Case 18
Epilogue
Future. That period of time in which our affairs prosper, our friends are true and our happiness is assured.
~Ambrose Bierce
It took us about ten minutes to get Cadence to a hospital. The whole time she was screaming in pain as her baby wanted to come out. I kept having flashbacks to the last time I was in the hospital when a baby was being born. I couldn't get the sound of Cadence crying as she was being taken away by the nurses out of my head.
I sat on a chair in the lobby, looking down at my hooves. Shining was inside with his wife and the doctors as the baby was being born. Twilight’s parents were nearby, waiting quietly for their grandchild. I felt a gentle rub on my back, I turned to see Twilight’s concerned amethyst eyes. “Private, you’ve been very quiet ever since we got here,” she said gently.
“Sorry,” I replied, as my ears flattened a little. “I’m just thinking about my mom.”
Twilight wrapped her foreleg around me and rested her head on my shoulder. “It’s all right," she assured me, "the doctors know what they’re doing.”
“I know,” I said, returning my gaze to my hooves, “that doesn’t make me any less anxious.”
“You’d think it was your own kid,” Twilight said with a little laugh, trying to lighten the mood.
“Well, she and Shining are good friends of mine” I replied with a faint smile. “I just want to make sure they come out all right.”
Twilight just smiled and pressed her muzzle to mine “I think it's very sweet of you to think about us like that, despite us not being family.”
Yet…
Suddenly the doors opened and in stepped Princess Celestia herself. Everypony in the room bowed for a minute before Celestia came to speak to Twilight and I, “So, I heard that my dear niece is having her foal?”
Twilight nodded in excitement and replied, “Yes Princess Celestia, she’s in there right now!”
Celestia laughed at Twilight’s enthusiasm and said, “I’m happy to hear that, she will be lucky to have such a brilliant aunt.” Twilight blushed at her teacher’s praise.
I looked around, and asked the question lingering in my mind “Where are Cadence’s parents?”
Celestia’s face formed a frown. I felt a little guilty at bringing up a prossibly a sore subject. Finally the princess simply stated, “They’re not with us anymore.”
“I’m sorry to hear that,” I said, bowing my head in apology.
“Your curious nature would’ve led you to find out anyway,” Celestia mused, but then her expression turned serious. “Cadence’s parents ruled a small country long ago. When that country was destroyed I adopted her as my niece. She, however, has family right here for her.”
“We’ll be there for her,” Twilight nodded determinedly. “Shining is in there now, she’ll be okay.”
“Now, Private,” Celestia said, looking over at me “If you’ll excuse me and my student for a bit?”
“Sure,” I replied with a nod. I was strolling down the hallway when Night Light walked up to me.
His expression was serious as he asked, “Private, can we talk alone?”
I nodded and we headed outside. As we sat down together on a small bench, he asked, “Private, you’ve been with my daughter for a while, haven’t you?”
“We’ve known each other for several months now,” I said, with a small smile. “It’s been quite an adventure.”
He smiled in turn and said, “I have to ask then, are you serious about my daughter? Would you want to be with her forever?”
I thought about it for a moment. Twilight was brilliant, beautiful, sweet, and supportive. She’d make a great wife one day, but the real question I felt, was am I ready? I don’t know yet, I felt like there’s still some things I have to deal with. There was so much I still wanted to learn about Twilight. I decided that my answer was thus:
“Yeah, someday,” I said, with a smile on my face.
He nodded firmly and spoke honestly, “Private, I’ve read all about your adventures with her. You two do some dangerous things on your cases.”
Crap! Time travel also made him responsible!
He gave a small laugh and said, “I know you have her best interests at heart each time you take her along, and I know you’ll be there for her. So when you figure everything out, I’d love to have you as a son in law.”
I blinked in sheer shock; Night Light said he wanted me as a son in law? I felt my face turn a deep scarlet at the thought of marrying Twilight. I shook my head and asked, “What makes you think I’m the one?”
“You remind me of somepony,” he said, almost too himself, “somepony I used to know, a long time ago.”
I smiled and said, “Someday I will get the courage to ask Twilight, but I still have some things in my life to figure out before I do.”
