//------------------------------// // 35 Into the sunset // Story: The Queen is Dead // by Meep the Changeling //------------------------------// Lily - 4th of Solarus ‘15 EoH - Afternoon The blinding flashes of blue faded out of the sky, almost exactly how fireworks trail down after a grand finale. For several moments, the battlefield was completely silent, obscured by a cloud of blowing ash and plumes of a gray-green smoke. The long silent moment after a storm, signifying the end to the horrors of before. Then, the silhouette of a tall Alicorn arose from the center of the crater, obscured by the thinning smoke. The smoke was too thick to see exactly who it was, but I honestly didn’t care. She stood still, looked around herself then shouted, “Victory! We have victory!” Lyra sighed in relief beside me, and canceled her shield. “Thank Celestia! That… Was close. Closer than normal even.” “N-normal?” I asked hesitantly. She flashed me a genuinely happy grin, “Hey, cheer up! You’re a refugee right? That’s what Cole said anyways. If you’re going to live here, you need to just keep your chin up, smile, and roll your eyes when life decides to take a dump on you. A cheerful attitude is your best defense against life’s uncaring cruelties.” Her horn glowed as she slipped a pair of small plastic wrapped bars from a pouch in her armor, and held one out to me, “Here, have a Manabar. There’s going to be a ton of ponies to dig out of the sand. We’ll need everypony at full power.” I took the bar curiously, “So… It’s like a mana potion, but easier to carry?” Lyra nodded, “Yep! Puts most unicorns right back at full… I need about five myself, but I’m already pretty good on power. So have a spare! If you like it, Bonbon makes em, and they are amazing snacks too! You can totally buy them by the box if you lik- Uh… We can talk about that later. For now, see if you can’t save somepony’s life.” I unwrapped the bar and did my best to eat the surprisingly chocolatey, minty, and creamy treat-like restorative. Faust’s mane this was delicious! I was definitely going to buy a few more of these sometime! Lyra tapped the gem holding her messenger-spell as I munched down on that piece of pure goodness. “Knights of the Rampant Moon.” Lyra addressed. Then in a hesitant voice she asked, “Girls, it’s Lyra. Who else is okay?” “Cole here. I’m under the sand somewhere… But okay. I’ll be out once I work out which way up is.” Colgate's voice answered. “Octy and I are alright. Little singed though. That fireworks show decided to happen right where we were.” A mare’s voice answered. “Bon-bon here! My left leg’s broken, but there’s a medic nearby already. Meep’s here too. She’s unconscious. Burned through all her energy.” Another mare answered. “Good to hear everypony’s alright! Bonnie, I’ll be there with hugs for that leg in five. Let’s see what we can do to help the clean up.” Lyra said starting to trot off into the center of the crater. “Wait,” a refined, highborn voice asked over Lyra’s spell, “How on Equis did you break a bone?” “I wound up arm wrestling a soldier who thought their mouth was an acceptable substitute for arms after I blew them off.” The injured pony answered. “What I don’t get is why regeneration hasn’t fixed it yet. I’ve seen cuts heal before my eyes thanks to that bitey phase of your’s, Octy.” “Hey, like dad said, vampirism dilutes with each link in the chain. You probably just cant heal bone. Don’t sweat it, nothing a few healing potions won’t fix.” A laid back mare’s voice quipped. I blinked, tilted my head, then shook it. “Wait, excuse me, vampirism?” Lyra looked over her shoulder and gave me a wink, “Equestria’s a weird place. Long story short, if your best friend is a vampire, and you’re playing Twister, don’t say ‘bite me’ as a victory quip.” I raised one eyebrow. “You’re telling me you’re an evil undead monster?” “Nah! Turns out most modern vampires are nice.” She said waving a hoof dismissively. “Look me up in Ponyville later, I’ll tell you the whole story about the time my friends and I had dinner at Ravenloft. It all starts there. Seriously though, people are bleeding to death and need help.” But! Undead! I needed to know how the magic and biology behind that worked! There would be so many amazing things I could potentially do if I worked out how to make a stable immortal organ! I could make sure nopony ever had to lose a loved one