//------------------------------//
// Epilogue 
// Story: If Starlight Didn't Have Plot Armor 
// by MooseWhisker 
//------------------------------//

It had been a grueling five years. Starlight found out pretty quickly that working 72 hours a week was too much for her to handle, so Twilight was kind enough to allow her to complete her punishment at a slower pace. She had just finished her last hour of community service the previous day, and was now once again in the castle of friendship, waiting for Twilight to arrive to assess Starlight's progress.

The verdict was a foregone conclusion in Starlight's eyes. She hadn't been able to hold a grudge against Twilight for even the first year of her service. Taking the couple of times Starlight had used her magical prowess to assist Twilight and her friends in saving the world, Starlight figured that after this meeting she would be free once more.

She certainly felt like she wasn't evil anymore. Nowadays, she wondered how she ever convinced herself that starting a cult or using time magic in a plot for petty revenge was anything other than a dumb idea.

She even had friends now, true friends. She wondered how she had been able to survive all those years without anyone to share a meal, a joke, or her feelings with.

Above all else, she felt normal.

"Hello Starlight, welcome back." Twilight said as she entered the room.

"Hello Princess Twilight, how are you doing today?" Starlight asked.

Twilight gave a small sigh at the use of her title, but she was more than used to ponies ignoring her requests that they leave her title out of their conversations. "I'm doing fine, thank you for asking. You'll have to forgive me for skipping the usual pleasantries, I'm rather busy today and don't have a lot of time for the meeting, so let's just get started."





"Okay, I think that's all I need to hear. You're free to go."

While this was the outcome that Starlight was expecting, she was still a bit relieved that Twilight came to the conclusion that she was no longer a threat to society. "Thank you so much, princess!"

"Have you given any thought to what you're going to do now that you're a free mare?"

"Yeah, I'm going to join the royal guard."

Twilight was a bit taken aback at this. "The military? That doesn't really seem your style."

"Yeah well, when you have the same three guards watching your every move, you tend to get to know them rather well. From the conversations we've had, I've come to realize that I want to keep helping ponies, and the royal guard seems like the best way for me to do that."

"Well I can certainly say that you won't be a bad guard, I wish you luck."

"Thank you princess."

Starlight walked out of the castle, ready to begin the rest of her life.