Epilogue
Apple Bloom took the time to note just how very strange it was, being caught up in another pony's thoughts. She also felt that Scootaloo was just about the angriest she had ever known another pony to be, right now. Their shared body was snarling and hissing, and generally making lots of un-pony-like noises as they barreled after the elusive Rainbow Dash. Scotaloo's emotions were so strong, it was getting hard to see anything but the straight path to the target of her rage.
“Get back here, ex-hero!” Marauder shouted. “You didn't care when I got foalnapped, so I'm not gonna care when I beat you up!”
“What do you mean I didn't ca-” Rainbow started, but she was cut off as Marauder took advantage of the distraction to finally hit her with a new spell. Sweetie Belle was quite excited about her newfound ability, and her wide-eyed exuberance as she tested the limits of her magic fed itself easily into Scootaloo's all-consuming rage. A shell of ice sprang up around Rainbow's foreleg, and the hunter hissed as the limb grew heavy, and painfully cold.
Marauder tried to capitalize on the opening, but Rainbow's wings were still working fine. Rainbow backed away as Marauder leapt after her.
“Come on, Rainbow Dash,” Apple Bloom said through their shared mouth. “Ah promise we won't let Scoots hurt you too badly. But you did kinda ignore her completely, even though she was your biggest fan.”
“Yeah,” Sweetie Belle chimed in. “That wasn't very nice of you, Rainbow Dash. How many fans do you have, anyway? Can't you pay attention to at least one?”
“I came here to get her back,” Rainbow said shortly. She looped low, scraping the ground with her wings, before soaring back up and hovering in place in front of them. “We all came here to rescue you, and I'm not leaving without you three!”
Without hesitation, Scootaloo lunged at the wide-open hunter.
They stopped in mid-air, inches away from their target. A smug grin ran across Dash's face.
“W-what?” Marauder asked. She tried to pull away, to move forward, anything. Her wing stuck to something that she hadn't noticed before.
A trickle of fear formed in their stomach.
“Sorry, kids,” Rainbow said. “I had to think of some way to keep you out of action while we went and took care of Nightmare Moon, and, well, there were these Octospider webs just sitting there, waiting for somepony to use them...”
Marauder's mind was a chaotic mess of yammering. All of them had seen what had happened to their sisters and their friends when they were trapped in the webs.
“I can't- You can't just-”
“Yeah,” Rainbow said, all smiling gone from her face now. “It sucks. But I don't have any better options right now, and Pinkie said to be back as soon as possible. So I'm gonna have to leave you here for a little bit. Just wait a moment,” she said, narrowing her eyes and reaching a hoof around to grip the hilt of her sword. “I'll try and make sure nothing bad happens to you while I'm gone.”
There was the smallest rustle in the trees above.
Suddenly, a string of webbing shot down through the trees, right at where Rainbow Dash had been hovering. But the hunter wasn't there anymore. Quick as thought, Rainbow rolled around the sticky projectile, angling straight at the source and driving the full length of the sharpened blade into the body of the Octospider that was hidden in the branches.
The two hung there for a moment, predator and prey suspended there in death. Then the powerful legs of the Octospider gave way, and its body crashed heavily down to the forest floor below.
“I owed you that,” Rainbow muttered under her breath, wiping the ichor off of her sword on her armor sleeve before drifting down to consider the stunned Marauder.
“I've never claimed to be a hero, Scoots,” she said finally. “I'm just trying to do the best I can to make things right. Don't waste time complaining about how bad things are. Just accept that they are that way, and then do everything in your power to change things until they're good enough to live with.”
Marauder stared back quietly. There were tears in her eyes. She struggled a bit more against the spider's web.
Rainbow sighed. “I'll be right back,” she said. “Just try to stay calm while I'm gone. Nothing bad is going to happen to you.”
And then she left.
“Sweet marigolds, did you see that?” Sweetie Belle asked. “That was so awesome! No wonder you like her so much, Scootaloo. She just took care of that giant spider like it was nothing!”
