Epilogue
This chapter now has an audio reading by Skijarama
***
Rainbow Dash awoke to sunlight piercing her eyelids. With a groan, she rolled onto her stomach and groggily blinked awake.
Only to find herself under a heavy veil of darkness.
Her deep sigh was almost enough to ease her back to sleep, but instead, she sat up and brushed the irritating rainbow locks out of her eyes.
Honestly, she got that the Elements would heal injuries, but did they have to make her mane grow like a weed too?
She let her gaze lazily travel around the large guest chamber she was currently occupying with heavy eyelids, just enjoying how the natural sunlight seemed to make it glow. It was much fancier than her bunk in the barracks ever was. Silk purple curtains hung from the window and a plush blue rug lay comfortably underneath the Pegasus’ belly. Not as comfortable as a cloud would have felt… but there would be time for that later wouldn’t there? What a giddy thought. A large, downy bed was pushed into one corner of the room, untouched.
Dash spread her wings in a large stretch before gently laying them over the two closest ponies. Fluttershy pressed more firmly into Rainbow’s side while Rarity tugged at the wing as one would a warm blanket.
Neither awoke.
Dash felt a smile come naturally as she looked at the other ponies huddled together on the floor. Applejack and Twilight laid atop one another in a tangle of limbs and tails, the former letting out a loud snort whenever the Unicorn would shift against her. Pinkie clung to Rainbow’s newly grown tail, snoring gently and drooling just enough that Dash was almost tempted to wake her.
Rainbow yawned, leaving her friends be, and turned her gaze out the window. The sun was just peeking over the mountain, bathing the country in a gentle golden glow. It wouldn’t get much higher than that for a while now. Princess Come-Back-From-The-Moon-Like-Nothing Celestia insisted that the world needed to adjust before it took on high noon again and no pony was exactly keen to argue about daylight anymore.
Celestia was a problem.
Not the biggest one there was, of course, but she had insisted that things could go back to normal and was utterly shocked when the ponies had explained exactly why that wouldn’t work.
She would need time to adjust to the new world.
That much was obvious.
Rainbow groaned softly as she thought of all the work that she had in the days (and wasn’t it great to have days) to come.
They had three, three, immortals to peacefully integrate into a fallen society. They had Nightmare Moon devotes, that had fled somewhere, swearing vengeance and the return of the ‘true ruler’. They had an entire Empire in the north to bring in, not to mention a whole lot of angry mobs that were going to be coming for Luna’s, and possibly Dash’s, head.
Oh yeah, and Princess Luna. What in Equestria was anypony suppose to make of her?
As the shiny red necklace proclaimed to the world, Dash was neck deep in the whole thing and couldn’t just back out of it now and go home. Not that she had any idea of how to go back to civilian life, anyway.
Dash’s life was about to get that much harder and even more complicated and she was not looking forward to it.
...but the sun was shining and her friends were all resting, safe, around her. Wasn’t that enough?
Fluttershy mumbled something in her sleep and nuzzled Dash’s side, curling even closer.
Rainbow looked down at her with a smile so warm she was sure her fillyhood friend would feel it and wake up. Dash gently nuzzled Shy back before letting her head fall lazily between her hooves, content to just listen to the breathing and feel the heartbeats around her.
Fate, destiny, time travel shenanigans, they could do their worst.
This, right here, was enough.
It would always be enough.
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I clicked on the story because the "What if...?" of an alternative set of events is one of the core things that draws me to fanfiction in general.
However, it's been too long for me to remember what about it kept me reading once I'd started.
As for this epilogue, it works very nicely, but I hope you intended to leave room for a possible sequel. The way you drew attention to the problems raised by "the Heroes win" and communicated "the aftermath" from only Rainbow's perspective make for an excellent "Now Equestria has to heal and find a new normal... but that's another story" teaser.
