//------------------------------//
// Epilogue 
// Story: Next Tuesday Morning 
// by Flutterdude 
//------------------------------//

	Twilight mentally rematerialized in the lobby of the Ponyville library. The building that she lived on the top storey of.
It had no cracks in the wooden steps. Non-charred wooden steps. No cracks in the walls. In the ceiling. No cracks anywhere.
There was obligatory smoke wafting from the center of the lightly-charred wooden floor. So, Twilight figured, she had just been inserted into her past self after viewing her future self's first attempt to fix what was about to come.
Or something.
"I'm not complaining, I'm not complaining," she said to nopony in particular as she trotted up the stairs to the section of the building that served as her and Spike's living quarters. There, in his mat, sleeping, was Spike. Not possessed. Just trying to go back to his ice cream dream. She was about to go bear-hug him, but she remembered that he hadn't been asleep for long.
She galloped back to the main room, where she had stacked several large piles of random papers. She remembered that she needed to do some scheduling. Cerberus wasn't set to arrive for a few more hours, so she got to work, being sure not to wake Spike again.



It was about time. She smugly sipped some tea while looking out her window, feeling a bit self-absorbed as she reassured herself that Cerberus was set to arrive in a few minutes or so.
And sure enough, there came the horrid three-headed Rottweiler. Or possibly bull dog. Or maybe bull dog/Rottweiler mix with some Doberman thrown in there. But whatever. He made a deafening roar to signal his presence that sounded kinda like this: GROOOOWAAAOOORROOOAAAAAHRRRRWWWRRRR.
Pinkie Pie was passing by and addressed everypony around her. "Okay everypony, follow my lead: AAAAAAAAAAAH!"
The bystanders followed suit and ran off in random directions.
"What is that thing?!" shouted Spike in disbelief.
"That's Cerberus." Twilight smirked. Everything was coming full circle. "He's supposed to be guarding the gates of Tartarus, but if he's here, then all of the evil creatures that have been imprisoned there could escape and destroy Equestria."
"Destroy Equestria?!"
"Yep." She walked outside to get a better view of the event that would hopefully solve everything.
What she saw was unexpected.
"Who's the cute widdle three-headed dog?" cooed Twilight's yellow pegasus friend, Fluttershy, as she rubbed the hell-sent demon spawn's tummy.
"Wow, I knew you were good with animals, but this is amazing."
"Aww, he's just a big furry guy who got out of his yard, that's all. Right, Cerberus? Who's a good boy? Who's a good boy?" Cerberus shook his leg in submission to the awesome might of Fluttershy's tummy rub.
Pinkie Pie galloped by, screaming in panic.
"Pinkie!"
She stopped screaming. "Yes, Twilight?"
"Do you have a ball I could borrow?"
She took a ball out of a notch in a nearby tree. "I have balls stashed all over Ponyville. In case of ball emergency," she said with a giddy smile as she tossed the ball to Twilight. Twilight returned the smile.
Twilight shook the ball around in the air. "Hey, Cerberus! Look what I have!" she sing-sung.
Cerberus began panting in delight and chased Twilight as she ran in the direction of Tartarus.
"I'll be back as soon as I've returned him to the gates of Tartarus!" she shouted to her friends as she ran off to fix the problem at hand. "Once he's back at home, there'll be no disaster!"
She liked the sound of those words.
　

　
Spike woke up that morning with a feeling of freshness and renewal. "I wish Twilight would go on epic adventures more often. Best night's sleep I've had in weeks." He did get to third base with Rarity in last night's dream.
Twilight trotted triumphantly through the door to the library. She had greeted all of her friends on her way home and given them big hugs. It was great to see them not dead. It was great to see them at all.
"Hey, Twilight, how'd it go with Cerberus?"
"Great. I got him back before any of the evil creatures could escape." She smiled ear-to-ear as she beamed, "Everything's been made right again."
"Cool."
She narrowed her eyes with a smirk at Spike's less-than-enthusiasm. Then she thought for a second. Spike wasn't aware of the whole "Ponyville-becomes-a-giant-sack-of-steaming-schnitzel-and-everypony-becomes-a-zombie-type-thing" thing. Nopony but herself was. Because it had never happened. Because she had gone to the past with prior knowledge and now had stepped off of her soap box for a second to allow her friends to solve the problem. This also meant, according to her and Pinkie's theory, she was now in the true present. That was a plus.
Everything was fixed, and she was the only one who remembered what had happened. She could never tell her friends how they had died, how the government had dealt with the problem, about the Equestria-wide grieving and mourning for lost ones overcome by possession and all the horrors that it subsequently begat. They would think she was crazy, talking about something that had never happened.
But then again, it was probably best that they didn't remember what happened over those few days. She wasn't sure what the memories of somepony who had died would be like, for one.
Suddenly, she remembered the schedule she had revised the day before. "Oh! Today's pet play day with the gang!"
She trotted outside and whistled. Her pseudo-pet owl landed on her back. He occasionally stopped by Twilight's house like a stray cat, and Twilight would feed him, play with him, take him to the park, and, presently, take him to meet Twilight's friends and their pets. His name was Owloiscious. Or maybe it was Owlowicious. Or possibly Owloisious. Hay, she couldn't remember most of the time, either.
"Alright, buddy, let's go meet with our friends."
"Who?"
"Our friends."
"Who?"
"Applejack and Rarity and Fluttershy and Pinkie Pie and Rainbow Dash, remember?"
"Who?"
"And their pets? Applejack's dog Winona, Rarity's cat Opalescence, Fluttershy's bunny Angel, Pinkie's alligator Gummy, Rainbow Dash's turtle Tank? Remember?"
"Who?"
"You know what, nevermind."
She trotted off into the obligatory Sun-set to go hang out with her friends. There were no news papers in the street.
　


THE END