//------------------------------//
// Epilogue: Back to Normal 
// Story: Bounty Hunters 2: Awakening 
// by Jasper77W 
//------------------------------//

"Well. What are you listening to?" Rainbow sat down on a cold metal bench in Cloudsdale prison. 
"Smile like you mean it." Blithy said, on the other side of the metal bars and in the comfy confinements of her own cell. "I just love that song." 
Her head gently wavered and nodded with the beats, her eyes closed so she takes in all the lyrics. It had been such a long time ago since she really understood the lyrics... Since she could really smile like she meant it. For the past years she had resented the thought- as Val, she thought it was pointless, meaningless and simply annoying. She didn't need smiles back then- hell, she hated smiles. Particularly those happy and joyful ones.
"Can I just..." Rainbow asked.
"Yep." Blithy handed her an earphone and the iHoof. 
"Hmmm. It's good song..." Rainbow mumbled, scrolling through the music in the music player. "But is this the only song you have?" 
"Well, yeah..." Blithy shrugged.
"Really? You never get used to it?" 
"Nope." Blithy closed her eye again. 
Rainbow took the earphone and music player away and handed them back to Blithy. 
"Certainly like what you did with the place though." Rainbow said, peering into the cell. Blithy was allowed some personal space, and has permission to furnish the cell herself, considering she'd be here for the better half of her life.
"What's that on your wall?" Rainbow gestured at a large billboard with papers and what-seems-to-be blueprints stuck all over it.
"Well... I've been seeing the prison psychologist recently. Because I have nothing to do here, and what I used to do to kill spare time is... Well..." 
"What is it?" Rainbow raised an eyebrow.
"I... Uh.... In your words, whilst being Val, I often sketched up ideas on how to destroy the world."
"And these are all ideas." Rainbow looked at the papers. There seemed to be a blueprint for a super collider or something, there were even detailed drawings and functions of the barricade. "Wow."
"Yeah. So now I'm just drawing up more ideas. The death ray blueprint is almost done." 
"You're not actually going to... You know..." 
"No. Of course not." Blithy said. "It's just that I have nothing to do."
Rainbow face-hoofed.

*

So Octavia's back. Vinyl finally seemed to go back to the cheerful radio DJ everypony loved. Shining Armor still hadn't removed the civilian car from Rainbow's house, which was little more than totally inconvenient. Rainbow, Scootaloo and Octavia managed to drag it out, but it ended up crashing through the neighbor's fence as it went out of control. Obviously Rainbow had to pay up to fix the fence, but the useless car was now the neighbor's problem. 
But now whenever it rained Rainbow's bedroom would get flooded, so Twilight cast a barrier spell to temporarily fix the wall. The construction team should get here soon, so in the meantime Rainbow, Dainty and Octavia stay at a hotel.
Magnum has regained some of her vision, but full recovery could be a full year away. Despite her earlier rejection to the idea, Rainbow and Octavia were still looking after her. Since they now lived in a hotel, Magnum could be just next door.
"...No. You don't guess the passcode. Just-" Magnum took the laptop from Dainty.
"What are you doing?" Rainbow raised an eyebrow as she entered the hotel room. Octavia was off for a walk around Cloudsdale, because that's what she did when she was dead.
"Hacking the hotel mainframe. If Dainty wants to help us with future contracts- she's gotta know something." Magnum explained. "Aha! We're in." 
"How can you even see?" Rainbow asked.
"I don't. Just guessing. But we're in! Now, fake an order for room service..." 
"I'm not taking responsibility for any of this." Rainbow muttered, walking out.
"So you're going to blame the blind mare? Or the filly?" Magnum chuckled.
"I'm going to run away." Rainbow said, closing the door behind her. 
So everything is back to normal then- maybe even better than normal, Rainbow thought as she spotted Octavia walking along the edge of Cloudsdale, looking out towards the evening sky.
Octavia's ear twitched as she heard those familiar hoofsteps behind her.
"I guess I haven't shown you the sunset yet." Rainbow grinned, joining Octavia by the hand rails.
"I'd say they're both equally beautiful." Octavia said, shielding her eyes with a hoof from the intense light. 
"There are some science faction ponies we haven't caught yet..." Rainbow said, leaning on the rails with her back.
"And you want to catch them?" Octavia guessed.
"They deserve to be caught." Rainbow said. "Take a look at this-"
Octavia took a signed piece of paper off Rainbow's hooves.
"Princess Celestia wants us to join the royal military?" Octavia raised an eyebrow.
"To do good." Rainbow noted.
"Well?" Octavia asked, but she already knew the answer.
"If we're going to fight for good, we're going to do it our way." Rainbow smiled, looking up at the sky.
"For Equestria then, I suppose." Octavia tore the sheet of paper apart, scattering the pieces off the side of Cloudsdale. 
They watched as the shredded pieces slowly drifted down, occasionally being lifted by the warm evening breeze.
"I'm going to hunt down the rest of them- and then I can rest in peace." Rainbow said, looking at Octavia and waiting for her answer.
"Can't say much. I'm in, if you are." Octavia said, shrugging.
"Ready to win, partner?" Rainbow grinned, raising a hoof.
"Hell yeah." Octavia grinned too, bro-hoofing Rainbow with a loud snap.
They started walking back to the hotel, backlit by the evening sun as it slowly slid behind the distant horizon. 


The End


Next time, in Bounty Hunters 3: Genesis-

Rainbow and Octavia set out to eliminate the remaining individuals of the science faction, but they're too late- way too late. The individuals have gotten together and stole the TARDIS from Doctor Whooves, traveling back in time and terminating the most important Magic Faction pony of all time- Starswirl the Bearded. More than two hundred spells are wiped from existence, altering the entire timeline. Rainbow and Octavia plunge into a new reality, with everypony still having their memories of the previous reality. Now everypony has two sets of memories of two different realities, all except the 'Splinters'- ponies that lost their memories of one reality. Sadly, Rainbow is one of them- and now, she has no idea where she is in this brand new reality. She isn't the only splinter though- glitches in reality are slowly revealed as Val meets Blithy, Neon meets Melony. Equestria's surface is now a wasteland, roaming with zombies and even more dangerous creatures, all because of the barricade that never went down. The science faction now dominates the world, using the magic faction ponies as slaves to mine underground minerals, while they live watching from the barricade high above the atmosphere. Soon Rainbow discovers she hasn't lost those memories- they had been split from her, and have taken a separate form. The Elements of Harmony are constantly being hunted by the science faction, possible candidates killed immediately. 
The science empire has risen to a new level, with control over absolutely everything.
What will you do now, Rainbow Dash?

Author: I dearly hope you've all enjoyed the series, and look forward to the last book in the Bounty Hunters: War against Science trilogy! It's definitely been a fun series to write, but unfortunately the last book will be coming a little later as I have exams coming up- and, the concluding book deserves a really good cover, so I'll be working on that. In the meantime- check out this full size Rainbow Dash cleaver I made- and thanks to all who have read and favorited the series!
Cleaver:  http://jasper77wang.deviantart.com/art/MLP-BH-Rainbow-Dash-Cleaver-334655838