//------------------------------//
// Epilogue: Prelude to New Adventures 
// Story: The Phantom Filly 
// by Lucar 
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One year later.

Tick tock, tick tock

DRIIIIIIIING!

An orange hoof slammed on the alarm clock to stop it, thus beginning Phantom Scootaloo Zero's day as she awakened. After getting rid of some dust in her eyes, she jumped out of her bed and started her morning ritual before school. Not much. Thanks to her power, she didn't need to do things like brushing her teeth or taking a shower. A bit of self-reality warping thanks to her Phantom Ruby, and she was all clean. This way, she could also avoid having to eat breakfast, but in her mind, nothing beat a good bowl of cereals with a glass of fresh fruit juice in the morning, so she refused to stop having them. In the end, most of her morning before school was passed, either discussing with her aunts or doing some exercises. Again, she didn't need to do exercises, but she didn't want to stop doing them.

And yes, she still went to school. Despite her adult mind, she still needed to go there, as much as it annoyed her. Infinite, or rather Zero, never went to school in his life, and he certainly knew nothing about Equus' History and geography. Besides, going to school meant spending time with her friends.

Breakfast over, she took her saddlebag, shouted to Aunt Hollyday that she was going, and exited her house.

Ponyville had changed a lot. When the town was rebuilt, it was with the new castle in mind. While the castle wasn't in the center of the town, like the castle of the Crystal Empire, the town was built so it was pretty much its heart. All the main streets now started from the place around the castle, and the city hall was just beside it. Most of the businesses were closer to the center of the town, but many decided to open near the castle.

Some of Ponyville's most symbolic buildings were rebuilt like they were, like Sugarcube Corner, the spa, or the Carousel Boutique, and the city hall, and generally, the town kept its original architectural charm, but now, the town had actual roads like in bigger cities like Canterlot and Manehattan for the circulation of the vehicles, much more numerous.

This was the major change: the technology. Carriages had now mostly given their place to cars, motorized vehicles. While most still possessed wheels, the most advanced could fly, or at least hover over the ground. Even the trains were different, now able to traverse Equestria and reach neighboring countries in just a few hours. Ponyville also now had access to electricity, the nearby dam having been upgraded to be a hydroelectric generator. As a result, automatic street lights were now present among other things. Some factories could already be seen in the outskirts of town, and most important of all, robots were now present a little everywhere, helping the ponies in everyday tasks.

And with the help of magic, all of this was eco-friendly, contrary to Eggman's technology. They made sure to not become technological obsessed monsters like him. Each time there was something polluting, they immediately searched for a solution, technological or magical, to make it non-polluting. Or at least to limit the pollution, and then they would try to find something to counterbalance that pollution.

It wasn't just Ponyville. All of Equestria, and the entire world, was changing, entering a new era of technology which led to a massive economical boon greatly helped by the friendlier relationships formed in the war against Eggman.

In all this, a portal to both Sonic's worlds was secretly built with the help of both magic and technology and a lot of studying Starswirl's portal. The Tails, little technological genius that they were, also helped a lot. This way, the otherworldly friends could continue to see each other without needing to call Phantom or Discord each time. Among other news, Twilight now had a protégée named Starlight Glimmer, Cadance was now pregnant, and some changelings physically changed when they discovered that they could give love, forming a new people.

As for the Phantom Rubies, they decided that they would stop producing them. In wrong hooves, they could be too dangerous. They destroyed any rubies that had survived Discord, along with all written knowledge of how to produce them.

And all this time, Phantom Scootaloo Zero just lived her new old life. Since she was told that she was Scootaloo despite also being Zero, then she decided to continue to live as Scootaloo. Following the victory party, she talked to her family, parents and aunts, who accepted the new her. So she continued to live in Ponyville with her aunts, going to school, and helping her friends finding their Cutie Mark.

Speaking of which, Scootaloo joined her friends in front of the school, which was built in the same place as before, but bigger, because they didn't doubt that in the following years, the number of students will grow a lot.

Despite the world changing around, the ponies didn't change, and this included Scootaloo's fellow Crusaders. The two fundamental changes about them were that they had grown a little, and they now had a Cutie Mark: an apple made of wood for Apple Bloom and a music note for Sweetie Belle. After that she merged with Zero, Scootaloo gained enough maturity to understand how stupid they had been with their Cutie Marks. Apple Bloom and Sweetie Belle's Cutie Marks had been so obvious that she had to stop herself from slamming her head in a wall. Apple Bloom was good in carpentry, and Sweetie Belle was good at singing. How did they not see that before? Answer: because they were children. Of course, Scootaloo had her Phantom Ruby Cutie Mark. She wondered what would have been her Cutie Mark if she hadn't found the Phantom Ruby. Maybe something to do with her scooter, or with speed. Or maybe the CMC's destiny would have been different, and they would have gotten different Cutie Marks.

