//------------------------------// // Chapter 8: Epilogue - Doesn't Count as a Chapter // Story: Twilight VS Anime // by Lupine Infernis //------------------------------// 1055 AD, April 19th Previously on Twilight VS Anime… Twilight stared straight ahead into emptiness, her face devoid of emotion and thought. “We won.” Epilogue 書き込みは難しいです Kakikomi wa muzukashīdesu – There will be no Shippuden. ight as rain.” Voices. “Hold you to that, Discord. There Teetering on the very precipices of her consciousness. a worrywart, you know that, ‘Tia?” She wanted to get closer, to understand the emotions these voices made her feel, but her soul was shattered – it was difficult to remain awake, to remain her. She didn’t know if she could do any more than that; the curse that stained her soul black and turned it twisted was- “Maybe I’ll take over the egghead’s library if she doesn’t wake up.” Twilight’s bloodshot eyes shot open, and she rose into a sitting position, her foreleg already extended accusingly at the rainbow-maned pegasus that yelped in terror. “Touch those books with your erratic hooves, and I will spell your butt back to flight camp!!” With that threat delivered, Twilight fell backwards with a pained groan onto what felt like a comfortable bed and closed her eyes. Her head was sore, but that was about it; she just wished everyone crowded around her – and there sounded like a lot – would tone down their cheers by a few decibels. “Hey, there ya go!” Applejack’s cheerful drawl sounded on her right. Twilight felt her hoof touching her shoulder a second later. “Up an’ at ‘em before th’ day’s even over.” “Can I bring the cake in now?” Pinkie’s crushingly loud voice squealed on her left. “Not just yet, my little pony,” Fortunately, Celestia’s voice was always soft and serene, even in the rare times it was raised. “Let’s give her a moment to truly recover, hm?” “Yeah, you’re right. I mean, if you’re telling me to hold off on bringing the cake in…” “… What was the rest of that sentence going to be?” “Nothing.” Twilight groaned and steeled herself for the act of opening her eyes and submitting her corneas to light. “Is…? Where am I right now?” “You’re in my bed,” Celestia tittered gently. “You were so tired after that spectacular battle with Discord that you just clocked right out.” “Ungh…” “You’re cute when you drool.” “Erk!” Twilight winced as she opened her eyes. “Battle… So does that mean it’s all over?” “Unfortunately, it is,” Discord suddenly replaced the pillow she had been laying her head on, and Twilight tried not to shriek in surprise as he slithered across the duvets to stand by the foot of the bed, between Rainbow Dash and Iron Bull. “The powerful Lord of Chaos has been defeated in glorious battle. Woe is me,” Despite his theatrics, Discord was smiling happily. “Oh, but a glorious battle it was! I dare say that we should do this more often.” “No!” “Poo – spoilsport.” Twilight lightly shook her head in amusement and looked around the room. Sure enough, almost everyone was there – her friends, their former opponents, and the princesses. Lightning Dust chose to stand off in the corner and act aloof, but that didn’t bother Twilight too badly. Even Star Secret was there. “So… we shared our power, huh?” Twilight asked, blushing without knowing if that was even something to blush about. She didn’t remember doing anything risqué when she took on Star Secret’s power and obtained that frighteningly powerful form. “How… was it?” “We didn’t merge, if that’s what you’re thinking,” Star Secret said, looking just as relieved as Twilight felt that everything they had fought against was over and done with. “I just lent you the power that Discord had placed inside me and sat back while you fought him. You were truly the star of the show.” “I couldn’t have done it without you encouraging me,” Twilight chuckled bashfully. “And you know? I have to admit… doing all that ‘Anime’ stuff was kind of exciting. Just a little.” Iron Will laughed jovially. “Nothing like getting the blood pumping, huh, Sparkle-pony?” “However…” Twilight pressed her forehooves together and took a deep breath before narrowing her eyes at everyone. She watched as they suddenly looked