Epilogue: Where the Song Met the Stars
The dragon arrived at midnight. She lounged on Sill’s broken sides, her coils dangling from caldera to canyon. The crowd braced themselves against the wind of dragonwing as the wyvern settled, squinting as her amber eyes lit the rocks like spotlights. A broken, rusty pickup truck dangled from her claws.
The humans were well prepared to greet her. Idris saw them coming through the spyglass and told Anais, who told Hark, who told everyone else. By the time the dragon’s belly scraped the mountain, all of Under Hill was awake and abuzz with activity. The supplies and livestock were already crated and packed, a third of all they had, with the rest left for the humans too ill or old or unwanting to leave Sill’s mossy belly. Igoe walked along the scree and oversaw the loading of supplies. Her husband Pruitt managed the loading of people, skirting through Under Hill for stragglers and fence-sitters as he triple-checked his lists.
The wyvern looked over the Caulkin Mountains, untrusting of the clouds and curious of the little humans gathered around her. She twitched the tip of her tail as they climbed over her scales and tied down their belongings, the smaller ones poking at her claws. The light of her eyes washed over the human standing on the bridge of her nose, his white whiskers fluttering in the wind.
She keened low in her throat. “Oh, Colin. I am still not used to you being so old. You were a hatchling when I saw you last.”
“Nothing that can be helped, I’m afraid.” The wrinkled elder patted her warm scales. “But better late than never, huh?”
“I didn’t think there would be so many. The hoard was less than half of this before.” The dragon’s voice clinked and rolled like handfuls of new money. “You have reproduced so quickly! Like rabbits, you are.”
Colin laughed warmly. “I told you before, there are more here than just your hoard. We’re from everywhere.” He pointed to Anais, Martin, and the group surrounding them. “Those are the children of griffon riders. The ones on your haunches are Pruitt and Igoe, their people are nomads from the northeast and northwest, respectfully. And those paler ones near the cave—see them?—they used to work in Diamond Dog mines.”
“Oh,” said the wyvern. “Were they slaves of the dogs? Or was it the other way around?”
“A little of both, I hear. Oh! And here come the wanderers of the southwest. Our chieftain Hark…” Colin paused and looked back at amber eyes the size of his head. “You know Hark, right? He met us when we landed?”
”Yes.” She squinted at a figure stomping over Sill, barking orders. “He has one eye and walks strangely.”
“Hark comes from the central nomads. I think Rail does too, give or take a generation from his mom’s side. He’s the one I told you about.”
The dragon rolled her eyes. “You told me of many.”
“He’s the newest one. Braved the White Roc.”
The wyvern’s whiskers bristled as she growled low in her throat. “I don’t care for that Roc. I don’t like the grey pony with him, either.” Her tail smashed against the mountain and sent the goats into a bleating frenzy. “They cheat.”
“That they do.” Colin climbed to the edge of the snout and waved an arm. “Rail!”
A young man in a green cloak looked up. He clutched a chunk of goat cheese in one hand and practiced his signing with the other. Sydney the linguist sat with him, gently correcting the mistakes.
“Yes?” His tongue was still thick with his native accent and his sentences were brisk and simple.
“Come and meet Pop!” called Collin.
Rail frowned at the wyvern and exchanged glances with Sydney, who shrugged. He pushed himself up with his hackberry staff and approached the dragon with no sudden movements. He seemed a little afraid of her, which was ridiculous (everyone knew humans hunted dragons, not the other way around).
“Hello.” His cloak flowed in the steaming breath of dragon nostrils. “Are you our ride?”
“Am I your ride? I am. Collin and the one called Pruitt told me you are to ride in front, alongside my Collin. I am called Pop.” Pop’s nose twitched. “You smell like ponies.”
Rail blinked. Riding on the dragon’s head was obviously news to him, but he took it in stride. “I… lived with ponies for a long time,” he explained.
“Interesting. Ponies used to live where I live, but they don’t anymore. Now I live there instead and eat geodes.” A contented growl rumbled through her. “They are very good geodes!”
“Why’s your name Pop?” Ashling asked.
Rail yelped and jumped back from the girl standing behind him. He hadn’t seen her arrive. Nobody ever did, but Rail still wasn’t used to it yet.
