//------------------------------// // The Puppeteer Part 4- Epilogue // Story: Marionettes // by Godzillawolf //------------------------------// =It's Strictly Up To You – Wizard of Oz (1982)= Gypsy trotted through a small town in northern Equestria called Dream Valley the next morning. It was an 'old fashioned' town, but had a very long history filled with myths and legends. The Seer of the Tree of Harmony slowly trotted up to a house. A familiar one. One she hadn't seen since she was a filly. Her legs shook as she slowly approached the door and knocked. She could still see the future (the Tree had told her to keep its power, as an apology for all that had happened), but she didn't. She didn't want to ruin the moment. That didn't mean she wasn't nervous. The door opened and she found herself facing a middle aged mare with her same basic coloration, though lacking the gem-like eyes she herself possessed and wearing glasses. “Hello?” Gypsy looked up at the mare. “Hello.” Her heart was beating a mile a minute. The mare blinked, cocking her head. “...You seem familiar...I think I've seen you somewhere before...” Gypsy had known that was coming. Didn't make it any less painful to hear. “...I'm your daughter, Gypsy...” The mare gasped. “Gypsy...M-My...” The mare's pupils suddenly shrunk to pinpricks and she cringed, wrapping her hooves around her head in agony like it was going to split apart. Gypsy rushed to her side and put a hoof on her back as the deep rooted Reflection Deflection sunk in. Her mother finally looked up at her, tears running down her cheeks. “MY BABY!” she screamed, wrapping her hooves around her daughter tightly. Gypsy stiffened...then slowly returned the hug and started sobbing. “Mom...I missed you so much....” “I...I didn't...why didn't I miss you?! I'm sorry!” “It's okay mom...it's not your fault...I...I'm just glad to be home...” Gypsy's parents had known about her powers. What they hadn't known was the Stallions, after the first few visions given to random agents, got a little too attached to her. The rest was history. Gypsy was also in for a surprise. Her parents hadn't been just sitting around doing nothing all this time and she had a new little sister. A cute little bat pony filly (her father, a pegasus, had apparently decided to convert when Luna returned) who was overjoyed to meet her long lost big sister. Her name? Oracle. The word that had caused her so much pain. And now it was now something happy. Something she smiled to hear. For the first time in over a decade. Gypsy had dinner in an actual dining room. In her own house. With her own parents (and baby sister). And spent the night in her own bed, face stained with tears of joy. “...I see...” said Filthy Rich, sitting in his parlor across from Spoiled Rich while their daughter was at school. Spoiled had told the child she'd been in a carriage accident to explain her injuries...at least for a bit. Filthy, on the other hoof...got the truth. The mare gave a sad sigh. “...I'm sorry, Filthy...I only lied because they'd never let me see you again if I hadn't...” Filthy Rich gave a sigh of his own. “I suppose I can understand that...So...what now?” “...That's the big question, isn't it?” How to break the news to Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon was a debate that would take more than a simple conversation in the kitchen. =Wonderful Victory – Lunar 2: Eternal Blue= One Week Later Minotaurs had made everything mazes as part of their cultural heritage, and were born with an inbuilt ability to navigate them. Their cities in their homeland were essentially giant mazes, and their homes were no different. Indomitable Will was currently sweeping the living room floor, nonchalantly lifting the couch overhead with one arm to get under it. Afterward she planned go to the home gym and do some reps to relax. However, the housework was interrupted when a knock rang out on the door. “Coming!” the female minotaur bellowed, matching her mate's bombastic manner. Marching to the door, Indomitable Will opened it to find a fully repaired Iron Will standing on the other side, holding a bunch of grapes in one hand and bouquet of crocuses in the others. “Honey, Iron Will is home!” The female minotaur blinked in confusion for a few moments...then cringed with a headache as the brainwashing spell that had kept her from wondering where he'd been shattered. She instantly gave her husband a bear hug, which he returned, both lifting the other completely off the ground. Their son soon joined them. Right down to Jr. lifting his father off the ground with his hug. “So...I'm sorry for everything I put you through, m'kay?” Suri Polomare asked, sitting in the middle of Coco's Manehatten apartment. “...I just want to start over...” Coco looked to Rarity, who gave a sincere nod. “...Alright, Suri...but...” “You're in charge this time...I respect that...After all, I've got more to learn from you than the other way around,” the android replied with a small smile. Coco was able to return it. “Okay, so here's the deal pal,” Vinyl Scratch said, looking at Svengallop. Applejack had introduced the two of them after the defeat of the Stallions, believing the DJ to be a more fitting partner for the manager android. The mare gave a smirk. “I like the glitz and glam. It works for me. But don't expect me to be a doormat, you got that? Not how I roll.” The white android nodded. “Fair enough...” “But