Epilogue
"All of that really happened?" said a younger pony in her mid-teenage years, sitting on the floor in front of another older pony, sitting in a very comfy-looking rocking chair. Both ponies were in a room with a nice warm fire lit in the fireplace. Outside the window, the moon glowed, accompanied by the light of many stars in the sky.
"Yes, and I have only retold the story to a select few that I feel have the right to hear. You are one of them."
"I still have a hard time believing that a normal pony like you was involved in all of that action. Are you sure you didn't just make all of that up?" said the younger pony in a taunting manner.
"Fine then," said the older pony, "come with me; I have something to show you."
The older pony got up from his chair and trotted out of the room, followed by the younger pony to a door. The older pony opened up the door to reveal a stairway leading down into darkness. The older pony started down the stairs first, and the younger pony, hesitant because of the darkness and his unfamiliarity, followed along. When the older pony got to the bottom of the stairway, he lit a match and used it to light a lamp hanging from the ceiling, illuminating the entire room.
The room was very old, cold, and filled with spiderwebs and dust, however there were signs that at one point in time, it was used as a sort of trophy room, but now, most of the room was littered with junk and old artifacts from a more ancient time. The older pony moved towards an old windowed cabinet against the back wall that was filled with medals and pictures. The photos were mostly of a group of ponies smiling, laughing, and having fun in a uniform, implying they were in the military. In the center of the cabinet, there was another photo but different than the others. It was of only two ponies, one was blue the other purple, both with their arms around each other, smiling as happy as a pony can be, dressed in a fancy dress uniform with a massive city of clouds behind them. One of the ponies in the picture closely resembled the older pony. Below the picture rested two silver medals, which the older pony reached in to pick up.
The older pony then turned around to the younger pony and flashed the medals in her face. They were dog tags which read:
LIGHT, VIOLET
E.S.O.D
O NEG
PEGASUS
"I've kept them safe all this time," said the older pony. "Sometimes, I like to take them out and hold them in my hoof for a while. It lets me talk to him; gives me peace."
At that moment, there came a loud knock at the the door upstairs. The older pony looked up the stairs behind them.
"They're here," he said. "You have to go back to your mother; I've kept you for far too long. Tell her to stay indoors tonight and that I'll be around. Most importantly, tell her to not open the door for anyone but me. Got it?"
"Mhmm," answered the younger pony.
"Alright, let's go," said the older pony, leading the younger pony upstairs. "You're going to have to sneak out the backdoor. Make sure my 'visitors' don't see you. As a matter of fact, don't let anyone see you on your way to your mother's."
"Why? What's happening?" questioned the young pony.
"Just do as I have told you and you will find out soon enough." The knocking at the door came once more. "In a minute!" the older pony yelled.
They arrived at the backdoor. "Here," said the older pony, opening the door. "Stick to the shadows and make sure you make it back to your mother; she is probably worried sick about you."
The younger pony nodded and then ran off into the night. The older pony shut the door behind her and ran to the front door, picking up a handgun off of the end table next to his rocking chair on his way. He reached the door just in time for the third set of knocks and asked, "Who are you and what do you want?"
"Come now, Staff Sergeant Blaze, is this how you would treat your princess?" said the voice behind the door. Azure Blaze's ears twitched. He knew that voice. He opened the door to reveal Princess Luna along with four other ponies, Crimson Dawn, Emerald Apple, Scarlet Blade, and Nightwing, at her side, standing clad in their military attire.
"Well, looks like you brought the whole gang on over, princess," Said Azure Blaze. "Come in. Sorry for the mess; I would have cleaned up a bit if I had known you were coming."
"That won't be necessary," said Nightwing. "You know very well why we are here. Why don't you put the gun down?"
Azure Blaze hung his head and put his gun down on a small table he had by the door.
"It's time to make your decision, Staff Sergeant," said Crimson Dawn.
"We're all in this together. All of us, but you, Staff Sergeant," said Emerald Apple.
"The New Lunar Republic marches tonight, Blaze," said Princess Luna. "It is the most opportune time. Celestia is currently taken up by world issues. There will be no better time. Are you in?"
Azure Blaze stared at the ground a while longer.
"Staff Sergeant," said Crimson Dawn, "It's what Violet Light would've wanted."
Azure Blaze looked up and then turned around. He lifted up his hoof, in it remained his old companion's dogtags. "Is it what you would've wanted?" he whispered to himself.
A strong gust of wind came blowing through his open door. Powerful enough to cause chaos among the unsecured papers and paintings on the wall. Azure Blaze stood there paying close attention to the area in front of him. Out of nowhere, he saw a figure develop in front of him. It was Violet Light. Azure Blaze watched as the figure walked up to him, smiled, and Azure Blaze remembered what he had said years before. "I'll always be with you. Both watching from the clouds above Cloudsdale or, when the time comes, charging with you on the front lines of battle." The figure then vanished just as fast as it appeared, along with the wind.
Azure Blaze looked around a while longer, then turned back around to Princess Luna and the others, and said, "I'm in."
The entire group smiled at him and welcomed back their old squad leader. "Come now," said Luna, "There is little time to waste and we still have to get you properly equipped. Tonight will be one of the longest nights of your life."
The group began to walk away from the house, but Azure Blaze had stopped to say goodbye to what he had. He had lived a peaceful life after the events at the Rainbow Factory, and he was going to miss it but he was now going to fight for what he believed once more and that along with the dog tags of his fallen partner was all the peace he needed. Azure Blaze fastened Violet Light's dog tags behind his neck and shut the door of his house. It felt like he was shutting the door to his past.
______________________________________________________________________________________________________________
"Mom! I'm home!"said the young pony, entering her house through the front door.
"Where have you been?" said Rainbow Dash, coming down from upstairs. "Scootaloo and I have been worried sick trying to find out where you went."
It had been a couple of years since the incidents at the Rainbow Factory and since then, Rainbow Dash grew her hair back and had a child of her own. Nopony knew who the father was but for those that knew about what happened, they assumed it was aftermath. After all, her daughter, Prism, looked almost exactly like she did at her age. Not only that, but Rainbow Dash also took on Scootaloo as a roommate, living in harmony up until this night.
"I was out visiting Violet Light again," said Prism. "He told me the story of a place called the Rainbow Factory, and how he saved both you and Scootaloo."
"You were just at Violet Light's?" questioned Scootaloo, peeking around the corner of another room. "What did he say? Is it happening tonight?"
"All he told me was to get back here and tell mom not to open the door to anyone but him," said Prism. "He said he was going to visit."
Scootaloo quickly shifted her gaze to Rainbow Dash, and Rainbow Dash said, "That means it's happening."
"What is happening?" asked Prism.
"The civil war," said Rainbow Dash. "It will start and hopefully end tonight. Violet Light is probably coming to take us to a safe spot. Don't worry, Prism, we should be fine."
All three ponies then flocked to the window and began to see lights coming over the horizon heading towards Canterlot.
"Mom, is Violet Light's story true?" asked Prism. "When he showed me Azure Blaze's dog tags they were his own; and why do they call him 'Violet' Light if he is blue?"
"Because 'Violet Light' is actually Azure Blaze," answered Rainbow Dash. "He calls himself by his fallen partner's name because he wishes what happened to the real Violet Light actually happened to him. At that time, I wished it happened to me instead. I didn't deserve to live, but by the grace of some higher power, I was allowed to and I am grateful for it and what he did to let me live: What they all did."
"So what... Azure Blaze... What he said was all true?" asked Prism.
"Yes, my child, every bit of it."