The wyvern chuckled. The numerous bare feet on her back tickled. The elders and families with younger children were already seated and tied down. Now the rest of the humans roved up and down her scales looking for their place to sit. Little Fava sat with her mother and waved at Rail from Pop’s back haunch, but he didn’t see her.
“Why is my name my name? I will show you!” The wyvern spat a stream of bright acid that steamed and sparked and popped in the night air.
“Oh, wow.” Ashling bounced on her toes and giggled. She was still too young to do a proper witch’s cackle. “Gosh, you must have made the ponies of North Hill absolutely miserable!”
“Probably. I never bothered to ask them.” Pop looked over her shoulder. The last handfuls of humans settled themselves between her shoulder blades. Hark and Pruitt stood on her neck, performing a final headcount. “Hatchling, are you riding upon my head as well?”
Ashling rocked back on her heels and grinned. “Yep!”
Rail frowned. Apparently, nobody had told him of this part, either.
“You’re riding at the horns,” said Colin. “We need someone to scout out magic stuff. Just like Rail and I are up here on account of knowing the land.”
Rail piped up in protest. “But I only know the lands from here to my city.”
Colin waved him off. “Still know it better than most of us. And if what you told Hark is true, most of the maps are no good anymore. Something’s better than nothing.” He nodded to Pop, who gently took Rail in her claws and placed him on her forehead. Ashling already lounged in a spiraled horn as if it were a papasan chair.
Colin leaned and cupped his hands over his mouth. “We all here?”
A keen whistle ran from the base of Pop’s tail to the top of her head. Hark’s gloved hand gave the affirmative: All here. Old and young, foolish and wise. The healers, the warmongers, the thieves, and the law-keepers. The craven and the courageous, the careless and the cautious and the cruel, and some that were none of these, all of these, or somewhere in-between.
Indeed, they were here. They all were alive and they were here. In the long shadows cast by fire flowers and plague and White Roc and warfare, their numbers were smaller, but still here.
As Mount Sill lifted away from them, the fever of freedom spread soul to soul, hotter and hotter until someone in back could stand it no longer and began to sing. Someone else joined him. Then another. And then another and another and another until the song wound up and up into a wild chorus that sailed over the Caulkin Mountains.
The song drifted down to the trio of ponies watching from the foot of Sill. Their twitching ears caught the notes like fireflies in summer. It echoed between the peaks long after the humans breached the starry horizon, out of this story and into another.
Here we must part, dear reader.
I extend my heartfelt thanks to:
- Saddlesoap Opera, for lovely proofreading and greatly inspiring this story to be written in the first place.
- Cthuluigi, for catching the many typos that fall through the cracks
- Tenants of the Skype Slumber Party skypechat for putting up with my constant whining about wordcount and self-imposed deadlines
- The staff of several restaurants, who didn't kick me out even while I wrote in a booth for three hours, though I probably should have been.
- Peter S. Beagle, for writing "The Last Unicorn" and making the world a better place
- You, dear readers. All of you. (Yes, even you. You know who you are.)
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A fittingly fantastical conclusion to draw the page closed, I think.
God speed, good sir
Before reading the last two chapters: Just one day shy from being exactly 1 year and 10 months since you first uploaded this. Man it's been a good ride
Is this on YouTube? I can't read a fic that long!
I wasn't sure exactly what had happened at the end, but now I do.
It's a real shame to see the end of this amazing story, but I'm glad for the ride it took me on. It perfectly bridges the humans and the ponies, bringing us together at the time between great nations. It cannot be known if the last humans will survive, but I personally hope they will. Hidden legends, helping from the sidelines, existing in the shadows of the world that was once theirs.
Thank you so much for writing this.
This should be mentioned by the FImFic mods.
As you read this post please know that I am deeply saddened by the completion of this wonderful fic. You have done marvalously well with it and I thank you for the hours of mirth and joy it filled me with.
Thank You for all your time and effort that you put forth into making this. I pray that you enjoyed writing this as much as i did reading it.
It always makes my heart hurt – even now I feel a tight grip in my chest – when a magnificent story, particularly a serialized one that I spent months or even years reading, ends.
And this was a truly wonderfully magnificent story.
