Epilogue
EPILOGUE
“Gambol?!” Rush said aloud, “I do NOT gambol! I have perfectly good poise and posture, thank you very much.”
Celestia tossed her mane irritably, “You do, and Mayor Pink Moss noticed it too.”
“Oh, Mayor Pink Moss noticed it, did she? Well, that makes it alright then doesn’t it! She wants to keep that oversized muzzle of hers out of our business” Rush replied with a loud snort, “Why you always listen to that blustering buffoon is beyond me.”
The Princess put down her newspaper and took off her spectacles, “Pink Moss is a very hard working pony” she replied.
“And I’m not, is that it?” Rush huffed, “I’m up to my fetlocks in patients with every manner of problem from sore hooves to mane mange, and I can tell you: Mayor ‘Brown Nose’ wouldn’t last five sodding minutes dealing with what I have to every single bloody day!”
“Don’t call her that, it’s not nice” Celestia admonished, “And will you stop that swearing!”
Rush snorted, “Bloody bureaucrats.”
“And there you go again!” Celestia said angrily, “Just because she’s a palace official doesn’t make her…” her eyes went wide, “Did…did you just blow a raspberry??”
Rush smirked.
“Ooh! You’re infuriating!” the Princess snorted, “I wonder what I see in you sometimes!”
“A pony who gambol’s apparently” Rush muttered, returning to his paper.
Celestia’s eyes went wide, “Rush, you-”
“-Anyway, I’ve seen you pronking when you think noponies looking” Rush chuckled, “Very ladylike I must say!”
The Princess’s cheeks flushed bright red, “Why you…! I do NOT pronk!”
“Pfff! Tell that to the gardener” Rush said with a wave of his hoof, “Good job the old fart keeps his mouth shut. I couldn’t believe what I was seeing this morning. Honestly Tia, I didn’t know where to put myself!”
“Gah! You…!” Celestia got up and stormed to the door.
“Where are you going?” Rush asked.
“I’M GOING TO BLOODY WELL PRONK, AREN’T I!” she bellowed.
The door slammed shut, rattling the windows and upsetting the small wooden box on the shelf. Shaking his head, Rush trotted over to push it back into place and paused. Carefully, he took it down and traced his hoof along the words inscribed onto the carved sides. It was such a small thing: incredibly well crafted and made with real dedication, care and passion. Once, the words had looked to him like little more than scratches on the smoothly polished surface. Now, he could read them with no effort at all. He read aloud,
“From one to another, another to one, a mark of one's destiny singled out alone, fulfilled” He turned the box and read the inscription on the other side, “From day to night, from darkness to light. From the other to here, the lost now found.” Rush marvelled at the delicate carvings of the ponies on the sides; one side representing the night, the other the day, “I wonder what all means” he muttered.
“It means what it means” the Goddess said, sitting down in the chair beside him, “Nothing more.”
Rush closed his eyes and smiled; he just loved the way the in-laws could effortlessly materialise in the bedroom with complete abandon… Still, he had a soft spot for Tia’s mother, despite their occasional spats. He turned the box over in his hooves,
“It’s a prophesy, isn’t it.”
The Goddess shrugged, “It means different things to different ponies” she said cryptically, “A prophesy to some, hope to others. All I can say is that it was made a long time ago, so its true meaning, if it ever really had one, has probably been lost in time.”
Rush raised an eyebrow, “’Probably’.” He smiled, “But now, it’s just an empty box.”
“Oh, I think there’s something in there, Rush, something that you can’t see with your eyes, but with your heart.” The Goddess smiled, “…Love.”
Rush felt his heart skip a beat, and carefully closed the lid, placing the precious box back on the shelf. “Will she ever have her full powers back?” he asked.
The Goddess gave him a sad smile, “Perhaps one day. Her father was very angry with her after she banished Luna, and locked a large part of it away as punishment.” She sighed, “He can be very…’difficult’ at times.”
“I still haven’t met him.” Rush replied quietly.
The golden mare laughed, “Oh, you will one day, don’t worry about that!” She gave her mane a shake and levitated up a cake from the stand, “He knows all about you already, you know.”
“I know!” Rush squeaked, “That’s what worries me! I’m half expecting him to pop into our bedroom one day and-”
The Goddess rolled her eyes, “We do have some discretion, Rush.” She chuckled, “Besides, the King just takes a little longer than others to get used to new ideas, that’s all.” She took a dainty nibble of the cake and dabbed the crumbs away, “Anyway, how are things between you and my daughter? Are you still fighting?”
