Finale: A Beginning in the End
“And your job is to rebuild the Underground someday,” Chaffe said to Spinnaker as the two looked over the emptying Bastion. “You will know when the time is right, Spinnaker. The cause is currently ebbing…but you will make it shine once more.”
“I understand, Commandante,” she told him.
He shook his head. “You are Commandante now, Spinnaker. As for me, it’s time for me to change my name and together my wife and I will disappear into the mists of time. I failed our cause, and for that, I cannot be there when victory is finally achieved. But I believe that someday, Spinnaker, you will be the one who will change all. And we will watch your success from the shadows with pride.”
Chaffe looked at his wife, who had a wagon with their possessions loaded onboard. Their plan was to move to the Crystal Empire, where they would be able to live in an isolated part of the province, preferably forgotten by all. Unhitching herself, Cloister went and embraced her old friend. “I will miss you, Spinnaker,” she said.
“I’ll miss you both,” she replied. As agreed, the trio said not a word about Revanche or Candlewick – they were failed specters of the past, and if the group was to survive, they would need to be specters that could be easily forgotten. In the time since Revanche’s betrayal and defeat, the demoralized group had begun to come apart at the seams and splinter. Most of those who left were non-ponies, fearful that they would face less justice than their pony counterparts, given the evil that was the Sun Tyrant; the last non-pony to leave was Fifi, who vowed to find a way to prove her fellow diamond dogs were not the dim-witted brutes that so many believed them to be. The one that concerned Spinnaker the most was Gomez, who swore that if he could not change Equestriani society peaceably, he would do so by force – he had at least agreed, in principle, that they would never return here again.
It was decided, then, that those who wished to remain at the Bastion would build a town here and settle down, finding some way to reintegrate with Equestriani society. But out of the hundreds that had been here just months ago, less than a hundred remained in the place that was now to be renamed The Garden. It would be the beginning of something different, Spinnaker admitted to herself. For better or worse, the Weather Underground needed to be dismantled and made into something better.
But that was something to think about later. For now, she needed to see her friends farewell.
“Will I see you two again?” Spinnaker asked.
“We’ll keep in touch,” Cloister insisted. “We might be different the next time you see us…but I promise you we will always be your friend.” Letting them go, the former leader of the failed resistance and his wife hitched themselves to the wagon and departed, headed on a path through the Badlands towards the road that pointed to the Empire.
As Spinnaker watched them enter the tunnel that led to the hidden access, a voice behind her said, “Are you sure about this?”
The pegasus mare nodded. “If our ideals are to survive, drastic measures must be taken. Maybe I’m a foal for doing so…but at the end of the day, I believe in freedom more than I do the Sun Tyrant or her minions. I must save my followers – and I must save your town.”
Standing next to her, Monochrome, the former mayor of Clustermare, nodded. “The rest of the townsfolk that will be joining us will be here tomorrow to take over the empty homes. Do you want the town demolished?”
Spinnaker shook her head. “No – let it stand. Let ponies, bison, and others wonder of the fate of Clustermare and sow doubt and mistrust in Canterlot. Let them see the damage they have caused and the wounds they have dealt to our fellow Equstriani who have committed no wrong other than to have perplexingly been born as a non-pony, something they cannot be faulted for.
“Have your town come to the Garden, and we will make this our first place of truth and purity. A place where pure hooves can shine.”
The sun rose over the Zhuanganese capital of Si-Chuanlu. In the distance, shining like a great green mountain was the Palace of Jade and Bamboo – the home of the Zhuanganese Imperial Family. As dozens of pandas milled through the streets of the great city, going about their simple lives, a blessed event was happening in the Guoxia district of town, traditionally the enclave where ponies having emigrated from Equestria or Saddle Arabia lived.
“Blessed news to you my friend!” a panda said, carrying a bunch of Equestriani-style candles. The craftspony’s shop here was known to be the best in town, and all manner of species came from all parts of the great city to purchase his wares. It was said even Prince Hong Xiongmao, eldest son of his august majesty Emperor Daxiongmao, considered the simple candlemaker to be a close friend, though the latter was much too humble to admit such things. “I hope it’s the first of many to come.”
“Thank you, my friend,” the candlemaker, Chandler, said, bowing and replying in stilted Zhuanganese. He was still learning the language and customs since he and his wife moved here two years past. There were rumors about that, too: that they were criminals running from Equestriani justice, or that they were forbidden lovers having eloped to find a new life far away from Canterlot. It certainly didn’t help that the wife, kind and sweet as she was, was a crippled pegasus who was weak and frail, her wings so ruined that they had to be clipped. However, it was clear that Chandler was utterly devoted to his wife more than anything, and there was nothing he wouldn’t do for his Hubei Blossom. Strangely enough, though, those that had spent any time with the couple honestly wondered if they truly were a couple – or even lovers.
Chandler was just about to close up shop, when he was tapped on the withers. He turned around to see a doctor. “Did she…?”
