Epilogue
It had taken several hours to get things in some vague semblance of order after Tirek's defeat. It didn't help that the discorded members of the Royal Guard would attack Celestia and Luna on sight; fortunately, they did still recognise Shining Armour's authority, and so he had gathered what few of the Guard remained in Canterlot in one of the courtyards, where he was running them through some basic training exercises in the hope of triggering a few memories.
Celestia herself had been visible throughout Canterlot, calm, regal, reassuring. For the first time since her rescue, she had a few moments to relax with Twilight and her friends; to sit at a table in her recently-restored throne room with a cup of tea and a slice of cake* and catch up on the news.
“But it took over three weeks!” Twilight wailed.
“That doesn't matter, Twilight.” said Celestia, calmly. “What matters is that it worked. Tirek has been defeated, has been returned to Tartarus. You didn't fail. Luna, Cadance and I trusted you with our magic, and we would do so again.”
“I just, I just feel like I could have, should have done better.” said Twilight.
“You did exactly what was needed.” insisted Celestia. She nodded at Discord. “I believe you arranged for the Box to be opened?”
“Weeeeeellllllll, in a way.” said Discord, reclining on empty air. (Somehow, the Tree of Harmony had restored the powers of the Spirit of Disharmony. Twilight wasn't sure whether she should be thinking too much about that; it might need to be filed in the same mental category as Pinkie Sense). “All I really did was find this delightfully chaotic group of fillies and give them a few hints. Oh, and spend a bit of time reminiscing with Shining Armour about his photo album.”
“You involved our sisters?” screeched Rarity.
Discord waved his lion paw. “They were already involved.” he said. “I did warn them about Daring, so -”
*B*O*O*M*
The entire castle shuddered as something hit it. Celestia's eyes widened, and the tea in her cup danced about, some splashing on the table.
“What was that?” asked Rarity, after a moment.
“I suspect,” said Celestia, taking a sip of tea, “that perhaps not everypony has realised that Tirek has already been defeated.”
“But... what was that?” asked Rainbow, hovering nervously.
“That,” said Celestia, “was the sound of a small boulder striking Canterlot Castle. Probably launched from a trebuchet. Don't worry, Luna will have this well in hoof.”
“AND HOW WOULDST THOU LIKE IT, WERE I TO THROW ROCKS AT THY DWELLING?” cried a voice from outdoors.
“At his full power, that would hardly be a distraction for Tirek.” continued Celestia, calmly. “But a brave effort, nonetheless.”
Rainbow's ears pricked up as she heard a familiar buzzing noise. “Eh-heh.” she said. “Um. Discord. You were saying you involved the Crusaders?”
“Why, yes. I gave them the information they'd need to find five of the keys and restore Daring Do's mind. Really, the most tedious thing about the whole business was the travel. Ugh, without teleportation it takes hours to get anywhere...”
The distant buzzing was a lot closer now. It was accompanied by a number of startled cries, and the crashing noises of delicate objects being shattered. Discord slowly realised that nopony seemed to be paying much attention to him anymore.
“Did you by any chance tell them where t'find the sixth key?” asked Applejack.
“Er... no. No, I don't believe I did.” replied Discord.
“Ah think they might'a worked it out.” said Applejack.
There was a screeeeeech from directly outside the throne room doors, and the sudden impact of a very determined pegasus filly on a scooter smashed them open. She made it almost two metres before Celestia calmly lifted her up off the ground.
“Relax, little pegasus.” said Celestia, calmly. “Tirek's already been defeated.”
“He... he has?” asked Scootaloo.
Rainbow Dash stepped forward and nuzzled her number one fan. “You did it, Scoots.” she said.
“But where's Sweetie Belle?” asked Rarity.
Hooves clattered onto the balcony, and Princess Luna stepped into the throne room, carrying two fillies in her aura.
“I do believe,” she said, drily, “that these two belong here?”
“Sweetie!” said Rarity, galloping across the room.
“Applebloom!” cried Applejack.
“What were you doing?” asked Rarity.
“Well...” said Sweetie, nervously.
“We kinda thought,” said Applebloom, “if we could distract Tirek, an' Scootaloo could grab the amulet from Twilight... an'... an'... Ah missed you SO MUCH!”
“And Ah missed you, too.” said Applejack, hugging her sister.
“Oh... I just got one more question, Squirt.” said Rainbow Dash. “Why the eyepatch?”
“'Cos eyepatches are cool!” said Scootaloo, happily.
“Your eye's not injured or anything?”
“Nah.”
* * *
And now it was the following afternoon; questions had been asked, stories had been shared, and, by mutual agreement, everypony had stayed the night in Canterlot Castle. Despite being provided more than enough rooms and plenty of beds, both the Bearers and the Crusaders had ended up spending the night sleeping on a pile of pillows on the floor of the room assigned to Twilight; nine ponies and a baby dragon, all in one large, multicoloured pile where anypony who woke up fearing that their ordeal was not over could simply reach out and touch friends on all sides. One of the balconies in Canterlot Castle had been decorated with some haste, ribbons and flowers covering the wall around it (an enterprising pegasus had even tied a decorative ribbon around the boulder still embedded in the nearby wall).
