseur at the spa.”

“Does he have fingers?”

“No.”

“There you go.” Megan continued gliding her hands slowly down Celestia’s neck, watching Celestia’s face. Whenever Celestia tensed or blinked, Megan paused there.

“Really, Your Honor, have you considered—?”

“Rarity already asked me to come back to Ponyland to open a spa.”

“And?”

“I might, actually. I’ve always loved working with horses, and that includes magic ponies.”

“You could call it ‘Massage the Mighty.’”

“Ugh. No thank you.”

Megan kneaded the muscles at the base of Celestia’s neck, and Celestia’s eyelids drooped.

“How old are you, Your Honor?”

“Eighteen.”

“Really?” Celestia sighed as Megan pushed her fingertips between Celestia’s neck and shoulder. “So very young.”

“Yes.”

“Married?” Celestia asked.

“Heh. No.

“Boyfriend, then?”

Megan paused, patted Celestia’s shoulder, and leaned over to look her in the eye. “Is there any reason every princess I’ve met today has wanted to ask me about boyfriends?”

Celestia raised an eyebrow, but her mouth twisted in amusement. “Coincidence, perhaps? I was simply being polite.”

“Hm. Look, Your Majesty, I don’t really do the whole boyfriend thing. My dad couldn’t keep his pants zipped, and neither can my brother. The way I see it, if that’s what boys are like, I don’t need one. Fuck ’em.”

She continued kneading. After a minute, Celestia whispered, “You’ve forgotten how to trust.”

“Maybe. Or I wised up.”

“But—”

“You want me to be a judge, right? Well, I made a judgment, so you should be happy.”

Celestia laughed, but sounded nervous.

“You might have had a long life,” Megan added, “but maybe you just don’t know what I’m talking about. You’re not married, are you?”

Celestia swallowed. “Not exactly.”

“There, see?” Megan walked in front of Celestia. She hesitated before touching the glowing, waving hair, but finally reached her hand through and brought her fingers against the pony’s forehead. Celestia’s hair was so fine that Megan wondered for a moment if it were really hair at all or merely a thick mist; it was cool to the touch, and it tickled between her fingers as it waved. Megan ran her hand down Celestia’s forehead for a minute and then began to rub around her ears.

Celestia stepped closer and murmured, “It was some three thousand years ago that the unicorns of Argyte ascended and became the alicorn tribe. When we were still fillies, the wisest of their sages took me and Luna on a long journey to the land that would become Equestria.” Celestia smiled. “They told us we would be princesses, and that it was our destiny to lead the little ponies. Luna and I used to rove over the hills of Canterlot, pretending to be rulers, giving orders to the squirrels and birds.”

Celestia gasped when Megan put her arms around her neck. “I’m going to twist your head a bit,” said Megan. “Just relax.”

“I’ll try.”

Megan tugged gently, but Celestia’s muscles seized up.

“You’re still tense. Ruling Equestria must be rough.”

“There’s nothing else I’d rather do. That’s not why I’m tense.”

Megan let go and stepped back. “Why? Are you still afraid of me?”

Celestia nodded. “Yes, Your Honor. I am.”

Megan shoved her hands in her pockets, turned around, and walked away. Biting her lip, she found the barn wall and leaned her forehead against it. “You don’t have any reason to be. I’m not—”

She paused when she felt Celestia nuzzling her left shoulder. She almost spun around and pushed her away, as she would do with a horse she suspected was about to bite, but she stopped herself.

“You,” Celestia said, “are more tense than I am. Take that coat off.”

“What—?”

“Take it off.” Her voice was stern, motherly, and unmistakable in its authority.

Megan’s fists clenched, and she thought of a retort, but after a moment, she silently slid her duster from her shoulders and let it crumple to the floor. Celestia pressed her muzzle against Megan’s back and pushed with her upper lip. Megan closed her eyes, clenched her teeth, and endured it.

After a minute, she began to relax, and her shoulders slumped.

“Blackie used to do that,” she whispered.

“Hm?”

“A horse we had. He was very affectionate. When I brushed his front legs, he’d lean his head down and rub my back. I didn’t teach it to him. He just did it on his own. Made me really nervous the first time.”

“Nervous? Why?”

