Epilogue: no more masters
The pair of ponies, one white and one a deep midnight blue, lay on a hilltop overlooking one of the settlements. Down in the valley it was a hive of activity; crude carts were being filled with baskets of food, prepared lumber and the few precious tools the villagers had managed to assemble from scrap material. The ponies worked in little groups, teams of two or three that moved with the choreographed ease of long practice, each member knowing exactly what the others were going to do. Very few spared a glance for the pair on the hill.
Darting around the frantic preparations were the long-legged shapes of the foals. Out of the fifty or so that were visible in this group, all were the same, and all were bare of both horn and wings. In all other respects they seemed like perfectly normal foals: getting in the way and making far more noise than should have been possible for beings of their size.
Faint sounds of their chatter reached the top of the hill, all the things foals normally shout about. Perhaps their wings and horns will come back, when enough generations have passed. Fusion shivered, holding her wings tight against her flanks. I should be thankful the foals can do as much as they can. What would have happened if they weren't smart enough to talk? "Do you think they'll ever forgive us?" she asked Gravity .
The other mare shook her head, flicking her mane out of her eyes. "Eventually, when their foals have grown. It will take a long time for all the effects of the Blessing to wear off."
Fusion nodded sadly. When you have lived with total obedience, with beings you were taught were the direct descendants of the Maker of all things... "I just wish that they weren't teaching their foals to hate us."
"While you are at it, why not wish for foals of our own?" Gravity stretched out one wing and yawned. "Sorry, shouldn't have brought that up. Anyway, not all of them are doing that. I know of one group that isn't. Perhaps it will spread, in time."
"Perhaps. In any case, we can't force them to change their minds." Gravity snorted at this, earning a sharp glance from Fusion. "We've talked about this."
Gravity grumbled quietly to herself, then sighed."No, I suppose not." After that first time, they had discussed it at length, long heated arguments about the merits of trying undo the damage caused by the Blessing. "We can wait them out."
Fusion nodded. "No matter what they think of us, we are still needed -- until they grow strong enough, at least. We will let them make their own mistakes, only interfering when things get desperate. I won't replace the Masters with us."
"No," Gravity said, shivering slightly. "How long do you think we should wait?"
"Several gigaseconds, at least."
"Over sixty years then." No technology meant no accurate clocks, so everypony had gone back to the old style of counting: days and years. "They might have forgotten us. When they see us again it will be like we're completely new ponies."
Wishful thinking, but who knows? "A completely new start." Fusion eyed her sister speculatively, a slight smile tugging at her lips. "It could be like we'd never met. What do you say to new names to go with the new us?"
Gravity smiled back. "Hello, my name is Luna." She deliberately glanced up at the sun, then back at Fusion, her smile widening into a smirk. "Who are you?"
Fusion rolled her eyes. I should have known there'd be no escape from that nickname, she thought. "Celestia, you can call me Celestia."
"Delighted to meet you, Celestia. How about you and I go for a little flight, scout out the route the convoy will take?"
Celestia wrapped her wings around Luna, drawing the mare into a close embrace. "That's an excellent idea, Luna," she said, burying her muzzle in her sister's not-quite-hair mane. "I think we're going to get along very well."
Still smiling, the sisters parted, spread their wings and jumped into the sky. Below, the line of carts had started to move, while all around them played their foals, dancing happily in the bright sunlight.
Happy and, for the first time in a very long time, free.
THE END
Luna and Celestia will return in 'A Method to His Madness.'
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Well, that's it.
The stable door is bolted but the horse has already gone, accelerating away across the sky. If you look carefully you'll see her shockwave against the stars.
9410529
Dude congratulations. Seriously, this has been a massive effort after years of work and you’ve made such a good series. Hardcover books when?
9410586
Thanks -- no one is more surprised than me to see it finished!
I need to proof and edit, especially the early chapters of Wasp. A few months, depending on the level of editing.
i've not read the last chapter . but i can't belive its finally finshed. I've dreaded and hoped for this day.