Farewells are always hard and to watch our group; Sunshower, Heartstrings, Star Swirl, and Rail part ways was heartbreaking. But at the same time it was bittersweet. Sunshower may have lost her stallion, but she's strong and she'll become the stronger for it, a leader of pegasi. Heartstings got her chance to meet humans. Star Swirl got his magic and we all know how he's going to turn out. And Rail... Rail is no longer the last human. He's no longer alone. They may not stay together, but no one can say that the time they spent together didn't leave a mark on them forever and change them for the better.
That final image of the humans singing as they fly away forever. I can't describe how that makes me feel. The humans may live on, or they may not. But before they boarded their dragon, left the world of ponies, and passed from history into the realms of myth, they sure had one hell of a run and damn well left their mark on the world. In the end, that's all anyone can hope for, isn't it?
Thank you very much for this incredible journey. It's one I won't seen forget.
Whew. The haunting feeling present throughout the story has pretty thoroughly shifted to a comforting undertone, rather than being disquieting. Nice wrap-up.
This story was amazing. It was in fact, so much more than that, amazing doesn't do it justice by half, but it is the closest I can come to it, without writing an embarrassingly long comment listed the multitude of reasons why I love it. Suffice to say, your characters were compelling, your plot clever and your prose beautiful. I hope you still desire to write, because I certainly have a desire to continue reading.
4907188 just do it, you wimp
Thank you for this wonderful tale.
4907496 I asked the author, you eavesdropper.
My god, I can't believe it... So ends a great chapter in the history of human- and ponykind. So great, and yet so terrible.
Thanks for the ride. It was amazing.
I'm gonna go take a walk and sort out all these feels. I'll comment again when I have them figured out and coherent.
I have to say that this was an incredible journey of a story. A great rendition of The Last Unicorn. I am glad to be able to experience this, albeit a bit late compared to some, but still. This was an incredibly well done story, the pacing was great, the flow was as smooth as any can be the characters were all so very interesting and almost seemed to have a life of their own, the world building showing what kind of society ponies have as well as the remnants of the Old World. There are so many things that I want to say about this, but my memory is bad that I cannot remember everything from previous chapters and talk about them. Suffice to say while it's not perfect it's still amazing in its own right.
Well now that this is done, I'm more motivated than ever to finish my own story and be able to move on to new projects, like that story I want to write using this as a base for Star Swirl's journal about humans which is found by Lyra. Anyway I'll contact you for help by the time I get there.
Once again, amazing story and one incredible journey and like all things they have to end, but at the very least it ended on a high note.
been one heck of a time and a truly great piece of literature. but all good things must come to an end many a night waiting and reading for and ending of good quality was worth it. good job! have ALL the moustaches
moustache: 
Oh my goodness, what a beautiful ending. It even gives a reasonable hope of human survival in "present day" Equestria.
Thank you, PatchworkPoltergeist.
Thank you, Saddlesoap Opera.
I know better than to ask for a sequel, but I think it's safe to say that if you saw fit to write one I would like it. I suppose such a hypothetical story would be more likely to focus on Starswirl. Unless Lyra followed the human exodus, or stayed with the likely dwindling remainder. Or witches. ...Yeah, you wrote a rich world.
4907511 Authors don't always know everything done related to their fic. I only found out years later that my one fic was featured on Twilight's Library. It's sad when people do stuff relating to your fic but it can't be helped... Also just read it, don't be such a crybaby, it's not like it's a 1.5 million word series or anything... And yes there are such fics.
4907901 This is the longest fic, other than perhaps Know Your Mare (But maybe even longer that that!) I have even had interest in. And I thought that the author would have recorded himself reading it.
4907917 why? The joy of a good book is to read it yourself, having it read to you might be fine as a kid but I find it a hollow experience.
4907963 OK, but only 5 chapters at a time. I don't wanna cry blood for eternity and a half.
4908001 Not everyone can read 500,000 word stories in 3 days.
Take your time, enjoy it.
I know I did
4908017
To the tune of Owl City's "When Can I See You Again"
It's in the category called Anthro!
Life is way too short to take it slow!
B-but before I go and hit the road!
I gotta read, 'til then
I'm gonna read this fiction! Oh oh oh oh!
I'm gonna read this fiction! Oh oh oh oh!
I'm gonna read this fiction! Oh oh oh oh!
I gotta read, I'm gonna read this fiction!
Outstanding, this will be one for the present and beyond.
