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// Epilogue - Vern 
// Story: Grouchisaurus Rex 
// by Baal Bunny 
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Sure, Vern had almost forgotten his first line with Spike and Smolder and Ember all there peering in from the back of the theater where Dolores had folded the roof open, but as soon as Petunia had given him his cue, everything had just clicked right into place. The audience had laughed when they were supposed to, had gasped when they were supposed to, had gone absolutely silent when they were supposed to, and the applause and whistles and hoots at the end had made Vern feel like he was hovering even with his claws firmly on the stage.

So the play went great. But the party afterwards in the castle courtyard went even better. Though Hoedown and Cinnamon Teal were acting a little weird, spending the whole party together, kind of giggling and poking each other and Hoedown not smacking Teal in the face when he lay a wing across her back. "What's that all about?" he finally asked Gaia and Dolores the one time he met them both at the punch bowl.

Gaia just rolled her eyes and said, "It's about ponies being ponies."

Dolores shook her head. "It's about freaking time is what it is."

Neither of which really answered Vern's question, but then he didn't have a lot of time to wonder. Everycreature at the party wanted to take his picture, it seemed like, so Vern had to keep scurrying all over the gardens to pose with the cast, with Twilight and the other princesses, with Mira and the rest of their friends, with Spike and Smolder and Ember.

Those three were acting kind of weird, too, Vern thought, Spike and Smolder's smiles tighter than usual when they were with Ember but looser than usual when it was just the two of them. Or something. Spike and Smolder hung around each other most of the night, though, and Spike seemed a lot less grouchy than he had the past couple weeks. So that was good. Smolder needed to come visit more often, anyway. It was always like a holiday when she stopped by.

Things started blurring a little about then, the food and the music and the laughing and all the comments about what a great job he'd done especially from Spike and Cadance and Twilight since they'd actually been there and done all that stuff in real life, and Vern couldn't help remembering that he still had another performance tomorrow night and a third the afternoon after that with three more next weekend, all sold-out houses, Dusty had said. Scarfing down crunchy little garnets, he found it harder and harder to hide his yawns till Mira was tapping him on the shoulder and saying, "Time for bed, Wyvern."

"But...the party," he managed to say before a yawn broke through and took over his snout for what felt like half a minute. By then, Mira's magic had floated him to his usual spot on her back, and he settled in with a sigh. "Getting too big for this..." he mumbled.

"Never," he heard her whisper, then they were moving toward the castle, Vern blinking and waving to those folks who were saying good night to him.

The dark and the quiet folded over them when Mira carried him inside, and he snuggled into her mane. "Mira?" he called with another yawn. "D'you think we'll ever go on big adventures like Spike and Twilight and all their friends?"

Her gentle rocking steps soothed him, and her answer when it finally came, well, he wasn't quite sure if he heard it or dreamed it. "You never know about adventure," her quiet voice said, softness cushioning up under his back and warmth spreading over his chest. "But I know if our friends are with us, anything's possible."

"Yeah." Vern sighed, nestled against his pillow, and let himself relax.