Author’s note: Okay, so I know I said I was done, but this has been on my mind ever since I published the epilogue. This part’s as canonical as you want it to be. If you liked the other ending from the main epilogue, ignore this. If you like this, don’t. Either way, I’m marking it as Director’s Cut for that reason.
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Epilogue: New Equestria Extend
“Looks like I’m almost to the end of the path now. I think that’s the core up ahead.
Buff, Al, Lo, Undertow. Look after each other. Undertow, look after Mom.
The rest of you, thanks. I didn’t always show it, but the time I spent with you all was the best of my life.
Friends, family, even you twins: I’m grateful that you let me love you…
...and thank you for loving me.
Goodbye.
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[Seven years after the battle]
“And it was so cool! He could turn into loads of different ponies!” The bright pink filly bounced on her stool in the Sprinkles Supplies bar room, almost spilling the straw from her Sparkle Cola as she recounted her tale.
Muffled chuckles emanated from within her audience’s ragged gear. “He sounds pretty incredible.” The pony’s voice was garbled by the thick coverings they wore, and the viewscreen goggles obscured what parts of their face that the swaddles didn’t cover.
Fizzlestick sank back into her stool with a sigh. “He totally is. I wanted to stay and talk to him some more, but my stupid sister all but threw me out so she could have him all to herself.”
The stranger cocked their head to the side. “Your sister?”
Sucking hard on the straw, Fizzlestick could only nod, causing her spiky neon-green mane to twitch. When she finished her gulp, she continued in a sulkish tone. “Undertow, that’s my sister by the way, totally likes him. Bosco and her’ve been friends for years, but it’s sooo obvious. Not that she’d admit it, though.”
“You don’t say?” The mystery pony tapped a hoof on the bar. “This Bosco seems like a good guy, though.”
Fizzlestick instantly brightened. “Oh yeah, totally. He was really friendly, and nice, and has all these great stories. He’s so funny! He’s been all over Equestria, according to my sister and her friends, and met a bunch of crazy people. He showed me a few when he was doing his body changing.” The girl blinked her neon-green eyes for a moment. “Though, there was one time where I think he wasn’t paying attention. He turned into this unicorn mare I didn’t know. I don’t think he did it on purpose, though, because Undertow went really quiet when he did, and he changed back to normal a second later.”
The stranger shrugged. “Everybody makes mistakes. It happens.”
Fizzlestick shrugged too. “Yeah, I guess. It was kinda weird though, ‘cause the mare had the same eyes as my sister.”
“That happens too, sometimes. There are only so many colours in the world, after all.”
Fizzlestick leaned in. “You know what I think? I think it might’ve been my sister’s big sister.”
“‘Your sister’s big sister’? Strange way to put it.”
Fizzlestick waggled her eyebrows conspiratorially. “Undertow talks about her a lot, and keeps promising to show me a picture of—” She cut off abruptly, slapping her hooves over her mouth. “Nevermind! Forget I said anything!” Quickly grabbing her drink, she sucked on the straw like there was no tomorrow.
Her audience chuckled again. “I won’t tell, I promise.”
Breathing a sigh of relief, the pink filly grinned in thanks. “I owe you one. So, why’re you here today?”
A hoof moved under the pony’s heavy cloak, pointing back out of the bar. “I have an appointment with Fedexi Lexi. I’m just waiting for her to finish up with the ponies already in there.”
Both jumped as a shotgun blast shattered the peaceful atmosphere. Fizzlestick squeaked, and half-dove over the bar, while the stranger bolted between the filly and the door.
Out in the corridor, a wheat-coloured Earth stallion with a red tag cutie mark and a portly off-white unicorn with a red awning for a cutie mark scampered backwards across the doorway.
Eyes wide, Chad Valley stammered as he backed up. “The hell’s wrong with you? I just said Red Ice was a—”
“YOU DON’T SAY THAT NAME! NOT IN THIS PLACE!” Another crack as the shotgun fired again. Fisher Price, now at a dead run, slammed into Chad Valley, and the two went down in a heap.
