Revenant

by Muramasa

Epilogue

2 MONTHS LATER

---

It was not special. I was not eyecatching. It was FAR from perfect. But it was mine.

A quaint little apartment right around the bend from Sugarcube Corner was now mine. It had a plain, dark colored wooden door, with the apartment number, 013, plastered on it in gold plate. It wasn't too big, naturally, but it would certainly suffice for my current needs. That all really wasn't important, though, because I had earned this apartment, and after a while saving up for it, it was now finally in my hooves.

Finding the right job was difficult. As my cutie mark displayed, I was rather good at anything having to do with magic, so I decided to go with that field. As it turns out, there were not a lot of options for the field in question that didn't involve going through the educational system, and as a result, I became the youngest pony to ever teach a class at the University of Ponyville. Yes, I was Professor Sunset Shimmer, teaching Advanced Magic 1 and 2, and it was certainly interesting, as many of my students were only a little bit younger than I was. I didn't worry about that, because that wouldn't be a problem as I grew older, but that wasn't the important part. The important part was, having gotten a job, I had finally assimilated myself into Equestrian Society to the fullest extent, and nothing could have made me happier.

The Real-Estate agent who had only seconds ago sold me the apartment, a mare by the name of Rose, was seemingly lost in thought. I stared at her until she realized I was doing so, and she quickly turned to her side and began fumbling for something.

"Oh, I'm sorry Miss Shimmer, I was just thinking about the wind. It was supposed to be blowing hard, according to the weather schedule, but it's dead silent," she said. Finally, out came the item she had been looking for; a regular old pair of keys. She threw them in the air in my direction, and I caught them with my magic. Rose gave me a warm smile.

"Well congratulations, Miss Shimmer! If you have anymore questions about the property, don't be afraid to ask!" she said before waving and walking off. I turned back to face the door and, with a sigh, opened it and walked inside.

I had already seen the inside, of course, so I wasn't expecting it to be lavish; I also wasn't expecting eight different ponies to scream "SURPRISE!" at the top of their lungs when I entered. I leaped backwards in shock, which, of course, caused everypony to laugh; after realizing what had happened, I looked around the living room.

It was no longer completely barren; there were tables for food and drink, and even some party games set up. Twilight and the rest of the elements were there, along with Jennet and Starlight, all smiling at me and waiting for me to react. To add to the horrible cliché this already was, I began tearing up, and was only able to utter a word.

"Guys..." I began, giving a short chuckle. Among the group, it was Pinkie Pie who spoke up first.

"I give a party for every single newcomer to Ponyville; it's a little tradition of mine! This is your place, Sunset, and since you're moving in here, you're officially a brand new citizen of Ponyville! I was gonna have even more stuff because Starlight lives here now too for a DOUBLE party but Twilight went blabbing on about something called "Monetary Constraints" but all I gathered out of it was that we couldn't throw two parties and so there's only one party and HAPPY PONYVILLE SUNSET AND STARLIGHT!" said Pinkie, finishing off the rapid sentence with a large breath. Starlight, now becoming a household name due to her heroism in the Crystal Empire, gave a bit of blush, causing me to smile; as funny and snarky as she was, she always had that bashful side to her.

I don't particularly remember what happened during that party, because it was overshadowed by what happened on that day. What I do remember is that, at some point during the festivities, Spike the Dragon, who had been tasked with going to the market to pick up some more soda, violently ran into the room. He shouted Twilight's name louder than I'd ever heard anyone, this dimension or the human one, and ran up to her. The party completely stopped, naturally, and before Twilight could react, Spike had already been explaining what had happened.

"A bunch of Griffons flew over Ponyville and dropped these letters! Do you...do you think it's true?" he asked, an extremely worried tone to his voice. Twilight immediately grabbed the letter, and the words she read aloud are burned into my mind to this very day.

To the Citizens of Equestria,

The Griffon Kingdom will proceed with the Annexation of the Northern Territories of Equestria in one week's time. We fully expect all citizens and the Equestrian Government to cooperate with this request, as my armies are stationed outside of your cities and have been instructed to take them by force if necessary, and I assure you, they are absolutely more than capable of the job.

With Pleasure,

Sanguis Talon, First of His Name, Grand Excubitor of the Griffonian Empire, Excelsi Regis

Author's Note:

That's a wrap! Again, I cannot stress enough how fun this was to write! Expect the sequel, "Excelsi Regis", the drop soon! Thanks to all who followed this story to the very end!

Comments

[EchoWing]

Ack! Cliffhanger!

Those griffons are in trouble, though. Never invade a nation whose rulers control celestial objects.

[badninja]

Good to see Sunset have a nice ending. Until that's last part about a future resident of Tartarus. Overall it was a great story.

