//------------------------------// // Epilogue: Enjoying Death // Story: For Queen and Country // by Gherkin //------------------------------// "You know, you should try it sometime. Get away from it all. It really lends perspective." *** Twilight Sparkle sat on her haunches, looking down at the chaotic scene from above as it played out. How everything has changed in just the last few days, she pondered. Nopony ever knew that there was life beyond our planet. Heck, some laughed at the mere notion. How wrong they were. She looked up at James, who had ripped off a section of his jacket’s sleeve and was using it to bind a wound he had sustained during the previous battle. I can’t help but think he’s done this kind of thing countless times before. “You alright?” she heard him ask as he stepped towards her, looking over the edge of the building at the royal guards below. “That got pretty intense back there.” Twilight sighed, and looked up again. “Yeah, I’m okay. A few scratches, but nothing a good night’s sleep can’t fix.” Probably won’t be having one for a while, though. “Or maybe a trip to the spa with Rarity, when I get back to Ponyville.” She smiled at the idea, before looking down at the wrecked carriage far below. She noticed a few guards carrying Brute Force away in a bodybag, and turned back to Bond again. “Do you think he really thought he was doing the right thing?” she asked. “No,” he answered simply. “Even if he had convinced himself that he was doing a good thing, he would have only exploited his position of power, had he gained one. He may have preached about freedom, for everybody, but in the end he would have stood to gain something from it all.” She thought about this for a second. “Hmm,” she murmured. “I suppose. It’s a shame, really.” She sighed and looked down at the wreck below once again. “It didn’t need to end this way. He didn’t need to die.” Bond nodded and grunted in agreement, before sitting down next to her, looking over the edge. “How are you holding up?” he asked, looking over at her as she continued to stare downwards. “I’ll manage,” she told him. “Like I said, nothing a trip to the spa won’t fix. Honestly, I’m just shaken up by it all. So much has happened so fast. I mean, you show up in the middle of town and suddenly I’m dragged into this mess of a conspiracy. I’ve come closer to being killed more times in the last few days than I have in all the other times I’ve found myself in danger.” “You didn’t have to come with me to Canterlot that day, you know,” James pointed out. “You could have just stayed home with your friends. I wouldn’t have stopped you.” Twilight smiled and looked up at him. “Well, yeah, I guess, but I couldn’t do that. You needed somepony to go with you to meet the princesses. Besides, I wasn’t going to abandon a friend in a time of need.” She paused. “We are friends, right?” Bond paused too, for a brief moment, before smiling slightly. “Yeah, we’re friends. Speaking of which, though, I think the rest of your friends are worried sick about you right now. I assume you told them that you were supposed to be returning to Ponyville?” The mare gasped. “Oh, you’re right!” She bounced to her hooves and started pacing back and forth. “I never got to meet any of them before I was kidnapped. They’ve probably gotten Spike to send a letter to Princess Celestia telling them I’ve gone missing!” “I think you’re probably right,” James agreed, getting to his feet and looking to the sky. Snapping herself out of her worry, Twilight followed his gaze. When she saw what he saw, her eyes widened, and a smile broke out upon her face. “Princess Celestia!” she called out, bouncing forward to meet her mentor as she landed deftly on the rooftop. “Twilight, my faithful student,” the princess returned the greeting, wrapping a wing around the unicorn and bringing her into an embrace. “Thank goodness you’re alright. I received a letter from your friends that said you hadn’t shown up in Ponyville, so I dispatched a squad of guards, and came as soon as I could.” “Thank you, princess,” Twilight replied, hugging Celestia and James looked on. “James and I already managed to end the problem, though.” Bond nodded. “Twilight was very brave. I couldn’t have stopped Brute Force without her.” “Don’t forget that you saved my life too, James,” she pointed out as Celestia released her. “If it weren’t for you, I’d probably be dead, or still in the hooves of these ponies.” Princess Celestia smiled warmly, stepping towards 007. “Thank you, James, for everything you have done. For protecting Twilight, as well as myself and my sister. We owe you a great