//------------------------------// // 10. Epilogue // Story: My Little Sister is a Dragon - Nightmare Moon Arc // by AleximusPrime //------------------------------// The next day, Midnight Hue and Aurora Shine were starting to panic about their children. They had considered contacting the Canterlot authorities to start a search party after hearing Nightmare Moon had been spotted around the Everfree Forest. Even with the news already reaching all of Equestria that Nightmare Moon was defeated and Princess Luna had returned, they were still worried that they had not heard back from Nightwatch and Buttercream. “I can’t imagine where they’d be right now,” Aurora said as she looked out the window. “Midnight, maybe it’s time we filed a report to the police or at least get a search party started.” “You’re right. I’m getting tired of waiting,” Midnight said, getting up from his chair. “Everfree is right around the capital. Maybe if we get a hold of the Canterlot authorities, they can help…oh! Honey, look outside! There they are!” “Oh, sweet Celestia! They’re alright!” They both looked out the window again and saw Nightwatch park his cart in front of the house. They rushed out the front door and ran to meet their kids. “NIGHTWATCH! BUTTERCREAM!” shouted Aurora as she hugged her son. “We were so worried about you two!” “Sorry we didn’t get back any sooner, Mom,” Nightwatch said, very drowsily. “A lot of things happened that we weren’t expecting,” Buttercream added, sounding just as tired. “Well did you get to see the moon?” Midnight asked. “We saw it the moment it happened!” “And we saw the sun rise later so we knew Luna came back!” Aurora added. “Yeah, we saw all of that too,” Nightwatch said as he started walking in the front door with his head lowered. “First we were captured by some crazy guys from Tambelon, then we had to deal with this cult of bat ponies that worship Nightmare Moon, and then we saw Nightmare Moon…” “Captured?!” Aurora exclaimed. “You SAW Nightmare Moon?!” Midnight added. “And then we got to see Princess Luna and fight this big robot that looked like a ram…” Butter added as she trudged alongside her brother. “Wait, hold on, you guys actually got to MEET Princess Luna and…uh, you fought a robot?” Midnight said, perplexed. “Goodness! Just what have you two been through?” asked Aurora. “Oh, and to top it all off, we got to make friends with Luna and she wants to train Nighty to learn more magic and…stuff…ugh…” “WHAT?!” “I’ll tell you guys more about it later, but right now…I’m exhausted…” Nightwatch said as he crawled up on the living room couch and quickly dozed off. Buttercream climbed up on top, lay on his back and did the same. As they both sat snoring on the couch, Midnight and Aurora watched them with their mouths hanging open. Aurora saw the paper in Nightwatch’s satchel with the address for the royal post office on it. Luna’s signature was at the bottom. “Did…did our son just get noticed by Princess Luna?!” Aurora asked. “Shhh, let’s let them sleep,” Midnight whispered as he lifted a nearby blanket to cover his kids with. “These two have had quite an adventure, but they’re gonna need some rest. I am anxious to know more about what happened with Luna.” “I can’t believe this. Our son really is going places, Midnight.” “That he is, dear. That he is.” Midnight put his arm around his wife and looked proudly at his son. When the young unicorn and his little dragon sister would wake up, they would have a grand story to tell their parents. In the Everfree Forest one quiet afternoon, the Golem sat motionless and offline on the dry dirt. Bray and his friends had already removed all its inner workings and left the exoskeleton behind with no way to turn it on or control it. A female zebra wearing golden jewelry walked around it, showing it to the six ponies that saved Princess Luna with the Elements of Harmony. The blue pegasus hovered overhead, examining the ancient machine. “Over here, my little ponies. Be sure to step carefully with ease,” said the zebra. “This machine appears to be offline, but awaken it could another time.” “Just what the hay is it? Twilight, you got any books about this thing?” the blue pegasus asked. “I don’t think I’ve ever heard of anything like this,” said the purple unicorn. “It looks some sort of ancient robot. I wish I knew how to read these runes on its horns.” “This here contraption looks like one of them machines the city folk keep trying to sell to put us farmers out of business,” said the orange earth pony. “Still don’t see the use of ‘em. Big Macintosh is just fine to pull the plow himself.” “Whadaya think Granny Smith would say if she saw this thing, Applejack,” said a small yellow earth pony with red hair and a pink bow next to her. “Oh, you know Granny, Apple Bloom. She’d be all like ‘These gosh-darn confangled modern doohickies are gonna outsource us farmers if we don’t do somethin’ about it! Let’s start picketing, y’all!’” The orange pony spun her hoof around and imitated her grandmother’s voice as her little sister giggled. “I’m not sure it’s a tractor, Applejack. Why would its head be shaped like a ram’s? That’s very intriguing” The purple pony picked up the head of the Golem with her magic to examine it closer. Next to her stood a small purple male dragon with green spikes and a lighter green underbelly. He appeared to be the same age as Buttercream; he just had slightly longer spikes on his head and the tip of his tail was purple like the rest of his body. He looked