Epilogue: Six Months Later...
"Spike, where'd you put those old alchemy books I asked about?"
Spike flipped through a comic book as he sat in a beanbag in the library. "Over on the desk, where you wanted them."
Twilight sorted through the pile of books on her desk, until she finally found the books she had been looking for. Slipping it into its shelf, she smiled with satisfaction at how light the book felt. The Tears' effects on the magic of the world were still very much apparent after all this time. It was not anything big, just a lot of little things, levitation is easier, teleportation requires less exertion, she was mastering new spells in only one or two attempts. The magic in the world in general was that much stronger.
She took a moment to dwell upon how things had changed since their adventure had ended. For her friends, it was pretty much business as usual by now. But for each one of them, there were some small changes.
Applejack had gotten back to work at Sweet Apple Acres, though many ponies visiting noted how sometimes, she could be seen proudly wearing her strange woven cloak while she worked.
Sugarcube Corner's patrons celebrated the return of Pinkie Pie, and she returned to work quickly enough, though the bakery now had a new shelf dedicated to strange exotic dishes Pinkie had begun to bake. Every now and then, also, customers could hear Pinkie singing some rather peculiar new songs while she worked happily in the kitchens.
Rainbow Dash was as competitive and thrillseeking as ever, though she rather quickly turned down any offer of trips to swimming holes or river trips. And she was quick to show off her suit of griffon armour to anypony who came to visit her cloud home.
Rarity, on the other hand, had not only returned to normal, but was flourishing! It appeared that her brief stint as a military commander had helped her develop a few new marketing strategies for selling her wares, competing with other designers, haggling with clients, as well as a notable recent range of clothes with a distinctly military look to them. It had been the talk of Fashion Week in Manehattan a few weeks ago.
Fluttershy still liked to reminisce on the days of the adventure. She was in the library at least once a week, reading any books she could find with information about the Deerfolk or Cervidas. At least twice, Twilight had been on her way to visit Fluttershy at her cottage, and overheard her singing or speaking aloud to herself in Deerish, as she would tend to her new herbal-medicine-patch, or simply sit in her backyard, gazing off into space.
And as for her, well, she would still daydream about the all-too-brief few weeks where she had the opportunity to work alongside Starswirl the Bearded, her greatest hero. But otherwise, she had gotten eagerly back to working at her library. The adventure had been fun, but she had always missed her books.
And of course, there was that little box on her dresser, and the simple emerald that sat inside. A little memento from some truly extraordinary creatures.
As she reminisced, she gazed out the window, and saw a strange pair of creatures in the town-square. They appeared to be approaching several ponies who were in the square, asking them something. Recognition glowed in her heart as she saw that one of them seemed to be clad in a dark blue dress.
Rushing out the door to the square, she skidded to a halt as she saw the two figures who turned and spotted her, waving with delight.
"Ah, Twilight Sparkle, there y'are!" called Rowanoak, trotting over as quick as her creaking limbs could carry her.
"Rowanoak?!" Twilight gasped. "What are you doing here?"
The old mare cackled. "It's been too long since these old eyes saw ye, Twilight. I'd missed ye and yer friends, so I decided to pay a little visit. And, as luck would have it, I ran into this young fella. Says he's a friend of yours."
Twilight turned to the other and gawped. Clad in a fine green tunic, woven with golden trim, was none other than Yarrow, looking slightly larger and older, and even his antlers seemed to have grown a bit. "Yarrow? Oh Yarrow, Rowanoak, it's great to see you two!"
"Mae g'ovannen, friend Twilight," Yarrow said with a bow. "I was travelling through Equestria, so of course I had to visit Ponyville. It's wonderful to see you too. How have you been?"
Twilight eagerly shook their hooves. "Oh, I've been pretty good, thanks. I've been busy, certainly, tending to the library and all... but what about you two? We all have so much to catch up on!"
"I don't doubt it," Rowanoak replied. "But I'm a mite hungry from the trip here. Ye got anywhere we can get a bite to eat?"
Twilight grinned. "I know just the place. Follow me! Yarrow, you coming?"
The stag smiled back. "I'd love to. But I'll join you two later. For now, could you just point me to Fluttershy's house?"
