//------------------------------//
// Epilogue 
// Story: Love Conquers All - The After Days 
// by truekry 
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“I still can’t believe this,” the filly with the dark brown coat mumbled. Her auburn mane was done in a little braid that complimented her rather well. What would make her drop-dead gorgeous once she grew into a mare were the lighter tones her coat transitioned into towards her hooves and muzzle. Socks were a new trend among mares that made stallions drop out their sheathes left and right. Her sky-blue eyes would be the icing on the cake.

“You have to look on the bright side,” Cadance chirped. “You’ve gotten a second chance, and with my parenting skills, we’ll make sure that you don’t turn into a violent, cursing mare this time. Plus, you’re getting a sister as well. Flurry will be happy to have you, as will Shining.”

Temptress—no, Sweet Cheeks as her new ‘mother’ had named her—stuck her tongue out. “I didn’t ask for this. When you said rehabilitation, I thought you meant going to a school for a few hours a day. Not all four princesses zapping me back to nearly wearing diapers. Oh, and did I mention the whole turning-into-a-pony part?”

“What’s wrong with being a pony? You get magic, the ability to gain a cutie mark, and you can find a very special somepony of your own!” Cadance nearly jumped next to her in glee.

“Then why didn’t you do this to Anon?”

The Princess of Love paused. “Err…” She hummed, looked at the ground, then to the sky. The tip of her right wing then stroked her chin for a moment. “Maybe next time?” she managed with a hesitant smile.

Sweet Cheeks sighed as they continued on their way. Their destination was already in sight: a large three storey building that looked like Hansel and Gretel couldn’t be far away. What the pink pony had left after her sudden appearance the other day had been an invitation to a party. All four princesses had agreed that it was a good first step for rehabilitation to join the festivities.

“Won’t they expect a human?”

Cadance answered with a smile as she opened the door for her to enter. Nervously, the filly strode forward into the dark bakery. “Surprise!” Nearly twenty voices yelled as one as a switch was flipped, engulfing the room in light. Cheeks jumped, not from the surprise, but because of the volume of voices. Her sensitive new pony ears pinned themselves to her skull as her eardrums begged for mercy.

Her eyes did the opposite and stared upwards, from the ponies, to the massive cake in the middle of the room and then to the banner under the ceiling. ‘Welcome to Equestria, Lena Temptress Sweet Cheeks.’ There was a second, smaller one added to that with duct tape. ‘Happy First Day of Rehabilitation.’

“Great,” she mumbled under her breath.

In the next moment, the pink pony was in her face again. “And? Were you surprised?”

* * *

Half an hour later, Sweet Cheeks managed to get away from the ponies. There had been so many of them in all colours of the rainbow. They had a host of eclectic names to match, most of which she had forgotten already. At least now she was free. She opened the back door of the establishment and walked out in the rather cool spring night. There wasn’t a single cloud in the sky and the stars lit up the surrounding area.

“They can be annoying, can’t they?” Cheek’s head whirled around to the familiar voice. There, leaning next to the door and sipping from a wooden mug, was Anon. His fedora was missing, but the evidence of their last meeting was still visible in his face. His nose seemed crooked and his right eye was swollen and bruised black and blue.

“You!” she shrieked and pointed a hoof at him. “Didn’t I say I never wanted to see you again?”

“Hey, I’m not the one that dragged you into this,” he shot back.

“No, you’re just the reason the ponies summoned me in the first place!” She could shout and one of the ponies inside would come for sure. They would capture him again, and he would endure the same punishment. However, when she had said to the princesses that she had tried to be a good person, she hadn’t lied. While she despised her fellow human, she didn’t think he could handle another beating and worse from the ponies. With that in mind, she only hissed, “All because you had to be such a jerk.”

This time, Anon rolled his eyes. “You’ve met the same ponies I did, right? If you’re not a goody-good mister nice guy, you’re automatically a jerk. Well, at least for the princesses. Most ponies are rather cool with swearing, but with them, it’s like their mother told them that only bad ponies swear and they still believe that. Look at it this way—you beat up a villain for them, and they turned you into a foal as a reward.”

For an entire minute, they simply regarded each other. Cheeks used the silence to mull over his words. Despite herself, she had to admit that Anon had a point. “And, what will you do now?”

Anonymous emptied his mug in one go and released a belch. “You really want to know?” She nodded. “Take your tips to heart, actually. Get in shape and so on. To that end, I think I’ll travel for a while. You know, see other places and people. I hear the hippogriffs have a nice gig going on.” He paused. “And a pearl that can turn you into anything you want.”

Her eyebrows rose. “Really?”

“Really.”

She looked back at the entrance of the bakery. She could go back; live a life as a pony princess. Cadance seemed rather nice, and she had always wanted a little sister to get into mischief together. She could grow up again, find a nice stallion to settle down with, and have a bunch of cute foals herself. 

But that wasn’t the human way.

“Are you looking for a traveling companion?”

As the two figures walked away into the dark of the night, nobody looked up to the moon. If anyone had bothered, they would have seen the massive writing on the surface that read: ‘Twilight, get me down egghead!’