Unearth

by Undermine

Day 7 (Epilogue)

Day 7

Spike inhales and exhales his fiery breath onto his letter. He watches it fly through the trees and towards Canterlot. He turns around and sees Fluttershy with a saddlebag on her back.

"Oh," he says, "hey Fluttershy! On your way to see Pinkie?"

"Oh yes!" she responds. "I have picked a lovely bundle of petunias, just for her. And, I have freshly made carrot juice, one of Angel's favorite drinks!"

"Heh, you're definitely more peppy all of a sudden."

"Well, who wouldn't be? We found Pinkie Pie! The whole town has been sending her a bunch of gifts and 'Get Well' letters. Everyone is so happy now!" Fluttershy pauses and looks at Spike. "But...why aren't you?"

Spike folds his arms. "I sent a letter to the princesses."

"A friendship letter?"

"No. Just a letter. And judging by the lack of response at the moment, they're not too happy with it"

"Oh...well, hopefully they'll look at things more carefully now."

"They'll have too. That...and I'm a little bummed out."

"Why?"

"I read Pinkie's travel diary. Her last entry had a whole bunch of farewells and such. All of you were on it...except for me."

"Oh, Spike..."

"No no, I know. But I'm not holding anything against her. I guess, in the moment, if you were on your deathbed and was writing your last goodbye, you'd probably think only about your close friends and family. Me? Well...I wasn't much of a close friend."

"Spike, don't beat yourself up about. You are very important dragon to us all, Pinkie included. And your very smart! Why, I still remember that night when you talked to me about the princesses, and I'm still impressed with your intellect!"

Spike smirks and says, "Intellect, huh? Last time I tried talking to somepony about that she pushed me off as a maddragon."

"Whoever would do that?"

"Princess Celestia."

Fluttershy thinks for a moment. "You have quite the rocky relationship with the princess, huh."

"Yeah. I know too much, and she doesn't like that. She likes it when everything and everyone falls into her perfect little world, and I just happen to be treading that thin line out of it."

"But, do you really want to stay on this side, Spike? Is it worth it?"

Spike smiles and looks at Fluttershy. "See? Your beginning to think like me."

"And just like you, not many ponies know about it." Fluttershy stands for a few moments. "Well, what happens now?"

"Now? Well, now is the time you get on up to Pinkie Pie and give her a good morning welcome with the gang. As for me, I'm gonna wait for Celestia's response. If she has any change of heart, I wanna get right back to her with an 'I told you so'."

Fluttershy chuckles. "Well, okay. You sure you don't want to see her?"

"I do wanna see her, but I'll be able to do that later. After all, everything is gonna to go back to way it has been, yes?"

"Well...not really. Pinkie is going to go through a bunch of trauma and stress therapy, Twilight and Rainbow Dash may never fully amend their cracked relationship, and Celestia may not be as great as we all thought. Things might seem like they'll go back the way it has been, but it will be far from what we'll call 'normal'."

Spike smiles, then turns and says, "I'll see you around, Fluttershy."

"Oh, uh, goodbye Spike!" Fluttershy walks away and heads toward Ponyville hospital.

---

Pinkie Pie wakes up and again sees the multitude of familiar, friendly faces. She'd seen them all yesterday, but she was still too tired, weak, and hungry to really interact. Now that she had some strength back, she opens her eyes wider and smiles.

"Good morning, everypony," she says. They all return the salutation.

"How do you feel, sweetie?" Rarity asks.

"Like I've been sleeping on a cloud! Well, a cloud that has a whole bunch of tubes and wires poking into me." The group laughs. "See, I'm getting back into my element!"

"You sure are, sugarcube," Applejack comes in closer. "Look here, partner! I got a fresh batch of yer favorite cider right in my saddlebag! The hard stuff, too! I figured you'd need something that tasted good on yer tongue."

"Thanks, Applejack, but the doctors said to wait on the hard drinks. I don't my liver to go through what I've been through."

"Heh! Alrighty then!"

"I do like the flowers, Fluttershy! They are just as pretty as you are."

Fluttershy blushes. "Oh, thank you, Pinkie!"

"Oh, and Rainbow, thanks for going the extra mile and getting me an awesome Wonderbolts poster! I'll have the coolest hospital room during my recovery!"

"Hey, don't mention it!" Rainbow says. "You always deserve the coolest things."

Twilight approaches the bed. "We are all very happy to see you getting better, Pinkie. We'll be here to help in any way we can!"

"Awww, thanks girls!"

"Is there anything you'd like at the moment?"

Pinkie Pie thinks for little while. She ponders, looking around the room, until she stops at the window. She can barely see the bright morning light glowing on the trees.

After a few moments of silence she says, "I'd like to go outside."

Twilight looks at Pinkie, worried, before turning to the doctor. The doctor looks at his notes and says, "There's nothing here that says she can't go outside. We'll bring in a wheelchair and an IV stand, then a couple of you can take her out for a little stroll. The gardens around the back are very pretty! The flowers are in full bloom after all of that rain."

Twilight looks back at Pinkie. "What do you think Pinkie? Would you like that?"