[aplauso]
A VERY entertaining read
Amazing story. I was actually unaware that this story was based on The Last Unicorn (and was also completely unfamiliar with that story) until one of the later chapters. I found the story engrossing in spite of all that- you've got a great, fairy tail-like way of story telling.
Out of curiosity, I Googled the names of some of the human characters. The only one that came up with something obvious was Ashling, who is apparently someone in the MtG universe. Any relation?
4907917
Sorry, no audio readings exist that I'm aware of. I'd certainly like one, but there we are. (You wouldn't want me reading it, trust me. I'm awful at reading stuff aloud.) I can understand wanting one, though. I'm hesitant of the giant wordcounts in some fics too (eye strain, it's a thing), and I'd sometimes prefer to listen to them in audiobook format instead while on the go.
Far as I can tell, most fic readings are of stuff much shorter than "Last Human". It's something more common for one-shots and shorter fics.
4907816
Thank you, both for kind words and nitpicking my mistakes. Heh, I think maybe I built the world a bit too well. At times it felt like I gave myself more than I could juggle.
A sequel's certainly possible. Or if not a direct sequel, then some one-shots or a short story collection that takes place in the same universe. I do like the idea of exploring witches.
It'll likely have to wait until after my next project, though.
4907704
With this mustache, truly I am the most dignified of ladies!
4907501
You're very welcome. Thank you for sticking with it all this time!
4907191
Humans are stubborn little things. They've got a habit of enduring. (Watch out for that Windigo Winter, guys!)
4907393
Fun Fact: She actually becomes a senator for the Wind Whistler faction later on.
I have to say, I'm very happy with the epilogue myself. I had the dumbest smile on my face when I wrote about them singing in the rough draft. I'm happy I finally got to write in Pop the dragon too, with her acid spitting and spotlight eyes I shamelessly stole from The Hobbit.
I'm a little sad to see it end too. Heck, I get kind of sad when I post a new chapter, much less the last one.
4908246
Nope, total coincidence. I named Ashling for volcano ash or...something. The reasons behind her name I came up with like six months ago, never wrote it down and thus forgot.
4908251
Yeah, stuff in a human realm is decidedly unmagical. If the land is unaffected, it stands to reason the animals are too. Though, it's notable that the critters in Under Hill have been there for decades and except for the goats none of them are creatures known for speaking and society building. The griffons did okay around them, after all.
4908241
Aw, c'mere little fella!
media.tumblr.com/tumblr_m46op0gvj81r1kike.gif
It has been an honor reading something as beautiful as this. It is sadly overly late, and I have classes tommorow, so a proper review will be delayed until sometime in the next day or two.
Damn it's finally over, I'm still 13 chapters behind. I'll have to finish the rest, but I've been following this from day 1. You got yours done in a little under two years, mine took 1.5 years. May I ask you a question? May I link your story from mine? I'd like to have Lyra in my story use yours as her own "self written fanfic" as a show of appreciation how much I enjoy this and as a joke.
Congratulations on writing one of the absolute best stories I have ever read. I don't think I have ever felt my soul ache after finishing a story like this.
And so it ends.
And who knows?
Someday.. maybe someday... they may return. In all their contradiction, and chaos, and just plain improbability...
And that might not be a bad thing.
Not a bad thing at all.
This was an amazing story. I can only hope that you will have more for us in the future!
T'was a good story. And now my heart aches.
Like the last unicorn this leaves me with some kind of empty feeling. Like something is missing, like the story is not yet over but resting. Waiting to be brought back to life. Slithering out its tendrils again to weave in readers to enjoy the adventures of Rail, Starswirl, Heartstrings and Sunshower. I want you to know that, if you decide to take those four and maybe some more companions on a new adventure across the vast lands, deep sea and high mountains, I'll be forever grateful.
Dragon
Thank you for seeing this through to the conclusion.
God. Fucking. Damn it.
This was a work of art, seriously. I loved every minute of it, every detail, every word. The poetic, near mythic take to the descriptions and storytelling was an inspiration for me, reminded me of reading those old myths and legends about the fae and the gods, about Cuchulainn and Finn mcCool from my childhood. It always brought to mind those old folk songs children sang when I was a young lad in the playground, only unnaturally ghostly and ancient despite being within my own living memory.