Scootaloo sniffed. She wasn't quite so angry anymore, but she felt very silly, and afraid. She shivered uncontrollably.
“Ah wish my sister was like her,” Apple Bloom commented.
They hung there silently for a moment. After a while, Scootaloo spoke.
“We need to get out of here,” she said quietly.
“But how?” Sweetie asked. She flexed a new, powerful foreleg, but the spider silk only bent with it and then snapped back into place when she let up. “Ponies aren't supposed to be able to break free from an Octospider web.”
“Shouldn't we be more panicked right now?” Apple Bloom asked. A drop of nervous sweat ran down their collective neck. “Ah thought the venom was supposed to work faster than this.”
“It is on pegasi and unicorns,” Sweetie Belle replied, “but remember Pinkie said that earthponies take longer to affect.”
Scootaloo frowned. “Then... what kind of effect does it have on us?”
No pony had the answer to that.
There was a great light from somewhere in the distance, followed by a thunderous crash. The fillies twisted in their bonds to try and get a better look, gazing on the distant colors in awe. Something about the sight made them all feel better, somehow, and deep inside Marauder something hissed and buried itself as deeply as it could manage in their subconscious.
“Crusader,” Apple Bloom said suddenly. She blinked. “That was what Ah wanted to call ourselves! Crusader.”
“Yeah,” Scootaloo said. “I like that name better than 'Marauder.'”
“Hey!” Sweetie Belle cried out. “If the fear-toxin isn't driving us crazy, then maybe I can use a spell to set us free!”
“Good idea, Sweetie Belle!” Scootaloo said. She began charging up a simple blast. “Let me give it a shot.”
“No fair!” Sweetie protested, struggling to gain control of their horn. “I thought of it, I want to do it!”
“Come on, girls,” Apple Bloom said, a tremulous smile on her face. “Let's try to work together...”
“They're gone.”
Rainbow Dash searched furiously around the area of the web as the others trotted up, gazing at the melted webbing and the dead body of the Octospider with surprise and worry written on their faces.
“I left them right here!” Rainbow Dash said, whipping her head back and forth while scanning the ground with her eyes. “How the flying feather did they get loose?”
“You left our sisters in an Octospider's web?” Applejack asked angrily. “What in the hay were you thinking? That there's practically torture!”
“Sweetie Belle?” Rarity asked. “Where is she? Where did the fillies go?”
“I don't know, okay?” Rainbow said. “They could be anywhere by now! They have wings! I can't track them!”
“The Everfree Forest is a dangerous place,” Twilight said, shifting hooves nervously. “If the fillies have gotten lost...”
“Oh dear,” Fluttershy said softly. She touched the Octospider's body gently before turning back to look at the others. “I hope they're alright.”
“I can no longer sense them.”
Everypony turned to look at Luna, whose horn and eyes glowed for a moment before fading back to normal. “My range is not so large as it was when I was the Nightmare, but they have left it. They are no longer in the Everfree proper, I think.”
“They can't have been... eaten... could they?” Rarity asked fearfully.
“No, no,” Luna said hurriedly. “Death would not keep me from finding them. They have truly left the area I can search. They are gone now.”
Princess Celestia nodded. She hugged her sister to her with a foreleg over her withers. Then she looked at the others sadly.
“It has been a long night,” she said, “and a hard one, too. We must trust that your sisters can take care of themselves for the time being, and search for them at large over the coming days. They will turn up before long, I think. An alicorn is no common sight.”
Everypony was silent. Rarity hung her head and began to cry.
“Oh... Oh Sweetie Belle...”
Pinkie Pie's eyes also began to water. She swooped in and wrapped Rarity in a tight hug as the armorer broke down. Applejack stepped over and quietly joined in, and soon all six of the ponies of Pinkie's Party were wrapped in a big group hug. Pinkie had to stretch out impossibly far and pull Rainbow in, but even the cynical hunter gave way to their shared sorrow. Behind them all, Princess Luna stared on in sickening torment as Celestia closed her eyes and bowed down to nuzzle her own long lost sister.
