Two weeks later...
I stand at train station outside of Atlantrot.
A suitcase rests to my left... a turntable case to my right. Both are battered, weathered. Like me.
I smile.
The wind kicks at my mane... growing wilder and wilder.
A train arrives. Its brakes screech, filling the air with delicious crimson.
I stand my ground, even as puffs of stream billow past me.
At last, the locomotive comes to a grinding halt. The conductors shuffle out, then signal to the ponies inside. One by one, the passengers step off, boarding the platform outside.
I wait patiently, my eyes darting through the colors—searching for the lack thereof.
At last, I see the stripes, followed by his muzzle. He's thinner than I last saw him, and his limp mane hasn't touched gel in ages. He pivots my way, and almost instantly his eyes light up.
I grin even harder. My hoof raises.
Dragging a suitcase behind, he shuffles towards me. His muzzle hangs agape... and soon we stand face to face.
How long has it been? Two months? Three?
"Hey there, girl," Beau's voice rasps, a scrumptious amber. His lips curve, and I see those teeth again. A sea of pearls worthy of diving into. "You... uh... you grew your mane out?"
I shrug. I point at his head.
"Huh? Oh..." He shrugs back, raising a fetlock to brush his limp locks. "Haven't... h-had much of a reason to do anything with it. I... uh... h-haven't been on stage ever since... since..."
I exhale, nodding.
He nevertheless powers through with a smile. "So... uhm... I-I got your invite!" He smirks. "The Havaneigh Club. Whew! How'd you land that one, girl?"
I giggle breathily. Then, with my horn, I draw a brightly-lit "V" in the air before dragging it down for a descending loop.
"No way. Capricorn?!" He winks slyly. "So is she the one whose hip you're joined to these days?"
I lower my eyes so he can see me roll them. I point at him, waggling my eyebrows.
"Oh. Me? You mean... uh... me and Merriweather?" He tries to smile, but it's a melting thing. "It... uhm..." A blue sigh. "It d-didn't work out."
I blink, my lips pouting.
"A-a-and it's not b-because of what you think! Although... although that's maybe a tiny part of it... part of everything that was wrong with him... eughhhh..." He rolls his eyes. "What was I even thinking. Gussied up prima donna... I swear..."
I sigh, gazing at him with a melancholic expression.
"But... but it's okay, though, V. Really. It is." He smiles, but his voice is still blue. "He was just a mistake. One of many. Don't worry. One of these days I'll... I'll find him." He gulps. "I'll find Mr. Imperfect. I mean... heh... why would an artist expect any more, huh?" He breathes... he wheezes... his muzzle scrunches up as the tears stream loose.
I drift forward and I enfold him in a hug.
Beau clings to me. I feel his squeaks in my ear. Tiny, precious things between pained shudders.
I smile warmly, nuzzling him close.
His strong forelimbs tighten around me. "I missed you... m-missed you so m-much, girl." He sniffles. The tears grow wetter. "I was worried... worried for so long." A gulp. "Worried th-that I may have chased you away forever... or... or s-something even worse..."
I lean back. I tilt his head up so that he sees me shake my head. Then, with a soft breath, I lean forward and kiss him where the mohawk should be.
Somehow, that's enough to drain some of the blue from his voice. "Someday... you and I?" He sniffs. "...someday we won't be searching no more..." A tender smile. "You think that day's coming?"
I wink and nod at him.
"Mmmmm... goddess..." He wipes his muzzle with a fetlock. "Rrnnnngh..." Roadie Beau rolls his eyes. He stomps a hoof down. "Buck it, V." A strong limb slaps my shoulder as he stand up straight, smiling tearfully. "Let's go Deejaying."
My reply is a grinning thing. I grab my bags. He grabs his.
And we go and do just that.
I love the stringing along, but I'm almost done with it.
Anyone else?
Just me?
Damn it.
I want to see some SHIPS!
6793659
I'm right there with you. I'm enjoying the story, but damn is it taking forever
6793674 At least it's daily.
Yay, we are probably getting a happy ending
"Please keep your arms and legs inside the fic at all times. Enjoy the ride."
Click. Click. Click. Click. Click. Click. . . SSSSssssss.....
The coster slides gently over the crest of its climb. It nearly slows to a stop as it reaches the highest point.
Slowly, ever so slowly, it leans forward...
From here, the magnitude of the future becomes apparent. The now visible loops, twists, and sharp turns can only hint at the intensity of the ride ahead.
Click...
The cart jolts to a stop, now aiming downward, or more correctly, into the belly of the beast itself.
A breeze shuffles by, lightly ruffling hair and clothing. It's somewhat peaceful.
Somewhat.
Click...
A gasp.
Okay, time to stop dancing around. All the pieces are in place, time to either break our hearts or fool us into thinking you've got one.
I mean...at this point there's only one thing left unresolved and it's Tavi
But man has this been a hell of a ride.
It looks like we'll be getting a happy ending after all.
...Inb4 Skirts does the thing.
Poor Beau... he seems like he took it just as hard as Vinyl and Tavi did. Dang... poor dude deserves a happy ending of his own.
'Reuinted things' and no tavi. Cocktease of the year award goes to skirts and FUCK ME IF I'M NOT EVEN MORE TERRIFIED OF A DOWNER ENDING NOW.
This is it. This is the big one!
Almost 200,000 words I have read.
let me down and I'll fucking kill you.
6793847 He has done the thing. If there's another thing to be done... well, damn.
I bet Octavia is working as a prostitute now. Because at this point, I'll accept nothing less than sweet sweet shipping goodness or absolute bleakness.
