Epilogue: First and Last Things
Twilight Sparkle
Weeks turned into months, which turned into years, which turned into two decades. The specter of the Outbreak, while omnipresent, slowly faded with the turning of the seasons.
She trotted down the streets of Canterlot with Cadance by her side, both of them chatting excitedly as they headed to the train station. Their guards hung around in the shadows - out of sight, out of mind - and the few civilians around mostly dropped into bows. Despite Twilight having said multiple times they didn't need to. And that Cadance wasn't their princess.
Periodically, Twilight ruffled her wings in a half-suppressed urge to take to the skies. She'd never gotten used to Canterlot being so empty, even if a lot of ponies had moved into the empty homes and had foals that were now grown up. She'd grown up in Canterlot, and so had a very fixed image in her mind as to how it should've looked, and currently the capitol city did not match up to her mental image.
"I spy with my little eye..." Cadance said. "Something... pink."
She gave Cadance an unamused look. "Your coat?"
The pink alicorn beside her shook her head. "Nope."
"Hmm. The color in my mane?"
"No," she said with a giggle. "Guess again, silly filly!"
She looked around. "Is it... that strawberry stand?"
Cadance nodded vigorously, her mane undulating in a strange way as she did. "Yes! Your turn."
"Alright. I spy with my little eye, something that moves on tracks." Her mane flew backwards and hit her in the withers, making her blink in surprise. She shook her head and it returned to normal.
"Is it the Friendship Express?" Cadance asked.
Twilight nodded vigorously. "Yes!" Sure enough, the train station was coming up soon. The train for Ponyville was leaving soon, with the Crystal Empire's train departing for its homeland not long after. The two alicorns trotted up to the Friendship Express's royal coach. Once there, Cadance turned to Twilight.
"Sure you don't want to come with me? Chryssy's coming over today for dinner," she pleaded with a fake pout on her face. With the sun casting a shadow on Cadance's face, her ethereal mane looked really weird. Flowing hot pink with occasional slivers of blue and red flickering inside of it. It was a wild, streaming mass that rushed away from Cadance's body like a waterfall, far faster than Celestia or Luna's.
"Sorry Cadance, I already have a sleepover scheduled with the girls tonight," she said regretfully. "Maybe next time?" she said with a smile and tilt of her head, her mane wrapping itself around her neck momentarily, and then releasing it.
The other alicorn winked at her. "It's a date, Twilight. I'll send you a letter when I've got the time down." The train's whistle blew, signaling the last call. "Oh, better go catch your train, Twilight!"
"Right."
The two of them looked at each other. And then...
"Sunshine sunshine, ladybugs awake!" they chanted. "Clap your hooves and do a little shake!" They giggled, and then Twilight broke into a light gallop to catch her train. "See you later, Cadance!" The guards by the royal coach let her in without any issue. There were snacks on board, but Twilight wasn't hungry; she'd already had lunch with Celestia.
She found her seat and once she'd sat down she curled her tail around her hooves. At a loss for what to do, Princess Twilight leaned her head against the window and watched as the train began rolling down its tracks, the Equestrian countryside rolling by. And in the window itself, Twilight could see a faint reflection of herself. The image that stared back at her wasn't the one she was used to seeing. She'd long ago gotten used to the wings, but her newest features were still just a week old.
Her mane and tail had taken on the same ethereal quality all immortal alicorns shared. Celestia's flowed with all the colors of an aurora, Luna's shimmered with the night sky, and Cadance's rippled and surged with the urgency of love. Twilight's own tail and mane glistened with the shades of harmony, one color at a time. Her mane and tail would, from roots to end, fade to loyalty red, then to honesty orange, or to laughter blue, on and on. It flowed about as fast as Luna or Celestia's, maybe a touch slower. The only features that remained from her solid hair was the single streak of pink that went through it, undulating as the entire body did, and the fact that her mane still formed the familiar bangs over her elongated horn.
Immortality. The word was still unusual to her ears. She was immortal now, a member of the small group of beings who did not age: ascended alicorns, certain dragons, empowered changeling queens, and windigos. She'd regained her youthful look from two decades ago and grown to match Cadance in height, but still... she didn't feel immortal. Not at all, really. Though Twilight supposed that was to be expected.
She had a lot to look forward to, of course. An eternity of studying and researching. Centuries of making friends. The only problem was that time continued to progress at a normal pace. Or maybe not so much of a problem.
