//------------------------------//
// Epilogue: Will You Look Into The Future? 
// Story: TCB: The Jig Of Life 
// by Madrigal Baroque 
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"Grandmare!"

The clattering of tiny hooves sounded in her entry hall. Harmony looked up from her scrolls in time to see a tiny silver-gray pegasus colt with an icy blue mane and tail appear in the doorway. Excited or not, Silver Virtue had the good sense to stop at the threshold and wait to be invited into the inner sanctum of Harmony's sacred study. 

The same could not be said for his sister. Ginger Snap plowed into her sibling and tumbled them both to the woven matting inside the room. At once the cream-colored filly regained her hooves, shaking her unruly orange mane out of her purple eyes. "Nana! Guess what?"

Silver stood, settling his ruffled feathers. "I get to tell her. I got here first."

"You cheated! We were supposed to start on three!"

"I did start on three. I even stopped to wipe my hooves." Silver cast a significant glance down at the muddy tracks behind Ginger.

"You jumped the count. I was trying to catch up!"

"Listen, little sister–"

Ginger stomped her hoof. A few more drops of mud spattered the matting.  "I am not your little sister! I am bigger than you!"

Silver drew himself up in a credible emulation of his mother's quiet dignity. "And I," he proclaimed, "am older than you."

Ginger snorted in derision. "By two whole hours. Big bucking deal!"

"Language."

Both foals looked at her with wide eyes. They'd forgotten where they were, and into whose presence they'd barged. Silver bowed his graceful head, and Ginger scuffed at one of the hoofprints she'd left on the mat.

"Apologies, Grandmare."

"M'sorry, Nana."

Harmony sighed and lowered her crimson quill to the desk, releasing it from her hornfield. There would be no peace for her until she'd heard the silly foals out. Her research would have to wait. 

She sat up straight and looked sternly from colt to filly, summoning her most imperious offended-grandmother scowl. "This must be a matter of great import, to have the pair of you forget your manners. Did Featherfall flood Lilac's garden with too much rain again? Did your father crash his muffin cart?"

"No, Grandmare. Papa's fine, and so are both our mamas." Silver's blue-gray eyes sparkled with enthusiasm. "This is a good thing, it's–"

"Guess what we saw!" Ginger cut in excitedly. "Come on, Nana, take a guess!"

"What I see," Harmony said, raising one eye ridge, "is a filly who is going to clean up the mess she made on her great-grandmother's  nice clean floor."

Ginger's ears drooped. Appropriately abashed, she murmured, "Yes'm, Nana." Then she brightened again. "But first, you have to guess! Please? Just one little guess?"

"Those big boo-boo eyes are no influence on me, little Ginger. It does not work when your mother uses them, and it will not work for a rambunctious little upstart who forgets to wipe her hooves." Harmony turned her smoldering gaze on Featherfall's colt. "And while I am appreciative of your respect for my floor, Silver Virtue, it is customary to announce your arrival from the outer hall and then wait to be greeted. I know your mother taught you better manners."

Silver bit his lip. "I'm sorry, Grandmare. We were both just so excited."

Appeased by their conciliation, Harmony nodded and softened her tone. Slightly. "I do not like guessing games, Ginger, any more than I like being barged in on. Once you have both cleaned up the mess you tracked in–"

Silver was indignant. "I didn't track in anything!"

Another fiery look from the deep turquoise unicorn made him fall silent.

"Once you have both cleaned up my floor," Harmony said, enunciating each syllable, "then I will hear what you have to–"

"Halmeonee?" Another voice from the hallway, a voice not heard in months, a voice most welcome 

Harmony's heart skipped a beat. She rose from her cushion and walked smartly to the doorway. The foals parted respectfully for her, their flagging spirits refreshed.

"That's what we were trying to tell you, Grandmare–"

"Tante Maddie's home, Nana! We saw her cloud cottage and came to tell you!"

Harmony scarcely heard them. "In the study, granddaughter. Just follow the hoofprints."

In moments she was enfolded in warm crimson wings. As always, Madrigal smelt of storm winds and sunlight. Harmony permitted herself to give the dark reddish coat a quick nuzzle before ducking out of the feathery embrace. "Typical," she scolded, in a feeble imitation of her stern tone. "Five months, and not so much as a letter."

"It's been pretty crazy, Halmeonee. I wasn't just touring; I actually scoped out some of the Exponential settlements, the ones close to the old Equestrian border. Just last week I was trying to find a dragon to post a letter, and I found something so amazing I had to come back and talk to you right away."

"It's good to see you again, Tante Madrigal," Silver said as he touched his muzzle to Madrigal's.

"I think you've both grown at least a hoof taller since I left this summer." Madrigal grinned as Ginger snuggled against her, and she nibbled affectionately at the orange forelock. "I think you grew three hooves, ma fille. You're going to outgrow me some day."

"Where's Corey?" Ginger asked. "He did come back with you, right?"

Madrigal gave her a solemn look. "Well, you know, he is a griffon, Ginge. If he wants to go visit the aerie to spend time with the tribe…"

Ginger's ears drooped. "You mean he's not with you? He didn't come back?"

