Epilogue
The past week was easily one of the strangest and most stressful times of Nictis's life. His stay in Ponyville had a rocky start, and yet, it had been both enlightening and encouraging. The party had been the hardest by far. Things had been awkward enough when Golden Harvest--the mare that had greeted him in the street--had mentioned being in Canterlot during the attack. It got worse when he discovered that the purple unicorn he was speaking with, the Twilight Sparkle whose name had seemed so familiar, was not just some sort of hero, nor just the student of Celestia whom he'd heard of a couple times before, the same one who had somehow defeated both Nightmare Moon and Discord and saved the world multiple times over, but also one of the three ponies most directly responsible for repelling the changeling invasion. The final straw had been a very friendly green unicorn by the name of Lyra, who had casually and cheerfully mentioned not remembering much of the invasion due to being mind-controlled by Chrysalis at the time.
She then joined Sky in trying to coax Nictis back out of the closet he had shut himself in, while he lay curled up inside in the midst of a full-blown panic attack.
Yet the same experience that had initially sent him into a panic eventually helped him find peace with the situation. Sky and Lyra both hugged him after he came back out. Lyra spent most of the party trying to help him feel more comfortable, and most of the ponies seemed very sympathetic to his fear. Eventually, he had managed to calm down, to force the discomfort and panic into the background and make an attempt to socialize. Feeling the happiness that rose in several ponies' emotions just at seeing him begin to enjoy himself was a truly bizarre experience, and yet, so wonderful.
He still didn't leave Sky's house very often, but he managed it on occasion. It wasn't that he was fearful of what would happen, not any more, but he still felt rather uncomfortable on his own. For the first few days, he wouldn't even dare to go outside without Sky alongside him.
And then more changelings came.
Their arrival had changed things for Nictis in the strangest way. The pair of drones were nothing special. They were not Infiltrators. They were not even soldiers. Skiris and Trip were simply a couple of tunnel-workers who had been dragged along into the invasion. Neither of them had any idea what was really going on, simply following along with their orders as they always had. The entire hive had been mobilized, and the two had stuck together throughout the endeavor. In the chaos of the aftermath, they ended up stranded and injured inside Equestria. Remarkably, they had remained hidden for months on their own through a mixture of improvisation and paranoia. Even on the verge of starvation, they had refused to approach Sky for fear of it being some elaborate trap. Only when Nictis had entered the scene had they finally decided to take the risk.
It had been almost heartbreaking when he had seen them drop their disguise; a pair of haggard and timid changelings, near starvation, and yet defiantly protective of each other. It was a turning point, in so many ways. No longer was he the scared young changeling, terrified in the face of something new. Instead, he was the one offering them comfort and encouragement. He had a purpose again. The ponies had been very friendly and welcoming, but it took the arrival of those two changelings for him to feel that he had a place there.
Now Sky's home felt far more alive. All four changelings were living there currently, and the place was no longer so empty. It was like their own little hive in miniature. A place where they could relax and let the standards of pony society slip just a bit.
Perhaps I've found my own way, after all. The thought brought a small smile to his face, a hoof rising to hold the simple compass on its golden chain as he looked down at it. It was a habit he had reluctantly copied from Sky. The other changeling wore his silver torc with its cloud-shaped sapphire as a way of identifying himself to ponies who were unfamiliar with distinguishing one changeling from another. Nictis disliked that he should have to do such a thing rather than ponies simply learning how changelings simply didn't look as identical as they assumed, but it made interactions easier. Besides, that compass was the first tangible thing he had of any personal significance, and just about the only constant to exist throughout his time in Equestria. If he had to have a symbol to represent himself, he couldn't think of any better.
