Epilogue I - Only One More Night Together
All of Canterlot was dead quiet. No ponies walked the streets, no changelings patrolled about, no sirens lurked unseen. Had anypony been there, they would have said that it felt as though the entire city were in a dream; the houses stood stock still, frozen in time; the palace loomed, as picturesque as it was imposing; there wasn’t even a hint of wind to rustle the leaves in the gardens. In fact, the only thing of note was small gathering of ponies and humans inside the palace, all huddled in the grand hall where Adagio and her sisters had been keeping the imprisoned Elements of Harmony.
Princess Twilight Sparkle awoke once again to Sunset’s face.
She smiled. “I knew you had it in you.”
Sunset chuckled and gestured behind her. “Well, it wasn’t all me. I had some help.”
Princess Twilight pulled herself out of the changeling-silk shell and observed the group. She cringed as she saw how heavily injured some of them were: Luna was on crutches, Celestia was wrapped head to toe in bandages and one of her arms was in a crude sling, the tall black woman was missing a hand, and Sunset looked like she’d crawled out of her grave, jumped off a cliff, and gone through a car wash that used fire instead of water. Twilight was honestly surprised she was able to stand; she wondered how many spells she’d had to cast on herself to dull the pain.
Nevertheless, Twilight cheerfully greeting each member of Sunset’s ragtag revolution—she was, after all, the Princess of Friendship.
“Hey, Zecora! Glad you were able to escape her… Nice to see you too, Principal… Ha ha, hey, other Twilight! I always knew I had it in me to beat Chrysalis!”
She stopped dead as she got to the agent of the same name. Her eyes narrowed. “You’re the human version of Chrysalis, aren’t you?”
Chrysalis gave her a level look. “Got a problem?”
Twilight blinked once, then let out a giggle. “Not at all! Queen Chrysalis might have been evil and delusional, but she had some good qualities, too; determination, loyalty to her species, ambition, creativity. I’m glad you didn’t fall down the same path she did.”
Chrysalis looked a bit shaken at the praise, and Twilight moved on before she thought to respond.
“Wow. They weren’t kidding about her friendship abilities,” Lyra whispered to Bon Bon. “You need a pretty open mind to get along with Chrysalis.”
Bon Bon stifled a laugh behind a hand.
Ever since Twilight and her friends had been freed, Velvet had been staring none too subtly at the princess. When Twilight finally noticed her, she started staring, too.
“You look weird like that,” they said in unison. They exchanged a single look before bursting out laughing.
“So am I to expect Twilight to grow up to become a princess?” Velvet asked in between laughs.
“I doubt it,” Princess Twilight responded, smiling like an idiot. “After all, your human monarchies don’t function the way Equestria’s does, and since you live in a democracy anyway, it might be fairly difficult. Changing a country’s governmental structure is a dangerous game; I’d know, I’ve done it a couple times myself.”
The laughter died out as Twilight didn’t stop talking.
“Though, I suppose the Dragonlands are still under a crude dictatorship, technically. It’s just that Dragon Lady Ember’s rule will likely be so radically different from Dragon Lord Torch’s that it may as well have been a complete governmental shift.”
Twilight walked away from her kind-of-not-really-mother and began pacing as she spoke, waving around her hooves every so often in a poor attempt at miming. “She even talked about possibly changing to a republic at our last correspondence, but that poses a lot of issues in itself; namely, whether or not the average dragon citizen is politically aware enough to make an informed decision. No offense to you, Spike, but some of those dragons’ hides are just too darn thick.”
“Hey Twilight?” Rainbow Dash called.
She stopped her speech. “Yes?”
“Shut up,” the other Rainbow Dash said.
“Y’all better not start finishin’ each other’s sentences now,” one of the Applejacks said. “Ah’m already beyond confused as it is.”
“Maybe we could find some way to distinguish ourselves?” the human Fluttershy suggested.
Rarity smiled. “Excellent idea, Fluttershy! We can be ‘ones’—for example, I’d be Rarity One—and you all shall be twos. No more confusion!”
“Hey, how come you guys get to be the ones?” a Pinkie Pie protested.
As the argument escalated, Princess Twilight maneuvered her way to Sunset’s side. “This is exactly why I didn’t want them to follow me through the portal when I came over during the Battle of the Bands.”
“I think you made the right call,” Sunset said. “So what’s the plan now?”