Pinkie Pie, now donning a full smile, doesn't hesitate in responding, "I would love that."

---

Princess Luna looks out her window. She is suppose to be sleeping, getting ready for the night as always, but lately sleep has been a struggle for her.

She looks back at the week. She remembers trying to warn her sister, but her trust in the royal figure undermined the gravity of the situation. She assumed she was right. She normally is, but this time she was not.

What makes her a great princess? she thinks. Why are ponies so loyal to her? Is it her charisma? Her charm? Her kindness? How can those qualities overpower that kind of selfishness? Is this the action of the sister I have known for thousands of years?

Luna levitates a letter in front of her. Spike is very fortunate that Celestia was not here to recieve this letter. I have had doubts in his judgements before, but that has changed now. Luna's horn glows brighter and the letter is set ablaze. She tosses it into her fireplace. It is for the best of Spike not to have Celestia find out about his objections to her rule. I will speak with him in private later about the situation.

Luna walks out of her room. She walks down the hall and turns the corner, almost running into her sister.

"Oh, dear me!" Celestia says. "I apologize, Luna! I almost ran you over!"

"Apology accepted, sister."

"Little sister, why are you still up? Shouldn't you be resting?"

"I require a trip to the royal loo, Celestia. You can imagine why that would override my slumber."

"Ah, yes, well, carry on. Your business must be attended to. Fare thee well!"

"Fare thee well." Luna trots with haste, out of earshot.

"Te non esse sapientem..." she whispers. "Te non esse sapientem. I like that." Luna walks on and makes her way to the Starswirl Library.

---

The sun beams bright and strong on the gardens of the Ponyville hospital. Pinkie can see this through the clear doors as she is being pushed carefully through the hallways. Twilight is handling the wheelchair itself while Rarity keeps the IV rack close by.

Rainbow Dash flies by and hands Pinkie Pie a pair of sunglasses. "The doctor told me that you need to have these on to avoid any eye strain," she says, "that, and it makes you look badass."

"Thanks, Rainbow," she says, putting the sunglasses over her eyes.

Twilight stops briefly at the doors. She uses her magic to open both of them. She turns to Pinkie and says, "Are you ready, Pinkie?"

"Yup!" Pinkie says.

"Alright, let's go."

They push Pinkie through the doors and outside of the hospital. Even with the sunglasses, Pinkie has to cover her eyes for a minute. When she puts her hoof down and squints, she gasps at the sight around her.

The garden is full of blooming, gorgeous flowers. Roses, petunias, and even sunflowers speckled the area. Birds are weaving in and out of the trees, dashing through the tops of the flowers. There is so much color around her! And the smells are intoxicating. The crisp air, the fresh trees, and the fragrant pollen almost seems too much to handle. And the sky. The sky! She can see the beautiful blue sky! Not a single cloud perforated the vast blueness. There is just the sky and the sun, shinning down with warmth and comfort.

Pinkie Pie tries to take in all in. She removes her sunglasses and smiles stupidly at every flower, bird, and tree. Everything she was missing from those five days are all seemingly right in front of her, even her friends. Tears begin to fall down her cheek.

Twilight stops and looks at Pinkie. "Pinkie? Are you alright?" she says.

"Yes, oh yes, I am more than alright," Pinkie Pie says. "I'm just...this is...I'm just so happy! I'm so happy to be here in this beautiful world with my beautiful friends!" The group stops and look at Pinkie, all of them smiling.

"We are very happy to be with you Pinkie."

"I love you girls so much! I'm so happy! I'm so happy to be alive!"

THE END

Comments

[Jioplip]

3008581 Just so we're clear, I would like to make sure it's known that I only read Day 0.

Other than that, thank you for being understanding and reasonable, it's good to know that the internet doesn't bring out the worst in everyone all the time.

[Undermine]

3008616

You are very much welcome!

I'd like to apologize for not realizing that you only read one chapter of the story, but would also humbly ask if you would read at least one or two more chapters. The actual story comes in at that point as well as what I discussed in my previous comment.

If your opinions change, that's cool, but if not, like I said, I'm not gonna hold it against you. All I ask is for you to look into this story a little more.

Other than that, thank you for reacting to my comment calmly and respectfully. I always appreciate and admire good manners and intellect on the internet.

(P.S. I'm still gonna keep that monster wall of text! It'll serve as a handy tool in explaining some things to people who read the story. Also, because of the corgi.)

[FaleYur]

3008766

te non esse sapientem.
In the name of all that is holy and good, what does this mean? I have been looking for the definition for hours and it still escapes me. ENLIGHTEN ME! please.

[Undermine]

3010032

i.imgur.com/CsiRfzF.png

[FaleYur]

3010133

Well...

If you dont mind I think I'll go stick my head in a hole somewhere and bury myself.

Great story BTW

[Undermine]

3010146

Thanks!

And don't beat yourself up about it. Not everyone knows Latin. Not even me!

(Fuck yeah, Google translate!)