8335942
Yeah I was kinda walking a fine line here. I don't want to promise a sequel and then not do it but I don't want a sequel to be out of the question. I liked writing this story but... I need a break. Just for a little bit at least.
looks like there are a few problems that need dealing with, but such is the way when a tyrant falls; overall, I think this was a satisfactory and touching conclusion; also:
...I'm of the opinion that Flutters and Dashie are like sisters more then they are a ship; that said, this scene works in either context, and possibly a few others; as an aside:
s.quickmeme.com/img/a7/a75bd63d786b22156aee9354168d00730652e2cb98b06cccf2df6c4def35dffd.jpg
clipartbest.com/cliparts/RTA/EoL/RTAEoLgTL.gif
8335947
Take your break, you've certainly earned it. (not that this story was compulsory or anything, but you get what I mean )
Also *claps*, glad to have such a tidy epilogue! This was certainly the journey! Thanks for the good read
This addresses very nicely the idea that after so much Nightmare Moon, things can't just "go back to normal." There's been too much time for new factions to form and solidify, and too much baggage accumulated that can't be forgotten, even if it can be forgiven.
The battle for Equestria has been won. The war is just beginning.
If you want some criticism, I can try. I think the scene in the library between Twilight and Rainbow was a bit rushed? Like, I was distracted by Twilight exploding a bookshelf by accident, but in hindsight, the scene felt like it was missing chunks. Twilight: "How did you get so smart?" I didn't get it.
8335947
Well hope there is one, but like you said take a break and if you do a sequel look forward to it.
Thanks for the story it was awesome.
Well, this was certainly a fun ride. The only real gripe I have is the end of the previous chapter. It was way to abrupt in it's climax. You had all this build up and then one short paragraph for the actual defeat of Nightmare Moon.
However, the great characters, story, world building, and personal conflicts more than made up for it.
I wouldn't mind a sequel if you're up for it.
The fact that this has an adventure tag but is 90% discussions?
I wanted to see how thisalternate universe worked in your idea^^
If anything, this only cemented my opinion that the Nightmare Moon alt universe just made no sense. None of the Mane 6 would be in Ponyville had the Rainboom not happened, and at least AJ, Pinkie, and Twilight woiuld be quite a distance away. AJ would probably have been miserably stuck in Manehattan, for instance. Pinkie still on the rock far. Twilight a failed magic student in Canterlot... probably taking the place of Moondancer as a reclusive unicorn librarian.
The episode failed to genuinely consider the changes to the timeline in a plausible manner. The story didn't improve on the problems this created.
I was unsure of this at first... I still sorta am.... but I'm going to give it a chance.
Yeah, this works. Also the idea that the world would need time to adjust to low levels of light before returning to normal makes a lot of sense, and is something I hadn't even considered. I'm curious about how Luna is reacting, because frankly I've never liked the idea that the Nightmare was wholly responsible for everything Luna (or Rarity)potentially do wrong in canon or fanfics. I'm more in the 'I've given you power and lessened your inhibitions' camp. Still, this chapter wrapped up the fic nicely. An eventual sequel would be fun, I think, but I could see the story end here and be satisfied. Nice work.
It's wonderful to read how Dash and her friends are at ease now that Princess Celestia and Luna have bee properly freed.
I got onboard with this story really late in the game. Like, there was only two or three chapters left. Yet, I really like how you did this. I honestly wish I could have seen more of this 'Nightmare' version of Equestria, but I think it was a nice, clean fit story of Rainbow Dash figuring out how to save the world. And she did.
Overall, great story! I would love to see a sequel, but this is good too.
That epilogue was pure fluff with warms and sequel bait. I like it!
Your story attracted me because not only the what it, but how the characters lived in such a scenario. A sequel would be interesting for the same reason.
I just wanted to see where your idea would go, and I'm glad I did click on it.
Now this, was a good conclusion. Great job
I liekdf thios what if because it should be the only one that happened. Without the EOH I don't see Ceelstia winning the rematch so Nightmare Rules. With Nightmare ruling Discord's statue is put in a more securewd place or just outsright destoryed. There woudln't be as much love or a weddign to draw Chrysalis and SOmbra vs Nightmare Moon I bet on Nightmare Moon., Tartarus would have stronger security thus no Tirek.
issue. This story just SCREAMS sequel dealing with the aftermath
Love this story, but what happened to Discord, did they free him?
And to answer your question: The reason I clicked on this story was because of the picture. I know, "Don't judge a book by it's cover" but when I read the description it wasn't enough. It sounded bland and uninteresting. And oh boy was I wrong.
