Following Through

by Alaborn

Epilogue

Following Through

By Alaborn

Standard disclaimer: This is a not for profit fan work. My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic is copyright Hasbro, Inc. I make no claim to any copyrighted material mentioned herein.

Epilogue

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My phone rang early Saturday morning. I saw Jason’s name on the screen, and hurried to answer. “Jason? Are you okay?”

“Yeah, why?”

“You didn’t return my call, and when I went over after work, you weren’t there! I wanted to see if you were okay, and I was worried that you, you know....”

“I’m over it. It might have been my most unusual breakup, but it wasn’t my worst,” Jason said.

I wasn’t sure if I believed him, but he did sound happier. “Anyway, why didn’t you return my call, or texts?”

“Well, I’m busy with work, and so I haven’t been able to respond.”

“You couldn’t spare one minute?” I said.

“Where I was, my phone wasn’t working,” Jason replied.

“For an entire week? I mean, I joke about my lousy cell phone service, but that’s ridiculous.”

“It’s kind of hard to explain.”

Now I was worried. “Okay, what work is this?”

“Same thing I was doing before.”

I tried to remember what his last temp job was. I’m pretty sure it was in an office building on the north side. He shouldn’t have had any reception problems there. It’s not like he was working in....

Wait.

“Are you talking about your last job building a gravel road?” I said.

“Macadam.”

“What the heck, Jason? How in the world did you....”

“Calm down, John. I was asked not to reveal this to anypo-anybody, but since you already know what happened, I think I can talk about it with you.”

“Okay. Start from the beginning.”

“I was about to call into the temp agency when I noticed that diary I got was glowing. In it, there was a message, asking if I wanted to keep working on the Ponyville-Canterlot road.”

I glanced over at my bookshelf, where my diary was hiding in plain sight. It wasn’t glowing. “And you said yes?”

“Once, I confirmed it wasn’t a sick joke, yes, I did.”

“How? Why?”

“Something about how the team was down an engineer, and that I had this glowing recommendation from the team,” Jason said. “There were a few conditions, of course.”

“Like what?”

“Not talking about it, of course. I have to go home for weekends. Twice a week, I have lessons on magic and Equestrian history and culture with Twilight Sparkle. And twice a week, I meet with Open Heart.”

“Who’s Open Heart?” I asked.

“My... therapist,” Jason replied. “He’s there to make sure I recover from my relationship with Lemon Spark, but also to improve my mood. He has the difficult task of showing me how to be happy even when I’m not doing what I love.”

“How’s that work?” I asked.

“There’s a phrase he used, that ponies are happiest when doing what their cutie marks tell them. The hardest thing is when that changes. If a pony like Rainbow Dash were to lose a wing, she would need to find a way to relate her special talent to something other than flying.”

“So if you never find a civil engineering job?”

“I’ll find something. Every time I come back to town, I’ll be looking,” Jason said.

“So, do you have any plans for the holidays?” I asked.

“Christmas with the extended family in South Bend. Fortunately, Hearth’s Warming is the same time of year. You?”

“Going with my parents to visit my grandparents in Florida,” I said.

“We both have some story to tell, right?” Jason said.

“Yeah. Too bad we can’t tell anyone.”

“There’s always fanfic.”

“Come on. Who’d believe a ridiculous story like ours?” I said with a laugh. And Jason laughed too.

“Let me know if you want to get together some weekend,” I said.

“Sure. Not this weekend, though. I have a few other people to apologize to. I haven’t been the best of friends recently.”

“I understand. Hey, it was great talking to you.”

“Talk to you later.”

“Bye.”

I hung up the phone. I’d say this whole conversation was the craziest thing I’ve heard.

As long as I considered only the last week.

I looked to my diary again. I pulled it out and started writing.

I don’t know who’s holding this book, so please pass on the following message to Twilight Sparkle in Ponyville.

Dear Twilight Sparkle,

I understand you’ve been meeting with my friend, Stone Arch. Please watch over him, and let him know his friend Strange Brew is cheering for him.

And if you ever want to talk about our favorite book series, I’m all ears.

Strange Brew

Author's Note:

Setting the stage for a sequel with these. It's not the story I'm going to write next, though. Right now, I have only a few details in mind (pony on Earth, locations, villain). Given how long it took this sequel to be written, look for it in, oh, May 2019.

Comments

[Seeking Dusk]

Huh. Neat epilogue. Does seem a bit mean to have not let John know about it, from Equestria's end I mean. But who knows? John and Twilight can be Potter chatting pen pals!

[ferret]

This ending felt... off. I kept waiting for the huge plot twist that never came. It was... a nice story, I suppose?

[Dravkwn]

MORE or you might not like what I do next.

[Alaborn]

7038268 I do have two more story ideas for this series. But developing them will take time.

[harts fire]

a good story a vary worthy read.
I can see your skill as a righter is improving good work.

[Boulder]

8124978 Hasn't seemed to 'Phase' him.

[Boulder]

8124929 Oops my mistake, read it wrong.

[Boulder]

8126804 Understood but it snagged me as not relating well to Tia's speech mannerisms.

[Eroraf86]

The best stories are the ones that leave you wanting more. So far, you're two for two with this series. Onwards!

[Rainfall_Burst]

It was awesome reading this. I love the idea of crossing borders though the prequel used to lack on optimism about the series, this one was jsut great