I'm finding myself having to step back a ways and rethink Black Feather's final moments as the story ends. I hate to say this, but it's not looking good for keeping the planned scene intact. Yes, it's just a small scene, but it really ended the story on the right note.

The problem is that having a little moment between dead-Twilight and dead-Periapsis in the Aether, talking about things, no longer really works at all. It was entirely designed to create a good ending for the story in a way that compensates for the Fo:E wasteland and all its misery and death.

But removing the wasteland from our universe... removes any commentary these two might have about said wasteland.

Not only that, but it's difficult to justify the presence of dead-Twilight at all because she's not going to be killed in the events of Fo:E.

I could just end the story with our heroes appearing 195 years in the future and it being clear to the reader that new adventures await. That's certainly an option. But it's not really an emotional ending. I'd still like to include those aspects, of course... but tacking on the final scene in the Aether would be pretty sweet if there was a way to pull it off.

One option may be to reveal the Eternal alicorn, aka Starswirl, appearing in the room with Periapsis at the end. He could say something meaningful which ends the story. Another option would be for Twilight or someone to hang out a bit longer after the heroes are gone, just before the link fades, and have a brief moment and perhaps an important question for Peri. When considering what this question might be or what the answers to that question might be, we can take a quick peek into future events which take place while our heroes are away:

* The zebra war ends due to the removal of the Nightmare Moon threat, the defeat of Hyperion, and the fact that the zebra military cannot sustain further conflict.
* The Nexus Core breakthrough revolutionizes Equestria in a technology boom.
* Twilight makes huge advances in her Mirrorspace experiments.
* Ships capable of carrying ponies into space are built.
* Early space exploration of the Equus system commences.
* The Alcora return and assert themselves upon Equus, causing quite a stir.
* Luna's moon is colonized and outer asteroid belt is mined for resources.
* Mirrorgates are designed and tested successfully within the Equus system.
* A habitable planet is discovered, prompting the construction of Equestria's first colony ship.
* The Crystal Empire (and the heroes from Black Feather) reappear suddenly.

Now, naturally, almost none of this should be revealed at the end of Black Feather. But this is the situation when our heroes return. So the question is... might there be some closing remarks between a being who can observe time in a nonlinear fashion and someone (Twilight probably) who is bound to the Realspace timeline? What might have a slight emotive impact while also salting the curiosity of the reader about what is coming? These are my thoughts as I consider a redesigned final moment for the story.

I certainly agree that the loss of the Wasteland and all that entailed has robbed Twi and Peri's moment of it's poignancy. But I think it still has a lot of dramatic potential. Here we have two mothers, Peri and Twi looking into the future for their children. Would be a great place for Peri to talk about the wonders and terrors that lie ahead.

Also Twi would know she and Nyx will be reunited again.

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That might be a simple point to make. It's flexible because Peri does not have full omniscience like Starswirl. She only sees windows into the Realspace timeline. So she may have a warning to give as well as something to hope for. I could leave the reader with that.