Life Goes On
Chapter 23: Life Goes On
The remainder of the season passed quite leisurely for Dawn, despite the fact that there was a swell of business in the teahouse, as many ponies craved a warm drink of spiced tea after time spent out in the bone-chilling cold. Scootaloo's season was a bit more frantic, as she was forced to spend her time working on setting up snowstorm after snowstorm.
Both of them were preoccupied with their thoughts on the matter of Spitfire's offer. Their families didn't fail to notice that Dawn began to spend more and more evenings at Scootaloo's house, the two of them talking, often late into the night.
Hearth's Warming came and went, followed by the Midwinter Gala that celebrated the longest night of the year. As usual, Twilight, along with her friends and their families, were invited to Canterlot to attend the festivities. It had been a couple of years since they had participated in the traditional Hearth's Warming pageant as actors. Celestia and Luna had decided that it was suitable for a different group of actors to display their talents at the show. Besides, with her wings, Twilight no longer fit in the classic Clover the Clever costume.
After an enjoyable few days spent in Canterlot, they returned to Ponyville for the remainder of the season. As per usual for events organized by Twilight, Winter Wrap-Up went like clockwork. There were some ponies, mostly from out of town, who protested the idea of a princess of Equestria organizing such an antiquated affair for an earth pony village. Just like every year, Twilight was all too happy to ignore them, happily stepping in to handle the logistics of the whole thing, assisted by Mayor Mare, who was all too happy to turn things over to Twilight. As it turned out, deferring to the authority of a Princess necessitated less paperwork, which made for happier bureaucrats all around.
Shortly after Winter Wrap-Up, Rumble and Sweetie Belle returned to Ponyville to begin setting up their special home for abused and neglected foals. Softhoof had given the pair her complete support, throwing the full weight of her authority behind the project. Rumble spent the next few weeks on the move around Equestria, looking at prospectives in orphanages, foster homes. At the same time, he was performing his duties as one of Softhoof's field agents, examining the situations of foals in their homes.
The arrival of spring also meant the beginning of the new school year and, with it, Dawn adopting his new role as a supplemental instructor for Ponyville Elementary, assisting young pegasi with exercising their wings and learning how to get off the ground. Dawn actually found himself reveling in the opportunity to nurture the young fliers. Before he even realized it, he was gravitating from facilitating an exercise in wing-development to full-on flight lessons, often at the request of grateful parents, who were more than happy to pay Dawn for his work. Realizing just how much he enjoyed this, Dawn soon began talking with Cheerilee and making plans to set up a Ponyville-based flight school.
The idea would take a few years to get off the ground, given that Dawn had no real pull or influence as an educator outside of Ponyville. However, Spitfire was willing to work with him to go through the necessary training, as well as building the necessary credentials. Dawn would probably spend several months out of the year teaching at a beginner-level flight school at first before successfully setting up his own flight school. But it was a start.
Before any of that, as summer rolled around, another major event took place, the dual weddings of Twilight Sparkle and Rainbow Dash...which ponies had to be careful not to accidentally misconstrue as the wedding of Twilight Sparkle to Rainbow Dash (sadly, success on that front was somewhat limited, much to their embarrassment). Twilight would have preferred a quiet wedding in Ponyville, possibly out in the orchards of Sweet Apple Acres. However, given it was effectively a Royal Wedding and the other mare getting married on the same day, in the same ceremony, was none other than Rainbow Dash of the Wonderbolts, and the chief organizers of said wedding and its following reception were none other than Rarity and Pinkie Pie, it was only natural that things quickly ballooned beyond Twilight's wildest expectations. Ponyville, for a brief couple of weeks, experienced a boom in population that temporarily catapulted to the position of third-most populated city in Equestria (despite still being a village according to all other forms of classification). Matters were not helped by the fact that Princess Cadance, her husband and daughter in tow, insisted on coming down from the Crystal Empire to officiate.