“I understand,” Night Light nodded. “I wanted to make sure, but I hope you can keep her safe until then.”
“I promise I’ll keep her safe,” I vowed. “I love her Night Light, more then anything I’ve ever loved.”
“Make it a promise…” he said as he extended his hoof.
We shook right then, I felt, confident. Like I could take on the whole world after that. I’m guessing taking on crazy doctors can do that to you. Speaking of which…
I looked past Night Light and saw the Doctor leaning on his Tardis. He gave me a small wave and I said to Night Light, “I gotta take care of something, I’ll meet you back inside.”
“All right,” Twilight’s dad nodded, “I’ll see you soon.” He walked past me and added in a low whisper, “Son…”
That no good, he’s worse then dad is! I’m starting to regret fixing his past. I just shrugged and walked over to the Doctor. He gave me a smile and said, “You’ve really made their lives better, Private.”
“That thing you said,” I asked, “about time being rewritten? Was I right to do that?”
“I normally try not to change history,” the Doctor answered, “but, in my opinion I think you handled it well.”
“What about Thirteen?” I asked. “Did we destroy him?”
“Possibly,” the Doctor said, rubbing his chin in thought, “but, the question is who opened the door in the first place? That’s what I’m prepared to find out.”
“I wish you luck then,” I said with a smile.
“You know,” he said slowly, “I could use a guy like you once in a while.”
“Are you asking me to come along?” I asked with a blink.
“Maybe not now,” he said, “but someday we might run into each other again.”
“I hope so, Doc.”
“Don’t call me, Doc,” he said, rolling his eyes. “Makes me sound too weird.”
“So where are you off to, Doctor?” I asked.
“I was thinking,” he said in thought, “I’ve been to the past enough, time to focus on the future.”
“Hook me up when you get there,” I said, as he opened his Tardis.
The Doctor was about to enter when he said suddenly, “Oh, keep the key, it could be useful to you.”
“You sure?” I asked.
“This way you’ll know whenever I’m in the neighborhood,” he said, before walking inside his Tardis. “See you around Private, take care of that mare of yours.”
“I will,” I said as the door closed in front of me. I saw the Tardis vanish slowly into thin air. That Doctor, so much I don’t know about him, but, maybe that’s the reason why so many come along. Maybe they wanted to get to know him…
Could also be the reason why many choose to leave…
__________________________________________________________
It was about two hours of waiting before a nurse finally let us in. I followed Twilight who was following behind Celestia as we rounded the corner into the hospital room. Celestia stayed outside as I entered with Twilight’s family.
We got inside and I saw arguably, the most wonderful thing in the world. I saw Cadence lying on a hospital bed, with a small bundle in her forelegs. Her husband was standing beside her, looking down in wonder at the bundle.
Twilight ran to Cadence’s bedside and spoke excitedly, “Cadence! What is it? Is it a unicorn? What’s her coat color? What kind of eyes does she-“
“Calm down, Twilight,” Cadence said, looking tired. “You’re starting to act like Pinkie Pie.”
Twilight flushed as Velvet stood beside her daughter and said, “So, let’s all see our grandchild.”
Cadence gently moved the blanket and I saw the foal for the first time. She was a deeper shade of pink then her mother. Her mane was curly with yellow and periwinkle colors in it. Her big blue eyes slowly opened and she squealed in delight at the sight of her mother.
I felt like I was going to have a heart attack from the sheer cuteness she had.
Cadence nuzzled her daughter gently, I noticed a small stub of a horn on the baby’s head. She was a unicorn?
“She’s beautiful, Cadence,” Shining said, nuzzling his daughter affectionately. The little filly reached her tiny hooves and hugged her father’s muzzle. This caused everypony in the room to sigh in delight at her.
Twilight walked to her niece, smiled down at her, and cooed, “Hi there, I’m your Aunt Twilight.”
The filly gave a small laugh of delight and reached her tiny hooves for her. Twilight obliged and gently nuzzled the filly. The filly gave a laugh and reached to hung Twilight’s horn, that’s when I saw them…
She had wings! Cadence’s baby was an Alicorn!