Stomping into view, purple eyes hard and orange frizz extra dishevelled, Fedexi Lexi pointed the levitating shotgun at the quivering stallions. “Get the hell off mah property this second, the both o’ yeh!”
Fizzlestick and the stranger reached the bar’s doorway just as the two stallions, crawling on their bellies as fast as their hooves could take them, slammed into two thick, cienna legs.
Reaching down, Al hauled both stallions upright effortlessly. “Sorry about that. My boss lost her daughter because of Red Ice. She doesn’t like hearing about her. You two would be best served to keep your mouths shut.” The big buffalo lowered his face until it was inches from theirs. His eyes were not friendly. “Got it?”
Unblinking, both nodded. Satisfied, Al near-dragged both around and away from the shotgun-toting Lexi, and towards the exit.
When they were gone, Fizzlestick found her voice. “Um… Lexi?”
Face still frozen in a snarl, Lexi whipped around. When she noticed who was speaking, her expression softened. “What is it, Fizz?”
Meekly, the younger unicorn pointed at her bar companion. “Y-you got another appointment.”
“Awright.” Face defaulting to stony neutrality, the Sprinkles Supplies boss indicated for the appointee to follow her. “This way. We’ll talk in mah office.”
After the earlier confrontation, plus two carriages breaking down within minutes of each other, not to mention talk of new tariffs on the busiest routes, it’d been a trying morning for the Sprinkles Supplies boss. Lexi didn’t bother making nice. She was in no mood for it, not today.
The stranger followed silently. Neither pony said a word until the door to Lexi’s office clicked shut behind them.
Lowering the floating shotgun onto the desk, barrel pointed away from her guest, Lexi pointed to a seat in front of the hardwood table. “Siddown.” Without waiting for confirmation, she moved around the desk, sinking into her own high-backed and considerably more comfortable chair.
When the appointee was settled, still without speaking up, Lexi rubbed her face with a hoof, dragging the skin downwards with a groan. “Ah need a drink before we start. Y’want one?”
The stranger nodded.
Floating out two glasses with her magic, Lexi pulled a bottle of high-end whiskey from her under-desk fridge with her hooves.
While Lexi was busy with the glasses, her appointee began to speak, words still muffled by their clothing. “I’m here about a room you’ve got on offer.”
Lexi blinked, stopping mid-pour. “A room? Y’mean in the barracks? Y’wantin’ a job t’get a place over yer head or sumthin’?”
Glinting in the warm rays of the summer sun, streaming in from the window behind Lexi’s chair, the stranger’s whiskey sat untouched for a moment.
“Not exactly.” Seeming to appraise the offering, the covered pony looked up from the glass to the mare already sipping on her share. “Not on the rocks? It’s hot out.”
Lexi shuddered, almost sputtering. “Fresh outta ice, sorry.”
It was a lie. Her cube trays were full in her fridge’s chiller compartment. They had been for seven years. Even on the hottest days, like this one was shaping up to be, she still couldn’t bring herself to face even that amount of ice. Not since Stable 61.
Grunting to cover the tears welling in her eyes, Lexi reached for the glass. “If yer drink’s too warm, Ah’ll toss it.”
The stranger waved her hoof off. “It’s fine. I got it.”
Reaching past their own glass, the mystery pony waved a hoof over Lexi’s drink.
Plop. Plop.
Fedexi Lexi’s day just went from bad to unbearable.
The harsh sun beating down on her back warred with the chill up her spine as she jerked her hoof away from her glass. Floating in her whiskey, rocketing up her heartrate far more than the two idiots she’d just chased out at shotgun-point ever could, were two perfect frozen cubes. “G-get those away from me right now, or so help me—”
Lexi’s pupils, shrunk to pinpricks, fixed on the stranger, who was in the process of loosening the rags covering their mouth. “Didn’t yeh hear me? AH SAID—”
The rags fell aside. “Hi, mom.”
And, just like that, Lexi’s day didn’t seem so bad anymore.
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