//------------------------------// // XX. Epilogue // Story: The River Rose // by Stosyl //------------------------------// “Is this the address?” said Luna, pointing to the two-story workshop of a shoemaker. The building was growing crooked with age, and the stucco was cracked in every corner. “Apartment C,” Emerald answered. “I know you wouldn’t expect it, but they’ve fallen on hard times, after all.” They were on the market side of town, where nearly every shop had rooms for rent above its doors. They entered the cobbler’s shop and climbed the steep wooden stairs to the attic, where a door marked with a silver C capped the hallway. Emerald knocked four times. “In a second!” replied a mare’s voice from behind the door. The sound of an infant’s crying could be heard inside the apartment, and the crashing of clay dishes. The latch clicked and the door opened upon a stout and tired-looking mare. She was less than half the height of either of the alicorns who greeted her, their horns scraping against the low attic ceiling even as they stooped. The mare’s face brightened when she recognized her visitors. “Emerald!” she beamed, embracing the stately stallion. And with a curtsy, “We are honored to be visited by Your Highness.” Luna bowed her head, bumping her horn on the rotting lintel. “Come in, come in,” said the mare. “I didn’t expect you to come again so soon, Emerald, let alone that you would bring Her Majesty the Princess with you. Please forgive the mess, I am a new mother.” “It’s quite all right,” said Luna. “So, Topaz,” said Emerald, “where is the little bundle of joy?” He began poking his head nosily about the room. “I’ve been trying to put him to bed in the parlor,” Topaz answered, leading them through the narrow apartment. “Mind the chairs! One day the stallion who designed this apartment is going to get a piece of my mind. Who ever heard of passing through the kitchen to reach the parlor? We used to live on Sponson Street! Now we’re reduced to this.” “It’s the price of being in hiding, Topaz,” said Emerald. “I spent the last thousand years without a home, constantly wandering.” “And now you live in the castle,” Topaz rebutted, cynically. “So if I wait a thousand years, I’ll get a castle of my own?” Emerald shrugged. “The future isn’t ours to know.” “You’ll put in a good word for me, of course?” “Of course.” In the parlor the child was shifting in his crib and sobbing. The infant’s coat was black as coal, and when Emerald’s voice approached he looked up at his visitors with wondering green eyes. Emerald reached into his saddlebag and produced a beautifully painted toy train. He feigned engine noises and caught the child’s attention with it, and the baby began to laugh. “There,” said Emerald. “Good as new. I have something for you as well, Topaz.” He rummaged through his saddlebag again and pulled out a fine silk purse. He handed it to Topaz like a tenant paying his rent. “There’s enough gold in that purse to keep you here for a year,” he said. “Emerald, you’re too generous,” said Topaz . “I can’t accept this.” “You’re not accepting it for yourself,” said Luna. “You’re accepting it for your child.” “That child’s happiness is my responsibility,” Emerald added. “If we were able to house you somewhere nicer, we would. As it is you are safer here than anywhere else.” The sound reached them of someone opening the door of the apartment. They all hurried to the hall to greet their host, a dark-grey and meek-looking stallion, who was hanging his jacket on the edge of a kitchen chair when they entered. “Honey,” said Topaz, rushing to kiss him; “home already?” “The factory had to shut down early today,” said Topaz’s husband. “Someone found a loose bolt in one of the machines, and the mechanics are doing a diagnostic. And you just know that if the production slows any more I’ll be the first one they lay off.” He let out a long and weary sigh and held out his hoof to Emerald. “Wonderful to see you again, Your Eminence.” “Likewise.” “Your Highness,” he said with a deep bow to Luna. He averted his eyes to the floor. “Storm, honey,” said Topaz, “look what Emerald gave us.” She held up the heavy purse and let it jingle. “Emerald, my job at the factory is—” “Enough to pay your bills,” Emerald interceded, “and less than you deserve. The truth is, Storm Cloud, we did not come here just to check up on Spade.” Storm Cloud’s eyebrows rose. “Oh?” “How is Whitesnout doing?” Storm Cloud sighed and sat in the chair where he had hung his jacket. “So that’s why you’re here,” he said. “I didn’t feel comfortable discussing it without involving Luna. That is why I have not brought it up until today.” “So you know about White Bird?” “Yes.” “He only told me where they were living, you know,” said Storm Cloud. “I haven’t written them letters or anything.” “So it’s true that they are alive?” said Luna. Storm Cloud nodded. “I figured as much,” said Emerald. “When White Bird said in his letter that he regretted what happened that night, I had a feeling Luna was not the only victim he had helped. And when I followed the address in his letter and found you here, I thought you might know something about it.” “I don’t know much more than you,” said Storm Cloud. “When