“We'll find them, you guys,” Pinkie Pie said. “The Party's not over until everypony gets home safely.”
Fluttershy stepped in through the wooden door of her homely little cottage and let it swing shut behind her. She felt tired, more tired than she could ever remember being. It seemed to take a great effort just to unbuckle her saddle bags and drop them in the corner of the room. Even in the darkness of the indoor space, she had no trouble navigating the familiar surroundings.
There was a cacophony of chirps and chitters as small creatures came out of their tiny wooden houses at her coming, and ran up to circle around her hooves. Fluttershy smiled and gave a loving caress to a tiny red squirrel she had nursed since the time of its premature birth, all the way until today.
“Hello everyone,” she said softly. “Something very terrible happened, but everything is mostly okay now. Some new friends an I went out and fixed things up.”
Birds of many different types fluttered down and perched on her wings, twittering angrily about how very disorienting it was that the Sun was not up as it should be. Fluttershy's head nodded as she tried to keep from falling asleep on the spot.
“Yes,” she said, “It's been just awful. But the Sun will be up soon. The Princesses are making their way back to Canterlot right now, and Princess Luna is going to raise it just as soon as they get there.”
A giant centipede from the forest curled down from the ceiling and wrapped its massive body around Fluttershy's legs, the top of its back easily coming up to the pony's belly. Fluttershy patted it gently. “Oh, no, Gerald,” she said. “I'm alright. I'm just very tired. I stayed up all night, you know, and ponies generally aren't known for doing that.”
A small white bunny jumped up on the centipede's back, and looked disapprovingly up at Fluttershy. It stamped its foot rapidly and made some gestures with its front paws.
“Angel!” Fluttershy gasped. “Don't talk about such horrible things! You know that, if I were not to come back, Missus Vet is supposed to come by and take care of all of you. None of you would starve, I'm sure.”
The rabbit sighed and smacked a paw to its face. It waved a paw around vaguely.
“Oh.” Fluttershy blushed. “Well, I'm fine anyways, so you don't need to worry about a thing.”
A bird chirped over by the window. Fluttershy and many of the animals looked over to see the first hints of the morning light peeking over the horizon.
At the first sign of the sky's changing, the animals all began to move. The diurnal birds and small furry critters raced to go outside, finally getting started with their day, while through the window came in the nocturnal bats and certain flying insects who lived at Fluttershy's home. As all the creatures went about their business, Fluttershy found herself left alone in the middle of her living room.
She sighed. The sigh turned into a yawn as Fluttershy rubbed at her eyes with a hoof and swayed gently from side to side.
There was a deep growl from over in one corner. The massive form of Harry the bear lurched over to her and a great, hairy arm pulled the sleepy pony into a warm fuzzy embrace. The bear rolled over on his back to let the pony curl up upon his chest, and Fluttershy sank into Harry's fur.
Fluttershy smiled contentedly as she fell asleep.
The Sun was just beginning to rise as Rarity slipped inside her combined storefront and homestead, the Armored Carousel. She slipped off her bags and turned on the lights, and strode quickly past where Sweetie Belle's saddle bags were hanging up on the peg by the door. She made her way up the stairs to her living quarters, but as she reached her bedroom door, she paused.
For some reason, it seemed a difficult thing to work up the will to turn the knob. She stood there, unmoving for several minutes, staring blankly at the wood and metal. The light began to stream in through the windows as the birds outside began to sing.
Finally, she shook herself. She opened the door and strode inside, but instead of seeking her bed, she moved to fetch paper and a quill.
She had a letter to write.
Rarity sat down at her desk. She adjusted the paper a few times to make sure it was in the right position for writing, and checked that the ink in the inkwell was enough for her purpose. She didn't want to have to get up to get more, she thought. She held the quill above the paper, but it shook in her grasp, so that she almost immediately had to stop writing. Rarity took a calming breath, and then she tried again.
“My Dear Mother and Dearest Father,” she wrote.
“I hope that you have had a most enjoyable Summer Solstice this year. I know the Summer Sun Celebration has always been one of Dad's favorites in particular. I hope that what I have to tell you does not take away from the joy that you have always felt during this time.