A faint, buzzing snore brought his attention away from his symbol. He let it hang against his chest as he looked over to where Skiris and Trip were napping, huddled up together on the floor beside the couch he sat on. A few visitors had been a little uncomfortable when they found the two sleeping on the floor, but Nictis found it somewhat nostalgic. After all, even the carpeted floor was far more comfortable than anything they would have gotten in the hive. Their natural habit of sleeping wherever seemed convenient and out of the way also meant he had occasionally found himself sharing the couch he had claimed as his sleeping place, but the presence of other changelings all huddled together in sleep was surprisingly comforting. It brought back all the familiar memories of sleeping in the crowded chambers of the hive, yet in far more comfort. It was nice seeing changelings just... being changelings.
Their arrival had also brought new hope to Sky, and in turn, to Nictis. They weren't the only changelings in Equestria. How many more might be hiding in Equestria, who might welcome a better way to live? How many drones like Skiris and Trip were still in the hive, unaware that something better could exist for them out there? Thoughts that had once been vile and traitorous now shone with the hope of something better, something that they were now certain could exist. They could help every changeling.
But that was all for later, vague and long-term plans that might take years of effort. There would be much work ahead, Nictis was sure, but he found himself welcoming the prospect. For the first time in months, the future was beginning to brighten, and he had a purpose in it. He was well fed, on emotions not stolen, but freely given. There were a few ponies he could even count as casual friends, despite his timid outings. Almost every part of a good life was sliding into place.
Almost. One part remained, and it was the reason he was sitting there, hovering over a single sheet of paper. It was blank, and had remained blank for almost an hour as he tried to think of what to write. His newfound and faint optimism wavered, but as he glanced back to the two peacefully sleeping changelings nearby, it held.
Everything there was supposed to be impossible. It had been drilled into his head his whole life. It was accepted as a simple fact of life for changelings. Yet there he was--there they were--having done the impossible.
His magic lifted the quill as determination filled him. What would follow would surely be difficult, but he had already managed what was supposed to be impossible. He didn't know exactly what he could do, or how it would all end.
As he levitated the quill over to the unwritten letter, the only thing he knew for certain was how it would begin.
Dear Spark...
The end!
Or at least, the end until the next story. Because yeah, this is only the beginning of some things.
I had originally thought that this part would be the easiest portion of the story to write. After all, I knew from the moment I started writing just how the whole story would end. Part of one scene was even mostly written thanks to my other story! And yet, I ended up re-writting and tweaking and cutting and changing things again and again, because I wanted to get it right. The basics of it all are largely the same, but once again, as I wrote it, I found better options for some of the choices. I got to writing the characters doing their stuff, and just realized, "this is how it should be."
And now that it's all done, I'm not quite sure what to say about it all. Other than to say, it's been a lot of fun. I like Nictis. I like Spark. I like a bunch of the secondary characters like Sunseeker, and even minor characters like Gale, Glitterbug, and Grace, even though they barely showed up (I swear the G theme is completely coincidental). I even like Big Shot. It's been a big, long story, and I've thoroughly enjoyed it. I look forward to doing more.
It may be a bit before the next story comes out. I'm not even sure if I'll have it started up by the time season 4 starts. Hopefully it'll be before then, or at least not too long afterward. I've got much planning to do before I begin writing it, but I'm rather looking forward to it. There's so many characters, both returning and new, and so much to cover. What happens when more changelings show up, and how does Equestria handle it? Do Nictis and Spark reconcile? Does Sky ever get that love he's been working on? And of course, what does Chrysalis think of all of this...?
Yes
Also :( Ending but then :D Sequel at somestage
A very enjoyable end, and a note bright to end on. I hope your next work has the inspiration and enjoyment that this was done with. Thank you for its writing.
3245936
I will be expecting the update on this story for the sequel in due time. don't keep everyone waiting for too long.
I'm glad I found this story, it was a very creative story. Though I can't help but think that the ending felt a bit rushed.
Anyway, I'm looking forward to the sequel!
Nictis and Spark having a talk.
Nictis and Bigs having a "talk."
Nictis finally meeting Celestia. (Come on, you can't not do "Meadow" saying hello to the Princess!)
Whatever is going to happen with Chrysalis.
There's so much to look forward to!