debt.” Bond simply nodded as she peered over the roof of the casino. “It is... regrettable that Brute Force met his end like this. The death of anypony, even a hateful one such as he, is a sadness.” She turned back to Bond. “Thank you again. I cannot stress how grateful I am.” “It was my pleasure, princess,” he responded simply. “Did you find what, or who, you were looking for at the Canterlot University?” she asked him, as another carriage hauled by guards touched down on the roof. James nodded. “Yes, I did. Turns out the mare who brought me here wasn’t everything she said she was. She masqueraded as a kidnapped professor.” Celestia thought on this for a moment. “Did you kill her too?” she asked grimly. Bond nodded, but Twilight spoke up. “To be fair, princess, I was in danger at the time. If James hadn’t acted, she would have killed me.” The princess bristled slightly, but turned to Bond again, smiling with gratitude. “Then thank you again, James. Now, I think we should be getting back to Canterlot immediately.” “I concur,” 007 said. “I’ve had enough of this place.” The three of them climbed aboard the royal carriage, which promptly took to the sky as the guards that were pulling hauled it away. Twilight looked down upon the city of Las Pegasus as it faded into the distance, before turning back to the princess. “Princess, do you think you could send a letter to Spike and my friends?” she asked, suddenly remembering her past worries. “Just so they know that I’m alright?” Celestia smiled. “Of course, my faithful student.” Her horn lit up, and a quill and scroll of parchment appeared in front of her with a small flash of light. She picked them both up with her magic, and wrote the note quickly yet elegantly. Finished, she rolled the scroll up, and sent it away to Twilight’s friend and assistant. The unicorn breathed a sigh of relief, and settled down comfortably in her seat. “So, what happens now?” Bond asked the princess. “You can go home,” Celestia told him, much to his relief. “Though the process can be very tiring, for all of those involved. I recommend you stay for one more night, to get some rest.” James contemplated this, and nodded. “Thankfully, the spell won’t require you to be on the brink of death, unlike the version that brought you here.” James smiled. “Well, that’s certainly a relief. Not exactly the most pleasant experience, plunging off a bridge with a bullet wound in your chest.” “I can imagine.” “James,” Twilight suddenly spoke up. “What is that you do, exactly? You said you’re a secret agent, but what does a secret agent do?” Bond raised an eyebrow. “If I told you that, I wouldn’t be a very good secret agent, would I? Besides, you only knew about that because Celestia read my mind.” “I had to know I could trust you,” the princess justified. “And I found that I could. If you’re worried about your country’s secrets, then you needn’t. I only skipped through the basics. James Bond, agent 007. Earned his license to kill after killing a section chief selling classified information. You fight for your country, to keep it safe,” she recounted. “A noble cause. We’re not looking to start a war, or uncover things that you’d rather keep covered. If anything, we’re just curious. Life beyond our world is not something we particularly know anything about.” “So you want to know about everything I’ve done in my once-promising career in espionage?” Celestia smirked playfully. “Oh, I’m sure you’ve had your fair share of adventures over the years, James. We all have. Why don’t we all share?” Bond chuckled and raised an eyebrow. “Is that so? Oh, fine,” he finally relented. “But I’m not going into too many details.” *** “Wait, wait, what?” Twilight blurted out as James recounted his tale. The carriage had almost arrived at Canterlot Castle, and sun had finally disappeared behind the horizon to make way for Luna’s moon. “So it was Nicole who planned the whole kidnapping in the first place? Why would she do that?” James sighed, remembering the fateful scene on the bridge in Monaco. “She said she wanted to prove herself, to a rich and powerful man. A man who was apparently bigger than everything, even MI6.” He stopped looking out at the city below them and towards Twilight instead. “In the end, it only got her killed.” Princess Celestia went to say something out of sympathy, but was interrupted as one of the guards pulling the carriage called back to her. “We’re approaching the castle now, your highness! Prepare for landing!” “Thank you, captain,” she called back, before returning you attention to James. “That sounded horrible. To do all that for, what I