Thanks so much for all this. I've loved this, the best hard sci-fi pony story.
Excellent story Luna-tic. Congrats on getting it finished
Aw yes! Book marathon, here we go!
With a sluggish weekend shift in front of me (i.e. plenty off-time for reading) this couldn't have come at a better time. If I may ask, are you going to start releasing Book 3 right away or is there still some work to be done on it?
9410619
9410621
Thank you!
9410633
Needs editing and proofing, although it's had a fair bit of work done on it. Hope to start posting in a month or so. Be warned that it's not a direct sequel, but set in the show's (S1/S2) future.
Holy crap, I feel like I'm not just closing a chapter in a book, but a chapter in my life.
I shall wait impatiently and with baited breath for the next story.
9410646
You and me both. Seven years of evenings and weekends. Feels weird.
9410652
I'm going to get on Fimfic tomorrow, casually check my update list for this story and a few others, remember that this one updated recently, and then resume normal activities. Probably a minute or two later I will collapse to the side, remembering that this story is OVER, and now all I can do is curl up and wish for DEATH to take me. What a horrible existence I will now live, if you can even call it that.
9410679
then rejoice as i have that ;
Magnificent work from start to finish, and a most satisfying conclusion. Some say Salrath is still in there, cursed to spend eternity trapped and unable to escape by any means, even death.
Also, I like to think that Vanca became a hero-goddess of knowledge and wisdom among the packs that descended from her refugee party. To what would no doubt be her tremendous embarrassment and frustration, some even say she invented the Maker.
In all seriousness, thank you for an incredible epic. I'm thrilled to hear that you'll still be writing in this setting, albeit more than a millennium later. Looking forward to seeing the gaps filled, especially if you ever address what precisely happened to Cadence and Twilight when they transformed.
And now a parting afterthought:
9410535
Second star to the right and straight on till morning.
Heading East.
The first dome, only a few miles accross ends up being remembered as Dream Valley? Or is that where the next crew are heading off to? the magic is going to have regenerate through some other method than being based on Luna and Celestias lines? Given the Harmony Stones and magic, experiements over the millenia into fractional shard distribution and resource manipulation, maybe why rocks grow and rockfarms, to create Earth stones that are the magic transducers, concentrators, distributors, leading to reality disjunction that get larger and more commonplace the bigger the Earth Rock deposit formations are?
I take it the dragons are using flake layers of graphene to neutron reflect, manipulate off the carbon atoms, unless any of them end up using 238 thermal during the sleeps, or even water content of alumino silicates to govern viscocity etc, an average water based life form would essentially give a small dragon a very bad case of gas, and Harq is large enough, some point between where they become consumable in small quantities?
What few thngs are going to be left from The End that can be recognisable or even rmeembered at all, if even Celestia and Luna no longer exist to them and so will ne new and improved at whatever millenia in the future? So many other races to search out and assist while their little ponies recover, survive and hopefully thrive?
Rememebring the story too much I fell off the reply cliff.
Im sticking this on the shelf with the Big Guns.
Welcome to My Little Pony Culture.
Gah, parts of this made me tear up, in a good way. This story is over. There's clearly more story to tell between here and the Canon-like future, but I don't expect any of that to pop up here for a long while yet.
Didn't you say at some point that you were eventually going to scrub MLP references out of this so you could publish it as original fiction? I'd love to be able to actually purchase this.
9410777
Ah, the ol' bait-and-switch. You got me with that reveal at the end.
Is this going to be a trilogy or there will be no more sequels?
So the day has finally come. What feels like years of avoiding comments, waiting for the orange "Incomplete" box to turn green so I can start reading, it's all over now. Guess I have some catching up to do!
Since I already know I'll love this, I wanted to thank you for the work you've put into writing that. I applaud your world-building and time management skills (that's a lotta words to write when working a mentally-exhausting job, even if you wrote over the weekends!).
Wow. It’s been a part of my life so long, finally done. Awesome work, Luna-tic. It’s the ending the rest of the story deserves.
9410586
Gilded hardcover when?
