//------------------------------// // Epilogue // Story: Perfect Game // by Player 4 //------------------------------// "I bet I can sort these faster than you!" "Challenge accepted!" "I also bet I won't miss a single one!" "Go for it! But here's the deal; the challenge only applies to you! One red apple in the yellow container and you lose, regardless of what I do!" "Um... you two know the tournament is over, right?" This was the aftermath of the perfect game competition that had raged a competitive cloud over Appleloosa during the past eight days. Ponies giving it their all to be the first to achieve a perfect game, trying to keep others from doing so, exercising their self-confidence; the long ordeal had changed the city's emotional landscape during its run. And currently, it's only the first day post-competition, so it's easy to see why the ponies, who are just starting to return to work, are being competitive with each other in their job tasks. The competition fuel they built up from the perfect game period had not been exhausted yet. And then there's the sheer difficulty of processing the fact that it's over. That competition, being what it was, had gotten cemented into the routines of the Appleloosa residents. Whether they were a fan, a player, or something else, it was something that they were preparing for every day. Keeping track of the times. Pouring their heart and soul into it. Waking up with it in mind. Packing their purses for the game. There also wasn't much else to to think about besides the competition, given that it paused most other activity. "Alright, I guess it's time to wake up for the next game... oh, right.", one pony says in the morning. "We still don't have a perfect... oh no, wait, we do.", another says. This happened at work too! "Shoot, I think I have slightly forgotten how to work this thing.", one mare says at her apple juicing job. You can't blame these ponies. That competition definitely was something! The starting point that featured sudden, rapid excitement for the new scheme that later generated a very swift adoption from the EHA and Wonderbolt-fast entry into a competition that interrupted Appleloosa's centuries-old work schedule. The beginning of the competition that was plagued by uncertainty, tough decision-making, and sadness from its inventor. Then came the period of ponies constantly coming up just short... it was an absolutely wild ride that didn't seem like it would ever come to an end. But it has. All has been said and done. The perfect game has been achieved, the trophy has been awarded. Those eight days of chaos: gone. In the history books. Something that is now being looked back upon, rather than currently happening. However, as we said earlier, the effects of it are still lingering. One such thing being the disappointment of the ponies who had lost. Especially for those who had gotten very close. While Autumn was the only pony to hit nine ringers in a row, let alone ten, many ponies almost got nine, and some of them might have if they had kept playing after one early miss. A few of those players had set up places for the trophy to go in case they won, and those players look at the empty spaces with tears. They now have a hole in their lives. After all, they are pros. They get paid to do this. And they missed an opportunity to have the greatest sports achievement ever on their resumes. Because of this, not everypony has returned to work yet. Some of the players don't feel like getting out of bed, because they're too stung from the loss. All that makes for a perfect landscape of a situation like this. If you were to go to Appleloosa today, you would notice that it looks like a place that's in phase 1 of returning to normalcy after a history-changing event. It was history-changing. The ponies living in the countryside town are confident the tournament will be remembered for generations to come. Now, what about the aftermath with the pony who won? Autumn Apple? How's she doing right now? She's about to have a nice hangout. Autumn's friends Shoeshine, Applejack, and Rainbow Dash had to go back to work as well, which in turn meant going back to Ponyville, as that's where they live. But they couldn't leave just yet; they had to stay one more day for a close moment with their trophy-winning friend. But without the craziness of yesterday, as Autumn's initial tear-dropping reaction to the top-tier achievement she had reached yesterday has now mostly waned off. The deja vu is gone. All Autumn feels now is happiness. After the unprecedented night ran its course, she kicked off the new day by making an update to her "life achievements" book. In the sports section, she was able to change the number beside the word "championships" from 0 to 1. Yes, it was the first time she had made it to such a monumental high. Autumn had a won a few division and conference titles while playing in