assume, love. Did you ever find this man?” she wondered. James shook his head. “Not yet. Nothing has ever come up. Honestly, most just swept the whole ordeal under the rug and pretended that it never happened. It’s a shame, really.” The three of them jolted as the carriage set down on one of the castle balconies. A waiting guard opened the door, bowing to the princess as they all exited the carriage. “Thank you, sirs,” Celestia said to the guards that had transported them. As usual, they remained stoic and attentive, and simply nodded in recognition. “Now, the both of you really must get some rest,” the princess advised as they made their way into the castle’s hallways. “On second thought, I may add myself to that list as well. The last few days have been truly exhausting, as I’m sure you agree.” “So much has happened,” Twilight added. “I feel like just hopping into bed and nothing else. Hopefully I’ll be able to get some sleep.” Celestia smiled as they made their way upstairs. “Your bedrooms are as you left them, of course.” She looked back at Bond as they walked. “James, you are free to stay as long as you like, but I get the feeling that you would like to return to your home as soon as possible. Would you like for my sister and I to perform the spell tomorrow?” “Yes, please,” he replied. “I think I need a break, away from everything.” The sun princess nodded. “Very well. I will inform Luna as soon as possible, then.” The three of them stopped as they reached the door to Twilight’s bedroom. “Well, I won’t keep you any longer. Good night.” With that, she nodded and trotted back down the hallway. Twilight watched her go for a second, before looking up at Bond. “Well, this has certainly been an adventure, hasn’t it, James?” She smiled and yawned. “Thank you again, by the way. For everything that you’ve done for us.” “You don’t have to keep thanking me, Twilight,” he pointed out modestly. “I was only doing what had to be done.” She brushed him off, “Don’t be so modest. You saved the lives of me, the princesses, and probably countless other ponies by what you did.” She yawned again, before looking up at him and sighing. “You’re definitely going home again tomorrow, aren’t you?” she asked. “Yes,” he answered quietly and simply, nodding at her. “It’s a shame,” Twilight murmured. “You’re a good man; a good friend. I hope that we’ll be able to see each other again someday.” “Oh, I’d say it’s likely,” he told her, stepping past the door and towards his own. “I highly doubt that Celestia’s curiosities are going to be satisfied through my experiences alone. Don’t worry, Twilight. I have no doubt that we’ll run into each other again, somehow.” The unicorn smiled at the idea. “I hope so,” she said to him, pushing open the door to her bedroom. “Either way, I’ll be there when the princess perform the spell anyway, so we’ll get to say goodbye properly. Good night, James.” He smiled back at her. “Good night, Twilight.” With that, he opened the door to his own bedroom and stepped inside, ready to get some well-deserved rest. *** The mid-morning sun shone brightly through the number of stained glass windows that adorned the walls of the castle’s main halls. He hadn’t had time to properly examine them all during his first visit, but now he found that Twilight and her friends had obviously had a large role in shaping Equestria’s history, at least recently. To say he was impressed would have been an understatement. He straightened the jacket he was wearing. It was the brown leather (or, at least, something extremely similar to leather. He had heard that cows were sapient in Equestria) one that Rarity had lovingly crafted for him, alongside a light blue shirt that he wore underneath. Celestia and Luna had told him that they couldn’t properly tell where on Earth they were going to send him, but they knew that he would not be far from some sort of civilisation. In the end, he had chosen to wear the cleanest, least damaged set of clothes that he had. “Are you ready, James?” Princess Celestia asked, as both her horn and her sister’s lit up with their magical glow. “I’m afraid to say that this may be quite painful, but it should subside quickly.” “And I think that it will not even come close to the kind of pain that brought you to our land in the first place,” Princess Luna added. Bond took a deep breath, and nodded. “I’m ready.” The horns of the regal sisters began to glow even brighter as they charged their spell. Using the brief window of opportunity, Twilight trotted in front of Bond and looked up at him, smiling. “Goodbye, James, and thank you! I’ll never forget what you’ve done