//------------------------------//
// Love 
// Story: Love, Interrupted By A Thousand Years 
// by TCC56 
//------------------------------//

To Proper Postal, there was nothing between that flash of green light and finding himself standing in the street. The armor he was wearing - ashen gray steel - was unfamiliar and he had no idea why it was on him. As big a mystery was why he was surrounded by others wearing the same armor who were just as confused as he. 

It took several hours to be given even the slightest bit of context, and most of a week before the full story took shape. The time was helpful, at least, in that it gave all the ponies involved the chance to process it. 

Princess Amore was dead. They had been mind controlled by her usurper Sombra, and had been soldiers in his enslavement of the Empire. Sombra had been defeated by the Two Sisters (and then by the power of the Heart), but the Crystal Empire had been cast forward in time. 

It had been a thousand years. 

Proper Postal had cried without shame when the weight of that had hit him. 

Then he had made a simple request to the new Princess Cadance. Almost a moon later, she called him for an audience. 

Unlike Princess Amore, Cadance preferred one of the more intimate sitting rooms rather than the throne room. From what little Proper had learned of her, she was shockingly casual for royalty. But it was her prerogative and he wouldn't argue. Not when she was being so kind. 

But as he sat down at the little tea table, the look on her face was not one of kindness - it was sorrow. 

"Thank you for seeing me, your Majesty." He bowed his head. 

She shook hers. "It's fine, Proper Postal. Should I call you Proper?"

"You may call me whatever you wish, your Majesty." 

Cadance sighed heavily enough for her entire body to slump. "Please relax. I know it's difficult but I'm a pony, just like you." 

Proper wanted to object as she was very obviously not like him - but disagreeing with royalty was also not something one did, so he stayed quiet.

Ironically that made Cadance pout more. But she pressed on, even if she visibly didn't want to. "I've investigated as best I could, but I'm afraid I have bad news for you. There's no record of what happened to Flash Magnus. He simply vanished from history one day. So while yes, it's been a thousand years and he certainly passed in that time, there isn't any record of his death." 

Her sorrow made sense now. Proper bowed his head. "So there is no grave or tomb." 

"No," the Princess lamented. "There isn't."

Proper's eyes pinched shut to hold the tears. "I cannot even pay my respects." Steadying himself, Proper tried to stand and stumbled only a little. "Thank you, your Majesty, for your efforts on my behalf."

"As Princess of Love, it was my duty." Cadance rose as well. "You deserve closure. I'm sorry I couldn't help you get it." She hugged him, though Proper remained stiffly stoic. "What will you do now?"

"Deliver mail," he said with a lackluster shrug. "There isn't much else."

Cadance pursed her lips. "Didn't you say that you planned to move to Equestria with him before everything happened?" 

"With him," Proper noted darkly. He bowed. "Thank you."

And he left, allowing the Crystal Heart to dim slightly.





Returning from Limbo was surprisingly easy. It was as if Flash Magnus had never left. One moment they were facing down the Pony of Shadows; the next they were… also facing down the Pony of Shadows, but along side Princess Twilight and her cadre of friends. 

But he had left. A millennia had come and gone. And there was so, so much to catch up on. 

Truthfully, Flash had never anticipated returning. They had all gone in with the expectation of it being a final sacrifice, but Flash all the more had thought it was an end. When it turned out to not be, he was conflicted: he had prepared for oblivion, and a small part of him had welcomed it. But it also felt wrong to not feel joy at living another day. The relief of seeing the Sun when you expected not to was as instinctive as breathing. 

There was little time to think about it in the heat of battle. Seeking and fighting the Pony of Shadows was duty, and could not be ignored. But now that it was over? There was discovering a new land and coming to grips with what their lives had become. Equestria was foreign yet familiar. 

Princess Luna had become key: in the two weeks since their return, she was tutor and guide to the Pillars. While Princess Twilight and her friends meant well, it was Luna - similarly displaced in time - who was able to understand. They didn't need history lessons. They needed to be told about trains and indoor plumbing and lightbulbs. Starswirl could study until his eyes bled; Flash cared more about how to live his daily life.

But there were still some formalities to be addressed. The Pillars of Equestria (with Stygian now included) were heroes and that meant politics. A thousand years had passed, true, but some things would never change. 

So all seven of them stood at attention when Princess Luna had called upon them to gather in the palace's foyer to meet a foreign diplomatic mission. (She had said it with a roll of her eyes and a smirk, suggesting this was formality rather than true diplomacy.) 