when we're in the clubs, you get VIP access to the food, just like me...you do eat, right? I mean...robot...which by the way is totally AWESOME!” The DJ had made no attempt to conceal the fact having an android for her manager was a big part of the reason she considered this, despite Svengallop's reputation. Vinyl was a sucker for coolness. “I don't need to...but I very much like to...” “Cool...can you get drunk?” “No...” “Awesome! Now I'll always have a ride home!” “And she can stop calling me to pick her up when she gets a little too wild,” replied Octavia from nearby, practicing her music. She then looked to the android. “Fair warning: that will happen very often.” “I retrieved the firewood, Zecora,” explained the fully repaired Trail Cutter, carrying a large amount of firewood on his back up to the door of the zebra's house. “Thank you my friend, please bring it in,” Zecora replied, giving a smile as she continued to make her brews and herbal medicines. The android nodded, then looked around at the forest surrounding him with a small smile. Everfree was terrifying to ponies, but he rather liked it. It probably helped that the predators didn't see him as food (what with him being an android and all) and he had survival skills preprogrammed into him. Originally Fluttershy's house was considered for his place to stay, but two things caused that to be less than ideal. First: Fluttershy was Fluttershy. And second: Discord had tried to banish the last pony to be friends with her to a puppet dimension, no pony wanted to risk what he might do to a new 'roommate.' So Zecora's house was the next best bet. After all, the zebra could always use a helping hoof. “Can I open my eyes yet, mama?” asked little Gold Mine as she was led into a room in Jet Set and Upper Crust's mansion. While it was true they were androids, the immense bank account the Stallions had set up for them as part of their job was still in their names and they'd added a fair bit into it through investing (with Fancy Pant's help) fair and square. Given they had a child to raise and were already well integrated into the Canterlot community, they'd been allowed to keep it. Plus, given the fact they were immortal, they'd have to do plenty of earning their own money if they wanted to keep up their lifestyle. While their failsafes being fried was a big reason for their kinder attitude, it was something Fancy Pants had worked long and hard to cultivate in them. “Yes, you can,” Upper Crust said, giving a smile. Their daughter opened her eyes and gasped, finding a bedroom any little filly would dream of. “My own room?!” Jet set nodded with a smile. “Yes, sweetie. I hope you like it.” The two blinked as Gold Mine hugged them both. “I love it! Thank you, mama! Thank you, papa!” No pony involved had assumed the child would be anything except spoiled, and they weren't wrong. “So can I have a rocket punch?” Teddy asked, standing in Twilight's lab, which for the time (until Celestia could secure them a proper lab) was being lent to Bright Future and the Flim Flam Brothers. Ace was nearby, reading through Rainbow Dash's Dragon Eggs Z manega she'd lent them (Well-To-Do currently in the library reading literally every book on honesty business Twilight could find). Neither teenager's false skin had been repaired for one very good reason: they'd be getting an upgrade very soon. “No,” Bright Future replied inside his fully repaired mecha suit, now wearing an engagement ring on his tailfin. He was presently working on a Marionette exoskeleton while the Flim Flam Brothers worked on another, consulting their father during the process. While repairing the minor damage the other Marionettes had suffered in the final battle was relatively easy, building a complete new set of Marionettes without infinite resources or his old lab took considerably longer even with Twilight and his sons helping. Celestia had to put a good deal of effort into getting the proper resources, as most of the Stallions' funds that could be captured went to helping the Marionettes start their new lives and repairing damages the agency had caused. “I'm not putting a weapon into a Marionette and that is final...not after Miss Marshmallow.” “Oh...yeah...What about a built in radio?” The sea pony tapped his chin with his fin. “That I could do, but it'd take another week.” “...Pass...” “You sure?” Teddy nodded. “...Yeah...I mean it'd be cool, but...I don't want to wait another week to see Redheart again.” The two were staying at Twilight's castle until their G5 bodies were completed for the simple reason that letting Ponyville get used to two teenagers who suddenly turn into young adults overnight would probably be confusing. It didn't help the two of them had been '18' when they'd been put in storage, but still had 16 year old bodies. At least in the meantime, Teddy's father had been visiting him quite often. Teddy had never seen his father cry as much as he had when they'd reunited. Gear Shift practiced dashing in a prison court yard. Unlike his partner who'd never had a choice, he'd willingly been in the Stallions and fully accepted punishment for his actions. Thankfully, his actions in helping stop them had earned him a short sentence. Twilight had offered him a pardon in light of his heroism...but he didn't want it. He wanted to atone, so he would. Besides, Equestria's prisons were more about reformation, so it wasn't that bad. “Gear