//------------------------------// // Epilogue // Story: Fallout Equestria: War Never Changes // by jarmari //------------------------------// Epilogue: Ten Years Later: "Now I know what you're wondering. What happened with the human? Well if I told you that, what would be the point of a second book?" I finished typing on the computer and yawned, stretching and sitting back from the console. I looked over at my daughter, laying on a bench, a pencil in her magic grip, writing the last journal entry for her cutie mark chronicle for school. After all the memories, all the pictures, everything I had with a child, a lilac unicorn, or a purple pegasus...here lay my olive green daughter, Hera, same colour as my father. When she was born we had named her Candy, just as I had always wanted to do, but when she got older she had decided she didn't like the name, too 'sweet and cutesy' as she'd put it, so she'd changed her named to 'Hera.' Oddly it was even the feminine version of Hurah, which had been my father's name, I wondered if she had done it intentionally, but she always said she liked the name 'Hera' and there was no more to it than that...Her cutie mark was a quill, writing out binary code. She was an expert computer programmer, a fast learner, better than me. When she was younger and learning I had told her she would turn it into an art form, and now her cutie mark reflected that. "So that's the end of the first book?" She asked. "It is." I nodded, saving the work before turning off the computer. "Hey, we're coming in you two." Ruby called from the cockpit of the sky wagon. This wasn't a team wagon, our team had long since disbanded, along with the collective. Years earlier after the Gardens of Equestria Megaspell had been fired, helping restore the world. This was our own personal sky wagon, two rows of benches, two automated turrets, no crate storage, it was for moving a family, no raiding a base. We landed at the sky wagon platform on the edge of town and I moved to the back to open the door while Hera packed up her school things and Ruby powered down the wagon. "GRANDPA!" Two excited little voices called and two blurs tore away from their parents and up the ramp, tackling me in a big hug. "Hello my little zonies." I laughed, hugging them tightly. I sat up and looked down at the twin children in my lap, barely 3 years old. Draconic Blast, white with blue stripes, named for Spike the dragon, after he swooped down and saved her pregnant mother with a burst of flame, and Xeha, black with green stripes, named for his father's grandfather. "Come on you two, let him up, it can't take injuries the way he used to." CB said, walking up the ramp beside Xem. The two children scrambled off of me and with a "Grandma!" they tackled Ruby. I grinned up at CB and Xem as I pushed myself back to my hooves. "I'm not old you know." "Old enough." CB smiled, hugging me tightly. She wore full body security armour, there were still a lot of enemies in the wasteland, and this was an important settlement. I looked down at the golden pipbuck on her hoof, the rainbow grenade decal on the corner denoting it's origin as the Element of Magic. That had been quite the experience when the wielders had come together and the jewelry had transformed into pipbucks. Everypony so excited to see what would happen, and I wanted to play with the new pipbucks and see how they worked compared to pony produced ones. "I'm glad you guys came dad. We don't get to see you often enough." "Well Homage is leaving to see Littlepip in an hour or two so this is the best time to have out meeting, also I think we need to make more of a point of these get togethers. The children should know their family and get to be together. I mean the twins are almost 4, Hera just got her cutie mark, Cam's training is coming along well, he should master his talents any day now, and most importantly, it's my birthday, and Ruby has promised me the best gift I've ever had." "It will be." Ruby said, coming up behind me, a child balanced on each wing, much to their delight. "Now why don't you tend to your business and I'll see to these three?" Ruby asked, walking past us and out into the sunshine, Hera following quickly. "I suppose we'll go with them too." Xem said. "We don't need to be there do we?" "I shouldn't think so, but I hate to think how badly this might go. She was always nervous..." "You'll be fine dad." CB smiled, kissing my horn gently. "I don't know why you waited this long anyway." "I'm not one to force myself into others lives with no good reason...unless they thaw me from a cryopod." I smirked. CB rolled her eyes and walked out of the Sky wagon. "She's in the library, we'll be along in a little while to drop the kids off." "Thanks." I said, walking down the ramp and starting towards the main building. I came up to the door of the reading room in the library, it sat open and inside I saw somepony I hadn't expected to ever get to talk to again. "Hello Ms. Fluttershy." I said softly, walking into the room. The pale yellow Pegasus had her back to the door and was poking through some books on the shelves. "Oh, um, story time isn't for another 30 minutes." She said without looking back. "I know, I actually came to talk to you." I said, walking over and sitting down on the carpet in front of the chair that had been positioned for her to sit in. "Oh?" She turned and looked at me for a long moment, struggling to place my face, and then as if a light had come on. "Doctor Sugarcane?" She set the book down on the side table and sat down in the chair. "How are you here?" "Well I know it's 200 years too late, but the cryopod program worked." I smiled. "I ended up frozen because