aga- My eyes widened in horror as I remembered that orange pegasus being ripped in two. Torso pulling away from hips… The total devastation on Princess Twilight’s face… No one should have to loose anypony like that. If only I’d been able to do something to stop it! I stamped a hoof into the ground angrily. I was a mother bucking coward. I shouldn’t have let knowing I didn't have any relevant skills hold me back. I should have tried! There could have been some- Lily you idiot! You’re a motherbucking biomancer, and that pegasus’s brain is intact! For the next few moments... I turned and bolted towards where I remembered the fallen Pegasi being thrown. How long had it been? Three, maybe four minutes? I had time! The brain’s a sensitive organ, it’s alright for about three minutes after the heart stops beating. Then it starts to turn to mush. I was good, but I wasn't unmushing-a-brain-and-keeping-that-pony’s-memories-and-persona-intact good. Being torn in half is not a quick way to die, it would take about a minute for his heart to give up trying to keep blood flowing. I also hadn’t tried reviving somepony from clinical death yet… Or any kind of death for that matter. But buck it! I had to do something to help! Everypony else had! If I could get his heart restarted, the brain would be alright, and I could take the time needed to put his back half back on. I couldn’t stop him being hurt, but I damn well could unhurt him! As I drew near the mostly-dead pegasi, I could make out Twilight, hunched over his upper half, holding it close to her chest and whispering between tears. I felt my heart size up, shame at having failed to act still trying to punch me in the face. “I’m sorry…” Twilight whispered as I reached her dead-kinda coltfriend’s side, “I didn't tell you… because I thought I would die… not you. I didn’t want you to be twice as sad… You’re going to be a dad… R-remember when I said it was impossible? That I’m sterile? I fixed it…” I think I made some sort of noise of shameful regret because Twilight’s wings snapped open! Twisting around with a growl of righteous fury Twilight screamed, “Stay away from us!” That did it. I had to fix this. Now. I planted my hooves firmly in the sand and put on my best ‘professional’ voice, “Ma’am, I’m a fully trained and mentored Germane Biomancer. I have about thirty seconds to try and restart his heart before he’s beyond saving. You can let me work, or let him die. Choose.” Twilight’s wrathful face jumped to a shocked expression of hope, and then jumped again to a frenzied urgency as she shoved the mangled body into my face! “Fix-him-fix-him-fix-him-fix-him-fix-him-fix-him-fix-him-fix-him-fix-him-fix-him-fix!” I knelt down, using my magic to gently lay the body on the sand. This was definitely the most damage to one pony I’d ever seen. Not the worst thing I’d fixed, that distinction went to an advanced case of Scleroderma, but this was definitely the most physical damage ever. Fortunately, nothing I could do would make it any worse. It’s not like I could kill him more. I took a deep breath to focus and calm myself. Alright Lily, you’re almost at full power. It’s just a heart. Just some cardiac arrest. You can do this. It used to be routine. I focused my magic, pushing it through the remains of his circulatory system, gently nudging and holding the blood vessels open, while also pinching off every broken end, sealing up the system, as my magic reached the heart. It was completely still, totally flatlined. As expected. I carefully nudged the heart with my magic, simulating the normal beating process, manually moving each of the four parts. Left contract, right expand. Right contract, left expand. One, two. One, two… After a few seconds I had the normal pace down, a quick switch of my concentration and the magic holding his veins open transmuted into fresh blood. A second pulse of magic restored the heart’s proper electrolyte balance. I kept manually moving the heart for a few more moments, bit my lip nervously, then let go of everything but the open ends I was clamping shut. His heart began to slow. Pittering back down to a still flatline. “Oh like hay you’re going to just die after that!” I growled. “You’re going to be a bucking dad! And that means you have to be better than mine was!” Though admittedly, dead before I had been born would have been better… I went to give the heart some more