//------------------------------//
// 20 - Epilogue 
// Story: Stargate - Rise of the Sun God 
// by Arvaus 
//------------------------------//

	Some time later, Sam found Celestia sitting alone in an observation bay in the lower decks of the ship, her wings hanging loosely at her side, watching the blur of hyperspace streaming past the window.

"Can I come in, Princess?" she said.

Celestia nodded, and Sam walked cautiously up to her, sitting down beside her by the window. They sat in silence for a while, watching the distant stars flying past.

"I have not been called that in a long time," Celestia said after a few moments. "I haven't really ruled anything since Ra's invasion. I did my best to still protect them, but…"

She fell silent again, tears welling up in her eyes.

"Are you okay?" Sam asked her.

"I don't know," she said. "I don't know if I can be…" She stopped and turned to look down at Sam. "I don't understand," she said. "You saw me; you know what I've done. Why are you treating me like this? Why don't you hate me?"

Sam looked back up at her, and could clearly see the pain in her eyes. She'd had conversations like this before, after seeing colleagues pushed to the edge by war, but none of them quite compared to this.

"Honestly," she said, "I'm not sure I can explain it without seeing your side first. Can you tell me what happened?"

Celestia stared at her for a moment, then turned to face the window.

"I killed," she said. "I don't know how many. Ra had the population spread thin across the galaxy by that point, but there could still have been tens, maybe even hundreds of thousands on Equestria. Many were innocent, and even those who weren't deserved a second chance."

Sam nodded, looking out of the window as well. She could imagine that ten years ago she would have reacted very differently to all this, but the universe the Stargate had opened up to her had changed her perspective on a lot of things.

"A Ha'tak can have a crew of thousands," she said after a moment. "In the last few years I've destroyed or helped destroy quite a few of them. I always remind myself that the crew are our enemy and a threat to many others, but… I do sometimes wonder how many could have been saved instead. The one time we took a ship intact, many of the surviving crew did choose freedom when offered it."

"But does that make it right?" Celestia asked. "Just because a few survive, can that ever justify the loss of the others?"

Sam sighed. That was the difficult question. She was tempted for a moment to just try and say something comforting, but Ro'shur's words from earlier came back to her. Tell the truth, even if it's not what they want to hear.

"I guess not," she said. "Every death is unfortunate because you don't know what good they could have done given the chance. It can be hard to see it sometimes, particularly with a race like the Goa'uld, but we've even seen them turn to good."

Celestia's ears pricked up and she looked round in surprise. "Really?" she said.

"Yes," Sam replied, nodding. "There's a lot that we need to tell you about. But that's not the point I was trying to make. Celestia, I saw what happened all those years ago. Luna showed it to me."

"I… see," Celestia said.

"And if I'm honest," Sam went on, "what I saw terrifies me. It's going to take me a long time to shake that image."

"You're not worried that I could become that again?" Celestia asked. "I know I am."

Sam shrugged. "I try not to think of it like that," she said. "Every one of my team, myself included, have done things we regret while brainwashed or under the influence of alien technology, and we all know it could still happen again, but we can't start second-guessing each other all the time."

"But still—"

"I know," Sam said, raising a hoof. Celestia went quiet, staring at her in confusion.

"What I'm trying to say," she went on, "is that the reason why I don't hate you is because it's clear to me that you feel the same way as I do. You regret those deaths as well, and I'm sure that you would do whatever you could to repair the damage, given the chance."

Celestia nodded, tears welling up again.

"It's because of that that I think you need to be given a second chance." Sam said. "It's that desire which pushes a pony to better themselves, and to help make things better for others. You have the power to bring some good to the world, and I know you want to, so you need to be given that opportunity."

Celestia smiled, wiping a tear from her cheek. "Thank you," she said. "I only hope there is something I can do this time."

"Don't worry about that," Sam said. "The idea of freedom didn't die with Equestria; there have been ponies fighting against the Goa'uld for millennia. I owe my life to ponies like them, and not just our current allies; if it weren't for a rebellion five thousand years ago, Earth, my home planet, might still be under Goa'uld rule."

"Earth?" Celestia asked, her eyebrows raising.

"Yeah," Sam said, looking out of the window again. "Daniel thinks the slaves who led the uprising must have been mostly earth ponies. But now the planet's home to nearly seven billion ponies from all three tribes, spread across hundreds of countries."

She smiled, as memories of homeworld started coming back to her­.

"When I'm offworld, fighting against the Goa'uld," she said, "sometimes it does start to feel hopeless. I can start to wonder if what we're doing is even making a difference. But when that happens I just think back to the first time I saw the Earth from orbit. I think of all those ponies going about their daily lives there, with no idea of what's happening out in the galaxy. Sure, we have our own wars to fight, but as far as I'm concerned, those ponies are free. They don't know what it feels like to live under the oppression of the Goa'uld, and every day I fight to make sure it stays that way."

She looked up at the princess, and saw that Celestia was smiling.

"It sounds wonderful," she said.

"It is," Sam replied. "I can't wait to show you it."

