There was a great flash, and, much to the great shock of the citizens, the hotel in the center of Marewaukee reappeared just as it had mysteriously disappeared three days ago, with a whole host of strange ponies now milling about in front of it.
Barley and Caramel slowly stood up.
“Can’t believe we made it through all that!” Barley muttered, wiping the dust off his sleeves. “It looks like things worked out…”
“Yeah, but…” Caramel looked around. “Where’s Fizzy?”
Barley looked up and frowned, realizing the two of them were alone.
“I… don’t know.”
“Look!” a guest shouted. The two turned and saw that the crowd had parted. In the center was Twilight Sparkle, holding in the Book of All Stories, and arrayed across from her were all the evils of Equestria, new and old.
“So, what now, Princess?” Sombra’s grin was venomous. “Blast us with rainbow lasers? Or perhaps you’ll simply write us all into being compliant and friendly?”
“No, Sombra,” Twilight Sparkle frowned. “Stripping creatures of their free will is more your speed.”
“Ah, a shame,” he said. His eyes suddenly shifted to some point behind Twilight. “A choice I hope you won’t regret!”
His horn flared with dark magic–
“‘And then Sombra returned to the state he had been before the stories of Equestria were altered.’” Twilight Sparkle’s statement was punctuated with a definitive stroke of her pen.
Sombra’s scream distorted and echoed as his body boiled into a writhing mass of shadows, and then vanished.
Twilight took another step forward.
No one else tried anything. At least not immediately.
“I hope one day, we can perhaps change what’s happened between us. You wouldn’t be the first people we’ve forgiven. Equestria is a kind place–”
“Spare us!” Chrysalis snapped. “As long as we exist, we’ll oppose you, Twilight Sparkle!”
Twilight sighed.
“Very well.” She looked back down at the book. “‘And with that, one by one, the villains returned to their stories, as they had been before.’”
The crowd watched as each of the villains, sneering in useless defiance, blurred, and were drawn into the book. The last to remain was Grogar.
“You know, Twilight Sparkle, stories never really end.” He said, the edges of him beginning to blur. “The tales go on and on. Stories of victory… stories of defeat.” His voice started to echo as he dissolved. The last parts of him to vanish were his glowing red eyes. “There are always more turns of the page.”
The crowd was silent as he disappeared. Twilight Sparkle let out a huff and rolled her eyes.
“Boy, don’t I know it.” She shook her head, turned, and addressed the crowd. “Greetings, everyone! I am sorry for the inconvenience, but things are settled now! Unfortunately, the book will be closing soon, and those of us called here by it will be leaving with it.”
The crowd gave a disappointed “awww.” Twilight giggled.
“Still, it was wonderful meeting you all! I know I’m going to remember this; all the help we received, and the new friends we made along the way. I hope we can all meet one day again, and remember; as long as the magic of friendship exists in our hearts, nothing can separate us, and nothing is impossible.”
The crowd cheered. Twilight’s eyes widened slightly as Caramel and Barley walked to the front of the crowd.
“Alright everyone, say your goodbyes! If you excuse me, I have a couple things to tie up.” The crowd began dispersing and Twilight strode up to the two con hosts. “Well, that was an adventure!”
“You can say that again!” Caramel giggled.
“Yeah…” Barley said, looking aside. “Kind of wish it came without the whole ‘alliance of evil’ thing.”
“Don’t we all,” Twilight muttered. She straightened then, and gave the two of them an examining look. “Given what I saw, I take it you two never reconciled with Fizzy Glitch.”
Both of them winced. Twilight nodded.
“I don’t have much time, but if you want my advice: listen to her. People don’t do things like this without being in pain.” Twilight frowned. Both Barley and Caramel were looking away in shame. She leaned forward, and spoke softly, giving a comforting smile. “For what it’s worth, I have seen worse friendship problems get solved.”
Caramel giggled. Barley gave a halfhearted smile.
“We just don’t know where she is…” Caramel explained.
“Well…” Twilight stood up and looked around. She suddenly stopped, looking over her shoulder. “I might have an idea…”
Barley and Caramel followed her gaze.
On the roof of the hotel was a flickering blue light. They both gasped.
