Epilogue
“Must we have these meetings?” Chrysalis groused, cautiously easing herself into one of the septet of thrones. With bandaged gauze over portions of her flank and shoulder, covering the worst of her injuries, she wasn’t the only wounded creature at the table.
“Come on, it’s not that bad,” Anon hummed. Reaching out and offering her a glass of orange juice, he winced. No better off than the obsidian Queen, his torso was heavily wrapped and one arm rested in a sling. “Besides, it’s not like you don’t like your morning cupcake.”
“I told you to stop fetching me these infernal treats,” the changeling grumbled, eyeing the lone frosted pastry amongst the tray of muffins. “If you keep pushing yourself and making trips to the bakery, you won’t be able to properly escort me around the castle.”
Flurry groaned and slumped forward, resting her forehead on the table. “Do we have to complain every morning,” she murmured. Pushing herself up, she wearily peered at the two with her one unharmed eye.
Smiling smugly to herself, Chrysalis made no attempt to hide her amusement. “Have you summoned a milliner yet?”
“I am not going to get a pirate hat!” the Princess huffed, leaning back to cross her forelegs over her chest. Much like her companions, the Tree’s trial left her in a rather shabby state. Battered, bruised, and wearing an eye-patch, she was far from unscathed - still, like her friends, she would recover.
“You know, Princess of Pirates does have a pretty cool ring to it,” Anon chuckled. Holding up his good hand, he began counting off on his fingers. “I mean, it’s not like you didn’t disobey orders, confront your mentor, hijack a train -”
“If you don’t stop, I’m gonna dub you Sir Anon the Dullard,” Flurry rebuked, leering over at the man. “After all, it was your idea to try and punch the embodiment of a force of nature!”
Content to let the scene play out, Cozy silently munched upon a blueberry muffin. The week following the incident had been, at best, rather tense. Though Anon and Chrysalis had regained consciousness hours after the battle, Flurry had slept for the better part of three days. She was left to believe that the strain of expending such a profound amount of magic, paired with the beating she’d received, was to blame for the Princess’ protracted slumber.
All in all, she counted her blessings. Her friends, despite having been thoroughly thrashed, would be alright. What damage there was to the town was being repaired and, for the most part, Ponyville’s residents were handling the situation well. Having had a few onlookers see her speaking with the Tree’s avatar, news of the event had spread rapidly throughout the city. Those dubious souls who found the story unbelievable had stood corrected, after Flurry awakened and sent out royal couriers.
Even before the Princess’ revival, Anon and Chrysalis had been hailed as heroes of the realm. Having bravely leapt to Flurry’s defense, thoughtlessly fighting to protect the alicorn, the pair were viewed with reverence almost overnight. Even the changeling, as recalcitrant as she was, had somehow managed to handle her celebrity status - that, or some part of her secretly appreciated the praise.
Of course, Cozy had busied herself throughout. Being the only member of her party who hadn’t been harmed, she’d taken to exaggerating certain facts and downplaying others. There’d been no overt deception of the public, just subtle manipulations to embellish her friends’ valor. Outside of explaining their actions some umpteen dozen times, to the city’s inhabitants and visiting dignitaries alike, she’d done what she could to help with logistics.
Her first order of business had been to write correspondence to the various nations of the Empire, relaying the news of what had transpired and of Flurry’s ascendance to the Princess of Equestria - of course, she’d waited for the alicorn to come to prior to making any official declarations. The remainder of her time had been spent giving suggestions to the construction crews, ensuring the infrastructure in town was maintained, and tending to her friends.
Tirek and Discord were still petrified, but Flurry assured her that it was only temporary; once the alicorn had fully regained her strength, she vowed to free the two of them. Cozy was unsure how the centaur and draconequus would react, especially with everything which had transpired, but she was sure they’d manage. The Lord of Chaos played by his own rules, with or without supervision, while she felt certain that her former ally would see reason.
“Should you bequeath Anon with such an unfitting title, don’t be surprised if you wake up to find yourself with a resin-covered peg leg,” Chrysalis snickered, eyeing the Princess.
Twisting her head, leering over at the shapeshifter, Flurry reached under the table and produced a fly swatter. Be darned if Cozy knew where the Princess had gotten the mockery of a weapon, yet she’d obtained one all the same. The sight evoked a guffaw from Anon, immediately followed by a less energetic, slightly pained titter. The Queen simply stared at the alicorn, squinting menacingly.
“You wouldn’t dare,” the changeling hissed, setting her cupcake down.
“Alright, that’s enough of that,” Cozy interjected, flitting to the map’s polished surface and interrupting the impending quarrel. Clearing her throat, she held her head high. “Since the Tree left me in charge, I -”
Her three companions immediately erupted into a chaotic mixture of dismissive laughter and halfhearted protests. Smiling as innocently as she could, looking to each of them in turn, a curious feeling filled her chest. It was a singular sensation, something she hadn’t experienced since she’d allied herself with Tirek and Chrysalis - she felt like she belonged…
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Well it was a fun ride.
pretends to totally read chapters in super human speed.Oh and this is not the end for the journey with these friends
10390828
Amended.
