Epilogue
I
Shady buried Perennial Buckwheat in the blooming dawn, laying her to rest at the foot of the old oak. He clasped her pearl necklace around one of the tree’s branches.
He liked to think that wherever she was, she could still watch the sun rise over the woods around her old home.
His sister had arrived that afternoon. He’d found it hard to tell her what had happened, but he had done his best to try. He showed her the writing in the library, and the shallow grave where he’d found Perennial. He tried to explain, but he couldn’t.
Somehow, she had still understood. When she’d asked him if he needed a hug, he accepted it tearfully.
In the weeks to follow, and with Perennial’s demands still in his head even as he guiltily broke them, he attempted to track down tell of her husband. He’d visited nearly every library in Manehattan looking for records. When he’d found them, he didn’t know whether to be satisfied or disappointed.
A few years after Perennial had passed, her husband had drowned himself in the Celestial Sea. The fortune that he’d murdered her for had never been found. If it had ever existed at all.
He told the truth, to the ponies he could find who cared. Sunny, his sister, the townspeople of Sundown. It was a grim conversation to have, and a largely irrelevant one, with the rest of the world having long since allowed the Buckwheat's legends to fade into obscurity. Yet it felt important to Shady, all the same. They had to know that the mad young Buckwheat mare hadn't been mad at all, just a vulnerable mare who had needed a friend. A victim, yes, but never to herself.
There were no more hauntings at Buckwheat Manor. Shady never would have imagined he’d have missed them. Long after the house recovered from its decades of torpor, after months and years of restoration as he worked diligently to restore the house to its former beauty, he would find himself wandering the halls at night, restless and lonely.
Perhaps that was what he’d taken, from Perennial. Perhaps her burden was with him, now.
That was okay.
Wherever she was, Shady hoped she would remember him, too.
II
There was stillness all around. The air was refreshingly cool, like the last few days at the end of summer.
Grass gently brushed against Perennial’s hooves, as they took her on a leisurely walk through the vast fields that seemed to stretch to eternity behind her.
To her sides, lay forests of green and yellow and red. Tall trees rising into the bright, cloudless sky, lit by some light that felt greater than the Sun.
In front, a mare several decades Perennial’s elder stood waiting, a small, patient smile on her lips and a hoof extended. It took Perennial a moment to recognize the mare, for all the decades spent clawing the back of her mind for its image.
“Hello, Perennial,” the mare spoke softly, her voice warm and kind. She took the younger mare in her hooves, hugging her tightly.
Perennial’s breath caught in her throat. Her eyes begun to water.
“Ma...”
“I’m here, sweetie. You made it.”
There was so much Perennial wanted to say, but she couldn’t think of a single word to speak. She hugged her mother tighter, sobbing silently into her haunches, her heart burning with joy.
“I... had help," she gasped out, thinking of the kindly young stallion, on the other side of the veil. “I missed you so much. All of you... I m-miss...”
“We know,” her mother said, breathless and quiet, a hoof running through Perennial’s long and silvery mane. “Everypony’s here, Perennial. Everypony’s waiting.”
They remained that way, for what seemed like an eternity, and still never enough time for Perennial. Her joyous tears tumbled to the wispy, golden grass. Her heart was full. Her soul was at peace.
Finally, she was home.
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That was sweet. I was kinda hoping she'd stay with him, but I'm just a sucker for unusual romances
Hey, aren't you the horse from Horsin' Around?
Stories are probably one of the few things just as hard to put to rest as ghosts. Often times they can leave viewers longing for more, or hoping for closure that doesn't come. This story was so well written that it closed out neatly, without going on too long. The pacing was phenomenal and I couldn't spot any errors in spelling or grammar. I am honestly blown away with the quality of this one! Beginning to end I was eager for more but now I'm satisfied to know how it closed out and left no threads dangling.
11449591
Have you read this one? https://www.fimfiction.net/story/423769/the-haunting
11449883
Great story, Admiral Biscuit has been a writing inspiration of mine for a long long time.
11449898
He's definitely in my list of favorite writers, and he can be a decent conversationalist as well for as much as online back and forthing can count.
If I could get paid to sit around all day and read nothing but horsewords I'd be set for life (or at least until the next super shiney show caught my attention
)
11449883
Apparently I have, though I don't remember it... looks like it's time to reread it!
11450186
I have a library FULL of stories that I could re-read at some point so I definitely know the feeling
A very touching story.