Rush groaned, “Sometimes, but…I don’t know, it’s usually over nothing. One minute we’re having a row over too much chocolate cake and the next thing we…erm…”
The Goddess raised an eyebrow, “Yes?”
“Erm…we make up” Rush finished, his cheeks burning.
“Oh.” Smiling, the Goddess leaned down and picked up the book on the coffee table that had caught her eye, “Eternity Lost” she read, “Have you read it yet?”
Rush nodded, “I’ve just finished it.”
“What did you think?”
“It was heartbreaking!” Rush replied animatedly, “One of the three sisters was cursed for all eternity for murdering the stallion who had wronged her.” He shook his head, “Murder is one thing, but to find out afterwards she’d been wrong and that he hadn’t cheated on after all, only to be put to death and cursed to never be with her beloved again even in the afterlife… Dear Gods…” he closed his eyes, “I can’t help but feel sorry for her, you know.” He gave himself a shake, “Still, it’s only a novel. Thank goodness it isn’t real; I need to be able to sleep at night!”
“Yes…” The Goddess said distantly, “Only a novel.”
“Huh?”
“It doesn’t matter” the golden mare smiled, “Now, excuse me Rush, I must return home. My dearest does fret so when I’m away from him.” She paused, “Oh, and Rush? Don’t be too hard on Celestia, she has a little more of her father in her than she’d care to admit.”
Rush nodded and bowed as the white glow of magic enveloped the Queen of the eternal herd, beckoning her back to its blue skies and green pastures. He smiled to himself; it was a place he would go to some day, and then what? Would Tia be able to see him still? He felt a shiver run down his spine; it didn’t do to dwell on things that he couldn’t change. Picking up his hat, he flipped it up onto his head, waggled his ears into place and trotted off after his Princess. As he reached for the door he paused, turning back to look at his old sword hanging up on the wall; it would be time for the sun raising ceremony soon, and he would be there in his best coat and hat with his old battered sword at his side watching his beloved mare raise the sun into the heavens. He rolled his shoulders and headed out, giving Lilly a wink as she trotted past with her cleaning trolley. She stuck her tongue out at him and laughed, vanishing around the corner in a clatter of bottles and mops.
“Off out, mate?” Grove asked.
Rush grinned, “Hey, what can I say; the ponies of Equestria need me.” He treated the guard to a twirl, “Good to go?”
Grove adjusted his spear and gave his friend an appraising look, “Meh…passable.”
Rush grinned broadly. The way he saw things, today was the start of a new beginning, both for him, for Tia, and for Equestria. He bobbed his head to the guards, set off at a trot and headed out into the bright sunshine of another glorious day - a day beneath the warming light of the Princess of the sun.
THE END
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You know I was fully expecting that this story would end with Rush's death from either old age or through some other means, but when he sacrificed himself to save Lilly I really thought you were going to let him die there. That would have been a terrible ending after all they had gone through, but I forget that no matter how bad things go in your story's they tend to end on a positive note and I really like that about them.
Thanks for sticking with it, this series has been amazing so I await for whatever you decide to cook up next.
7429706 I'm glad you enjoyed the latest story, and thanks for sticking with the series too. Personally, I like to read comments left by readers like yourself, as it helps me to gauge not only how the story was received but where i may need to improve or change future publications. I suppose there's also a little of the old ego massaging going on there too of course, but...y'know! Joking aside, I actually do take on board what people tell me, so criticism is always welcome. Of course, sometimes it's not exactly what you may call 'constructive' but that's the nature of the internet.
I'm going to be heading back into the territory of Fairlight now, as WTSM was actually meant as a spin off from the original series due to the way i had, rather unintentionally, made Celestia out to be a heartless harridan! I think i've explained why this came about and redressed the balance with the the last three books.
The next story which is in the pipeline is a short story, and will be for *ahem* more 'mature' readers and focusses on the night in the field of sunflowers with Rush and Celestia. It may or may not work, but we'll see.
The main story i'm going to be working on is centered around Silver Spoon, and has a victorian feel to it which i like. It's based in current day Equestria and will tie in with the events of Fairlight. Sooner or later of course, Fairlight book 5 will come out, i'm just not sure when. I'm not in a rush to finish everything as i'm enjoying writing, and long may it continue!
