Epilogue
Three months had passed in Canterlot since what had become known as the Aethiope Coup, or to some as the Night of the Balrog. Only to a select hoofful of ponies was it known as the final act of the Dawn Rebellion, and those ponies who were aware tended to be glad that the crowds were not.
Through dedicated reconstruction efforts, the parts of Canterlot that had been damaged by the zebras had been rebuilt, as good as or better than before. Shining Armour, despite his brief return to command of the Royal Guard, returned to the Crystal Empire alongside his beloved wife, whose memory and personality were restored exactly as they had been. Princess Twilight Sparkle returned to Ponyville, as she had vowed to do before the whole mess began, and on her return she kept a promise to Pinkie Pie: their first night back the six of them went out and painted the town. Literally, once they got to Sweet Apple Acres.
The August Court of Grevyia disclaimed all responsibility for the actions of Lord Mathos, vehemently denying any desire for war with Equestria. Nevertheless they declined to send a replacement ambassador. Quaggai, on the other hand, obtained a lucrative free trade agreement, including mutual removal of all tariffs between Equestria and Quaggai. As a gesture of goodwill, ambassador Sophoniba invited Fluttershy to visit Quaggai and observe their wildlife in its natural habitat. Fluttershy and Rainbow Dash, who had packed several Daring Do style outfits, left on their safari a month ago.
Though the conspiracy of Breaking Dawn and its role in the events of the Aethiope Coup had largely escaped public notice, Breaking Dawn herself had not been completely forgotten. Two new stain glass windows had been erected in the Great Hall. One displayed Princess Twilight Sparkle, the Elements of Harmony and the Princesses vanquishing the balrog threatening to destroy Canterlot. The other displayed the defeat of the zebras by the heroes of the Battle for Canterlot: Princess Luna, Captain Lancer, Prince Shining Armour and a golden unicorn some recognised as having saved and rallied terrified ponies at the beginning of the struggle. Nopony had seen her since, and it was assumed that she had, with the modesty of a true hero, declined all thanks and retired into the same private life from whence she had emerged.
A new statue had appeared in the quad of Celestia's School for Gifted Unicorns. A proud unicorn mare, mane swept back by the wind, look frightfully heroic on a plinth surrounded by a fountain. The students came to the understanding that it was supposed to represent the ideal alumni of the school, the pony each of them should aspire to become. After all, not everypony can become an alicorn princess.
Razor Wind slipped through the school gates and approached the statue. A few students hurrying across the quad gave her odd looks, but lessons were in session so there were few ponies about to see her. She sat down on the edge of the fountain, looking up at the statue of, the statue that was, her dear friend.
"Hey there, Dawny," Razor began haltingly. "I, I don't know if you can hear me or if I'm making a fool of myself talking to a statue for nothing but, I figured if you can hear me then you might like some company. And if not, well, I'm not hurting you am I?
"The first thing you'll notice is I'm not in prison. I knew you'd spot that because you were always very sharp. Princess Celestia was very lenient on us. I reckon you asking for mercy really got through to her.
"We miss you Dawny. All of us. We haven't gone back to the way we were, the way we went the first time. We've all kept in touch, helped each other out how we can. We miss you but, we're all doing okay.
"Cherry's opening up her own Diner, she's going to call it Cherry's and the breakfast is going to be named after you: the Breaking Dawn Special. Maybe you'd hate it, but I think it's cute. Candy is playing Princess Silver at the Lyceum, opening next week. She told me she's going to base her performance on you. I don't know if you should be flattered or insulted but I think its the first one. Laurel got a job teaching history right here, at Princess Celestia's School for Gifted Unicorns. And Hardy has been offered a partnership in a law firm that takes on cases nopony else will touch and then wins them: Swooping Crane and Sandy Shore. She took the pool table with her to her new office. And me? I get by, keep on keeping on I guess."
Razor sighed, "This would be a lot easier if you could answer back you know." Softly, gently, Razor began to sing:
"You are my sunshine,
My only sunshine,
You make me happy,
When skies are grey,
You'll never know, dear,
How much I love you,
Oh don't you take,
My sunshine away."
"I, stay, see you, gah how do you stay goodbye to a statue? I'll, I'll see you around Dawny. I miss you a lot." Razor took off up into the air, her eyes beginning to water.
***
In Grevyia, at the court of the Most Ancient and August Empire, the Emperor Syphax IX sat wearily upon his throne in a throne room nearly empty. A messenger galloped in and bowed upon the red stone floor.
"What news?" the Emperor demanded.
"The heir to House Aethiope is dead. That traitor House is now extinguished," the messenger declared.
"Good," the Emperor declared. "We will hold their lands until some lord has gained my favour sufficiently to be rewarded with the Aethiope estates. In the meantime let the High Bloods remember that this fate ever awaits those who fall behind in the eternal race. Those who overreach will fall. Those who underreach will never rise. All but the swiftest and the strongest will be devoured."
"Indeed, Your Majesty, well said," laughter echoed from the shadowy colonnades on either side of the throne room. "And not just for zebras, the same thing goes for ponies too."