“No offense, Your Majesty, but horses bite. Blackie never bit me, though.”

Celestia laughed, and Megan could feel her warm, moist breath through her shirt. “You know, you don’t have to call me Your Majesty.”

“You don’t have to call me Your Honor, either. I’d rather you didn’t.”

“You are a judge whether you wish or no, but I will call you what you like.”

“Megan.”

“And I’m Celestia.” She still had her face pressed against Megan’s back; her voice was muffled, her breath warm and wet. Her lips tickled when she talked. Megan tried to pull away, but Celestia started rubbing again.

“No, I’m not finished,” Celestia said. “You’re still not relaxed.” After a minute more, she paused and murmured, “I told myself before I came that I would reveal everything to you—”

“Why?” said Megan.

“So you could judge.”

“For the last time—”

“You’re not Magog. Yes, you said.” Celestia pressed her lip against Megan’s left shoulder, right between her spine and shoulder blade. Megan winced.

“You asked me if I were married,” Celestia said.

“Yeah. So?”

“So it’s a difficult question to answer.” Celestia started rubbing again, this time at the base of Megan’s neck. After a minute more, she asked, “Did Twilight tell you about the Aponycalypse?”

“She did. Told me about her commentary on it, too.”

Celestia laughed and for a moment pushed her muzzle hard against Megan’s spine.

“Wasn’t she in your school?”

“Oh yes,” Celestia said. “My best student and my personal protégé. Her commentary was unique.”

“It was wrong.”

“Of course it was. I knew that before she turned it in.”

“You knew? But—”

“Star Swirl the Bearded wrote the Aponycalypse. He was my magical counsel and my friend. He left that manuscript behind when he disappeared, and I have been trying to understand it ever since.”

Megan at last turned and pushed Celestia away. “You knew him, and he wrote this book about me returning and bringing a building out of the sky? That’s ridiculous—”

“Is it?”

“I can’t do any of that stuff.”

“Look at what you’ve already done.”

Megan threw up her hands and stomped away. “Nothing! I’ve done nothing. I didn’t build pony civilization. I damn near destroyed it. I didn’t write your laws—”

“Your sister did.”

What?” Megan spun around.

“Moloch—no, excuse me, Molly—wrote the Ordinances.”

“Are you sure?”

“I’m sure.”

“How would you know that?”

“Because the Moochick told me.”

Megan trembled. “You . . . you know—”

“I knew him in Argyte, but I was very, very young. I’m afraid I have not seen him since they took me to the hills of Canterlot, and that was well over a millennium ago. I was but a child when they crowned me, Megan. I was less than a hundred.”

“But if you knew him, then you knew—”

“That you were not an armor-clad giant? Yes, I knew. He told me many things about you.”

“Then why? Why did you think I was a judge if you knew I was just a little girl?”

“I was only a little girl when they made me a princess.”

“You really think I could do what’s in your Aponycalypse?”

“I do not know, Megan. But I knew Star Swirl. He was the most powerful unicorn who ever lived. He had magic even I, after all these years, cannot unravel. He mastered space and time.”

“And you think he was a prophet?”

She shook her head. “No. But he traveled to the future. Though he often returned looking troubled, he would never tell me what he saw there—but he left that book, written in riddles, and I believe he did it to help me. I have spent a thousand years trying to understand it.”

Celestia stepped closer. The sun had gone down, and the barn was almost pitch black, but Celestia still shone clearly, as if no shadow could touch her. “Not only did he discover time-travel spells, Megan, but he created two mirrors from the shards of Majesty’s mirror, which Princess Platinum carried to Equestria from the Valley of Dreams. The second of those mirrors, Twilight Sparkle once used to travel to another world. But the first, the prototype, could travel to any world Starswirl chose. He and I took many journeys together and had many adventures. Most of the technology ponies use today, Starswirl and I bought, traded for, or . . . well, or stole from other worlds.”

Celestia dipped her head. “And in one of those worlds, I met my very special somepony.”

Megan rolled her eyes. “Let me guess—he’s human.”

Celestia started and snapped her head up. “Why would you think that?”

“Dunno, it just seems to be going around. I used to know a mare who was crazy for men, and now Pinkie and my brother are getting cozy, and then of course there’s Princess Twilight and her boyfriend from this other world—”

What?