[La Barata]

Sanguis Talon, First of His Name, Grand Excubitor of the Griffonian Empire, Excelsi Regis

That's a funny long way to say 'Dead Motherfucker'

[Muramasa]

7135362 I'll have to admit, you made me literally laugh out loud with that comment

[Jirodyne]

7135484 You also have to admit, he is correct

[FFNend]

I am still not sue what the purpose of Jennets character was....either way it was a fun story to read. I assume that a bunch of gryphons are going to get bashed up In your next story.

[The Apprentice]

7134751 Nah, do it, it's totally effective, so long as your army isn't averse to being obliterated by solar flares and the like.

[HiddenMaster]

7137732 Unless the army or, more likely, the ruler has a proper counter of course. Could be anything, from an assassination attempt that incapacitates Celestia in some way shape or form-could be death could be coma anything really- to another being who might be able to claim the sun. Unicorns as a whole did it in the past, Luna can raise the sun even if she typically handles the moon, Discord can do it any time he wants even if he refrains due to his reformation. so there's no reason to think even in pure canon that another being wouldn't be able to challenge Celestia for control of the sun on equal footing.

Have to say, I've been letting chapters pile up on this for a little while now, but I'm actually happy I waited to read these.These last two chapters are a nice end cap to Sunset's self imposed quest for redemption in this fic and her desire to return home. I have to say this was a very nice, bit melancholy fic that explored Sunset's motivation and her return. Somewhat sad it's over, actually, Yes, in terms of plot it was very much slice of life-granted it has Sunset's thread bringing her through it all so I wouldn't consider it true slice of life personally-but there was a nice, almost relaxed feel to it even considering some heavier elements. Still, it's nice to know we have an adventure to look forward to with some excitement in the mix.

So, in short, thanks for writing this. It was a real joy.

[Muramasa]

7138442 Thanks, it really means a lot!

[The Apprentice]

7138442 you have a point, though this seems to be lacking in that regard, since they're already in position, it's basically them saying "we're declaring war. what are you going to do?"

[Ashen_sky]

Well now, when will Celestia commence the orbital bombardment of the griffon kingdom? It really wasn't a smart idea to pick a fight with not only with Celestia and Luna, but lets see, Twilight, The Element barrers, The Crystal Empire, and the entirety of the standing army of Equestria, Son your about to get DUNKED ON,

[Veylon]

The Griffon Kingdom will proceed with the Annexation of the Northern Territories of Equestria in one week's time.

You damned arrogant idiot.

Firstly, proper protocol for the seizure of territory is to put your army on it first and then declare that it's yours and has always been yours. Land is never 'annexed', it's 'reclaimed' or possibly 'restored'. Never admit to stealing.

Secondly, remember that turnabout is fair play. Even if you've totally nailed down your annexation today, there's no guarantee that they won't be back in a year or five to wrest it away from you once your army has been disbanded. Equestria might not be up to fighting you right this second, but now they've got a grudge against you and will be waiting for the next moment of weakness to stab you in the back in a particularly vindictive manner.

Thirdly, everyone else who shares a border with you is going to be highly suspicious of you. They are all going to be plotting against you, probably alongside Equestria. If there's a war, they will have little inhibition to ganging up on you. If you go around causing trouble, they've got every reason to want to get rid of you.

So I don't see this going well for the Super King even if he gets what he wants this time around. The "Northern Territories" had better be pretty damned valuable to risk war and/or various assorted backstabbings to get ahold of them. Either that or he has a legitimate claim (however overbearingly worded) to push.

[Starlight Nova]

7055027 It's not a reference. A revenant is a kind of undead.

[Sirflysalot]

7144924
this is the definition of revenant
"a person who has returned, especially supposedly from the dead."
as you can see revenant fits as a title

[Sejen]

7142687
Hmm! This seems to be a sort of prequel to a story I read some time ago.
In that one Twilight is asked to write a "rebuttal" to the Griffon Kingdom informing them of how dumb and near suicidal it would be to start a war with the ponies (and Discord).
The sequel tothat one has Twilight taking over the Griffon Kingdom in an almost bloodless victory.

Edit: Here we go...
The letter:
http://www.fimfiction.net/story/180434/a-letter-to-the-griffon-emperor-on-the-matter-of-war
The sequel story:
http://www.fimfiction.net/story/217612/diplomacy-for-the-strong

[Neoarcad]

Blah blah FIRE NATION blah. *nods sagely*

[Csquared08]

Overall, I think you did a reasonable job with Sunset's chapters, but you seemed to struggle more with Twilight's. You rely too heavily on semicolons as well. I was still able to have a decent time reading this story despite those struggles, and the sequel looks to be exciting.

[PacifistDoodl3r]

Hey everypony, tis Doodl3s here ^-^
Very fun read, thank you for making this; I just adore your time and effort put into this story! This has to be one of my favorites by far! I couldn't find any other fic to switch perspectives like this, and I'm taking some inspiration when I make my first person story one day. I can't explain how great this is; because it just- is that great! Good job!
9/10