She flared her horn and shrugged off her saddlebags, pulling a book from it. Getting comfortable, she opened up Professor Hawkwings's book A Quick Synopsis of Eternity, just for some light reading. She cracked it open at the beginning and started working on the prologue.
The train chugged past steadily and rhythmically, almost lulling her to sleep as she took comfort in the familiar physics book. She tried not to think of all the things she had to do once she got back to her castle in Ponyville, but she really had no way of not thinking about it. There was the Summer Sun Celebration coming up, and while Ponyville wouldn't be hosting it this year that certainly didn't mean they weren't celebrating. She had a meeting to go to with Mayor Pumpernickel pretty much right as she got off the train, then some prisoner business. After that she had some free time before she had to hold Dusk Court, followed by going over to Rarity's house for the sleepover.
The ride went by smoothly and without event. She finished rereading her book just as the train pulled into its station. She put her book away, stretched, and then trotted out of the royal coach. She mingled in with the rest of the departing ponies as best she could, but even without her crown, torque, and horseshoes she was an alicorn with a fluttering mane that stood a head taller than most other ponies. She turned heads and made ponies bow just by being there and she hated it.
Twilight understood Celestia's pain now.
She made her way through Ponyville, which was somewhat more populated now that the generations were passing and growing up. Twilight made her way through the familiar streets towards the town square and entered -
Her mane's back end raised itself up and smacked back down right between her wings, prompting her to yelp in pain.
- and entered the town hall.
She approached the mare at the front desk, a cream-colored earth pony with heavyset glasses that looked like they were going to fall off any minute. Twilight actually found her snout twitching in an attempt to keep phantom glasses on her bridge. "Ah, Princess! The Mayor's already in his office, you're all set." She motioned towards a hallway on Twilight's left. "Down that way, first right, then fourth door on the left."
"Got it, thank you." Twilight walked along the designated path until she found the Mayor's office, and let herself in. "Mayor Pumpernickel?" she inquired.
"Ah, Princess!" the pegasus stallion said, stepping out from behind his desk. He walked up to her and raised a brown hoof. She shook it and then placed her hoof down. "Please, have a seat!"
"Don't mind if I do," she said, sitting in front of is desk while the Mayor went to his seat behind it. And then, Twilight's world became forms.
***-_***_-***-_***_-***-_***_-***
Hours later, they were done. Twilight and the Mayor stood from their respective seats and shook hooves. "Thank you for your time, Twilight," he said. "Enjoy the rest of your day."
"You too, Pumpernickel." Twilight summoned her powerful magic and, with a flash and a bang, teleported out onto the streets of Ponyville.
For a moment she cringed, expecting the typical reactions of ponies when a tall Princess appeared next to them in a violent teleport, but nothing happened. Looking around, she noticed the reason for that was because the street she appeared in was, like many, empty. Which was just as well; time for some free time. First stop was Sugarcube Corner to pick up some snacks; Spike was hitting adolescence and his appetite was soaring. Not to mention that her food consumption rate had also gone up since she'd... grown.
She entered Sugarcube Corner during its rush hour, to find Pound Cake working the counter. He looked her way when she entered. "Afternoon, Twilight!"
"You too, Pound. How's your sister?"
The smile on his face vanished. "She's got a stallion. I don't like him."
She rolled her eyes and cantered towards the displays. "Just be careful not to rough him up too - "
Twilight Sparkle didn't like being immortal. It came with a very, very big downside. Not the whole 'outlive your friends' thing. While she wasn't looking forward to that either, a few simple logical arguments could stem much of the grimness of that. No, what Twilight really hated about being an immortal alicorn...
Her ethereal tail took that moment to wrap around her hind legs, tripping her and sending Twilight muzzle first onto the ground. " - much," she squeaked.
... was the stupid mane and tail that came with it. She felt like, despite losing out on their bet, Starswirl got the last laugh.
“Um, are you okay Twilight?” Pound asked.
She got to her hooves. “Never better,” she grumbled as her tail returned to normal. “Just this stupid ethereal nonsense. Two lemon cupcakes, by the way.”
As Pound moved to get the treats he asked, “Why don't you just turn it off if it bothers you so much?”
She groaned. “I don't know how! When I asked the others how to turn it off they just looked at me as if I'd grown a second head, like 'Twilight, why would you ever want to turn it off?',” she ranted.