I am genuinely impressed. Almost
sixseven years since you started Days of Wasp and Spider, and you're still going with a third fanfic in the works. Thank you immensely for the gripping read, Luna-tic, even if that one scene near the end of DoWaS dragged on for a little longer than it needed to.However! There's one thing that I don't get, and it deals with the apparent creation of ponykind by the diamond dogs utilizing the Stones. Recently there's been a bunch of explanation of how the Stones can't actually do anything you don't already know how to do, they just supercharge your currently existing abilities. And the dogs don't understand how ponies function, hence their gargantuan amount of research in Naraka and similar places.
So how could a less technologically advanced diamond dog civilization uplift ponykind at all if they don't understand how to let them utilize magic?
9410777
I recall a comment from some chapter in DoWaS that suggested Cadence was actually in stasis for all of these events, and was eventually dug up from underneath where the Crystal Empire was built. :V
EDIT: I cannot into math late at night.
Game clear. Begin new round: Y/N?
Congrats on finishing another one! Stellar work!
Hmmm...
Last full chapter title reiterates: "A Final Solution."
*sniffles* You trolled just for me, didn't you? As a sop for all the dead ponies I had to bury along the way.
./standing ovation. Just simply amazing.
Congratulations!!!
Thank you for wrighting this.
This was an amazing reimagining of the MLP universe and looking forward to more!
Thank you. Thank you for so much food for thought.
Thanks. It's a strange feeling, knowing this story is finished. Strange, but not unwelcome. Even though you are planning something set in the same continuity as this, the story of how Celestia and Luna came to be has come to a natural conclusion.
I hope to do the same with works of my own, someday.
This has been one helluva ride... but it’s over. And I’m happy it is. I love this story with my heart and mind wholly and never have I ever seen such good writing. Few stories surpass this one, Legacy, Technicalities, Song of Spheres, Diaries of a Madman, and a couple others. I will stand by, waiting for the next book, and the return of Gravity and Fusion.
Man, it's been a ride.
9411498
I'll second that. I only got into this story and its prequel when I joined the fandom just over two years ago, but it's been one hell of a ride since.
9411515
I joined the site in 2012 and the whole thing has been a ride, from Derpigate to the outrage over Cadence to Twilicorn... it's all been one hell of a ride... There were also the things on the site, some of the drama here has been even better/worse.
9411570
Oh wow, Derpigate, was that the whole kerfuffle about the cencoring of the in-episode name call of Derpy/Ditzy? Damn, that kaboom actually something hat caused me to backpedal away from the show way back when I was starting to get intrigued. It was actually called Derpigate?
Oh wow, the promise of a trilogy!
9411617
Yup, there was a big pushback from the fans on it, hard enough that the reasonable people among us were certain Derpy would never speak again... Imagine our surprise 3 seasons later.
They didn't just censor it. They "Fixed" her eyes and gave her a different voice, I prefer her original voice to this day... And have the original episode saved on my laptop.
Honestly though it hit the fandom HARD. Derpy was something we had embraced HARD. The little "Hide and Seek" that was going on with her hadn't made it any better. The original post of it was like having your dream come true, to kids with the same vision issue it was a slap in the face... in the name of protecting their feelings.
Honestly if they'd never aired the original it would have been fine, but they did... for all of 2 days.
Damn good show! An outstanding blend of science and magic all the way through.
I had found Days of Spider and Wasp shortly after I joined the site back in September of 2012... You've took us on one hell of a journey, and now you dangle the promiss of another story infront of our faces? You monster.
Now if you'll excuse me, I'm going to start at the begining again.
9411646
Huh. As an outsider, it was actually something that made me back away from MLP and the fandom. The main thought going through my head at the time was "... they do know they're not the target audience, right?" and it kinda made me second guess wanting to get into a show with a fandom that seemed so rabid.
Pity I decided that, because that mistake cost me several years of getting into MLP.
Damn, that was one hell of a ride. Thank you for sharing it with us.
wow great work
Welp, that's a wrap. Quite the story. Good show.