> in b4 people hate the conclusion and berate me
So all the other princesses died when Harmony shattered the portal?
10391511
damn beat me to it, ha ha but yeah time to berate
i enjoyed the story but my original complaint still true, it never felt like cosy glow could had a OC in her place and it been no different, it never felt like her, in personality or in the journey she went on, there was no life changing events that made her a better person, no real moments of her bonding and becoming friends with anon or flurry
and harmony got what it wanted so guess the bad guy won in this story, still love a sequel and see cosy finding ways to counter harmony so it cant puppet ponies for it agenda anymore
also love a spin off where chrysalis tries to make the good rouge changeling real villain again that be funny
overall i give this story six / ten fun ride
I presume you originally wrote 'the alicorn' then changed it to 'Flurry' - the 'the' should be removed. As for the ending, I liked it. I would be interested in a sequel where the new Bearers try to find Twilight, Celestia and Luna. Your comment about the Rainbow Bridge was intriguing, though I presume the smashed Crystal Mirror went to the Equestria Girls universe rather than Megan's world.
i dont suppose we'll get a sequel or follow up? this was really good and it kinda feels like it could be quite the tale with those other "elements" being found and whatnot
not the ending I was expecting, but hey, great story.
sad that we never got to see whether twi actually comes back or not
10391519
No. None of the Princesses were killed by the mirror's shattering, but they are trapped somewhere.
10391532
Amended.
10391534
10391533
The title isn't The Last Chapter for a reason...
10391527
My reasoning was thus
Cozy Glow is a creature built and centered around deception and subterfuge. She's remarkably cunning, ingenious, and resourceful to a fault, but what would happen if she was stripped of her guile? She's not physically or magically powerful in the slightest, all she has is her intellect to strategize and plan. Without having more canon information/history on the character, this is how I'd interpret her coping with an utter lack of her most potent weapon - trickery.
10391549
it a nice idea but still i feel we need more inner monologue that start out villainous and become more reformed through the story as she come to rely on those around her not to use them for her advantage but actual comradery
Good job i enjoyed this one quite a lot and would definitely like to read more of it should you ever make a sequel.
Wait. Waitwaitwait a goddam minute.
If all it wanted was new element bearers, why did it lock away Celestia, Luna and Twilight? Because unless it was lying about that, that's both a very shitty thing to do and incredibly stupid at that. Lessons that are taught to us may not always have the same weight as those that are learned on our own, but that doesn't mean we don't benefit from guidance. Like Twilight did. And the young six. And just about everybody ever who had a friendship problem on the show.
10391572
Think about it for a second. Wouldn't forcing Cele and Luna out of retirement be cruel? If Equestria reminds Twilight of her lost friends, couldn't that be considered heartless to make her stay?
10391576
If it tries something like that again, I'm sure Cozy will get some magical Roundup™
Welp, I guess Equestria has a new leadership. I wonder what Twilight, Celestia and Luna would think. They should also think of doing something to counter that tree should it get any more bright ideas.
10391532
There is the Bahamas ( I know it's not the Bahamas per se but it's an area almost the same and their world) natural portal that was sealed with the Storm King's Staff which can be reopened since the staff was never destroyed. I bet you Twilight Luna and Celestia are all standing by waiting for someone on the other side the freaking reopen it
10391587
10391590
Cele, Lulu, and Twiggles standing around like, "Aaaaaaany minute now..."
But really, maybe we will get to see what they think...someday...
Is that it? Is that how it ends? I thought there would be more... or a sequel?
10391595
Or they could just find/make a energy collector like Sci-Twi's to pull the energy from the mirror portal's remains and have Twilight control it to open a portal temporarily
10391542
Chuckling
Well adiós The Next Chapter, now we need to hunt down the elusive phantom Last Chapter.
Meanwhile my stomach has in fact declared War on me after stuffing myself with two bowls of Popcorn...
Also thanks for dropping the Tsar Bomba on my thoughts, you litteraly dragged my brain into too many worse case scenario's with your reply to me 🔥.
10391579
There's a great gaping void of a difference between not asking someone to step up and removing the ability for someone to ever do so again. Same goes not wanting something now and never wanting it ever.
The reasoning you present is so flimsy that I feel it'd have been both more reasonable and make more sense to have had them all scamper off to deal with some random threat somewhere in the middle of nowhere that they haven't come back from in centuries, because at least that would explain why such a desperately silly plan could sound like a good idea. The only way it fits together is by assuming actual malice from the tree. As in, it wanted to hurt them, and found the first, thinnest justification it could pull out of its butt to do so.
