Life on Bridleway

by SparklingVynegar

Chapter 9: Finale

A/N: So, for everyone who doesn't read my blog (which is pretty much everyone) I mentioned that ANTHROPOLOGY is now going to be a bonus chapter that will come later. I apologize if this upsets anyone, but the musical is turning out to require a bit more work than I initially planned. Enjoy:

---

Some could easily say that the Bridleway Theatre was a place of magic, a comment that, even in a place like equestria, was one of true appreciation. Though most people refer to the “magic” as the beautiful and wondrous performances that take place on it’s stage, to you there is only one thing truly magical about the hallowed theatre:

No matter how many times you experience it, no matter how long you’ve been involved, and no matter how many have come before it, the feeling of joy and accomplishment at the end of an opening performance always felt just as strong.

Everywhere around you, ponies cheer in uncontained happiness. Even you can’t hold it in as you fly off of your piano bench to join the other pegasi, flying around in uncontrolled mirth.

“You know, if you're going to fly around like that, you’re not going to have anything to say for yourself next time Lyra has her outbursts.”

Looking down to the floor, you see Octavia smirking up at you smugly. Your smile grows a bit as you fly down to meet the gray cellest (well, that was kind of impossible, considering how big it already was, but it now felt like your smile had just a little more reason to exist).

“Oh, come on!” Calls a considerably scratchier voice than Octavia’s, “It’s not like you wouldn’t be doing the same thing if you had wings.” A blue-mained DJ emerges from somewhere in the back of the theatre, beaming even more smugly than her marefriend.

“Please, as if I would ever be caught doing something so- Hey! Wait! Vinyl, what are you-” Somewhere in the middle of Octavia’s response, her marefirend decides to pick her up in an aura of electric blue magic. The cellest floats off of the ground as Vinyl guids her this way and that, all the while bringing her closer and eventually ending with Octavia landing directly in her arms, laughing heartily.

“Don’t you ever, ever do that again.” Octavia scolds through her laughs.

“Aw, come on Tavi, you know you love me!” The DJ responds, a cheeky grin spread wide across her face.

“Oh, I suppose.” Octavia sighs, wearing a smile of her own. “What in Celestia’s name am I ever to do with you Vinyl?”

“Oh, don’t worry, I think I have some Ideas we could try...” Vinyl responds, her voice growing sultry as she is somehow able to portray her half-lidded eyes through her signature shades.

“Buh- I- W-well, I- Uh- I’m not- eep!” The cellest turns a very, very bright shade of red as her marefriend interrupts her flustered stammering by wrapping their tails together, with an extra, playful little twist. Vinyl leans in closely and gently brushes her muzzle against Octavia’s before leaning in and-

“A-hem!” you cough loudly. “I wouldn’t be interrupting anything would I?” you ask with a raised eyebrow. Now Vinyl’s face perfectly matches her marefriend’s as she grows a bright red blush of her own. Suddenly the the two break apart, Octavia looking down in embarrassment, rubbing her foreleg with one hoof, while Vinyl throws both hooves behind her back and smiles innocently like a child hiding a cookie from her parents.

“O-oh, uh sorry…” Octavia murmurs, “I guess that we just-”

“Forgot I was here?” you finish, your smirk growing a just a tiny bit.

“Hey, she was apologizing, wasn’t she?” Vinyl gets up in your face, suddenly very protective of the beyond-embarrassed cellest.

“Oh? Was she, and I suppose it was entirely her fault, eh?” You retort, your brows narrowing into a mischievous glare, while your smug smile remains.

“Listen, buddy!” The DJ snaps back, lowering her glasses so you can see her eyes narrowing, “It’s none of your business how I treat or how I act toward my marefriend! I love her more than anything! Ever! And if you have a problem with that than you can-” Vinyl’s verbal volley is interrupted by a laugh that had a very similar sound to that of bells ringing.

“You really are good at that, aren’t you?” The mare in your face turns around to see her marefriend hiding her chuckling little smile behind her hoof.