“I’m not exactly sure. There’s so much work we need to do, I don’t even know where to start.” She frowned and started to fidget anxiously. “I could really use a checklist right about now.”
“Oh! I’ve got a spare!” Human Twilight fished through her pockets and procured both a long sheet of paper filled with blank lines and boxes and a pencil. She passed them to her counterpart, who shot her a grateful smile.
“Thanks. You’re a lifesaver.”
Twilight beamed.
Sunset shook her head. “You two are so similar it’s scary. I mean, who else would ask for a checklist, and who else would just have one lying around?”
The Twilights started to talk in unison. “Checklists are an efficient organizational tool, Sunset.”
The girl buried her face in her hands. “Please don’t. I’ve already heard this from each of you at least twice.”
“Hey wait!” a voice shouted, and the hubbub of the room died down as everybody turned to look at Pinkie and Pinkie, who appeared mildly panicked.
“We forgot something!” said the one who hadn’t spoken before.
Pony Applejack sighed. “What did we forget, Pinkie?”
“A PARTY!” they shouted in unison, spraying confetti into every possible crevice of the grand hall.
“You know,” Principal Celestia said, “I could actually really use a party right about now.”
“And a hard drink,” Luna added.
“There are children here!” Velvet chastised.
“Like we give a damn,” Lyra retorted.
“That sounds like a great idea, Pinkie,” Princess Twilight said before it could escalate further. “And Pinkie,” she quickly amended. “But we should at least free, like, the other princesses first.”
A Rainbow rolled her eyes. “Well, go and do it then, already!”
Pony Pinkie hopped forward and thrust a stack of papers into Twilight’s hooves. “Make sure to give them an invitation!”
“When did you—”
“C’mon, Pinkie,” Pinkie urged. “We have a party to plan!”
“I’m right behind you, Pinkie!”
Sunset watched them go. “There’s, like, a thirty percent chance they’ll destroy Equestria.”
Princess Celestia and Princess Luna rose from their melted chrysalises with their ever present grace, and were promptly squeezed into a hug by Princess Twilight.
“Oh, I’m so glad you’re okay!” she chirped, letting go and taking a step back.
“The same to you,” Celestia said.
“So, you two seem awfully calm.”
Luna chuckled. “When you grow as old as we have, there is little that manages to phase you.”
“Besides,” Celestia added, “we knew you would be able to defeat Chrysalis in the end.”
“Truly! You are indeed reliable, young Sparkle.”
Twilight bit her lip and rubbed at the back of her neck with one hoof. “Heheh, yeah, about that…”
“Oh, hey, Aunty!” greeted Cadance as she picked bits of stray amber out of her mane. “Long time no see!”
“It’s nice to see you as well, Cadance. How’s the baby?” Celestia bent over and melted away the amber surrounding Shining Armor as she spoke.
“Oh, Flurry’s been much better ever since the whole Crystal Heart incident. Not to say she’s been easy, though. Heh, this one time, Shiny was working on tax stuff when—”
“CHANGELINGS!” Shining Armor shouted at the top of his lungs, jumping onto his feet and slamming a shield spell into Celestia’s cheek. Apparently, he hadn’t yet shaken off the grogginess of the magically induced coma.
“Shining, no! Bad!”
At his wife’s words, Shining finally realized who he had been assaulting. “C-Celestia! Uh, Captain Armor, at your service! Wait, no, I’m not captain anymore. Well! This is awkward.”
“Yes, quite,” agreed Celestia, not breaking from the polite and slightly condescending smile that she seemed so fond of. “In any case, I have an invitation for you both.” Celestia levitated them a pink envelope. “For after we free the guards, of course.”
Cadance tore open the seal and brought up a letter. “ ‘You are invited to Friendship Castle for Pinkie and Pinkie’s Super Fun Trans-Dimensional Post Complete Changeling Takeover Cheering-Up/Meet and Greet/Farewell Party.’ Well, that’s certainly a mouthful.”
“You both should attend. I’m sure it will be much more exciting than the stuffy old Galas we always have.”
Shining Armor and Cadance looked at each other. “Well, it can’t hurt.”
“Ha! I win again!” Discord took his knight and used it to knock down the enemy king, who screamed and burst into flames. “You know, maybe if you weren’t constantly plotting petty revenge, you’d improve your game.”