My heart utterly goes out to Sunshower though, while Rail may have gained something in finding the remaining humans, Sunshower has lost everything, including her job once more cloud shepards show up. So you know, that's a thing that happens. And Rail's words about humans not knowing when they are happy until they no longer are, are both true and ominous; he has magic in him now, and its likely it won't fade, he'll never be the same as the other humans and more like Ashling, a witch. (If you had any intention of it being similar to the original, Irish Aisling, the name means Dream or Vision Poem, which is appropriate on so many levels) I have a feeling he's going to regret leaving Sunshower behind. Wether she moves on to become a senator or not.
It is kind of heartbreaking to see this end, but I suppose given the source material that was inevitable.
And, Star Swirl added in his autobiography, nopony ever saw their kind again. Thus it was that the kind known as 'human' left Equestria and became a legend, then a myth and then faded into oblivion apart from a few determined romantic souls who clung to their story, including the distant descendent of Heartstrings whom everypony looks down on as a crank for her obsessions.
Then, one day, two thousand years after these signal events on Mount Sill, Twilight Sparkle, born a unicorn of an ancient house of mages, stepped through a magical mirror and found that, just maybe, the stories are not so far-fetched after all... Megan was right, of course. There is always another Rainbow. Only time can tell the consequences that will be found at the end of the rainbow that brought magic back to the realm of humanity.
This is literally the greatest work of art I have ever had the pleasure to bear wittiness on this site,
I will and forever applaud you, thanks for such a great read
Thank you for finishing this story, especially in such a way.
The Last humans fly off on the back of a giant dragon, singing as they go?
Who said they have no magic.
This was a beautiful re imagining of The Last Unicorn and I am glad to have read it, and saddened by its end.
That being said, I love Ashling for some reason.
She has the potential for a spin-off story of her own, in my opinion.
Masterfully done. A wonderful conclusion to a wonderful story. I'm sorry to see this end, but the final words were still a joy to read. And who knows? There may yet be humans in some far-off corner of the world, even in the days of Twilight Sparkle.
I am immensely grateful that you wrote this. From the bottom of my heart, thank you.
I just don't think any words of mine could say how amazing I found this story.
I have to ask though, who's Pop? Was she in the old series?
I have a number of problems with the way this story turned out, but I guess I'll limit myself to just one complaint: Why is Rail (aka 'the human') suddenly Yoda?!
Still; I look forward to the sequel(s)!
4909752
I agree. Aside from Star Swirl, she's the most likely to appear in later stories (she kept threatening to take over the end of this one). The idea of witches and their function in the world as been picking at my brain since March.
4910308
Pop's my own creation. A dragon that kept a hoard of humans...or a dragon kept by a hoard of humans (both parties have very different opinions on this).
4910358
You're going to have to elaborate on that complaint. I'm not sure what you mean.
Great story, and thanks for doing it. You left a setting that begs to prodded at more, so I will be totally selfish here and say I hope this is not the end of your foray into writing pony stuff!
A truley great fic, thank you for Writing it.
The nature of my complaint is this: Rail starts out the adventure because he is filled with wanderlust. Starswirl and Heartstrings treat him with some reverence for obvious reasons. No problems there. The problem is that over time you, the author, start to write about him with reverence. This becomes particularly evident in the final chapter/epilogue. The ponies are led to him (like Yoda), and he is written of as a high-and-mighty, cloth draped figure as he looks down on them (like Yoda). In the final scene, Starswirl could have put forward some much stronger arguments for his accompanying Rail, but Rail declares 'no' and his decision is accepted practically immediately (like Yoda). Admittedly, he's been through some ordeals and done some heroic acts, and he probably deserves respect beyond his age for that. But that doesn't warrant the kind of reverence he's treated with.
Congrat's on completing the book, btw.
Bravo, madame! Still my favorite story on this site, and I'm sad to see it end.
You said you didn't want to do a repeat of Lir's ending, but Sunshower's fate is still pretty heartbreaking in it's own right. Of course now you know this means you have to write your own version of "Two Hearts" using those two, or there just won't be any justice in the world.
Ah, the end of the story that finally got me to begin my own! It doesn't end as gloriously or flashily as it might have, and the ending leaves me with questions of "what happens next" and such, but I enjoyed it.
Perhaps someday I'll finish my own story as well.