“Just a blessing of Mi Amore, I suppose.” You respond, smiling proudly at the compliment.

Vinyl’s head quickly darts between you and Octavia until she turns to her marefriend with a confused look.

“I don’t get it, what’d he do?”

“Oh, you didn’t notice?” Now it’s Octavia’s turn to smile with lidded eyes. “‘I love her more than anything. Ever.’” Octavia repeated Vinyl’s words, albeit with a more gentle and loving tone.

“Oh…” The DJ’s face turns more red than white as her eyes drift off to some corner of the room. “I… guess I did say all of that, huh?”

“Nopony can lie about their heart to a Cadencian,” you state. “But I suppose Vinyl didn’t say anything that surprising.”

“Not really,” Octavia says, pulling Vinyl’s gaze into her’s. “But I guess it does help to have it all solidified.

“And, if it makes you feel any better…” Octavia plants a kiss on Vinyl’s forehead before turning to you, “I feel exactly the same way.”

“No need to tell m-” You stop mid sentence. Your eyes grow wide as you realize what Octavia had just done, “Oh… Oh, you clever girl…”

“What? What’d she do?” Vinyl looks confused.

“I really do hate repeating myself, Vinyl,” you say, shaking your head as you walk away. “Nopony can lie about their heart to a Candencian…” you say, never looking back to see Vinyl’s response. Though, you probably don’t need to to know what happens.

Moving through the large mass of celebrating ponies, you notice one face that sticks out from the rest.

A face that, although it is smiling, appeared to have something else on it’s mind. A face that looks off longingly to a space behind the curtains. A face that displays an accomplished resolve, and yet a great amount of worry and uncertainty is mixed in. A face that belongs to Lyra Heartstrings.

“Hey!” You call out, walking up to her and giving a playful shove. “You did it, kid!”

“Yeah…I did it, aright.” she says, her voice distant as though her mind didn’t actually comprehend what was said to her, her mouth simply reacting on impulse. She doesn’t even turn to face you.

“Huh?” You look at her confused, “What’s up?” You follow her gaze to see her looking at a cream-colored mare with a pink and blue mane that flowed down in beautiful curls.

“Oh, yeah.” You say. Your voice and face suddenly growing as neutral as hers. But only a moment later your face grows to a comforting smile. You give Lyra a gentle nudge toward the other mare.

She looks back at you with a confused and annoyed look.

You nod your head toward the mare across the room.

Lyra looks back at you with a look of worry and doubt, but your only response is to smile and nod toward her again.

She slowly begins to walk toward the other mare, before she turns around, gives you a quick hug, whispers a small “thank you”, and then trots off toward her cream-colored crush.

Lyra Heartstrings… you think to yourself, Where would we be without each other, I wonder…

You trot through the crowd, having a destination in mind already. As you reach the edge of the Stage, you look back at the mint green mare. She seems to be saying something very heartfelt to the other mare (her name was… Bon-bon, yeah?). Before you can even begin to wonder how things are going with them, you see your friend lean forward and kiss her long-haired acquaintance.

You chuckle to yourself, “Guess she’s always a little brash, even when she’s embarrassed.”

And with one last look at the celebrating cloud of all different types of ponies, you depart through the side door that leads to the outside.

---

You quietly sneak around the corner. About a block away, you see a small tree that stands in a little patch of grass in the center of the sidewalk. Underneath the tree is a very special, cream-coated mare.

Ever so quietly, you unravel your wings. Flapping them gently, you lift yourself off the ground, hovering only a few inches as you let your energy build.

And then, in a single burst, you dash forward, heading directly toward the mare.

“Coco!” You shout to get her attention. As she turns, her eyes grow wide in a mix of surprise, fear, and plenty of delight. Before she can register what’s going to happen, you swoop her up in your hooves as you spin around in mid air, embracing your new marefriend with as much love as you can bring through your hooves (which, trust me, is a lot).