“Congratulations,” the doctor, a panda, said in stilted Equestriani. “It’s a filly. But Blossom….”
“I know, doctor,” the pegasus said, his voice flat. “I expected it, somehow. Thank you for everything.” The panda, not certain what he could say to still the heart of a soon-to-be grieving husband, merely patted him again, offering comfort before departing, closing the door behind him.
Chandler walked back to the bedroom he shared with Hubei Blossom, looking at the pleasant life they shared together. The lie they’d lived for the past two years. When Candlewick found Tiger Lily, barely alive, she railed against him not only for saving her, but spat all the love that she’d ever had for him – and he for her – back in his face. Even still, he kept to his word to be with her, and nursed her back to health as much as he could for six months…but the damage to their relationship was done. By the time she realized what she’d done, the fires of love that he’d had in his heart were smoldering embers, never to be rekindled.
She promised that she’d stay with him until the end of her days, and had so far kept faith with that vow. But the truth was, she was a crippled pony; where could she go? And so they moved to the other side of the world, where they could live their lives in peace, both pretending to be a couple so very much in love when the truth was that they now could barely stand one another. In truth, they only conceived a foal just to continue their charade, and if Candlewick had remembered that night, both he and she had to be drunk beyond comprehension to remember what they once shared.
As he entered the room, Tiger Lily held their daughter in swaddling. But the once-proud Redsprite looked ragged, haggard, a mere shell of the mighty warrior she’d once been, the combat-ready pegasus reduced to living ashes. The sheets of their bed were stained with blood, the sign that it hadn’t been an easy foaling, and she was already in bad shape to begin with. Looking at him, she gave as much of a smile as she could and said to him, “Look at our daughter, my husband. Isn’t she beautiful?”
My husband. He could almost hear the sarcasm in her voice, Candlewick thought. He couldn’t remember the last time she’d used anything remotely sounding like love. “She is,” he said, not looking at his newborn daughter just yet. “What did you name her?” It was Equestriani tradition for the mother to name the foal.
“I haven’t chosen a name for her – that’s your task,” she told him, and he understood instantly; unlike pony customs, the Zhuanganese way was for the father to name the child.
“I understand. But how fare you, my wife?” he asked with a hint of sincerity.
“I’m dying – nothing can stop it. I only remained long enough to show you our daughter and to say a few things.” As he approached, she hoofed him the foal. “Promise me you’ll raise her to be better than I was. To love freely and fairly – to actually love the pony she weds.”
“I will,” he said, feeling the sting of tears in his eyes. Even though he didn’t love her anymore, she’d given him a portion of her life – he couldn’t deny that. “What else?”
“Promise me you’ll find a mare who will make you happy,” she said, a soft smile coming to her face. “You’re still young, and there are plenty of mares in this town who would make a wonderful wife for you. Plus, our daughter will need a mother to guide her.”
He nodded. “And lastly?”
“I wanted you to know…I’m sorry. I wasted our lives together. I shattered my family because I couldn’t keep my tail down. I failed my Princess and spurned our allies. I burnt every bridge I came across, then drove away those who tried to rebuild them. But I hope that you’ll remember the time when I genuinely loved you, Candle, before I went insane…though I don’t know if I ever was sane to begin with,” she spoke, her voice reedy as her strength flagged.
“I still do, Tiger,” he said, meaning it. No matter what, he still had that. And as he bent down, he gave his wife one last kiss, in commemoration of what they once had. And in that last touch, she poured her heart and life into it, giving him the last bit of what they had together before she fell back, eyes closed and a serene smile on her face.
Candlewick looked at the body of his wife as her spirit moved on to the Great Pasture. Tears streamed down his cheeks for what he’d lost, until a soft gurgling caught his attention once again. His newborn daughter needed him.
He looked at her, surprised. She was a unicorn filly, her coat a delicate shade of thistle-purple. Gentle red-violet eyes looked at him with awe and wonder, framed by a soft short mane of eggplant-purple, upon which was a single shock of violet-blue. He looked at his daughter and knew that this was, somehow, a message from the Goddess, a sole chance at redemption.
Eyes crying in both sorrow and joy, he kissed his daughter gently on the forehead. “I will give you a name of honor and justice, little one. You shall bear the name of the mare who I should have made happy; and of the one who wanted you to surpass her. You will be my reminder to be the best father I can be, and you will grow up to be a mare to make me proud. You will now and always be my beloved daughter…Twilight Lily.”
Both Sparkler and Dinky were practically vibrating with excitement as Sweetie Belle met them at the train station. “So what do you think it’ll be, a colt or a filly?” Sparkler asked after both embraced Sweetie. “Pegasus, unicorn or earth pony?”
“Well, we could’ve used magic to find out,” Sweetie said, “but Rarity made everypony promise they wouldn’t. She wants it to be a surprise for some reason, and both she and your father haven’t even really picked out names yet – they’re winging it.”