nervous. “I have to get this off my chest: I’m quite annoyed that all of you more or less forced me into this ‘Chosen Killjoy’ role without first asking to see if I was okay with it. I made my displeasure for everything that was happening multiple times, and you all ignored me.” Everyone save Star Secret cringed and hung their heads; not even Discord was exempt as he put on a ‘so-so’ face and pretended to examine his nails. Twilight continued. “I wanted to read my books, but you took me away from that. It’s not the same if it was an actual crisis, that I could understand, but all of this was completely in your power to control. And it’s not just me – it didn’t look like Star Secret was enjoying herself either.” “Not really.” Star Secret replied with a nod. “And… you know, it kind of hurts that our feelings weren’t taken into consideration.” Now Discord was hanging his head. Literally – from a rope in his hand. “Sorry, Twilight…” Fluttershy whispered, hiding her face with her mane. “So sorry, my dear.” “Yes – we’re ever so sorry.” Flim and Flam removed their hats and placed them against their chests solemnly. “Strength comes in many shapes and forms, and apologizing is one of them.” Iron Will said with a very sad flex. Lightning Dust looked over sourly. “… Meh.” “You words bring shame to us, dear Twilight.” Luna nodded. “We were caught up in the fun; it didn’t occur to me that you…” Celestia trailed off with a guilty frown. “Forgive me.” Twilight smiled warmly. “Well… I can’t really put the blame on all of you. Like I said, when I actually got around to it, doing ‘Anime’ was pretty exciting. Remember that letter I sent to you, Princess Celestia? About not knocking something until I’ve tried it? I should have remembered that. I’m sorry for being so stubborn on the way here, girls.” “Pfft, no worse than farm girl over there.” “RD, ah have literally spent an accumulated total of two hours puttin’ ya’ll in a chokehold. Ya wanna try fer over tha’?” “I’d like to see you try without Anime powering you up!” “Aw, that’s okay, Twily!” Pinkie laughed. “Every team Silly Sallys needs a Mopey Joey to balance it all out.” “What?” “Now can I bring in the celebration cake, princess?” “Of course-” Celestia blinked a few times as a blur of motion zipped past her, carrying the smell of sugar and ‘party’ personified. “-you… can?” Any fatigue Twilight was still feeling immediately vanished as Pinkie carted in a huge, many-layered cake on a trolley; the cake itself was wider and taller than Celestia’s door frame, but Pinkie managed to squeeze it in without deforming it. Twilight was too enraptured to question it. “I call this the ‘Chocolate-Choco Gurren Super-Omake Filling Multi-Layered Mudcake’, of ‘CCGSOFMLM’ for short.” Twilight was too enraptured to question the otherworldly noise that Pinkie utilized to pronounce that acronym. Pinkie divided the cake up efficiently and quickly, her speed turning her into a pink blur as she handed out slices on plates that she seemingly stored inside her mane. Rarity kindly used her magic to feed Applejack her share as the farm mare only had one hoof free to hold the plate. “Well, no matter what grievances might have come from this whole adventure, I’m happy to be sitting here sharing this cake with you all.” Twilight said with a content grin. “Whoo! Friendship!!” Iron Will proclaimed, pumping his fists in the air. “After this, who wants to go work off the calories with Iron Will?! He’s got a new training track that’ll put some hair on your hair!” “Mm, as fun as that sounds…” Celestia began, ‘discreetly’ glancing at the minotaur’s bulging pecs. “I think we should let Twilight decide our next great event.” “Oh?” Twilight magically lowered her fork to settle down on her plate and quirked her eyebrows. “Anything I want?” “I think that can be arranged.” Celestia nodded with a serene smile. “… Well…” Twilight gave a not-so-serene smile. “In that case…” Celestia’s face became a touch worried. Later on… “Mwa ha ha ha ha!! Foolish mortals! The only way to free Ponyville from the clutches of me, the Logisticator, is to gather seven pieces of a magical artefact by completing a variety of puzzles based on many fields of academics such