//------------------------------// // Epilogue // Story: Sands of Time // by Amaranthine Thought //------------------------------// “You have the strength to rule tempered by kindness, the will to rival steel with wisdom to guide it, a graceful touch over everything; I might not imagine a more perfect princess. Your voice is enchanting, your singing unrivaled, your smile enough to snatch my breath away. Your beauty shines from within, and even the most perfect of gem and dress cannot make you greater than you are simply by being yourself.” A small giggle, and a blush. “You’ve the strength to crush stone, yet the delicacy to hold an egg in your paws. Your fur so silken, your feathers so perfect, like an image of greatness, be that standing, sitting, or in flight alike. Your voice so deep, your tongue weaving words like a master tailor might cloth, your roar like the trumpet of the heavens themselves, shaking the land and making me shiver.” I smile, sensing victory ahead. “Once, an old master crept his way into the heavens, and there, stole a piece of perfection. Carrying it back, he worked upon it for years, putting forth all his effort, all he had learned, all his soul, into improving it. Yet, for years more he worked, until, one day, exhausted, unable to work any longer, he looked upon his creation and a tear came to his eye. Seeing it, he said but a single phrase:” “I always wanted to meet you, Princess Platinum.” Princess stares before she blushes hard and giggles, unable to continue. Feeling my own face warm, my smile grows; I have won again. This game I’ve come up with I call Compliment. I and Princess take turns complimenting each other until one of us is unable to continue, and it is much fun to do. Mirage thinks otherwise, but I think that is because she is poor at the game. Even being near a game between Princess and myself is enough to have her blushing and speechless. “How do you even think of these things?” Princess asks me once she recovers a little. “What is your secret, Kitty?” “I’ve the best inspiration.” I tell her, my smile growing a touch more. “What is it?” Princess asks me. “I must know.” “You.” I tell her, and it take a moment for her to realize, which is when she blushes even harder than before, somehow, actually frozen in place. I laugh, feeling myself blushing harder, feeling very, very happy. Princess looks away for a moment, and I spot her nod, as if deciding something. Then she looks at Mirage, who sits nearby, pretending to not listen. Her own blush and stiffness gives her away, however. “Mirage.” Princess calls, making Mirage startle greatly and jump up. “I’m afraid I forgot something back at Canterlot. Could you be a dear and go fetch it for me?” “…Won’t that take me near an hour?” she asked, confused, trying to shake off the blush and relax, flapping her wings. “Can’t you just teleport?” “I can, but that would make me unable to return.” Princess tells her. “Teleporting is no simple undertaking, you understand.” Mirage nods, understanding. “What am I getting then?” “Just go and tell Clover that I want her to get me that special thing I asked her for.” Princess tells her. “She’ll know what I mean.” Mirage nods, and takes to the air, soon out of the den and of toward Canterlot. Princess watches her go before she turns to me with a bright smile. “Another round?” I ask her, smiling back. “I had something else in mind, Kitty.” she tells me. “I have a surprise for you.” “That you sent Mirage for?” I ask, wondering, but Princess shakes her head. “One much better than that.” she tells me, her horn lighting, and an odd sensation assess over me. And suddenly, Princess seems to start growing before my very eyes… or… no. She is not growing. I’m shrinking. After a few moments, I stand only a head taller than Princess. “It worked!” she says happily, heading over to me. “What is this?” I ask, finding it strange to see Princess so large. It’s… weird to be pony sized. Everything looks wrong, but Princess… somehow looks even more beautiful than she had before. “I had Clover come up with a spell to shrink you down.” she tells me, looking me over. Then she smiles again, blushing, and I feel myself blush, a little speechless at the sight. “It won’t last too long, but it will last long enough.” “Lo, long enough?” I ask. “But, but why would you want me smaller?” I ask her. “It isn’t you, smaller, Kitty.” Princess purrs, her eyes shutting slightly, her head tipping, in a tone I’ve not heard from her before. She walks to me, shifting in strange and capturing ways, before she leans against me, brushing past, pressing my wing against my side, to flick my face with her tail and move beyond me. “It’s you, the perfect size.” I feel very stiff as I turn to see her, and find her… … “Don’t keep a lady waiting, darling.” …I don’t. That was… I mean… It… I… we…. … I’m technically a little less than two years old now. I’ve decided to try and equalize my time spent now and then, so I am the same ‘age’ in both times, while I keep track of the total. I did spend a thousand years in stone, and I near doubled in size after I