Although her current situation would seem a bit scary, the mare in your arms laughs warmly at your enthusiastic show of affection.

When the two of you finally land on the ground, Coco leans forward to finally return the hug you had been giving her in-flight.

“You did wonderful tonight,” she says, the warmth of her breath feeling strong against you in the cold Manehattan air.

“Oh, but it was your work everypony saw.” You reply, easily brushing off the compliment given to you.

“Well, I can’t take all credit.” She giggles into her hoof. “I did have some wonderful help.” She finishes her statement with a kiss on your cheek that feels like it melts into your skin and causes your cheeks to heat up pleasantly.

You step out from your marefriend’s warm embrace, looking her over from ear to hoof. Her aqua mane was kept in her usual bob, with the ever-present flower clipped in the back. Her collar and tie are hung around her neck as usual, but the big change is the long, blue evening gown that she is now wrapped in. The color doing plenty to bring out her big, beautiful blue eyes. All in all she was stunning.

“You look...beautiful,” You say, deciding that the most obvious word is the strongest. And, judging from the smile and pink blush on Coco’s face, you were correct.

“Why, thank you,” She nods her head in gratitude, “I made the dress myself.”

“No…” You shake your head, “I don’t mean the dress. You, Coco. You look beautiful. You are beautiful.”

Now, the blush on her cheeks grows from pink to a deep crimson.

“You know,” She says, her eyes resting somewhere on the ground, “I hear the next play is going to require even more costumes, and I probably only have a week or two to get it all done.” She looks up at you. “I’ll probably need quite a bit of help getting everything together.”

The way she looks up at you with such adorable hope and love, not to mention how cute she is, you decide to respond the only way your brain tells you is possible.

You lean in and kiss Coco, not on the forehead, or on her cheek, no, you actually kiss her, with enough passion and love to make even Princess Cadence wonder where it all comes from. After seconds that to you have felt like eons, you pull away and look Coco directly in the eyes.

“I’d be happy to help you.”

And with that, the two of you are content to stand there in the cool Manehattan evening, a cold breeze blowing by every now and then, but never effecting you, the warm embrace you hold with each other doing more than enough to hold back the cold air.

Because she is yours and you are hers, and for right now, and for as far as you can see into the future, that was all the two of you would ever need.

The End

Author's Note:

Guys. I just want to say. This was AMAZING! I cannot tell you how sad I am to see this story finally end. I LOVED writing this, and LOVED creating a long story like this, since before I had stuck to one shots.

Thank you all so SO much for supporting this story, for almost a whole year, you have no IDEA how much it really means to me. I hope you all will continue reading as I continue on into other stories, but even if all you read is this, it still means so much to me.

As always, please leave a comment, it really helps me out, both in writing and in happiness.

And to all of you reading this or who have read it: Thank You. Thank you so so much for reading my story.

Dankeschön!

-Edelweiß

Comments

[Lord Legion]

Ah this was a very enjoyable story. Sad to see it end. You have quite the writing talent. Keep up the great work.

[metroid_freak]

Not bad at all. I rather enjoyed it!

[Null Serene]

I know that you're not active anymore, but on the off-chance that you ever check in, this was a great story, and I'm glad to have read it.

You're a great writer, hope you're able to find and do something that brings joy to your life.

[Offnote]

This was a great story, but could I use the idea of the Alicorns being religions in one of my Fanfics?

[SparklingVynegar]

7505059 That's awful kind of you. Thank you very much. It's nice comments like this that make me want to go back and start writing someday.

[Valiant Hearts]

You, my friend have earned a follower and a favorite!

[SparklingVynegar]

8580265
It's interesting to see this fic still getting attention. Especially considering I personally don't really think it's all that great.

But, I digress. Thank you very much for the read and follow. Im not really active here anymore, though. (Except I might have a story or two in the works, but shhhhh don't tell anyone)

[Valiant Hearts]

8580286
Wow, I'm surprised you responded, after posting this comment I saw your blog post and assumed it wouldn't mean anything.