Epilogue
“That’s heavily fucked up and disturbing,” Lacy commented as Scamp finished retelling the events of delivering Frederic to Satan.
“Are you good, Scamp?” Lance asked as all eyes turned to the mare in question.
She let out a laugh and waved him off. “I’m fine, not like I haven’t seen some fucked up shit in the past.”
Everyone in the Mellowed Pie just exchanged looks, but no one said anything else as Scamp sat back down with her wife.
Lance stood up and walked into the middle of the room next, a solemn look upon his face. “Well guys, I honestly don’t know what to say about all of this.”
“What is there to say?” Greg commented as he sat with Pinkie Pie.
“Does this mean all of our relationships were… meaningless?” Rainbow Dash asked, a hurt expression on her face.
This caused those gathered to lower their heads.
Scamp glanced around, seeing everyone’s forlorn faces and sighed. “You idiots,” she announced, startling everyone. “Who cares if Frederic meddled in your love lives and picked who you fell in love with.” Her gaze turned to Lance. “What about you, Lance? Do you love Twilight?”
“I-I do,” he answered with a slow nod.
“Do you wish you’d gotten with someone else?” she challenged.
“Of course not.”
“Then there you go,” she said with a smirk. “At this point it doesn’t matter why you all got together, just that you love each other. That goes for all of you.”
Her words seemed to help those who had doubts, letting everyone relax.
“That brings me to this then,” Lance continued, turning and looking to the back of the room where both Belle and Jun stood. “We all owe both of you an apology. For not believing you when you tried to warn us about Frederic.”
The pair shared a look after hearing this, frowns on both of their faces. Without a word they both walked to the middle of the room with Lance.
Jun was the first to speak. “I swapped sides because you all offered me the chance to do better, to not follow the shitty path I stumbled onto.” He ran his eyes over everyone. “But you all only care about me when there’s fighting that needs to be done, and the moment it’s over, you ignore me. Treat me like a nuisance.”
“That’s not true, Jun,” Lance countered, but this just caused Jun to look even more upset.
“It is though!” He snapped. “The moment we got back after defeating Richard and Lilith, you all ignored me. I tried to help or spend time with any of you, but I was told over and over again I wasn’t welcome.” His eyes landed on Lacy, “and one of you thinks it’s funny to flirt with me and then laugh at me behind my back for it.”
Lacy shrank back in her seat, not even attempting to defend herself, because it was true.
“I can handle that,” he said with a crack in his voice. “But what I can’t handle is how you all treated me when Frederic attacked me. None of you even tried to get to the bottom of it, you all instantly treated me like I was the bad guy. You didn’t even question it, you acted like you were just waiting for me to go back to being a villain.” Then he looked at Scamp, his expression lightening. “Only Scamp was willing to hear my side, unlike the rest of you.”
“Jun…” Lance began, but Belle cut him off as she started speaking, her tone low but filled with emotion.
“I know no one trusts me,” she began. “I’ve always been passive. I let Lorenzo use me and I did nothing to stop him. But I tried to be useful after my gut told me there was something going on. I tried to warn everyone.” She went silent for a few moments. “You all turned on me so easily. Even my son. That’s too painful, too much.”
The assembled group didn’t seem to know how to respond to this.
“We’re just ‘the bad guys’ to all of you,” Jun said bitterly. “No matter what we do.”
“That’s not true,” Lance countered.
“Till I see it, I don’t believe you,” Jun said as he and Belle turned and walked for the exit. Even after all that was said, no one tried to stop them.
“They’re right,” Scamp announced just before the pair reached the door. “You’re all your worst enemies sometimes.”
Belle stopped and looked back to Scamp, giving her a small smile before she and Jun left the building.
Everyone remained silent as they contemplated all that they’d heard. Finally, Twilight cleared her throat and stepped up next to her husband.
“Frederic hurt all of us, some more than others. But we can move forward, and continue being happy. That is the best way to spite him now.”
“You said it, Twi,” Greg said as he raised his drink into the air.
“Yeah,” Cody said with a firm nod. “Despite his attempts, we all ended up in happy situations. If anything, we can thank him for our children.”
At this both Lance and Twilight’s eyes went wide as they turned to each other. “Fawn!” They both yelped at once.
“That monster!” Twilight hissed angrily. “I never even realized we were neglecting her!”
“We’ll fix it!” Lance said in a desperate tone. “We’ll figure out what city she moved to and we’ll make things right!”
“Lance, it's been twelve years since she left!” Twilight exclaimed. “We haven’t spoken to her once in all that time!”
Tears ran down both of their faces as they started to move for the exit.
“She’s not in another city,” Scamp suddenly said, stopping both of them.
“You know where she’s at?!” Lance asked with a look of relief on his face.
“Yes,” Scamp confirmed as they rushed towards her. “Do you both remember the events that unfolded twelve years ago when Greg’s evil clone returned and attacked us with the help of another dimension?”
“Oh yeah, that mess,” Lance said with a nod. “What about it?”
“Fawn was saved by one of those creatures that helped us, after you two left her behind,” Scamp continued.
They both appeared sheepish at this, as they remembered leaving their daughter behind to check on their son.
“Wait…” Lance began as a realization came over him. “You’re not telling us that Fawn is…”
“Oh no,” Twilight muttered.
“She went back with Sonic and Shadow?!” Lance yelled, disbelief on his face.
“Yes,” Scamp deadpanned.
“Oh that’s just great,” he muttered, rubbing his face.