“I have some bad news to impart. By the time you receive this letter, it will have been several days since the Summer Sun Celebration itself. You may have already heard of what happened here in Ponyville while you were up in Canterlot for the big festival there. Princess Celestia came to visit our weary little town – I'm sure you were not expecting to find her gone, or you might have stayed here this year.
“You left Sweetie Belle in my care while you were gone. Well, on the night of the Celebration, there was a vicious pony named Nightmare Moon who came and attacked Princess Celestia. Can you imagine? She defeated the Royal Guards, and took the Princess hostage. In addition, before she departed, Nightmare Moon foalnapped three young ponies, among whom was-”
Rarity stopped. She dropped the quill to the desk and threw herself away from the letter, stumbling as she caught her balance.
She could finish the letter when she had some sleep, she thought.
The Sun was streaming in through her bedroom window. Rarity drew the shades down. She lay down on the bed, pulled her sleep mask over her eyes, and tried to get some sleep.
Later in the day, the mask would grow so damp it would wake her up. She would pull it off and hide her head under her pillow, and not come out of her room until the next morning.
But for now, she rested.
The Sun was rising right in Applejack's tired eyes as she trudged down the road away from the town, along the edge of the Everfree and to her family's farm. She tugged her hat lower on her head to block out the light.
What was she going to tell them?
She had been thinking about it the entire walk there. But when the gate to Sweet Apple Acres came into view, and she saw Big McIntosh and Granny Smith waiting at the gate, she still had no answer.
Not one that she liked, anyways.
“Hey, Big Mac,” she said, coming to a halt a short distance away. “Hey Granny. Ah'm back.”
“Eeyup,” Big Mac intoned. His speech was as short and to the point as was usual for him.
“Well, 'acourse you are,” Granny Smith said. “We saw the Sun comin' up on the horizon, and we knew you 'n yer new friends had done the deed. 'S why we're here waitin' for you.” The old mare squinted her eyes, scrutinizing Applejack quite closely. “Now where's Apple Bloom?” she asked. “She ain't with you.”
Applejack stared at the dirt path.
“Apple Bloom... she's gone, y'all. Run off somewhere on her own. Ah lost her...”
Big Mac's eyes widened. But Granny nodded solemnly.
“Ah figured as much,” she said. “She ain't with you, but if'n something really awful had happened to her, Ah think even you would have some tears in yer eyes, Miss 'Cries on the Inside.'”
Applejack snorted. “Ah don't know, Granny. Ah've dealt with a lot tonight, and Ah ain't cried yet. Maybe somethin's wrong with me, but Ah reckon that's a bet you'd lose. Maybe that's the reason Apple Bloom lost her faith in me.” She stared back at the ground. “Rarity cried.”
“Well, you ain't Rarity, now are you?” Granny snipped. “A nice enough family for unicorns, but that filly is all the stuffed-up silliness of their kind put together in a neatly prettified package. Couldn't last a day out on the farm.”
Applejack frowned. “She lost her sister, Granny, just like we lost little Bloom. Don't talk bad about her. You ain't seen what she done for us last night. Ah'm proud to call her my friend.”
Granny whistled through her teeth and pursed her lips. “Well now. That ain't how you talked about her before now. Why don't you come inside and tell us th' whole story over breakfast. Sounds like there's a whole bundle of a story you've got to tell us. We've got somethin' hot, just waitin' on the table for ya.”
Applejack smiled. It wasn't a very large smile, not like her normal, happy ones. But it was a start.
“That sounds great, Granny. Ah'll tell y'all all about it.”
Spike jumped as the door of the library slammed open and two figures stormed in like a whirlwind of activity. Two pairs of saddlebags flew to a corner of the room, where they lay discarded and forgotten. Already books were floating off the shelves, covered in a familiar purple aura.
“Twilight?” Spike asked.