“It isn’t petty, Discord.” Tirek clenched a fist, fire lighting behind his eyes. “If I so much as see the face of one of those despicable ponies again, I swear to the demons below that I’ll—”
Tirek was cut off by the ripping sound of a portal opening, and dark blue light spilled onto the brimstone ground of Tartarus. Discord broke into a mischievous grin as he spotted Princess Luna leaning casually against the edge of the rift, looking at him with an air of general distaste.
“I thought I might find you here, Discord. After all, it is one of the only places from which you cannot bother me.”
Discord slithered over to her side. “Now, Luna, what makes you think I’d ever try to bother you?”
“Is it not the only thing you’re good for?”
Discord crossed his arms. “Now that was just mean.”
“Tough.” Luna jerked her head towards the portal, the inside of her royal quarters visible on the other side. “Now come on, unless you want to rot in here for another century or two.”
“I always did like Celestia more than you,” he grumbled, slinking the way she was gesturing.
“Freedom will be MINE!” Tirek roared. He charged Luna, shackled arms outstretched.
Luna and Discord simultaneously kicked him in the face, sending him flying. They crossed through the blue vortex and Luna closed it cleanly after them.
“Careful what you say,” Luna replied, ignoring the interruption. “I might unleash the horror of Nightmare Moon on you.”
“Oh no! I’m so terrified of the villain that returned for all of six hours before being beaten by brand new elements of harmony!”
“Stuff it.” Luna fished out a pink envelope and threw it at Discord’s face. “Here. Try not to scare the guests away.”
Discord peeled the letter off his face with a disgusting squelching sound. The envelope melted away and fell to the floor in a puddle of bubbling goop as he read the enclosed invitation.
“Ooh, a Pinkie Pie party! I do believe I shall be in attendance.” He popped the letter into his mouth, chewed a few times, and swallowed. “See you there!”
A quick wave of a claw later, and Discord was gone.
The party was in full swing by the time Sunset arrived at Friendship Castle. The Pinkies had gone all out—lights flashed, music pounded, seemingly endless confetti rained from the sky, ponies and humans danced together, and those with comparable social skills to Sunset enjoyed the practical feast of snacks that were laid out across several tables.
Sunset snuck her way over beside Princess Twilight. “Enjoying the punch?”
Twilight laughed. “Want some? It’s amazing.” She levitated Sunset a glass.
Sunset took a sip and hummed approvingly. “You’re right, that is amazing. Though it’d probably be even better if it was spiked.”
“That would also be illegal at a party hosting minors.”
“Oh, come on. Who’s gonna arrest the saviors and monarchs of Equestria?”
“Sunset.”
She sighed. “You’re no fun.”
They watched in silence for a second as the Rainbow Dashes failed miserably to dance with one another. Sunset’s confusion grew as she noticed the Applejacks, who were also dancing together, laughing at them. She squinted and noticed that the Rarities and Pinkies had also paired up.
She shot Twilight a questioning glance. “What are our friends doing?”
“Well, first it was just the Pinkie and Pinkie dancing together, because, well, they’re Pinkie and Pinkie. But then your Rainbow Dash said that she bet she and the other Rainbow would be better at dancing with each other than the two Applejacks, and obviously they couldn’t turn down a challenge like that. But they were so awful at it that the two Rarities insisted that they needed to ‘show those ruffians how it’s done’. The Fluttershies, my counterpart and I decided to stay out of it.”
“I think you made the right choice. Where are the others?”
“It’s hard to see with all the lights and ponies everywhere, but… Well, I know Starlight’s hiding in her room, for one. Spike’s probably browsing the snacks, and so is Twilight, so they’ll probably run into each other and start talking. Lyra’s following Bon Bon who’s following Chrysalis—I think Bon Bon hopes she can dissolve any nasty situations Chrysalis inevitably causes—oh, and the principals and the princesses are over there.”
Sunset automatically looked in the direction Twilight pointed, and by pure coincidence, Princess Celestia looked over the crowd at the same instant. Their eyes met, and Sunset froze.
Celestia smiled warmly, and Sunset began to panic. “Hey, uh, Twilight, we should probably get the portal working.”
Twilight blinked. “We don’t have to do that for another hour.”
“But, uh, what if something goes wrong? What if Chrysalis did more damage to it than we thought? What if we decide to leave ahead of schedule? What if the castle catches on fire and the doors are blocked and we need to evacuate? There are too many variables!”
Sunset felt sort of bad playing on Twilight’s panicky nature like that, but she had a good reason. Princess Celestia was one pony she was not ready to talk to.
