//------------------------------// // Credits // Story: The Final Choices // by GMBlackjack //------------------------------// Credits THE FINAL CHOICES THE END By G. M. Blackjack Commissioned by Nightsclaw Starring Twilight Sparkle as The Queen! Rarity as The Unexpected Chancellor Starlight Glimmer as The Tragic Loss Rainbow Dash as Big Sister is Watching Fluttershy as Portable Potion Pony Pinkie Pie as Bouncing Awareness Applejack as Serious Punch Celestia as The SUN Sunset Shimmer as The Gadget Monkey Spike as Romantically Confused Assistant Discord as “Welcome to Discordia, How May I Take Your Order?” Sweetie Belle as The Headmare Apple Bloom and Scootaloo as Those Other Crusaders Spitfire as The General Marble as Hidden Awesomeness Big Mac and Zephyr as the Rescued That Didn’t Do Much Smolder as The Dragoness Ocellus as “Wait, was I Supposed to be Spying?” Red Fox as Motherly Instinct Chestnut Beaver as Slightly Too Reasonable Yellow Eagle as MAGIC! MAGIC! AAAH! Frostfire as The Heart of Gold and Arrogance Ichor as Instant Princess That Gourd as That Gourd Silicate as That Guy Who Sucks Ebony as Blind Puzzler Ridge as Good Riddance Verberate as Can You Hear Me Now? Ashen as BURN THE HERETICS Nirix as Boring McAgent Qw as Child Sorcerer The Arthon Mage as He Who Purged That Which Could not be Purged Scimitar as The Impervious Ruler Aegis as The Convenient Princess ??? as The Biology Teacher My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic belongs to Hasbro. Any other franchises referenced belong to their respective owners. Special thanks to the commenters, as always, including FanOfMosteverything, Venerable Ro, Silvadel, and Lexiebommel10 Commissions are a little hard to think about. I’ve had both good and bad experiences, and the experiences of writing something someone else wants is very different than writing something for yourself. Some stories that I enjoyed writing may still have felt like a drag. For the most part, The Final Choices did not feel like I drag. I thought, at first, that it might have been too tragic… but you know what? I think it works like this. Let’s reverse the standard tragedy formula. Begin with the worst of the worst and end… with the best.  -GM, master of Choice ~~~ Many years later… “Mana fount cohesion is optimal!” Queen Aegis shouted. “Everything’s lining up!”  “Lock the final sequence!” Queen Twilight ordered.  Sunset obliged, taking hold of the crystal lever with her hand and pulling down.  The entirety of the Roots pulsed with bright blue energy, lighting up a spider’s web of crystal structures in the night sky of the other half of the sphere. The Roots had spread far and wide to connect as many mana founts together as possible. It had taken many years and a lot of hard work, but they finally had enough. An entire continent of mana founts… channeled into this single point.  The energy coalesced into a shimmering ball of white power, equidistant between Aegis and Twilight. Twilight lit her horn and Aegis pointed her black wand at the object. They both shunted their magic into it, using the differential between their spells to rip reality apart.  A hole tore through the air, revealing a circular window to a classroom. Inside, there was a fully-grown human Fluttershy lecturing high school students on biology. “Now, can anyone tell me what this stage of cell division is called?” “FLUTTERSHY!” Sunset shouted, running through the portal.  “Ye- SUNSET!?” Fluttershy dropped her chalk instantly and pulled Sunset into a desperate hug. “T-Twilight said everything was gone…” “It was. But… but I made it out.” She put her hands on Fluttershy’s shoulders, tears falling down her face. “And now I’ve made it back.”  “I’ll go tell the girls!” “I’m coming with you!” Sunset turned to the portal. “Open it again in an hour, use the radio spell.” Twilight and Aegis nodded.  “And Aegis…? Thank you.” Aegis smiled sadly. “You’re welcome, Sunset Shimmer.” She pointed her wand at the portal and it closed with a pop, leaving Sunset to reunite with her long lost friends…