of an accident and I woke up here about 10 years ago." "Oh that's wonderful...I mean...wonderful that the project worked...not that you got frozen." "I know. I've made due in the wasteland. Made friends, had a family..." "Oh are you bringing your children for the story?" "My grandchildren actually." "You're not old enough for grandchildren..." "I adopted a young filly a few months after I got here, she was just turning 11. You may have met her. Concussive Blast?" "Your daughter is the Element of Magic? Oh yes I've had a few chances to meet her, and her husband and children. It makes me so happy to see Zebras and ponies together again..." "Yeah, they're soul mates...never seen a happier couple. When they first started dating it was almost nauseating how in love they were." I chuckled. "Well love is always beautiful, even if it is tough." "True." I nodded, hesitant to press on but, "so how are you?" She got quiet for a long moment. "I'm...better..." "Well I won't pry." I said quickly, seeing the darkness in her eyes. "My other daughter and my nephew are coming too, though they're older." "If CB is your daughter then your nephew is...Camouflage? The half changeling?" "He's my wife's cousin's son, so for simplicity's sake we just say nephew yes." I nodded. "So you're in town to get together with your family?" "I'm meeting with Homage before she goes out on her big date, I've been doing some work for her and since our paths are crossing here I figured it was as good a time as any to give her a progress report." "Oh, well you should probably go find her, she's going to be leaving soon." Fluttershy said, looking up at the clock on the wall. "Good point." I stood to leave. "It was nice to get to see you again, I always regretted never being able to tell you we finished the cryo pods." "Well you must come visit more often." "I will...I'll see you later Ms. Fluttershy." "Goodbye Cane." She waved to me and I waved back as I left the room, the first few children arriving for the story. ////////// "Are you sure this will work?" Homage asked. "I spent 4 years dissecting Ven's Crusader computer, and I've spent hundreds of hours working on the one Littlepip is interfaced with, I swear it'll work." Homage and I sat in my sky wagon, a box on the bench in front of me. Inside sat the modified recollector Lily had made. I'd been working on it for almost a year on and off with Hera and Lily. Over the years we had streamlined the device down to a helmet with two cables, one ran into either a pipbuck or a computer built into the bottom of the case the helmet was carried in, and another to plug into an external medium, like another unmodified recollector or a Crusader Computer. "So how does it work again?" "You connect it to the interface of the Crusader computer, put in the memory cube..." I pointed to the cube sitting in a pouch inside the box. "And then you put the helmet on, it will load up the world inside the orb. It's a massive bedroom, huge comfy bed in the middle. Ruby and Lily used their...expertise...to select some outfits and toys to equip the room with..." Homage broke into a big grin, "and for whatever reason the electronic counter you wanted will be on the bed side table. Any time there is a loud noise it'll go up by one, and there's a manual reduction button on it, but what in Equestria do you want that for?" "That's my business." She smirked. "Also, just in case the program separation doesn't work the way we think it will there's a lovely soundproof room for Princess Celestia to wait in. It has a nice couch, and will be wired to the rest of the system to allow her to continue to monitor the situation outside of the simulation. She also has a kill switch in there in case of emergencies." "Fair enough." Homage nodded excitedly. "This is going to be WAY better than the original plans we had, Cane you are my hero. You have time and again gone above and beyond for me without asking anything in return. The music, the work on the crusader computer, this interface." She looked like she might break into tears and instead stepped forward and hugged me tightly. "If I weren't in a committed relationship...and not into mares..." She sighed, composing herself before stepping back from the hug, smiling kind of impishly at me now. "What?" "DAD!" I jumped and Homage burst out laughing. I turned and saw Hera's grinning face on the computer monitor. "What? Are you kidding?! How did you hack my system again that fast?" "Have you met me? I'm just that good." She grinned. "Hi Homage." "Hi Candy." "My name is Hera now. Candy is too sweet." She made a face. "Aww no, that's not how this pony rolls. You are my sweet little Candy Cane." Homage smirked. "I remember holding you as a newborn while your parents were on a tear through tenpony tower." "A 'tear', my parents?" Hera rolled her eyes. "I babysat so they could have a night out to themselves." "Are you done yet?!" I could hear CB's voice on the other side of the monitor. "Hera...how did you hack my new security so quickly?" I asked flatly. Hera grinned sheepishly and held up CB's golden pipbuck, which was still attached to CB, and also wired to the computer Hera sat at. "Oh come on! That's cheating! You aren't allowed to use the Element of Magic to break my computer encryptions. That's like using a laser rifle to light a match." "Hey fair's fair." Hera shrugged. "I'll show you fair!" CB snapped, and Hera was shoved out of the frame of the computer as CB replaced her. "Dad seriously, we're ready for you so get over here." Hera's hooves shot up and were trying to shove CB back out of the way but she didn't stand a chance against the older and much stronger mare. "Nice to see you again