)
What I liked about this fic was well, everything! The unique character backstories to the epic battle scenes and character reveals.
What kept me reading was your amazing writing and the ever lasting questions that filled my head. "Why is pinkie pie like this?" "When will they come together and fight?" "How will they find Fluttershy?" "Where is Discord in this?"
I just love stories that have so much background information that's already been planned out. Keep up the good work, hope you'll create something even better than this fic! (It's 1:30 am over here, you kept me up all night, thanks
8336151
While that would make sense I'll just let Twilight Explain it to you
"Time will want to realign as closely as possible once again." Technically Pinkie hasn't gotten to ponyville, as she stayed in the Rock Farm with her sisters to lead the rebellion, but AppleJack and Twilight stayed the same. Maybe Twilight had a sudden burst of magic that helped her, or Applejack got sick of the manehatten life.
And not to mention, the main six always had their cutie mark during each new universe. Even though there wasn't a sonic rainboom
I'm not sure what you mean by:
but your opinion is your opinion, I can't tell you what to think. I just enjoyed this a lot and hope that more people will enjoy this like I did
8336369 Except that timeline explanation is a) basically just diluted destiny b) ignores tenets of cause and effect relationships.
This explanation posits that even the most radical departures in choice will somehow be bent back to achieve a similar outcome... but this is impossible since the changes RESULTING from the changes will still remain, and THOSE will have to somehow be turned back...
Not to mention, how does time 'know' it's been changed in the past? How does it have a 'memory' of how the present is 'supposed' to look? Why does it have a sense of what is 'normal' to go back to?
The concept invites all manner of new problems and paradoxes... including the implication of a sentient universe able to see through time.
And then there's this little issue with the 'paper' example... Twilight assumes the paper is going in a single direction. That is wrong. The paper HAS NO IMPLICIT MOTION. One could freely travel any which way along the paper's surface and exit from any edge equally. The only limitations is that the travel must be in two dimensions for any traveler bound to the paper's constraints. Other than that, the 'end' could be any point along the paper's edges.
As for the 'future' of the paper, the fibers could be rearranged in almost any configuration. And though the paper would LOOK the same (as the universe as a whole still 'looks' the same to an outside observer of the whole no matter what the tiny people are doing within specific positions within it), the INDIVIDUAL and even GROUP outcomes of a particular fiber or fibers could be radically different from one arrangement to the next and the paper would have no sense at all that anything was different.
8336369 8336396
It looks to me like that's the time to discuss such subject as "importance of a single person to the history".
For me, the right analogy looks like a big mountain. Full of stones. And if we kick a pebble on it (change the past), most probable result is this stone flying down some time and moving several other pebbles along. Cause all the bigger rocks have a lot of mass, which means a lot of inertia - they're very hard to move.
But in exceptional circumstances a single falling pebble can cause an avalanche - that's the butterfly effect. It is possible, but also extremely unplausible. Like, is there a possibility to make Hillary elected instead of Trump by moving 20 years back in time and changing a single detail in one person's life? There is, but an extremely small one. Actually, if we just kill him there, current politics might not really change, we just get to see another person in White House making the same actions - other world didn't change.
What made me click was mostly the setting. There are a lot of Crystal War fanfics, but surprisingly few that focus on the other timelines. And this one surprises me the most in that light, given how we know this could have been a potential future since the first episode of Friendship is Magic.
What kept me reading was the exploration of the how, when and why's of the characters and where they tumbled along the paths of history this time around. Nightmare Moon in particular was a blast, because while she was a tyrant, she was all things considered a rather benevolent one. Sure, move against her and be crushed underhoof, but if you follow orders? It's not her you really need to worry about, just the assholes under her.
8336560 It all depends on the person's impact upon the world. Eliminating a person whose life touches nearly nothing ends up altering very little.
The problem with the rock-on-a-mountain analogy is that a rock can never be anything more than a rock. It cannot resist the single driving force of gravity. It cannot take one step UP the mountain. And yet a single person with a pick a shovel, and relentless determination can, in a lifetime, move a mountain. Life defies simple rules, upending raw energy gradients to achieve its own future. And thought grants untold power over the inanimate.