broke free. I always was unsure about my physical state, and even with Clover’s long examination of me, she and I both couldn’t really guess as to how I have grown, or might continue to grow. But if I ever wondered if I was mature… Well. I am. And Princess was right. That spell made me the perfect size. I remained small for a little time after that. Seeing Mirage large was just as strange as seeing Princess large, though not in the same way, and she found the sight funny and endearing. She tried to make it better by telling me that I was cute now, but then she made it worse by calling me Kitten. Princess left me with Mirage laughing, and told me that if it persisted, I should contact Clover, with her own laugh as she went. Thankfully, I returned to my normal size about an hour after she left. Once Mirage got over her laughing at me, she did tell me that she was confused. Apparently, Princess hadn’t forgotten anything, and oddly enough, Clover seemed to have forgotten that she hadn’t forgotten anything either, making Mirage hang around for nearly a half hour before she finally recalled that little fact. I’m pretty sure that there was never anything to get in the first place. Or rather, what Princess wanted Mirage to get her was time. I did learn something new about myself. I have a special purr. One I only make when… certain things are happening. It’s pretty deep, vibrates my chest, and I cannot consciously control it. Princess loved hearing it. She said it… never mind. …Mirage keeps giving me funny looks for some reason. Possibly because I’m blushing again. I can’t say I ever expected this to happen. It sort of reminds me of when Princess said she was ‘curious’ about how I would… Well. I guess she figured it out. Enough of that. Things have been great. In the future, I’ve been making friends with the bearers, and they are surprisingly normal ponies; far from the image of heroes I first imagined in them. In many ways, I see echoes of the past in them, but none of them are exactly the same, or even mostly the same. Applejack is hardworking and a little stubborn. I greatly enjoy helping her around the farm, as she pays me in apples, which Mirage always enjoys. Big Mac, her brother, likes me, though their Granny doesn’t like me. She says I shed too much. Rainbow has a job, and though I tried, I cannot move clouds like a pegasus. I can, however, ‘break’ them, though I am still unsure what that means even with Rainbow’s trying to explain what it meant. She does appreciate racing me, however, and has started developing a habit of napping atop me whenever she happens to be nearby and feeling tired. Fluttershy has little I can help her with, but she, like Private, simply enjoys being able to pamper me. Her animals are rather strange though; they don’t act right. Especially that rabbit. Pinkie is as eccentric as Chancellor, but her brand is more chaotic. Anytime I want to spice my life, I go find Pinkie, and she’ll always be up to something. I greatly enjoy her pies too. Rarity is possibly the most difficult, as she creates dresses and I have no ability to aid her with that in any real capacity. She herself is lost as to what I can help her with, and the both of us have so far failed to find any way we can truly spend time together. And then Twilight. she, more so than any of the others, loves being near me, and I her. She tells me endless stories and I tell her about the past, and often, we can spend an entire day, just doing that. I have begun teaching her my own language, but it seems that she, even with the aid of magic, cannot speak it. Here in the past, I got to battle a dragon. It was an experience, as its scales were harder than my claws, and even able to resist my bite. I was only able to dent a few scales before my roar wore off, and it took Commander and five of his best to aid me so it didn’t hurt me or them. It eventually flew off on its own, and we let it go. Apparently, that’s how one is supposed to deal with dragons. Annoy them until they leave. I should mention the one I fought was a drake; barely more than a child in dragon terms. And it still breathed fire and needed six trained pegasi and me to convince it that making a den there wasn't going to be worth it. I can’t imagine just how powerful a truly aged dragon could possibly become. The den in the past is also home to my growing hoard. Commander insists on paying me for my services, Princess started giving me stuff to put around the place, and Chancellor started to give me gifts too once she saw that the others were. The den is looking really nice, and I’ve begun to pile the bits in one of the caverns. Just a little pile right now, but I have hopes it will grow. I still write on the walls, though between here and now, the story tends to jump a bit. I’m not always done when I move from one time to the next. I’m not about to write this event on the wall. Even if I wasn't teaching Twilight and Mirage how to read my language, I still wouldn’t. That isn’t something one writes down. But it will be something I shall never forget. And something I hope happens again.