Any objections to the fact that Arkenstone, still known as the humble proprietor of a Ponyville teahouse to the vast majority of Equestrians, was marrying a princess were quickly swept away in the festival atmosphere that Pinkie stirred up, the excitement of her party cooling even the hottest of tempers and blunting the sharpest of tongues. There were plenty of ponies willing to wish them well, including a few of Arkenstone's fellow Knights, many of whom stopped by the pass on their blessings or (in Sunset Shimmer's case) taunts. Even Swift Stride visited, according to rumors anyway (as nopony actually saw him there), delivering a wedding gift for Twilight in the form of an exotic Zebrican tome unearthed from an ancient ruin that, much to Arkenstone's surprise and relief, was not booby-trapped in any way. It didn't do much to amend the mistrust Arkenstone had for the shifty stallion, especially considering that Swift was the chief suspect for placing the whoopie cushion on Arkenstone's seat at the reception, right before he finished his speech and sat down to an attentive audience (The subject was a matter of some debate as a few ponies opined that Rainbow Dash was looking suspiciously innocent at the time).1)
With all the hubbub surrounding Twilight's wedding, it would have been considered miraculous that Rainbow's wedding to Soarin' didn't fade into the background. Fortunately, Rainbow had her own advantages. She was escorted into the wedding with her own honor-guard of Wonderbolts, doing a ceremonial flyover before finally landing at the altar, looking spectacular in the blue wedding dress with gold embroidery laid out in a style matching her Wonderbolt uniform that Rarity had designed over weeks of painstaking effort (nopony dared to suggest that Rarity might have developed a few gray hairs in her mane as a consequence). As it was, her appearance lost no impact next to Twilight, resplendent in a pale, lilac-colored gown that shimmered and sparkled as though tiny stars had somehow been caught in the weave.
After Cadance gleefully performed her duties and married the two couples, the party was on. The central participants were invited into the large pavilion that had been raised in the open space between Sweet Apple Acres and Ponyville, while the rest of the celebration spilled out into the remainder of the town itself.
Amidst all the excitement and cheer, Dawn and Scootaloo settled into a corner of the pavilion that had been set aside by Pinkie for some of the quieter ponies in attendance. They sat at a table, snacking their way through the food they had fetched from the buffet tables while they watched the revelry, particularly as Twilight and Rainbow danced with Arkenstone and Soarin' to the enthusiastic cheers of the crowd, even switching partners for a brief bit.
"Pretty crazy, huh?" asked Scootaloo, smirking as she watched Rainbow whirl Soarin' around in a spin that took both of them in the air and had the poor stallion hanging on for dear life.
"I thought that was the norm for this place," said Dawn with a shrug.
"Think we'll ever go through that?" asked Scootaloo, looking on wistfully as Rainbow set Soarin' down and then pulled him into an enthusiastic kiss.
"I thought we'd been dancing before," said Dawn with a smirk and a raised eyebrow.
"Stop that, you goof," said Scootaloo, giggling as she slugged him in the arm. "Marriage, I mean."
Dawn's expression turned contemplative. He turned his gaze to Twilight and Arkenstone as the two of them danced much more slowly with one another, leaning against one another, seemingly lost in their own world. "I...think we may," he said. "Unless, of course, you've been looking at other stallions while I'm not around."
"Of course not!" protested Scootaloo. "Like I'd ever cheat on you."
"I thought all mares still looked, whether they're in a committed relationship or not," said Dawn with a chuckle. "There's nothing wrong with looking, is there?"
"You dolt! It's stallions who are always looking." Scootaloo's eyes narrowed as she fixed Dawn with a playful smile of her own. "Or are you just saying all that because you want to justify the fact that you're looking when I'm not around?"
"I look, but no mare ever seems to compare favorably to you," replied Dawn.
Scootaloo faked gagging, letting her tongue hang out of her mouth. "Ugh...That was so sappy and cheesy. You've got to be the sappiest, cheesiest coltfriend ever."
"But still yours?" asked Dawn.
Scootaloo sighed and leaned up against him. "Yeah, still mine."
"So...should I be looking for a necklace then?" asked Dawn.
"Not yet," said Scootaloo, pulling back and tapping his rump with a tiny burst of compressed air, making him jolt in surprise. "We don't have to rush into anything. Look at how long Twilight and Arkenstone waited before getting hitched."
"Admittedly, that was accompanied by many complaints by ponies who were worried that a literal geologic age might pass before they actually went through with it," noted Dawn.
Scootaloo giggled. "True."
Dawn opened his mouth to say something more, but grunted as something...or rather, somepony...landed on his head, nearly driving his chin down into the plate of food set in front of him. "What are you talking about, Big Bro?" asked Larksong eagerly.