Homage." "You too CB." Homage said, waving happily. CB turned to Hera, still off the screen save her front hooves. "Now unhook me from this computer or I swear I'll end you, I don't care if you are my sister!" The monitor went dead and Homage burst out laughing anew. "I babysat you one night?" I asked. "That was the best you could come up with?" "Well I don't know how much of your life you've told her about." Homage said, wiping the tears from her eyes. "I don't want to be the one to start the whole 'where did daddy go for 6 months' conversation." "She knows." I said finally, moving to the packed up recollector and closed up the box again quickly. "Now, you should really get going because you're going to be late for your big date, and you don't want to make a bad impression do you?" "No sir I do not." She nodded, taking the case and carrying it along beside her. "Thanks again Cane. You'll have made Littlepip's decade with this." "Just remember it can only run for an hour or so before you have to go out and reset it." "Fair enough." She nodded, waving goodbye as she headed towards the entrance of the town to the waiting convoy. ////////// I walked up towards CB and Xem's house, just a street over from the security center where CB worked, Lily sat at the picnic table on the front lawn, Brutus sitting beside her, CB and Xem sat across from them and they all watched the children playing on the other side of the lawn. "Uncle Cane! You're finally here!" Came an excited young voice and a black blur emerged from the bushes, leaping across the lawn and landing at the gate. "I'm finally here Cam." I said to the half changeling. He had all the outward appearance of a normal changeling but we had learned early in his life that he didn't quite have the knack for transformation that changelings did. "Can I show 'em now mom? Can I, can I, can I?" He asked, looking at Lily hopefully. Lily looked at me for a moment and I shrugged, moving to sit down beside Brutus. "Sure Cam, go for it." He broke into a big grin and ran to the front gate again. "Guys come on!" He said to the twins. They looked up at him, pausing their game to watch. "Alright, and now the great and amazing Camouflage will blow your minds!" He announced. "Watch in wonder as I...DISAPPEAR!" He flashed bright green for a moment and when the light faded he was nowhere to be seen. Except by my ever faithful pipbuck, of course, which showed that he hadn't actually moved. "WOW! Where did he go?!" DB cried, looking at the table of adults for an explanation. "It would spoil the trick if we told." CB smiled. "Now I..." There was another flash and he reappeared. "AM BACK!" "WOW!" The twins cheered, and we all applauded him. He grinned and ran over to the side of the house, another flash and he vanished again. He wasn't able to transform, but he had perfect chameleon skills, I watched him walk across the wall of the house, completely invisible save for the indicator on my E.F.S. I watched him walk on, and realized CB's head was turning slowly as she watched him walk along too, over behind the twins, and then..."BOO!" He appeared behind them and they cried out and dashed to the table in fright, diving under it and cowering, glaring at him as he burst out laughing. The front door opened and Lily's wing shot out in front of my face as everyone started to sing 'Happy Birthday.' I felt Ruby come up beside me and lean in close and set something down in front of me. "AND YOU SMELL LIKE HORSE POOOOOOO!!!!!" The younger children finished, losing themselves to fits of laughter. Lily finally pulled her wing back to reveal... "Cupcakes!" I gasped, looking from the tray of blue and yellow frosted sweets to Ruby and Hera, both of whom still had flour on their faces. "I told you I'd make them for you one day." She grinned, leaning in and kissing me, much to the disgust of the children. "I just had to wait for Wheat to be a thing again...also eggs that didn't make them taste horrible..." "What're cup...cakes?" Cam asked curiously, coming over to look at the tray. "They're little pieces of happiness." I said, floating one up to my mouth. Ruby looked nervous as I took a bite. They were sweet, perfectly baked, the icing was a little thicker than I liked, and it had kind of an egg-y taste, but overall not bad for what was probably the first fresh batch of cupcakes in 200 years. "They're perfect." I grinned, looking at everyone at the table when I realized they were all watching me. "I hope everyone else is going to eat some too or I'm gonna get a stomach ache." I said slowly and the kids were the first in line, each taking one as I passed them out, biting in and marveling at how delicious they were, moving back to their space opposite the picnic table. "Am I too late for the party?" A gravely voice asked from the front gate. "Grandma!" Camo shot up from the ground and ran to the gate, opening it for the new arrival. "You have to see what I can do!" "Whoa whoa there little one, breathe, gimme a chance to get myself situated." She laughed, walking over to the picnic table. "Sorry, caravan ran into some bandits a few miles west, had to show em what's what and it held us up a few hours." "That's alright, I'm just glad you made it." I said, hugging her as she came up beside me. "And cupcakes! Who would have thought the day would come I'd get to see these again?" "Help yourself." Ruby said, sitting down beside me. This...This was nice. After so many crazy adventures, so much weird shit, here I sat, family and friends all around me, my children with me, happy, healthy, safe...War might never change, but it seems neither do the ideals of friendship and love, even if they are forgotten for a while.