And so, have some credits musics.
Well, what a ride! Lets see where we go from here.
9410777
I see what you did there -- it would explain why Twilight was so in the dark ("OK, this time I'll say nothing, and we'll see how it goes"); nicely done. I did have in mind a similar framing device.
Vanca would be so annoyed. Mind you, she already thinks everyone else is an idiot, so...
9410792
East, only with a better description...
Dragons are like trolls -- they don't eat people, 'cos they spit the bits out. Could be a useful source of iron, I guess. Just don't eat too fast.
There's an awful lot of dogtech around the world, a fair chunk of it in deep tunnels. Once the pones start heavy engineering they'd find stuff.
9410820
It would be pretty easy, I think. Just a few name changes; the world is already pretty distant from the show. Probably not worth the effort (except for my personal vanity!).
9410843
No direct sequel, yet. Madness is set in the show's future.
9411112
I can make one fight scene the length of a novella. It's a skill! Hopefully I've gotten that out of my system.
The Stones were not made for ponies, but for the dogs. They were also intended to be the targets for mass devotional - type 'usage'. In that mode they work far more like pure wish-granters. The ponies are accessing the universe's machine code directly, while the dogs use a much higher level language, to stretch a computer analogy. Something like that (this story was discovery written, so there is a bit of 'feature drift'; can't have Fusion waving the rainbow wand and just fixing everything!), anyway. This is kind of the reason (in my canon) why Celestia can't 'fix' Luna but the Mane6 can. She knows too much.
=========
Thanks for all the comments, folks!
9412931
If you want teh best example of just how the universe can be simulated by computer code, look at Elite Classic, where planets with trading civilisations dont even exist until you approach them, then consider theres a website which runs a hardware logic description of the entire hardware of an early 90s home computer in real time, in interpreted script. Thats minutes of music videos per floppy disk, by effectively reading the book on which switches to flip at what time.
As for accidental artifacts. Would you expect a dynamic self reconfiguring optical processor using a whole rainbow of carriers to have intresting effects not seen in modern machines? Put a billion of those elements in a foot cube using 3D weave. Keep making cubes. Because its something to do when the average pony is out socialising, housekeeping, living.
Even bigger problem comes when trying to use even part of family history as backstory. Theres only so many Spooks to go round, and given so few, they get all declared in canon when they do turn up. My Grandads War records still havent been released in a form we can find, which puts him in 70 years plus classification. Unless they are elsewhere, but Mums been looking for years.
9410777
"Raised the moon out of reflex...global bombardment"
What
What is going on that there's a bombardment going on while Celestia is telling Sunset stories
Also jeez. I got into this somewhere in early Wasp and Spider, meaning 2012 or 2013, so wow. It has been somewhere between 6-7 years following this.
Time does fly. But this was one of those stories I was going to see through to the end. Lots of questions left unanswered...but that's just fine.
9410839
He'd be busy. Very busy. Finally, a pony that wouldn't need a stepladder!
No, Vanca is safe. Harq is currently a long way away, still in Baur territory.
As for pony immortality: this is currently undecided. My current working plan is a longer than normal life span, but not immortal. In the scheme of things it actually doesn't make much difference -- average lifespan for a human, disregarding old age and just using accidental death data, is only ~500 years or so. They likely wouldn't last into the modern era.
Gasp! Completion! Must reread both fics!
9413450
Simple. There's a bombardment going on in the story Celestia's telling.
I knew that was kind of vague. I was hoping context would keep it clear.
Thank you so so much for this story and all the time and details you put into it.
It's been a pleasure to read and one of my all time favorite on FimFic :)
9410609
and now that the horse is out of the stable, we can listen together to the sound of our SOUL
God i love text to speach
9413645
Yep. The underwater segment is the best one in the movie because it's really the only segment Twilight felt proactive rather than reactive. She made the wrong decision, but at least she had agency for that part of the movie instead of being carried around by the plot
9413867
I mean that was one option I considered, then was like 'But why is there a random global bombardment going on'