The Infestation of Canterlot High School

by Bonster

Epilogue II - But I'll Stay With You Forever

Epilogue II - But I’ll Stay With You Forever

As the dizzying and disorienting effects of form-changing and transdimensional travel wore off, Sunset stepped forward from the base of the Wondercolt statue, and straight into Twilight’s back.

“Why’d you stop moving?” she asked, looking around Twilight’s shoulder.

She quickly had her answer. Apparently, school had just let out—the courtyard was packed full with students, as it always was right after the final bell, and every single one of them was frozen in place and staring at them.

Pinkie Pie smiled brightly and waved, and the rest of the Rainbooms nervously followed suit.

“Oh my god, they’re alive!” someone called out, and the courtyard erupted into the chaotic sound of a hundred voices at once.

“This might be a bad time to mention that time doesn’t flow consistently across dimensions,” Sunset said.

Applejack half-lidded her eyes. “Ya think?”

“Wait, so… how much time has passed?” Rarity asked.

“No idea.”

“Well that’s reassuring,” Lyra sneered.

Twilight hummed and fiddled with her locket. “From what I can tell, it’s anything from a couple days less than the time we experienced to… Er…” she clamped her lips together.

“To what?” Velvet prompted. “C’mon, you can tell us.”

“…To a bit less than a month. B-but that’s a worse case scenario!” she added on quickly as their faces dropped. “If we got lucky, then—”

“After you vanished for two weeks, we thought for sure you weren’t coming back!” a student screamed, somehow managing to be louder than the babble of the crowd.

Twilight stopped talking. The corner of her mouth began to twitch.

“Well, I suppose it could be worse,” Luna said.

Celestia shook her head violently back in forth. “Nope. No, no, nu-uh, nope. I am not doing two weeks’ worth of backed up paper work.”

Suddenly, Velvet pointed towards the doors to the school. “Look! It’s Cadance!”

Sure enough, Dean Cadance was standing in front of the main entrance, her hand over her mouth and her eyes tearing up. She lingered there for a brief moment, then bounded down the steps. She tore through the mass of students, pushing and shoving with a ferocity none present had ever anticipated from the woman, and tackled Velvet, Twilight, and Luna into a fierce hug.

“Oh my god I can’t believe it’s you!” she cried, her voice on the precipice of unintelligibility. “I was just coming outside because one of the teachers told me that all the students had stopped moving and so I wanted to see what that was about but then I saw you and I—I just couldn’t believe it!”

As she paused to take a breath, Luna tried telling her to slow down, but she had barely gotten a syllable out before Cadance’s relieved ranting steamrolled right on over her.

“When you disappeared two weeks ago we were just so crushed—oh, especially Shiny—you should really talk to him, Twilight—but it just got worse and you never came back and the police were stumped! And the students—they talked about these aliens and some portal, but they didn’t really know what happened either, and—oh, Celestia, you’ll be glad to know I took over duties at CHS until you returned—but, oh, I’m just so happy you’re all okay!”

Velvet smiled at her. “Yeah, well, so are we.”

Celestia’s eyes widened. “Wait, the police were involved? Did they find anything out?”

Chrysalis stepped forward. “I can cover it up.”

Celestia sighed. “Oh, thank you, I—”

“I am also going to have to exert more control over your operation of this school.”

Luna’s face wrinkled in disgust. “Excuse you?”

“We almost died!” Chrysalis exclaimed. “Two universes were nearly conquered. And this is the fourth time something like this has happened. This”—she gestured to the portal—“is one of the most dangerous objects on the planet. Most of my colleagues would have me just destroy it!”

Sunset balled up her fist. “You better not.”

Chrysalis rolled her eyes. “I just said I’m not going to. Truthfully, I hope we can work out a mutually beneficial partnership with the Equestrian government down to line, and, as much as you want to paint me like the heartless villain, I don’t want to sever you from your home dimension. Okay?!”

Sunset nodded, but her eyes were still narrowed.

“So what do you want to do?” Cadance asked.

“Set up defensive measures against this sort of thing happening in the future. Put in some more sleeper agents, like Agent Drops. Maybe arm your school with some magical artifacts.”

Sunset’s eyes widened. “You have magic?!”

“No,” Chrysalis said, pinching the bridge of her nose, “we have magical artifacts. You’re not the first one from your dimension to come here, you know, and they leave things behind.

“Look, I… I l—” She made a face. “L—li—” She sighed. “I have… an above average regard for you people. I don’t want to hurt you, I don’t want to seize your school, I don’t want to kidnap you and experiment on you. All I want,” she said, speaking slowly, “is to keep this school, and its students, and everyone else, safe. And I’m damn tired of you people antagonizing me for it. Got it?”

Luna took a minute to stare, and then mumbled, “I think we’ll be able to work something out.”

“See, Chrysalis?” Bon Bon said. “If you tone down the yelling and the swearing and the insults, then people are a lot more receptive to your ideas.”

Chrysalis trained a death glare on her. “Don’t patronize me, Sweetie Drops. And, yes, that’s an order.”

