//------------------------------//
// Epilogue 
// Story: Hard Landing 
// by Flash_Game 
//------------------------------//

Epilogue

I open my eyes to see Noctis smirking at me, "Morning, sunshine"

She chuckles, "You start snoring when you're about to wake up, you know that?"

I gently kiss her forehead, "I didn't wake you did I?"

She pulls me closer, "I don't mind"

The feeling of her fur against my skin is a little weird, but I don't mind. It's like hugging a giant plushie, I hug her even tighter, "You are so warm..."

*Knock Knock*

"Prince Luis and Noctis Umbra, you are expected at the breakfast table!" the guard yells from the other side of the door

"Ugghhh... five more minutes..." I groan out, my cheek gets poked

"Come on, the early bird gets the worm"

"But the second mouse gets the cheese," I turn around and put the pillow over my head

"Don't make me tickle you"

I one swift motion I jump out of bed and have my clothes on, "I. Am. Good. Thank you," I turn around and Noctis is buttoning her shirt, "We really need to get you some other style. Don't get me wrong, the suit fits you perfectly, but I can only take so many days with you looking like a secret agent"

"What else would I wear? The suit is really comfy"

"I don't know, jeans? Shorts? T-shirts?"

"I'll think about it," she finishes with her vest, closes a suitcase, and stands up, "Come on, let's go have breakfast," she then grabs my hand and basically drags me out the door, but not before I spot a bag and a letter, which I take

"You're going to make me fall!" I almost bump into a pedestal as we round a corner

"I wouldn't mind you falling for me again"

I can only stare into nothingness, Oh... My... God... "I wouldn't mind either, but I would prefer to get to breakfast with blood-free clothes, thank you very much"

She slows down to a more normal pace, then grabs my arm and leans on me, "I don't mind"

As much as I want to rest my head on hers, my neck would have to bend too much for that... too bad, we get to the dinning hall and I open the doors, letting Noctis through. I then head insid- It's full of kids...

"Luis, we have saved you and Noctis a seat," She waves at me and pats the chairs next to her

I sit down and immediately turn my attention to Luna. "Uhhhm, what's with all the kids? Or foals?"

"This are the foals of the orphanage that burned down a couple weeks ago"

"Oh..." my cape gets tugged, I turn around and see the red pegasus from that day

"Mister prince Luis sir?"

"Oh, Nimble! How are you feeling?" his eye light up with happiness

"You know my name?!!"

I ruffle his mane, "Well, of course I do! Wanna sit with me?" he nods rather rapidly, so I grab him and sit him on my lap, "There we go. Now I have a simple question for you, Nimble. Is 'Nimble' your full name?"

He shakes his head, "No, my name is Nimble Gust, Prince"

"Well, mr. Gust, how about you call me Luis?"

"Wow... Can I?!"

I smile at him, "Of course you can!"

"Awesome! Then you can call me Nimble!"

"Hehe, sounds fair to me, Nimble" the pip-boy chimes and 'Child at Heart perk Unlocked' appears on my HUD, Nice!

The door opens, and in comes everyone's least favourite douchbag, "Blueblood, you should join us," Celestia says magically pulling a chair to the table

He grabs a plate and starts to serve himself, "I will not sit next to that... monkey!"

I mockingly look around, "Monkey? But I don't see any mirrors," Noctis chokes a little in a slight chuckle

"You are such a prick," Blueblood tries to argue

"At least I'm not the whole cactus," out of the corner of my eye I see Celestia almost spitting her tea, "Now don't be a bad sport, sit with us. Maybe get to know me before hating me? Just a thought"

"I- But- You- ... Fine!" he sits down, "This doesn't mean I like you"

"Would never expect you to. Now, I'm Luis, nice to finally introduce myself," I extend my hand for a shake, but he doesn't even acknowledge it, Well then... "So, what's your story?"

"Nephew to the Princess"

"Princesses"

"Nightmare Moon will never be my aunt"

The room goes silent except for Blueblood eating, even the kids are in shock. I notice Luna shrinking on her seat, "Okay, that was way too far prince douch. Take that back!" I say as I hold back Nimble from jumping over the table

"Or what?"

"Or you will be stripped of your tittle and thrown in the dungeons for treason of the highest order," if a white pony could go pale, Blueblood just did, "Do I make myself clear?"

Nimble sits back down and crosses his arms, giving Blueblood the stink eye, "Meanie," he whispers

"I-I-I-I understand, a-a-aunt Ce-Celestia"

"From now on you shall refer to me as 'Your Highness' until further notice, is that clear?"