"Yikes, I feel so sorry for you," he said genuinely.
"Eh, I'll live." She pulled the bits out of her saddlebags and floated them over towards Pound. They traded the items, and she slipped her cupcakes into her bags. "Is Pinkie available?"
Pound nodded. "Auntie's back in the kitchen, though she's... well, I wouldn't say working, but I also wouldn't say she's slacking off. It's just..."
"If it's too much trouble I can come back later," Twilight offered.
"Oh no, Princess, it's fine. It's just... you'll see."
She nodded. "Alright." She walked behind the counter and pushed through the door that lead to Sugarcube Corner's kitchen.
Twilight Sparkle was quite proud of her achievements in life. She had stood her ground against the maddened jealousy of Nightmare Moon, navigated the unchecked havoc of Discord, and uncovered the deception of their once-enemy Queen Chrysalis. She'd faced down the crushing hatred and despair of King Sombra, sent the demon Grogar back to whence he'd came, and outsmarted the restless spirit of Starswirl the Bearded. She had ascended to alicornhood, immortality, and bitterly battled against the hordes of the Plague Goddess Elizabeth Greene.
What was inside went above and beyond all of those.
On one side of the kitchen, Pinkie was tossing various fruits together into a bowl with lightning speed, pausing every now and then to cover it in whipped cream. Meanwhile on the opposite end, Pinkie was mixing cake batter at a furious speed.
Twilight looked left. There was Pinkie.
Twilight looked right. There was Pinkie.
She went briefly cross-eyed, trying to reconcile the two images with each other. She didn't even notice her mane's brief attempt to strangle her. "Gwah?" she stammered.
"Oh hi Twilight!" shouted the Pinkie on the right. "I didn't hear you come in and I thought you'd be out longer talking with the other princesses about the whole not aging thing - looks good on you by the way - so I didn't expect you to be back welcome back by the way we've just been preparing - "
" - special chocofruitlate cake," continued the Pinkie on the left. "It's gonna be amazing! I can hardly wait to taste it but first you have to get the ingredients and put them together and bake them and wait for it to cool down - "
" - but it'll all be worth it in the end 'cause I'm throwing you a big 'Welcome back to Ponyville' party at the slumber party, and - " The Pinkie on the right gasped. "TWILIGHT! You totally haven't met my new friend Clickalack!"
The Pinkie on the left also gasped. "Oh my gosh you're right!" A whirlwind of green fire engulfed the left Pinkie, leaving behind a changeling, tall and broad as was typical of their females. Clickalack rushed forward and grabbed Twilight's left foreleg in her carapaced legs, shaking it vigorously. "It's so great to finally meet you Sparkle Twilight Princess! Pinkie's told me a-a-all about you and I can't wait to be friends with you! I'm friends with everyling back home, and I was - "
As she was introduced via vigorous hoofshake, Twilight was having horrible flashbacks to the Mirror Pool incident. When Clickalack pulled away - Twilight's hoof continued to shake empty air - and faced Pinkie, the two of them rambling about party supplies, the immortal Princess of Friendship came to a conclusion.
"Merciful sisters, there's two of them," she whispered.
Pinkie and Clickalack looked her way and together asked, "Is everything okay, Twilight?"
"Nope!"
She turned around and walked out. "Nope, nope, nope, nope, nope!" She left the kitchen and passed Pound Cake.
"Twilight, what happened?"
"Nope nope nope nope!" Before anypony else could ask, she had left Sugarcube Corner and made her way over to her castle, entering it with great haste in order to get away from the horror in Sugarcube Corner. One Pinkie Pie was more than enough. She did not need a second, especially not one that could fly and do magic.
Twilight's castle, which she'd acquired shortly after banishing Grogar, wasn't nearly as large as the Crystal Palace or Canterlot Castle. It still had staff - much to her chagrin - but not so many that she couldn't befriend them. When she trotted in, a shadow immediately appeared next to her.
She didn't like calling her a 'spy' but that was essentially what she was. Officially, the shadow next to her was Twilight's Royal Dissatisfaction Searcher, tasked with finding regions where the ponies of Equestria were riled up and reporting them to her so that she could go help them. They'd known each other for twenty years now, and had a very healthy working relationship.