“Open a portal, now,” Twilight demanded.
Not having it in her to argue, Scamp flicked out her Dimensional Dagger and stabbed it into the air. A portal flickered to life but then faded instantly. Trying again yielded the same results.
“Uhhhh… that’s new,” she mumbled as she tried yet again, only to get met with no portal this time.
“What’s that mean?!” Twilight yelled in a panic, looking at everyone around them. “What’s it mean?!”
“Don’t panic,” Scamp said calmly as she ran over the options in her mind, landing on one that made her frown. Opening her pocket dimension she removed the Watcher in his jar, holding him up. “Okay, tell me, what does this mean?”
She stabbed the air, causing only a flicker this time.
An amused look appeared on his face as he looked at her. “You steal me from my companion, throw me in a very stodgy place, then pull me out to ask a question about a simple to understand concept?”
“Just answer the question,” she grunted in annoyance.
“Hmm,” he hummed with a smug expression. “It’s simple, that dimension is either locked down, or it was erased.”
“Erased?!” Twilight cried out. “Lance, what if her dimension was one of the ones destroyed during the fighting?!”
“Is there any way to know for sure?” Scamp asked, doing her best to be ‘nice’ to the Watcher.
“No,” he answered with a growing smile. “At least not normally. From my domain, I can check its status and maybe unlock it if there is a lock over it.”
“We’re not going back to your domain,” Scamp started firmly.
“Scamp,” Twilight began, wiping her face. “We already let him use his domain to get us here, and he did nothing malicious. If he can get Fawn back to us, I’m willing to trust him.”
“I don’t know,” Scamp mumbled.
“I can also remove that pesky dimensional lock on Lance,” the Watcher added. “With the UAD gone, there’s no one left to enforce their rules.”
“All the more reason to not let him near his domain,” Scamp pointed out.
“We’ve already ruined our relationships with Belle and Jun,” Lance stated with a sigh. “Let’s not keep up that pattern and ruin another one. We have to extend our trust to him and not hold his past over him.”
“Lance, this is the guy who killed your daughter in front of you,” Scamp said flatly.
“… yes, but he’s changed,” Lance countered.
“He really has, mama,” Shayla added from the back.
“We should not trust him, it’s as simple as that,” Scamp said, opening her pocket dimension.
“Scamp wait,” Lance said as he and Twilight shared a look.
“There is no discussion,” Scamp said with a shake of her head. “We’re not entertaining his plan. We’ll wait for Bronwyn to get back and ask her.”
“That could be months from now,” Twilight said as she and Lance stepped closer. “I’m sorry, Scamp.”
Before she could ask why, Twilight’s horn flashed, causing both her and Lance to disappear. But not only them, but also the Watcher’s jar and her Dimensional Dagger.
She stood there in stunned silence before her face lit up with pure rage. “Shayla! Give me your dagger!”
But the sound of a portal opening and closing revealed that her daughter had already left the room, possibly following Lance and Twilight.
“Someone bring me a fucking Dimensional Dagger, NOW!” she yelled, causing everyone to shrink back.
ooo000<^>000ooo
“Interesting change in direction,” Lilith muttered to herself as she watched Scamp angrily move around the Mellowed Pie. With a flick of her hoof she changed the scrying orbs view to another area in Ponyville.
It now showed Bella and Jun walking together, both of them silent as they walked towards the edge of town.
“Those two will be a problem,” she observed, not liking the idea of them joining forces. The orb shifted over to another figure, this one standing on the roof of the Mellowed Pie. The costumed Alicorn. “This one is also worrying.”
Ending her self musing, she stepped away from her scrying orb and moved across the room. Her eyes lingered on the Corrupted Elements of Harmony that floated above another of her relics, a smile dancing on her face. Her mind ran through a few options before she settled on her next course of action.
With a flick of her head, she caused a portal to appear before herself. Stepping through she found herself in the training dimension she set up for her experiment to practice in. The sounds of distant yelling, followed by manic laughter, drew her towards the experiment in question.
Coming to the edge of a crater, she saw her latest project fighting against a seemingly endless wave of Combat Dolls, life-like dummies used for training purposes.
Lilith watched the display, watching as the Kejtdra woman below laughed crazily, jumping from Combat Doll to Combat Doll, seeming to be enjoying herself as she used her claws to rip everything she touched to shreds.
“Kimaris,” Lilith called out, but the Kejtdra didn’t react to her, just continuing on with her destruction. “Kimaris!” Lilith yelled as she began to walk further into the crater.
The woman’s crazy eyes snapped to her, a wide smile appearing on her face. “Lil! What’s up?!”
“Has your training had any effect?” Lilith asked, an annoyed look on her face.
“Maybe,” Kimaris laughed as she performed a headstand and began to walk circles around Lilith. “I’m ready for some payback now.”
“Soon,” Lilith promised. “Tell me, one more time, why are you here?”
“This again?” the Kejtdra groaned, flipping and landing on her feet. “Last time I’m saying this. I wanted to get stronger so I could kick ass, and I found you. Then boom, power ups and all that fun jazz, and here I am! Better than ever!”
“And what drives you to get stronger?” Lilith asked, a smile tugging at her mouth.
A large toothy grin spread across the woman's face. “To get payback against the chick who ruined my life.”
“Good,” Lilith said with a pleased nod. “Name her.”
Kimaris stood up straight as she cracked her joints, a devilish look on her face. “Scamp.”