The new Phasmaphobia MLP crossover sure looks interesting.
Jokes aside i really loved the story! Was really good and touching and im glad it all worked out in the end.
Including the murder of a husband getting what was coming too him. Told everyone she drowned, drowned himself. Karma truly is a wonderful thing.
10/10. Just, fucking murder me with feelings, would ya.
This was a beautiful little story! Love me some bittersweet ghost stories.
This was beautiful. I shed no tears, but was profoundly moved.
In my head the perfect coda to this would be Shady’s eventual passing as an aged bachelor, and “waking” as his younger self beside an oak tree, to find Perennial beside him.
“You waited for me?”
“I had all the time there will ever be. And now we both do.”
At any rate, you paced this beautifully and I would recommend it to my friends heartily. Well done.
What a sweet little ghost story! I definitely liked the ponyish take on the victorian ghost - it feels right that she'd be more open to a sympathetic hauntee than in other ghost stories. Well done!
This is really, really good.
You had described your intent to make a distinctly "pony" take on the ghost story trope, and this was entirely accomplished. Unlike most "ponified" works, you did not simply slap pony characters onto an unrelated tale, but rather crafted a story which worked because they are ponies. I cannot think of a single example of a haunting victim lowering his defenses out of total sympathy for his aggressor. It wouldn't make sense - unless they are ponies, of course, then it all fits into place.
Shady sweeping away the salt was in some ways the climax, and the clear pivotal point when the tropes fell away and the "usual ghost story" was left behind. It gave that charming, relentless optimism which in-part lured us all into MLP. I loved it, it was so unexpected and so perfect.
The scene on the hill watered my eyes. The ending was bittersweet, but the conveyance of our dear ghost to paradise was the perfect capstone. As for Shady, his restless wanderings beautifully demonstrate with maximum "show don't tell" that he fell in love with his host, and feels unwhole with her absence. Perhaps he'll move on one day - perhaps they'll meet again. While it would have been more "show-like" to let them share the house happily ever after, this is still a ghost story, and a happy ending here is different than what we might find elsewhere.
Thank you for making this, it was wonderful.
11450778
Yeah... the little bit at the end with Shady's nighttime wanderings was a perfect, tiny window into the love which found his heart. I think it will be as you say.
Oof, I'm tearing up again.
11450778
Had a very similar thought.
Beautiful story, 10/10. Defiantly would like to see these two together again
Really sweet story, I would like to tell why, but it has been said already and I keep getting something in my eyes…
This is so well written
This was delightful. Thank you for this.
I would love a sequel maybe next Christmas where Perennial was offered a chance at reincarnation as one of the mares Shady befriends in Sundown that becomes his lover and as the relationship grows in her reincarnated body she starts remembering her time as the ghost he befriended and helped and her past life as Perennial Buckwheat. Then she tells Shady who believes her because something always was bugging him about her when he started dating her that reminded him of her ghost. Then Shady promises her that he will do all he can to make her happy, loved, cared for, and always making her feel listened to and valued. Which he does and when she passes on "again" she dies having lived the life she should've lived as Perennial, being a beloved wife and a loving mother and eagerly waiting for her loving husband if she were to pass on first or if he goes first she'll be happily embracing him when she rejoins with him in the afterlife
The ending and the epilogue made me cry. This story was so, so, so well done.
Dunno why I put off reading this for so long; absolutely excellent story, as I've come to expect from you at this point. Glad to hear (in the blog post) you've got plans to keep things going for a bit, good luck and a belated happy holidays
This was just so gosh darn good!!!! The whole thing left me feeling so strongly bittersweet, you really nailed the descriptions of faces and emotions, I really saw everything playing out in my head. Well done, bravo!!
Honestly I thought it would be revealed that Perennial's husband was Shady's grandfather- his name is Shady Fortune, after all, so it probably was acquired dubiously. And he did get what seems to be a pretty big inheritance, and it would explain why he felt an unexplained yearning for the place... All the same, though, I'm alright with the ending we got. Would've been irritating to know he'd lived a long life.
❤️
So you made the fanfic Norris I listened to your fanfic being narratored by skijaramaz (tone shift) on youtube a few months ago and now found it on here and I will say its an amazing fanfic I loved every word of it definitely a 10/10 fanfic
11833194
Skijaramaz did a great job with the reading, to say I'm flattered would be an understatement.
Thank you much for the praise.
11833258
He sure did and no problem keep it up