She turned to Celestia and Luna. “We’ll be in touch. I gotta go explain this”—she waved her missing hand around—“to my boss.”

With one final huff, she turned and walked away, the sea of students parting before her as if she were Moses, scared to get in her way.

As she was leaving, Bon Bon grabbed Lyra’s arm and dragged her away, too, saying something about how she wanted a little relaxation after all this excitement. Lyra turned back to the group and stage whispered, “Score!”

Chrysalis’s snort could be heard from a mile away.

Rarity gave Rainbow Dash a sideways glance as their allies departed. “And you’re saying you had no idea they were together before this?”

Rainbow shook her head dumbly. Rarity sighed.

Not too much later, Cadance took Celestia and Luna back into the school, all of them exchanging hollow laughs about the daunting amount of paperwork that would no doubt surround the issue.

“Hey! I know just the thing to celebrate returning to Earth!” Pinkie said.

Rainbow rolled her eyes. “Lemme guess: a party?”

“A PARTY!”

“Yeah, maybe tomorrow, Pinkie,” Sunset said. “I just want to go to sleep.”

Her friends all mumbled their agreement, Twilight already beginning to drag her mother towards the parking lot.

Sunset barely managaed to put one foot in front of the other as she began the walk to her house, her feet dragging against the pavement.

She opened her front door in a daze, practically fell up the stairs, stumbled into her room, and was asleep before she hit the pillow.

---

Thankfully, they had returned on a Friday, so Sunset had the weekend to recover before school was back in session. Not that anybody would think less of her if she stayed home—she was, after all, severely injured—but she didn’t want to get any farther behind than she was already.

Presently, she found herself lazing on her couch, listening to the television drone on about… well, about her.

“The twelve missing people that disappeared from Canterlot High School two weeks ago have thankfully been found,” the TV buzzed. “The rescue has been credit to an FBI special operative, but as she refused to share her face, name, or involvement in the case, that is all the information we have on the subject. The group of rescued civilians have also declined to disclose anything about what happened. In other news, the video coverage of ‘a horse slamming into the Eiffel Tower’ and ‘Goddesses fighting in the sky’ have been analyzed, and professionals say that video editing is an obvious and entirely realistic explanation, despite what supporters are saying. Eyewitnesses remain unwavering in their claims.”

Sunset sighed and turned off the TV. She didn’t want to have to deal with the fallout now. Not ever, really, but especially not now.

She got up off the sofa, got her motorcycle from the garage, and headed off.

---

Sunset soon arrived at Canterlot High, parking her bike and walking up to the statue. Well, if it could still be called a statue. It was more of a stone block now, after Twilight had zapped it.

She laid her hand on the portal’s surface, watching as it rippled and waved at her touch. If she looked hard enough, she could almost make out the reflection of her true form. She wondered if that was an effect of the magic, or if she was finally going insane. It’d be about time.

She’d been so caught up in all the action that it hadn’t really sunk in that she had returned to Equestria. It was something she’d been losing sleep over for so long, and when it finally happened, she had barely noticed.

It hadn’t felt like she’d expected it to feel. She’d thought going back would rouse a melting pot of emotions within her, that she’d be all tears and angst and giddiness, but it had been… underwhelming. And she supposed that made sense; she had been living with aliens in a different dimension that had technological advancements nopony in Equestria had ever dreamed of. Really, the only reason Sunset had for going back home was that she liked being able to use magic.

But they had magic here, too, now. Hell, there’d been magic on Earth long before Sunset arrived. So, really, why would she want to go back?

Because it’s your home, some part of her whispered.

Was it really, though?

Sure, she had friends in Equestria, but she had better friends here; sure, her parents were in Equestria, but they’d all given up on each other long ago; sure, she’d been born in Equestria, but she’d become a whole new person after the Formal. She’d been reborn, if you were feeling poetic.

But was she ready to spend the rest of her life here? There were practical reasons to leave: she was a legal invalid, she couldn’t hide forever, she seemed to cause more problems for Earth than she fixed… And she had this feeling, one she couldn’t place, that seemed to draw her towards Equestria.

Graduation was coming up soon, and she would have to make an irrevocable decision: would she start a life here, or back home?

Or was it start a life at home or in Equestria?

Sunset nearly jumped out of her skin as the ringing of her cell phone split her thoughts apart. She brought it out from her back pocket and looked at the caller ID: Twilight.

“Hey, Twi, what’s up?”

“So, uh, I may need your help to… fix something that happened with one of my experiments? So, I was thinking, wouldn’t it be cool and save money if I could make our house run purely on thaumic energy!”

Sunset facepalmed. Oh, Twilight, for someone so smart… “I can be over there in ten minutes.”

“Thank y—”

Twilight was cut off by another voice, farther away, but still louder. “TWILIGHT, WHAT DID YOU DO?!”

“Okay, I can be there in five if I don’t run into a police car.”

“Thank you so much,” Twilight uttered quickly.

As Twilight hung up, likely to run and hide from her family, Sunset turned from the portal and jogged over to her bike, smiling softly.