Yarrow took a long, deep breath the crisp afternoon Ponyville air. It had a very different feel to Cervidas, which always came across as very chilled and clean. But out here, in the true nature of Equestria, it was truly a wonderful feeling. Walking over a small bridge, he chuckled appreciatively as he spotted a small sod-roof cottage just ahead. Of course, he thought, where else could she be?
Taking another deep breath to calm his nerves, Yarrow tapped on the door of the cottage. From inside he heard a muffled "Be right with you!", before the latch clicked and the door creaked open slightly.
"Yes, who is it?" asked a familiar, timid little voice.
"An old friend," Yarrow replied with a grin, "Who's been travelling a long way to visit."
The door swung open fully and Fluttershy stepped out into the porch. She froze in her tracks as she saw the familiar stag smiling at her. "...Yarrow?"
"Hello Fluttershy."
Fluttershy could not stop herself as she hurried forwards and grabbed Yarrow in a tender embrace. "I was wondering when I'd see you again," she whispered in his ear as they hugged. "It's lovely to see you again!"
"And you as well," he replied. "I would have come sooner, but work has kept me busy."
"Oh, well come inside and you can tell me all about it."
Moments later Yarrow was sitting at her dining table, a cup of tea resting before him. He breathed deep of the fragrance with satisfied sigh.
"Mmm, is that Darjeeling tea?" he asked, as she poured him some cream and deposited a sugar-bowl on the table.
"Why, yes it is," she replied proudly. "And I've also got mint-tea, Oolong tea, green tea, chai tea... I, uh, I've become a bit of a tea-nut since I got back home."
He chuckled. "Apparently so! it sounds like I've rather rubbed off on you. Well, you brew it well, Fluttershy."
She blushed from the compliment. "Thank you... So Yarrow, what brings you to Equestria? I mean, I'm guessing you didn't come all this way just to stop by for tea, right?"
Yarrow shifted in his seat. "Heh, well, that wouldn't have been out of the question... I really have missed you..."
Their eyes met briefly, but just long enough for butterflies to rise in the pegasus' stomach. "I've missed you too..."
"B-but you're right, there is another reason. You see, since the Fainum were destroyed, things have been very different in Cervidas. They've properly opened up their borders for the first time. No more secrecy, the White Hart's decreed, we're being open with other lands. For one thing, it's meant trading goods with neighbouring settlements. You wouldn't believe how much some creatures will pay for just a sliver of our silver wood."
"Heehee, well it is beautiful." Fluttershy took a dainty sip of her tea. "What about the whole relationship with the griffons? Has anything come of that?"
"Well, nothing concrete yet," Yarrow replied. "But we're definitely making progress. King Gideon put in a good word for the Deerfolk with the Griffon Kingdom, so we're in new talks about a peace treaty and maybe opening trade routes with eachother. And with all this trading and talking with other civilisations, the White Hart has been sending out researchers to study aspects of these other lands, to see what they may have to offer, that sort of thing. Including, among many others, yours truly."
The pegasus beamed. "Oh congratulations! So this is what you mean when you said that your work has kept you busy."
The stag nodded, taking another sip of the rich tea before continuing. "Indeed. I've been on a business trip around nearby lands, looking for new medical techniques and healing herbs that we could use back in Cervidas. And after my work in the Southlands, where better else to go than Equestria? A useful business trip, and a perfect opportunity to see the filly that I... er, that is, to see you."
His face flushed a deep crimson red, and he suddenly became very interested in his tea. Fluttershy could not help but smile at his bashfulness. "You know," she said timidly. "That poem you wrote for me... I still have it."
"... Really?" he looked up into her eyes. "After all this time?"
She nodded, shuffling around the table to sit a little closer. "I read it to myself sometimes. I've almost got it memorised, the Deerish version and the translation. I just... I wasn't sure I'd ever actually see you again."
Fluttershy began to blush as well, looking down at her forehooves. The two were silent for a moment, neither one all that certain what to say. Wordlessly, Yarrow placed a forehoof upon Fluttershy's, and she looked up into his eyes again. He smiled at her, and she could not help but smile back, before holding him close in her forelegs.
"I'm just... so happy to see you," came her muffled voice from Yarrow's chest-fur. "So... how long are you visiting for?"