It didn't stop Twilight from jumping when the shadows resolved themselves into a gray-green pegasus. Her special talent was keeping things - such as herself - hidden, and Covert Confidence was as good as a changeling even with the permanent limp in her right hind leg from where she'd been struck by Elizabeth Greene.
"Afternoon, Princess."
"Afternoon, Covert. And how many times do I have to tell you to drop the title?"
"Until it stops bothering you," she said with a smile that managed to be warm and mischievous at once. "Anyways, there's been no trouble this week. Going for your usual visits to the prisoner?"
"Yes. Just thought I'd let somepony know before I took off. I'll be back before Court; if anypony asks I'm going to the island."
Covert made a big show of bowing. "Your wish is my command, Princess."
Twilight's eyeroll was hidden by her mane transforming into a blindfold. She reached up with a hoof and forced it back into position. "Great to hear, my indentured servant. Take care of yourself, okay?"
"What, do I look like a young mare to you?" she asked, showing off the gray streak in her steel-green mane.
Twilight frowned, but didn't offer any rebuttal. Instead she vanished with a flash of teleportation magic. She'd set up a sequence of teleportation markers tuned to her magical signature, a spell she'd come up with herself to make long distance travel easier. She appeared at her first marker just outside Ponyville. The next one was in the middle of Equestrian countryside. The next one was at the border with the Badlands. The next one was along the coast of the Badlands.
The next three teleportation markers left Twilight flying in the middle of the ocean, no land in sight.
The final teleportation marker brought her a mile from the coast of the Isle of the Abyss, Elizabeth Greene's jail. Twilight was taking no chances; she had learned from Nightmare Moon, Discord, Sombra, and Grogar. Every month she made it a point to visit Elizabeth Greene's prison. Twilight flew closer and landed on a little piece of land just outside the bubble. She investigated the bubble of harmonic energy for any weaknesses and found none. She cast a viral identification spell on the heavy red miasma inside the bubble and found no variations in the strain.
Elizabeth Greene's arrival on Equus wasn't all bad news. She'd nipped a potential thaumavore in the bud, inadvertantly ended hostilities between two equine nations and, perhaps most importantly, she had advanced medical magic and technology more in twenty years than they had in the previous twenty centuries. The Evolved's blood was a treasure trove of information, and since the harmonic magic only stopped her dangerous strains, all they had to do was order Elizabeth to the little outcropping, magic over a needle, and magic it back over the barrier. They always got the cure for some new disease, sometimes two, from that.
Twilight poked and prodded the barrier again with non-disruptive magical scans. It couldn't hurt to double check. Or triple check. And quadruple checking never hurt anypony, not when the monster behind the transparent rainbow shell had the power to call forth the apocalypse.
She stepped back with a shriek when a figure slammed down before her, on the other side of the barrier. The dust cleared, and resolved into the bipedal, lanky, and unimaginably powerful form of the most terrible foe she had ever faced.
She wasn't as tall as Twilight remembered.
"What?" she rasped. That haunting, echoing voice, which pulsed with the power of five and a half million minds, echoing with a thousand voices long after Greene's lips stopped moving. It was every bit as eerie as Twilight remembered.
"I'm just here for the routine checkup, you know that." She was wary, and layered many protective enchantments over herself. Elizabeth would be struck dead by the harmonic energy if she tried to cross the bubble, but it did nothing to her electricity, or shockwaves, nor did it prevent her from tossing boulders across. Twilight was not willing to test how much stronger she'd gotten since ascending, not against the one nopony could ever hope to stand against on their own.
Greene snarled at her, baring her short canines. She held up a fist and made it flicker with red and white tendrils, then zipped away out of sight. Twilight blinked as the Evolved vanished; she'd never gotten used to her impossible speed, not even after so many years around Rainbow.
But that didn't matter. The barrier was still intact, and the virus - at least the virus in the air - was unchanged. Nopony was willing to go inside, since nopony trusted Greene as far as they could throw the unnaturally heavy alien.
She knew Greene would one day escape; it was why she studied her biology through the veil even now. It was inevitable; few things were permanent and imprisonment was not one of them. The Elements of Harmony had done their best to ensure the bubble was indestructible, but everything had its weak point. It was only a matter of time before Elizabeth Greene found it and got out.
But when she did, Twilight Sparkle would be ready.