I need to stop distracting myself from my own story to read other peoples'.
I knew the story was winding down a bit, but I didn't expect it to end without Nictis speaking to Spark again. That is a great plot point for a sequel though, so smart thinking. Looking forward to it.
NO! The story can't be over already! I demand moar!!!
3246071
All that and more!
3246072
I had to at least put in the bit of Nictis starting to write the letter, because yeah, there needs to be more there. More than I could put at the end of this story and still do it all justice.
3246090
You are a horrible tease. I suppose I will have to go start Fragments now, which I'm not sure why I've put it off for so long....
The two are directly connected, or just in the same universe?
Great job on this story, I have thoroughly enjoyed it all the while. Good luck on the sequel and try not to keep us waiting too long.
It's over, just like that?! Nooooooooo!
Wait, sequel?! Yeeeeeeeaaaah!
Kind of an unsatisfying and open-ended ending, but granted there's a third story coming.
This story has been excellent, and hit everything from gut-wrenching to heartwarming. Many hours of reading well spent. Thank you
A soon as I saw that there was just one chapter and an epilogue and their respective word counts I thought: "Crap, this is going to be really open ended, isn't it?" But it's good to know there will be another sequel at some point. I greatly enjoyed this story so its good to be able to look forward to more.
I got to the end and I was like nuuuuuu, and then sequel comes up and I'm like O.O YEEEEEEEEEEAH! I loved this story so much :D
oh gawd... please tell me there's going to be more... plz for all that is good in this world tell me there's more. Plus I have to know what Chrysalis is going through dealing with this. Does she ever get to meet Nic and start talking about her daughter? Does he reveal himself and his mentor to the family? de fuq I must know!
Sorry Pinkie but this is good shit.
3246090 I gotta ask tho are you writing a story for Skiris and Trip?
I'm finding it a bit funny that it seems like 90% of the people who read this haven't read your notes on Fragments stating quite clearly it was going to be a trilogy XD
That being said, this ended exactly as I expected it to, not necessarily a bad thing but something to be aware of in your writing. Too predictable is almost as bad as far to complicated to follow, after all.
Now we just have to see what Spark and his new girlfriend (because we're talking about NIctis here, it has to be hard) think when they receive the letter...
What a ride, and its not even over.
Gah! Cliff hangers! Curse you!
Seriously though, nicely rapped up. When I first saw the word count I was a little bit afraid of a cheep ending or some such but kept my hopes up, you very good at this after all. Though, to be honest I am a little bit disappointed because I was looking forward to seeing Nictis tie up all those loose ends he's left in life, big and small.
But anyway, well done. I've very much enjoyed this and look forward to more. Best of luck.
Bravo! Oh wow, it certainly is so very satisfying having read this since I first saw it posted after Fragments! Such a great, well fleshed out and excellently paced sequel. This series of fics is one that I will remember fondly years from now.
3246098
Directly connected. Fragments starts just after the failed invasion of Canterlot (right about the time Meadow Song has to go on the run) and goes from there, so they're running side by side up until the epilogue of each where they meet. The part that Phoenix mentioned in his first post about part of these last two chapters already being written is Nictis arriving at Sky's house in the Epilogue of Fragments.
3246484
What's gonna make it hard is meeting his friends in Canterlot from when he was in the orphanage. I guarantee that they've found out that Meadow was a changeling since it was in the papers, meaning that they would have already gotten in touch with Spark. And that other mare was eyeing Meadow and Spark when they were in Canterlot for the Summer Sun Celebration.....The question now is whether she was after Meadow or Spark? And what if Glitterbug shows up again? She seemed awfully interested in Nictis, even going so far as to appear to want more than just friendship perhaps.....
Man, you really should have put a few more chapters about Nictis meeting back up with Spark. That would have been most entertaining. But, it was a good story none the less, so I give you a four out of five.
Dammit. I don't know if I should be happy that there will be sequel or sad that this part has ended.