“Oh, I hope it’ll be a unicorn!” Dinky said. “Then I can teach her magic!”
“Uh, Dinks, I’m sure she’ll go to Sweetie first, if that’s the case – and if not her, then Twilight. No offense, Sweetie.”
“None taken,” Sweetie assured them. “Being Twi’s apprentice can be hard enough; I’m not sure what I’d do if I had to teach a little filly or colt. Personally, I’m hoping it’s an earth pony. I’m sure Silver would appreciate the break, considering his wife and daughters are all unicorns.”
“I never thought of that. Maybe it’s okay then to wish for a little brother that’s an earth pony – I’m sure Dad would love that,” Dinky mused.
“Maybe she’ll be a pegasus filly or something, Dinky,” Sparkler pointed out. “That’d be interesting, too.”
“Well, we’ll see. Rarity’s due to foal this week, so we’ll find out what the future holds,” the mage acolyte said as she went to flag a taxi.
Having tea in her home with members of her family, Rarity shifted uncomfortably on her couch. “I feel like an overly plump ursa major,” she sighed as she drank her tea. “Even still, this is probably a memory that I’ll cherish for years.”
“Or have nightmares about, dear,” Sandalwood said, taking a sip from her own cup.
Rarity sighed. “Sandalwood…how do you do it? I think about motherhood and…well, I’m afraid. I never feel I’m being a good enough stepmother to Sparkler and Dinky, and now, with my own foal coming? I’m afraid I’m never going to be adequate.”
Sandalwood smiled sweetly. “I see how you are with both Sparkler and Dinky. You absolutely adore them and Derpy knows they’re safe here when they’re visiting you and Silver. You’ve already proven yourself as a mother, Rarity.”
Seated at the earth pony’s side, Pearl nodded in agreement as she looked at her daughter. “Or is it foaling that you’re afraid of?”
“Well, that too,” Rarity admitted.
“Dear, foaling depends on the individual. I won’t lie: foaling you was very rough, but it was much easier with Sweetie. On the other hoof, your aunt told me that Sky was an easy foaling, but Persian's was rough.”
“All three of mine were rough-going,” Sandalwood added. “Goldie had to be the worst, because it’s hard enough with pegasi due to the wings, but she was also a breach birth – they had to do a teleport birth, which is very tricky. But each of my foalings was worth it, worth every moment.”
“I see,” Rarity said, wincing as the foal within her kicked again. “But even still. With Dinky and Sparkler, it was a matter of finding the limits and setting them, or talking it over with Silver or Derpy. But with this little one,” she said, gesturing to her swollen barrel, “I have to wonder will I be as good as the three of you? Or will I be a crashing failure?”
“I’m still not sure how I fit into this equation,” said the fourth mare present. “I’m hardly a mother.”
“I have three mares who beg to differ, Celestia,” Rarity said with a smile. “Luna will readily admit that you’ve practically raised her since the day that your mother disappeared. And Cadance admitted to me once that she wondered why you just didn’t adopt her when her parents left her in Canterlot with you. And I need say nothing about Twilight. Regardless of any of that, however, we are family and I very much value your wisdom.”
“Well, the only advice that I can really offer is the same one that my mother gave me. At the time, I didn’t understand why she was explaining it to me; I was just a teenager – relatively speaking, of course – but it became very apparent to me once I realized that she was gone forever. She told me that mothers must always be there for their foals, for you are the sky and the sea, and their very life. That to do anything else is to be a disgrace as a mother, and to do that is to be a disgrace as a ruler.”
“Well, after everything I’ve been through to have this little one, I know I will always be there,” Rarity said with a smile. “He or she will be the start of the next generation.”
Fond smiles came over the three older mares’ faces. Almost as one, they said, “And the laughter of foals will ring through the halls.”
“Well, I don’t know about you three, but I’ll be entirely too happy to give birth and enjoy my only foal.”
Both Sandalwood and Pearl looked disconcerted at that statement. “Only…foal?”
“Well, I’m a Knight, which means I really do not have much time to have lots of foals – it might have been dangerous having this one while there are still dangers out there. Besides, I do love both Sparkler and Dinky and I hadn’t planned on having any others, so….”
Seeing the forlorn look on the two mothers’ faces, Celestia chuckled and said, “Well…there’s always Golden Sun and Sweetie Belle, correct?” At that, both Pearl and Sandalwood had a flash of hope on their faces.
“Thanks, Celestia,” Rarity whispered to her sister royal.
“You’re quite welcome,” Celestia said with a grin. To that, Rarity gave her a worried look. “Is something wrong, Rarity?” the sun alicorn asked.
“Um…my water broke.”
“I’m honored, Luna, really,” Silver said, as he met with the night alicorn in her office. “But don’t you feel there are others more qualified to lead your guard than I?”
“Silver, as your princess, I cannot think of a better pony suited for command of my personal guard. But as your sister-in-law…in a manner of speaking…you need to stay behind. You have a foal to come soon and I know you’ve mentioned you don’t see your older daughters enough. Your unit is starting to see more and more action as of late, and I’m concerned that you won’t be around when Rarity needs you.”