Thanks again for the comments.
Bluespectre
Nice story again! Great work.
To be honest: I miss the others. Like Thorn, Chalk, Gretel, Cyclone and so on. In my opinion it would have been nice to do one or two chapters about those charakters. But thats just my opinion.
Cheers
\m/
7474433 Glad you enjoyed it
I find that side characters can take on a life of their own sometimes, and in some cases it seems a shame not to spend more time on them. What is positive, however, is that there is always the possibility of them coming back in future stories and perhaps even having a story with them as the main character.
After writing the Fairlight series, I found people really liked Thorn, and I plan on writing a story about him some time. That would have to be a stand alone though, as I don't want to divert so much from the main plotline that I end up with a real mess on my hands!
Bluespectre
Read all that in one go, I REGRET NOTHING.
Great story tho i thoroughly enjoyed
7723331 Honestly, it's one of 'those' kinds of words. You can spell it either way and it really seems to be a personal choice, but that's the way i've always written it. If you've got a few minutes to spare you can read:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oxford_spelling
It's actually surprisingly interesting!
7724013 Didn't know it was one of those words, huh. Learn something new every day. Anyways, finally reached the end of this, and what a ride it was. Throughly enjoyed it, and it makes me happy that there might be more to this specific series with the other characters and such. However the future may come, I look forward to it!
7726292 Thank you so much for taking the time to read the stories and i'm really pleased you liked them too. In case you're interested, there is a short 'adult' spin off which is a standalone called Tea for two, but it will only show on the stories list if you have the mature filter off. Of course, not everybody likes that sort of thing! Meanwhile i'm still working on the latest in the series, 'All the Queen's Horses' which is currently around 472 pages and is set in current day Equestria. It has a different flavour from the other stories, not being Celestia centric, but focuses on Silver Spoon, Diamond Tiara, their families and another 'blast from the past'. If you enjoyed Ice Fall you should enjoy this one.
When this is finished i'll be re-writing Fairlight for a wider audience as this ties in with the 'When the snow melts' series. As that is currently rated mature and grammatically a bit 'interesting', it's a bit of a slog - but i like it.
Thanks again
Bizarrely quick-forming relationships aside, the one thing I couldn't stand across all of these stories is the uniformity in dialect. Specifically, in the cursing. Though there are more, the most glaring example of this is Rush himself. From the first book, he's clearly supposed to be Japanese, or at least of some other eastern Asian culture. As such, he's never even heard the word "arse", let alone know what it means. Also, he wouldn't say "bloody hell," or bloody anything for that matter, unless he was referring to something covered in blood. As an author, it's important to be able to write for the cultures you are trying to represent. Otherwise, it ends up hurting the overall piece.
7748651 Thanks for the feedback. The issue of dialect and cultural differences is something i try to be careful with in all my stories or else, as you rightly point out, they risk ending up becoming bland with next to no discernible differences between the various peoples. The equestrians, llamalians, yaks, wendigo and thestrals all have their own heritage and culture which I have tried to be faithful to throughout (And all the other races too of course). As for Rush and the culture he is from, you are absolutely correct - it was 'based' on feudal japan, but I didn't specifically state in the story that it was. The reasoning behind this was that it would give me more flexibility in crafting the world Rush was from as well as his personality. You'll note that the names of the people in When the Snow Melts are not all japanese - Rush being a prime example. In any case, not being japanese myself, this means that i only have a foreigners perspective of their culture from books and film, so i don't feel qualified to make an accurate representation of that culture.
One reader pointed out that Rush's behaviour changes over the course of the stories. This is absolutely true and was intentional on my part. In the chronological order of the books, Rush has been on his own for many years before Celestia finally returns for him and effectively gives him a new lease of life in Equestria. It is there, in a new body and thrown into a completely new environment and culture, that he finds his old way of thinking clashing with the new. I try to bring this through in the story, and Rush himself ends up questioning why he feels and acts the way he does. Whether i have actually succeeded in bringing this across to the reader is different matter!