Twilight’s eyes widened as Sunset listed each possibility. By the end of her speech, she looked positively terrified. “I didn’t even think of all that! You’re right, we have no time to lose—come on!”
Princess Celestia chuckled softly as Sunset ran away. She hadn’t thought Sunset wanted to talk, but fleeing at the mere sight of her… As things change, they stay the same, she supposed.
“Celestia has always wanted to be a principal,” her sister was saying. “I have yet to discern her reasoning behind such a desire.”
Principal Celestia crossed her arms defiantly. “And what’s wrong with being a principal?”
Vice-Principal Luna gave her sister a hard look. “Want me to give you a list?”
Princess Celestia chuckled. “I think it would be a wonderfully interesting experience. I did found a school, you know; but my duties as princess have unfortunately kept me from being more involved in its operation. I’m not certain of the last time I even set foot on its premise, to be honest.”
Her counterpart sighed and picked at the cast on her arm. “To be honest, it’s not all it’s cracked up to be. I mean, it’s a fine job, and the children are sweet, and it’s probably the best position I’ve ever had… but the paperwork is just awful.”
“The children aren’t that sweet,” the Vice-Principal grumbled.
“Truly?” said Princess Luna. “I’ve found assisting children in their dreams to be one of the most satisfying parts of my job.”
“But teenagers?”
“Well… I suppose you have a point there.”
Princess Celestia gave a short laugh, and allowed a comfortable silence to set in before she speak again. “I must thank you both for your help in the battle against Chrysalis. Equestria is greatly in your debt; as are us personally, for your harboring of the Sun and Moon.”
Luna—the human one—lifted one arm from her crutches to scratch nervously behind her head. “Yeah, sorry about the whole… ‘abusing the Moon’ thing.”
Princess Luna smiled conspiratorially. “Do not feel bad about your actions. I believe you taught the Moon a most valuable lesson in humility.”
Principal Celestia stared blankly. “But… wasn’t there something about not upsetting the balance of day and night and all that?”
“Precisely,” Princess Celestia stated, side-eying her sister. “The overall disturbance from the past week will likely take nearly a month to stabilize.”
Princess Luna snorted. “I care not. Somepony needed to knock that hunk of cheese off its pedestal.”
Celestia’s eyes narrowed. “I do hope you blocked the mental link before saying that, dear sister.”
“Not a chance.”
The principals looked at each other and tried not to laugh.
Celestia sighed. “Well, it was a delight to meet you two, but I’m afraid we must be off. We have some celestial bodies to placate.”
“One last item before we depart,” said Princess Luna.
She turned to face her counterpart and stared deep into the Vice-Principal’s eyes. “I see guilt within you, Luna, guilt that used to plague my own mind. You must forgive yourself if you wish to lead a happy life.”
Luna shifted uncomfortably at the sudden change in mood. “Um…”
“I know you do not believe you are deserving of forgiveness; that is what I thought, too, once. Understand that I nearly destroyed Equestria for it. I pray thee, Luna, do not repeat my mistakes.”
As the princesses left, Celestia took Luna’s hand in hers and gave it a reassuring squeeze.
Velvet and Prince Shining Armor stared at one another.
“Huh,” said Velvet. “So if you’re a prince and Twilight’s a princess, am I a queen?”
Princess Cadance raised an eyebrow. “We don’t have queens.”
“What? Why not?”
“Everypony knows queens are evil, mom.”
“Well, fine,” Velvet said, crossing her arms. “Am I at least some sort of royalty?”
They shook their heads.
“Can you make me royalty?”
Cadance’s lips parted slightly. “Uh.”
Velvet threw her hands in the air. “Well, at least tell me who to complain to!”
“Why don’t we go check out the punch,” Shining said, steering his wife away from Velvet.
Cadance looked over her shoulder and caught Velvet’s eye. The woman was trying very hard not to giggle, and gave the princess a playful wink.
“I hate parties,” Lyra grumbled. She and Bon Bon were leaning against the wall at the edge of the ballroom, as far away from the loudspeakers as possible.
“Come on,” Sweetie Drops said. “Enjoy yourself!”
Lyra crossed her arms. “I’d rather be enjoying you. In private.”
Bon Bon blushed. “Okay, me too, but it’s not polite to run off during a party in your honor.”
“What do you know about what’s polite?”
“More than you.”
Lyra huffed. She hated it when Bon Bon was right.