“The nation needs me, Luna,” he replied.
“Your family needs you more,” she answered.
He sighed, trying to form a response for that. After a few seconds, he said, “Luna…I don’t want to feel like I’m taking advantage of my ties to you, Celestia and Cadance. Ponies that knew me just a couple of years ago as the youngest son of a baron – and not really worth talking to – now constantly try to curry favor with me because of my status in the Royal Family. And while I know Shines has adjusted to it, I’m not sure I’ll ever completely do so.” He lifted his coffee from his plate and said, “I just don’t want to make a mistake that I feel will reflect on you.”
She smiled widely. “And that’s exactly why I need you as my lieutenant, Silver. I fired Shoepolish because he cared only about looking military, not about taking care of his ponies. I had several members of my guard disciplined unfairly when it could have easily been solved by just explaining things to them. I know you’ll do a far better job, just by being yourself.
“Furthermore, you’re not the only one who has to adjust. Now that Macintosh has proposed to Fluttershy, he will need to adjust as well, and I daresay he has much farther to go on that than you will. You had the advantage of noble birth, while he does not, and while he engenders those noble qualities, you know the gentry will eat him alive, Silver.”
“No they won’t,” Silver answered. “He’s family. I won’t let him get hammered like that.”
“Well then,” she said, a hint of a smile on her face. “I think you’ve answered your own question, correct?”
“I suppose so.”
“So will you accept the position?”
“So long as I don’t have to use that batpony-enchanted barding,” he said with a grin. “I’d look pretty weird since I’m not a pegasus.”
She laughed merrily, then an impish grin popped onto her muzzle. “What about Flufflepuff-enchanted barding?”
Silver thought about that strange, mute fuzzy pony that lived in Berryville and had the unique quality of being one of the few ponies who could consistently out-weird Pinkie on a regular basis. Shrugging, he said, “Sure, why not?” He would’ve said more if he hadn’t been suddenly cut off by the arrival of a pair of vitally-important flamefaxes.
With a sad look on her face, Twilight put the letter from Paraffin back into the lock box, then put it back into the closet. “It’s been two years….” she said to nopony in particular.
“Twily…I hate seeing you like this,” Cadance said from behind her. “He hurt you, and he doesn’t deserve you. And in any case, he’s not coming back.”
The unicorn wheeled on her sister-in-law. “So then why can’t I let go, Cady? Why do I keep seeing him in my dreams? Why do I keep thinking he’s going to come back?”
Reaching out with her wings, Cadance embraced Twilight. “Twily, please don’t do this to yourself. You have so much to live for, and while Paraffin wasn’t the one, it doesn’t mean that there’s not somepony special out there for you.”
“I know,” she sighed.
“C’mon, I came over to talk about good things, okay? We’re here to celebrate you being offered the position of Archmagus! Isn’t that what you always wanted?”
Twilight nodded, glad to be off the tortuous topic and focusing on something a little more her style. “Glittering Prize told me that he plans to retire, and that while Colorsfly and Gold Dream are also on the short list, as Vicemagus it’s mine to turn down. Plus, Colorsfly is older than Glitter and I think she’s planning on retiring as well – she privately suggested to me that Raspberry Blast would be a good Vicemagus for me.”
“Are you going to take it?”
She nodded. “Yes, but not right away – right now I’m working on a major project, and I have Derpy and Sweetie assisting me. This could be potentially huge for ponykind and Glitter promised me that he wouldn’t retire until I complete my prototype and present it to this year’s Royal Thaumaturgy and Science Symposium.”
“Well, no matter what, Twily, I’m always proud of y—” Two flamefaxes immediately appeared.
The trip to the Infirmary could best be described as “pandelirium”. The three princesses went into overdrive, immediately cancelling all their previous appointments and gathering up the family. Celestia, cradling Rarity in her magic, immediately flew her over to the Infirmary, where the doctors had already been notified of the situation.
A few seconds later, Silver raced in, looking for the doctors. “Okay, somepony care to tell me where my wife is?”
An orderly looked at him and said, “Wrong wing, Ensign. This wing of the Infirmary’s specifically for use by the Royal Family.”
Silver, worried about his wife, was about to explode, had his father not decided to pick that moment to walk in. “Son,” he said to the orderly, “Unless you wish to explain to his grace Duke Lipizzan here why he was not present with his wife, Duchess Lipizzan, Knight Elemental of Generosity, I would recommend you render assistance now. That or I can go get you a quill and parchment so you can start drafting your letter of resignation.”
The orderly’s eyes went open wide with shock. “I…t-t-terribly sorry, your grace,” he said to Silver. “Please, follow me.”
Silver looked at Hammer. “Thanks, Dad.”