They sat side by side in silence for a minute, staring out of the window again. Then, Sam turned again and said, "Can I ask you a question?" Celestia nodded.

"I was wondering why you chose not to save Equestria."

"That is a good question," Celestia replied. "As you said, I would love to be able to repair the damage I caused if possible, and preserving what remains of my old home would have been a step in that direction. But, as I said, I believe that protecting you and your team takes priority. You were not certain that you could do it safely, so I decided it was not worth the risk."

Sam nodded. "I appreciate that," she said. "It just felt like there was something more to it."

Celestia smiled. "You are, in fact, right," she said. "When I said that your lives were not worth the risk, I very specifically meant the six of you. If it were just me I may have decided differently, but you…" She turned to Sam and placed a hoof on the jewel sitting on her chest. "You carry these."

"The Elements of Harmony?" Sam said.

"Yes," Celestia replied. "Back when I left Equestria for the first time, I realised that there was something different about the way other planets felt. I put it down to sentiment at first: a simple longing for my own home. But one day I realised that what I was feeling was the magic of the Elements. For millennia they had been the soul and spirit of Equestria, and their magic flowed through everything on the planet."

"I think I noticed that too," Sam replied, remembering the strange magic she had felt when they first arrived.

Celestia nodded. "I wondered if you had," she said, "given your own skill with magic. But tell me, can you feel it now?"

Sam thought about it for a moment. She hadn't realised it, but in fact the feeling was still there. She had gotten so used to it that she hadn't even noticed that nothing changed when they left. She looked down at the crystal sitting on her chest and imagined she could see a faint spark pulsing inside it.

Celestia smiled. "That was what made me choose as I did," she said. "It seems that the Elements have chosen to leave Equestria. The fight is no longer there; it's out here, in the rest of the galaxy, so that is where they are needed now."

Sam looked up. "Chosen?"

"Yes," Celestia replied. "The Elements have always had a will of their own. They rely on ponies to carry them and spread their power, but ultimately they choose their bearers, not the other way round. I find it interesting that they have chosen six warriors this time," she added. "The previous bearers were willing to fight when they needed to, but otherwise it was just not their nature. I suppose that reflects the nature of our enemy, though; we can try to avoid it, but if we resist them, the Goa'uld will give us war."

"Technically, two of us are scientists," Sam said, and Celestia chuckled.

"Your predecessor was a scientist as well," she said.

"Really?" Sam said. "What were they like?"

Celestia smiled again, wiping a tear from her eye. For the first time since Sam had met her, she looked genuinely happy.

"They were truly amazing," she said. "They lived thousands of years ago, and no doubt their names have been lost to history now, but I will never forget them. Applejack, Pinkie Pie, Rarity, Rainbow Dash, Fluttershy, and your own predecessor, Princess Twilight Sparkle."

"Princess?" Sam said. "That's a lot to live up to."

Celestia chuckled. "You would be surprised. In fact, if you had met any of them you would not have been able to guess that they had such far-reaching destinies. But they were all capable of great compassion, and most importantly of all they were all friends. By working with each other they achieved truly great things, and together they changed the world."

"I wish I could've met them," Sam said. "You miss them, don't you?"

Celestia nodded. "Yes," she said. She then looked round at Sam, smiling down at her. "But it's your turn now, and I'm sure you'll make them proud."

"I hope so," Sam said, nodding. Then she heard a noise coming from deep in the ship, as the hyperdrive engines started to wind down.

"You should brace yourself, Princess," she said. Moments later there was another bright flash of light as the ship exited hyperspace, and a blue-green planet came into view in front of them.

"Edora," Sam said. "It's not as heavily populated as Earth, with only a few hundred ponies, but they're all free as well. We've got some good friends down there."

"It's beautiful," Celestia said, a tear running down her cheek.

Sam nodded. "And there are plenty more like it." She stood up and turned to leave. "Come on," she said, "we should go meet the others at the glider bay. Then we can go down and you can meet the ponies themselves."

Celestia stood up as well, eyes still fixed on the planet. "Yes," she said, "that sounds good. Just… let me have a few moments alone. I'll catch up with you."

Sam nodded, and walked back out through the door, giving one last glance back at the princess before leaving. When she had gone, Celestia walked up to the window and looked out again, not down to the planet, but up into the star-filled sky. She thought of the thousands of worlds out there and the billions, perhaps trillions, of ponies living on them. Many of them were still slaves, and she had to accept that, but the knowledge that there were so many free ponies now warmed her heart. The idea of freedom was out there, alive and well, and it was spreading. For the first time in a long while she felt like she could actually imagine a day when the entire galaxy was free. All they had to do was spread the message, and hopefully in time the hearts of the galaxy would turn.

She then closed her eyes, looking inward instead. She could feel the magic of the Elements flowing through her, as it had all those thousands of years ago before she had lost touch. Now their spirit was there within her again, urging her onward, pushing her to make a difference for the better. They had given her that which she needed most, and which she wanted more than anything to offer to all other ponies. They had given her a second chance.

With one last glance to the planet below, she turned to follow Sam to meet the others, saying two words quietly under her breath.

"Thank you."



The end.