It was then that Chrysalis returned from the snack table. She was frustratedly wringing out her blouse, which someone had spilled punch on. She was having difficulty doing so with only one hand, however, and the act was seriously contributing to her general air of contempt for the world.
“I hate parties,” she grumbled.
“See?” Lyra said.
“Chrysalis doesn’t like anything,” Sweetie returned.
“She likes you.”
Chrysalis glared at Lyra. “Don’t put words in my mouth, kid.”
“Play nice,” Bon Bon commanded.
“I thought you wanted me to play rough, Bon B—huh?”
Lyra’s seductive grin turned to empty air. “Bon Bon?”
The sound of metal on metal rang through the air. Lyra whirled around to see Sweetie Drops standing over Chrysalis, who was crouched on the ground with her good hand poised to attack. The half of Bon Bon’s blade that she still had was grating against the blade of a pony garbed in black. The pony was upside down, balancing on their clashing weapons.
Sweetie Drops pushed, and the pony leapt backwards, flipping once and coming to a clean landing.
“What’s going on?!” somepony shouted. It seemed they’d attracted a ring of onlookers.
“She tried to attack Chrysalis,” Sweetie said.
“Of course I did!” the pony replied. “She’s evil!”
Chrysalis rolled her eyes. “How many times do I have to go over this?”
A mint green unicorn walked out of the crowd and poked the masked pony in the shoulder. “Babe. That’s the other Chrysalis.”
“I know that! She’s probably evil!”
Sweetie Drops squinted. “Lyra?”
The unicorn gave an affirmative-sounding grunt.
“Wait, that means…” the human Lyra pointed at the masked pony.
The pony’s hood was enveloped in green magic and promptly ripped off, revealing Bon Bon underneath.
“Huh,” Chrysalis said.
Human Sweetie Drops pointed at her mentor with a thumb. “She’s on our side, you know.”
Pony Sweetie Drops looked between the two for a couple seconds before laughing and sheathing her dagger. “Looks like this was all a misunderstanding, huh?”
Human Sweetie Drops laughed along with her. “Seems like it!”
Both of their laughter promptly stopped, and they leaned forward, glaring into each other’s eyes.
“But if you try to attack her again, I’ll kill you.”
“I’d like to see you try.”
“Ooookaaay,” the Lyras said in unison, dragging their respective Bon Bons away from each other.
As they watched their pony counterparts disappear into the crowd of spectators, who promptly turned away as well now that the show was over, Lyra turned to Sweetie Drops.
“I don’t think you should go near her.”
“She better hope I don’t go near her, that backstabbing poser.”
Lyra opened her mouth, let it hang there for a few seconds, and then slowly closed it.
Bon Bon quickly perked back up, though. “Well, that was exciting! What should we do next? I think Pinkie’s got bobbing for apples. I’ve always wanted to try that.”
Lyra sighed and shared a sympathetic glance with Chrysalis as she let herself be dragged across the castle.
Twilight nearly dropped her drink. “Spike?”
The little dragon looked up at her and grinned haughtily, kissing his muscles. “The one and only.”
He then bit into a ruby. Naturally, he was surprised when his jaws clamped down on his bare claws instead.
“Ow! Hey, where did my—”
“This”—Twilight waved the ruby in front of his face—“is a rock. It is not meant for eating!”
“Uh, Twilight? Dragons eat rocks.”
Twilight rolled her eyes. “Yeah, and I’m sure dragons also eat my shoes, and the couch pillows, and my lunch for school, and my homework.”
Spike put one claw up. “Actually—”
“I’ve heard all the excuses, Spike. Out of your mouth, too, in a way! They’re not going to work on me!”
Somepony cleared their throat. Twilight turned to see Rarity, who walked up to her, whispered something in her ear, and went on her way.
Twilight turned bright red and gave Spike his ruby back. “Sorry. I thought you were a pet.”
Spike looked at her like she’d just said she didn’t like the color purple.
“I’ll be going now,” she said, then gave a nervous laugh and ran away.
Spike stared after her long past when she’d vanished from his sight. “…What?”
The party had long since wound down, and Princess Twilight waved as Sunset stepped backwards through the portal, the last one to go through. Her promise to visit again soon hung in the air, and Twilight smiled. She looked forward to it.
Shaking her head to clear it, she turned to her friends, and pulled them all into a group hug. She held them there for a while.
“Come on, girls,” she said, finally letting them go. “We have a lot of work to do.”