Killing Albert Einstein while he was a patent clerk, on the other hand, would absolutely have delayed the discovery of the concept of relativity and the energy-matter equivalency concept for perhaps decades, RADICALLY altering history and scientific discovery. At the very least, the US would not have developed atomic weaponry by 1945 and the end of WWII would have been a very costly and deadly invasion of the Japanese mainland, as well as the Soviet Union almost certainly taking Hokkaido if not more of the Japanese mainland as Soviet territory.
I can name dozens of examples of single people who made gigantic impacts on history.
A single Serbian revolutionary pulled the trigger of World War I. Had Archduke Ferdinand either not been shot, or leaned slightly and survived the assassination... would the war have even happened? Would it have taken place later, or not at all?
Would there have been an American Civil War if not for Abraham Lincoln's election to the Presidency, or would the US simply have slowly split in half?
If the cotton gin had not been invented by Eli Whitney until a generation later than it was, would slavery have been as great an issue, since only the new gin made cotton farming so profitable and revitalized the slave trade?
When you truly KNOW history, the contributions of single figures cannot be discounted.
All the while... how many hundreds of millions could die and hardly anyone would notice in subsequent generation since they function primarily as redundant cogs in a greater machine? They are merely a season of worker bees, whose passing troubles no one, for the queen simply spawns a new brood.
So, the individual is only as important to history as the role taken up by that individual. One performing a function common to millions and doing nothing more is merely a blip on the screen. One who creates an industry from nothing or leads a large movement can shift the whole tides of fate.
In other words: you are only as important to the world as you make yourself.
(I, of course, intend to conquer the entire planet! I shall endure in infamy for eternity! MUWAH HA HA HA!!)
I started to read this because of it being alternate universe story and those have been fun to read when it came to the universes brought up in that episode. Granted I usually was reading about the universe with Pinkie, Dash, and Maud fighting Sombra so your story being the other universe was something you did not see often.
Even better you included Pinkie as a substantial character and the best part for me is how much fun Pinkie is with the other characters especially Rainbow Dash.
So I came for the alternate universe and I stayed for the world building and Pinkie interacting with characters like Dash.
As for things I do not think got enough attention I think you missed an excellent opportunity about bringing up more of Pinkie's past. You built up a lot about it but then it really does not come up as anything significant nor is it really addressed. It was a really interesting angle on Pinkie's character and it never really gets resolved or used adequately. It is just too bad because it is rare to have a character like Pinkie as being in charge of a rebellion.
8336607
And here it is again, the question: whether a person is truly important for history, or he just was in a right place in a right time, and more important part is the general state of the world?
Einstein - funnily enough, hypothesis about EM waves being emitted by quants was made by Max Planck. "Photons" name for quants of light - Gilbert Lewis. Atomic model - Niels Bohr. Quantum physics, mostly by Werner Heisenberg, Paul Dirac and Erwin Schrödinger. His only fundamental input in this field is Einstein–Podolsky–Rosen paradox. And nuclear fission operates on quantum physics. So, probably, the nuke could be made by other people. Not to mention that real significance of nuclear bomb was not to defeat Japan (they were ready to give up anyway), but to show to Soviets who is the boss.
Still, he did make a significant impact in science, so here is the rare example of the "significant pebble".
"A single Serbian revolutionary" - he was the cause , but he wasn't the reason. Ultimately July Crisis could be avoided by Austria-Hungary not making demands that couldn't be accepted by Serbia, if they didn't want to start a war. Who knows, the real people standing behind the assasination might have even been Germans. And such "revolutionaries" are just cannon fodder.
" American Civil War" was unavoidable due to North industrialization. If there are new factories - you have to sell their produce to somebody, and South was buying from Europe. If Abraham Lincoln's election wouldn't happened - the problems wouldn't vanish. So the war was inevitable, really. Althrough the outcome could have changed ... or not, really.
Cotton gin invention - the idea was in the air. What Eli Whitney really did is he applied for a patent, there are several other people known who had similar ideas. So it would be created some time later or earlier, still it most probably would be.
So what I mean is that most of these remarkable individuals are replaceable as well. We simply see them at the top. But in most cases when we remove that single person, the foundation it stands on still remains; and another somebody can climb it.