“Thank you, Princess!” Caramel said, reinvigorated. “We’ll do our best!”
“Yeah!” Barley followed up. “Thank you. We’ll try not to let you down.”
Twilight laughed.
“Well, I wish you luck, my little ponies. I hope I can do what I can for any friendship out there,” Twilight caught something out of the corner of her eye and her smile grew smaller and more wistful. “I think I’ll leave you to it.” She began turning. “I have a friendship problem of my own to deal with.”
And with that, Twilight strode off.
Caramel and Barley raced off at the same time towards the hotel.
Twilight found Pinkie Pie and Discord lurking at the edge of the crowd. Pinkie was bouncing up and down, excitedly describing something or other. Discord, though, stared at Twilight as she approached, stance low, expression tense.
“So, Pinkie,” Twilight said, half grumbling. “Had fun trying to destabilize reality?”
Pinkie stopped mid bounce, eyes looking up, as the gears in her head audibly cranked.
“Oh!” She landed. “Was that what we were doing?” She gave a gigglesnort. “I just thought we were gonna throw the biggest party ever! Although your idea sounds fun too, haha! And I bet if we succeeded we could have thrown an even bigger party!”
Twilight rolled her eyes, but her smile was warm with nostalgia.
“Never change, Pinkie.”
“Don’t plan on it!” Pinkie giggled. She suddenly seized up as random parts of her body ranging from her tail to her eyes began vibrating asynchronously. “Oh, that’s a doozy! Guess it’s time to go! Have fun talking about your mistakes, Discord, hah! Canon ball!” And with that, Pinkie leapt into the air, curled into a ball, and was promptly sucked into the Book of All Stories.
Discord and Twilight stared at where she had been a moment before. Discord absentmindedly scratched the side of his face as he stared at where Pinkie had been in muted dismay.
“Sometimes she even confuses me,” he muttered.
“Why does that not surprise me and still somehow fill me with dread,” Twilight replied. She shook her head and looked up at Discord. “Book’s closing soon, Discord. Want to walk while we talk?”
“Oh, what’s the point?” Discord harrumphed, crossing several extra sets of arms for emphasis. “You won, I lost, Twilight. Go ahead and gloat!”
Twilight gave a small smile.
“Just humor me, Discord.”
Discord curled up into the air alongside her, frown stretching his face like putty before rolling his eyes.
“Fiiiine. I suppose I shall be gracious in my defeat and listen to at least one friendship speech.”
“Glad to hear it!” Twilight said, turning to walk. As she did so, various ponies began glowing and growing indistinct. “So, I took some time to think about what you did.”
“And?”
“Well, for one, despite the harm you might have caused, I do understand why you did it. Or at least I think I do.” Twilight began writing in the book as she walked.
Discord rolled his eyes again and made a gagging motion.
“It wasn’t healthy for you to try and run away from your problems, but… maybe after what happened at the Battle of the Bell, we could have made it more clear that we had forgiven you.” All around them, ponies were starting to blur and fly into the book.
Discord continued to say nothing, but he looked away, anger and shame clear on his face.
“But, all that said, you have given me an idea.”
Discord perked up.
“Oh?” He said, leaning over, and then his brow furrowed. “What are you writing, anyway?”
“Just my plans for when we get back.” Twilight grinned. “Wanna set them in stone now, before I forget.”
“Oh, and what are those?”
“Well, Discord, like I said, I think you had some fair points. There have been creatures in Equestria who’ve suffered, and even if we won’t rewrite the past for them, maybe there’s more we can do to help them have better futures,” Twilight’s grin was sharp, “and maaaybe we could stand to explore some new horizons. Have a little fun. Get a little… chaotic?”
For one moment Discord was stunned, his mouth slightly open, and his eyes shimmering with honest appreciation for her gesture.
And just like that, it was gone.
“Ah, well, of course! Congratulations, Twilight Sparkle! You’ve gotten an A+ in my secret friendship lesson, something that is both normal to want and possible to achieve!” He quickly leaned forward and slapped something onto her chest.
Twilight looked down.
It was a scuffed golden star sticker. Written on it, off-center and loosely scribbled, was the phrase “you tried.”
