Epilogue
Dreams and Disasters
by Quillery
Epilogue
The Ludicrous Lecture of a Lunar Leader
And the Perfectly Perpetrated Plans of a Pair of Pony Princesses
Luna yawned, and this fact alone was enough to cause her confusion. She had deliberately set aside a predetermined time for the prerequisite amount of sleep hours per night, as suggested by the top doctors in the land. She ate balanced meals throughout the day, hoof-made by the finest chefs imported from the entire world. Her bed was crafted from the finest down and textiles from the realms of Saddle-Arabia and Fleece, hoofstitched and made for a princess. And yet, she yawned.
She strode through the halls of the castle, thinking on how her routines could has been disrupted so that she would feel fatigue so early in the night. She had planned around every possibility of interruptions that would bother her and her precious sleep.
I have seen an increase in my paperwork as of late, she wondered. Perhaps Celestia knows why I’ve been receiving more tax amendments lately.
She approached a large set of doors, flanked by golden clad guards on both sides. They nodded their heads towards their approaching princess, and opened the door for her. “Your Majesty,” one guard said. “Your dinner has been prepared for you.”
Luna nodded as she passed. “Thank you, sir knight. I trust Celestia is there as well?”
The guard nodded. “Indeed, milady. She is nearly finished her breakfast with Princess Cadence.”
Luna paused a moment, and raised an eyebrow. “Princess Cadence is here again? So soon?”
“Yes. I believe they are meeting to discuss something. There were many boxes brought in not long ago, and they seemed very interested in the contents.”
Luna turned her attention to the door. “Hmm. I will have to see how they are faring.” She regarded the guards with a terse nod. “Thank you, sir knights.”
The stallions bowed their heads, and Luna proceeded through the doors towards the dining hall. Echoing hoofsteps bounced off the walls as she moved at a leisured pace, focusing her attention on the door on the far side. It was hanging slightly ajar. Sunlight poured through the opening, reflecting off the polished floors.
As Luna approached, new sounds drifted past her ears, overpowering the echoes. She turned her head towards their source, and heard a faint giggling from the other side. It was a young and lively laugh, and Luna rolled her eyes as she determined its owner.
As the giggling continued, however, Luna became further confused at it’s nature. She stopped, just on the outside of the door, and reached out her hearing. “Try this one on next, Auntie! Its colors would look beautiful on you!”
A strained, uneasy chuckle followed. “I am certain it will, Cadence. Much like the last ten dresses. I’m still not so sure ordering this many was such a good idea.”
Cadence laughed. “Oh, come on, Aunt Celestia. It’s not like these won’t be useful in the long run. Sure they were a ploy for something else, but you can’t say you don’t love them. Twilight’s friends really are amazing!”
Luna’s confusion reached it’s limit, and she pushed her way through the doors. “Celestia, what in Equus are you two—”
Luna froze on the other side of the door. A long table sat in the center of the room, covered in a shimmering white tablecloth and plate arrangements. At the front of the table, were Princess Cadence, trying to hide a heated look on her face, while Celestia stood right beside her. Luna blinked a few times at her sister, as she tried to determine whether or not she was losing her mind. After all, there was no way in Equestria Celestia would ever wear something so frilly, so bedazzled, and so—
“Pink!” Luna blurted. “I have never seen so much pink in a dress since we were children!”
Celestia shook her head, and laughed. She glanced at the dress that hung from her, and gave it an affectionate brush with her hoof. “Oh, I think I rather quite like it. It needs to be hemmed a tad more for my size, but it is rather lovely, don’t you agree, sister?”
“I...you...why…” Luna stammered. She blinked rapidly, and looked away. Her eyes fell on a small stack of boxes sitting beside the table. “And what is that?”
“Oh, this?” Cadence said, moving to the boxes. She reached inside and pulled out a silver platter, lined with cakes, cookies, and many more sugary sweets. “Just a special order from Ponyville. We were in the mood for some sweets, and so we had some delivered.”