After school, they went to Sugarcube Corner to have a little snack, followed by Berry Pinch.

"Here you go," said Pinkie as she dropped three milkshakes.

"Thank you, Pinkie," they all said.

Pinkie then nuzzled Berry Pinch. "How was school my little cupcake?"

"Moooom. I told you, don't call me that in front of others," said Berry Pinch with a blush.

"Ah, yes, you prefer when I call you my little pinchy."

Berry Pinch pouted and booped Pinkie on the nose. "Stop that!" But finally, she laughed and continued. "School was alright, like always. Today, we learned about..."

As Berry Pinch began recounting what they learned today in school, Scootaloo couldn't stop herself from giving a warm smile. Poor Berry Pinch lost her mother in the attack of Ponyville and became an orphan. The filly was inconsolable. But then, after the war, Pinkie Pie adopted her and did everything she could to give Berry Pinch back her smile. Now, those two really were mother and daughter. Pinkie knew she will never replace Berry Punch, but she worked hard to be the family Berry Pinch needed. A good example was that Pinkie was now living in her own home beside Sugarcube Corner so the filly could have her own chamber.

Tragically, Berry Pinch was far from being the only foal who became an orphan in this war, and a couple of orphanages had to be built here and there. The good news was that none of the orphans from Ponyville had to leave town to go live in an orphanage. They were all quickly adopted. Despite all their defaults, the ponies of Ponyville really had the biggest heart of Equestria.

And among the bearers of the Elements of Harmony, Pinkie Pie wasn't the only one who adopted one. Fluttershy just couldn't bear to leave a foal alone without doing anything and decided to adopt one: Lily Longsocks. The filly loved animals almost as much as Fluttershy, and her unnatural strength helped her greatly with the bigger ones like Harry the bear. Even Angel didn't dare messing with her. Rarity also adopted one, none other than Silver Spoon. This made things really awkward between her and Sweetie Belle, but eventually, the two warmed up despite the bullying, and Silver Spoon stopped following Diamond Tiara and became friends with them. This made the situation with Diamond Tiara worse, but things got better since they helped her against her mother, Spoiled Rich.

When they finished their milkshakes, the Crusaders left Berry Pinch with her adopted mother and exited the bakery to go to their 'new' clubhouse. Thanks to Scootaloo's power, she was able to create a new one exactly identical to the previous one that had been destroyed with the rest. On the way, Scootaloo waved to Rainbow Dash as the mare passed above them, pushing clouds. They then passed Applejack's stand of apples and said a quick hello to her and Fluttershy as the pegasus was buying some apples. Lily Longsocks was also there with Discord, a little to the side arm wrestling. Despite making himself even more buffed than Bulk Biceps, Discord was losing, so he was doing funny faces to make Lily lose her focus. But even if this made her laugh, he was still losing. This filly could be the daughter of Supermare. The Crusaders also crossed paths with Twilight and her protégée Starlight Glimmer, the princess probably giving her another tour of Ponyville to help her make friends.

Yes, things changed a lot, but this remained the peaceful Ponyville.

And of course, since it was Ponyville, something was bound to happen to interrupt this peace.

And that something was an airship suddenly coming from the sky. This wasn't an airship like the ponies were now used to, this one looked like an actual seafaring blue-white ship, with oars, a keel, and a mast, but it also possessed engines at its aft flanked by two wings. There was also a star emblem on its bow, and its sail had the drawing of what looked like a vortex.

Curious, everypony followed the ship as they saw that it was going to land beside Twilight's castle. Scootaloo teleported herself and her friends. When the ship landed and an entrance appeared on its side with a ramp, she made sure to be at the front of the forming crowd, ready to intervene if it revealed to be a threat.

But then, out of the entrance, walking down the ramp, came Sweetie Belle.

Scootaloo could only say one thing at this.

"What?"



Discord put a phone on his hear. "Hello Discord, it's to confirm that she arrived."

«That's splendid news! Let the chaos begin!» answered Discord.

"Ohohohohoh! I can't wait for them to meet the third one."

«Oooh the sweet, sweet chaos those three will create.»

To be continued