The older pony gave a fond smile. “Trust me son, you don’t want a repeat of how I acted when your brother was born. My lieutenant had to have thirteen unicorns try to tranquilize me while I was trying to find your mother’s room. I think they still speak my name with fear in the officer’s wing of the Los Pegasas infirmary,” he said, chuckling. “Go to your wife. I’ll wait here for everypony else.”
As he rushed into the foaling area, he got into medical scrubs quickly – thanks to an on-the-ball unicorn – and then entered. As he entered the antiseptic room, he decided at that point to do what just about every father did since time began: he started running like a headless chicken, all concepts of coherent thoughts dying on the beachhead that was his mind.
I’m going to be a father, was the closest thing to a zen koan bumping up against the wall of normal thought. I’m going to be a father I’m going to be a father I’m going to be a father. Had either of his two older daughters been present and able to read his train of thought, they might have been somewhat offended or amused. Unfortunately for Silver, the only one present was the orderly, who was still fearing for his job and now had to deal with a stallion just on the verge of being a new father.
The moment Sweetie got the note, she and her nieces – boy was that making her feel old! – double-timed it right over to the hospital. They arrived a few minutes later, running into the reception area with confused and concerned looks on their faces.
“Excuse me,” Sweetie said to the first nurse that passed her. “My sister’s having her foal and we’d like to know which room they’re in?”
Before the nurse could reply, a doctor arrived, an annoyed look on his face. “Kids, while that’s adorable, I’d like to remind you that this is the Royal Infirmary, not the local playground. I recommend the park across the street.”
“Sir,” Sweetie repeated, “my sister’s about to have her foal an—”
But behind them, a new voice roared, “Move your wrinkled plot out of the way or I swear I’ll smack the cutie mark right off you!” Everypony turned in the direction of the elemental scream, and found Diamond Tiara standing there, the sweetest look on her face possible. “Hope I’m not late,” she told Sweetie.
The mage-in-training grinned madly. “No, you’re right on time!”
Meanwhile, the nurse, not used to being sonically assaulted by a teenager, looked at the three teens and the filly. “Um…right…this…way?” she whimpered, hoping that she wasn’t going to have her head bitten off.
Finally, after getting Silver back to rights, the orderly and the guardstallion officer entered the antiseptic area, ready to bring a newborn foal into the world. He arrived just as things started to get heavy for Rarity.
“Okay, your grace, I need you to press now,” the doctor encouraged. The doctor seemed a bit out of sorts, but everypony present assumed it was because he was laser-focused on the birth. It was a shame that just before he entered, he had a huge “pep talk” with Equestria’s three princesses who might or might not have unintentionally hinted that his welfare, health and freedom depended on a perfect delivery.
Pressing as much as she could, Rarity felt bloated. She recalled Applejack’s occasional nickname for her – “Marshmallow” – and for a change actually felt as though she met that criterion. But soon the pain came, the encompassing, and total. She felt awash in a sea of agony, alone.
And then she felt a strong, steady, sure hoof on hers. She looked up and saw Silver looking at her, with eyes of love, eyes that said he would be here for her, always. That he would be her bedrock, the one she could always rely upon for the remainder of her life.
“You’re doing great, hon,” he said, flashing her a smile. Rarity smiled wanly, wincing as another convulsion passed through her. “We’re almost there. Remember the Lamareze!” Another body-shredding ripple of pain passed through Rarity and though she tried not to scream, she felt Silver’s hoof there, holding hers and letting her know she wasn’t alone.
She looked up to him, sending a message with her eyes. I love you.
“We’re almost there!” the doctor called out.
Silver looked back at his wife, whispering, “And I love you, Rarity.” He bent down and kissed her on the horn.
A shrill cry, the first sound of a foal taking first breath, split the air.
The waiting room was packed to capacity – far more than legally allowed by the Canterlot Fire Department, but no one was going to tell three princesses, a prince, five Knights Elemental and their families that they needed to clear the room.
“Anything?” Luna asked Cadance for the fifteenth time in the past five minutes. Cadance had once admitted she could feel the first love between a mother and her foal, and right now that talent was being sorely tested as the romance alicorn was searching throughout all the feelings of the newborns in the past few minutes.
“I’ll get back to you on that in a second,” she replied, her eyes closed. “Strangely enough, there’s been a lot of births tonight, and I’m trying to find just…the right…one….”
“I don’t think that will be necessary anymore, Cady,” Shining said as a nurse entered the waiting room, looking at the Royal Family.
“Nurse, is everything alright?”
“Your majesty, your highnesses and graces, I am pleased to announce that her grace the Duchess Lipizzan has given birth to a happy and healthy little filly.” Looks of relief and joy started to spread throughout the room as the nurse continued. “I’ve been asked by his grace the Duke to have Lady Sparkler and Lady Firecracker be escorted to see their newborn sister.”
“Really?” Dinky asked. When the nurse nodded, the pre-teen unicorn squeed.