“... and I have no idea how that might effect the outcome of the spell,” Twilight was saying. “Maybe it would work, maybe it wouldn't. But if we can just get something for each of the fillies-”
“We could test everything and see if it works,” Rainbow Dash finished. “Maybe we could find something they all shared an interest in. Could the similarity between the objects be important?”
“Well, I don't know,” Twilight said, her eyes growing clearer and her smile widening. “That could be something we could try to test. But I was thinking that I could try to cobble together a spell that would be able to use all three of the objects and try and give us a general position of the three ponies as a group. Normally, that would only be useful if they were close together, but in this case, it's practically guaranteed-”
“Twilight!” Spike cheered, leaping from his chair and running up to hug her. “You're back, and you did it! The Sun is up again, Twilight!”
“Spike!” Twilight beamed. “Yes, I'm back. But there's still some work left unfinished. I'm going to need all the books we have about sympathetic spells, but I can't remember where I put the compiled Copper Crux's Compendium. Can you find it for me?” She snorted. “For some reason, I think I shelved them by general topic instead of in a group like they should have been. What was I even thinking?”
Spike frowned. “You just got back and you want me to fetch books? Bleck.”
“Hey, Twilight,” Rainbow asked, “Who's the little guy?”
“Oh!” Twilight said. The books in her magic paused for just a moment before resuming. “I forgot you haven't been introduced. Spike, this is my new friend. She's a hunter. She's going to be a big help in trying to track down the three fillies who Nightmare Moon foalnapped, and who have now been merged into a single pony and are on the run for reasons of their own.”
Spike and Rainbow Dash exchanged a glance as Twilight turned to look at a passing book, flipping through the pages at a rate that made Rainbow think she couldn't possibly be reading it, though Spike knew better. Rainbow glanced back at Twilight.
“Was that seriously your idea of an introduction?” she asked. “Because that was just about the worst attempt I have ever heard.”
“Fillies? Foalnapped? Merged ponies?” Spike asked. “I thought Nightmare Moon was trying to banish Princess Celestia!”
“She was, but that didn't pan out like she expected it would.” Twilight looked at Rainbow. “And what was wrong with it, may I ask? Just because I haven't given many introductions before doesn't mean I don't know how.”
“You didn't even give him my name,” Rainbow said. “Do you seriously have so few friends you expect him to be able to just call me 'the friend Twilight has'?”
Twilight blinked. “Oh,” she said. “I have five new friends now. That is... surprising, actually.”
“Wait, you got all five of them to be your friends?” Spike asked. “I thought for sure you would have driven at least three of them away with your freakish monster knowledge.”
“Thanks for the vote of confidence, Spike,” Twilight said dryly. She turned and raised an eyebrow. “Wait a minute. Didn't I ask you to watch over Shining Armor for me? Why aren't you at the hospital? Shining is still okay, isn't he?”
“Better than 'okay,'” Spike said, pointing a thumb towards the stairs. “He's already been discharged. Just give me a moment and I can go get him for you.”
“Oh, you don't need to do that,” Twilight said, waving off the suggestion. “We can let him rest. Right now it's still more important that we get a head start on these divination spells. Most missing pony cases are either solved within the first few hours, or else not at all.”
“Aww, Twily. You aren't trying to ignore me, are you?”
Twilight looked up, and smiled at the sight of her brother standing there at the top of the stairs. “Shining!” she said. “You're awake!”
“I sure am,” he said. He tapped at his chest, which was wrapped securely in bandages and medical tape. “Spike's been trying to keep me comfortable, but it's hard to fall asleep when you feel like an elephant is sitting on your chest.”
“Hmm. That doesn't sound comfortable,” Twilight agreed. “Maybe I can look something up for that just after I finish making the search spell for Rainbow.”
“You have a very strange family dynamic,” Rainbow commented.
Twilight raised an eyebrow.
“What's strange about it?”
The Sun was very uncooperative, trying to “jump its tracks” at every opportunity, and it wasn't until it was quite securely in the sky that Luna finally felt it safe to stop guiding it personally every step of the way. The light from her horn died down, and left her standing there, panting from exertion and covered in sweat. A palace servant, called in by Celestia beforehand, stepped in to wipe Luna down with a towel.