"Well..." Yarrow gently prised himself loose from her hug for a moment. "That brings me to a slightly awkward question... You see, this research trip of mine here in Equestria, it's a rather long-term trip, and... heh, this was rather silly of me, I never got around to arranging for a place to stay..."
Fluttershy felt her heart racing. Was he about to ask what she thought...?
"So... I was wondering, I mean, if it's not too much trouble... Would it be alright for me to... you know..."
But he was silenced as Fluttershy bowled into him, knocking him into the floor as she hugged him tightly. "Of yes, yes, yes! Of course you can move in with me, Yarrow! It's a wonderful idea, oh we can have so much fun together! We can try out all sorts of teas, and grow herbs together and..."
Yarrow chuckled. "Well, actually I was going to ask if you could help me find somewhere to live in Ponyville... But you know what, this works even better!"
If it was at all possible, Fluttershy blushed an even deeper read. "Oh... uh, heheh, I mean... well, I care about you, so of course I'd offer to let you stay with... Oh my..." She trailed off into nervous giggles, leaving the two lying on the floor together.
"So..." Yarrow muttered. "What do you want to do now?"
Fluttershy's eyes met his once again, reviving the butterflies in her stomach that had just been starting to calm down. Fluttering her eyelids, she inched closer to him. "I can think of a few things..."
But as she leaned in, her muzzle coming close to his, she stopped as there came a gurgling, rumbling noise from her stomach. She grinned sheepishly at Yarrow. "Heheh, sorry... I haven't actually had any lunch yet."
"Come to think of it," Yarrow replied. "I haven't actually eaten since early this morning, and I have been on the road all day..."
The two looked at eachother, and nodded with understanding.
"I'll get us another pot of tea."
"I'll start putting together some salad from the garden."
As she got to work, Yarrow watched her with a smile, half amused, half smitten. This is going to work out just fine.
Meanwhile, in Sugarcube Corner Twilight and Rowanoak sat around a table. The old pony swigged from a bottle of sarsaparilla as Twilight regaled the story about her journey after she and her friends had departed from Neighagra Falls. Rowanoak was eagerly asking questions and following along with the story, wanting to hear as much as possible. Twilight had never had such an attentive audience before!
"And, well, half a year later, here we are." She finished her tale with a deep sip of cocoa.
Rowanoak nodded thoughtfully. "Well, sounds like ye've had quite the adventure."
"Oh, you have no idea!" Twilight said, sitting back to relax. "But still, things seem to have returned to normal easily enough, though everypony's taken something from it all."
The old mare sighed. "Well, sometimes that's all ye need, y'know?"
Twilight nodded. "Exactly," she said. "We might not have come back laden with bags of treasure or with some super-powerful new artefact for Equestria or anything, but still, I wouldn't change anything that happened for the world. We've gone through a lot, but also learned a lot. Sure it was tough at times, and scary, but it was worth it in the end... And in the end, I guess that's enough of a treasure for me."
"How very deep of ye," Rowanoak chuckled, taking another swig and emptying her bottle. "I wish I could say I've been as busy as y'all, but not so... I have had a few pretty interestin' visitors recently, though.
Twilight got up from the table. "Well, just let me fetch us another of these delicious spongecakes and you can tell me all about it!"
"Ye got it," she said with a nod. "And Twilight, it's good to see ye back safe and sound."
"Heh, glad to be back!" Twilight replied.
The old mare watched as Twilight headed off to the counter. With a twinkle in her eye, she turned and smiled at you.
"Sure am glad to see she's doin' alright after all this time," she said to you. "She and her friends went through quite a bit, and come out stronger and wiser than ever. Well, that about does it, wraps the whole thing up. Things seemed to work out pretty good fer Twilight an' her friends. Not to mention it made for a pretty decent tale, eh? Now I'm not sure she's aware of y'all out there, hearin' this story. But if she did, I'm sure she'd appreciate ye stickin' around as long as ye have. Takes alot of dedication to wanna stick by her, find out where she'd go next, what adventure she'd run into..."
Rowanoak paused a moment and chuckled. "Oh look at me, ramblin' on like the old coot I am. Heh, s'funny, when ye've bin goin' as long as I have, once ye got an attentive audience ye don't wanna stop talking. But I'll let y'all be on yer way now. I hope you've enjoyed yerselves. See you out on the trail."
