//------------------------------// // Epilogue // Story: Ink // by kudzuhaiku //------------------------------// Wiping her eyes, Twilight Sparkle thought about what it meant to keep a promise. For the past few eons, the words spoken by her nephew echoed in her head: “It hurts to commit to things.” He was right—he was absolutely right—and she was all too familiar now with the pain of committing to her actions. She had seen things… wonderful things… terrible things. She had seen equinity at its best, and at its worst. An endless number of heroes had paraded past, and a countless number of villains had monologued. Now, she had returned, having reached the point of her own departure. Any moment now, she would fulfill her promise that she had made to Sumac. Still wiping her eyes with her foreleg, she thought about her friends, those she loved more than anything, she thought about her family, all of them, and most of all, she thought of Spike. The little dragon that was her first best friend would be the first she would tell, after her reunion with her nephew. A pale glow surrounded the book, and Twilight waited, still sniffling. She was free to resume her normal life now, to reveal herself, to be herself. She had shadowed her mentor to learn the job, she could even become paper now, a powerful conduit for the ink, and she had preserved the ebb and flow of magic. Grogar’s taint still persisted in the world, but the source of magic, the wellspring, inkwell, had been purified. The stories being written now would no longer be jotted down in corrupted ink. It was time to return to the here and now, so Twilight did. The ink would continue to flow and the words would scribe themselves. It was best if Twilight distanced herself from the process, so everything would happen as it was meant to be, without interference. She did retain some small awareness though, and right now, the paragraph she had waited for was starting to form… The book opened, motes of magic began to swirl about, and then Sumac popped into existence with a sound like a cork being unstoppered. He stood there, blinking, confused, and blinded. Twilight did not give him a chance to recover and she was on him in seconds, causing the colt to cry out while she swept him up into a crushing hug. “HOW?” Sumac shouted, his wings squirming and fluttering against his sides. “You had to go back to the beginning!” “I did,” Twilight replied, “and from the beginning, I came here.” “I don’t understand”—Sumac’s voice was a whimpering whisper of confusion as well as pain—“you just left a few moments ago.” “And time has looped around. Now shut up and let me hug you. It’s been a long, long time for me.” Twilight laughed—an almost strangled sound—and she fought back more tears. With her wings, she pulled Sumac as close to her as possible, and she pressed her cheek up against the side of his head. “Cadance was even younger than you when she defeated Prismia. Everything will be okay, Sumac, everything will be fine.” Twilight sat down on the floor and pulled Sumac down with her. She clung to him, needing him, needing to feel the warmth of another living pony after her eons-long sojourn. The feeling of her castle beneath her, of having a physical body once more, it was all too much and her emotions became a roiling caldera. “Are you immortal now?” Sumac asked in a ragged, worried whisper. “I don’t know,” Twilight responded with all of the honesty she could muster. “I am not Eternity. For a time, I chose not to age, at least until I got caught up again. Now, I might. And once this body gets tired and needs its final sleep, I will grow beyond it. But I don’t know what that means, just yet.” “I can still feel the ink, Twilight.” Sumac pulled his head away and looked into Twilight’s eyes. “I can still feel some of the magic. Will it ever go away?” “No.” Twilight shook her head. “But you don’t need to worry. None of your plans will change. You will still become the pony that you want to be. That was Eternity’s final gift to you… I understand that now. She gave you enough of her power so that you could write your own future, your own destiny, so you can be happy. She did it because you made her happy.” “I… don’t… I don’t know what to say about that.” “The things I’ve seen…” Twilight’s words trailed off and she shook her head. When words failed her, Twilight looked into Sumac’s eyes, peering past the darkened lenses of his spectacles, and staring into the pools of vivid, bottle-glass green. It was then that she saw it, the subtle change done to his irises and his limbal rings. The little lines and crinkles were stained with ink, as were the rings. Sumac, like her, had touched the very wellspring of magic, and had been forever changed. “How am I going to explain what happened?” Sumac asked. “And you… how are you going to explain all of this? How will you tell everypony?” There will be so many questions—” Twilight placed a hoof over Sumac’s lips, silencing him. “For now, we’re going to keep what happened to me a secret, okay? I’ve spent many long years away from those I love, and the last thing I want to deal with is a bunch of questions. I’ll tell them in time… once I’ve recovered. As for you, I suppose a little fuss can’t be avoided. I guess we need to talk about what to tell them.” “Or we tell them nothing,” Sumac said in a low, flat voice. “I’ve been through a lot, and you’ve been through a lot, and if I’m to be completely honest, I don’t feel like answering a bunch of questions either. I just want my mamas. Especially Lemon. I need to say thank you a whole bunch of times.” Twilight realised that Spike would have to wait a little longer. “Come, Sumac… it’s time to take you home.”