manual beats. The slowing suddenly stopped, holding steady at about thirty beats per minute. Okay. Any slower than that and he’s dying again. Not wanting to give Twilight any false hope, I decided to check the brain before saying anything to the mare nervously fidgeting in front of me. I was very sure that if I had bad news I would be restarting her heart next… My magic gently probed through his gray matter. It seemed intact, but nothing was- A spark of activity shot through the Medulla, then the Pons, the Midbrain lit up, “Ja!” I exclaimed breaking into a grin, “Wherever his plot-end is, I need it now!” I neglected to mention that the higher brain functions were still not working. Everything needed to keep his body alive was here. Normal healers could work on fixing the comatose issue if I he didn’t wake up when his body normalized post fleshwelding. The pegasus’s rear half materialized in a flash of light, teleported by Twilight in a flurry of hopeful panic! “He’s alive?” She asked eagerly, needingly, will-literally-die-if-told-otherwise. I nodded, “Ja. But only just! Also-he’s-comatose… But I can fix this!” Right! Spine. Spine would be tri- His spine was broken on one of the disk’s not the vertebrae. That made things a lot simpler! I carefully aligned the two sections of spine, then started to examine the exact state of the connections. “Oh… horse apples…” I muttered to myself. I didn’t recognize how the nerves should go at all! This was my first time trying to fix a pony spine that was broken worse than a slipped disk. I didn’t know what I was looking at! “What’s wrong?!” Twilight asked in a worried yelp. “I ah… I’ve never worked on a pony with spine this badly damaged… I don’t know how the nerves go.” I explained. Twilight wiped a line of sweat off her brow, “Whew! No problem! One Anatomy crash course, coming right up!” She talked me through everything. It was like having a reference book on my desk while taking a test. Start with the dorsal root, then make sure it’s attached to the dural sheath, which is surrounded by the epidural tissue. But before putting that tissue back, connect the nerve fiber bundles which run alongside it. Twilight made an impossible job I would have botched easy. Why the hay couldn’t she have been in my trigonometry class? “Thank you.” I said as I finished connecting the outermost layers of the spine. “Don’t thank me!” Twilight said seriously, “I don’t know how to do the actual healing… Magically I mean. I would love a few pointers later… If you don’t mind.” I chuckled, “I don’t mind. With a little luck, your coltfriend can sit in on those pointers too… Uh, that came out wrong.” I said with a wince. “What do you mean wrong?” Twilight asked genuinely confused. She hadn’t noticed that accidental innuendo? Good! Very good. “Nothing, sorry. Equish is not my first language. I thought I said something wrong is all.” I said in my best ‘I didn’t do anything!’ voice. “Oh. So, what do we do next?” Twilight asked. “Das circulatory system. That’s an easy one.” I answered. Reconnecting each blood vessel was going to be a bit slow going. This would take a minute or three. A few minutes into the procedure, I decided to try a joke on Twilight to calm her nerves. Mostly because her frantic circling pacing was freaking me out! “Is there anything you would like me to tweak while I’m in here?” I said jokingly. “I’d be happy with him not being dead!” Twilight barked fearfully. “I was just trying to-” Twilight’s features took on a serious look as she mulled something over, “Although… No. It’s fine. Just fix him. Please.” Right. Lavender Princess doesn't understand humor. Noted. From there, everything was simple. I’d repaired a million hemorrhages before. Putting all of the organs back where they belonged was just like fixing one big abdominal hemorrhage. Stick everything in, hold it there with magic, stretch muscles and skin over everything, regenerate what is necessary, and weld the flesh together. Easy. I took a deep breath as the last line of skin knitted shut. “There we are. Ein whole pegasus. Little burned… A little scarred… Comatose, but alive. Danke für helping me withthe spine, Princess.” I sighed happily. “C-can you bring him out of the coma?” Twilight asked apprehensively, “I… admittedly am terrible with healing and medical magic… It’s always been my weak spot…” “Ja, I can try.” I answered. I had only