“Congratulations, you two,” Celestia said as she entered.
“Aunt Tia,” Cadence cried, “you made it!” Then she looked a little guilty. “I hope I’m not keeping you from anything…”
“And miss my niece’s foal being born?” Celestia replied in a mock hurt tone. “Not for all the cake in Equestria.”
The memory of her carnivorous habits with the dessert brought a small smile to my face. Celestia walked past us and looked down at the Alicorn filly “And an Alicorn as well? Truly a blessing she is.”
The filly gave a smile at Tia, she really just couldn’t stop smiling could she?
“So what’s her name?” Twilight asked eagerly.
“Well, we thought a lot about it,” Shining said, looking at his sister then at his daughter, “her name is Princess Sklyandea Mi’Amore Armor.” He gave a small laugh. “Skyla for short.”
“That’s a wonderful name,” Celestia mused. “Now if you all will excuse me, I have royal duties to attend to.” She turned and was prepared to walk away…
Until Skyla did something odd, the little princess was looking right at me. Her blue eyes seemed to, I don’t know, study me. She then reached out a hoof, as if saying she wanted me to come over.
I looked over at Cadence, “Are you sure it’s okay? I mean, I’m not one-“
“She wants to see you for whatever reason.” Cadence said, as confused as I was. The she just smiled and said, “I think it’s only right she meet her future uncle.”
“Cadence!” both Twilight and I cried at the same time. Everypony else in the room laughed at our reactions. Skyla kept her odd expression; she just kept staring at me.
I slowly walked to the little princess and held out a hoof, “Hi there, I’m Private.”
She tilted her head then took my hoof in her tiny ones. She then started reaching more. What was she trying to get? She obviously wanted something on me. I moved a little closer until she could reach my chest. Suddenly Skyla’s little horn glowed a sharp blue. Was this something an Alicorn could do at such a young-
I felt a weight around my neck, Tenacity was hung on my chest, displaying its eye symbol proudly. Skyla was reaching for it, gently picking up the diamond element in her little hooves. She stared at it with sheer fascination. Was she interested in the Elements of Harmony for some reason? How’d she get it to appear? So many questions bounced around my head as Skyla stared at my element. Then she put the diamond in her mouth and went back to being cute again.
Cadence took her daughter back with a light scolding for “trying to gobble up an important artifact” However, it was all taken as kids being kids. Skyla subsequently curled up into her mother’s pink fur and fell asleep, snoring lightly.
“She has her dad’s sleeping habits it seems,” Cadence teased.
We all just watched the little filly, sleeping soundly against her mother. I gave one last look to Celestia, as she walked away. Her expression… I just couldn’t read it at all.
___________________________________________________________
Perspective: The Doctor
I sighed as I leaned against the Tardis consul. That was truly a close one. I was almost afraid Private would be stuck there. Thankfully everything turned out all right in the-
I smiled, looked above me and said, “You know, it’s no fun being brilliant if nobody is here looking impressed.”
“What if I’m brilliant too?” a voice asked above me.
“You don’t count, you were born from me,” I smirked, just as she appeared in front of me. She tossed her blond mane and gave me a wide smile. I ran to her and threw my forelegs around her tightly, “Oh I’m sorry you had to put up that act.”
She smiled at me, her horn glowed a little and her coat became the same brown as mine. Her blond mane remained the same, however. She pressed her muzzle against mine and said, “I missed you Dad.”
“I missed you too, Jenny.” I said, nuzzling her back. “You were brilliant, we had those gingers taken care of.” I gave her a wink. “Nice touch with the manure wagon there.”
She smirked at me and said,“Well, I did learn from the best after all.” She then gave me a light push and walked to the consul, petting it gently. “Hey sexy, keeping my dad out of trouble, are you?”
A clank followed by two whirs on the consul was Sexy’s answer, “I know he’s a pain in the ass, but we gotta love him, it’s kind of the rules.”
I frowned and said defiantly, “I’m not that much of a pain…”
She looked back at me with now green eyes and replied, “Sorry Dad, we kind of outvote you.”