[Lord Destrustor]

Huh, that was a good read.
Spike seemed a little too mature most of the story's time, but it went well with the dark grittiness of the whole thing. Also, I strongly object to these contrived superstorms, but I have to admit that the feels and tension they brought was well worth it.
I shall favorite this like a sir!

[joe mother]

3010133

How would Spike know Latin in the first place?

[Dream Weaver]

3008766

I'm going to have to agree with Jioplip here on a few points. Unlike they, however...I have read the full story from start to finish. Here's going to be my constructive criticism.

For starters: I won't agree with Jioplip's interpretation of Pinkie entirely. During most of the story, she seems to hold true to what we've come to expect of her. Crazy-happy. Party Loving. Pink ball of pony energy Pinkie. However, during her crazy time, she goes just a bit too far off the deep end to be believable to me. We all saw how deeply she was affected in Party of One, and while yes; she did give life and personality to inanimate objects, she never truly lost sight of what was really going on around her. She was still coherent to a point that this story overstepped. Kudos for pushing boundaries where few tread...but it might've been handled with a bit more subtlety instead of using a sledgehammer on a plate glass window.

Next: Rainbow and Twilight. The most obviously glaring flaw in this story is their characterization. Rainbow is no doubt the gung-ho, in your face, ready to rock pegasus you've depicted here. She does have a short fuse when danger involves her friends. But would she truly take it to the limit to basically defy her element and unjustly shift all the blame on Twilight? There could've been any number of reasons that Pinkie didn't come back when she said she would; a few of which being addressed early on.

And then we have Twilight practically curling up into herself at Rainbow's admonishment instead of buckling down and solving the problem at hand. Twilight wouldn't be one to just sit around while her friends are in danger. Sure, she might initially pass everything off logically the way she did (kudos once again for keeping her in character up to that point)...but I find it desperately hard to believe that she would fake an illness just to prevent herself from facing down the guilt of the possibility that she indeed was the cause of Pinkie's rescue taking so long. Her train of thought would only go so far before forcing her, like the obsessive compulsive book-nerd we all love, to find a solution to the problem.

Another thing I have difficulty believing is that there is such unchecked weather running wild across Equestria. There was never any hint given by Rainbow, who's supposed to be a weather pony, that any of this weather was scheduled...or could be put on hold temporarily for a Royal Search Party to find what could be considered one of Equestria's national treasures in pony form. I can suspend my disbelief a great deal, given Pinkie's typical antics and the show in general; but this takes the cake. The only way this could be remotely believable is if you mentioned that these storms were coming up out of the Everfree Forest and while weather teams were working on dissipating them; they'd be having a hard time due to the nature of the weather that forms there.

Lastly we come to my final major gripe of this story.

Language.

I understand that sometimes, strong language can be a very good way to motivate people and produce a certain atmosphere within a work of fiction. But you've gotta remember: you're writing for ponies here. There is very little in the way for making me believe that full grown ponies, let alone a baby dragon (emphasis on baby, no matter how old some might guess he is) would be using such foul-mouthed terminology. Don't get me wrong; I like the stereotypical cussin' badass as much as the next guy (and Spike is indeed VERY badass in this fic...if a bit overly so in some points). But human swear words in a story about candy-colored fun loving friendship toting ponies...just pushes the envelope. If you were going to insist on it, the least you could have done was ponified it like many other have done. I will admit it definitely added to the dark and dirty nature of the tale...but it was overkill. You could've easily gotten away with pony swears and still kept the same atmosphere the story had all along...and made it feel more real.

All in all, I would still definitely read this again and it's going on my favorites list. But the above aside, and obvious spelling/grammar mistakes in some places make this less of a story than it could have been. Without the FimFic star rating anymore, I'd have to settle on my own rating of 3/5. Not bad, but definitely needs work.

For now; I hope I haven't been too harsh in my criticism. I did genuinely enjoy the story. I just found one too many things out of place. So before I continue this wall-o-text any further, I'll just be on my way, and wish you a great day.

Thanks for the read.

~DreamWeaver~

[Plzwork1122]

3029930
He lives in a flipping library for one... Obviously there was some sort of Roman period because there was a Midieval Era (the three tribes) so that meas Latin is a language.

[Plzwork1122]

This is a great fan fiction. 8/10

[joe mother]

4000605

Medieval period does not mean Latin necessarily. Equestrian medieval could be quite different.

[Plzwork1122]

4003264 Before the Medieval Era there was Rome, plus the traditional armor of the Pegasus, was Roman.

[ShadowKirby]

I did really enjoy this story, but I find it a HUGE missed opportunity.
This is the first story ever that I was INTIMIDATED by the summary because it was so good and with the concept it had; unfortunately, you wrote it in a way that breaks the mood and doesn't allow a lot of emotional buildup.
Then again, you WERE making it a happy ending, so doing it in the most emotional format would be more difficult with that.
Also, there were some minor grammar errors, most notably when you continued to use 'your' instead of 'you're'.

I still liked it for what it was though! ^_^ It was a pretty enjoyable read~

[Kit Wolfkat]

Enjoyable read. I liked it. Nice enough ending.