one trick in my hooves that had ever brought somepony out of a coma. It had only worked one time, and I think it was luck. The brain is a tricky organ to work with, but fortunately if everything else was working okay, it usually would sort itself out in time. Since my trick wouldn’t hurt anything, I might as well give it a shot. “Oh! Wait!” Twilight exclaimed urgently, “Can you make him smell things?” “Eh?” I asked giving her a curious head tilt. “I read a lot, and in medical journals, many comatose patients will awaken when confronted with a familiar scent!” Twilight elaborated. “Oh… Nein. I’m not any good at illusions.” I said sadly. “Also I don’t know what scent would work… That would be much safer than direct electrical stimulation of the prefron-” Twilight’s horn blazed with light as she conjured a plate of short strips of some kind of fried food. It had the look of something ethnically Equestrian, all flaky, light, and with a dash of sweetness. Twilight gently set the plate under her coltfriend’s nose and gently pushed his face towards the plate. I frowned to myself, there was no possible way that would wo- His eyes shot open, the bloodshot blue eyes looking around in a confused jitter normally associated with being extremely drunk. “H-hay fries?” He croaked. “Flash!” Twilight squeed in delight, throwing her arms around him, and also providing me with his name. “Hallo!” I greeted, giving the stallion a smile, “You were just dead. I fixed it. No biggie. Just, please don’t move much for a few hours, at the least. Und then get to a medic in case I put something together wrong. Okay?” It felt good to say that wasn’t a big deal… Even though that was the single hardest thing I’d ever done. Hooves down. “Uh… okay.” Flash groaned ears twitching in protest of what had to be the mother of all head and backaches. Then he mutely added, “Oh, yay! ... Hay fries.” This felt good. No, better than good, this felt great! The pure joy in Twilight’s face made me realize just how important making sure every single possible loved one had their special somepony come home. I’d saved Flash. I could save more! “Twilight, a favor, please?” I asked, looking across the crater floor at the many wounded, dead and dying. “Absolutely anything you want,” Twilight replied immediately, “name it.” I looked back over to the Manabar wrapper I had dropped, and floated it over to me with my magic, showing it to twilight. “I need as many of these as possible. Right now. There are more ponies I can help today.” How many more I didn’t know. But I was going to help them until there were no more, or my horn broke. Whatever came first. I had to make up for doing nothing before, and this was the way to do it! A black stallion caught my eye. He was squirming, groaning, trying to hold his ribcage shut. “Hey! You!” I called rushing over, “Lay down. Der Doktor is in!” Jade - 5th of Solarus ‘15 EoH - Late Morning My head pounded with a massive headache as I slowly drifted into consciousness. The first thing I noticed was David, cute doggie face staring into my eyes, hands tightly gripping one of my hooves. He smiled as my eyes fluttered open, “Hey hon. Are you alright? Anything hurt?” “Head… pounding.” I muttered, leaning over to give him a kiss on the nose. He nodded. “Yeah, the medics said you’d have a bad one. So, first relationship rule. You don’t burn through all of your magic fighting an evil changeling Queen in the middle of a desert ever again, okay?” I couldn’t help but grin, “No promises… Life seems to hate us.” “If it does,” David grunted, “I’ll punch it’s teeth in.” The space around David slowly came into focus. I was inside of a tan tent, one of the military ones the Equestrians used. There were a lot of beds, and things that looked like healers tools… “I’m in a hospice… Is my side okay?” I asked. A dull twinge of pain flashed through my side, answering my question with a resounding no. David nodded and tapped my side, making a metallic pinging noise. “I glued a bit of helmet over the hole.” I raised an eyebrow at him curiously. Only now noticing the many bandages wrapped around just about every single part of him. “Hey, it fixed the last hole you got in ya.” He chuckled. “The nurse said just to hold your hand and care. Let you get something to eat and you should fix yourself up in an hour or two.” “Oh… Alright.” I said with a smile. “Uh, just so I can be