Luna’s eyes widened. “All of that? That’s enough for nearly a fortnight!”
“Well, Luna,” Celestia said, snatching a cupcake from the platter in her magic. “You are welcome to try some. As you said, there’s plenty to go around.”
Luna huffed. “I must decline, sister. Somepony around here must be attentive to their figure, or else there will be far more than a quick hemming needed to maintain a dress so fittingly.”
“Well, we can’t just let them go to waste.” Cadence said. “We wouldn’t want Twilight’s friend to be upset that we didn’t want their food that they so lovingly prepared for us.”
Luna raised an eyebrow. “Why would you be concerned with one of young Sparkle’s friends so specifically?”
Cadence blinked. “O-oh! No reason,” she said, shaking her hoof.
“Speaking of which, Cadence. I do think enough time has passed for you to recover those eggs from miss Fluttershy. I think Philomena’s patience for your little game has run its limit.”
Luna frowned. “How does that have any relation to desserts? If this is some idea of a ruse on my part, Celestia, I am not finding it amusing!”
Celestia laughed. “I promise that we mean no such thing, Luna. It’s… just something me and Cadence have been working on the past few weeks.”
“Such as? Because I see a few dozen dresses, several weeks worth of snacks and cakes and a missing nest of phoenix eggs. If these are the ingredients for some grand scheme, I fail to see the formula.”
Celestia shook her head. “You worry too much Luna. I promise you that we are not planning anything at your expense. Cadence and I just put something in motion sometime ago, and these are some of the results. Nothing more.”
Luna’s eyes narrowed. “Then, you would not have any reservations of explaining these machinations to me? If they are truly unrelated to me.”
A playful grin spread across Celestia’s face. “I suppose I could, but I am hesitant to reveal such a private matter.”
Luna pointed an accusatory hoof at Celestia. “Aha! Then you are keeping something from me! I am on to your games, dear sister! You will not out be outmatching me in the games of hoodwinks and tomfoolery!” She grinned.
Celestia rolled her eyes and sighed. “Very well, Luna. If that’s what you want to think, then I won’t try to change your mind.”
Luna opened her mouth to speak, when a timid knock came from the door. The princesses turned to see a small, bookish pegasus enter the room. He fussed and fidgeted with his glasses, as he usually did, as he shuffled across the floor in a low, bowed walk.
“Y-your majesties,” he stammered. “A letter has arrived bearing the royal seal.” He lifted one of his wings and retrieved a small, wax stamped envelope from within, and presented it.
“Thank you, Mr Bookend. Luna, would you be so kind?”
Luna glanced back at her sister, and after staring for a moment, rolled her eyes and sighed. “Very well.” Luna’s magic ignited and snatched the letter from Bookend’s grasp. He let out a startled noise as she did, and bowed lower.
“Y-your majesties.” He backed out towards the door, and shut the door behind him.
Luna held the letter, and eyed it curiously. “If it bears the seal, it must have some importance, should it not?”
Celestia nodded. “That is true. Would you mind reading it aloud, Luna?”
Luna let out an indignant sigh. She broke the seal and withdrew a folded letter, opened it, and read.
“Dear Princess Celestia, I am sorry—”
“Wait,” Celestia interrupted. She stepped away from the table and trotted towards Luna. “Is that a letter from Twilight?”
Luna looked down at the letter, skipping to the end. She looked back up and nodded. "How did you know?"
Celestia chuckled. "Only Twilight addresses me so plainly. Everypony else always adds an additional honorific or three. It's all rather exhausting to read sometimes."
“A letter from Twilight?” Cadence said. “What does it say? What does it say?”
Luna huffed. “If you are quite finished interrupting, perhaps I could tell you.”
Cadence scrunched her nose up, as Luna cleared her throat and continued.
“Dear Princess Celestia, I am sorry for sending this letter through standard post and using the wax seal you gave me. I know you said only to use it in emergencies, but I wanted this letter to arrive as quickly as possible, and without Spike with me, this was the next best option.