horseshoe tournaments that used such a format, but never an entire league championship. That is, until yesterday. The trophy also found its home; it was placed in the top row of the brown shelf that sat behind Autumn's bed. She would get a view of it, and in turn a reminder of what she had done, every single day upon waking up. She did so this morning, and is keeping the emotions in her as she hangs out with her friends. "All I can say is that I'm intensely grateful.", she says after walking out into her frontyard. "How many ponies will ever win a professional sports title? That's right, not many. I must keep in mind that I am blessed to be one of them." "That's right; you really are blessed!", Rainbow Dash says. "That's something I have to remember too; only a tiny percentage of student Wonderbolts actually become Wonderbolts!" "But it's not just a blessing; you earned it!", Shoeshine says. "Aww," Autumn says as the four of them pull into a group hug. If there was a camerapony around, this would make for a great picture. In addition to the hugging, Autumn's house was in the background. It has a brown wood structure decorated with red, orange, and yellow highlights; that and a four-way hug would make for a social media-worthy image. If Equestrians had social media. After the hug, something else pops into Autumn's mind, which she then proceeds to vocalize. "However, there is a caveat to this.", Autumn says. "Yeah?" "The thing is, during that whole endeavor, with the tournament, we were talking about that 'perfect game' stuff in terms of getting those 10 consecutive gold ringers for that perfect 90 score. That is a perfect game, and of course, I am the one who did that." "But I couldn't have possibly done it without the support of the wonderful ponies around me." "I know that sounds obvious and cliche, but just think about it." "Starting off at the beginning, Applejack, remember how at the time when you were just testing out the new scheme, you noticed me playing on the streets and decided that you should introduce it to me? I heard you say 'That's one of my cousins; let's go to her!'" "Yup." "While I'd still be your cousin regardless, I don't think I would have accepted the invitation, much less been so eager about it, if you hadn't always given me so much love over my life. Even though we don't see each other a lot, we capitalize on the times that we do!" Applejack smiles and tips her hat to Autumn, after which Rainbow Dash speaks. "Right! If you two were on bad terms, I don't think Autumn would have wanted to play with us.", Rainbow Dash says. "Probably not!", Autumn responds. "And then when we got to the tournament, I of course had that incident where I hung my head down in shame because of a bad play and the ensuing crowd reaction. And then fell into a puddle of doubt and sadness." "Remember how I considered dropping out there? Well, I'm almost sure I would have done so had it not been for the intensely generous hooves I was lended." "That organized help event, where I got to sit down and receive a gentle, heartfelt talk... I can't comprehend it. It was so sweet of those ponies to do that for me." Yep! And then after that help event, she ended up the champion! Rainbow Dash chimes in again with this fact. "You have a situation where perseverance got you to where you wanted to go!" "Yes!", Shoeshine adds. "And as you said, it probably helped you get there, because you used the bad feelings against themselves!" "I hear ponies say this a lot: 'One day you will look back on this and be glad you didn't give up.' Couldn't be more true!", Rainbow Dash adds. "Absolutely!", Autumn says. "All that stuff that I spoke of, the kindness, it did help get me to the championship. But that's not what matters the most." "Even without the championship, overall kindness and willingness to put aside your own schedule to help somepony else is still incredibly important to me. I need it in my life regardless, especially when I struggle with loneliness. I still can't find a good roommate, and I don't always have any music tasks." "My overall point is, you three and many others have been nothing but great at showing true love for me, and that is the real perfect game." Wow. This statement hits the others' hearts hard. "Aww, come here.", Shoeshine says, touched by Autumn's deep, rich comment. The quartet of ponies stand on their hind legs, wrap the front ones around as far as they could stretch, and lovingly gather in a tender group hug. Beautiful. Whether familial, platonic, or romantic, (the former two in this case), love makes the world go round. It did throughout that competition, and will continue to do so. As Autumn said, the championship is less important, but of course, it's still awesome. Looking back on the tournament itself too, it's definitely not something that will be forgotten about! What a journey this was. What a ride. What a life.