sure, she exploded, right?” David modded, “Yep, like the goddamn fourth of July! … The Princesses made me turn over Boomstick to them though. But that’s alright. Civvies shouldn’t own WMDs anyways.” “Yeah,” I agreed, “it was nice, but not even a remotely safe weapon.” David chuckled sadly, “Yeah… but she was really pretty.” That’s when I noticed the four princesses gathered around the bed opposite my own. I frowned, that couldn’t possibly be good! I pointed one hoof over towards the four alicorns and cocked my head curiously, head hurting too much to talk at the moment. David looked for a moment then turned back. “That’s Lily. He’s okay. He apparently just worked himself into exhaustion.” “Doing what?” I asked, shifting in the bed to sit up slightly, the warmth of David’s directed love already making my side hurt a bit less. Princess Luna’s ears perked at my question. Turning around, she trotted over to the foot of my bed and announced, “Your friend is suffering Mana Burn from working nonstop for nearly nineteen hours. She will recover after rest and plenty of food… I don’t know where you found her, but I can’t convey how many lives she saved last night… It’s… incredible. We don’t have a medal for anything nearly as selfless.” Twilight turned around as well, “She saved my fiance's life… He’d been torn in half. Put him back together like it was nothing… Then saved forty more ponies before I lost count. One of the nurses said she saved around a ninety lives, and then went to the tent set up for amputees and just started putting limbs back on! “Poor mare ate so many Manabars she got a type of blood poisoning! She didn’t give a flying buck and just kept using them to recharge till she spellcast herself right into unconsciousness! Thank the fates Bonbon works for Luna these days, or I wouldn’t have known how to cure that particular poisoning. Somepony should really tell Germanes you got to stick to under ten of those in one day! “She was seriously amazing though! The soldiers on post last night described it as, and I quote, ‘A cocaine fueled healing rampage.’ Lily earned herself a title, not from us, but from the troops. They’ve taken to calling her ‘Lifegiver’.” “Actually,” I said on reflex due to my brain trying to process that information, “Lily’s a colt.” Celestia turned her head to look at me, “I know. She’s a transmare, right? The least I could have done would be to fix her gender for her… Then again, I’m sure she could have done that herself if she wanted to.” David laughed, “Yeah, Lily’s a confusing little thing. Personally, I think he slash she just hasn't worked out what she is yet.” Celestia nodded slowly and shook her head. “Whatever he or she decides, she’s managed to get me to reverse a ruling I made long ago… Biomancy is too useful in the right hooves to remain restricted to a proven few. I’ll have to create a regulatory committee, see if we can make it part of our medic's standard training.” Cadance snickered. “So, one foreign trained mage patches you up with an art you banned because you feared it could be used to create monsters, and you change eight hundred years of policy?” “She put my horn back together!” Celestia protested, “We don’t even have a surgical procedure for repairing a cracked horn! I thought I was going to need months of healing spells to even use telekinesis again, and then she comes over angrily muttering about how many of my ponies got hurt and just puts everything into working order, not even noticing who she was healing!” “You cracked your horn? How?” Twilight exclaimed wincing as hard as everypony else in the room. “Uh, that’s bad is it?” David asked. “The horn’s just a keratin shell over a bundle of nerve fiber clusters, and cartilage.” Twilight said in a starting-a-lecture voice. “Oh! Yeah that would be hard to fix. Like putting a spine back together! I wish my surgical skills were anywhere near reconnecting nerves. I’d have made a fortune back in… uh, my old home.” “Yes, it is quite hard to heal. Even with magic, since the horn will absorb most of the spell’s energy.” Celestia confirmed. “It’s an injury I’ve had before as well. Hence why my helmet has a horn sheath. However, it doesn't seem to have been protective enough. I believe it cracked when I was slammed into the pylon which then exploded…” “We owe her a great deal,” Luna continued. “Even if I were a cold and heartless mare, I