//------------------------------// // Epilogue // Story: Freeport Venture: Metamorphosis // by Chengar Qordath //------------------------------// It was two months before the Shimmer-mare finally came back to Freeport. This one really didn’t like waiting that long, but she had been very busy with the White Pony. This one had been pretty busy too for that matter—between talking with Mom and Dad, catching up with Kunai, and spending time with my new friends, there was a lot to do. Also, schoolwork. While this one’s teachers did eventually accept that all its homework really had been burned by a dragon, they still expected this one to make up all the assignments it missed, or at least cover the coursework so this one would be caught up with its classmates. Pity Indigo and Sunny didn’t go to the same school as this one. Oh, and there was the therapy Mom and Dad insisted on. This one wasn’t convinced that it actually needed therapy, but having someone to talk to about everything that happened in Northmarch was nice. Not that it wasn’t talking to friends and family, but it was probably better to have a professional for some of these things. If nothing else, Doctor Cortex could be a lot more objective. Mom wanted to kill the Glimmer-mare once she heard the full story. This one didn’t exactly disagree with the sentiment, but the Shimmer-mare decided to spare her, and this one wasn’t going to second-guess her. Especially when Argentium and the White Pony agreed. Besides, since it was a suspended sentence, we could always execute her if she ever did something evil again. This one also found a nice little side project to fill its time: genealogical research. Even if the Shimmer-mare didn’t want to find out how she was descended from Torch, this one could always research that on its own. It had found out a few useful things, like that one of her ancestors actually worked with Torch to help free the slaves. There was no proof he and Evergreen Shimmer had ever been anything more than political allies, but the two of them were probably just very discreet. Then the day when the Shimmer-mare came home finally arrived. This one had never been happier to see her. It was a shame that this one missed her birthday while she was back in Equestria, but we could always throw her a big welcome home party to make up for that. Besides, the White Pony had probably gone all out to give her a special day. The first thing this one noticed when she got back was that she was walking on all four legs again. Even though this one knew she’d been working on an advanced prosthetic with the White Pony, for a moment of it dared to hope that she’d found a way to get her leg back. Then this one hugged her, and felt the new limb. The surface didn’t feel anything like a real coat or skin, and what lay beneath that was cold unyielding metal instead of flesh and bone. Still it was a leg. She seemed to be walking along and moving around just fine. If this one hadn’t felt it or known she’d lost a leg it probably wouldn’t realize the limb was a prosthetic. Maybe she walked a bit differently, but this one had never paid that much attention to her gait anyway. With all the excitement around her coming back, this one didn’t get a chance to really sit down and talk to the Shimmer-mare until it showed up for lessons the next day. She smiled as she welcomed this one into her tower. “Hey Kukri. Feels weird to be back home just doing another magic lesson, doesn’t it?” “Yeah,” this one agreed. “Almost like everything’s back to normal now. This one supposes it had to happen eventually.” “Still nice that it finally did.” The Shimmer-mare flopped down onto her usual comfy chair and waved for this one to take a seat as well. “After Northmarch, I’m ready for some downtime. Not that I didn’t get some with Celestia, but it’s different with her compared to actually being home. Not to mention we were pretty busy.” She pointedly flexed her new right foreleg. “Yeah...” It took a bit for this one to work up the courage to finally ask the big question on its mind. “So, uh, how’s that working out? The new leg?” “I’m adjusting,” the Shimmer-mare answered. “It’s fine.” This one couldn’t help raising an eyebrow at that remark. It had heard those words from itself far too many times. “Is it really fine?” The Shimmer-mare sighed and shook her head. “Not exactly, but I can deal with it. Not like there’s any alternative.” This one took a deep breath. “This one ... um, it needs to talk to you about what happened in Northmarch.” This one tried to swallow the nervous lump in its throat. “Um, if that’s okay. This one’s been told we need to ... well, just talk about everything. Something about getting closure, and how it would cause problems if we didn’t address it.” “Of course.” The Shimmer-mare