Thank you for this wonderful story.
Good ending but I really think you should expand into what will happen later unless you plan a sequal for it is left too much into the open.
OOOOOGH
THANK YOU
we are sorry if we made doing this unpleasant, but just this was enough to sooth my mind bones.
It was enough to say that there are still problems, and even the new rulers have to gel back into society.
Great work.
Very little I can say other than great job on the little bit of reflection in this epilogue. And, yeah, plenty of room for a sequel if you wish to do one, but I can completely understand if you don't. All in all, superb story.
Not much for me to add Tangerine, this was a perfect ending for this. And I'll be re'reading the whole thing again soon. Hell, If i had the time, i'd try and animate part of it if i had the right set of SFM models. It's that good.
8336151
You know everywhere I go I always find you complaining. Every. Single. Time.
You really know how to sour the mood don't you?
Did you watch the episode 'Honest Apple'?
8335947
In that case, you succeeded at what you were attempting.
That "But that's another story" kind of epilogue is exactly what you want in that kind of situation and I honestly wish more authors over on Fanfiction.net would use them on stories they already plan to write sequels for, because it's a good way to gauge audience interest in the planned direction.
Actually, I should probably elaborate on that...
Writing a fanfic series carries an extra layer of difficulty compared to an original series because, very often (most of the time?), the first story in the series draws readers based on its relationship to the original series but, by the end, the characters have grown and changed enough that it's diverged too far from canon for the following volumes to hold the reader's interest. (Or, if you try to just make it one long story, the readers' interest wanes and they judge the entire thing poorly, rather than the later parts.)
(This also applies in cases like Sherlock Holmes where Holmes is presented as timeless and unchanging, but the reader's conception of him keeps growing and changing as new details are revealed. If you reveal that Holmes was never <insert detail readers have come to treasure> after all, Readers will hate it.)
Conversely, an original story will either succeed or fail, purely on its own merits, so it's easier to continue the "secret sauce" from volume 1 into the later volumes despite character growth.
The secret to writing a fanfic series which works is to not rest on your laurels but, instead, to work hard to write details into your characters, humour, or, if you' really skilled, sometimes even setting or plot (ordered from easiest to most difficult) which can hold the readers' interest all on their own and persist throughout all of the volumes with minimal change.
In this case, you've got an advantage here, because the sequel can take advantage of four things to keep riding on appealing points from the original:
1. This story is about showing how an AU diverges from canon, given familiar characters and similar events (the quest for the elements). The sequel would still use familiar characters and, just as this has shades of the first two episodes, "Twilight, surrounded by her new friends" and "Twilight, Element of Magic and pony of interest to Celestia" are themes that are present in episode 3+ of canon and can be used here. (And, honestly, I'd really like to see how the relationship develops between this Twilight and this Celestia.)
2. "The Quest" and "The Aftermath" is a pattern which is inherently favourable to continuing the elements which make the first work.
3. Your epilogue drew reader attention to the fact that, even if you start to run out of things to show with the current cast which ooze "familiar character, but different", Celestia and Luna are fresh, untapped sources of it.
4. Whether intentionally or because you forgot, you put a fair bit of build-up on Twilight's self-doubt and then didn't do anything to wind it back down, so it'd work perfectly as one of (or THE) perfect primary plot thread(s) for a "The Aftermath" sequel.
8336396
My theory is that these alternate universes stem from the original universe (aka the Princess Twilight one) So the original universe is the foundation of everything. I think one of the author's messages is that you can't do anything to change destiny, what happened in the original universe/what's going to happen is already pre-determined. And that we're all are living in an illusion that we decide what we do, that we have the freewill to determine what the outcome of something is when it's already planned out. (Sorry to get all philosophical with you
)
You're statement that "One could freely travel any which way along the paper's surface and exit from any edge equally" is flat out wrong. That would require one to have access to the 4th dimension (aka time). Time for us is a linear path, only going forward. Just like how the 2nd dimension objects can't see the 3rd dimension. (Since they assume everything is flat, I'm not really good at explaining this 2nd dimension thing I highly recommend you to watch a video on the 11 different dimensions. Or was it 13?