“You didn’t know?”

“I . . . no.” Celestia’s forehead crumpled, and she looked away. “Twilight has a boyfriend? I would have thought she’d tell me—”

“Some guy named Flash.”

Flash? But—hm.” Celestia bit her lip.

“You look upset, Princess.”

“Oh, it’s just . . . well, they grow up so fast.” Then she whispered, so low that Megan could barely hear, “And I don’t want her to make the same mistake—”

“So this guy of yours, if he’s not a man, what is he?”

“Hm? Oh, he’s a stallion, of course. He’s a king. King Sombra. He is good and kind, and he rules another Equestria much like mine. I met him—well, it was a long time ago.” Celestia swallowed, and she trembled. “Uh, circumstances prevent us from seeing each other too often. I visit about once a year, just for an hour or so—”

Megan crossed her arms and leaned back against the wall. “You see your boyfriend only once a year?”

“Well, yes.”

“And you’re happy with that?”

“It’s the best I—”

“And what about him?”

“Well, we make the best—”

“You, Princess Celestia, are a sucker.”

“I beg your pardon?”

Megan dug her hands into her pockets. “You think this guy is being loyal to you while you’re not around? Princess, you might be over a thousand years old, but you need to wise up. You’re standing by your man, or your whatever, but I guarantee he’s not standing by you. He’s probably banged half the mares in his kingdom by now.”

For several minutes, Megan and Celestia stared at each other. At last Celestia, her voice cold, said, “You really have forgotten how to trust . . . Your Honor.”

Megan snorted. “I speak from experience.”

“You don’t know Sombra.”

“I know men.”

“Megan, Megan.” Celestia stepped closer. “Trust always involves risk. You place your heart in another’s hooves. Sometimes you might misjudge another’s character, or sometimes you judge rightly, but that other fails anyway. But that does not mean the risk is never worth taking.”

“You really think Sombra is loyal to you?”

“I do.”

“Why?”

“Because I trust him.”

Why?

“Because I know him. I know what kind of stallion he is.”

Megan pulled her hands from her pockets, clenched her fists, and ground her teeth. “What if you’re wrong? What if you find out you’re wrong?”

“Then it will hurt, but I will not be sorry that I trusted him. I already have more than enough to be sorry for.” Celestia turned her back on Megan. Her misty tail waved in the darkness.

“Celestia—”

“Your father was a good man, Megan. He fell only because he was weak. But he loved you.”

With a snarl, Megan ran at Celestia and threw her arms around her neck. “How do you know my father? Twilight—”

“She told me nothing. Any secrets you told her, she has kept.”

How do you know my father?

Megan hung from Celestia’s neck. Celestia turned her head and gazed at her for a moment, but then looked away.

“You must come back to Ponyland, Megan. I am certain of this at least: you have one more task to complete.”

Megan shook her head. “No—”

“The Rainbow Bridge is open, just as Star Swirl said.”

“But the monsters—”

“That may come, and then we will need you.” She dipped her head, pulled herself from Megan’s grasp, and then briefly touched her muzzle to the locket on Megan’s breast. “You have a weapon Ponyland has not seen for many years.”

Megan reached up and gripped the locket in one hand.

“You must judge, Megan. Will you help me? Will you help Ponyland in its hour of need?”

Megan scrambled backwards. “The locket? You want the locket? Then I know what you are. You’re—”

“What am I?”

“I . . . I don’t know! Some kind of monster! You must be! How else could you move the sun—?”

Celestia sighed, closed her eyes, and lowered her head. “Will Her Honor hear the counsel for the defense?”

Megan’s hand slipped from the locket, which fell back against her breast. Slowly, she lowered her hands to her sides. “The Sunstone,” she said.

“Yes,” Celestia answered, “the Sunstone. Many years ago, before I was born, its link to the sun and moon was severed, and from that time on the unicorns brought forth day and night until Luna and I relieved them of the task.”

“How? How was it severed?”

“I’m afraid I do not know for certain, but the Moochick believed the witches of the Volcano of Gloom had a part in it. Without the Sunstone’s power, Flutter Valley became a wasteland.”

Megan’s mouth went dry again. “The flutter ponies?”