“It is harder to do, without the power of the Nightmare,” Luna said. “And the Sun is not nearly so cooperative as my Moon.”
“I found that it was the opposite for me, when I first had to raise the Moon,” said Celestia. “I would think that our talents play a much bigger part in our efforts than we realize, in this case. Without that help, we have to rely solely on our personal strength. It is a great drain.”
“And I will have to keep checking on it throughout the day, and then the Moon during the night,” Luna said. She dismissed the servant and stepped over to her sister. “When do you find time to sleep?”
Celestia smiled apologetically.
“I don't.”
Luna blanched. But before she could say anything more, Pinkie Pie bounced up from where she had been watching appreciatively in the corner.
“Wowee, Princess!” she said. “That was such a great job of raising the Sun, and you did it completely different from how Celestia does it! Isn't it so much more impressive with all that power coming from a much smaller pony?”
Luna glanced over at her sister.
“Do you allow all of your subjects to speak so freely of your person?” she asked.
Celestia shrugged. “I find it refreshing. Besides, Pinkie Pie is hardly an ordinary subject. She is my precious student, after all.”
“You don't mind if I don't call the Princess 'Princess,' do you Princess?” Pinkie asked, looking at Luna as she did so. “Because if I call the Princess Princess, and I call you Princess, Princess, then I would have to say 'Princess' a whole lot more than Princess really Princess Princesses. Princess.”
Luna blinked. Her eyes flicked over to Celestia.
“I think she's making fun of you,” Celestia said helpfully.
“Fun?” Luna asked.
“I prefer to think of it as making fun with you,” Pinkie said. “And besides, Luna! If you keep seeing everypony as your subjects, when are you going to get around to seeing them as your friends?”
Luna glanced back and forth between the two ponies. She scratched her head.
“What is 'fun?'” she asked finally.
Pinkie's eyes grew big as dinner plates, and her jaw literally dropped all the way to the floor. She pounced onto Princess Celestia and clung to her forelegs.
“Please tell me there's some sort of language drift,” Pinkie begged. “Please tell me there's never been a pony who could possibly not know what fun is!”
Celestia smiled an amused half-smile. “The word used to be 'fon'. It meant something different then – my sister had a particular distaste for it. Still, if there was ever anypony who didn't know what fun is, I would have to say Luna would be a very likely candidate.”
“Fon?” Luna asked with a frown. “If she's made a fool of me, it must have been very thorough, because I cannot see how she has done it.”
Pinkie shivered, and slowly laid one hoof on Luna's withers.
“I'm so sorry,” she said. “I wish I could do more for you. Please, find some help while I'm away.”
Celestia raised an eyebrow. “And where will you be going, Pinkie?”
“Oh, Princess Celestia!” Pinkie said, turning to face her again. “I was thinking about how great it was adventuring with everypony in Pinkie's Party together, and how we're all friends now, and technically our journey is still unfinished, so I thought 'Hey! Wouldn't it be totally great if Celestia would let me go stay in Ponyville for a while?' So I asked around, and I asked the Cakes, and the Cakes told me to tell you that they would be okay with me staying at their place for however long I wanted. I even get to help them out in the kitchen! So I was wondering if you would let me do that and stuff.”
Pinkie smiled. Luna stared incredulously.
“When did you find the time to ask-”
“Of course, Pinkie,” Celestia said, cutting off her sister. “I think it's wonderful that you've found ponies who you can call friends.”
Pinkie clapped her hooves together, while Luna gaped in amazement. “Sister, is she not your student?” she asked. “How can she learn from you while she is away?”
“I think we can make something of it,” Celestia said. “An experiment in making friends.” She winked at Pinkie. “Maybe you can invite Luna over after you've gotten the hang of things.”
“You betcha, Princess!” Pinkie said, snapping off a salute.
At that moment, a herald stepped onto the balcony. “Visitors to see the Princess' student,” the herald said.