“I am glad to say that the exchanges have been a complete success. Rainbow Dash and I had a wonderful time travelling through the eastern kingdoms and visiting so many different cultures. The journey was not without its faults, which I will speak on more in person once we return. All of the ambassadors and rulers paid their respects, and were more than helpful in accommodating myself and Rainbow Dash on our trip. We have so many stories that we can’t wait to tell you and our friends. We hope to see you soon.
Your faithful student,
Twilight Sparkle.”
Luna blinked as she lowered the letter. “Well, it seems miss Sparkle had quite an experience. I am looking forward to—”
She frowned. Celestia and Cadence were staring at each other with worried glances. Cadence turned to Luna. “That’s it? There’s nothing more?”
Luna turned the letter around and shrugged. “There is nothing else.”
Cadence groaned. “You can’t mean to tell me that it didn’t work! All that planning for nothing?”
Celestia shook her head. “Now, now, Cadence. There was always a chance of it not working out in the end.”
“But it was so perfect!” Cadence pouted. “There is no way Rainbow Dash couldn’t have done something with the opportunities we gave her. I even sent one of my best friends to help give her a push in the right direction!”
“What,” Luna growled, “in the four corners of Equus are you two talking about?”
“Oh,” Celestia said under a winded sigh. “Just a disappointing end to a plan several weeks in the making.”
“And this plan was…”
Cadence shook her head, crossed her forelegs, and continued pouting on the table. “You wouldn’t understand, Auntie Luna. It was just an attempt at bringing another bit of love into the world, and it failed spectacularly.”
“And it appears to involve Twilight Sparkle and… Miss Rainbow Dash, does it not?” Luna smirked. “Toying in the world of love again, are we, dear Cadence?”
Cadence huffed and turned away. Celestia walked to her side and placed a hoof on her shoulder. “It’s alright, Cadence. Maybe our plan didn’t work the way we wanted, but it isn’t too late. Perhaps, when they return we can—”
Another knock at the door diverted the princesses’ attention. The door creaked open, and once again, Bookend crawled slowly into the room with his head hung low.
“U-um, your Majesties. I must apologize, but it seems I forgot something.”
“Oh? What is it, Mr Bookend?”
Bookend’s wing opened again and he pulled out a second envelope. “This was sent with the same seal, your majesty. It arrived shortly after the first one.”
Luna turned and snatched it from his wing. He yelped again, and retreated from the room. She walked towards the table, breaking the seal and folding the letter inside against it’s envelope. After glancing through it, she looked at Celestia. “It’s another letter from Miss Sparkle.”
Celestia raised an eyebrow and nodded. “Well, go on, read it.”
Luna cleared her throat. “Dear Princess Celestia—” Luna paused. She glanced up at Celestia with a worried look. “Please don’t be mad...?”
Celestia blinked as Luna continued. “After the hectic nature of our trip, Rainbow Dash insisted we take an extended week on our way home to have something resembling a ‘real’ vacation. As much as I protested, after a few days, I am starting to see it’s appeal. I do hope you will not be too angry for me using the travel voucher for something other than our primary mission.
“I am sending this post card along with a more formal note at Dash’s request as well, as she felt the need for me to recount something that has happened on our voyage. As excited as I was to be travelling with a dear friend, I was not expecting to make so much headway in the research of friendship itself. I have met many different ponies and otherwise on this voyage, but I have learned so much more about the friend I have always had.
“I learned just how much a friendship can grow and evolve into something even more, something even greater. I had always been hesitant at some of the aspects of social interaction, but if my new life in Ponyville has taught me anything, its that friendship and all it’s forms are equally powerful and beautiful, and I am happy to see it more clearly than I once did.
"Dash has been speaking about her needing to find something important to her, and she saw this voyage as a means to accomplish just that. As strange as it sounded when she explained it to me, she does claim that she succeeded, and, all things considered regarding the last few weeks we have shared, I suppose I’d be lying if—”
Luna paused and frowned at the letter. “She’d be lying if what?” Cadence asked. She had turned in her chair and was leaning against its back. It wobbled on its edge as she leaned back and forth to maintain its balance, and her eyes were wide.