"Grownup pony stuff," said Dawn as he rolled his eyes upward to look at his little sister.
"Aww...that's boring," said Larksong. "Can we do something fun? Mom and Dad are too busy with Peppy."
Dawn glanced down the table, where Caramel and Fluttershy were carefully minding Pepita as he toddled along the table between them, moving from one parent to the other. Having only recently learned to walk, Pepita's family was most greatly concerned with him wandering off and getting into trouble, as his inquisitive nature seemed to naturally attract him to potentially troublesome situations when nopony was looking. He always seemed a little too fascinated with Caramel's kitchen implements for anypony to feel safe looking away from him in the house.
"Sure," said Dawn, glancing back up at his sister again. "Wedding or not, it's still a Pinkie Pie party. I'm sure she's got something fun set aside, just for ponies like you."
"Yay!" squealed Larksong, bouncing up so that she could clap her hooves together.
Scootaloo giggled and flicked her wings, launching herself up into a graceful roll and spin that allowed her to snatch Larksong off of Dawn's head. "What's this?" she teased. "You're not thinking of making secret plans with your big brother to run off and leave your big sister behind, are you?"
"Never!" shouted Larksong, her protest ending with a shriek as Scootaloo blew a raspberry into her belly.
"Well, come on then," said Scootaloo, tossing Larksong up before landing, using an updraft from her wings to slow the filly's fall so that she settled gently onto Scootaloo's back. "Let's go find some fun games. If you're a good filly, we'll even fly you later."
"Yay!" shouted Larksong.
Dawn smiled as he prepared to join Scootaloo and Larksong. An inquisitive coo drew his attention back to the table, where he saw Pepita looking at him with a pleading expression. "Did you want to come with us?" he asked, smiling as he approached his little brother, who had finally wandered past Fluttershy so that he was between his parents and Dawn.
"Ya!" shouted Pepita, settling back onto his haunches and raising his hooves. He was still getting the hang of that whole talking thing. But his intentions were plenty clear.
"Well, I'd never want to leave my favorite little brother out of the fun," said Dawn, taking Pepita off of the table and settling him between his wings.
"Have fun," said Fluttershy as she and Caramel leaned against each other, all too happy to have a moment to themselves, grateful that their eldest was more than willing to mind his younger siblings for them.
"We'll probably take them straight home and put them to bed when we're done," Dawn said as he traded nuzzles with his mother.
As he and Scootaloo set off, Fluttershy sighed and settled her weight against Caramel, wrapping her wing around him and nuzzling his cheek. She looked back at the rest of the reception, where Rainbow and Twilight were still having the time of their lives with their respective husbands. "I can see it already," she said.
"You mean when Dawn and Scootaloo are out there?" asked Caramel.
Fluttershy giggled. "Yes. Although, I suppose that's still a ways off. But I don't doubt that I'll see them there someday."
"Me too," said Caramel.
"By which point, the boy will finally be ready to move out of the house," commented a familiar voice that was practically sarcasm incarnate.
Fluttershy didn't bat an eyelid, merely sliding her placid gaze along until she beheld their visitor, a familiar-looking asymmetric creature seemingly stitched together from various animal parts. "Hello, Discord."
"Hello to you too," said Discord cheerfully.
"And will we see you out there too?' asked Caramel with a smirk, looking past discord to the other guest that joined them at the table, a familiar earth pony mare with an orange coat and fuchsia mane.
"Oh heavens no!" protested Discord, waving his paw and claw emphatically. "Marriage is not for me. It's so static and...committed and..."
"Oh?" asked Melon, smiling playfully as she nuzzled up against Discord's side. "Does that mean you're calling me static?"
"N-not at all, my dear," said Discord, shivering as Melon seemed to once again find that special spot...which should have been impossible as he kept moving it around.
"It looks to me like she's got you wrapped around your hoof," Caramel noted wryly.
Discord grinned and shrank down to a fraction of his size and curling around Melon's raised forehoof like a bizarre bracelet. "Lies, I tell you, lies!" his now-squeaky voice protested. "It's not an addiction! I can quit whenever I want!"
"Oh, I don't think you can," said Melon, leaning down and planting a kiss on the top of Discord's tiny head.