Sandalwood and Hammer looked to their oldest son and his family, then to their daughter, remembering the past. They then looked to their in-laws, and on an unspoken cue, Sandalwood, Hammer, Pearl and Magnum embraced as one, pleased to be grandparents.
“I think they’re going to be a while, girls,” Goldie bent down and told Sparkler and Dinky. “Go ahead and see your new sister.”
“Uh-huh, Aunt Goldie!” Dinky chirped, while Sparkler merely nodded in agreement as both followed the nurse to the back area.
Silver looked on a most beautiful sight before him: On the bed she’d been moved to, Rarity lay, holding a tiny bundle in her forelegs. Looking up at her husband, she smiled, shedding tears of joy. She shifted a little so Silver could see the front of the bundle. “I love you with all my heart, little one,” she told the foal, looking down at her. “And your father loves you too.”
In the swaddling was a precious treasure to behold: the earth pony filly had a light cream-colored coat, with a small shock of dark brown for a mane. She opened her eyes briefly, revealing beautiful violet-colored irises, before she closed them and yawned, the look adorable on her tiny muzzle. Instinctively she snuggled closer to her mother, causing Silver to break into a wide smile.
He felt tears sting his eyes; a gift of pure joy. “She’s absolutely beautiful,” he told his wife. “Just as beautiful as you, love.”
“She looks so much like her grandmother,” Rarity said, reaching up with a hoof to boop her daughter gently on the nose. “Silver, I know we were thinking of Amaretto for an earth pony filly name, but considering the resemblance….” Rarity left it at that.
“You mean it?”
Rarity nodded. “Our foal deserves no finer appellation.”
A second later, both Sparkler and Dinky walked in, both girls’ eyes reflecting a moment of absolute beauty as they saw their sister in Rarity’s arms. Their breaths seemed to halt as they were taken in by the precious moment.
Silver turned. “Congratulations, girls. You have a little sister. Come on up and say hi,” he said, smiling as he wiped away a tear.
As both approached the bed, Rarity looked at them, smiling, then back at the infant. “Your sisters are here, little one,” she said, “and they love you just as much. You are a part of a special family, did you know that? Your aunts and uncles and grandparents are just outside, waiting to see you.”
Sparkler looked at her newborn sister’s face. “She’s absolutely gorgeous,” the teen said, smiling. Hearing the new voice, the filly opened her eyes again and uttered a delighted neigh, reaching out with her tiny forelegs. Sparkler nuzzled the newborn’s forelegs gently before the filly leaned back and fell asleep again. “Hello, little sister,” Sparkler said, smiling in wonder.
“She’s soooo pretty,” Dinky said, dreamily. Looking up to her father and stepmother, she asked, “What’s her name?”
Rarity looked to her husband and he nodded. Turning back to her stepdaughters, she said, “Sparkler, Dinky, I’d like to introduce you to your little sister…
“…Sandalwood.”
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And here we go.....the secret origin of Daisy Jo Martinez.......
A rather enjoyable tale.
One of the few complaints I'd level at the original story would be the difference between AAG!Rarity and Canon!Rarity. I think you've really nailed Canon!Rarity here, which is nice to see.
Aw. Baby DJ!
It's too bad things turned out the way they did...
Also, at the beginning of this chapter: "A place where pure hooves can shine.” Was this the beginning of the Pure Hoof movement? If so, one terrorist organization got traded for another, but at least the first one wasn't racist (speciesist?).
Damn, that is a bittersweet ending when you know what comes next.
Still, I enjoyed this "little" aside. It was really nice to see more of Silver and a softer side of Rarity she has more or less lost in the main fic.
But something I really enjoyed was the subtle way you showed just how backwards Equestria was in many ways before first contact. I did a double take on stuff like the duel and Celestia's punishment getting accepted so readily, but they really fit the society you described while still making it plausible for the very same stuff to be all but gone only twentyish years later.
At least I hope stuff like honor duels to the death have disappeared... or I think I just might side a bit stronger with DJ on why she never wanted to go back there.
Damn if that wasn't a great story. I sure hope that you go pro someday.
It was also a statement that of how the Gala decided everybody's further love life: Fluttershy presented Big Mac into society, Rainbow closed her open relationship with Soarin', Appplejack and Pinkie both had their first dates with their future husbands, Rarity enraptured her future husband (even if she didn't know so at the time), Twilight had no real date and Derpy's letter got lost just as Silver got over her.
Everything perfect...except that the reference to the origin of the Purehooves makes no sense whatsoever: How can a racial integration, alicorn-bashing group mutate into a racial-supremacist, alicorn-worship group? That's like the IRA turning into British tories, the ETA turning into Spain's Salvation Army, the KKK turning against the Neo-Nazi, the US Rifle Association suddenly getting behind gun control, or the US Congress finally doing what their Founders wanted them to do and reorganizing the US military into a self-defence force: just not gonna happen.
And now I need to make a choice: start with Polarity, or finally get my arse in gear and start reading Days of Wasp and Spider.
