//------------------------------//
// Epilogue: A Humble New Beginning 
// Story: One Wish For Nothing 
// by BlackRoseRaven 
//------------------------------//

Epilogue: A Humble New Beginning
~BlackRoseRaven

The winged unicorn glared furiously across the table at the weird, inverted zebra with the weird skull pattern on his weird face. Lightning almost sparked between their eyes as they both leaned aggressively forwards, trying to intimidate the other... but dammit, he had been like a god back home, and he was still stronger than most of the ponies here in the Orphanage, and he absolutely refused to be intimidated by a weird zebra in weird clothes with a weird accent!
“Y'all ain't nothing but a bag of hot air! Take your crazy ouaouaron, oh mighty folle de la nuit, and scat! Fly off on your silly mismatched wings!” snapped the zebra, and one of the winged unicorn's eyes twitched.
“That's it, La Croix! How about you try flying off, you... smelly jerk!” retorted the pony, and then he pointed sharply at his hated enemy as his horn sparked with green energy before emerald lightning surged out over the zebra.
La Croix squawked, then transformed in a puff of smoke into a pink, plasticky lawn flamingo with faded white stripes and tiny little wings sticking out of his back, the polymorphed zebra staring down at himself before he snarled and rose both hooves as eerie emerald energy glowed over them, shouting angrily back: “How about you have a taste of your own medicine, mon ami Moonflower?”
He gestured sharply at him, and Moonflower yelled and flailed violently as green lightning surged over him before he transformed most of the way into an enormous blackbird, feathers puffing out in all directions as he flapped one oversized wing wildly and windmilled his other forelimb. Then the two glared furiously at each other, leaning forwards and snarling: both knew they couldn't completely transform the other, but that didn't stop them from trying all the same.
“Stop being idiots, you two.” grumbled a third voice, and neither half-bird managed to look up in time before a firm hoof grabbed the back of either stallion's head, then firmly slammed their skulls together. They both yelped and rocked backwards, clutching at their skulls as their bodies returned to normal, looking embarrassedly at the mostly-white winged unicorn mare.
She scowled at them, then shook her head tiredly before saying moodily: “Moonflower, I'm not questioning Hecate here. She's smart. But the Orphanage of Wayward Youth does not have a pack structure, and you are not 'fighting your way to the top' or 'proving you're the ultimate evil.' We don't do good and evil here in Decretum. You should know that by now.
“And La Croix. Don't encourage him. Just don't. You're already in trouble as it is for all the sneaking around you've been doing.” the mare added pointedly, glaring at the zebra, and he mumbled and dropped his head, reaching up to adjust his top hat awkwardly.
“Alright, alright, Cygne. Ain't no need to take that tone with us, we ain't dumb.” La Croix grumbled, and then he scowled over at Moonflower, adding grouchily: “At least I ain't. Don't know 'bout him none, though.”
“I am a genius. I destroyed my world, remember? And then I brought it back because I was bored. I don't know anyone else here who was put on trial. And as much as I like you, Cadence... I feel that I should not have to remind you that I'm not here by choice. This is my punishment.” Moonflower said testily, reaching up and carefully adjusting his coiffed mane.
Cadence shook her head slowly, then she sighed and said softly: “Look, Moonflower. I know it's hard to adjust at first. I had trouble, too... even if... a lot of things happened to me on my world and coming here was the best choice I could make, because it saved Daddy.” Cadence reached up, touching her own breast silently and tracing over a pink, bird-like pattern over her front, giving a brief smile. “But this is a good place. You're going to enjoy it here. And I'm personally really happy that you've been assigned to our little team... we can do great things together.”
Moonflower only grunted noncommittally, but then he sighed tiredly and reached back to silently rub at his cutie mark: a glowing white flower with a swirl of magic sparkling around it. “I don't understand why I can't go by Morpheus though. Or why I can't cover up my cutie mark.”
“I wish I still had my cutie mark.” Cadence murmured, glancing over her shoulder at the faded streaks of color that were all that remained on her haunch. And then she shook her head quickly, glancing back ahead and saying softly: “It's part of who you are. We don't hide from who we are here... we use who we are and who we've become to help protect the worlds. Hecate has taken something evil and terrible and... made it into a hub to defend all the parallel worlds from evil. You saw how easily she can travel between worlds, after all... and there's lots of other things that can hop between them too. Things that most ponies can't fight against. Things that the worlds might not be ready for.”
“Like me!” Moonflower said cheerfully, holding up a hoof... and then he scowled when La Croix snorted in amusement. “What do you find so funny, zebra?”
“You be a little fou, that's all.” La Croix said dryly, and then he sighed when Cadence gave him a pointed look, holding up his hooves and complaining: “I ain't gonna start no fights, mademoiselle! But he fou. That's all there is to it.”
Moonflower glared, opening his mouth... and then he blinked in surprise when Cadence said pointedly: “He's our teammate, La Croix. That means we have to at least try and be friends. And even if we're not friends, we still have to trust each other and work together. So come on. Try, okay?”
La Croix sighed tiredly, then he dropped his head and nodded grumpily before he looked over at the winged unicorn... then frowned at his look of surprise, asking moodily: “What? You ain't never had a friend before, folle?”
“I've had many friends! All the friends in the world!” Moonflower argued hurriedly, and then he huffed and shook his head before looking awkwardly at the two. Cadence tilted her head curiously as La Croix looked at him with entertainment, and then Moonflower huffed before turning away and grumbling: “Oh shut up.”
But all the same, he smiled briefly for a moment before suddenly spinning back towards them, asking in a suddenly cheery voice: “So have I ever told you two about how I once destroyed the world? And all by myself, too!”
Cadence rolled her eyes as La Croix groaned and grabbed his top hat, yanking it down over his own head, but Moonflower only grinned. Maybe he was in a strange place on some kind of crazy parole, still not entirely sure what this place was or what he was supposed to be doing... but maybe, just maybe, there was a little bit of hope for the future after all.









Be he a King of Gods or a God of Kings;


He has no meaning without a people to rule.








February 17th, 2014 – March 3rd, 2014