41 - Resolutions, Part 9 of 9
Scootaloo was alone in the throng making small talk with guests and was beginning to realize how stifling it was to be in such a crowded room of strangers. It was at that time when she noticed Princess Twilight Sparkle sneaking out into the garden. The pegasus worked her way through the sea of ponies, with only a moderate amount of hoof-shaking and well-wishing before she found herself in the peace of the outdoors.
The purple alicorn ambled evenly away past dead trees that stood as a reminder of what had been. The garden once had the distinction of being the most beautiful place in the city. The timberwolves had destroyed it.
Ever since the ponies had retaken Canterlot, cleanup efforts had been underway. By spring it would no doubt be a beautiful place again. Flowers would be blooming, grass would be reseeded, but the trees would take years to replace.
There was a crisp bite to the gentle breeze that tickled the mare’s mane and made her shiver. Scootaloo pursued the alicorn, padding along without attempting to conceal her presence.
Twilight Sparkle stopped, her ears turning back at the sound of Scootaloo’s approach. The princess of friendship turned, her fake smile melting into a real one when she recognized the pegasus that followed her.
"Hi," she said simply.
"Hey, Twilight."
"Did you need something?"
Cloud Blazer immediately came to mind. Scootaloo longed more than anything to fix that relationship. Surely if anypony could help, it would be the Princess of Friendship. Still, the amount of anger he had unleashed made her wary. The advice she had already received from Twinklestar rang true in her mind. Additionally, she didn’t want to cause the stallion any further discomfort.
Scootaloo shrugged, "I just wanted away from the crowd."
The princess stifled a giggle, but there was a sadness buried in it, "I know what you mean. I never did like that part of being a princess."
Scootaloo’s own brief experience in the past week with a small amount of fame certainly made her not envy the princesses or what Sparklefly had endured. She, for one, would be happy to be forgotten once things were finally over.
“I hear you. Honestly, I’m looking forward to being done with all of this."
The princess tilted her head questioningly, ”You aren’t going to be a Wonderbolt?"
"No," Scootaloo shook her head. Seeing the look of surprise on Twilight’s face, she continued, "I’ve already talked to Rainbow Dash about it. That’s how I finally got my cutie mark. I’m going back to Ponyville. They’ll need all the hooves they can get rebuilding Sweet Apple Acres, and besides, Apple Bloom and Sweetie Belle and I have a gift at helping other ponies with their problems.”
Twilight regarded her for a moment and then said, "That is a precious thing, and also timely. Since you have that gift, would you mind helping me with something?
“Absolutely, if I can.”
“We’re trying to make peace with the changelings. We can’t very well send them away… They have so completely committed their resources to fighting us over the past year that they’d have a harder time getting through the winter than we would.”
Scootaloo began setting her mind to work, but the undefined problem was far too nebulous. She wasn’t sure how to answer the question and remained silent.
“Since we can’t send them away, the problem is…” the princess paused as if searching for words, “complicated. We have thousands of them in captivity right now, and there are tens of thousands more that we’ll also have to… for lack of a better word, to deal with. Do we just let them all loose in Equestria and hope for the best? Do we set up a town for them? Would that cause more problems if they feel a disparity between us and them?“
Scootaloo hadn’t considered this. She didn’t like the idea of just declaring peace and setting all of the changelings free, but Twilight’s concerns about keeping them separated also seemed justified. She turned the problem over in her mind, but it was just too big. She finally shrugged.
Twilight continued, “Princess Celestia has been talking with Queen Chrysalis about total amnesty, and possibly integrating them into our society as equals, with all the rights and privileges we enjoy.”
The thought of living together with changelings nearly sent Scootaloo into a panic. However, there was something else kindling inside. Scootaloo realized that if it worked, if they became one society, there would be far less chance of another war. She could certainly see the wisdom of such a plan. The thought of a lasting peace left only one feeling in Scootaloo: joy. Surely that was worth a bit of risk.