would have to grant her lands and a title for saving me from having to replace so many soldiers… As it is, knowing so many lives will not be ruined, and how many families didn’t lose a loved one they would have otherwise… I’m going to have to plan a proper reward very carefully, or I will seriously anger the current nobility.” “If you give her less than Baroness,” Cadance warned, “I believe the EUP will mutiny.” “But if I do, I think certain families, you know who, might mutiny equally as hard.” Luna sighed. Cadance turned and walked over to my bed, shaking her head. “I helped Lily with a few operations last night. After the fifth hour she started rambling about her family, and personal history. It was like she couldn’t stop voicing her every random thought. Some of our special forces overheard her talking about her father… I had to personally intervene to stop my soldiers plotting an assassination mission.” It was hard to hear, but I swear Cadance added under her breath, “because my plan is tactically superior. Bucking monster...” But that could have been my imagination. “Suffice to say, her popularity with the troops will translate to popularity with the gentry and peasants.” Cadance said more clearly. “She’ll have an easy time settling wherever she likes, and I’m willing to bet with the newly relaxed regulations on Biomancy, that she’ll find making a living very easy… Assuming she wants to work. We all agreed on a monthly stipend, right?” The other princesses nodded. “What about us?” I asked. “Uh, I don’t mean rewards or anything… I just… How do I do the whole… Move to your country thing?” “Immigrate.” Twilight said in the tone of someone reflexively correcting another’s speech. “Jade,” Celestia said, giving me a sly smirk, “You are dispossessed royalty. You don’t need citizenship, I’ve officially accepted your plea for refuge, and have already started a resettlement program for you and your hive… Though that will take quite some time. The Nobility hate it when the Crown gives away land, and with our losses from this battle, well; the crown’s political position is a little weak right now. I don’t have a means of getting them to agree to peacefully let you and only you have a patch of land which would be quick and easy. Hooves will need to be greased, speeches made, formal dinners and functions… Don’t worry, we will guide you through everything.” Twilight nodded eagerly, “In the meantime, you’re welcome to stay in my palace! As far as the four of us are concerned, you've bought and paid for about four times what we can offer you with Clover’s Spellbook… And Honestly we don’t even need payment to do the right thing. If it takes Celestia months, years, or even Decades, you and David are welcome to stay with me and use my finances for anything you need until you have your own lands and are able to stand on your own hooves.” “That’s great!” I said, breaking out into a grin. A grin which faded quickly, “But what about David? Doesn't he need citizenship? And won’t a Diamond Dog living in a pony town cause problems? It’s caused problems everywhere else.” “Diamond Dog?” Luna said in a mock-surprised voice, “Whatever do you mean? David’s a Werewolf. That’s all.” “Uh… no I’m not. Lily just did some work on me.” David protested. “Yeah!” I agreed. Luna facehooved. “Vinyl! Can you bring those papers over now?” A white mare with a spiky blue and light blue mane and rose tinted glasses trotted into view, carrying a parchment scroll which she passed over to David, “Here ya go. Right from dear old Dad. One ‘not a brutish thug, just a bipedal werewolf bloodline’ certificate.” “But I’m not a werewolf.” David objected grumpily. Luna slid a hoof slowly over her face. “You’re not good at subtle, are you? Look, our supernatural monster recovery center, a village called Hollow Shades, was publicly exposed by a journalist we couldn’t misdirect. Equestria has been putting out a massive PR campaign to let ponies know that yes certain mythical monsters are real, but they are perfectly safe and just like anypony else once treated for their condition. It’s taken six years, but most ponies now accept these ex-monsters as ponies. Because the treated ones are completely harmless. Like Vinyl here. She’s a vampire.” David did a double take. “Seriously?” The white mare grinned, allowing two small fangs to slide from hidden spots in her mouth for a