//------------------------------// // Epilogue // Story: Twin Twilight Tales // by MagnetBolt //------------------------------// Dear Princess Celestia, I know you were disappointed that I decided to stop being your student, but Discord wasn’t wrong when he told me I hated feeling like I wasn’t special enough. Midnight and I get along fine but I want to be thought of as my own mare and not just part of a matched set. Nightmare Moon, or Princess Luna, since she lets me call her that as long as we’re in private, has been teaching me a lot. Mostly different types of repair spells since we’re trying to put the Castle of the Twin Sisters back together. The good news is that we apparently get mail service out here! I don’t know why they have postmares going through the Everfree Forest twice a week and I’m afraid to ask. Luna suggested we repair the old road, but after a thousand years it’s more like building a new road from scratch and that seems like it’s a job for engineers and not magic. Give Princess Cadance my best, and tell Mom and Dad to stop worrying, I haven’t been kidnapped by an evil force of darkness. Luna has tried explaining things to them in their dreams but that only seems to have made things worse. Your Former Student, Twilight Sparkle Celestia, As we discussed via other means, the six ponies sent by Mrs. Twilight Velvet to vanquish me and return her daughter to safety have been released largely unharmed. Please tell her again that I did not kidnap her daughter, the last discussion didn’t take. HRH Princess Nightmare Moon Exact Realm TBD Castle of the Twin Sisters Postscript: We need to hash our respective spheres of influence out. You bring the map, mine are out of date. I’ll bring Twilight to yell at her parents on my behalf if you can ensure they don’t try stealing her away. Post-Postscript: Now that I write it out, Princess Nightmare Moon looks odd in print. Queen would be fine but I suspect even if I signed my letters that way I would be the only pony using the title. I might have to follow your advice and allow ponies to call me Luna again. Auntie, Are there any spells that you can use to tell if a pony is pregnant? Please reply quickly and discreetly and don’t tell Sunset I asked. Cadance Cadance, First, why did you send a letter? Just come to my room and ask me in person if you have a question. I’m right down the hallway. Second, is there something I should know? I have a great many questions (how, who, and when chief among them) and in lieu of asking for specifics, I will await a reply to this letter which I expect will contain everything I need to know. Third, I’ve attached a scroll with an appropriate spell. Just follow the instructions carefully. Celestia Midnight, You were right. The northern wastes are incredibly boring. Celestia sent me and Cadance to survey them, but I think she just wanted us out of the castle for a while. You wouldn’t believe how much snow and ice there is between Equestria and Yakyakistan. The Yaks think the whole place is cursed. Why she ran a rail line into the middle of nowhere I can’t imagine. She’s got my full report, but try and knock some sense into her for me. There’s no way ponies would ever want to move up here so surveying the land is a stupid plan. Sunset Shimmer A woman stopped in front of the statue. There was a letter lying on the ground, a little scorched around the edges and still smoking. She picked it up carefully, wary of the embers around the edges. The envelope was thick and textured, obviously very expensive. The front was addressed, sort of, in flowing, precise script. To Whomever Finds This: Please deliver this letter to Twilight Velvet and Night Light if possible. Some people would have stopped there with a letter not addressed to them. She could have tossed it back to the ground, or put it in a mailbox, or even tried to deliver it herself. The person who had found it was the type to ignore little rules of privacy and courtesy when she was curious, though, so she opened it and read the message within. My name was Twilight Sparkle, and I haven’t been able to get a message home in a very long time. I don’t even know where to begin. I want you to know that I’ve been happy, and everypony has taken good care of me. I’m sorry for not writing before but we didn’t know it was even possible. The woman blinked. Everypony? I’ve included a blank sheet of paper. It’s enchanted so anything you write on it will show up on a sheet I prepared on my side. I know there’s no magic where you are, just please try. If it doesn’t work, you might be able to reply the same way I sent this. The other sheet of paper in the envelope was the same thick material as the envelope, and the woman could swear it glittered in the corner of her eye, even if it seemed normal when she looked right at it. I can’t come back home yet. The way I got here is broken, and only small things like this letter might be able to get through. If the paper doesn’t work, there should be a flat surface near where this was found. According to my information, it becomes a portal for three days, every thirty moons. You should be able to send letters that way. I hope to hear from you soon. I’m a little scared to reach out like this, but I want to know where I came from, and I want you to know you don’t have to worry. If you can’t reply for some reason, I’ll keep sending letters anyway every time the portal opens. Maybe someday I’ll be able to repair it and visit you in person. -Midnight Twinkle, frmrly Twilight Sparkle The woman looked at the statue in front of her. The front of it was marble, polished almost to a mirror gleam. Her eyes drifted from the name on the small memorial at the base of the statue to where it was signed on the letter. “Twilight Sparkle, huh?” She asked. She touched the statue. There was a tingle, like static electricity. “Is something wrong?” Another voice asked. The woman turned. “Oh, Principal Celestia. No, nothing’s wrong.” She stuffed the letter into her jacket. “I was just picking up some trash.” She held out her hand to shake. “I hope I’m on time for the vice-principal interview.” “Ten minutes early, actually,” Celestia said, shaking her hand. “It’s good to finally have a face to put with the name, Miss Shimmer.” “Please,” the woman said. “Sunset is fine.”