Now, off to read the Fragments!
your changeling OC is gay... just saying
3246573 If I'm remembering what I read correctly, only Spark (and a couple of guards) knows Meadow is a changling unless Bigs told anyone else (and who would believe him anyways). Glitterbug probably knew NIctis was a changling pretty quick, if not right away, which would explain the interest.
So I stand by my assumption that Spark will have someone new, but will secretly still feel bad for what happened and eventually they will reconcile in some way.
This arc ends.
I hope Nictis can re-attach these broken bonds he had formed with Spark, even in his true form.
He can not be in complete bliss without the dearest Spark.
Excellent work, dear Author!
Well. I'm both sad, and happy that this has ended... Or has it? I don't know, only time will tell.
3246900
After she ran away there was a newspaper article about her. That's how the ponies in the first town she went to knew she was a changeling by her cutie mark and last name.
3245936
Ah, man. I'm going on a mission for my church in November, so that means i won't get to read the sequel or see season four for two years! Dang it!
3246897
"Dear Spark, you're gay, see you soon."
Love Nictis.
Cant wait for part 3. Gonna be SWEET!
This story... all of it...
iambrony.dget.cc/mlp/gif/172871%20-%20animated%20epic_wub_time%20Its_beautiful%20vinyl_scratch.gif?1344085396
I shall patently await the next in the series. Take your time with it.
3246910
As do I, the part where Nic is forced to flee from Spark is simply heart breaking, I so want to see them reconnect somehow in the next story.
3247099
Indeed.
3246098
Same universe, and connected, but independent stories. They converge at the end, but mostly play out on their own.
3246427
Heh, it's tempting! Still, I can't go on writing a full story for every changeling I introduce, or I'll never get to the sequel. Even if I think the story of a couple simple tunnel-workers getting caught up in a huge invasion only to end up stranded in "enemy territory" could be quite interesting...
3246484
Yeah, the biggest problem that I had with the story is that the end-point was going to be fairly predictable, particularly if you've read Fragments. They were both converging toward a common sequel. Well, that and the general knowledge from the very beginning of the story that ponies aren't at all like Nictis imagined them to be. In any case, if there wasn't another story after this, I never would have ended it here. Since there is, though... it felt like the right place to end it. Up until here, one story was Sky's, and one story was Nictis's. From here on, it's both of their stories. Fortunately, for the sequel I have no fixed target to hit with the ending, so I can hopefully slip a few more surprises in there!
3246532
It was always a bit of a struggle to decide how much gets wrapped up in this story. There's just so much he needs to do, and I really don't want to rush it. Besides, I've got to save something for the next story!
3246872
Oh, he wasn't comfortable at all with showing himself like that. He was rather terrified, in fact! But at the same time, there was one significant difference between the times he was run out of town (Only 2, unless you count him fleeing Manechester). In the previous towns, he had been found out while pretending to be a pony, trying to deceive them. This time, he revealed himself. By the point he said that line, he'd already been out in public for a good while, and yet none of the ponies were trying to chase him off this time. That's the lie he referred to; he had been taught that other species would kill him if they ever knew what he was, but Sky had proven that to be false. He wasn't being chased out just because he was a changeling, but because of what he was doing.
3246910
I really feel sad for Spark and Nictis at leaving things unresolved in this story. At the same time, I'm looking forward to what happens in the next one.
3247099
That bit made me so sad, too. And it kind of made me feel like a horrible person for doing such cruel things
3247185
It must be glorious.
great story! can't wait for sequel! :3
In all honesty, he seems to have completely and totally forgotten the whole 'Until Ponyville, every single pony who he had ever encountered outside his disguise has tried to kill/maim him' thing.
3246977 Ah right. But still that's assuming quite a bit since months have passed since that happened.
3247299
Oh, no, he remembered. That's why he was so scared of going along with Sky's plan, even explicitly expecting the same thing to happen there in Ponyville! It's just that it took that to show him that it wasn't the "encountered outside his disguise" part that drew the reaction, but the "sneaking about deceiving and preying on ponies" part...