Celestia shook her head. “Of them, the Moochick and the alicorns knew nothing. They had disappeared, apparently destroyed when their land was lost. But I will tell you this: in Equestria we have a race of terrible foes, black creatures of shadow who steal the shapes of others to hide their hideous forms, and who steal others’ love because they have none of their own. I faced their queen once, and she bested me. But Twilight Sparkle tracked her down to her own kingdom, challenged her to single combat, and locked her away with an entrapment spell, along with all her swarm. To my knowledge, she is imprisoned still. I too traveled to that country, and though I did not see the queen, I saw etched into the stones of her castle, in letters jagged and wild as if carved in rage with horrible claws, a single name—Rosedust.

Megan trembled.

“Last summer, shortly before Twilight Sparkle’s ascension, I sent her and her friends to find the Sunstone in the frozen north where I believed Flutter Valley once lay. They failed. A race of giant bees drove them back.”

“Bees? The bumbles? Then that means—”

“Megan, I believe they failed because this task was meant for you.”

“I can’t. I can’t just—”

“You can. You discovered Flutter Valley once before, did you not? Then you can find it again—and you can save Rosedust. We need you, and Star Swirl foresaw your return. But more than that, Megan, I need you.”

Megan’s fists clenched again. “I will not give you the locket.”

“I will not ask for it. I am asking for you.

“Who are you really? There is something you’re hiding, Celestia. I can hear it in your voice. I can see it in your eyes.”

“Yes, I know. You are the One True Judge.” A sad smile touched Celestia’s lips.

Megan said nothing, but stood with back rigid and fists tight.

“Twilight,” Celestia said, “believes she came to meet the human race, but I told her nothing of her real task: I sent her to meet you, and I knew she would accomplish what I hoped, for she is my faithful student who prepares the way before me, to turn the hearts of the children to their fathers. Will you judge me, Megan?”

“What do you want of me?” Megan hissed.

“I want to know if you will open your heart to me.”

“Who are you?”

Celestia closed her eyes, took a deep breath, and said, “I am the rightful ruler of Equestria, the land inhabited by the race of little ponies Queen Majesty created—yes, I say I am the rightful ruler even if you return. Do you know why?”

Megan shook her head.

“Majesty was the most powerful unicorn who ever lived. She too mastered space and time. She built a magic mirror to enter new worlds. But she did not stop there: she created new life, an art the sages of Argyte had forbidden. Out of herself, she crafted the little ponies. She even made universes of her own, universes that mimic Ponyland. Now all of space and time are full of her work.”

Celestia turned her head aside, and her long, thick mane hid her face from Megan’s view. “For her crimes, the sages banished her, so she built her kingdom in Dream Valley. But all she had done was still not enough for her. In her explorations, she at last met the one with whom she fell in love. She even used her mirror to change her shape so that she might conceive his children. She took him on many journeys across the worlds she had made, and across time—”

Megan’s knees shook. “She died. Tirek killed her.”

Celestia nodded. “But she could travel time. Before she died, she did things in the future, things that would not take place until after her life had ended. She was dead already when she seduced her lover, and it was many thousands of years after her death that she brought him to Argyte. She arrived there, you see, long after her banishment was forgotten, and long after the unicorns of Argyte were no more, for their children’s children had become the alicorns.”

Megan’s heart pounded in her ears, almost drowning out Celestia’s words.

“Because of the magic of that land, and because of her own great power, the two daughters she bore were alicorns as well—the heirs of Majesty, and thus the rightful rulers of the ponies Majesty created. After all this, she returned to her own time to die as fate decreed.”

Megan licked her chapped lips. “And her . . . her lover?”

“His fate, I’m afraid, I do not know. I remember him only dimly, but he was gentle and kind. Judge now: will you forgive him? Will you hold his crime against me because he is my father?”

“Crime?”

“He abandoned his family for love of a pony from beyond the stars. I beg you, don’t hold onto your anger because of his and Majesty’s foolishness. You must forgive, and in time you will trust again.”

A single tear dripped down Megan’s cheek. She covered her mouth with her hands. “Oh . . . oh no . . .”

Celestia looked full in Megan’s face, and her own cheeks were wet with tears. “I have so longed, all these years, to finally see you. Megan, oh Megan, I will tell you who I am: I am your own half-sister.”