The Emperor said, "You mean the vacillating traitoress?"
"Exactly," said the female voice. "So poor little Dawny got herself turned to stone after all she'd been through poor baby." More laughter. "Just as well. She would have worn power like a little filly wearing her mother's dress: cute, but impossible to take seriously." Sunset Shimmer stepped out of the shadows and into the light, "Don't worry, Twilight Sparkle, I'm going to give you a real challenge."
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Yeah, I know, I considered making it cutting it in half but I think it works better this way, long as it is.
That ending. So much, YES!
A new challenger appears!
So... no army of zombie teenagers this time?
Scip my friend. I have one thing to say. Ya done good. If I wasn't so attached to it I'd give ya my hat but you know... Its mah hat.
I feel bad for Dawn... Celestia manipulated her in her youth and spoon fed her ideas of destiny that unfortunately for her was not meant to be... I wonder if she will return to us in the sequel?
well done sir, this was an incredible read although I must admit, I think the ending was a bit rushed, but all is forgiven since it was so damn good, now you just need some badass cover art and a hit sequel and you'll be on the fast track to internet fame and glory
im looking forward to the sequel ^^
And so ends Breaking Dawn, who would be great in spite of herself.
A very interesting story you've created here, and a good one, too, although it's not without it's flaws. The ending was a bit rushed, but the dream foreshadowing was nice and Dawn's character development was believable and brought tangible effect upon her in the end, which is always good writing.
I look forward to your next endeavor.
Screw Equestria Girls, THIS should have been the plot of a FiM feature film.
Damn, I was hoping the Epilogue would have Luna raining all kinds of Hell down on Greyvia. Though, I suppose a sequel is a lot better than that
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I was hoping the same thing. That the emperor (may he live forever) would chuckle evilly, only for several of his guards to turn on him and it be revealed they're actually Night Guard. Oh well.
...by invading Canterlot with a bunch of high school students!
Just finished reading the entire thing. Dem feels. I hope the follow-up isn't a tragedy, and that there is SOME way to get Breaking Dawn back (petrification would be a good stop-gap for inducing suspended animation until a cure could be found).
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It's kinda ironic, I'm still waiting on the cover art for this fic but the cover art for the sequel is done already (although I appreciate digital painting takes longer).
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She's never going to live that down is she? Although it's a better idea than invading with sentient computer programs
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Unfortunately, from what we've seen of the Royal Guard, that invasion had at least a 50/50 shot at success. I understand they can't stand up to Nightmare Moon, but they got overpowered by creatures that rely on stealth to survive that they outgunned, and are apparently completely incapable of detecting intruders, ala Sunset Shimmer in the Crystal Empire and Twilight Sparkle in Its About Time
That was one hell of an enjoyable ride!
Its strange how at the climax things go so smoothly and how completely Dawn's plans fall apart. I think you captured perfectly the inevitability of the villains' doom that you want out of a classic tragedy. This was really painful to read at times, but only because you did such a good job making the reader feel pain at watching things unfold. Excellent story. I anticipate a great sequel! Any details on it? Will it be another tragedy, or different setting?
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Since you asked...
You can check out the coverart by the delightful Ms Dotterall here. It isn't going to be another tragedy, because I want to do something a bit different and not just write the same story again BUT NOW WITH SUNSET SHIMMER! Instead it's going to be more of a fantasy adventure story that will be a bit bigger (with important roles for Trixie and the CMC) while retaining the focus on the important characters from this one.
Although it will probably have a dark tag, I plan the sequel to be a more hopeful story: while Vengeance was about railing against fate and fighting futilely against it, Sunset is about making the best of your circumstances and your nature.
And obviously, Sunset Shimmer is the villain. She's probably not going to be very canon, because I've not seen EQG and I formed an idea of what she would be like/role she would play based on statements from people who had seen the film on Equestria Daily. But hopefully people will like what I do with her.
I say all this without having written a word, but I have the ideas down pretty well I think, so nothing I've said here ought to change too much.
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Not even an outline? For shame. Look forward to it anyway. And I'm glad it's not another tragedy. They get kind of draining if you read too many too close together.
Blagh on Trixie being a main character. Even when you develop a full personality for her, there's too much canon to avoid the big public ego, which makes all the different versions kind of run together (even though they are often distinct one way or another).
Just bingeread over half this story and I regret it not. It's... it was so thrilling to read but painful at times.
Pretty much what I expected. Celestia would rather avoid a far-off foreign war which would cost more lives and interfere with her long-term plans -- instead, she's tilting economically toward Quaggai in ways likely to enable Quaggai to secure long-term dominance over Grevyia in their land. This means that Quaggai is very likely to find herself in the role of Equestrian ally and proxy against Grevyia, thus keeping the aggressive Empire in check. This is the maneuver of Celestia -- a consummate diplomat.
Breaking Dawn would have liked that.
This story deserves a lot more attention than it has. It's one of the better fics on the site.
Interesting read.
Quite the bittersweet ending for Dawn.