"Y-y-yes, your highness"

"I had invited you in good faith, but clearly that was a mistake. Leave"

"Of course, your highness," he stands up, bows and leaves the table, his expression still that of shock and disbelief. He stops at the door and looks back in what seems to be regret

The pip-boy chimes again with 'Voice of the Emperor Power Unlocked' on my HUD, Interesting... "I kind of feel bad for him..."

"It was a long time coming...," Celestia looks down at her plate in... melancholy? "I spoiled him too much"

"Anyways... let's talk about something else"

"Ooh! Ooh!" Nimble jumps off my lap and proceeds to hover in front of me, "I learned to fly!!"

The sight of him in the air makes me oddly happy, "Oh, wow! I'm so proud of you! Look at you go!" I'm... Proud?? But- Wha...

Noctis does a little happy clap, "That's awesome! If you keep it up, you might be come a Wonderbolt!"

Nimble lands next to Noctis, "You think so?!"

"I know so!" Noctis tells him with a smile, Nimble runs to his friends on the other side of the table, "He's a nice colt," she turns to me with a smile, "And he's here because you almost got yourself killed," I get a playful punch on the shoulder

"You know me, not thinking things through," I smile as Nimble excitedly talks to his friends. I turn to Celestia, "Is this what wanting to be a parent feels like?" I glance Nimble, who waves at me, so I wave back

"Is it a very peculiar feeling within your chest?"

"Pretty Much"

"You might want to think about marriage before you consider having foals"

My face burns because of how much I'm blushing, and all I can manage to do is chuckle awkwardly

The door slams open with Rick running in a bit dishevelled and his shirt inside out, "I'm here!" he walks towards us, Quick following him, but properly dressed

"Oh, good, a distraction!" I say, happily getting out of the awkwardness of the situation

"What?"

"Nothing," I look at Quick's cyan mane- Wait a minute... "Hi Quick, long time no see"

"I know, how have you been?"

"Good enough to not have my shirt inside out," Rick looks down at his shirt and excuses himself, "By the way, Quick, this is the first time I don't see you wearing that robe, never even noticed you had blue hair. How's Thinker?"

"He's doing fine, loving the fact that now we have a near limitless supply of star-spider silk. You have no idea how exited he got when Faunia walked in, he squealed"

"I would have honestly thought you would've been the most excited about it"

"I never said I wasn't," Quick says with a bit of embarrassment

Rick rejoins us, "What are you talking about?"

"About how we can get you home now," I take out the crystal, "I got the silk and the crystal now too, so, yeah, you can go home"

Rick gets a somewhat guilty expression on his face, "About that..."  For fuck's sake...  he puts his arm over Quick, "I might want to stay now, sorry, but..." he kisses Quick, "Things happened"

"Oh yeah... don't worry, I know," I kiss Noctis myself, "But, you know, I got impaled to get the silk and my head almost crushed for the crystal, no big deal"

"Wait! WHAT?!" I take out the power armour helmet, with a hand clearly imprinted on it, "Holy shit... Sorry, I- I- I didn't know you had to go through so much, I-" I interrupt him

"Don't worry, I can probably use the crystal for a lightsaber, and the silk can probably help with electronics with magic or something"

"Wait, lightsaber? What's that?" Quick asks curiously

"A sword made out of plasma that can cut through basically anything"

"And you think we can use the silk to improve the electronics they have here?"

"Yeah! I mean, who knows how much bandwidth that thing can carry, right?"



After breakfast, Noctis and I went to a park on the edge of Canterlot, looking over Equestria. Ponyville looking like a Sims town in the not-so-far distance

I'm just leaning on the railing, thinking



The breeze hits my face, Could I be a parent? Would I even be a good dad? I mean, I didn't have good role models growing up... I just don't want to be like my mother or as spineless as my father... I face plant on the stonework and groan, What about marriage?? Like... It's definitely too early to think about a kid if I'm not married, right? RIGHT?? I groan again, But it's also too early to think a bout marriage... Noctis puts a hand on my back, I turn my head to face her

She has her head on her arms looking at me, "You're unusually quiet since breakfast. Are you feeling okay?"

"Yeah, just... thinking"

"About?"

"Stuff..."