“So,” I said, as I walked to her, watching her swing her hind legs as she sat on the consul. “Using a perception filter on little Twinkle to allow her to see her dad without causing a stir?” I smiled at her. “That was pretty clever.”
“Not as clever as using River’s personality to mask who I really was.” She frowned and asked, “She’s going to kill me isn’t she?”
“Eh,” I replied, dismissively, “she’ll just go on some crazy adventure with me and all will be forgiven.”
“I hope so, Dad,” she said, leaning back a little. “So, care to explain what you’re doing with a certain grey Pegasus?” she asked, a giddy smile on her face.
“Care to explain what you’re doing with a certain captain?” I retorted.
“Nothing’s going on,” she whined. “Jack just was showing me some tech.”
“Just so long as that was all he was showing,” I said, slipping into father mode. It happens overtime she comes around, I couldn’t help it to be honest.
She crossed her forelegs in defiance, “Fine, but I’ve known you to be eyeing that pegasus’ flank.” She then gave me a light smirk and teased,“getting feisty despite old age?”
“It’s not like that and you know it,” I retorted, putting my sonic screwdriver in to recharge. “So, moving on before this conversation get’s any more strange,” I looked over at her and asked curiously, “What do you think?”
“Of that detective?” She gave it some thought and then said teasingly, “Not much of a fighter, if I were in there I could break that Graff’s bones like-“
“That’s not what I meant” I retorted.
“I’m just kidding, Dad,” she replied with a laugh. “In all honesty, I think this’ll all work out in the end…”
I looked over at her in all seriousness and asked, “The future you went to before I found you, what was it like?”
“It’s best I show you,” she said, tapping some switches and pulling levers on the consul. The Tardis rumbled a bit and she looked over at me. “Prepare yourself, Dad, it’s not pretty.”
I walked to the Tardis door and slowly opened it. We landed on a small cliff that gave us a good view of the area that used to be Ponyville. I say used to be because all that was left of the charming little town was some ruins and the bleak landscape surrounding it.
Jenny walked to stand beside me, “We are two hundred years in Equestria’s future…”
“What caused this?” I asked, looking out at the dead land before me.
Jenny looked over at me, her green eyes meeting my own, and replied, “Something caused the zebra and the ponies to go to war with one another. They fired off all these mega spells at each other. I saw the battle from space, it was horrible. On top of that, somebody swiped my blaster when I landed.”
“All of this somehow ties into Private somehow?” I asked.
“Yep,” she said with a nod, “something terrible is going to happen.” She looked down, and pulled up a small ruined poster. “Dad, come and take a look at this.”
I looked over at her; on the poster was propaganda about “Serving the princess” my eyes grew wide. There on the poster was Twilight Sparkle. She had wings, and her eyes were glowing bright green…
Somehow in the future, all this will come about. I looked over at Jenny and asked, “You know how she could’ve gotten this way?”
She nodded and answered seriously, “You know that blue mist stuff that almost got you a few days ago? Oh yeah, that’s probably the cause.”
“The real question is,” I mused, as I looked at the poster, “at what point in history does Twilight become like this?”
“Now you know why I brought Twinkle along,” she said, tossing the poster aside. “She can’t fall, Twilight needs Private.”
“So, looks like we gotta keep playing matchmaker then,” I said with a smile.
“Well, we have done stranger things,” she answered with a laugh.
It was good to have her around again. Jenny may have been in disguise, but what she said was right on the money. I needed somebody to keep me from falling when my legs gave out. The sad thing is, I needed companions around.
It gets very lonely in the wide universe but, life will always somehow get you friends in unexpected places.
Even out of a hand I don’t have anymore.
_____________________________________________________________
Perspective: Voidera
Tia and I stood in front of the stain glass window depicting Discord’s third defeat at the hooves of the elements of harmony. Private was in the middle of a circle of elements, displaying his element proudly.
I looked over at Tia “You’re sure?”
“There’s no doubt in my mind” She said firmly “Skyla’s reaction to Private’s element proves that she does indeed recognize him.”