“I definitely think that Princess Celestia is right, and bringing the changelings into our society is the answer. There have already been discussions on, only temporarily, having them not use their shape-shifting abilities so we can all have time to get used to each other. You can guess how Chrysalis reacted to that. I’m just not sure how we get there from here.”
The young pegasus again put her mind to work. She started working through the possibilities, but it made her head hurt.
“I’m sorry, Twilight, it’s just such a big problem. I don’t know."
"Neither do I," Twilight sighed, looking away.
Scootaloo’s flank twinged from the injury that Ash Eater had inflicted. It made her think of how hostile he’d been on most of their encounters. She didn’t know if it were relevant to bring up, but she decided to go ahead and speak.
"Twilight, I know only one of them by name. You met Ash Eater."
The princess looked back gravely, "Yes, I remember him."
"He is actually in the dungeon right now. He kept hunting me down and got caught during the battle at Ponyville. I talked to him just before you returned, but he was so... just hateful. He was crippled that day in the forest, and he’s been on a path for revenge ever since. I tried to tell him that we don’t have to be enemies, but he just kept seething at me."
"That’s understandable considering he’s locked up… it’s also a shame," Twilight said, a glint of light in her eyes. "If one on one we could befriend them, we’d begin to understand each other. That would go a long way to making peace that will last.”
The princess took a step toward the pegasus as though she’d had an idea, “Would you be willing to give it another try?"
“You mean me try to befriend Ash Eater?,” a second wave of mild panic threatened to overwhelm the mare. “I mean, I don’t… he’s… I just don’t know if that could work.”
“If what Queen Chrysalis tells us is true, her subjects would not dare refuse a command from her. She could order him to cooperate, at least to make the attempt to put the war behind him and act civil.”
Scootaloo turned this over in her mind. There was a small amount of fear where Ash Eater was concerned, but an overcoming spirit rallied inside her. Only Twilight Sparkle would sum up the entire war as being a friendship problem. Moreover, the chance of peace was worth the liability of babysitting Ash Eater and making sure he played nice.
The young pegasus smiled, "Why not? If he acts up, I can totally take him on.”
Twilight giggled, "You have been hanging around Rainbow Dash too much."
"Impossible!" Scootaloo grinned.
"Well, I don’t know what form this is going to take, but I’ll talk with Princess Celestia and Queen Chrysalis. This could mean he will be remanded to your custody for a long time… years maybe.” Growing more serious she asked again, "Are you sure you’re up for this?"
"Absolutely!" Scootaloo replied with far less hesitation in her voice than she felt in her heart. "Besides, it’s not like we can ever really know what’s going to happen. We know where we want to be, and we know where we are. When we fled Apple Loosa and stayed between the timberwolves and Ponyville, it was bad. I learned from that to just keep putting one hoof in front of the other. I mean, when any bad stuff happens, all you can ever really do is just keep moving, right?“
"You’ve got a point there," Twilight said with a smile.
Somewhere, deep down and not admitted even to herself, Scootaloo wondered whether this were a fools errand, destined for failure. Truly, she wasn’t quite sure where to begin. However, she made up her mind that she would give it her best effort. If Sparklefly could manage to not hold a grudge against Ash Eater, then Scootaloo could do her part to make peace.
The mare shivered against a fresh gust of cool wind. In spite of the long road ahead, for the first time in over a year, Scootaloo felt genuinely good about the future. It wasn’t all darkness and death anymore. The light of hope was on the horizon. She was sure that with a little luck and a fair amount of work, it would only grow brighter.
That brings us to the finale of the main body of the story...
But wait! There's more! A little more...
As there was a prologue, there will be an epilogue that I'm currently working on. I expect it to be an 8-part arc based on what I have written so far.
So stay tuned, that should be coming in the next few weeks! 
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We'll see how this book ends soon...
I want him inside me.
Total amnesty is bad, they should be subject to the same laws as everybody else. Total amnesty would allow them to get away Scot free with crimes such as murder.
He threatened to rape my friend. I can except that most of the Changelings are actually descent but not him, he is a horrible shisno.