Pinkie turned to look at the herald. “Hi, Thimble Rig!” she said. “Who wants to visit me? I never get visitors.”
Before the herald could respond, Celestia interrupted. “Why don't you show them in, Thimble Rig?” she asked. “We'll let it be a surprise.”
The herald bowed. As he turned and headed for the door, Luna looked up at her sister curiously.
“You know who it is,” she accused. “What manner of trickery have you performed this time?”
“I had no part in it,” Celestia said cheerfully. “I plan a great deal less than I usually get credit for. I just take advantage of how things turn out. The only thing I did was warn them about your coming return.” She smiled. “These are some ponies who had more confidence in my success than I did. All on their own, they decided to wait here to celebrate the Summer Solstice with her. After the crisis was successfully averted.”
Pinkie watched the door open with focused intent. As the shapes of the visitors became clear, she gasped with amazement.
“Mama!” she cried. “Daddy!”
She rushed to embrace the two. Igneous Rock and Cloudy Quartz awkwardly returned the hug as best they could, with Pinkie holding on to them so tightly. From behind them, Pinkie's sisters stepped around to form a circle. Without letting go of her parents, Pinkie twisted around and reached out to pull the others into the family hug.
“Pinkie,” said her sister Maud, in a very flat monotone. “You're doing the thing again where you have too many legs.”
“Hey! Knock it off, will you?” barked Limestone Pie. “It's the first time you see your sister in years, and the first thing you think to say is to bring that up?”
Marble didn't say much of anything, but she made a great effort to be the one who returned Pinkie's hug the most fully. It was hard to compete against Maud's strength, of course, but Pinkie turned to Marble and smiled.
“Oh, Marble,” Pinkie said. “You don't have to worry about your big older twin sister. Today might have been filled with danger, and not everything might have come out the way we wanted it, but I also found five new friends who were willing to stick with me, even knowing what I can do. And now, I got to see my family again! I can say that, most definitely, this has been the very best night of my entire life, and it's only going to get better from here on. Look!” she said, dropping the hug and pulling Gummy out of her mane. “I've got a pet now! I found him on our magical journey last night.”
Most of the others pulled back in shock at having an alligator shoved in their faces, although Maud merely looked slightly less placid.
“Oh, come on. Look!” Pinkie said, opening Gummy's mouth. “He has no teeth!”
Cloudy Quartz coughed. “Very nice, Pinkie,” she said. “You will have to make sure to take care of him.”
“Mhmm,” Pinkie nodded vigorously. She paused. A gleam came into her eye.
“Say,” she asked. “Do you know what this calls for?”
“A party?” asked Celestia.
“A party,” said Igneous.
“A party,” stated Cloudy.
“A party,” groaned Limestone.
“A party,” droned Maud.
“Mmm hm,” agreed Marble.
“Oh, come on!” Pinkie cried. “You guys take all the fun out of this!”
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Flashback! Drama! Tears!
And so it ends.
Much like how it began, actually.
Oh, it's no fun for you Pinkie but fun for us. And yeah, it obviously will have a sequel. Call on the season finale to be about the crusaders! I figure anyways. It's such a major event that it can't not be it! Though some snippets of their adventures wouldn't count... Yet.
A sequel? I smell a sequel. You're not just going to let this end here, with Crusader still on the loose, right?
6768960
A sequel!
... eventually.
Oh dear! Oh dear! Can it be? Is that...a sequel coming up over the horizon??? Loved this!!!
Very nicely done. I shall look forward to the eventual sequel.
So, there is a promise of a sequel...can you say "BOOYAH"! As for this chapter, the ending wrapped everything nicely and set up for the sequel. Poor AJ, her family, and Rarity (and eventually her own family will be add to the list), they will have to wait a little while until they can get their love ones back (and Dash to get Scoots back to make up with each other), and even if they do, there will be a few obstacles they are going to have to deal with. On a lighter subject, it seems things isn't too bad for Celestia, and Pinkie's family came to visit, which is a plus for Pinkie. On a mixed subject, Luna is doing okay so far it seems, but apparently finding out that raising the sun and moon by oneself is a pain and is most likely regret putting herself in this position (though, considering what the canon version have been doing to herself before and current the dream episode, it isn't all that too different than that).