“Nearly a millennium,” I said in reflection, “Lunard will come soon…”
“He will be looking for Skyla,” she said with a slow nod. “Sombra will also try and pursue Private as well, to claim what was stolen from him.”
“We must do everything in our power to keep them out of either’s hooves,” I stated firmly, “but we mustn’t deny what needs to be done.”
“Must they be tested?” Tia asked. “Surely the Element’s-“
“Their power alone is hardly going to be enough anymore,” I replied. “Lunard is going to look for any weakness he can exploit, and he will not be above claiming Skyla as his own.”
“Such an innocent creature,” Tia closed her eyes. “Perhaps it was wrong to ask Eclipse to do as he did.”
“You know why he stole it,” I replied. “He did it to save…”
“I know,” she answered. “That’s why Skyla recognizes Tenacity. It was originally meant to be hers. The true line of the Crystal Kingdom, the children of Aria, is alive through Cadence and Skyla. Sombra will try and seize them.”
“This is why we must have Private use Tenacity for a little while longer,” I stated. “I hate to put him in danger, but it’s for the best.”
“It shouldn’t have to be this way,” Celestia said, looking at me. “Lunard will-“
“Will not be stopped by just us two,” I interrupted. “War is coming, Lunard knows what we can do now. He will come again…and he will try and take this world again.”
“Then we must prepare,” she said, walking to a small book. “I’ve already given Luna everything she will require. Lunard will not use her again, and even with that we will still require more to help.”
“What of the Changelings?” I asked “Swarm has helped free them.”
“A hive of them,” Celestia pointed out. “Even then you know Chyrsalis will require little persuading to side with Lunard-“ She was cut off at my expression. “Don’t think what I know you’re thinking.”
“I know, Tia,” I answered, keeping my expression, “but even still, had I tried to help her more…”
“Starbright would still have fallen,” she said with a slow shake of her head. “She wasn’t in love with you Voidera, she was in love with your namesake. That is what destroyed her, not you.”
“So where does that leave us now?” I asked.
“We will allow the Elements to be tested,” she said firmly, “Twilight most of all.”
“You’re still considering-“
“If it means protecting Equestria I’m willing to try it,” she answered.
“It’s dangerous,” I retorted. “You and I both know what could happen”
“You don’t think I know that?” she yelled at me “My own father is planning on destroying everything we built! The bastard child of a faithful student is planning on taking over the Crystal Empire! Now I have to put another student in jeopardy! You think I want any of this?”
I slowly shook my head and nuzzled her, allowing her to dry her tears on me. “No, I know you don’t want to,” I said soothingly.
“But it has to be done.” She met my eyes. “I hate putting them in danger.”
“As do I, my love,” I answered, “but your subjects are stronger then you think. They will succeed where we failed.”
“You will test Private then?” She asked.,
“I know where to start” I said, looking back at the stain glass window “Also, are you sure Discord will be willing to help?”
“He has little love for Lunard himself” Tia explained. “I have yet to see any being fail to be moved by Fluttershy. For all that he has done, his power will be useful.”
“It’s slowly recovering,” I explained. “Better to reform him now while there’s still a chance to put him back.”
“All of this,” she said, meeting my eyes again, “all of this, will help in the end.”
“So long as the Elements remain strong.” I looked up at Private in the stained glass and said, “He is much like Eclipse from the memories I’ve seen…”
“Eclipse was a noble pony,” Celestia said with a smile. “He took Tenacity so that young Crystallite wouldn’t have too.”
“Let us hope he will be able to face what is coming as Eclipse did, for all our sakes…”
_____________________________________________________
Tap…Tap…Tap…Tap…
Thirteen has gone down…
But he is a fool, blind to his duty…
Tap…Tap…Tap…Tap…
The Doctor will try and fix everything, he always tries…
Tap…Tap…Tap…Tap…
But he will lose eventually,
Yes he will…
Tap…Tap…Tap…Tap…
For I’m coming…
He can’t win this time, I have help…
Tap…Tap…Tap…Tap…
Very, ussseful…help…
Indeed….
Tap…Tap…Tap…Tap…
Bang....Bang...Bang...Bang...