***-_***_-***-_***_-***-_***_-***
Greene
On the very tip tip tip of a mountain, in an island sealed from the rest of the world, Elizabeth watched the sunrise.
The chilling moon of Luna sank beneath beneath beneath the horizon, replaced by Celestia's personal inferno. The darkness of night was replaced, ever so slowly, by the blue of day. The sun continued on its path, blinding in its brilliance, painful to look at. The bubble of harmony magic surrounding the island continued to writhe above her head, subtly tainting the light.
Elizabeth turned around and stepped towards a ledge. She reached it and looked down, down at the island. None of her children were visible, since her Throwing Children had recently finished carving carving carving out a maze of tunnels beneath the surface for them to reside, safe from the weather above. Somewhere inside, Rarity's dress lay in a forgotten pile. Her Blessing's red mist still hung in the air, drifting lazily on the winds and streaming from the holes that lead to her underground Home. Where it touched the bubble, it vanished like it had never existed.
Elizabeth stood up and walked off the ledge, letting herself plummet. Wind whistled in her ears, and the ground closed in rapidly. She brought her hands up up up and placed her fists next to each other. Just before impact she thrust her hands down, slamming her fists onto the ground.
The shockwave burst outwards, shattering stone and filling the air with dust. She knelt as the sound of her landing bounced off the mountains, echoed throughout the island, and was absorbed by the perpetual crashing of waves waves waves. Elizabeth slowly stood, turning as she did to face the closest shore, and sprinted towards it.
In mere seconds she made the journey, shattering the ground beneath her powerful powerful powerful feet. The cocoon of harmonic energy did not completely consume the island, leaving a tiny bit of it just outside. Elizabeth walked up to it, ignoring the way the ocean made the air humid, or how the crashing waves kicked up spray that her body and suit rebelled against against against.
She held out a hand to the rainbow bubble's impossibly thin barrier. She focused, and sent a bolt of lightning from her palm to strike a random pebble outside the barrier. The green electricity went unimpeded, scorching the beach.
Elizabeth nodded. Now that her children were situated, it was time to begin looking for a way out. All prisons had had had a weakness. You just had to wait for the right opportunity.
She pulled her hand back, made a fist, and extended her index finger. Slowly and carefully, she reached out to the sealing bubble, hoping against hope that it had somehow weakened...
She pushed her finger up to the nail out, and instantly recoiled in agony. Red and white tendrils flowed over her finger, mending it and restoring her Blessing to it. The moment when her Blessing had been ripped away from it was terrifying, horrible. She'd just lost an integral part of herself, even if from such a small part, and it burned burned burned!
No, it hadn't gotten weaker. But that didn't matter. Eventually something would happen. The barrier would fade, or she'd escape, or she'd be freed, and then she'd...
... and then she'd...
... and then she'd what?
Slay the alicorns and waste no time spreading her Blessing, ripping those who opposed her apart? Hide in the background and slowly subsume them? She was so sure that this time she could do it, that this time she could truly free the world from choice. But she'd thought that the first time she tried. And the second. And the third. Really, she was so so so lucky to have survived being defeated by the equines. Would she really try her luck a fourth time? A fifth? A sixth? Seventh? How many times would she have to try until she finally succeeded?
How long would it be? Would any of the equines currently alive still be so when she escaped? She'd been on the island for twenty twenty twenty years, but looking at other imprisonments... just Nightmare Moon was one thousand years. Disregarding the eternal moment of failure and fear when her Wayward Child had Cursed her, that was over fifteen times her entire life. She was going to be on the island for a long long long time while the rest of the world moved on. It'd be like escaping the Cold Dark Place to find mountains of steel and glass around her, but so much worse. Would she... ever see Fluttershy again?
I want to see Fluttershy again, Elizabeth thought, bowing her head sadly. I - I miss her.
Her cheeks tingled and writhed with tiny red-white tentacles, trying to remove the bits of water under her eyes. It it it was just ocean spray. Really.
She missed Fluttershy. She missed her friend. She... she missed having the alicorns for friends, before they showed their true colors. She wanted that back. She wanted it back so much it hurt. Maybe she could? Maybe, when she escaped, she could just... not spread her Blessing? As much as it twisted her heart and made her rage to think of not spreading it, doing so was clearly more trouble than it was worth. She'd managed to save five and a half million equines, that had to count for something, didn't it?