“Ponies of Canterlot!” announced Celestia, from the balcony**. “Tirek's brief reign is ended, and he has been re-imprisoned in Tartarus. But today there is a group of ponies to whom we are grateful! It is due, almost entirely, to their courage, resourcefulness, and last but not least, to their willingness to take the advice of others where necessary, that we owe this victory. Fillies and Gentlecolts, I have seen the newspapers from the time of Tirek's reign, and I have interviewed the ponies behind these events, the Cutie Mark Crusaders themselves!”
The cheering of the crowd drowned out what Celestia said next. She waited for the stomping to die down a little before continuing.
“These three ponies,” said Celestia, “without magic, without money, without political power, did something incredible, something amazing. And they did it in one simple way; they did not give up to despair! In doing this, they created a rebellion against Tirek's rule, and thus opened the way for one of his prisoners to escape; they found out from this prisoner how to defeat Tirek, and they did so successfully!”
There was another roar of cheering from the crowd.
“But they did not do this alone.” continued Celestia. “They had help, from several other ponies, and from some who were not ponies, in so many, many ways. In one week from today, gentleponies, there will be an award ceremony, here in Canterlot Castle, to honour these ponies, the Crusaders and all others who played their parts in ending Tirek's reign!”
This time, the cheering was even louder than before.
Behind the balcony, inside the castle, Scootaloo grinned at her friends. “Hey, do you think we could get Miss Cheerilee to bring the class here for a field trip next week?” she asked. “Just think of the look on Diamond Tiara's face...”
*Along with several bales of hay; nopony present had had a proper meal in far too long.
** The Royal Canterlot Voice permitted her to be clearly heard even without a microphone
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4998570
As long as he can get Tirek angry enough to make sure he doesn't start thinking again at the last minute...
5003408
Of course it was! Ferris wheels are serious business.
5016174
And here it is!
Wrong apple, unless time travel was involved.
In all, this was a great action-comedy, a brief dip in despair before rocketing up into hope and absurdity. Thank you for it. My only regret is that I won't get to see the inevitable stained-glass window.
Is going to Sequel with the Awards Ceremony and unveiling of an inevitable stained-glass window. Please Let their be a Sequel even if just a one-shot about this please??
All is well that ends well.
Except for Tirek, but screw him.
I wanna imagine Diamond Tiara reactions
Priceless
5016782
Whooops, fixed. Along with a couple of other things.
Unfortunately, I don't think I have the artistic ability to draw the stained-glass window...
5017067
Well, I hadn't planned on it. I mean, the Crusaders will clearly get an awards ceremony (which will come as a surprise to most of the attendees, who imagine these Crusaders they've heard of to be quite a bit older). They'll share this awards ceremony with a zebra, a dragonequus (that will be an unpopular choice, given that everypony knows how he helped Tirek and few know what he did afterwards) and several ponies (Daring Do and Cheese Sandwich both come to mind immediately).
And there will be a stained-glass window. Which may or may not include Scootaloo's eyepatch.
5017301
5018595
Great. Now I'm imagining Pinkie Pie devouring an entire bale of hay anaconda style.
5021979 and not square bales
5016479
Will we get to see the award ceremony
5019021
So was that a yes then or a not on the Sequel would still love more this so Please!!
It's a nice story, but your punctuation in direct speech is wrong. When a bit of direct speech is followed by information about who is speaking, you never end it with a full stop; you should put a comma instead. For example:
should be:
“As you wish,” said Tirek, smugly; while her friends gasped in shock.
Also:
his water bowl
without ever specifying?
5023020
5024057
No, not in the near future; I have for too many other stories planned, and I'm not sure I can write an awards ceremony that's not dry and boring and repetitive (and that would be unsatisfying).
5025082
I've somehow managed to pick up a bad habit there. It's hard to break...
Still, fixed, fixed, and fixed, thanks
.
*the
5191862
Eeep. Thanks for pointing that out.
Fixed now.
Very good, it only make me think of Daring Doo... What will be the next book?
Daring Doo and the Box of Harmony?
With the help of three mysterious ponies and their captain a powerfull mystic zebra, Daring do travel the dangers of a dark forest and a strange city to find the relics that could free the ponies of a powerfull centaur
And I wonder how many editions will need to make
5454535
Now that would be an interesting idea for a story; contrasting what Daring Do actually does versus how she writes the story afterwards...
5713581
It's too bad that power won't eventually knock you out and spare the world from you.
5737865
...I haven't read the IRL DD books. I'm just going on what was in the show... psying more attention to Daring Don't, where we actually see Ahuizotl in person, rather than just Daring's depiction of him.
Very impressively done. I love all the different stories that came out of this single concept.
Meh... somehow this chapter is unfulfilling... maybe it is just the depression that this story DID lift me up out of returning?
7129694
...I wasn't sure how to write an awards ceremony - which is the only thing still left in this story - without doing a lot of repeating myself...
Not bad. l'd give it a 8.5/10. points being docked mostly for how quick everything was done. It could've stood to have some slower paced bits in the middle but other than that, good job
9.9/10. Should be rated for comedy.
8946026
I suppose that's actually a valid point. o_0
Still, it is on the Evil Overlord List for a reason. Never let your guard down...
You can has review!
Re-Read it, and still liked it.