//------------------------------//
// Epilogue: no more masters 
// Story: Final Solution 
// by Luna-tic Scientist 
//------------------------------//

The pair of ponies, one white and one a deep midnight blue, lay on a hilltop overlooking one of the settlements. Down in the valley it was a hive of activity; crude carts were being filled with baskets of food, prepared lumber and the few precious tools the villagers had managed to assemble from scrap material. The ponies worked in little groups, teams of two or three that moved with the choreographed ease of long practice, each member knowing exactly what the others were going to do. Very few spared a glance for the pair on the hill.

Darting around the frantic preparations were the long-legged shapes of the foals. Out of the fifty or so that were visible in this group, all were the same, and all were bare of both horn and wings. In all other respects they seemed like perfectly normal foals: getting in the way and making far more noise than should have been possible for beings of their size. 

Faint sounds of their chatter reached the top of the hill, all the things foals normally shout about. Perhaps their wings and horns will come back, when enough generations have passed. Fusion shivered, holding her wings tight against her flanks. I should be thankful the foals can do as much as they can. What would have happened if they weren't smart enough to talk? "Do you think they'll ever forgive us?" she asked Gravity .

The other mare shook her head, flicking her mane out of her eyes. "Eventually, when their foals have grown. It will take a long time for all the effects of the Blessing to wear off."

Fusion nodded sadly. When you have lived with total obedience, with beings you were taught were the direct descendants of the Maker of all things... "I just wish that they weren't teaching their foals to hate us."

"While you are at it, why not wish for foals of our own?" Gravity stretched out one wing and yawned. "Sorry, shouldn't have brought that up. Anyway, not all of them are doing that. I know of one group that isn't. Perhaps it will spread, in time."

"Perhaps. In any case, we can't force them to change their minds." Gravity snorted at this, earning a sharp glance from Fusion. "We've talked about this."

Gravity grumbled quietly to herself, then sighed."No, I suppose not." After that first time, they had discussed it at length, long heated arguments about the merits of trying undo the damage caused by the Blessing. "We can wait them out."

Fusion nodded. "No matter what they think of us, we are still needed -- until they grow strong enough, at least. We will let them make their own mistakes, only interfering when things get desperate. I won't replace the Masters with us."

"No," Gravity said, shivering slightly. "How long do you think we should wait?"

"Several gigaseconds, at least."

"Over sixty years then." No technology meant no accurate clocks, so everypony had gone back to the old style of counting: days and years. "They might have forgotten us. When they see us again it will be like we're completely new ponies."

Wishful thinking, but who knows? "A completely new start." Fusion eyed her sister speculatively, a slight smile tugging at her lips. "It could be like we'd never met. What do you say to new names to go with the new us?"

Gravity smiled back. "Hello, my name is Luna." She deliberately glanced up at the sun, then back at Fusion, her smile widening into a smirk. "Who are you?"

Fusion rolled her eyes. I should have known there'd be no escape from that nickname, she thought. "Celestia, you can call me Celestia."

"Delighted to meet you, Celestia. How about you and I go for a little flight, scout out the route the convoy will take?"

Celestia wrapped her wings around Luna, drawing the mare into a close embrace. "That's an excellent idea, Luna," she said, burying her muzzle in her sister's not-quite-hair mane. "I think we're going to get along very well."

Still smiling, the sisters parted, spread their wings and jumped into the sky. Below, the line of carts had started to move, while all around them played their foals, dancing happily in the bright sunlight.

Happy and, for the first time in a very long time, free.


THE END


 




Luna and Celestia will return in 'A Method to His Madness.'