Shift! You've got a visitor!” called a guard. The pegasus nodded and followed, finding Cover Story waiting for him in the visitor's area with a friendly smile. Bon Bon moved to put her suitcase of monster hunting supplies in the basement, away from sight...and then stopped. “...” She turned and walked back to her room...and found Lyra putting her own suitcase of monster hunting supplies under her bed, easy to access. The beige mare chuckled. Even if S.M.I.L.E. was dead, the reason they'd joined it originally wasn't. Two Weeks Later Nurse Redheart trotted through Ponyville Hospital while on break. It'd been a pretty busy day (and past few weeks, what with a major battle with the Stallions with many Ponyville citizens involved and what happened in the Crystal Empire), but she didn't mind. She became a nurse because she loved helping ponies, and had since she was a child. Every day she could be a help a pony get better was a fulfilling one. Speaking of children, she walked past a green young stallion with a magenta mane and tail playing a video game with several children to keep them occupied, some patients (none in too serious of condition, naturally), others visitors. One was a Crystal Pony unicorn filly identical to Radiant Hope. While he was wearing a doctor's outfit, his Cutie Mark was an old hoofheld game system. A number of doctors did various things to help young foals make it through their time here, which naturally was much harder on them than it normally was on adults. The nurse gave a chuckle at the site...then noticed the time. “Extreme Aid. Don't you have somewhere to be?” The entry level pediatrician jumped and looked at the clock. “Oh! Sorry!” he yelled, rushing off...and falling on his face in his rush. Redheart quickly helped him to his hooves. “Be careful, we have enough patients without the doctors getting hurt too,” she advised with genuine warmness and compassion rather than scalding. She gave a smile as the doctor in training ran off. “He's a good pediatrician, but he's got a long way to go...” She then blinked, feeling a tug on her leg. She looked down to see the little Crystal Unicorn now next to her. “Oh, hello there.” “Hi! I'm Radiant! I'm here with my big brother! He brought me along because I'm really interested in healing stuff!” “Big brother?” “Still bringing the best out of ponies, Sweetheart?” asked a voice behind her. “That kid is lucky to have somepony like you helping him.” “Him!” Mecha Radiant cheered with a big smile, pointing behind her. “Oh, thank you, but I'm not Sweetheart, that's...my...cousin...” the nurse replied, turning around and seeing Teddy. Or rather 'Teddy 2.0' as his big sister had called him. He looked more or less identical to how he had as a teen, the only real difference being he was now a young adult and a bit leaner. “You...Do I know you?” “It's me, Teddy,” the android replied, reaching into his saddle bags with his mouth and producing his teddy bear. “Remember?” Redheart's eyes went wide and she cringed as a headache began in her mind. Redheart, then named Sweetheart stood at a county fair, next to Teddy. The young mare put her mouth into her saddle bags and produced the Teddy Bear and gingerly returned it to the blue Earth Pony. “T-Teddy?” Redheart asks, tears coming to her eyes as memories poured back into her head. Teddy gave a smile and nodded. “It's me...I...It's a long story...but...ugh, I'm not good at this...I...” The nurse simply hugged him. The android blinked in confusion...but slowly returned the hug. “...I missed you...” Radiant just sat next to them, cocking her little head in confusion. “Grown ups are weird...” “So...you and Lancer, huh?” Ace asked, kicking a soccer ball in the park as he looked over to an aqua colored mare with an orange mane sitting nearby. Her Cutie Mark was a pink notebook with a blue pen. Like Teddy, Ace was now in a young adult, G5 body. He did a backflip and kicked the ball to a peach colored mare with a pink mane, her Cutie Mark a patch of fabric. The aqua mare, Bright Eyes, nodded, still looking at him wide eyed. She'd taken finding out her old friend had been erased from her memories and was actually an android as any logically minded pony would: by fainting. After waking up, she'd fainted again, then required a lengthy explanation. Ace honestly didn't blame her, given he and the other Marionettes had spent the past few weeks seeing the best psychiatrist Twilight could find (which happened to be a small, anthropomorphic wolf who was surprisingly understanding of their situation) to deal with their left over issues from that. “Y-Yeah...We got married awhile ago. We have a son who is in a fencing class here in Ponyville.” To no pony's surprise, Bright Eyes had become an environmentalist and was now one of Equestria's foremost experts in studying the natural world. The girl had always wanted to be one more than anything. Her husband Lancer had become a famous explorer, which was why he wasn't present (apparently Miss Yearling knew him pretty well). “Congrats,” the light brown android replied, bouncing the ball off his head as the peach mare, Patch, sent it back to him. Pinkie Pie had been the one to track down Patch. Apparently she'd become a great circus clown, and if there's one group party ponies know, it's clowns. The peach colored mare, in contrast to Bright Eyes, had declared being friends with an android one of the most awesome things ever. Then