Epilogue
Sunset Shimmer stumbled out of the portal. The first thing she noticed was that her chest didn’t hurt. She felt no need to double over in agony.
She chuckled in astonishment. It felt nice.
Sucking in a breath, she adjusted her jacket and stumbled across the sidewalk. Canterlot High School formed a horseshoe around her, with its red brick broken by the occasional window. A large dome sat atop that, its glassy exterior sparkling in the sunlight.
She shuffled up the stone steps, feeling their hardness underfoot, and reached the line of glass doors that served as the main entrance to the school. She could feel her heart pounding as she pulled the doors open and stepped inside.
The foyer itself was a circular room two floors high, sporting balconies and two sets of staircases that flanked the front entrance. Sunset stopped for a moment to examine the flags and banners that hung from the upper railings as well as the trophy cases recessed into the curves of the wall.
It was all there. It was exactly as she remembered it.
She had to remind herself to breathe. She had to remind herself that this place was not her imagination; this place was real.
Right?
Her eyes fell on some doors directly across from her. They had been boarded up for repair when she had last left this place. Now they stood with shiny new glass in the wooden frames. These doors led to the cafeteria.
She heard familiar commotion on the other side. Shakily, she walked up and rested her hand on the metal handle. It felt real at her touch. She then pulled the door open.
The cafeteria itself opened up to her. Scores of students at a large handful of tables spread about the room. Countless conversations blended with the pwops of plastic trays hitting wooden tables. The steamy smell of fried chicken and mashed potatoes filled her nostrils.
As Sunset glanced around, she spotted a few familiar sights; Flash Sentry and a few of his friends strummed on their guitars at their table in one corner of the room, and the Crusaders sharing a giggle over something on their phones. She spotted Principal Celestia and Vice Principal Luna on the far side of the cafeteria watching the food line very closely as they conversed in evident whispers.
She spotted Wallflower Blush at another table surrounded by classmates from a variety of cliques. They sat entranced as she seemingly wove a tale for them, likely telling them about what she had experienced in Equestria. While she spoke in a somewhat hushed voice (such that Sunset couldn’t even hear what she was saying), and while she sat somewhat shrunken, Wallflower spoke, and she spoke without stopping.
They were all here. They were all okay.
And then she spotted Twilight Sparkle, this world’s Twilight Sparkle, complete with those bulky glasses of hers, entering the room from the complete opposite doors. And Sunset froze. Twilight initially glanced at a table toward the side of the cafeteria and smiled before she started down the aisle to get to that table.
Twilight made it a few steps forward before she finally looked ahead, saw Sunset, and froze herself.
Sunset hazarded a few steps forward, a movement which Twilight reciprocated. She picked up speed. Twilight made a shrill cry and broke into as fast a sprint as she could muster. Sunset also broke into a run, ignoring the bodies lining her path that now turned to face her and gasped. She even saw a few of them stand up and give their own joyous shouts. They looked like blurs to her; all that mattered now was getting to her friend.
They collided. Sunset wrapped her arms around Twilight as tears started forming in her eyes. They wobbled about for a moment from the impact but managed to remain standing upright, and Twilight found herself able to return the embrace, already crying her eyes out.
Rainbow Dash zipped up at that point and threw herself onto them, wrapping her arms around Sunset (but also somewhat Twilight as well). The others thundered up shortly after, similarly throwing themselves onto her while giving jubilant shouts and exclamations that carried the characteristic quiver of a cry. Fluttershy practically pressed her full self into Sunset, and Applejack laid a hand on Sunset’s head and leaned in close, while Pinkie Pie couldn’t help but jump around as she hugged them all, squeezing with glee. And Rarity, who sobbed through wide smiles, procured a tissue to catch the makeup already running down her face.
They were here, her friends. They were here, with her.
And she was here, with them. This was real. Everything was real.
She was home.
Sunset allowed herself to bawl her eyes out as she held onto them for dear life, and yet there was nothing in the world that could prevent her hearty laugh and wipe her silly grin from her face.
* * *
The skies above had turned a golden color. The few clouds in the sky had gained a dark tone to them with some bits of that same golden trim to them. The sun itself sat low in the sky now, just about to disappear behind some mountains in the distance.
Sunset sat on the front steps. Thankfully, the building did not obscure the sun at its angle, so watching from here would work just fine. A cool breeze swept through the area, nipping at her uncovered parts of skin. The orange shirt underneath her black leather jacket bore the symbol of her cutie mark. Her purple skirt completed the ensemble.
A large statue of a horse in a rearing pose dominated the front lawn. She glanced up at it. The base was a portal to Equestria, a land of magic and ponies and friends. She would be princess of that land on the other side of the portal someday.
But not today. Today, life was here, in this world of humans. Here, just for a while, was peace and calm.
The base of the portal shimmered, and a girl stepped out. She had long, sapphire blue hair with a purple and raspberry stripe. She wore a light blue button-up shirt and her starry cutie mark sat emblazoned on her purple skirt. Princess Twilight spotted Sunset, smiled, and silently walked across the lawn.
Sunset grinned back as Twilight reached her on the front steps of the school and sat down right beside her. They looked at each other for a moment, staring into each other’s eyes. And then Sunset grew a devilish smirk, reached forward, wrapped an arm around Twilight’s head, and pulled her. Twilight toppled into Sunset’s lap amidst a yelp.
