Epilogue: A Lifetime Of Adventure
~BlackRoseRaven
The portal didn't work.
Almost everyone had recovered from their ordeal: the princesses would probably still be aching for years to come from the dark magic, but they had healed. Even Celestia had healed... although now she had a few scars of her own across her body. But even those could be fixed in time, with a little patience, effort, and magic.
Blueblood had been strangely disappointed that Sleipnir hadn't been able to go home, but the earth pony had taken it with his usual gaiety and pride when it had done nothing but spark a little. He had laughed, smiled, said that they were just lucky it hadn't exploded, and then decreed that he would take a few weeks to research and recover, and then he and Blue would be off on another adventure across Equestria.
Celestia had been sad to see him leave... but Blueblood had promised to be back. And it was a promise he intended to keep, too. But there was so much he wanted to see, so much he wanted to do... and the road called to him. Nature called to him, and he wanted to be out there, doing good for everypony. And he wanted to be beside his brother, Sleipnir: he still had a lot to learn, after all, and Sleipnir wasn't the kind of stallion who could stand being alone for very long.
They had been traveling for three years now, having all sorts of adventures. They had traveled through the Murkwood, which had been quite murky but had also been full of monstrous beasts called wargs and giant spiders and all kinds of hideous things. And that included the elves they had come across one day, who had been beautiful outside, but arrogant and ruthless... and then very, very miserable after Sleipnir had cheerfully outflanked, outrun, and outfought all of them with one hoof tied behind his back. Literally, since the elves had ambushed and tried to kidnap them.
After Murkwood, they had ended up scaling a mountain and run into a giant. Sleipnir had beaten the giant at hoof-wrestling, and then the giant had gotten angry and chased them out of his house and halfway down the mountain before Blueblood had finally lost his temper and stabbed him in the foot when he'd tried to step on them, sending it hobbling away in tears. Afterwards, Sleipnir had chastised the unicorn for almost half an hour before he'd gotten distracted by some butterflies.
They had visited the Oracle and discovered that she was a fraud; they had rescued a fortune teller from a carnival of slaves after finding out she was the real deal. Sleipnir had played his first game of croquet and nearly killed the Duke of Trottingham, and Blueblood had punched a dragon in the face for the first time, and kept the tooth he'd knocked out as a prize. He had hollowed it out and now used it as a drinking horn, which made Sleipnir jealous because it could hold more than a liter of ale.
And of course, between the two of them, they drank every bar and tavern they come across dry of ale, and sometimes whisky. Blueblood learned drinking songs, and Sleipnir learned all about wines and champagnes. And no stallion – hell, no army of stallions – could out-drink, out-eat, or out-belch the two. Not that Blue was very proud of the last or anything, of course.
They adventured and they wandered: they always put their business aside to help out ponies in need, whether they were lowly peasant children or the highest of monarchs. They laughed, they loved, they had fun, and they fought... but never in anger, never with hate in their hearts, always to protect and always to defend.
Somehow, at some point, they had heard about some magic wishing ball that could grant any wish you wanted. The two had decided to hunt it down, and found out a dragon had stolen it from the old temple where it had originally been kept.
They had made their way to the dragon's aerie, and Sleipnir had politely asked the dragon if they could please have the ball back. The dragon had made the mistake of trying to swallow Sleipnir whole... and now the fangless lizard was whimpering in the corner, staring with terror at the two ponies as they poked and prodded the plain glass orb he had hurriedly turned over to them after Sleipnir had quite literally punched his teeth out.
“I don't think it works.” Blueblood said flatly, and Sleipnir huffed before he took it and shook it firmly, making the unicorn wince. “Sleipnir! That's how you broke that last artifact, you idiot!”
“I did not break it! It slipped!” Sleipnir retorted, jerking the orb away from Blueblood when he reached for it... and then the glass ball fell out of his hooves and hit the ground, shattering into pieces. All that was left were a few shards and a blue dust that wafted up and over Sleipnir as Blueblood stared in horror and the enormous earth pony slowly turned beet red.
“Well, 'tis... a silly thing, anyway!” Sleipnir complained, and then he lamely brushed at the dust before adding: “Besides, why would a wish work when a portal does not? Why art thou so sure that all I shall have to say one day is, 'I wish to go home,' and-”
The powder covering Sleipnir glowed brightly, cutting his words off, and then there was a loud pop before Sleipnir simply vanished, leaving Blueblood staring with disbelief at the space where the earth pony had been a moment before.
Blue couldn't believe it as he felt a twist of wild emotion run through him, his heart catching, his stomach clenching, his throat going dry. Sleipnir was gone. Sleipnir was gone. After everything they had been through, everything that had happened, Sleipnir had made a wish, and poof, he was just gone. He was gone...