Megan and Celestia stared at each other in silence for many minutes. The barn grew only darker until all was black as pitch. Celestia alone, undiminished, shone in the darkness. Then, without a word, very slowly, as if she had just stepped into a hallowed shrine, Megan sank to her knees, touched her forehead to the dust, and clasped Celestia’s hooves with her hands.

The End

Comments ( 45 )

...

Absolutely worth waiting for.

The Once And Future Queen.

I feel sick. I feel Sad. I want to cry. This is/was a truly great work. And to see it end....*sigh* Such is life. Well thank you anyway for the story you have made and I wish you good luck on everything you do. Hopefully we will see you again,

Damn, freaking DAMN.

That was wholly astounding man. heres hoping you find a ghostwriter to continue the tale.

I can imagine a sequel that's about Megan getting into Fluttervalley, and then trying to find her father using the mirrors.
I can also see Celestia and Luna making attempts to get to know Megan better as a sister.
I do wonder how Molly and Danny would react to finding out they have two pony half-sisters.

Wow.

That was great finale.

That was beautiful. I hope you find someone to fill in the gap. I would offer, but I have doubts that I could maintain a tone that would be consistent with yours.

I really liked how you've melded the Gen 1 stories into the current mythos, and made it seem natural and unforced.

Thank you so much for giving us an ending. That is a great mark of respect for your readers who have invested so much in this story.

Good luck with your professional writing. Please drop a note here when your stuff comes out. I'd love to read it... even if there aren't any ponies in it.

So very worth it, thank you for giving us this gift

Holy shit, now that was really quite awesome.

I am your own half-sister

What a twist! Megans father had abandoned his family for magical talking horse and its offspring. Ill idiot.

Omg wonderful..........but now I must kill you my gods if this gets posted as the ending it will be hands down and bar none the biggest cliffhanger in the history of the site !!!!! You would have readers frothing at the mouth begging for more ! Whoever's gonna ghostwrite this I hope they are on par with your style at least or they damn sure better be better than you they are going to need to be

I have to say, this ending was actually just what I needed. Closed the door on this story but pointed out a few future ones as well. I have to ask, why didn't you just post it as the next chapter? Seems to stand on its own, unless you really wanted to include a pony show that just never could work.

having not read the story, but knowing of your proclivity for joining generation one and generation four, this is still pretty cool and very trippy.

I soooo wish I could fave a blog post, because this just gave me the closure I needed on this story, that was brilliant!!! I do hope you find someone to fill the gap, but in the meantime, this is just perfect :pinkiehappy:

Quite nice! You should post it into the actual story though. :twilightsmile:

Excellent piece! It brings back happy memories of reading your prose.

I am sorry to hear you burnt out ponies, but I'm not all that surprised. Yours was a mammoth undertaking. Best of luck with Rag and Muffin. I look forward to further news on the matter. :twilightsmile:

As for the final scene, thank you. I'm not sure how to get the story from point Y to point Z, but I'm very glad you shared the latter with us. Touching, heartfelt, and logical. Well done, sir.

I like it. Much better than the original ending.

...Welp, looks like Danny takes after his dad in yet another way.

3142541 Wow...

We never got the ending to Brad's Life did we?

Thanks for posting this. I like having closure in my reading. I know that your original ending was the one you intended to build up to, but I think this flows much more naturally from the previous chapters. I do hope that somebody takes you up on turning it into a full chapter for posting.

I hope you can get the rest of the chapter written, either by yourself or someone else.

It that isn't posible, however, can you please post the scene in the story anyways? You can add an author's note on why the rest of the chapter wasn't finished but I think the scene gives some sense of closure the fic desperately needs.

3143567

I'm not familiar with that fic?

A great ending to a really fascinating story. Thanks for all the great horsewords, DGD.

The writing's great. "Chief Gelding Parsnip" is an unfortunate name. I wouldn't end on the reveal that Celestia is her half-sister, because that gives it too much emphasis. It overshadows whatever ending and wrap-up is supposed to be happening.

3336612

The big reveal of Celestia's relationship to Megan is the ending and wrap-up that is supposed to be happening. Read the previous chapters, or simply follow the themes in this excerpt, and I am reasonably confident you will agree.

