Epilogue
I slowly strode into the dark room. I was getting old, or maybe my children were just making me feel that way. Charcoal was all grown up, now, and Lilac’s time to fly the coup was rapidly approaching. Pinkie and Cheese got married a few years back, and had a young colt of their own by now. Twilight had also finally married Flash, and they were now expecting as well. Fluttershy and Discord were still going strong, but it was only a matter of time before the draconequus finally popped the question.
My friends, family and I had all had a good run, and as promised, shaped a new Equestria where any and all pony types were welcome. Shortly after the coronation, the aponies, creatures similar but not equivalent to breezies had returned of their own free will. The bogg sprites took a little more effort to recover, as we later learned that they did live in another phase but weren’t even aware that they were drifting into our realm. Once we finally managed to breach the barrier and make contact, a couple even moved in. The ice shetlands of the crystal mountains were hospitible enough, and few but my husband, my son and daughter and I knew that sleipnir existed at all, as the eight-legged ponies had requested to remain hidden.
Torchwood and I were happily living in a newly renovated home. It was a good thing we rebuilt- I had to update the mural outside frequently as new ponies were discovered, anyway. Running the shop had become more of a side-job since we signed up to investigate new breeds, and without Blaze and Charcoal to help run it, Art Life eventually had to shut down altogether. It was a hard decision- I’d been running that store since I first moved to Ponyville. But, I supposed, all good things must come to an end. Speaking of which, we return to the reason I had originally entered the dim castle room.
I had been wanting to return to this familiar old library for a while, now. Thanks to Twilight’s love of books, I didn’t have to worry about dust even in the rarely-used archives, she kept it so clean. This section of the castle was off limits to everyone but Twilight’s most trusted friends. There was a certain old tome I was searching for on this particular occasion, one that had not seen the light of day for quite some time. I scanned the labels of the storage crates. D... E... finally I reached the F’s.
“Fashion, Finance, Forgiveness,” I grinned at the box I had specially dedicated to the topic. “Formulas, Footwear, Forecasts... what the hay does she keep in Foreshadowing?! Has she been talking to Time Turner?” I almost sifted through the box out of sheer curiosity, but then I finally spotted the section I’d come here for. “There it is! Friendship!” Twilight had amassed several books that fell into this category over the years, so I had a couple crates to poke through before I found the book I was looking for.
“There you are. I haven’t seen you in a while,” I ran a hoof over the horseshoe shape embossed in the worn leather cover. It was our old friendship journal. We hadn’t really used it since Twilight became the Princess of Friendship, aside from a couple scattered entries here and there. Recently, though, I had been compelled to submit one last entry for old time’s sake.
I took the book over to the writing desk in the center of the room, found a candle, and lit a dim light to write by with my fire. Next, I had to select a quill, which Twilight was obviously in no short supply of. The hard part was finding an inkwell that still had some ink left in it. Upon having located said item, I could finally sit down and flip to the next open page. It was the last one left in the book- my friends must have recently added more than I realized.
Journal Entry #23
xx/xx/xx
I still remember how upset Rainbow was when A.K. Yearling announced that the Daring Do series was drawing to a close. She even tried her own hoof at writing in an attempt to prolong the series. I thought it was funny of her to try and postpone the inevitable- it was bound to die out sometime, but she just couldn’t leave it be. Though I thought it was amusing then, I found myself doing the same thing a couple years down the road.
I wasn’t writing a literal book, mind you. I’m talking about my life story. I’ve lived a wonderful life, and raised an even more beautiful family. I have lovely grandchildren from Garble, I’ve watched Charcoal Stormwood step up to become an astounding leader, and Lilac Bud has blossomed into a beautiful, sweet young mare.
I’ve tried to hold on to them, because I’m so scared of letitng them go. I’ve always been with my children every step of the way. Now Lilac is getting ready to leave, despite my attempts to convince her to stick around another year or two. I’ve been a bit clingy to Charcoal, too, visiting him every chance I get. But I forget that I’m an old mare, now, with my mane rapidly turning as gray as my coat. Torchwood has aged, too, but we still love each other like newlyweds. He loves his job and is reluctant to retire, but we’ve been talking, and we finally decided that it’s time. After all, there’s no use in prolonging the inevitable.
My story is drawing to a close. Sure, we might have an adventure here and there, but it’s about time to put this old book on the shelf. Who knows where we’ll go from here?
The best part about ending a story is that you can begin the next one.
-Acrylic Storm Wood