Rowanoak then turned to Mrs Cake as she passed. "Say miss, be a dear and get me some more o' that good sarsaparilla..."
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Thank you so much for writing this story. It has been most entertaining.
Fluttershy/Yarrow! Great work, keep it up!
You finally made the fookin homepage m8.
I kinda liked the old cover better.
One of the best stories I've read yet. I commend you; I just wish I could give this more likes. I'm kind of sad to see it end, but I can't say that it didn't leave on a high note. You're an awesome author.
Oh my freaking oajglaghk,anmag! This story has been so epic! Ugh! All of it is just so... well written, and there were the actionings! And explosions! And Rainbow's new case of hydrophobia, which made me sad... She'll get over it eventually. ...I hope. But wow, Spino, thanks for the ride. It was certainly a worthy magnum opus for such a clearly skilled writer. Perhaps in the future the Gaiaverse ponies will have another adventure, and if they do, I'll be happy to join in!
You know, Spike keeps getting the short end of the stick so to speak, maybe its time he gets an adventure of his own.....
Still very beautiful, the story left me with a bittersweet feeling though, like there's another story waiting to finish it up.
That was a good read indeed.
I'm still rather curious how the Allfather managed to control the Blight when Maugoth was instantly overwhelmed, and also where this Blight power comes from. Is there an evil entity trapped deep inside Equestria? Does it emanate from a fissure into a dimension of chaos and destruction?
Curiouser and curiouser...
5085262 The Blight army from the first war were imprisoned in Tartarus, and at this point the individuals have likely long since died out. They might have been possessed by the Blihgt, but their bodies were still only mortal.
And as for Death and Decay, when they surrendered their books they agreed to do their jobs as Death and Decay, but under careful scrutiny of the Alicorns. And now that the Source has been destroye, their ties to the Blight are gone now, so wherever they are in the world, they are likely no longer under its control.
5085338 The original Allfather was only slowly fed a steady supply of the Black Blessing over time (That's what the big machine he was hooked up to was for). He had time to properly metabolise and distribute it throughout his body. Maugoth, however, turned the pipes up to max and pumped ridiculous amounts of it into himself in one go. It was too much to handle all at once, so the mutations went haywire.
And as for the origins of the Blight itself... ehh, honestly I think it's more fun to leave it a mystery. Eldritch entities kinda lose their potency and coolness when you know more stuff about them.
5086044 Ah, I did not know that. I'll make that adjustment right now.
5083759 Roughly translated, it means:
"I hear someone in the woods, an echo of the day we met.
Forever, birds will sing for the lady of my dreams: she walks between green pasture and flowery field.
Having traversed troubled days, we endured dark journeys and countless wounds.
O beloved lady with crystal eyes, I swear to thee, love won't fade and hope will blossom anew."
5086239 Again, I did not know that. Heh, it's been a while since I did any Latin work. I'll be sure to fix that next chance I get, cheers.
Well, it finally ends.
It has been an exceptional ride, that started out grandly and I think improved leaps and bounds as it rushed to the conclusion... (I'm never going to be able to let Gideon and That One Moment go, you realise...! There are few indeed moments in any story tat made me laugh that hard!) I think this must, in the end, stand alongside such works as It'a Dangerous Journey and Earth and Sky as a grand, rollicking pon adventure.
Thank YOU for all the work and time you've out into this over the last two years... What started out as a something I began one late evening as an almost random chance has bcome something I eagerly looked forward to each and every chapter.
Supendous work, and I will definitely be interested, if or when should you choose to pick up your pen one more time.
5086150
I think I have to disagree on this one. Random evil powers just popping up out of nowhere aren't very satisfying, especially when we don't even get to see what they are before they get blown up. Much less where they come from.
We still have no idea what the Source is, what it looks like, or how it works, other than a few small details. We know it was able to separate itself from Discord before he got his second rainbow friendship laser to the face. We don't know whether that was Discord's doing, or whether it is actually mobile. We know that it "converts" creatures by spewing black smoke at them. And... that's about it. And that's counting this encounter and the original outbreak.