closely at the Golem’s head, but was then distracted by some faint footprints on the ground where he had not yet walked. They looked a bit like his. “Twilight, check out these footprints,” he told the purple unicorn. “What’s that Spike? Oh. Interesting. Were you walking there?” “Eh…nah. It’s a bit washed out by the rain, so it’s kinda hard to see. It’s probably from something else.” Over by the Golem, the pink pony climbed into the body where the neck used to be attached. She made her way inside the hollow shell till one of the legs popped off and she stuck her head out of the hole. “This thing sure has a lot of space inside! It would make a really cool hideout!” she said, excitedly. “Pinkie Pie, darling! Get out of that dreadful thing this instant! Who knows what could be inside it!” said the white unicorn. “Eh, let her have her fun, Rarity,” said the orange earth pony. “Doesn’t look like that thing’s alive anymore, if I can even say that.” “Twilight…wha-wha-what is it? Shouldn’t we be worried it might try to attack us?” said the timid yellow pegasus as she hid behind the orange earth pony. “I don’t think we have anything to worry about, Fluttershy,” the purple unicorn replied. “I think it might be one of those old Tambelonian machines. I think they were called ‘Golems’. It’s more like an automaton, or a robot as we’d call it today. Does it look like anything you’ve ever seen, Zecora?” “Never before have I seen such a contraption. It appears as though it has seen some action. My people have made masks with horns like this, but no such runes I believe exist,” the zebra told her. “Kinda looks like something from one of Spike’s comics,” the blue pegasus remarked. “Heh, you’re right, Rainbow Dash,” said the little purple dragon. “It’s like one of the Megaborgs from Power Ponies! Like the one from Issue 12!” “Pffft. Nerd.” “Either way, we should probably just leave it alone to be safe. That means you too, Pinkie,” the purple unicorn told her friends. “Awww. I wanted to use it as a Nightmare Night costume!” the pink pony whined. “Come on ya’ll. We best get back to Zecora’s to help clean up the mess we left yesterday,” said the orange pony as they all turned to walk back into the forest. “I wholeheartedly agree,” said the white unicorn. “Let’s all go now, everypony, and leave this wretched machine to rust.” The purple unicorn started walking with them until something off to the side caught her eye. She saw a brown book on the ground and picked it up. It had some dust on it and looked like it had been there for a month or two. The book said “Nightwatch’s Astronomy Journal.” “Oh, what is this?” she said, opening it up to have a look. “Wow, these are some really interesting notes about the stars, but I should probably return this if I can.” She leafed through some of the pages and then came to the end where there was a small piece of paper with a message that read the following: To anypony that finds this journal, Please return it to 337 Horseshoe Road, Daleshire, EQ, 41189. I got this for my birthday along with a telescope back when I was just a colt. It has some really important notes I’d like to keep. Sincerely, Nightwatch “So your name is Nightwatch. Well as soon as I get back to the library tonight, I’ll get this packaged up and sent right back to you. Oh, and also this nob to your telescope while I’m at it!” She picked up a small round object off of the ground that she instantly recognized as a part to Nightwatch’s telescope. This young unicorn girl had used a very similar telescope in the past. Little did Nightwatch know, she was not only very well educated like him, she was the pony who had figured out how to use the Elements with all her friends to defeat Nightmare Moon. She turned around and joined her friends as she left the husk of the ancient machine behind. Atop a nearby cliff, Luna and Celestia watched the ponies disappear back into the woods. They kept their eyes on the Golem. “It’s still lying there,” Celestia said. “I think someone did steal all the inner parts right after you encountered it.” “I wish I could have brought it back, but we didn’t have enough room in our chariot and Zephyrus really needed to see a doctor,” Luna replied. “That’s okay, Luna. Unfortunately we will need to watch for more of these. They could cause trouble another time.” “It was quite a nuisance to deal with, but all my friends and I managed to stop it that night. Nightwatch was especially impressive.” “I still don’t understand how it was able to get a hold of your magic though. They weren’t designed to steal magic the way Tirek did. Someone else would need to be there to do it.” “Do you think it was someone from this Brotherhood of Grogar?” “I have no doubt it was. They’re probably the ones who salvaged it afterwards too. I have some intelligence abroad that reported cult-like activity in Tambelon several hundred years ago, but I didn’t think it was a problem. They’ve never made any threats to Equestria or even set foot here to my knowledge.” “We best keep an eye out for them. If they did take my magic the moment I was freed from Nightmare Moon, it could happen to anyone else.” “I will be sure to let all my guards know. For now, this Golem will not be an issue, but I think it’s time we take the exoskeleton and lock it away in the archives. I don’t want Twilight and the others knowing about the Brotherhood until they become a real problem for all of us.” THE END Nightwatch and Buttercream’s story continues in the Ester Dracos Arc!