“They liked it, Surprise, you were right.” Train Wreck Pastel smiled sadly as he spoke. “It made the cover, even. I was going to let Diane read it too, but it turns out she had her own copy before I did. She ambushed me with it this morning. She cried. Z cried some too. I didn’t cry. There may have been some liquid pride, but I didn’t cry. I promise… I Pinkie Prom… no, I can’t tell a lie that big, not to you. I’ve submitted the first five chapters already, I’ll submit the rest one week at a time until it’s over. This is your story. I know you dressed it up in my equestria, but we both know this is your’s and Charlie’s story. And that’s okay. We promised each other from the start we weren’t going to be jealous of ghosts… and…”
The giant took a moment to regain his composure before changing the subject. “Zillia is growing like a weed. She’s twice as big as she was when she hatched. Z keeps insisting on calling her ‘Face Hugger’, and it’s kinda stuck. My poor daughter’s just stuck with that now. Zillia Face Hugger Pastel.” Train Wreck laughed a little bit, then became more somber. “Rock Solid’s gone. It… I’d rather not talk about it. Maybe if you see him, he can tell you. If it works that way, tell him Steady’s okay. He’s staying with us now.”
A single copy of “The Pony Dreadful” landed on a humble grave in Canterlot cemetery.
-=-=-=-=-
“Is something wrong sister?” Luna teased reading over her sister’s shoulder, “I have to say, that is a rather clever likeness of you. For such a seedy publication they certainly hire a truly top rate art staff.”
“You understand I did not intend any embarrassment towards our prince,” Celestia sighed heavily, “I simply felt it was a story that should be told.”
“I understand all too well.” Luna bowed her head sadly. “An entire world was summoned from the ether, only to fade away like the dream it was. With Surprise gone, the only thing to survive its destruction is the nameless nightmare that stalks the malformed nightmare our ponies call The Unspoken. But the wounds are yet too fresh. Given time our Prince will be more open to allowing the world to see that side of things, not as some abridged fiction, but as the awkward and uncomfortable truth that is a part of who he is… it would have helped had our grandson, Moonbeam not been caught reading of it.”
“Night Watch is still furious.” Celestia couldn’t help but giggle even as she rolled her eyes, before shaking her head. “But, at any rate, it is done. They have canceled the story. They’ve made me seem something of an overzealous nanny of a mare for stopping it, but perhaps I deserve that…”
-=-=-=-=-
“Lyra!” Bon Bon fumed, “I can’t believe you sold the story of how we met David to a penny dreadful! How could you!”
“But it’s not just a Penny Dreadful Bonny, it’s THE Pony Dreadful, and look, we made the featured stories! We’re even listed on the cover!” Lyra beamed in reply.
“That doesn’t make it better,” Bon on huffed angrily before giving up entirely, “At least we didn’t do anything TOO embarrassing with the future alicorn prince…”
-=-=-=-=-
“Rainbow Dash, check it out! The new issue of Pony Dreadful’s in, and they published another one of my stories!”
“Heh, good for you Scoots, although I wish you could make things a little less… physical… between me and Jake,” Rainbow rubbed the back of her head with one hoof in embarrassment as she hovered in mid air.
“What,” teased Jake, “The most we did in the story was huddle together for warmth in the ice temple of Yak Yakastan last issue. Are you saying you would let me freeze to death in an Ice Temple?”
“You two stop being weird, it’s just a stupid story!” Apple Bloom interjected.
“Tell ‘em about the letter!” Sweetie Belle broke in.
“What letter?” Rainbow raised an eyebrow.
“The ‘Layout Editor’ wants to meet me!” Scootaloo beamed with pride. “It turns out he’s a big fan of my stories. He says he likes the way I wrote the ‘steamy parts’ in the last chapter… which is weird since it was set in an Ice Temple. Maybe he meant this chapter, jungles are steamy right?”
Rainbow and Jake shared a glance, before replying together, “So how old did you tell this magazine you were again?”
one
Equestria
Train Wreck
Since you wrote the chapter out in segments, I'll do the same in the comments so I'm gonna use the dividers as well.
Surprise is dead? Damn, I knew it was coming but not this quick. How far ahead does this take place after Train Wreck received his title? I guess at this point, Carrot Plate is probably already married to him or at least grew close when they comforted each other over Surprise's passing.
-=-=-=-=-
So that's why Celestia stopped sending in the Silver Stars series. Busted~
-=-=-=-=-
I'm a little confused with Bon Bon's last statement, isn't Silver already a prince at this point?
-=-=-=-=-
Now I'm expecting to read about the aftermath of Ink Well's meeting with Scootaloo in a future chapter, if not the actual meeting itself.
7552927
I think she's referring past tense to what they did, more specifically what Lyra did or nearly did, at the time of the story Lyra transcribed.
I've forget who's foal Moonbeam is, oh was he the adopted one?
Wonder how Surprise passed away, that's sad?
7552927
7552981 Typos buried in n unmarked grave.
Boulder called it, Bon Bon is refering to events that happened WAAYYY back in "Clueless in Equestria", before any one ever suspected where Silver's life would take him. Referenced here because shared universe reasons.
I don't want to give away too much on what exactly happened with Surprise escept to say that it happened in between the end of Train Wreck's story and present time (a matter of months later) in Ponyville. I'm working on a stand-alone story called "The Last Party" that will cover exactly that, but unlike most of my tales it's an enclosed story and won't be published until it's finished. Suffice to say she passed peacefully surrounded by her family and closest friends.
Yes, Moonbeam is the adopted son of Samantha, and the adopted grandson of the rest of the Silver Herd. I imagine he got his copy from Diane, as the Dreadful is definitely not on the Watch families approved reading list for young colts.
As for Ink Well and Scootaloo... well that's gonna be one really awkward conversation.
7553517
Well at least it wasn't something tragic she was far too good to pass painfully or without loved ones around.
7554318 Yeah, I almost backed out of this and crow-bared in some kind of super-happy-solution. Tazzle ponies can use drained magic to heal right? Maybe Train Wreck could purge the Pink Step plague from her? As much as I hated to let that happen to Surprise though, I felt a cop out would have cheapened her story in the end, and I love her to much to do that. She bent time and space repeatedly to try to make things right. Sometimes she succeeded, sometimes (as in One Step, Pink Step), she failed catastrophically. In the end there was so much even a Pinkie Pie could take. She always moved forward knowing there was going to be a price to pay. Negating that price with some cheap trick wouldn't have done her justice. It wasn't an easy decision.