Thinking of that sent another euphoric surge of love from her family washing over her. Her knees nearly buckled under the indescribable torrent of caring, but she held strong.
What if, when she escaped, she just didn't spread her Blessing? Found some other way to make the equines happy? Not to say that if someone came to her and asked for it she'd be so cruel cruel cruel as to deny them, but maybe it was time to... move on. Try something else. Adapt, evolve, and overcome. She wanted to at least try and be... be friends with them again. For once she wanted one of her plans to work out.
Amends? Make them? she pondered. We were both angry. Both said things we didn't mean.
But most likely, escape would not be coming to her. Nobody was coming to save her, she would need to save herself. What did she know?
The Harmony Elements had had had contained her in a bubble. It did nothing to most things, but immediately destroyed her Blessing, rendering it lethal to both her and her children. Simply crossing it was not an option. Maybe she could... destroy it? Her children could already feed off her love, in addition to the magic of her unicorn and changeling children.
She knew nothing about magic, but she had time to learn. A lot of time. Yes, that that that worked. She'd already transferred a fair bit of Celestia's magical knowledge to herself before the final battle in Canterlot. Originally she was going to use it to move the sun and moon once she'd killed the alicorn sisters - look how that turned turned turned out - but she could use it to study.
She smiled and laughed lightly. Elizabeth turned away from the beach and sprinted over to the middle of the island. With a thought, she called some of her unicorn children up from the depths. She was there, alone, with magic access and the Harmony Elements' unique type of magic surrounding her at all times. Elizabeth had so so so much time to study it, to learn how to unravel the bubble holding her in. Eventually, she would escape. Maybe in a year, maybe in three thousand years, but she would. Then she could find the alicorn sisters and, maybe, try 'friendship' a second time. After all, she'd tried spreading her Blessing three times before giving it up.
But if she ever wanted to escape, she had to start escaping. Once her unicorn children came up from the tunnels, she could really start. Maybe, as she had made her Warm Children, Elizabeth could could could find a way to give her children the ability to store magic, then build up magic powerful enough to break free. It was worth a shot. But first...
Elizabeth Anne Greene sat down and pulled her knees to her chest. She bowed her head, hiding her bloodstained face, and linked her hands beneath her knees.
The Time for Waiting had begun.
I hope you all enjoyed. Please do leave a comment. Even if it's just to say what you liked and not to point out an error, everything helps; knowing what works is as important as knowing what doesn't.
Thanks to devas for editing this chapter.
I do not own MLP or Prototype, Hasbro and Activision do so respectively.
And so ends my debut fimfiction story. There's certainly a lot of potential to continue, such as what happens when Greene eventually escapes, what happens with the rest of the world in the meantime, and more and more and more. But doing that risks this becoming a Neverending Story, where the conclusion happens with the Heat Death of the Universe. The story that I meant to write is done. Though I certainly wouldn't object to someone continuing it themselves, as long as they give credit. Haha, yeah fat chance of that.
Thanks to everyone who liked, favorited, commented, gave criticism to better myself, and found errors that slipped through. Thanks to GGKKDAJF for editing before devas.
As much as I and others would like to see this story continue, all things end eventually. There are other stories I want to write, one of which will be coming quite soon. I wouldn't object to anyone volunteering to edit it for me. 
Thank you, one and all, for your attention these past 285k+ words. It warms my heart to see my first attempt at fimfiction so well received. See you among the interwebs!
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And if she deliberately created two benign viruses on two separate occasions that, when they meet each other, would combine and mutate into a new and even more virulent form of the Redlight virus?
Security hole!
Good job on the story. Very entertaining read, though I really had hoped for zombie virus Shining Armor.
27.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_lunrwxArta1qb9cfso7_250.gif
Especially if it's another Prototype based story. Especially especially if it's Pariah.
So yeah, I loved this, and can't wait to see what you have cooking up for your next story.
Good ending.
Wow. This ending makes me feel all fuzzy inside.
Why must you do that author?
Er... I don't remember this?
Interesting to see the future, where the land is still mostly empty but recovering. No famines or infrastructure collapses (imagine if everyone who knew how to make trains run or treat drinking water had been killed). Twilight still ascends and Chrysalis and Cadence are still friends. Covert apparently is putting her skills to good use (and I imagine there's actually a lot of places for dissension to flare up in a post-apocalyptic Equestria). It's about as happy an ending as one could wish for.
