//------------------------------//
// Epilogue 
// Story: A Mother's Duty 
// by Rated Ponystar 
//------------------------------//


A Mother’s Duty



By The Rated Ponystar



Edited and based on the KillerRarityVerse by BronyWriter



Epilogue



Death was something Celestia had seen many times in her life. It was all around her, everyday. To an immortal like her, a single mortal lifetime was like a blink of an eye. A thousand faces she would see smiling under the sun before a thousand graves replaced them. She had always smiled to them, laughed with them, and treated them like her children. But rarely did she ever open her heart to them. There were only a few in her life that she ever granted that privilege. The most recent ones were a small little filly with incredible magical potential, her family, and five mares who had freed her sister from her curse.

And yet, in a small amount time she lost them all because one harbored a monster deep inside. The apprentice whom she loved like a daughter, she had to cast away because there was no other choice, one of the mares who saved her sister she executed, leaving the rest to suffer for it. But no pain was worse than the two who suffered the most in it’s aftermath.

Walking through the graveyard of Ponyville, the sun princess came upon a single headstone with a simple inscription:


Here lie Sweetie Belle and Joyous Blossom



May they be together in eternity



Rest in Peace


Sweetie Belle had originally wrote in her will that she wanted to be buried next to her sister, but Celestia couldn't allow that.  Rarity’s funeral had been a small and private one, as well as her burial deep in the Everfree Forest by the river where she proved to Twilight she was the Element of Generosity. It was safest place for her body to rest without being vandalized. 

Celestia couldn’t remember a sadder funeral then Sweetie and Blossom’s. All of Ponyville had come, even those who didn’t like Sweetie or Blossom, to pay their respects. Seeing the daughter and mother, laying side by side in a single coffin, brought nothing but tears to those who came. Nopony shed more tears than Apple Bloom and Scootaloo, who had lost a pony both considered a sister, and Comet, who nearly leapt into the casket, begging for her sister to wake up.

Celestia said nothing, nor did anything during the funeral. She did not cry, nor did she give any speeches. She had no right to. Not after she failed them. She wanted somepony to hate her, even Sweetie Belle’s parents, but they too were numb during the funeral. Many ponies thought, in disgust, it was because they were still ashamed of them, even in death. That was quickly proven wrong when they were discovered two weeks later, a bottle of poison next to their cold bodies with a note that said they had gone to be a family again. 

Perhaps the one thing that Celestia would never forget was during the burial. The casket lowered itself, and one by one ponies said the names of the two who were lost, but there was also a third name. It was soft, but grew in numbers from those who remembered the name of a white unicorn with grace and beauty. Even Celestia muttered Rarity’s name, but just once. Perhaps it was the town letting go of their hatred. Perhaps it was them finally forgiving her. Or maybe it was the heat of the moment.

The news of the deaths continued to go on for some time. Some in sorrow, others in joy, but they were soon shut up by something nopony saw. Another horror had begun, but this time it came in double. A unicorn killer had started visiting cities at random and killing one pony per month. It had been two years and already twenty four ponies were dead. And if that wasn’t bad enough, there was an arsonist going around, burning ponies in their homes with home made fire starters. This had only lasted a year, but there were six homes gone, dozens injured, and four dead. 

And the worst of it was that they still had no leads. Even with all her power and forces, the two criminals were able to slip past them. She had to rely on the griffins, who understood the criminal mind better than she did, to help them out. Many of her subjects foolishly had thought that with Rarity and her line finally over, no more evil would happen, and, to her shame, Celestia did as well. The moment she heard of the first new murders, her mind drifted back to the day she heard that sinister voice tell her how she would return. That no matter how much she tried, the darker nature of ponies would come and take away the innocent. She had chalked it up to the madness in Blossom, a persona, but there was some truth to what she had said. Celestia hated to admit it, but at last it was time to see the truth. 

There were always going to be murderers. There was always going to be somepony killed in some brutal way. There was always going to be somepony who snapped and unleashed the darkness inside of them. And she would never be able to stop them. It was going to happen until time itself ended, and that was what grieved Celestia the most. That she was useless to prevent more tragedy, that this cycle of Rarity was going to continue at some point again and again. Even if it was hundreds of years apart.

It all but brought a tear to Celesta’s eye.

“I thought it was your chariot passing by.”

Celestia closed her eyes and sighed, a small sense of joy entering her heart as she turned around and saw her once faithful student walk toward her, flowers held by her magic. She placed them on the grave and joined Celestia in her staring as the two of them sat in silence.

“I could have helped them,” Celestia muttered. “I could have done something, anything for them.”

Twilight lowered her head. “Even if you did, would it have changed anything? They would have to still carry the burden of being related to a murderer. Even if you ordered it a thousand times, demanded they be left alone, nopony would have listened. So many were hurt, they just wanted to hurt somepony else. And they were the targets.”

“Even so, they did not deserve this fate.” Celestia sighed. “I keep going through everything in my head over again. Trying to think of some way I could have prevented this.”

Twilight shook her head before turning to her former mentor. “You know what you should do, Celestia?” The alicorn turned her head. “Leave it alone, and move on.”

Celestia raised an eyebrow. “Move on?”

Twilight nodded. “Yes. Believe me, it’s hard. But what use is there crying and regretting all that’s happened? All three of them are dead. Is it not better to just let them rest in peace while we move on with our lives? I don’t think about it anymore, at least not like I used too.” She looked at the grave once more. “It’s what they would have wanted, and it’s what I think we all need. We’ll always remember them, the good and bad, but I’ve had enough suffering to last a life time. I want to spend the rest of my days improving my life and enjoying it with my friends and Spike.”

Celestia gazed upon her student, seeing the peace in her eyes and sighed. “You are right, Twilight. I should move on as well. Equestria needs me to defend her again from two more acts of evil, and I should not let my regrets hinder me.”

“Princess, you also need to be happy again as well. I know it will be hard, but I want to see you smile once more. Like you used to... back in the day,” Twilight muttered with a small smile.

Back in the day. When they were apprentice and student. Mother and daughter even. 

“Twilight...” Celestia turned to her former apprentice and bowed her head. “I’m sorry for dismissing you as my student. I’ve missed our friendship so much. I shouldn’t have let what happened get between us. Even if I couldn’t have been your teacher anymore, I still should have been your friend.”

“It’s okay. You were right to cast me out,” said Twilight. “I aided a criminal, and ponies died because of that. I was selfish and refused to do the right thing. I deserved my punishment.” 

Twilight’s smile grew a bit more as she extended her hoof. “But... I would like it if we become friends again. We may never get the same bond we held before, but I would like it if we could start over.”

For the first time, in a long time, a true smile appeared on Celestia’s face as she shook the hoof of her old friend. “I would like that as well. Perhaps we can have tea at your place?”

“I’d like that,” said Twilight as she and Celestia left the grave alone.

It was only minutes later when a single mare came towards the grave. She only looked at one name, a name that never left her mind for a single day, before she placed her own bouquet of flowers on it. She slowly touched the name of Joyous Blossom and cried a tear just like every other time she came to see her.

Comet tried to say something, but all she could do was cry in silence. 


***



“In three words I can sum up everything I've learned about life: it goes on.”  - Robert Frost