And to be fair, the ponies weren't really trying to kill or maim him. He got bucked in the chest once while attacking a pony, but otherwise ponies were trying to restrain him, not hurt him. Well, okay, most were just running away, but a few tried to step up and restrain him. Not that he wasn't completely convinced at the time that it would lead to his death, of course, but looking back on it with the new experience, he can see it another way.
3247389 The entire bar attempted to kick the shit out of him, and he had every reason to believe it. Tbh, I don't feel that he really had ANY reason to think that it wasn't obviously some sort of trap.
3247396
The only time a pony there struck him was in response to him leaping at that pony in an apparent attempt to attack him, after trashing the room and chasing several other ponies out in a rage. Most of the ponies just ran away, and the only one to strike him did so in self-defense. The only other pony to get to him tried to restrain him, not hurt him (And considering how much stronger she was, she could have done some real damage if she'd tried). While he thought he'd be hurt or killed at the time, he's got good reason to reconsider his interpretation of events, particularly in the light of finding another changeling living openly among ponies.
And while he was very worried that it could be a trap, he did have reason to at least consider that it wasn't. If it was a trap, it would be both incredibly elaborate (Considering that Sky is set up as a government official in addition to being a openly-known changeling) and of minimal utility as a trap (It would serve only to snare unconnected changelings operating on their own, which is a far smaller threat than organized infiltration and espionage, as not only would organized Infiltrators from the hive have no reason to publicly approach Sky, even if they for some reason did, they would only have to lose one before knowing it's a trap and avoiding it, making it completely useless). So while Nictis, being a bit paranoid about his safety and seeing a situation that completely contradicted everything he was taught, would worry that it's a trap, he could still recognize that, logically speaking, it being a trap made no sense.
And to tell the truth, Nictis was very close to simply giving up, anyway. He was tired of it all. He'd even momentarily considered just going out into a public street and dropping his disguise, though he imagined it as a form of suicide instead of a step forward. This gave him an opportunity to give up, yet with the hope of something better coming of it. Even though rational evaluation made it rather unlikely to actually be a trap, he was still afraid it might be. He was willing to take that chance, because he just couldn't keep running. He was willing to possibly lose everything for a chance at something better, because he didn't really have anything left to lose.
3247680
Yeah, that was one of the bits that just kind of showed up on its own. I was writing the dialog there, and suddenly realized I have the perfect setup for a very Pinkie kind of moment. I couldn't resist!
Same for the "changelings don't have parties" bit. That seemed like the kind of thing that would make Pinkie sad. ...promptly followed by her trying to remedy the situation.
Once again a social worker, huh Nictis?
Ahh... and so it ends. I had expected more. I hoped for more. But it's still a good ending. Perfectly open, able to stand on its own, but with all the elements to add a good sequel. Thank you for writing this, Phoenix_Dragon, it's been a wonderful trip
btw,
> How many drones like Skiris and Trip were still in the hive, unaware that something better could exist for them out there.
I think this should have a question mark at the end.
3246098
Quite simply, Fragments is Sky's story.
3247669
Oh, THAT would've been entertaining. All ponies on the street suddenly being completely uncomfortable, making a wide berth around him, unsure what to do, until somepony would carefully walk up to the miserable pile of changeling and ask "Uhm... are you okay?"
Or alternatively, he'd get mobbed by curious ponies going all "Oh wow, a changeling!" and "Can you change into me?"
I look forward to the next book!
3247722
Ah, that made me laugh so good. I can totally see that happening. I can also imagine Nictis's response when it's all done: "...What the heck just happened?!"
("...And why does everypony want me to look like them? Get a mirror!" )
3247875
Lulz, bro, mirrors are so last season.
I will miss reading this story!!! it was very good and i hope you make a sequel
Congratulations on the completion! This story got me through many a long Security night shifts this summer.
3248494
I agree with this whole heartedly, which makes two.
Two > one, so... no choice in the matter, yes