3709266
Actually, it does make sense: groups have their ideals distorted and plundered all the time. The majority of the time, however, it tends to be benign - but that doesn't make it a universal.
A good example of this is the Japanese "new religious group" Aleph, which started out as a yoga club called Aum Shinsen no Kai before morphing into the terrorist group Aum Shinrikyo - before getting dealt with after the 1995 Tokyo subway attacks. They've since "morphed" into Aleph, and while are still considered a terrorist group, likely do not have the same capabilities they had prior.
Oh, and the NRA getting behind gun control? The original purpose of the NRA was to pass the (currently still in effect) laws prohibiting the sales of fully automatic weapons in the US. While their opinion on guns has changed (and I agree with their stance though not entirely their methodology), the historical fact remains.
3709896
If we want to force it, it can be made to make sense, but it still quite a stretch:
(1)
Make the entire core forget that they were previously fighting alongside non-ponies(1) Just Spinnaker flying alone to Manehattan, playing weathervane and later inciter during the War of the Elements
(2) Rather than risk inviting dissent from the old crowd, she rebuilds from completely new stock.
(3) She slowly sells the new idea to isolated individuals from the old crowd, getting them in for the power rather than the ideals.
BTW, does it make sense in English to insult somebody by calling them a weathervane?
Yeah; that's the name I couldn't quite remember! Thanks.
Then what's up with:
Groups like the (¿) Missouri Militia (?) still preparing for a British recolonization, but with modern RPG's, five-feet-long sniper rifles and, yes, machine guns?
What's up with Youtube videos of rednecks using chrome-plated Gatling guns to chop down trees?
Legally-bought Tommy guns being as much of a gangsters' cliché as tweed jackets?
That wacko of the armoured bulldozer equipping a bunch of high-powered rifles?
School shootings and bank assaults with fully automatic assault weapons?
Me finding over the internet manuals on how to convert semi-auto pistols into machine pistols?
Heck: just two or three days ago, I saw a funny video of a guy teaching his girlfriend to shoot an AK-47, setting it on full auto as a prank, and the slip of a girl almost flying away!
If you actually have such laws, either your law enforcement is worse than ours, or your punishments are slaps on the wrist (as opposed to up to 30 years for possession or traffic charges (Mexico's Federal Law & Rulebook on Explosives and Firearms, Articles 83 and 84), which is then automatically doubled if you are a cop or a soldier).
And you seriously need to go pro as a writer, man.
3711475
Actually, not a stretch at all. Keep in mind that thirty-five years have passed between the Weather Underground morphing into the Purehooves, and that's a long time for opinions and such to change. Example of that: Fred Phelps, former civil-rights attorney and now notorious anti-gay extremist.
And as for groups like the Missouri Militia?
They likely have the guns under grandfather laws or specific licenses, which are still allowed.
And you missed the part where I was doing a Kickstarter last year to raise funds for my novel (which is finished; the funds were for printing). I'll be doing it again this coming year.
3711622
Let's agree to disagree: I admit it's possible to convert the old guard but say it's a stretch; you say it is not a stretch.
I could have missed it.
I may have tried to convince you that self-publishing is a bad idea (I'm pretty sure I said so to at least two guys this past year).
If I didn't try to convince you then, I'll do so now: self publishing is a bad idea, simply because you don't have the distribution channels that publishing houses already have. Knocking doors on bookstores will be a gruelling, thankless job, especially as many will think that if your writing was good enough to sell, you would have been able to sell it to a publisher.
3711622
Just checked that: The Firearms Owners Protection Act rmakes assault weapons registered before May 19, 1986 legal to own and trade.
That's just rotten. Mexico's gun control legislation does contain some exceptions for collectors, but under the provision of the weapon being "irreversibly deactivated" (ranging from welding in the firing pin to plugging the cannon and welding solid all moving parts).
I just came here and the description told me he broke up with derpy......................and i was rooting for them......................ok i ll read on....ONWARDS TO ADDICTION
3750077
Actually, she dumped him.
3753152
Not really. Kalima changed her name to Cloister, not Claustro (or possibly Claustra, if she wanted to be nomenclaturally accurate to Spanish - which is Griphonish on AE).
The humans start appearing in AAG, which is the main work.
Who needs a caesarean when you can teleport.......
That bit right there, was pure worldbuilding gold, made your history go from a 8 to a nine in one nice hope. (i know sometimes i sound like i dont like your history.....seee some past coments of mine, but i actually do love it and credit to that is that i have marathon read everything from reflection......and i ll be going in for all american girl in a few minutes)
Now give me a couple minutes to actually finish this chapter and ill post my overall impressions of this preamble to your magnus opus (i am just copying cardingan, i actually have no idea what that means)
Well, just finishedd reading. Judging by your avatar and the description at the end little sandal will take the torch next time.
Anyway, in a general sense. In a sacale from 1 to 10 your history gets a solid helicopter.