She didn’t look back.

Author's Note:

Well, it's over. Thanks so, so much to everyone who's read up to this point, and especially to those who've commented or liked or favorited or followed. It means a lot.

I'm not going to ramble on down here in the notes, though. If you want to see my thoughts on the story's ending and a little sneak peak into how it all came to be, go check out the reflection/behind the scenes/Q&A over on my blog.

Thanks again, and have a good one!

Comments

[Purple Pony]

Is there any possibility of a sequel? Perhaps not quite as action-packed, but perhaps just to see how human Chrysalis handles covering up magic.
I found this story at just the right time. I started reading it last Thursday and finished everything up before this week of updates. Great story, will favorite.

[michaelb958]

Well, this was quite a ride. I liked it. Very original.

[Bonster]

7902458

There will not be a sequel, no. I've about expended my reserve of ideas for this universe.

[Purple Pony]

7903117 DAMN IT!!!!!! I might have to create my own...maybe...
The little voice of reason in the back of my head: DON'T DO IT, DUMBASS, YOU WON'T DO IT JUSTICE!!
What's the harm in trying?
The voice: People will show up at your front door with torches and pitchforks, obviously!
Fuck you, Imma do it anyways!

[Russian Bank Teller]

Did anyone call the police? Notify the national guard?

[Javarod]

Only just found this, and have to say, not bad, some really interesting ideas here, especially your take on the principals along with your quite reasonable expectation that the Rainbooms wouldn't instantly be able to be ponies.

I honestly don't think I would've done much different here, aside from having Sunset ascend rather that turn to her demon self. For one I find it weird how the element of magic did that to her again, let alone her ability to take it from the tree, neither of which I think is believable. I rather like the idea of her being one major selfless act from ascending honestly. That and I've always liked the concept of her getting an element of her own (element of empathy being my favorite). I just imagine Twilight's face when she's freed from the cocoon and sees a battered alicorn Sunset, that'll blow her mind. And imagine Starlight's reaction.

Moving on though, sequel? Why not, there's tons you can do in this universe, does Camp Everfree happen? What other misadventures happen? Do the Rainbooms become Chryssi's Angels... I mean agents? Maybe not strictly agents, but on call, ready to be whisked away to face whatever magical threat Chrysalis deems necessary? Speaking of Chrysalis, what does she do about the loss of her hand? Prosthetic? Or perhaps some kind of weapons attachment system, allowing her to replace it with swords, knives, scythes and so on?

Really there's a ton more you can do just on the EQG side of the mirror, but after what happened on the Equestria side, there's a lot of room for stories there, whether your own, or you allow other authors to build up your universe for you.

[penguincascadia]

Thanks for writing this! Great job!

[MoonlightRift]

Well, I've reached the end.

It was.. an interesting read, to say the least. I have mixed feelings on the story overall. It's alright, but it has some issues with things such as grammar, and overall I felt the start was the strongest and it only got weaker the longer it went on. The Dazzlings felt like something tacked on last minute rather then something that was planned, the changelings were a joke for most of the story, the only time they were interesting was at the start where the story felt more like a mystery, which was honestly what I was hoping for.

The banter between Principal Celestia/Vice-Principal Luna and the sun/moon was good and I enjoyed that aspect a lot.

Beyond that, once the story shifted from "The Main 7 and the government agents figuring what the hell is going on" to "oh fuck everything is trying to kill us" I really felt the story suffered, it felt like not enough time was spent on the characters and their choices and more just focusing on the action.

I will say that the action was really well written and captivating.

I hope this review didn't come off as too harsh, I really did enjoy reading the story, but some of the choices really brought it down.

[Solar Rocker]

The idea of the Changeling invasion spilling over into Earth is a brilliant idea that I wish was actually, maybe referenced in at least a throwaway line in the season 6 finale. If that actually happened, I’d also probably expect a butterfly effect where, in season 9, Chrysalis tells Tirek and Cozy Glow about Earth and the three villains get the idea to take over both Earth and Equestria, which would make the situation even more serious as the Ending of the End would then not just be about the final fight for Equestria, but also a fight for reality itself, and the EQG cast could’ve appeared in the Ending of the End to help defeat the Legion of Doom.

[Bonster]

10421268
Sorry to reply to a two year old comment, but in fairness it truly has been that long since I’ve checked the comments on this thing. I’m kind of coming back here on a whimsical four-in-the-morning impulse, and I just thought this review was so incredibly accurate to all of my own criticisms of this fic six years later that I just had to say something. For example, yeah, the dazzlings were totally a last minute afterthought without any real afterthought, and silly little fourteen-year-old me writing this couldn’t write a satisfying character arc to save her short little life. Honestly, the fact that you thought the action scenes were well-written is the most surprising think you said, imo — I have trouble getting through them now. This was a huge learning experience for me and I’m so glad I decided to commit to it, but by god is it riddled with high school sophomore-ness.

Sorry for using you as a vessel for my own self-reflection, lmao. Glad you got something out of the story, at least!