for us.” “You’re welcome!” James called out over the high-pitched whine that was emanating from the princesses’ horns as their spell neared full charge. “I hope we see each other soon!” “Me too, James! Me too!” he heard the unicorn shout back, before he was engulfed in a blinding flash of light. He clenched his eyes shut instinctively, and a wave of pain overcame him as the spell did its duty. There was a few seconds of nothing; absolute silence accompanied by the same white light and a feeling of weightlessness, before there was another bout of pain and noise. He felt himself overcome by gravity once more, and he collapsed to the ground. Sand? he thought. I can feel sand. Tentatively, he opened one eye to observe his surroundings. To his surprise, he found himself on a tropical beach. The sun was just setting on the horizon, and the tide of the sea was coming in, slowly making his way towards him as he lay on the sand. In the distance, he could make out shouts and singing, as well as the light of a fire. Can it be? Am I really home? James went to sit up, but winced as he felt a familiar pain shoot through his shoulder. Damn it, the bullet wound. I almost forgot. Thankfully, his clothes had survived the journey, so at least he had his dignity intact. “Well, I said I wanted to get away,” he thought aloud as he climbed to his feet. “I think I could use a holiday anyway.” He looked around and noticed that the source of the singing seemed to be a small hut at the end of the beach, which housed what looked like a bar. Straightening out his jacket and brushing off sand, James sighed and made his way towards it. He thought of M, of MI6, and of London. In the past he had fought valiantly for the service. He couldn’t say he was particularly proud of his work. After all, murder was the profession. However, he couldn’t say that he regretted it, either. In the end, all he wanted to do now was relax. Recent events, even without being pulled into a magical world inhabited by talking ponies, had drained him physically and mentally. Celestia had given him the perfect opportunity to settle down and recuperate, and he was going to take it. Hello, retirement. *** Some time later... Princess Twilight Sparkle smiled as she trotted through the streets of Canterlot. The Summer Sun Celebration couldn’t have gone any better, even with the strange events that had precluded it. She finally felt happy; no longer felt worried about her responsibilities as a princess. Her friends had her back through thick and thin, after all. They were going to stick by her no matter what. I wonder what Princess Celestia could want? she thought as she reached the gates to the castle. The two guards standing watched bowed before her as she passed, something she hadn’t quite gotten used to yet. It seemed like only yesterday that nopony even knew, or cared, who she was. Heck, it felt like only yesterday that she was cooped up in her library in the castle, ignoring and dismissing the mere idea of making friends. Oh, how times change. The front doors to the main hall were open, and she trotted through to see Princess Celestia, her previous mentor. At times both of them had to remind themselves that Twilight was no longer the sun princess’ faithful student, but a proper princess in her own right. “Good morning, Princess Celestia,” Twilight said, as she approached, smiling up at her. Celestia smiled back. “Good morning, Twilight.” She stepped down from her throne and drew the purple alicorn into a hug, which was returned. “It’s good to see you.” “It’s good to see you too,” Twilight replied. “I think I’ve finally gotten used to this whole ‘princess’ thing by now.” “I’m glad to hear it, Twilight.” Celestia released her from the embrace, and smiled down upon her. “Now, I assume you’re wondering why I summoned you here.” Twilight nodded. “I have a very important quest for you to undertake; one that could be potentially dangerous,” the princess explained. “We still do not know much about the world that our previous friend came from. I believe that it is time that we found out.” “You can count on me, princess.” “It may be worthwhile taking a few of your friends along with you,” she continued. “As I said, this mission could be potentially dangerous. Either way, I will give you time to decide how you wish to proceed.” She paused, and looked down at her. “Do you think you can do this, Twilight? Will you travel to this world, to look upon it with pony eyes?” Twilight looked up at Celestia, a determined look in her eyes. “With pleasure, princess. With pleasure.” THE END FOR QUEEN AND COUNTRY James Bond will return...