Megan's father left her mother and his family for another woman. Megan's resentment of her father colors all she does and says in this entire novel. In the chapter previous, in a scene modeled on the sacrament of confession, Megan received absolution for her sins. The question now is whether, having been forgiven her trespasses, she will also forgive those who have trespassed against her. Her father's adulteries are represented here concretely in the person of her half-sister, and she can forgive her father and accept her half-sister, or else bury herself in further resentment. And please note that "forgive" does not mean "approve"; what one approves, one has no reason to forgive.

Celestia fears that Megan, consumed by resentment, will not accept her, which is why she sent Twilight ahead of her, and why the Mane Six have spent the previous seven chapters peeling Megan's psyche back like an onion and exposing the raw wound Megan has never allowed to heal. Megan now has the choice of extending the forgiveness she has received, or else retreating into bitterness and undoing the effects of grace. The ending offers the reader hope, but is also deliberately ambiguous because that makes it personal: What should Megan do? What would you do? What will you do?

It is a deeply, sometimes explicitly, Christian story, which is why you may have noticed some biblical paraphrases in the dialogue.

3338022 I'm being kind of a jerk by replying without reading the whole story, but it's midnight.

The big reveal is not the wrap-up. What you just wrote is the wrap-up. Will she forgive? But ending one paragraph after the reveal, I think most readers will leave with "OMG Celestia is Megan's half-sister!" They need a little time to get over the reveal in order to think about its implications. Putting the reveal in the penultimate paragraph signals to the reader that the reveal itself is the point of the story. And there are so many stories like that on fimfiction, long multi-chapter things leading up to "Celestia is Twilight's mother!" or somesuch in the last lines, that it won't even seem odd to them.

3338052

Very well, if you want to distinguish end and wrap-up, the story has no wrap-up. It ends on a cliffhanger, deliberately. It is, if nothing else, a time-honored technique, the expectation being that the reader will go away, think about it, and arrive at a wrap-up on his own that he considers satisfactory, unless of course he's unimpressed and doesn't think about it at all, which is the risk such a story runs. I did the same thing at the ending of "Love on the Reef," and I have no regrets.

Relationship reveals may, as you say, be common on this site. I wouldn't know. But in this case, it ties up and draws together the story's themes. Common or not, it fits. If the readers are emotionally invested in the characters by this point, the end should have its intended effect regardless of whether something similar has been done elsewhere. If not, it won't. Based on the comments I've received (see above), the story has at least a few invested readers.

3338066 Sorry. I don't mean to insult you. You write very well.

>Relationship reveals may, as you say, be common on this site. I wouldn't know.

Don't you read other stories on this site?

At the risk of giving unwanted advice again, I'm not sure you realize that a gelding is a castrated stallion, and so calling Celestia's majordomo "Chief Gelding" suggests she has a cadre of eunuchs on staff.

3338786

Don't you read other stories on this site?

Rarely, and not for over a year now.

At the risk of giving unwanted advice again, I'm not sure you realize that a gelding is a castrated stallion, and so calling Celestia's majordomo "Chief Gelding" suggests she has a cadre of eunuchs on staff.

If you read the story, you will see that extensive research (at least for fan fiction) went into it. I know what a gelding is. The title of her majordomo is a play on "chief eunuch," an official that could be found on the courts of various ancient Oriental despots. Chief Gelding Parsnip makes occasional appearances in a few of my stories. He is head not only of Celestia's household, but of the Benevolent Fellowship of Geldings, a monastic order that practices self-mutilation in order to draw closer to the ideal feminine represented by the One True Queen.

In other words, Celestia has a cadre of eunuchs on her staff.

The Geldings are rivals of the Sacred Order of Timekeepers, a Stoic school I introduced in "Chronomistress." These two ideological camps, in A Mighty Demon Slayer Grooms Some Ponies, are depicted as polar opposites in the exegesis of the Aponycalypse of Starswirl the Bearded.

3340008

He is head not only of Celestia's household, but of the Benevolent Fellowship of Geldings, a monastic order that practices self-mutilation in order to draw closer to the ideal feminine represented by the One True Queen.