Nice story, if there is a sequel, hopefully we see the descendants of familiar characters
10391596
Consider this a soft ending.
10391613
It's a cold, calculating, unfeeling construct. It doesn't care what people/ponies want - its only concern is dealing with problems in a logical fashion.
10391618
Duly noted
I for one must say that this, despite not being porn, was a well done story. Thank you for the good story.
Though unsure how Twilight, Spike, Celestia, and Luna feel about it.
10391622
If that's the route you want to go, then it really starts to look more like hurting as many people as possible was its goal, but protecting as many people as possible is its directive. And now I want to read that crazy AU, because MLP as directed by an evil but forcibly benevolent force sounds hilarious.
10391641
Somewhere, in a far off and distant land, they are less than pleased...
10391579
Still even if it would've been quite cruel to force Princess Celestia and Luna to work again for the state, couldn't the thing you know.. ask the Sisters to rule the Nation in their place???
Instead of violently destroying the only way in or out of the Equestria Girls universe... without even warning the Sisters at all leading them to suffer potentially, extremely, traumatic mental Trauma from not knowing what happened to their home world and personal friends they made on the retirement life or the fate of young Princess Flurry, this even isn't accounting the Tramua the Sisters are forced to adapt from a medieval-19th Century culture to a extreme radical adopting of a Information age Culture in the spam of a week.
So does the Tree think that what it did to them was really a way to stop them from cruelly giving up on their retirement life in the event that the real Twilight Sparkle didn't want to rule the Nation of Equestria.
Or was the action of the Tree in the name of preventing them to cruelly working again on job was actually the cruel one to make for the Sisters as they would never get to know what happened to their subjects/friends and family.
Also my English writhing seems to suffered here "quite" a bit...
Oh I also forgot to mention Spikes feelings
10391646
alright now where is the sequel where anon dicks them all down. ;)
10391646
10391673
Proverb
sow the wind, reap the whirlwind
I think someone should go Illidan on the Tree of Harmony. Its manipulations leave a very bad taste in the mouth, no matter how benign its claimed goal is.
Just to be clear, that's not a critique of the story itself, as I enjoyed it otherwise. ^^
This is a great story! Hope that tree gets axed.
A better ending actually would have been for all four of them to LOSE then have Ponyville come together in harmony to denounce the tree spirit.
You could have a bablylon five Sheridan moment -- get out of our world; we have outgrown you and your petty manipulations.
Faced with either having to destroy every pony in Ponyville, it would hopefully leave.
10391827
That was one option I played with.
10391646
It'd be funny to see a follow up story of Twilight, Spike, Celestia, and Luna returning home after many years. You know Twilight. She might just have what it takes to make a new mirror. Plus I would love to see their faces when they see the former villains maintain the virtue of friendship in their steed.
Edit: Thank you for writing this story Leech! I appreciate the time and effort you put in! Keep up the good work.
10391863
Trust me, I have a metric ton of potential material to draw from
10391863
I agree, although I'm kind of curious as to the descendant of Trixie.
10391874
If you do make a sequel any chance on getting a back story as to that little cameo?
10391673
Treelight does not seem to care about feelings at all in canon. It seems like Treelight calculated that those alicorns leaving and rebuilding the elements is the best for Harmony.
10391923
Mayhaps...
Not a bad ending. Gotta say I almost expected you to kill off Discord, but dying to save Equestria and then joining his beloved would've been a cool way to go. Aside from that, I kinda wish you'd left it more open ended that they intend to save Twilight, Spike, Celestia and Luna. Over all though, what a ride.
Okay. You got a favorite from me. I'm tempted to ask for a sequel to this if only to see how all the new Elements handle the trials and tribulations of Ponyville and this New Equestria. I think you could get eight years out of it any how.
Flurry, lone successor to the empire.
... bu-...
...
Eh.
Great story. Going on the favorites list.
Honestly, leech, I didn't expect this to be this good. With all that has happened it was pretty entertaining. There were only a few minor plot holes, but it didn't diminish my enjoyment. I hope we'll be seeing more work like this in the future. And I think I missed a part where it suggested a lewd sequel.
Just finished and I am very happy you went ahead with this. Overall very great read and happy to see a take on a ‘new’ kind of mane six. Or ones to pick up the mantle.
I also might be the only one here on this but it felt like it went by super quick.
10393565
Pacing is an interesting subject for me. I'm well aware that my personal preferences play into my creative process, which makes things interesting.
I try to keep things going at sort of a middle ground rate - as in, not too fast but not too slow. Enough to keep folks engaged without omitting details or nuances. It's tricky business.
this was amazing, great job leech you truly have a gift
10393669
I see distinct lack of burning crystal trees in the last chapter. This is... puzzling... the villains chose to be subservient little pawns in the greater game?