as mathematics, biology, archaeology, calculus, and, most importantly, thaumaturgical theorem!” Twilight gave a sly wink. “Only then, can you destroy the bubble that I have placed around Ponyville!” She capped off her speech with a moderately-evil laugh that was unfortunately interrupted by a coughing fit. She had newfound respect for the villains she had faced. Once her fit had passed, Twilight gave a cheery wave to the large group gathered on the outskirts of Ponyville. They all looked positively riveted to be going. “Twi’, why do ah get th’ feelin’ this here’s some passive-aggressive hootenanny ya’ll are playin’ on us?” Applejack asked with an impressive lift of her eyebrows. “What? No, this is an opportunity!” Twilight replied with a big smile. “A chance to stretch your learning muscles and flex your minds. Who doesn’t like to flex?” “Iron Will knows you’re just trying to appeal to him by saying that… and it’s working!” Iron Will let out a hefty grunt and pointed off in the distance. “Hoo-ah! Iron Will is gonna solve the crap out of those puzzles! Yeah!” “This is bull!” Lightning Dust cried. “Nopony told me that I had to use my brain when I signed on to become a bad guy!” “First time for everything.” “Shut it, Rainbow Trash!” “Come now, everyone,” Celestia cooed in a motherly tone. “I think we owe it to dear Twilight. It’s just some puzzles, no?” Twilight’s grin widened, and she was only too happy to step to the side when Star Secret trotted to stand next to her, also bearing an unsettling large grin. “Ah, princess? I would just like to say that the thaumaturgical theorem portion of the puzzles are based upon Clover the Clever’s notes about magic and how it interacts with physicality, not Starswirl's notes.” Celestia’s gentle face dissolved into an exaggerated scowl with a twitching eye. “Oh, you cruel, cruel mares – I’ve half a mind to focus the sun on your flanks.” Luna tittered behind her hoof. “Hr-erm – remember the diapers and trees incident, dear sister?” Luna went quiet. “Forgive my lack of decorum, princess, but I do believe time is running out,” Star Secret said with a gesture to the setting sun. “Alas, it seems as though I am the damsel in distress once more. Doomed to suffer imprisonment in Ponyville.” “I saw you making reservations at that restaurant.” Rarity said with a deadpan stare. “A gilded cage, to be sure.” “Okay, no point in standing around bemoaning our fate like lemmings now, hm?” Discord said as he lazily backstroked above everyone’s heads while wearing water wings. “Did anyone see me complaining when I was turned to stone? As our bovine friend said, onwards!” A few more complaint-filled seconds passed before everyone finally started heading towards the first puzzle. Discord hummed as he swam after them without a care in the world. “Oh, and Discord?” Twilight raised her hoof, her grin becoming a smirk. “None of that allowed.” Discord’s eyes widened as he abruptly blew a hole in his side and whizzed about with the sound of rushing air, eventually coming to a stop on the grass, looking very deflated and miserable. “Oh, poo.” Twilight and Star Secret shared an amused chuckle. “Heh heh… Oh!” Twilight called out again. “Trixie!” Trixie stopped and turned, surprised. Her hat was no longer comically oversized, so she didn’t have to push it up every five seconds to see. “Er, yes?” “I promised you that we’d go get something to eat, didn’t I?” Trixie’s eyes widened. “R-really?” Twilight blushed and rubbed the back of her neck. “I mean, unless you don’t want to…” Trixie teleported to her side in a flash. “Oh, I didn’t know you could teleport.” “The Great and Powerful Trixie can do many things!” Trixie flaunted with a brush of her mane before suddenly blushing and smiling nervously. “And… she would also like to hang out with you.” “Wh-? Hey!” Lightning Dust cried as Trixie walked back into Ponyville with Star Secret and Twilight. “Why does she get off so easily? That’s not fair!” She turned her head, outraged that everyone else just kept walking forwards. “Hello?! I’m talking loudly over here!” Celestia sighed as Lightning Dust continued shouting after them, and turned to her sister. “This is going to be a long quest…”