again, this was the girl who claimed to have one met strange glowing pegasi (and one unidentified Alicorn even Celestia didn't know) that had been mistaken for a UFO and the ghost of an ancient dragon hunter. “Me and Buddy got hitched,” Patch replied with a playful smirk, kicking it back. “I admit it took me awhile to accept. You know me.” “Yeah...” Ace replied, then did a spin kick to send the ball back. “...Starlight?...Our Starlight, not Twilight's student Starlight. That's going to be confusing...” “Slipknot. Oh boy did that take a while,” the peach mare replied, headbutting the ball back. “She did not have good luck with stallions...” The android frowned. “Yeah...I know...I was one of them...Hehe, glad she found somepony,” he said with a bit of a bittersweet tone as he returned the ball. “...I definitely didn't deserve her.” Bright Eyes and Patch both blinked, looking to each other. “W-What?” Bright Eyes questioned while Patch missed the ball in her shock. Ace nodded sincerely. “Yeah...I know 'Ace likes Ace best'...I'm sorry, I was a jerk...” The two just stared. The Ace they'd known could barely admit he was wrong, let alone apologize. “...Hey, realizing you missed nearly ten years and your friends remember you being a jerk makes you realize...you were a jerk...” the light brown android replied with a sigh. “...You have no idea what me and Teddy had to go through to get back...Hey...is Melody seeing anyone?” “...No, she's not. Surprising, given she's traveling all over the place with her band and on the charts...” Patch replied. She then gave a playful smirk. “...Still got a crush on her?” “...Maybe a little bit...” Trixie sat in her cart, mixing up a nice, cold smoothy. While her false skin had been mostly replaced her right leg was currently a clockwork, more primitive replacement and her optics remained exposed. In several places her mithril casing was still uncovered, battle damage visible. Out of all the Marionettes, she'd suffered the most severe damage in the Moirai battle. And in the end, with Moirai and Bright Future's lab destroyed, the supplies needed to fix and create Marionettes were coming in at a slow trickle. This lead to an impasse: they could either use those materials to repair Trixie, or to create new bodies for Teddy, Ace, and Radiant (though what components of her old body they could carry over went into making her filly one). Trixie herself had chosen to allow her younger siblings to get their new bodies first. It could have been worse...she still remembered the funeral they'd held for Miss Marshmallow. Masquerade was currently under heavy watch (both for security and suicide watch) in a mental institution receiving the best care possible. With any luck, someday she'd recover and reform. The azure android heard a knock at her door and quickly pulled a makeshift false skin Rarity made to put over her exposed leg and put on a pair of sunglasses to cover her optics. She used her cape to hide her wings and exposed mithril. Equestria had a LOT to take in (Celestia had not hidden her mistakes and took complete responsibility for them), so the Marionettes had not been revealed in full to Equestria yet. It wasn't quite a secret, but hadn't been publicly announced across the country yet. That and Trixie would prefer to wait for her repairs to be finished before appearing to Equestria as leader of the Marionettes and a mecha Alicorn (who would have a coronation). One had to make a grand entrance, didn't they? Opening the door, she found Lightning Dust on the other side, having been fully repaired, while also revealing her cart was presently parked next to Twilight's castle. “Why hello, Lightning Dust, good to see you.” The turquoise android nodded with a smirk. “Same here.” “Trixie heard that you had quite the exciting trip to the frozen north,” Trixie replied with a smirk. “Trixie would've helped, but...well, she didn't have a leg to stand on.” “...” The azure android pointed to her temporary leg. “Oh...And yeah, that was crazy. Hard to believe the real Radiant Hope is still alive...” Lightning Dust muttered. “Or that she'd recruit the Changelings, Wind Rider, Rough Diamond, and some crazy Dr. Caballeron cosplayer to help her free the Umbrum...oh well, got to kick Wind Rider's flank with Rainbow Dash, so not all bad.” Trixie nodded with a smile. “So, just hear to brag or something important? Not that Trixie can blame one for bragging.” The turquoise android smirked and gave a chuckle. “Dad finally announced when he and Riptide are getting married and wanted me to tell you. It'll be next week. Dad wants you to put on a magic show. Me and Rainbow will be doing an airshow and Svengallop's new act is doing the music.” The turquoise android was still waiting for confirmation she'd be going to Wonderbolt Academy again, but it was looking promising. Until then, she'd been helping Ace and the sports trio prepare their all android sports team. The azure android gave a chuckle. “Oh it's about time! Tell them Trixie would be honored!” “Gotcha! Get repaired soon, big sis!” “Thank you, little sis.” As her younger sister departed, Trixie did the thing she'd wanted to this entire time: Sit down in her cart and drink a smoothy. In peace. In her home. Soon she'd be fully repaired and be able to formally introduce herself and her kind to Equestria. And she very much looked forwards to that. But for now, she was just happy to be home. The End