Since they never took the time to figure any of this out, how can any of the combatants know that the fight is really over? Yes, there was a lot of concentrated Blight-energy, and it blew up, but they have no way of knowing if they got the Source itself, because they don't know what the Source is. Twilight herself has escaped from bad situations more than once with a well-timed teleport - how do they know the Source did not (either directly, or through a pawn) do the same? For that matter, is raw force enough to permanently disable it, or will it just coalesce again? Can it reform itself from a surviving Blightling? Is it even a physical thing, or is it some kind of magical construct? Why did no one think to ask any of these questions?
Q: This evil force that's altered the world in a fundamental and catastrophic way, what is it?
A: Dunno. We just call it the Blight.
Q: Where did it come from?
A: Dunno. Just showed up one day.
Q: What does it look like?
A: Dunno. We only ever saw its minions.
Q: How does it work?
A: Dunno. Normals go in, monsters come out.
Q: How do you stop it?
A: Duh. You blow it up. That always works, right?
Personally, I think giving your ancient evils a suitably epic origin and personal history makes them much more interesting. Witness the Silmarillion, for instance. Even the original Lovecraft stories (which I've never quite gotten around to reading, I must confess), were more specific about their eldritch abominations, from the bits of internet lore I've picked up.
You don't have to explain everything, but please, give us something!
5089875 All pretty fair points, except for the one concerning Lovecraft's creatures. I'm not sure what Lovecraft stories you've been looking at, but from the ones I've read (And that would be quite a few), Cthulhu is pretty much the only major Old One who we've ever gotten any extensive info on or actually properly seen in person. And even then it's little more than just a physical description and a brief history, and an ominous promise of his eventual return. As for the other major Lovecraftian entities like Hastur, Nyarlathotep, Shub Niggurath, Yog-Sothoth and Azathoth, the only one we actually have any physical descriptions or motives are for Nyarlathotep, and even then they're vague at best: We know he can shapeshift, frequently takes the form of a man and that he is actively malicious towards humanity (Compared to the other Old Ones, who seem more indifferent than anything). Yog Sothoth? We know one of his forms is a conglomeration of 'malignant spheres'. Azathoth? All we know is he's the 'Blind idiot god at the centre of reality'. Shub Niggurath? We only have the vague description as the 'Black Goat of the Woods with a Thousand Young' to go by, and possibly a description as an 'evil, cloud-like entity'. And heck, we don't even know if Hastur's a creature, a place, an object or what! Sure, some of the other later writers in the Cthulhu Mythos go into detail about them, but the degree to which these writers are canon is... debatable at best (Especially anything written by August Derleth, who is a very divisive figure among the Lovecraft fanbase). Sure we get some in-depth descriptions of other creatures in Lovecraft's mythos, but rarely do we get descriptions of their masters or exactly what it is they want or plan to do.
5089543 Whoops! Good point, fixing that.
5135377 Mentors don't necessarily have to be older. And at least by appearances, Celestia was young at that time.
5135589 Oops, critical research failure on my part. Let's just amend that....
We never got an explanation for Rowanoak.
It's very aggravating and I'm considering throwing you into a pit full of ferret's.
5178031 Huh, funny, that's exactly what me and a friend have been doing recently. They'd been having a stressful time at university and they asked me to read tsomething o them, since apparently they find the sound of my voice really soothing and relaxing. They loved it, so it's become sort of a Skype-bedtime story sort of thing now. And from how many times I've said goodnight and hung up on them as they were fast asleep, I'd say it's pretty effective!
Hmmm, maybe I should record a reading or audiobook version...
It must have made for a pretty decent tale. I wish I could've enjoyed everything between the start and finish—gotten to know your OC's, devoured the sizable world-building I sense within this piece of work, watched the cast explore all your unique locations and contend with the arsenal of challenges they presented, seen their endeavors affect the country on a grand scale both magical and political, and enjoyed your interpretation of Star Swirl—but every damned step of the way, I would've suffered the reminder that Spike is the M6's most unimportant and unwanted companion, contributes nothing to the group, and would be missing out on all the wonderful stuff I'd be reading. The better the content, the worse I'd probably be feeling when the climax wrapped up.