On the subject of rapid relationships, you're not the only one to feel that some of the relationships in the stories happen quite quickly. The ones mentioned usually are Bracken and Pickles and Rush and Celestia. I would have to disagree that Rush and Celestia are 'head over heels' early on as one reader put it, as nothing happens between them until they kiss at the end of the book. It is then many years before they meet again and also a good way into their increasingly platonic relationship that things finally change in Where the Sunflowers Grow. The relationship between Bracken and Pickles was set up with the premise of an older mare who takes what she wants and Bracken, a young and inexperienced stallion, essentially being dominated by her. A similar situation happens with Bracken and Nightmare Moon, who begins to develop genuine feelings for him after initially intending only to use him. Chalk and Gretel is a little complex too, with Gretel only wanting to play around with him for some stress relief and then finding that Chalk really does care for her. She slowly begins to realise she likes him too and their relationship takes off from there.
Now, not every relationship is the same in the stories, and i understand that not everyone likes 'whirlwind romances', but i've been in enough and known enough people over the years to discover that everybody and every relationship is different. I even knew one couple who had been platonic friends for nearly twenty years because neither of them could make that 'first move' until friends finally intervened. For many people relationships start after just one night out - night clubs being the usual culprit. In fact, met my wife in one, and we didn't set any deadlines for 'physical contact'! The real question i suppose is 'will they last'? Perhaps they will, perhaps they won't, but that's up to the reader to decide.
On the subject of cursing, I have to be careful as this is rated for teens! In Rush's case however, i'll refer back to the fact that although based on feudal japan, he isn't actually japanese. Besides, some things simply don't translate that well from one language to another. In the story i'm working on now for example, you'll find that the children speak very differently from the adults and exclamations of surprise etc, are distinctly more childish in nature. As for dialect, this is a bit tricky with writing but you'll have found some of the characters, like Salty for example, do have a particular way of speaking which is very different from the others. It's hard to bring this across, but i have tried and i am aware of it.
Well, that's enough from me! Thanks a lot for your comments and i have taken on board what you've said, as indeed i do with all comments. It's only through these that i can improve and criticism, both positive and negative (If constructive) can only be a good thing.
Thanks again, Bluespectre
7852450 Thanks. Fixed
Something was bothering me a bit at times, now with the last chapter i know what it is.
Transitions of scenes sometimes leave me totally confused for a moment or two as there is a lack of description regarding the scene in most cases.
Was especially clear in the last chapter after Celestias mother (or someone else, the king maybe heh?) teleported/magicked Celestia away. The next scene shes with rush, mind and grove buying cake. And i have no idea what happened. i assume that the queen sending her away and fate/hope fixing Rushes life-thread changed the . Still leaves me wondering why Celestia would just appear in town with him instead of just her re-appearing in their room and him being fine.
Also that implying with "Eternity Lost" makes me wonder if Fate/Hope is Celestias sister as there are 3 sisters in the story?
Also with the key thing, Fate/Hope is now free to go out every 3 days or what?
Lovely story like the rest of them, always a sucker for happy endings and especially for a happy ending for Celestia.
And so we come to the end... where everything was resolved, why?... erm... I have no idea... how?... uh, don't know that either... what the hell happened at the end there? It was like watching the bastard child of Ghost In The Shell mixed with Akira, perform an interpretive dance while I was high on acid. I don't think I have been this confused since... ever?
7931341 It's not quite 'Total Recall' level befuddlement, but I wanted to leave the reader with something to think about. Basically the premise is that every pony's life is a part of the overall tapestry woven by Fate. Following Rush's untimely death, partly due to Celestia's intervention as well as Fate's own reminiscing about her own tragic past, Fate rethreads the tapestry to effectively avoid Rush's death. As thanks, the goddess gifts Fate with time with her lost love who is referenced earlier in the story. Hope that helps clear it up. I didn't want to end a story by explaining everything as there is more to come with the next few books.
You can has review!
OH YOU LOVELY SON OF A PONY, MAGNIFICANT, ANOTHER ONE, BOOKS FOR DAYS MY FRIEND!
Just finished the first book, I'm stuck into this like treesap on a chicken!
As always, a satisfying story that at the same time leaves one wanting still more. I truly enjoy the 'equinizing' treatment that Tia receives in these stories. As well, the supporting cast is given plenty of quality development that draws the reader in. I only wish that these stories were longer so I could enjoy the world further.
9447803
The Fairlight arc was written alongside this one and currently stands at five stories. I'm still editing and uploading the fifth one, but there should be plenty there to keep you going!
What a wonderful story to read, I'm suprised I missed it between all these years