6794288
I want to simultaneously thumbs up and thumbs down this comment. Because I am right there with you. There's not going to be a happy middle ground for me with this fic. I want it to go all the way with whichever path it takes.
6793659 I'd be right there with you, but I've been reading Appledashery for months now. That story is gonna be circling for years to come.
At least the end is in sight for this one.
6794437 I feel your pain. The end is in sight. How is that one anyways>
tis intimidating!
6794449 It isn't a very... satisfying story. At this point I'm mostly reading it only because it's updated daily, and it's well-written on a chapter-by-chapter basis. It's become a nightly ritual for me: get home; eat some food; read Things, Appledashery, and Austraeoh.
I suppose that Appledashery's biggest attraction and detraction is that it seems to be the story that Skirts takes least seriously out of his three dailies. It's usually pretty lighthearted (except during certain arcs) and filled with puns and self-referential humor. The downside is that despite its already considerable length, Skirts has said that it's only half finished, so the likelihood of any actual Appledash happening before 2018 or so seems low.
6793773 Oh you know skirts is somehow going to do both, and we will enjoy it.
6793659 6793674 I think we are getting really close.
Of all the remaining character arcs...
- Sweetie Belle's found self-actualization through Vinyl. Resolved. (Might get an epilogue to this.)
- Capricorn helped Vinyl embrace and reconnect with Cyan, her past self. Resolved.
- Vinyl's therapy with Terra seems to have gone well. Prolly Resolved.
- Beau's relationship with Merriweather fell through, but he looks to the future for hope. Skirts can leave it at that, with any potential resolution taking place beyond the timeframe of the story.
- Rarity still has it out for Vinyl. Unresolved.
- Twilight is still worried for Vinyl and Octavia, and wants them back as minstrels. Unresolved.
- Octavia's relationship with her father is still strained, due to his obstinance regarding his daughter's future. Unresolved.
- Vinyl and Octavia have yet to confront their feelings for each other. Unresolved.
The last four will probably be resolved either all at once, or in two separate chunks, but the important thing is that Vinyl has the tools to accomplish both: confidence, hope, Sweetie Belle's good graces, and the Cyan/Vinyl album (which will probably be enormously successful). She's well on her way to knocking off the last four with those.
Assuming Skirts intends to follow the same pattern as he does with each Austraeoh book, it's likely he'll close all remaining arcs and wrap up the entire story in the next 21 chapters (which would cap it at 200 chapters total).
I wonder if there's any significance to the fact that she's performing in Atlanta; I don't think the city's ever been mentioned prior to this chapter. Is this a test bed for the Cyan Sings album? What does she intend to accomplish by performing here?
• Can function to an degree without the shades
• Can use vocal cords to an extent without passing out and is recovering remarkably; it has also been at least two weeks since she started using them
• Capricorn thinks highly of the album and signals it will most likely be a success
• Beau's still got her back and she his
• Hopes are high and everything is looking positive
Things do seem to be going well.
6794895 What do you mean austraeoh book?
6794525 Ah. Thank you.
See, clearly Beau's beau needs to be someone with character development and personality. I'm glad they're back together though! Daww....
amazing. as always xD
6794907
I think Skirts is just trying to fit as many ponified city names in here as possible.
6795289
The Things Tavi Says is at 179 chapters, and we're seeing a lot of narrative signals that the story is reaching its conclusion. It's just speculation on my part, but I'm predicting that it'll end at Chapter 200, because 200 is a nice, even number. It also matches Skirts' modus operandi for how he structures one of his other major "daily" stories — the still-ongoing Austraeoh series — which (currently) consists of eight books (seven completed, one ongoing). Each completed book is exactly 200 chapters.
6796255 Are you saying he has two accounts?
6796276 Indeed he does. Several, in fact. Many of them are listed on his user page.
i.imgur.com/Z5sJN4L.png
— ShortSkirtsAndExplosions, his main account
— Blue Harvest, which appears to mostly be cute shipfic one-shots
— Imploding Colon, home of the Austraeoh series
— Just Essay, home of Appledashery
— Disney Princesses, which... um… I dunno.
He may have more alts than these five, but if he does, he hasn't yet revealed them to us.
6796294 I'm jealous now.
6796541 Hear, hear...
6796554 Thanks!
6796255
Austraeoh is his?!
And I thought this story was crazy prolific.
And then they both have an epiphany, get together, bang, and have a happily ever after.
The end.
6797373 He also has a story called... appledashery And while I've not read it yet it is also around 900k words and I believe it updates daily as well. Between this that and austraeoh, He still finds time to write other fics. Guy is a madman. I feel like he could start a patreon and make a living with his writing that way with how much he pumps out.
The V. Abides.
6796255 Maybe it will end at 200, but remember that Appledashery is over 900 chapters I believe and still going, so we'll see what happens.
And I do believe he occasionally enjoys messing with his readers. Like the one update of austraeoh that was like 120 something words so the story would hit 200k exactly.
So while he certainly likes 200's He may be leading up to an end just to open another beginning,
Ohh... Or maybe another book. After all he did make a whole new Account for this story.
Also I keep waiting for the last book of austraeoh to have 200 end on an epic cliffhanger and have it run 201 chapters.
I wish my fics got this much attention too lazy to try I suppose.
YAY! Beau is back! Man I love that guy, he's so cool and chil, hehehe, glad to see them reunited! :D
NIcely done... I wanna hope for a happy ending, but I've heard stories about you Skirts...