The old mustachioed major domo Kibitz cleared his throat. "ANNOUNCING THEIR ROYAL HIGHNESSES PRINCESS MI AMORE CADENZA AND PRINCE SHINING ARMOR OF THE CRYSTAL EMPIRE."

Flash Magnus stopped breathing. His world shrank to the point of a pin as two ponies entered: a snow-white unicorn and a pink alicorn. 

Formal bows were exchanged between the royals, followed by familial hugs. "Welcome, niece." Luna's smile was far brighter than it ever had been in the old days. "I would introduce you to the heroes of ancient times - the Pillars of Equestria." Each was named and bowed in turn. "Starswirl the Bearded. Stygian. Mage Meadowbrook. Rockhoof. Mistmane. Somnambula. Flash Magnus."

He was named and did not bow.

Cadance didn't notice. Upon hearing his name, she froze up as well. 

"...Niece?"

"No." Cadance's eyes jumped to her aunt. "He can't be."

Luna mentally stumbled but pushed on. "They are the ones spoken of in legend. 'Tis unbelievable but true. Trapped outside time for a thousand years–"

She got no further before Cadance's head whipped around to her husband. "Shiny, I need you to take over for me."

"But–" 

"Please."

"...Uh, okay?"

She kissed him on the cheek before grabbing Flash by the shoulders. "We have to go to the Crystal Empire right now."

Hope blossomed. He didn't hesitate.





Right now was unfortunately longer than Flash Magnus would have liked. The train carried them in hours where it would have taken days on hoof, but it was still too slow. 

Cadance told him the story of what had happened as the royal carriage rattled and swayed: of the Crystal Empire being locked out of reality and a thousand more details of Sombra's rule. Things that Princess Celestia could not have known in the heat of the now-ancient moment that now stood as cold facts. 

His heart sang. Flash had lived for two years without his love before vanishing; Proper Postal had lived three after returning. But the thousand years in the middle was missing for them both, and that closed the gap.

Pegasus and alicorn took to the sky as soon as the train stopped - stalking like hawks for their prey. They spotted him crossing the Plaza of the Glorious, trotting his daily route and digging into his satchel for the next delivery.

Flash moved without thinking - his wings simply banked of their own accord, diving towards the road. 

Proper Postal didn't turn. The sound of hooves on crystal wasn't unusual, and the beat of pegasus wings had become much more common in the three years since the Empire's return. 

What was not common was the voice of a Princess. "Proper Postal!"

He turned.

He saw.

There were no words at first. Just a stare. The haunted, disbelieving stare of seeing what could not be. 

Then there was the soft touch of a primary feather on cheek-fur and the ghost was real. 

The lovers collapsed into each other's embrace. Crying, laughing, babbling half-words because where do you even begin? 

They kissed in a way each thought they never would again.

Finally, after that, Proper managed a word. "How?"

"A sacrifice," Flash giddily related. "I was trapped in Limbo to seal away a monster. Outside of time for a thousand years." 

Proper laughed, sobbing at the same time. "I thought you were dead."

"And I you. Princess Celestia said the Empire was gone and all within it lost."

Beside them, a different Princess cleared her throat. They looked to her, not breaking their embrace. She drew herself up, tall and regal over the pair. "As the Princess of the Crystal Empire, I, Mi Amore Cadenza, hereby order you, Proper Postal, to relinquish your mail bag to me." 

Proper scrambled to stand and did as commanded, confused.

Cadance looped the bag across her barrel. "I will complete your route. Go home with my blessing." 

Both stallions bowed their head. "Thank you, my Princess," Proper solemnly intoned. 

"I said once you deserved closure, Proper Postal. I was wrong." Her smile shone as the Sun. "It was simply a pause before the beginning of your next chapter." Cadance bowed her head to them. "Go, and help the Crystal Heart shine brighter."

Flash Magnus looked to Proper Postal. "So it shall be," he said. 

And it did.





Land in Canterlot is at a premium and difficult to come by. Even with the favor of multiple Princesses, carving out space is a challenge. But they have some sway and the names of heroes inspire generosity. The Duke of Cloudsdale volunteered a small plot on one of the outer terraces - and that was enough.

The house was small, but they needed little more. Walls of crystal sparkled under the Sun and reflected the uncountable stars under the Moon. Boxes of crocuses blossomed under each window. And the path that cut across emerald-green grass to the front door was lined on both sides by olive trees.