Caramel and Fluttershy laughed as Discord's minuscule cheeks burned red. It was a bit bizarre, and, perhaps fittingly for a living manifestation of chaos, completely unprecedented for Discord and Melon of all...creatures...to develop a relationship. It seemed like yesterday that, at Celestia's behest, Fluttershy and her family had supervised Discord's reformation. Much to the amazement of everypony, a part of that process had apparently included hitting it off with Scootaloo's mother of all ponies, something that Scootaloo herself still found unsettling to no end (which, of course, left Discord tickled pink, often literally).
Fluttershy leaned against Caramel with a happy sigh, content that she had everything she could ever hope for in life. As Discord and Melon continued to tease one another in the background, she settled down to watch the remainder of the reception as her friends celebrated this most momentous of days.
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You know you're going to have to make a prequel to this epilogue story now to cover Discord's reformation, right?
Please?
I called it
(My reaction and imagination to this unexpected pairing...)
Me: *Salutes to Discord* Well, good luck sir...
Discord: I don't think I'll be getting any soon...
Me: Oh right. Just try to survive...
Discord: And you're just gonna up and leave me to my fate?
Me: ... Yeah. *Starts running for it*
Discord: ... Please come back to visit, friend.
...that moment when you forget to track the story, and find out that the story has been updating.
Hehehe... Swift makes his flatulent return!
Well, that was on the list... though we need to know how!
10>1 that it's for becoming Knights.
100>1 that it's their wedding.
7351365 I imagine that would be one of the 'Interlude' chapters most likely.
7339706
Called it
Damn, I lost the pot.
Whaaaaaaaaaat??????????
Did not see any mention of Cellie or Luna. Did they not get invited?
Called it! As of two chapters ago, but still...
7351365 I second that.
is it strange I saw this comeing the moment I read mellon had a boyfriend?
Okay, I wouldn't have been surprised if melon was dating a talking sapient rhubarb pie, but DISCORD!?!?!?!
I WAS NOT EXPECTING THAT!
Was not expecting that!
Discord!? sorry man you deserve this.
well
i expected weird and awkward and you did not disappoint
7351417 1000>1 both
7351417
I'm gonna hedge my bets here. Put me down fifteen for scoots being a knight and 30 for them marrying.
Also, I guess discord could be a sentient rhubarb pie if he wished it.
To be honest though mog, this came so far out of left field and with no warning that I'm still trying to figure out why there's a lump on my head. Unlike pretty much every other development in the story there was no allusion to this, no foreshadowing or hints or anything. Just bam, suddenly discord's a character.
And I really dislike that. Granted, I completely understand that it would be a hell of a lot of work to on your part to do that, and it's one small gripe in and otherwise awe-inspiring series, but I felt it would be replete of me to not point out the flaws that I find, especially when I so readily point out my likes.
And we still have no idea what the Still Way does. I wanna see it in action!!!
Discord and Melon Cream, huh,
Well, I saw that coming. Well, it was either that or Time Turner, but he's never been described as weird.
Unless, of course, somepony uses him as the Equestrian version of the Doctor.
Aw, we missed out on all the shenanigans regarding friction between Dawn and Discord? I had been looking forward to that.
No mention of if Coco Pommel is pregnant or not.
7351393 for you my good man:
7351573 nope. They would probably distracted attention from the mares of the moment.
My main disappointment at how this is ending? We don't get to see Dawn and Scootaloo as parents.
knights or wedding?? or both!?!
The Alliteration! It Burns!
We still don't know know if Scoots and Dawn have decided to become knights or not?
damn it man plz
I WAS RIGHT IT WAS DISCORD
HA
Sad to see it go. Hope the next and last chapter is 100k words.
I want a side story just for that courtship of Melon and Discord.
7353164 WHAT!?
WHERE WERE THE HINTS!?
I DEMAND A SIDE STORY EXPLAINING!!
I figured it was Discord with the hints you gave, I just want to know the how.
I admittedly had a few ideas but I was starting to figure it was discord as well.Still it wasn't obvious enough for me to say "I knew it was gonna be discord"
NO WAY!
So.
Melon Cream's boyfriend is Discord.
...
I got nothing.
Dizzy
What
......well played
Naturally, since Flutters is taken, the next chaotically stable thing just followed. 😇