Luna shook her head. “I do not know. The sentence ends there. There’s no more room for her to have written.”
“It’s a postcard,” Celestia said. “Perhaps there is something on the back?”
Luna shrugged and turned the letter over. Her eyes went wide at what she saw on the other side. She felt a burning sensation assaulting her cheeks, and her mouth fell open in a limp, slack jawed state.
“I-I… um… Well…” she stammered, before she floated the letter over to Celestia. “I-I think it’s better if you finish it Celestia. It’s not my p-place.”
Celestia raised an eyebrow as she took the letter in her own magic. Cadence hopped off her chair and stood at her side, standing on her hoof tips to match Celestia’s reading height as she peered at the letter.
“But I suppose I’d be lying if…” Celestia read. She turned the card over. Her eyes widened, much like Luna’s, but her expression quickly turned into a smile. She lowered the letter so Cadence could see, who broke out into a wide, giggling, squealing grin as she did.
The image itself, seemed to have been taken backwards, with Rainbow Dash holding the camera towards herself. She had a wide, victorious grin on her face as she had her legs and a wing wrapped tightly around Twilight Sparkle. The angle was difficult to interpret, but it appeared the two of them were sitting together in a beach chair, with an expanse of sand and ocean waters behind them. Celestia’s eyes fell onto a corner of the picture, which said ‘Greetings from Haywaii’ in a brightly colored font.
The focus of the image was of course, Twilight. She had her own hooves around Dash in the chair. The two of them were blushing slightly, noticeable even in the light of the tropical sun, as Twilight’s lips were pressed lightly against Dash’s cheek.
On the edge of the image, in the border of the card, was a small, quill written caption:
I’d be lying if I said she was wrong. We definitely found it.
TS x RD
***THE END***
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THIS WAS AWESOME!!!
A good ending to a lovely story, noticed at the time of reading that the story isn't marked completed despite the author's notes.
Pretty awesome end. I'm sure most people will agree with me on that!
It...
It's over?
A beautiful end to a beautiful story. Every chapter only served to further reinforce this story's place in my top favorites. The only problem I ever had while reading was the fact that the chapters kept ending.
Thank you so much for the ride. I know I enjoyed it, and I hope others will be able to find and enjoy this story, too.
Write on,
Legion
Nice! Always fun to have a photo to top off a fine story.
Luvved it all!!
wooo nice end :D
So it is over? for good? you are not going to write what happens after words? maybe exploring how their lives are now that they are together? Oh well no need, it was a fun adventure non the less.
Good job easily in my top 10 fics on this site.
~Tobben
Dat ending pic. Hnnnnnnnng.
It's finally finished! And what a ride it was! The characters were great, the story was great, the romance felt natural...
Definitely in my top ten shipping fics.
AMAZING STORY!!! love the image too.
don't forget to change it to complete!
4332317
I have no immediate plans for another sequel, mostly as nothing has really clicked for a proper advancement of the story. And I'd rather not go into grandiose details of how their lives end up, as that seems a tad voyeuristic to me. I'd rather leave these two alone and let them figure out their lives on their own. I promise that with a few bumps along the way, Dash and Twilight are going to be just fine.
Very excellent story my friend, after all this trepulation and the slow updates and good cliff hangers I very much enjoy the ending. This story has also now become my second favorite FimFic of all time.
4329846
I think I'll just revisit a previous comment. "I suck at shipping."
But, you are very right in your critique. My biggest problem was seeing the shipping plot itself in one big picture, and kept addressing in bite sized bits without much connectivity. I attribute this mostly to writing the story as I go, which I find to be in bad form, at least for my own writing style. I really need to get back into writing tighter plots in short stories so I can re-evaluate my ability to see a plot arc from beginning to end. The next time I plan to write a multi chapter story, I'll probably try to have it all written at once before I even start editing. On that note, I still need more editors too... <,<
Thanks for the comments, I'll make sure to give it my all my next story.