4776008
very good and sensible ending. leaving a feel of satisfaction that is often hard to pull off and also the sequel hook for if you ever decide to continue
4776008 I don't either. Huh.
Three Minutes Later...
Discord! Elizabeth killed Discord!
Wait... Does Discord eat magic?
4776099
Tirek
4776008
Who's mentioned as a random casualty in manehattan, I think
4776306 Yeah, Europa left me a comment on my page that clarified that. I guess I skimmed over the bit about Tirek when I was reading the chapter.
Cheers for your excellent story Europa I stuck with you sense the begging. But like you said or had to end.
4775647 Featuring the return of the supreme hunter, and his special batch of children.
4787586 He never had any minions. He was a lone wolf.
4775538 Dead for twenty years.
I knew it.
4776099 Surprised he didn't reform by now. Doubt that will kill him.
4787589 Doesn't mean he can't. He is a hunter. They cab spread the infection just as good as their brothers.
4787605 But he has no reason too. He would be like Alex, and kill everyone by hand then eat them.
4787590
Bah. It could just be incubating. A microbe over 250 million years old has been resuscitated. You think some flimsy bacteria could outlast Blacklight?
H>>4787754 Shining is dead for twenty years. His brain is too gone. All blacklight would do is eat his body, but unless that's Alex eating him, its just gonna be mindless biomass.
And Greene didn't make blacklight, btw. So no go.
A shame to see this end. To be perfectly honest, I wished to see Greene win in the end but I suppose this is just as good.
Whatever happened to the dormant Redlight strain in Fluttershy?
4828210 Chapter 36, Things to Come, when Fluttershy puts on Kindness:
Elizabeth Greene, hm? She's just going to try again, isn't she?
I think this song fits Greene fairly well. Some lines aren't quite right, but over all, it's good.
gr8 b8 m8 i r8 8/8 lets elabor8:
So I finally got to the end. And damn was it worth it.
Loved your writing style.
Interesting formatting.
Characters are beautifully done. I simply adored what you've done with Greene (even though it was the first time I saw her written) and Chrysalis.
From the point where you put Mercer in there I was expecting to see more Mercer, and thankfully you didn't disappointing in that. I enjoyed his bits, and I like what you did with him. This was also the first time I read anyone write Pariah, and you certainly grabbed my attention.
All this and more, is what grabbed by attention to this fic. Favorited.
Hope you continue to deliver this kind of quality, and personally would like to see some sort of continuation to this.
You sir have yourself a stalker.
And so it ends. Well, the battle scenes in the last third or so were relatively boring to me, not being what I was reading the story for, but I still quite enjoyed the story. Though at one point I was half hoping for an ending where Elizabeth decided that she needed even more help, figured out how to modify her Blessing to make another like herself, and added Fluttershy, who'd then proceed to negotiate peace, as co-mind of the Evolved.
Anyway, as I've now Favourited (which I'm still calling it at the moment) sixty-six point six six bar percent of your published stories, I think I'll go ahead and follow you.
How much of the Prototype canon would I need to know to thoroughly enjoy this story?
5142633 Depends what you mean by Prototype canon. The basics, stuff like Alex Mercer protagonist, Elizabeth antagonist, virus-based powers and zombie apocalypse, are probably needed. The more detailed stuff I explain in it.
5142771
Seems like I should play the game, or at least read up on it.
5146195 The plot's a bit confusing to play through, given that it's told in flashback collectibles - you play an amnesiac who slowly gets the truth, and the game tries to give you that feeling as well - so if you'd like I'll send you a PM detailing it?
5146812
Sure.
I got poked to write a comment. Oh well.
I enjoyed the story greatly. The way Elizabeth is presented and developed is just brilliant - probably my favourite thing about it. All characters in general seemed very fleshed out and interesting. Same with their interactions with each other.
I'm glad you went with the "everything's grey" idea instead of presenting Greene as just a regular old villain. Even after finishing I'm not sure which side I wanted to win.
The contrast between the two halves of the story is also great - for a moment I almost forgot who (or what) the main character actually is. And then she reminded me. Spectacularly.
Also I'm happy you ended when you did. It sucks when a story overstays its welcome.
Things that I didn't enjoy that much would have to be:
1. What happens to Alex after the game - it just didn't sit right with me, his life turning into a live comedy show of sorts with Dana and his new "friend". But I guess it's your story and your vision of it.