Good luck with the sequel and enjoy the rest.
1) I really enjoyed this story, though I wish that Pinkie's powers were played up just a smidgen more.
2) So... if unicorn horn grows (and it must, given that as a pony ages from filly/colt to mare/stallion the horn grows), and Celestia has more or less infinite time to heal, won't she eventually get her horn back? I do understand that it was more or less amputated, but I am rather put out by the idea of magic-less Celestia
Wonderful story, and it will have a sequel, Hope it doesn't take you too long.
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Thanks! Glad you liked the story.
Yes, Celestia's horn will grow back eventually. It won't even take so long that it her immortality will be much of an issue, although it will still take a very long time. Until then, ponies will have to accept Luna as their keeper of the sky, whether they like it or not.
I said that aloud until the word 'princess' hurt to say and look at. Ugh.
This was truly spectacular. I really, really loved this story. It was an extremely cool idea, how you looked at the elements in this same-yet-different way, and to have Laughter be Faith at the end was really good. I hated everypony succumbing to the Nightmares but RD, but it was still super good. I just... Maybe I have a little more faith in them? I do like the way it was in some cases succumbing to weaknesses, like Rarity's conviction of inadequacy, as opposed to just not being loyal... I even liked the way Twilight was portrayed, and I'm usually SO big a fan of her that I miss her being the leader no matter how well she is in character. You did a wonderful job. This was a beautiful read. Have a like, a fave, and a follow from me.
I can't say much.
I really can't.
But I will say this...this...is my favorite MLP fanfiction. Not on this site. On ANY site. This. Is. Celestia-tier story-making.
-GTU
6785549 Thanks! As for why he looks so smug: he did make Rarity pay twice after all.
I can't decide whether this felt too drawn out without enough interesting stuff happening in it, or felt too short with too much uninteresting stuff happening in it... whatever it is I think my interest just started to wane with later chapters, but I already liked it and I'm not about to go changing that
Not bad. A bit darker than i expected too.
Loved it and am now recommending it!
I was supposed to start college today, but I stayed up untill 2 in the morning finishing this before collapsing in bed. Now I'm posting the morning after, before I head to class half dead. Thanks a lot pinkie pie.
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Thanks! Glad you liked it.
When I was thinking up the idea of this story, I knew I wanted something for Pinkie's element that reflected how Twilight's element in the show was somewhat separate from the others (being a more poetic "magic" than the obvious "friendship"). I liked the idea of using Pinkie's strange behaviour in the show as a kind of knowledge of certain hidden things about how her world works, which let her laugh even when times are hard, and see the way to better things. That was the kind of faith I wanted to portray. I guess it worked.
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Just saw the finished thing. Glad you liked my story enough that you'd spend time on it like this.
Thanks!
Great story. I WANT A SEQUEL PLEZ!!!!!
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I'd rather say "C'mon, Booyah, Squid"
Interesting, instead of Magic, Twilight is the Element of Friendship.
A fantastic alternate series premiere. You commit to the darker tone, but not excessively so, and the ripples of the changes to the formula are quite well thought ot. Nightmare Moon makes for a fantastic villain, especially in how she doesn't take Pinkie's monologue sitting down, and Pinkie herself is presented fantastically. As is everyone else, really. Thank you for this.
Now, about that sequel...
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I've always thought that it would be a more accurate term anyway. Or Element of Harmony, if they weren't already the Elements of Harmony and that would be confusing. Or Connection or something like that. The point is it's not actually about her magical power, it's about how she brings people together.
Hm.
I have read this story multiple times over the years, and I absolutely adore it. The tension in the scene where Pinkie’s powers are revealed is amazing, well built up to, and the narrative payoff is amazing. I would love to read more stories based on this setting!
Damn, that was good. Really good. Like really, really good. Need a sequel. Though uh, I guess after this long I'm kinda just throwin' hope to the winds.