Twilight laughed.
“Naturally, you’re going to want some help with all that…?” Discord said, his tone perhaps a tad more leading than he intended. He was beginning to glow and blur at the edges.
“Well, of course, Discord.” Twilight replied. She too was beginning to blur and glow. “I can always use the help of my friends.”
For a moment, Discord allowed himself to honestly appear touched. His grin was lop-sided, but his eyes were soft and warm.
“See you on the other side, Twilight.” He said.
“See you on the other side.” She said back.
And with that, the two of them were sucked into the book. The crowd of guests watched as it rose into the sky, glowing with a pastel rainbow of light, before it suddenly shot off like a comet, to parts unknown.
Fizzy heard the door to the roof slam open, followed by two gasping breaths as two ponies stumbled onto the roof with her.
Her face twisted into a small grimace, but she didn’t turn around.
“Fizzy!” Caramel called out, stumbling across the roof towards her. “Hon, we gotta talk.”
“Yeah!” Barley said between pants. “Please, Fizz.”
“What’s there to talk about?” Fizzy said, her quiet reply belying the strain she felt. “It all worked out, in the end.”
“But it almost didn’t–” Barley began.
“You think I don’t know that?!” Fizzy snapped, glaring over her shoulder. “You think I didn’t see?! You wouldn’t have made it if I didn’t–” She snapped short and turned away again, not letting them see her face screw up in pain. “It worked out, in the end,” she repeated, finally, after a long moment of silence.
“Fizz…” Caramel began, uncertain. “We know we hurt you, we just don’t know how.”
“The fact that you don’t know is why you hurt me.”
The three were silent for a long time. Finally, Fizzy pulled herself away from the edge of the roof, and began to walk past Barley and Caramel.
“Wait–” Barley sputtered. “Just, please, Fizz, we just want to make this right.”
Fizzy halted again, shaking. She didn’t want to turn to face them.
She didn’t want them to see how much pain she was in.
Finally, she turned.
“You want to know what you did wrong? You ignored me. Forgot about me. I went from your partner to just… to just the AV kirin.” She grimaced, looking away. “Nothing I ever did mattered to you, in the end. Nothing I did ever really mattered to anyone.” She gave a sideways smile; it didn’t even remotely touch her glowing, white eyes. “You wanna know why I did all this? Because for one, single moment, I wanted to be in control. I wanted to do something so amazing nobody could deny it. Something no one else could do. So I used the book. I made Equestria real. I reordered reality to make the best con ever imaginable.” Her grin faltered into a look of contempt. “But when you finally talked to me, you didn’t care.” The contempt faded to a look of bitterness. “Of course, why should you have? I just ended up screwing it all up, didn’t I?”
Finally, exhausted, Fizzy turned away from the stunned Barley and Caramel and began to leave again.
“We’re sorry, hon.” Caramel said, finally.
“I bet you are,” Fizzy muttered.
“We are, though.” Barley said, stepping forward. “We… we had no idea! And… you’re right. That is our fault. We should have paid attention…” He shook his head. “Is there anything we can do to fix this?”
Fizzy let out a single bitter huff of a laugh as she stopped by the door.
“Think you can change the past?” she quipped, looking back over her shoulder at them. Two small wisps of steam were rising from her eyes, but her grin had a shadow of the old Fizzy in it. Despite themselves, more caught off guard than anything else, Barley and Caramel also gave short laughs.
“We can’t, Fizz,” Caramel said, “but maybe we can be better friends tomorrow?”
That shadow of a grin faded, and Fizzy looked away, exhausted and hurt.
“I need time to think,” she said, and with that, she opened the door to the stairwell and disappeared from view.
Barley and Caramel were left alone with the wind upon the roof as Fizzy descended into the dark. Each one left with a void carved out by their shame and regrets.
Fizzy Glitch was not a simple kirin, of course. She had many interests and talents. Many honest expressions and hidden scars, but in her heart was one simple joy; to love and be loved.
It was a joy that had left her, and the pain that caused was great and unhealed. Her past had been unkind, and she had made mistakes, and there was no changing either of those things.
But tomorrow came on anyway, and maybe in the light of that dawn, she could find a way to move on.