I will be right back after my heart attack.
Very cute ending. I'd actually forgotten about the princesses' involvement (having been so many months). I thoroughly enjoyed this story.
I freaking love Ambris' art, sooo good :3
I love that picture, it fits the ending so well.
Princess shenanigans are also a plus.
Amazing story, lovely picture.
:3
Is there a song this time, too? ^.^
4331246
I might be convinced to do something with your channel in sometime this summer, if I can find the time. Hit me up in a few weeks, we'll see what happens.
Wow, that picture was just jaw-dropping. A very classy way to end things.
have
_________________________
D'awww! While I admit that I'm not sad to see this journey end. I'm glad to see that it had such a nice conclusion. It was a nice, complete, and adorable fic. I'm glad that I followed this fic, and best of luck with your future endeavors.
Good bye you magnificent story and good luck to you Quillery.
Job well done! Very satisfying ending all around, there was only one problem with this fic that bugs me a lot: that there are no more chapters to look forward to
, but I am certainly following you here and I am very curious to see what else you wish to do in the future 
I do believe that this is one of the best, if not THE best, TwiDash fic I have ever read.
I have one tiny, tiny issue. You used Owl City songs as chapter titles, but in the entire story, you didn't use IF MY HEART WAS A HOUSE? Really?
Best story to me not only in twidash but in all of shipping, the ending was so well that it topped my favorite for twidash ( journey to the center of the rainbow) but this, this epilogue made it better than university days by Dawnfade at least to me. I wanz moer
Also thank you, for making me love Owl City.
Loved the ride. just very sad to see it go. You kept the story lighthearted for the most part and I think that's what I enjoyed most.
That was such a great story and the last two chapters is especially what made it brilliant. A very nice wrap up to this story and am sad to see it go. Looking forward to more of your stories in the future
4332699 Odd, your reply doesn't seem to have shown up on either my comment or in my notifications. Not sure what's up with that.
I do feel it is worth reiterating, I don't agree that you you are bad at shipping. Vanilla Twilight was a very good read. Even here, the main fault was the misplaced focus of the story, not the story itself. I'll say, there's a huge reason most ship fics are on the short side. It takes a lot of work to keep a romance story interesting over a long word count. You had a good idea, just sorta lost focus on which part of the story was the main plot.
I do agree that knocking out some shorter stories is a good plan to reorganize your process. Big projects like this can cause all sorts of messes and bad habits if you don't have someone helping you stay focused throughout.
If you want to aim your sights at romance again, just try to remember that what makes romance stories interesting is the personal conflicts of the involved characters. That can't really take a back seat to anything else for too long or it loses its strength. And of course, writing any lengthy story on the fly is only going to add more problems. I know that pretty well myself. At least having a proper outline for the whole story before you write anything lengthy tends to be very helpful.
Either way, I'll look forward to whatever you come up with next.
How I felt reading this joyous ending to this wonderful roller coaster ride of a story.
Amazing fic and very cute,
did not disappoint any chapter :D
happened to be my history twidash favorite,
and Ambris's image gives him a special touch
( sorry for my bad English, is that my native language is the Spanish)
*single person clapping* *few more joining in* *clapping gets louder* *develops into a large round of applause with everyone involved*
Amazing. I just... Wow. This was honestly the best fic I've ever read from any fandom. EVER. Congratulations on completing the story. Write a sequel soon, please. Seriously, you put Shakespeare, Roald Dahl, C. S. Lewis and every other author you can think of to shame. This fic actually brought tears to my eyes. It's the first time I've ever cried from happiness. Well done. You don't need to improve anything on your already perfect writing style and I hope it continues to inspire others through the years.
But on a less serious note: And then they all fucked.