Blue looked down for a moment, reaching up and silently touching the tattoo he'd gotten of Yggdrasil along one foreleg, the symbol that Sleipnir seemed to revere most... and then, slowly, the stallion found himself starting to smile in spite of everything. That big idiot had broken that stupid artifact and then made his damned dumb wish, and... and...
The unicorn looked up, and then he began to laugh: quietly at first, but soon in earnest, shaking his head before he grinned at the ceiling and shouted: “Sleipnir! You idiot, you never fixed my carriage! You ignorant little peasant, do you really think I'm going to just let you run off like that without even a goodbye?”
Blueblood laughed, then he reached down and swept up the broken fragments of orb and as much of the remaining dust as he could, putting it into his sidepack before he spun suddenly on his heel and pointed at the dragon in the corner, which yelped and leaned away. “Can you fly to Canterlot?”
The dragon looked dumbfounded by this, then it nodded hesitantly before Blueblood reached back into his pack with a wink and pulled out a diamond the size of his hoof. The dragon's eyes bulged, and Blueblood easily tossed this to the beast, saying mildly: “And there'll be enough of these to make you fat and happy for the rest of your life if you fly me there, my friend. Do we have a deal?”
The dragon looked dumbly down at the gemstone, and then he nodded violently, and Blueblood smiled warmly. Good: he couldn't wait to take these things to Jerry Rig, and maybe get Auros to come visit from the Sanctuary of the Lost out past Rancher's Ridge.
He was eager to find out of this 'Looking Glass World' was half as exciting as his big brother made it sound, after all.
Sleipnir wasn't sure what had happened, but he knew he was falling from the night sky. And he knew immediately where he was, as he gazed back and forth with awe before he laughed loudly as he saw the village coming towards him-
No, wait. He was falling. That meant he was going towards it, and that meant-
Sleipnir crashed into the ground with enough force to shake all of Ponyville and bury himself deep in the earth. For a few moments, all he could do was lay there, dazed... but Mother Nature squeezed him gently, told him to get up, and helped him slowly raise his head, the stallion blinking dumbly before he smiled brightly at the sight of the dull-pink pony standing nearby and only staring at him from beneath the waterfall of mane that spilled over one eye.
“Oh, phoenix! Thou art a glorious sight after... well, I suppose it has been quite some time, but bah, I have never been any good with time. Did I miss anything?” Sleipnir asked with honest curiosity, gazing warmly across at his wife.
“Goddammit!” the mare shouted, and then she kicked a large rock into his face, which made him flinch and knocked some of the soil and debris free of his head... but that was about the reaction he had expected from her, anyway.
She grumbled under her breath as her icy blue irises glared up at the sky, but he saw more than a scowl in her beautiful, red-rimmed eyes. So fearlessly, he did as he'd always done, yanking himself out of the hole in the ground and walking over to gently kiss her forehead before he smiled down at her radiantly: his phoenix Pinkamena, the love of his life, the soulmate who wore upon the left side of her chest a tattoo that gorgeously paired his. And what better promise could he have asked from a mare he didn't deserve anyway than that?
Finally, she sighed, but gave a smile with an honest hint of happiness in it as she replied: “Not much. I'll tell you about it on the way home.”
Sleipnir smiled back at her and nodded, and they turned to start down the road together, to live happily ever after...
And then the mare halted and sniffed the air, before her eyes narrowed dangerously as she glared over at him, asking moodily: “Do I smell demon blood, Sleipnir?”
Sleipnir grinned weakly... and a moment later, the mare was chasing him down the road, her yelling waking up the few ponies that hadn't already been startled out of sleep by Sleipnir crashing face-first into the earth, the stallion yelping as he dodged back and forth to try and avoid the occasional rock or mailbox or whatever else she could rip out of the ground to fling at him.
But still, it brought him warmth and happiness to be here at home, and there was nowhere he'd rather be as he looked over his shoulder with joy, and never fear, and for all her thorns his phoenix chased him with such ferocity because she loved him so dearly and deeply.
Oh yes, this was the world for him: home with a mare who loved him so much she was threatening to break his legs so he'd never be able to leave again, in a world that sang with wild nature and friendly chaos, as his heart thudded with the pride, the happiness, the sheer warmth he felt in the air all around him. Here was his adventure, here was his joy... and he only hoped that one day, he'd be able to find a way to bring his worthy new brother here to meet the rest of his wonderful family.
Either way, though, he knew that their hearts would never be far apart: because even if all the worlds separated them, they would eternally remain brothers... and Sleipnir was sure that one day they would meet again.We only fail when we defeat ourselves;
We only despair when we refuse to look for joy;
We only stay down when we refuse to get back up.
May 4th, 2014 – July 7th, 2014