shifted over and sat next to this one. “I know you went through a lot, especially for how young you are. If I’d had any idea how bad things were going to get...” “There was no way you could’ve predicted Blackfyre’s return,” this one assured her. “This one doesn’t blame you for anything that happened. It’s just ... well it did happen. And this one’s been figuring out what that means.” The Shimmer-mare flinched and gently put a hoof on this one’s shoulder. Thankfully the real one. It would probably take a long time for this one to be okay with treating the Shimmer-mare’s prosthetic like a real leg. It would probably help if we could find a way to make it feel more like the real thing. “How can I help?” she asked. This one shrugged. “If it knew how to fix this it wouldn’t need therapy.” This one leaned over and hugged her. “But this one thinks that just hearing you say you want to help makes it feel better.” “Glad to hear it. For what it’s worth, I know how you feel.” The Shimmer-mare took a deep breath and tapped her prosthetic leg. “I took this off when I went to bed last night. Have to do that every once in a while for cleaning and tune-ups, plus letting my stump get some air and take a break. I woke up this morning in my old bed, and for a moment I’d forgotten all about Northmarch. I hopped out of bed without even thinking about how many legs I had to land on.” This one grimaced as it guessed what happened next. The Shimmer-mare sighed. “Let’s just say that hitting the floor face-first because I tried to land on a leg that wasn’t there anymore was a nasty way to wake up. Made me glad we didn’t have any lessons until the afternoon, because I was a mess for most of this morning.” This one hugged her as tightly as it could. “This one wishes it had been here. It sounds like you really needed a friend.” “Maybe.” The Shimmer-mare ran a hoot through her mane. “But if you’d been here I probably wouldn’t have ... well...” “You would’ve told this one that everything was fine so it wouldn’t worry about you,” this one finished for her. “Yeah, pretty much,” she agreed. “The last thing you need right now is to have me dump all my problems on you.” This one took a deep breath. “This one learned a valuable lesson while you were away. Two, really. First, this one was going to worry no matter what, so trying to make it not worry was a lost cause. Second ... sometimes talking about a problem is the best way to start fixing it. As long as this one told itself everything was fine it couldn’t actually fix the problem. And ... well maybe talking didn’t magically fix all the problems overnight, but it helped a lot more than bottling it all up and trying to do everything by itself.” “Huh.” The Shimmer-mare smiled and stroked this one’s headcrest. “When did you get so smart?” “This one didn’t,” it told her. “But it had some really smart new friends that helped figure things out.” “Is that so?” The Shimmer-mare grinned down at this one. “So when do I get to meet these new friends of yours?” This one smiled back. “Actually, they’re really eager to meet you too. You’re kind of a celebrity now, especially now that more of the real story about how you killed Blackfyre and saved Northmarch has gotten to Freeport. This one hopes you’re ready to answer a lot of questions, because Sunny and Indigo had a lot for this one...” “An eager young teenager with seemingly boundless curiosity and a mild case of hero-worship,” Shimmer-mare deadpanned. “I’ve never had to deal with anything like that before.” This one glowered at her. “What’s that supposed to mean?” The Shimmer-mare grinned and ruffled this one’s headcrest again. “Oh, nothing. Glad you’ve got some friends to show me off to. I was starting to worry you were spending all your spare time studying with me instead of going out and making some friends.” A second after she said that, she groaned and buried her face in her hooves. This one carefully nudged her. “What is it?” She sighed. “You know all that advice you get from your mom that you think is just arbitrary nonsense she’s making up purely to annoy you? Someday you’ll see that not only did she know what she was talking about, but the advice was so good you’ll find yourself repeating it without even thinking about it.” This one frowned at her. “Even the rule about not eating cookies in bed?” The Shimmer-mare sighed. “Think about how your bed will feel with all those crumbs mixed into the sheets. Also, all the crumbs attract bugs.” This one didn’t need long to figure it out from there. “Oh. Gross.” “Yeah.” The Shimmer-mare shook her head. “Anyway, are you sure you’re gonna be okay after everything that happened in Northmarch?” “This one’s...” It took a moment to find the right words. “This one’s not fine, but it thinks it’s going to be fine.”