Even Silver looked stricken. Madrigal glanced at Harmony, winked, and at her grandmother's conciliatory nod she looked over her shoulder and gave a short, sharp whistle. At once a green griffon soared in, landing on the threshold. "Hi, kids!"

"Corey!" The foals jumped up to greet their favorite foalsitter, and Corey obligingly let himself be tackled to the floor, giggling and grooming each in turn.

Harmony cleared her throat significantly. She was all for joyous reunions, but her floor was still a mess.

As always, Corey understood at once. He jumped up, standing on his hind paws as he brushed at himself with his foreclaws. "Hey, there's a lot of mud tracked in here and we've been rolling in it. Who wants to help me clean it up while Maddie tells Harmony her news?"

After a quick scrub of the study floor matting, Corey and the foals started work on the hall. Harmony magicked her door shut, then drew out a cushion for Madrigal while settling back on her own. "It's good to see you, sonnyeoya. I was beginning to think you'd forgotten all about us."

"You know better than that." Madrigal's green eyes glimmered. "I really didn't mean to be gone so long, but when you asked me to look for somewhere to move to…"

"Waystation is a nice place," Harmony murmured, "and it was the first village we ever saw…but it has never felt like home. The ponies here are very nice, but even after five years we're treated like guests. And since the newfoals don't come through anymore…"

"They're populating the Exponentials now. I visited a couple of the new settlements, but the Lands are massive, and getting bigger every moment. Even riding a tornado there's no way I could reach the newest settlements, not in one pony's lifetime. I'm glad we were early adopters."

"We were newfoals when being newfoals wasn't cool," Harmony agreed.

"Right. Anyway, I decided to swing back across the southern reaches, and I found a place that would be perfect for us!"

Harmony frowned, puzzled, and glanced at the map of Classical Equestria on her wall–a gift from a grateful traveling cartographer who she'd treated for a severely strained tendon. "You went through the Badlands?"

"I didn't go that far south. I might have been looking for a dragon to mail a letter, but even I'm not brave enough to cross into their territory uninvited. But I did find this little place…" Madrigal stood and went to the map. She pointed a hoof at the lower left area, well northeast of the area marked Never the buck go here. "It's amazing. Can you believe it? The Barrier reached the Mississippi a while back, and a bunch of newfoals from my old stomping grounds settled right here!" She tapped a hoof at a place where the river flowed into the eastern sea. "Swear to Luna, I was just drifting with the air currents, and I heard zydeco music. I thought I was hallucinating, but then I saw the town. It's been there for ages and we never even knew it!"

Harmony rose and walked over, squinting at the map. "Next to Hayseed Swamp?"

"Yes! It's got newfoals who came from my neck of the woods, back on Earth. Mobileans, Gulloxi Shores, Pass Coden, Magnoula, Dauphin Springs…the mayor has been trying to gather up as many from the area as he could. And he's someone I actually knew, back then!"

Harmony gave her a skeptical glance. "You said you had no friends but Corey before you got to San Francisco."

Madrigal waved her hoof dismissively. "Everypony in Mobileans knew Nonc Beau and Tante Lisette. Now they're Bontemps Roulez and Laissez Faire, and together they founded New Foaleans!"

"For Cajuns only? So you gonna move there and leave us not-Cajun ponies?"

"Don't be silly. Everyone's welcome. It's not just for newfoals, even. Some Equestrian  natives are settling there, too. It's an amazing place, just like the old French Quarter was supposed to be. It would be perfect for us, Halmeonee! Chip could open a proper bakery instead of borrowing Puff's kitchen and hauling a cart. And remember Lilac wanting to start up Blossom Bites? She hasn't been able to manage it here because she can't produce enough product. There's tons of room in New Foaleans; she could have a garden as big as she wants. No more flower pots and window boxes. And all kinds of performers are there, too, musicians and artists and acrobats and–"

"Dancers?"

"Especially dancers. You know Feather has her heart set on founding a ballet company. Nopony in Waystation seems interested, but here…" Madrigal tapped the spot again. 

"Well, that suits the four of you, I suppose. But what about the foals? They were born here."

"Yes, and they're always complaining that there are no foals their age in town. There are plenty  in New Foaleans, and the twins are just about ready to start school." 

Harmony sighed, looking around her study. She was lucky to have a little hut to herself, a courtesy from the local guild chapter…but she yearned for a proper house, one where she could have a place for her grandchildren to visit. "I don't suppose they have any use for a healer…?"

"You're an incredible healer, Halmeonee, but you're more than that. Nopony knows more about the medicinal uses of plants than you do."  Madrigal draped a wing across Harmony's flank. "You know, an herbalist unicorn is somepony they'd welcome with open hooves. They're all about rootwork over there. The blending of magic and herbalism? You could teach them a lot…and learn a few things, too, maybe."

Harmony pondered the benefits and drawbacks of pulling up stakes and moving to an unknown place. It wasn't a hard decision, really. "So…are you going to help me pack?"

Madrigal grinned. "I knew you'd love the idea. Come on, let's go tell Chip an' them we're all going to a new home."


THE END