This has to be one of the best Ship-Fics I have ever read. I absolutely loved how you wrote this, and you hit the characters personalities dead on the mark. This is definitely in my top five all time favorite fanfictions of all time!
that was a awesome story, loved it!!!
Yay, I'm on the train right now so no long critique or anything like that.
Just that this was awesome, and I was waiting for that image to pop up here when I saw Ambris post it.
That... was... a masterpiece. Nothing more needs to be said.
You are a artist my friend
And with an ending like that... I'm at a loss for words.
This has truly been entertaining too read.
I mean, not only were the characters well-written, delved into, and believable. But, you also made up a world that was interesting to read. With just enough information about it to keep it interesting, and not full-on history lectures.
I've got to say, in the first chapters, when Twi and RD boarded the flying ship-thingy, how you expressed their thoughs... You actually made me look forwards to going abroad again. The feeling of setting off for something new, and leaving the "same old, same old" behind for a while is a good one.
Returning to the fic though.
As said, both Twilight and Dash were believable. I saw that earlier comments have poked a bit at how oblivious to it all Twilight is, thing is, I think I'm on the side that could see her being like that. Twilight, from what we know, had limited social experience, and might therefor be missing out on some things to this day.
As for Rainbow, while reading, I started worrying a little, because I felt that she was too scared. But, actually, at the end now, when you had her explain herself for Twilight. Why she reacted as she did, and why this was such an terrifying idea for her, I think it all made sense in the end. Her thoughts and worries felt valid, and probable.
Leaving the characters, making them go through something like Europe was fun reading, especially after having visited some of the placed that they visited. Heh, the underwater-train between Great Britain and France would be a bit more exciting with that look-through window though.
You made a great world, and each place was very original. Seeing where they would be visiting next was a factor itself too continue reading.
So...
In the end, this was a great read. Thanks for the ride!
Liked and faved!
M
awesome I can finally read the last of this didn't even know it was updated
man ive been to busy. Ive really enjoyed this story.
Pretty good story but its got some issues that bugged me.
I dont really think the that Rainbow taking forever to admit her lust for Twilight was that big of a problem since they are on a long trip together, worrying about being stuck together for the rest of the trip after admitting something like that would be enough to make anyone want to wait till the end. My main issue with it was that at the end of what seemed like every chapter, someone was yelling at Dash to just tell Twilight about it, it got old really fast. Also Twilight's reaction to the sudden yelling of it really didnt make much sense, just running out into an unfamiliar cold city, doesn't fit Twilight. The last thing that really bugged me was how the acceptance was handled, the book part was good, I think it worked but pretty much as soon as they talk they end up hooking up, I think that would have worked better if Twilight had still been hesitant but decided to let Rainbow take her on a date, no big kiss or anything like that, just a date since Twilight still didn't seem to know what to think.
Oh, also the Prance part really bugged me, I could take that Vanilla was the queen even though it would make more sense for her to just be an agent of the queen or something, but when dash goes out to find help and just happens to stumble on the captain of her guards? A lot of that part just felt like massive coincidences.
All in all a pretty good and entertaining although sometimes very frustrating and slow Twidash-fic. Thank you very much.
I have to say that I haven't seen a romance fic of such amazing quality since Of Mares and Magic. Which is my all time favourite. You have a knack for capturing personalities so that they are fully faceted and I feel better for reading this story as it has reignited my passion for this site and the fandom in general and for that I thank you.
4426527
Well, I suppose not.
Loved it!
One of the longer more drawn out stories I've read, but it makes a change than the same old quick stories.
4444285 Do those two phrases need to be connected? The book Twillight used as a guide to the language could just be a prank, teaching her some wrong stuff for the sake of a good laugh. And that's exactly what Rainbow has got.
Also, it kind of saddens me to see all of those languages being written properly, and Russian being written as a translit.
So much work was put into this story. and It was great! anyone can see how hard you worked. and I wanted to say thank you, Thank you for taking the time to write this out for us to read.
I first I was a little sad with the ending and they would not got to travel about as a couple. But that ending and that post card made it great!