//------------------------------// // And then life goes on. // Story: White on Black // by TheSexyMenhir //------------------------------// White on Black “And then life goes on” With some vigor Celestia threw the bouquet behind her, where a small crowd of mares had already gathered. A battlecry on her lips Rarity dived for the flowers. That the flowers from Cadence wedding had already wilted away without bestowing a prince charming onto her didn’t dampen her enthusiasm in the least. Sadly all the work she had done on the show and the wedding dresses had left precious little time for her own dress, otherwise she would have noticed that she didn’t sew on the hem of her dress properly. With the sound of ripping fabric Rarity toppled over, rammed straight into the assembled bridesmaids and sending all of them to the floor. Flailing hooves fished for the still flying flower bouquet, but only managed to push it back into the air again. Spike, who had hurried to help Rarity up, only barely dodged the flowers as they flew towards his face, only for it to be sliced cleanly in half by his fins. Startled he flapped with his tail once again sending the now twofold flower arrangement flying through the air. Daintily the flowers came to a halt on the backs of Applejack and Rainbow Dash that had watched the spectacle from the sidelines. Everybody was staring at them. Rainbow Dash turned towards Applejack. Applejack turned towards Rainbow Dash. Both of them stared at the flowers, then at each other. “Gosh darnit!” And that was that. --- Breadn and Merry were sitting on a hill on the castle grounds. All around them people were busy clearing the chaos. “This was quite something, wasn’t it?” Breadn chuckled dryly. “Wouldn’t have thought that you’re such a good wedding planner,” Merry replied. “This was strictly a one time thing... I’ll never do this again,” he grumbled. “Really? What a shame, I wanted you to plan another wedding,” Merry said slyly. Breadn turned to her confusedly, but before he could say anything he felt her lips pressed onto his. --- Twilight sighed. Before her lay a veritable mountain of papers, books, and reports. Only now the numbers were coming in, and it became clear how large scale the damage was. There were really only two things that helped her stay positive as she watched the zero’s pile up, forming an unholy amount of bits. One, the amount of volunteers that had offered to help repair the castle was immense. In fact so immense that she was forced to send a lot of them back home again if she didn’t want any available place in the castle grounds to be filled up with ponies. Two, nobody had been hurt. Of course there were bruises, burned skin, and more than one pony that would have to wear a wig for quite some time, but there had been no fatalities. If she had been so inclined, Twilight would have believed that it was a miracle. When she had confronted Celestia about this amazing fact, the white Alicorn had only smiled and said, “Maybe it was a miracle... or maybe our true nature can’t be hidden by something as weak as a little hate.” After that she had thrown her out of the tent that temporarily served as bedroom during the wedding night. --- Nurse Tenderhoof once again stared at her newest patient. Steel Aegis had been brought into the hospital a week ago, and while physically he was getting better quickly, it was his mental state she was worried about. Normally it wasn’t like her to put her nose into patients personal problems, but when the captain of the royal guard had visited Steel Aegis half the station had heard him screaming. It was very clear that there would be no more royal guard called Steel Aegis. With a sigh she walked into the room. Steel Aegis was still looking out the window, a forlorn look on his face. Tenderhoof forced a smile onto her face and said cheerily, “It’s mealtime Mr. Aegis. I hope you like omelette.” Steel Aegis looked at her, but his eyes didn’t really focus on her face. Tenderhoof’s cheeks began to hurt. Silently she placed the plate before him. Lethargically he poked his meal with a fork, only hesitantly taking a bite. Tenderhoof turned away from the “retired” guardsponie and walked towards the exit. “Excuse me, Nurse.” Tenderhoof stopped. This was the first time he had actually talked with any of the stuff for weeks. His voice was deep and manly, exactly what you expected from a guard. “Yes?” she asked, not daring to turn around. “Say, what’s your name?” “Tenderhoof” she replied. “Tenderhoof, do you have any salt on this station? And maybe some pepper... and some dill?” Steel Aegis asked, hesitantly at first, but growing more and more confident with each word. Tenderhoof turned around to see the stallion stare at the plate as if it was the most interesting thing in the world. Something shifted, maybe it was just the way the light fell through the window, or maybe there was a soft sparkle, whatever it was, for a short moment Tenderhoof couldn’t help but thinking that the round shield on Steel Aegis actually looked more like a plate. --- Pristine Records was busy stuffing the contents of her wardrobe into her saddlebags. The room all around her looked like a bomb had exploded. All her personal belongings had been carelessly thrown aside in her quest to gather whatever would be necessary to start a new life in Griffonia, or the Dragon lands, or wherever she would be safe from the royal guard. In her nervous state, the door suddenly flying open nearly caused her a heart attack. Silver Tongue stood in the door frame, panting heavily as if he had just run a marathon and covered from head to toe in ash and mud. “Silver, you’re still alive? That’s.... erh... that’s great.” Pristine stuttered. Silver Tongue grunted and spit something out. With a metallic clank a sooth covered ringlet landed between them on the floor. Even with all the mud and ash covering it, Celestia’s crown was easy to recognize. Pristine’s eyes grew wide. “Do you know what that is?” she asked under her breath. “Celestia’s crown.” Silver Tongue growled. “This is our story back into high society,” Pristine shouted. “We just have to present this to Celestia and say that we salvaged it for her...” “SHUT UP!” Pristine Records stared at Silver Tongue slackjawed. “I’ve listened to you all my life, now you’re going to listen to me. We’re going to sell this thing, we’re going to buy us a nice house on Haywai, and then we’re going to get married and live happily ever after, are we clear?” Silver barked at the shocked mare. “...” Pristine still could do nothing but stare at him wide eyed. “Good. Now if you would hurry up, I don’t think the guards followed me, but let’s not stress our luck,” he said now more gentle before trotting out the door. Pristine Records was still shocked, and her face was frozen with her jaw hanging open and her eyes threatening to fall out of their sockets, but she followed him nonetheless. --- Celestia and Chrysalis lay in their tent. Exhausted but happy. “Do you think that’s the end of it?” Chrysalis asked her wife. “Of course not. Even if that sudden heel turn should stick with all the ponies in Canterlot, we still will have to deal with the ponies in Manehattan, Baltimare, and all those other cities. Not to mention that we need to start actually integrating the changelings into society.” Even though she was listing all those mammoth undertakings, Celestia’s mood didn’t seem to drop in the slightest. “You seem awfully chipper about all this,” Chrysalis replied, cocking an eyebrow. “Don’t worry that’s just the afterglow, we can go back to being gloomy together soon.” Celestia joked before she kissed Chrysalis again. The changeling queen chuckled as she enjoyed the embrace of her lover. All too soon she became serious again. “Of course that’s all moot if those two don’t find a solution,” she said. “I think we can trust them. If they don’t kill each other first there should be very little that can stop them,” Celestia answered, more serious than before but still with a hint of playfulness in her voice. “I guess you’re right. No use in worrying about something we can’t change,” Chrysalis said finally smiling herself. “Exactly, after all there are other more enjoyable things we could do,” Celestia teased the changeling queen. “Oh? and what did you have in mind?” Chrysalis replied coyly. The camera zooms out, showing us a simple tent, then the ruins of the courtyard, the the whole castle ground that’s filled with ponies who are busy doing repairs. Finally all of Canterlot comes into view, only to quickly fade into the distance. Soon we can see all of Equestria. In the distance the sun rises above the horizon it’s light being reflected in the ocean water. The screen goes black. The End... A pink pony walks onto the screen from the left. She takes out a spray can and with a slight hiss words begin to form: The beginning!