) So now if you fold the paper in half some fibers get messed up, which causes them to head in different directions. BUT the paper is still a paper, it wants each fiber to end at a certain area. That does not mean it's sentient, ever heard the phrase "Stop fucking with the timeline Barry"? Ever time Barry messes with the timeline the paper get's a wrinkle or a fold. It all goes back to my Philosophical statement: that everything is pre-ordain.
Yeah, but does your fiber on your paper rearrange randomly? Like I said, that would require a time machine or knowledge of the 4th dimension in order to rearrange itself.
I could go on and on with examples, like how Discord said to Fluttershy in the comics something about going into the past won't change the present because everything in the past lead to the present or something dumb like that. Or for instance the alternate reality where Sombra was good and Princess Luna and Celestia were bad. (Aka another sheet of paper/different arrangements of fibers). But you get the idea right?
I kept putting this story, and a lot of others stories, on the backburner since I had so much to do and so little time to actually read now but I finally came back it caught up. And I must say that this story was great, hearing all of the ways that each of the mane 6 was different (not much on flutters though) was really interesting to read. Especially Pinkie's and Rarity's. If you do decide to give this story a sequel I will be 100% behind it, but if it doesn't come to fruition then so be it, I am perfectly content with what I have here. I wish you luck in all your future endeavors and keep up the great work.
8336607
oooh I agree with Xzrea that pony sounds smart!
oh noooo. We should stop you before it's too late!
Cool read. Can't wait for the sequel. Gonna go stalk you now.
Excellent epilogue for an excellent story.
This was pretty good. I'd love to see how you would handle the other timelines.
A great piece of work with a satisfying ending. What I love most is you managed to balance it just about perfectly. Enough resolution to close forever without a problem with just enough left open for a sequel if desired. Really great work. I give a heartfelt nod to you.
Frankly what 1st pulled me in was simply the fact it was based in the AU Nightmare Moon from the finale as there were so few.
You kept things moving forward without any rwal problems with the pacing and it didn't feel completely hopeless. There was always a spark, if you will.
Though I couldn't help noticing something
One of those wouldn't happen to be a blue unicorn named Spell Nexus by chance, would they?
You did it Tangy! Congrats!
I'm glad that the Mane 6 understand that cuddles are the best treatment for emotional trauma
8336787
Ha ha ha, no.
Japan wasn't ready to surrender after the first atomic bomb and it took the Emperor's vote to break a tie to surrender after the second.
The people were being told to prepare to fight to the death up until the bombs were dropped.
Stop listening to fake revisionist history.
8337488 Yes. I hated it.
8337720 Tell me which direction on a blank square piece of paper is 'forward'.
Also, you just echoed my own statement that Twilight's explanation is just 'destiny light'. The concept of individual destiny is stupid and antiquated, and has been rejected by philosophers and scientists alike.
8337734 You are one of those rocks that just tumbles down the mountain.
I am the one that walks back up to the top.
8340200
Where ever the fibers are headed of course!
Yeah, I agree with you. That is true in real life, but not in mlp. I would say destiny is a motif/theme in mlp. for example: the return of nightmare moon, or like I said before the cutie marks of the main six. And not mentioning the amount of songs they sang about destiny. If destiny was non-existent in the show then they wouldn't have the same cutie marks. And nightmare moon wouldn't of returned.
8340203
Haha, only if rocks grew legs
8340193
not to complain but the Emperor would have to be mentally insane to continue fighting back. All of their allies are dead and defeated, they lost ground in China, and everyone else in the world would fight them. Not a great decision.
Well, we won't really know what happened because history is always written by the winners.
Now this is how you end a story! Certainly a huge improvement over ending it on the chapter before this. My gripes have been answered
The story itself was fun, though. There was drama, but not too much to make it unbearable, and the situations were swinging up and down between better and worse that it kept me interested without having me go "urgh, something again?". So good job on that!
And indeed, Dash and her friends have their work cut out for them. Celestia's been gone long enough that things can't simply revert as if by magic (... ask Discord?), so there will a lot of adjustment to be done.
At least life won't be boring!
And a snuggle pile. Just that thought itself is always almost too much to bear from how adoracute it is