Sunset laughed and looked down. Twilight glanced back up, eventually laughed back, and adjusted herself so that she comfortably lay there. Sunset reached down and took hold of Twilight’s hand. Twilight adjusted her grip so that her fingers mingled with Sunset’s, and then she held Sunset’s hand against her chest.
Twilight Sparkle sighed wistfully and turned her eyes toward the horizon where the sun would soon disappear.
Sunset Shimmer smiled and reciprocated the sigh before she too turned her gaze and fell silent as well.
And so the two of them stayed, content to watch the sunset together.
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...Okay, so I stand corrected. And I'm very happy to be so.
I’ll miss Sunset, but man she really deserves a long, long break.
Thank you for this wonderful journey.
Congratulations, man. What an achievement. This was some ride, one I was grateful to experience. But the future is still looking bright.
Well done, dude. Not a lot of people can say they completed a story, let alone a trilogy of stories, but now you join their ranks. Well, I suppose you were already in their ranks... still, though, I'm glad to see this story finally complete.
I do have some things to say about it-- possibly just nitpicks on my part, but you never know. I felt like, when all the characters were reacting to something surprising, they overreacted quite a bit. I saw a lot of repetition of 'oh stars!' and 'gosh,' and the story tended to spend a lot of time getting everyone's reactions to the thing. Should you just lump all the characters' reactions into a few sentences or outright skip some of them, though? Maybe there should have been fewer characters in scenes so this didn't pop up as much... but, again, nitpicking. You did well enough with what you had to work with.
I liked GrimbleWither. He was grumpy, but dedicated to his work and willing to give respect to people he feels deserve it. It actually came as a surprise when someone came up with a nickname for him, but then he demanded to be referred to by his actual name-- it wasn't exactly nice, but it was funny. I also liked the scenes of Sunset in her meditation trance thingy, literally connecting clues and forming a plan from them. And I have to admire the whole timelines/layers mumbo-jumbo, as it must've been a bit complicated to make those systems work and make sense. Well, as much as alternate timelines/layers can make sense, admittedly.
All in all: ya done good, RQK.
Thank you for a wonderful journey, from start to end.
10110504
As the editor, I can say with confidence that this is not lavender unicorn syndrome. That requires repetition of various colours that ultimately prove to be useless information.
Definition at Urban Dictionary
It being said once is not even close to that.
10110815
Ah. I did not know that.
Just trying to make a joke, anyway. Though I'll probably not make that joke again in the future.
This? Great ending. I love it. Well done.
Selfishly, greedily, I wanted more from this even though this is the perfect epilogue.
That was a magnificent end to a fantastic trilogy. The work you put into getting the continuity perfect is some of the best I have ever come across. Thank you for these stories, they will forever have a place on my favourite's shelf and the epubs will forever stay on my hard drive so I can re-read them many years in the future.
My only quibble is the fate of Adamantine and the unponies (and that is purely because I'm a sucker for a happy ending). The 2nd book had a real downer of an ending for them, and I hoped that there would be some kind of happy ending for them, such as Adamatines spirit joining them in what ever afterlife they moved on into. When Adamantine was crumbling, and visiting their last home (I'm assuming in her mind) , I was praying that as she asked if she was a good queen, her subjects would have suddenly answered her with a "yes" and she could have joined them there, forever happy. But sadly that line of text wasn't there :'(
10115110
I'm very glad that you enjoyed them! I did indeed work quite hard on that; internal consistency was a top priority, after all~
If it helps...
Based on her wording, that visit to her village is pre-Concensus. And I claim that it takes place in the real world. Now... between you and me... I think she did. I think she met her people once again. I think, truly, she dances with them even now. So perhaps there is happiness to be found after all~
10110522
Glad you liked it. Yes, Grim is a grump (I should mention real quick that Grim is genderless), and that personality was definitely what I went for with them.
10115113
As the Author, that makes it canon, so I'm happy with that ;)
Once again, an amazing ride, and an excellent conclusion to the trilogy.
Honestly, I saw the title of the last chapter before the epilogue before diving into this story, and I could pick up bits of foreshadowing for the ending along the way.
I would imagine next time Sunset ponies up in the human world, Twilight won't be the only one with wings.
And next time she visits Equestria, she can get flying lessons from a number of sources, be it Twilight, Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy or her Sunset's relatives considering they're a family of Pegasi.
Also, I think there was hints of it in the conversation between Celestia and Twilight, but I can help but feel there's a bit of SunLight/TwiSet at the end there. Or it's just me and they're just the bestest of friends.
10625897
Hey! I'm glad you enjoyed all the stories! To answer your question, this trilogy and Reflections are on different scales; that is, the timelines and worlds of this trilogy are a single timeline in the Reflections . So Consensus plays no role in shaping the Reflections verse, so the where Twilight, Crystal, and Chrysalis call home is entirely unaffected by this.
You may find this blog post of some value as well: Divergence - An Essay on Consensus and its Relation to the Greater Reflections Multiverse - Fimfiction
Hope this answers your question!
10626062
It certainly does!
I just ordered prints of your completed stories and hope to add Retrograde if you plan on printing that once it's completed.
Aw man, I really wanted to see Sunset meet Crystal Faire and be confused as all hell. Since you showed their dairy in the previous chapter, Reflections is canon here, and with the timelines merged this Sunset would also be the one that became Crystal's friend.
That was a good story.