She pouts, "Oh, come on... You can tell me"

"It's..." she puts a cute face, Freaking puppy dog eyes! "About you- About us! I just... I'm sure- I mean it's too early for- ... Nevermind... just me rambling," I stand straight and tap Noctis, "Let's sit," I move to the bench behind us

Noctis leans on me, "Are you thinking about what Princess Luna said?"

"I- ... Yes... I mean, I do like you, like, very much, but... I always felt lonely, so maybe my mind is just exagerating what I feel. What if... what if I do something and you leave me? I wouldn't know what to do with myself..." I put my arm around her and give her a squeeze

"I quit my job for you! You think I didn't think it through? I don't think you could do anything that could make me dislike you," she make me look at her in the eye, her smile making me smile, "Even thought we've went on one brief date... I think I would say yes..."

"Say 'yes' to what?" Like, cake? or- the question!! "Wait! But-but-but-but it-it's too early... right? I mean, I wouldn't mind popping the question, but... I mean..."

"How long do humans take to seal the deal? Weeks? Months?"

"It depends, some do after a few months, a few take almost a decade... My parents dated for almost two years before getting married, and even then, the got divorced..."

"What's 'divorced'? I don't think that's a word..."

"Getting separa- Wait what?!"

"Did you just make up a word to scare me?"

"It's most definetly a word... A divorce is getting legally separated from your spouse..."

"I don't think a pony has ever done that... You humans are weird"

Love is a type of magic here, so... "Maybe love works a lot diferent in my world"

"Maybe"

After a few minutes of comfortable silence, I remember the letter, "I just remembered something"

"What did you remember?"

I take out the letter, "This was in our room this morning"

"Our room?"

"I mean, sure, why not?" I read the letter


Hi Luis,

The council decided to give you the pay of the perpetrator of recent events, so I took the liberty of turn it into bit that you can use there. This is what an experienced Watch makes in a month, he had seven worlds under his belt and he just threw it away. Anyway, I don't have that much time to finish this letter (yes, I'm writing instead of making it exist, happy?) so all I want to say is:

Thank you, it was fun working with you

Yours Truly,
Aleksandrs


Noctis kisses my cheeck, "Aww, that's nice of them"

How much was his pay? I store the letter away and take a look at my bi- "That's a lot..."

"How much is it?" I show Noctis, "Oh... You could buy your own castle with that..."

"Probably my own country..." I get an idea, "Want to get some donuts? They're on me, I think I can afford a few," something hits me on the head, A paper airplane? I grab it, "'Open me'?" inside is a note: 

I know what my power is
Not scripting but programming
write back and throw
________________ <-- there

"A message from Rick I pressume?"

"How did you know?"

"I can't read it"

"Yeah, he knows what his powers are now," I take out the pen and write 'cool' on the line, I turn to Noctis, "Do you want to write something?"

"Write 'congratulations' for me, please"

I write 'Congrats from Noctis' and fold the plane, He said just to throw it... I look around, No Rick anywhere... I wonder... I throw the plane off the edge

"What are you doing?!" Noctis yells at me, the plane somehow corrects itself and heads for the castle, "Wait! What??"

"It does work..."

"You knew that was going to happend?"

"I had a feeling. Now, donuts, yes?"

"Sure," I stand up and offer my hand to Noctis, "Such a gentlecolt," she coos as she takes my hand

"I try"



We made our way throught town looking for Donut Joe's place. Once we got there, we ordered a dozen donuts and a gallon of hot chocolate to share at the lab with Rick, Quick and Thinker

Both Thunder and Lightning were on main entrance duty when we got back to the castle. I still don't know how Celestia can identify them when they have the armour. Anyways, we got to the lab



I open the door while saying, "WE BRING DONUTS!"

Thinker stands from his desk, "Hey, Luis, it's been a while. Noctis, you too, how are you both?"

"We are doing fantastic, thank you for asking"

I put the thing on the table in the middle, "Yeah, what she said," I look around, "I thought Rick would be here, and where is Quick?"

"They should be back soon, they went to the courtyard for a 'walk'"

I look at Thinker a bit smugly, "Are you mad he chose her and not you"

"Not mad, just disappointed..." he sighs

"Don't take it personally, he just doesn't swing that way"

"I guess..."

I pour us some cups, and give ont to Noctis and Thinker, "Well, if they take too long, they won't get anything," I raise my cup, "Cheers! For an awesome month!"

They bump cups, and Thinker speaks first, "Cheers! For new friendships!"

"Cheers! For new lives!" Noctis says smiling at me

"Bottoms up," I chug m cup, "Ahhh, that's some good hot chocolate"