I was afraid something like that might be the explanation. :fluttershysad: That takes Celestia, and Equestria, pretty far OOC for me.

3340008 I know this is late, but I was reading something that brought this conversation to mind. The thing is, eunuchs have little practical use to Celestia. Eunuchs were in oriental courts because they were ineligible to take the throne due to not being able to produce an heir. It was a practice of paranoia.

Celestia is a functionally immortal demigod who moves the sun around for a living. She should have no reason to feel threatened by her advisers. Therefore, castrated members of court serve no purpose. They might in lesser kingdoms and duchies with mortal rulers, though.

This... This ending, I like it!

3495907

Well, yes, or to guard the harem or whatever. In this case, there's another excuse: the Geldings practice self-castration for religious reasons.

3506210 Which opens the theocratic can of worms as practitioners of other beliefs (like the Timekeepers) probably feel threatened that such fanatics are so integrated into Celestia's court. She needs to at least look like a secular ruler.

3506306

As I have things in the Chronoverse, the Timekeepers are also integrated into the court, and they and the Geldings are rivals. Celestia's method of keeping them from going at each other's throats was to put them to work for her and to make them comfy. It apparently worked, as their rivalry has been nonviolent for ages now.

Whether the Geldings qualify as fanatics or not is perhaps debatable, depending on what one means by the word. They have one and exactly one extreme ascetical practice: they castrate themselves because they believe it brings them in communion with the One True Queen. They view themselves as quasi-female, and are analogous to the Hindu transvestite caste.

The Timekeepers are arguably more fanatical. Their rigid Stoicism governs their lives entirely. Metaphysically, they are nihilists, and they look forward to the day when Chronos, that is, time, destroys everything. Their standard way of saying hello or goodbye is, "May you make an especially delectable morsel when Lord Chronos inevitably devours you." That is arguably less sinister than it sounds because, translated into normal-speak, it means, "May you do something worthwhile before you croak."

Probably a greater threat to the government than either of these two organizations, which Celestia defanged in centuries past, is Cloudsdale, popularly called the "Black Capital" because of its heavy political sway. Cloudsdale levies its own taxes on the earth ponies dependent on its weather control, and its government is largely independent of Canterlot. He who moves the weather moves the world, and there are those on the Weather Board who still resent Celestia for eliminating the all-pegasus military, the Equestrian Order, when she supplanted the independent tribal governments.

IRONICALLY. In the comics. Majesty did have a son. One she magically created, Lucky The Stallion.

4180502

Yes, that's referenced in the story.

Incredible. Relaxing atmosphere, but I could feel the tension up until the reveal.

I'm awfully late to the party, but with Scribbler back on track adapting my own foray into Meganistic fiction, I finally got around to reading this one, and I must say it's one of the most deeply researched G1/4 blends I've ever seen. Kudos for your efforts to weld together some jagged edges, and for finding a way to make it all make cosmological sense!

Also, with regards to Megan's name, when one considers that canonically the ancient Ponies spoke "Old Ponish" and the show renders it as something not unlike Old English or Anglo-Saxon, your version of her title might not be as jossed or off-target as it at first seems!

I don't know if you still check this site, but I wanted to offer my regards, one G1 watcher and Megan fan to another.

Well done!

Wow...:pinkiegasp: that was incredible, now I'm definitely going to have to go back and read the rest of your story. If there is one thing I love in fanfiction beyond cute fluff or feelsy stuff, it's world-building, particularly when it comes to making rich and detailed histories. I've read a number of excellent fics in this regard, and you are NO exception, even though I am only passingly familiar with G1 and your stories, in this blog post-pseudo-chapter you have melded the various generations together with a very real sense of aw that I could compare to looking up at the stars and knowing that you are seeing objects not as they are now, but as they were millions or billions of years ago.

Heck of an ending to an already very impressive story. And one of the best set up family revelations since Empire Strikes Back if you ask me!

(I knew there was something unearthly about the woman Megan's dad ran off with, and very briefly I wondered about if she could have been Celestia herself in human guise, but dropped that idea almost immediately; it wasn't something Celly would do, and her description did not fit a human Celestia. In hindsight, it's all there for the reader to see, yet I think most do not see it. Very well done, there! :trollestia:)

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