Now into something more useful and rational:
What i did not like:
- sometimes it feels like i am reading an onion....layer upon layer of evil plots and all them thin as hell.
-equestria is an inbred clusterfuck.....i swear everypony was related to everypony XD, this was most prevalent in your first chapters.
-Once or twice i felt like you included characters just to include them,< cof> bon bon vinyl octavi < / cof>
What i liked:
-Your capacity to generate genuine feelings on me, by the end of the final chapter i was grinning and wishing the new fathers good luck. Although the best example was that scene were Derpy told Silver about how she felt and that she regreted....that scene made geniunely sad for her but created a sense of respect at her capacity to self sacrifice.
-The way you handled time, it was geniunily bewitching how you kept time flowing and gave everything an air of evolution (sry if i suck at explaining mysel, english is not my first language). The way time flowed reminded me of Garcia Marquesz´s "Cien años de soledad" (One hundred years of solitude......there is an english version of it and the book is not that long,if you ever find yourself in a need for a literature fix i do recomend it.......it is in my opinion a masterpiece).
-Dinky..........man she was cute
What kind of made cringe but not in a bad way:
-The sheer level of incompetence of the Equestrian military. It made me laugh a couple of times, of course most of these incompetence moments served to advance the plot but by the end of the history i kind of had zero respect for the equestrian military and was surprised they werent conquered by the CMC trying to get conqueror´s cutie marks or something. (Did they never heard about conflict of interest?, most problem would have been avoided by letting an unrelated professional handle things and not letting personal feelings scale the shit out of everything XD), of course i undestand that this was all in the service of the history and i doubt you intentionally painted them that way
Final thoughts......
I really loved your history and i am looking forward to reading more of what you have to offer and sincerely thank you for writing this.
And the slowest reader of all time has finally finished this story. All I can say is you've got a neat little universe here that I've become thoroughly invested in. As always, the way you handled the characters' growth is fascinating to watch and I particularly liked how you set up AAG (especially with Celestia's speech to Rarity about motherhood. Gawd that hurt the heart). Like the fic this precedes, there's a lot of characters, relationships and plot threads to keep track of, but as long as everything is well constructed I don't mind. A few issues with stuff being believable here and there (the other comments mentioned the whole incompetence of the guard/letting some guy Twilight only just met handle the defenses, etc) but overall a good read. I'm surprised it doesn't have as many views as your other stuff. It certainly deserves them!
3792483
Twilight never let Paraffin/Candlewick handle the defenses. She let him help with allowing photographers to use the parapets. Subtle but critical difference - you still end up with the terrorists in charge of your defenses, save that they weren't hired to run them, they just wanted a more scenic view and she thought it'd be safe.
While I've read Background Pony, the idea didn't come from there. Still, yeah, good to see somedonkey got what was coming to him.
ok wtf. the only part of the trilogy marked complete is the middle? did i miss something? i don't even know where to begin now.
4051575
Derpy has a huge influence on the AAGverse. And though she mainly plays a minor role after Polarity, what she does massive affects the remainder of the stories.
5061613 I actually just did some spring cleaning and got rid of a lot of things I had marked and then realized I wasn't actually that interested in reading after all. I have less than 10 now... of course, who knows how long that will last?
Also, old comment is old!
I feel bad for Tiger Lily, at least she had a somewhat bittersweet ending for her. OHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH, AND SANDYWOOD
, or as better known as DJ Martinez by now 
Well, once again, catching up with one of your stories is a LOOOOOOOOOONG journey, but is well worth it. Better yet, I caught on on the whole AAG canon so far, YAY FOR ME XD
5218235
Until Princeps comes out?
5218241 until that, or the next chapter of Polarity, the main story, the To Be Human. No matter, now there's not a single AAG chapter unread by me XD, it's easier to wait a new chapter instead of having unread tons of chapters, and being 10000 on average each of them
5218282
Well, 7DSJ is in its final volume now, so after that, all I'll have is HSW and all of AAG.
Wait a minute, Twilight Lily is Twilight Sparkles kid! The first part of the epilogue for AAG did have Luna having a kid in an unusual way. Who is to say that something similar happened here as well. It would explain away why Twilight Lily looks a bit like Twilight Sparkle. Crazy theory I know but one that could be possible!
8317612
Nope.
8317778
Further evidence says maybe?
8741639
We saw Tiger Lily give birth to Twilight Lily. I think the answer speaks for itself.
8741673
Just throwing it out there and seeing what sticks (mmm, spaghetti)! I'm Just saying Robins first wife gave birth to Lunas daughter, and Twilight was having dreams about Candlewick. I finally figured out how to use the spoiler button, YAY!
Can you please answer me this. Is Polarity: A Tale of Two Sisters important to this story or can you start with this story? I ask this because the Polarity: A tale of two Sisters is still incomplete yet strangely its sequals not only already exist but are completed. I usually only read stories once they're finished so I don't end on a cliffhanger that I have to wait weeks, months, or even years to resolve.