second, “Yep! I wouldn’t say harmless though… I kick plenty of flank! But legally, as one of Moonbu-” Vinyl was interrupted by a simultaneous glare from Celestia, Twilight, and Cadence. While Luna just held back a giggle. “-Er, Princess Luna’s personal Knights.” She amended. “Wait,” I asked curiously, “Why and how did people start thinking vampires aren't real? My hive had vampire attacks at least four times!” “Well… My dad's been treating supernatural creatures to cure whatever madness they have for about four thousand years… So in Equestria, evil ones are really rare. If ponies don't see something for generations it becomes a myth.” Vinyl explained. “Right.” Luna agreed, “But you know what my little ponies don’t except as people? Diamond Dogs. Because they are very real, and even to this day still raid smaller villages and eat ponies. Now, I and many other educated ponies know there is a nation of civilized Diamond Dogs to the far south. But that’s not something everypony knows. It’s far simpler to allow the common pony to think you are simply a creature long believed to be a dangerous, but mythical, beast which turned out to be real and largely harmless, than to let them know you are one of our natural predators.” “Seriously?” David and I chorused. The princesses nodded. Twilight spoke for them, “Yes. Our herd instincts are very strong. Among less intellectually inclined ponies… Well, it’s hard for them to ignore the presence of a predator, even if they are as kind, polite, and civil as you are David. Just spend most of your time in your pony form, and let pones think you’re a werewolf… We came up with this plan because half the ponies here already do anyway.” Celestia chuckled, “You transforming back when angry that your mate was hurt is what started that idea. We simply want to make the public misconception legally accurate. We’ll call your true species a state secret.” David sighed. “Well… If it lets me get a house with a yard and a nice job that lets me contribute to society… I guess I don’t have a choice.” “That’s the spirit!” Luna giggled, “If it helps, I also have a hidden from public view part of my identity as well.” “What?” I asked curiously. “I love games.” She replied simply. “All sorts, but especially tactical and strategy games… It would be seen as a weakness in the Nobility’s eye for me to be publicly known to frequent arcades and miniature gaming tournaments, so, that’s kept under wraps.” David chuckled. “Old people… Never understanding young people’s hobbies until they try them out for themselves.” His tone suggested he was speaking from personal experience. “Uh, I beg to differ. The current generation’s hobbies are just grand!” Luna objected. “Right, but you’re like, what,” David paused musing for an age before guessing, “A decade or so into adulthood?” Everypony in the room choked back a laugh, failed, then burst out laughing! Luna recovered first, and with a huge grin on her face, leaned over to David and informed, “I’m four thousand, five hundred, and seven years old.” David threw up his hands in frustration, “Okay! Screw it! I’m just going to have to take night classes or something because I apparently know jack shit about this whole planet!” “Yeah,” I agreed, “I should do that too.” “Oh oh oh!” Twilight exclaimed eagerly, “I have a huge library! It’s been a long time since I’ve taught anypony, I’d love to teach you all about Equestria!” “That’s great!” I said with a genuine smile, “I’d be honored to learn from you. Er, so… what happens now?” Celestia smiled at me, “Now? Now we wait here a day or three to allow everypony to recover. Then we return to Canterlot, I put the paperwork for your and David into the proper bureaucratic slots, and at the end of the week, we have a formal victory feast. That will be a function I’ll spend the week coaching you on how to do properly so you make a good impression on the nobles. Then after that party, we have a real party. A Pinkie party. Because I don’t know about anypony else here, but I think a proper party is in order. With decent cake.” “That sounds wonderful!” I agreed. I turned to look back at David, gazed lovingly into his eyes, and squeezed his hand with my hoof as best I could. The Swarm was no more. My love lived. I had a new life ahead of me, and my hive would thrive once more thanks to the Princesses generosity. The Queen is dead. All hail the new Queen!