Now I'm wondering what kind of unit Rarity took command of. A naval force? A band of raiders? And what exactly did the deer and griffon emissaries have to do with the Tears plot? I caught the ponies' takeoff scene on a dragon's back, which was pretty thrilling for the short passage I read.
But these are all rhetorical ponderings. … Unless there's a big part of you that somehow completely agrees with me, and decides it would be great, worthwhile fun to edit the entire tale so that all seven characters participate in the adventure... No? Yeah, didn't think so. It was a long shot. Or a parallel story where Spike contended with a web of dangerous plots while they were gone? No? Okay, fine.
Regardless of my own opinions, it's clear to anyone with a brain that this is a terrific adventure story, and an accomplishment. Your decision to break the fourth wall was a wonderful touch that probably inspired some very warm and nostalgic feelings. Condragonlations on sticking with it long enough to bring it to a close. You definitely deserve to feel proud of this.
5435682 That makes sense, but they are still Others. They helped create the world, they made the Elements of Harmony*, They're eternal alicorns. What could Starswirl teach them about magic.
*According to this stories history anyway.
Well, that's it then. I'm finally finished this story. What can I say? It was a great Tolkienesque fantasy epic right up there with similar fanfics that are classics of the fandom, i.e. It's a Dangerous Business, Going Out Your Door. It even had a good sprinkle of Lovecraftian horror for good measure.
I am certainly going to miss this story after reading it for so long, but it was fun while it lasted.
My, Fluttershy is so forward, just having Yarrow move in with her like that.
That ending with Rowanoak kind of reminded me of the ending of The Big Lebowski. The Starswirl abides.
Anyway, this story was wonderful. Keep up the very good work.
Wow, what a ride. This fic was a spectacular read through and through. While not wihtout a few drawbacks, however. While I did like how the Blight was an onimous and looming being, I did kind of wish we spent a little more time with them to see more sides beyond "Evil". Also, I do feel kind of like there were some scenes that could've been done differently (The Fluttershy one being the biggie).
My bigget complaint? Starswirl and Applejack. When it comes to Starswirl, while I knew that you couldn't have Starswirl do too much or else you risk having him take time away from the manes...he still felt rather pointless. I felt like I could've had Trixie or Sunset here and it would still have had th same effect. In comparison, Gandalf. While he was the wizard and had more power than any other character, you still could respect and eel his presence. He had an effect on th story where you felt comforted by his being there and you could see that he knew how to get you to the area the way you neeed to go. I really didn't get that feeling with Starswirl and that is a shame, because I do love ti when he shows up.
Applejack...is another one. I felt like she did nothing throughout the plot and contributed nothing. She was there, she said tuff, but I felt like she was a total nonentity throughout.
However, I will not say I did not love this fic. Because, despite my two complaints above...I love this story, I really do. The pacing, the plot, and the characters all cme together in a perfect and well constrcuted way.
As usual here is the first chapter o the live read for all to enjoy
I'm super excited to be a part of the artist team for the audio drama! Awesome story. I love The Lord of The Rings trilogy and am a serious fan of all Tolkien lore.
6372633 Glad to have you on the team! Can't wait to see what sort of art you'll be coming up with
6374080 I'm thankful to be helping such talented people.
6566286 Maybe, but the Mane 6 weren't planning on just keeping it safe, but being able to harness it somehow for the good of ponykind. But now that the Thing in the Dimension was awoken, and that Tharos, the only creature to still know the incantation to access that dimension, was dead, they couldn't get safely back to that dimension even if they wanted to.
This story is awesome, the best books are ones you can take something away from and that's definitely the case here. Thanks for writing this, it really is awesome.
By far one of the best stories I've read! What a good run it has been.
Thank you for this masterpiece!
Well ho-ly shit, this story was friggin awesome and I enjoyed every little bit of it! ...well, except for the occactional typo or messed up sentence. But besides that it was amaazingg!~
8480811
Oh.
Man, what a ride. This was quite good. Only thing is that I couldn't bring myself to care for Yarrow that much.
Tears of Gaia is an interesting name... I'm just gonna toss a random guess that to obtain such a thing one would have to commit unimaginable destruction upon the land that, 'Gaia' (whom I find often depicted as a pony/god/religion in other stories) would cry.