2. The battles kinda dragged on. Especially the "boss" fight. Hell, I think I won that fight on Insane faster than i read through that chapter.
Overall, it was a pleasure reading from start to finish. I'm looking forward to more of your writing.
Hope the comment helps. Cheers!
That was a great story. I hope it gets a sequel when Greene isn't trying to 'bless' everyone.
got to ask what are the Warm Children called in the game?
5417788 There are no Warm Children in the game. She created them using the new concept of the infected feeding off her love, specifically for their world.
5417797 So, they feed off her love and can a make near endless amount of biomass? Nice
l'm going to guess they look a bit like Brenda from Slither but with more pony and tentacles...
5418270Imagine a pony bloated up to Hunter size. Now imagine their fur has fallen out except for a few stray strands, their skin is red like a rash, and from their back grow massive pustules and those, in turn, grow the red/white tendril mesh that Greene can control, trailing after them like a cape.
*Finishes reading after binging it for a few hours*
That...was probably the best crossover I've ever read. You know the difference between you and other crossover writers? You didn't half-ass it. You didn't have giant expositions dumps. You didn't use video game terminology (you didn't call the Hunters 'Hunters', you didn't name powers like Blade and Claws, etc.). You actually paced it, and let me tell you, A LOT of people fuck the pacing of fanfictions up, especially in crossovers (and HiE's). And best of all, you used the limited information given to you about Elizabeth Greene and turned her into an amazing character, and a rather original portrayal of her at that. I applaud you, good sir.
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This story, like quite a few others, I rejected after just starting. I came back to it later, and, like a number of stories I did the same to, found it was rather good.
Notably, you made it so that Greene was unable to reveal her intentions, aside from in the way she spoke, until half-way through the book. That allowed for a massive amount of interaction that would otherwise be totally impossible. It was quite a buildup until that point, and quite interesting.
That delay also seems to have allowed Greene to change at least some. She left Fluttershy intact, at least.
Discord is presumably dead. It is unfeasible to be certain, but it was implied. I suppose you could find all the shards then un-petrify him, and he might then be able to reassemble himself.
I was, well, amused is the wrong word... But... I was amused at the parallels to the game in the war. Notably the Hives, and military bases being equivalent to those Crystals. That wasn't obvious enough for me to notice till the map with Red and Blue circles was shown, however.
Would like to know the aftermath with the other species. Did they/when did they reopen contact? Also, wasn't Chrysalis going to take over Equestria?
Lastly, you left it open for a future, although it would have to be a noticable changed world.
You do very well portraying Elizabeth Greene
This was a great read. Excellent pacing, good characterization, especially Greene's and Fluttershy's internal thoughts, and great action scenes. The only complaint I have is that you never even mentioned that anyone had discovered that Discord had died.
5591250 Pariah is the Holy Child.
Ah, well. You tempt us with absolute destruction, yet you throw Harmony in our faces. Held death tantalizingly close, close enough to TASTE, yet you only killed one. And now? You taunt us with the perfect sequel ending, but with promises of No Continuations. Shame, too... So many possibilities... SO MANY IDEAS!!! Ah, well. It was fun while it lasted... Shame it didn't last longer...
I am now downloading your story since I am heading to the mountains for a week and all my good games require internet up there, which I don't have. Let's see why everyone else loves your story eh? Gotta feeling I won't be dissapointed.
5786842
Have fun.
You flatter me. Hope I live up to your expectations.
5786934 You can thank Trondason for putting you more or less on a pedestal. Dude is hard to please from my experiences.
Okay I e gotten to chapter skyscraping, I think it's called, and I love how you portrayed Elizabeth. Hell I even feel a little bit sorry for her. Then that fakeout at the beginning, I thought Luna was going to be infected already lol. Also she's part Martian, proven by RD and pinkie. Will continue at later date.
And I have finished and may I say you did not dissapoint, good descriptions on the infected, the fight scenes, the territories, the characters. Only thing I'm disappointed by is how long it took to get to the good part, eve had my heart skip a few beats from how close they all were to dying off.
5795946 Glad you enjoyed it!
That was a wonderful work of art. Congrats, you have earned my approval as well as hundreds of others as well. Again, thank you for creating this awesome fic.
6464685 Uh... thanks?