White Bird hid us here, he brought us food until I could find work. Eventually the night of the Full Moon arrived, and he came before moonrise. He told me he would have to help Spade that night, but before that he had something else to do as soon as the moon rose. When I asked him he told me that he would be raising seven stallions from the dead. “I was so shocked by this I didn’t believe him, but he was very solemn. I asked him who they were, and he reminded me of the night Princess Luna was sealed by Spade. He was very talkative that evening, and he seemed sad. He gave me something.” Storm Cloud walked to a drawer full of silverware, rummaged through the butter knives, and pulled out a small fragment of torn paper. He handed it to Emerald. “It’s a list,” he said. “Seven names, and an address beside them each. I assume that’s where each of them is living now.” “It says Whitesnout is living in Fillydelphia,” said Emerald, studying the paper. “Well, he was Princess Celestia’s personal bodyguard, so I can see why he has gotten far away from here. I can’t even believe he’s hiding somewhere so populated. Even I have to use a fake name at the factory, and I was just a sergeant major.” “Can I keep this?” Emerald held up the list. “Go ahead,” said Storm Cloud. “I don’t want it.” A short silence passed between the four of them while the infant laughed in his crib in the parlor. Topaz put a kettle on the stove for tea and sat beside her husband at the table. She pulled out chairs for Emerald and Luna, who thanked her and sat near the entrance. “We can’t thank you enough for agreeing to care for Spade,” Emerald said as he sat. “It’s more than I ought to have asked of you.” “Don’t be silly, Emerald,” said Topaz with a bright smile. “It’s difficult, but he really is a delight. We’ve wanted a foal for many years now, after all.” “Have you thought of what to name him yet?” “We were thinking Snowfall,” said Storm Cloud, “after my uncle.” “That’s a good, gentle name,” Emerald smiled. He glanced through the short hall into the parlor at the laughing baby. “No cutie mark yet?” “Heavens, no,” said Topaz. “He’s hardly even a foal yet.” “Do you think his talent will be the same?” said Storm Cloud, nervously. “I only mean, will he be the same as he was?” “No, no,” said Emerald. “A talent has as much to do with upbringing as it has with birth, if not more. He is not Stowaway Spade anymore. Raise him well, and he will grow into a fine stallion. Who’s to say what his new talent will be? But the same resentment will not grip his heart unless you put it there.” “Exactly,” said Topaz. “Don’t speak nonsense, dear.” “There would hardly be a point if Spade weren’t getting a second chance at life. That’s what I want for him. I’ve caused him too much pain. Now I only hope I can make it up.” Emerald pushed his chair back and stood up to leave, and Luna followed him. Reaching into his saddlebag one last time, he extracted a small book with a binding of waxed paper, held shut by a piece of twine. A silk signet was sewn into the spine as a bookmark, and loose leaves of paper burst hectically from its pages, along with note stubs and pressed flower petals. “When Snowfall is older, I want you to give him this,” he said, handing the fat little tome to Storm Cloud. “What is it?” “It’s my alchemy journal. I took his magic from him; when he proves himself a worthy stallion he should have it back.” “I’ll keep it in our lockbox until he comes of age,” said Storm Cloud, setting the journal aside. “Thank you for all your kindness, Emerald,” said Topaz. “And you, Princess Luna. I know this wouldn’t have happened without your help.” “Not at all,” Luna blushed. “I leave him to you now,” said Emerald. “Take care of him. Show him all the beautiful things this world tries to hide from us. Give him a dream, something lovely to yearn for. And don’t worry,” he added; “I’ll be watching over him.” Emerald and Luna excused themselves and left the musty attic apartment, down the steps and out of the shoemaker’s shop. The sky was clear and the wind carried the odorous chill of late September through the crowded Canterlot market. “The Blue Harvest Moon is just a week away,” said Luna when they were in the open air. “Do you still plan on meeting White Bird?” Emerald smiled and fixed his eyes on her. “All the things in this world fall under one of two categories,” he answered: “those which can be planned, and those which cannot be avoided. White Bird is the latter.” “If you think it’s wise,” Luna conceded. “Wise or not, I cannot help this feeling of obligation. In his letter White Bird told me that the Elements were at risk of being stolen by a rogue. We can’t let the Elements be used for evil, can we?” “You are right, we cannot.” The two alicorns, sapphire blue and emerald green, walked shoulder to shoulder through the bustling market. Putting their heads together they basked in the early twilight, and in the gas-lit lamps along the narrow street, where what little sun was left could never reach. Emerald closed his eyes and let himself be led along by Luna’s stride. He allowed his mind to drift, and smiling he daydreamed of his newfound bliss; his newfound friends; his newfound home.