If IT'S an 8 part are IT'S not an epilogue, just another chapter
8812803
Thank you so much for staying with me. I hope you enjoyed the ride!
8813028
It's the least she could do.. amiright?(NO ABSOLUTELY NOT!)She meant amnesty as far as anything that happened during the war. Start over without worrying about pesky things like reparations or war crimes or any of that... Going forward, yes, they'd have to obey the laws just like everypony else.
Yeah... he did... I might should have brought that back to her mind while she thought on things...
Well... it was a single part... but then... it got longer...
8813787 So in this story, they can't even manage to set something on fire properly... Vegeta! What does the scouter say about their incompetence level?!
But seriously... they couldn't even do that right? God, these ponies are dumber than the ones in the show.
8815464
here's my knowledge of PTSD: 1%
Here's how much I sound like I know: 90%
it's called sounding intelligent, don't trust me on something I never studied, I only know the many causes that are adult
Well, Scoots is still a war hero, so I imagine it'll surprise a lot of ponies when she steps down. Not her closest friends, though. I'd say it'll take quite some time to rehab Ash Eater, though. Duster probably won't like him, either.
8815975
True about Duster... but... Scootaloo hasn't told anyone about what Sparklefly told her... and when Ash Eater confirmed it... they were alone... so she is the only one that knows. (technically Ash Eater said more happened than Sparklefly did, but it comes out about the same).
And time... much time... yes... more time that I felt I had time to write in the pages of this volume to put that story down.... sequel?
I feel like maybe I should write an extra paragraph into The End of Cutie Marks now so Discord mentions this story too
8818232
That's the Scoot-apocalypse one you did, wasn't it? I would be honored to be mentioned in one of your stories!
8816314
Technically it’s not a reference, if you say it’s a reference, you already know, I mean, I guess I can correlate it to Call of Duty World at War though it’s referring to bonsai japs that jumped from the grass to stab soldiers
8815461
Oh, btw, I drew this conclusion by the chapter he falls in, wings may break, though that heals, then there is infections from it being bitten by a Timberwolf, logically only one would get infected, therefore, only one would be amputated, he fell, though I don’t recall a tear
8822479
I gotcha!
8822490
I'll check into it. Certainly he'd have received plenty of scrapes and abrasions from falling against rock... but I'll make it more clear. Thanks again!
8830002
8830584
Huh... I didn't realize that... Thanks!
And fire will definitely be involved going forward.
8840890
I want mary sue #4544545483 to die to mary sue #4918737635687484
8841791
Also, I forgot about the death of people she trained next to and lead, honestly, if I was a soldier, I'd probably need rehabilitated to feel emotion after a war, my mind would probably void all emotion and think of how can objective B be effectively completed. Then I get back and I feel nothing, that is my theory of my mind, likely wrong too
8843589
considering the fighting, numbers would've been chopped down significantly, as later it mentions each death is roughly fifty timberwolves, so if she was referring to the beginning of the battle, yes, she heard wrong, this seems to be days into fighting, so by now, she is closer to correct due to how many timberwolves are killed, leading to roughly 5:1 at this point
8844485
Closer.... but not that much closer... even at 50 to 1... there just weren't enough killed to bring it down that far... maybe 9 to 1 by this point? I'd have to run the numbers.
8845339
weeeeeeell as an algebra one student
I totally qualify as an actual answerconsidering the ponies were losing roughly five hundred at a time, their forces would have depleted a significant chunk of timberwolves, also, HOLY *YAY* GRIFFINS, YOU ARE *YAY*ING STUPID! WHAT DID YOU EXPECT?! IT'S A WAR! THERE WILL BE DEATHS HAPPENING! SO THINKING THAT 'OH YES, WE WILL WALK OUT WITH EVERY SINGLE SOLDIER ALIVE!" IS SUCH A STUPID THOUGHT THAT A TEN YEAR OLD COULD TELL YOU THAT! IT IS SO UNREALISTIC ONLY FAIRYTALES WOULD HAVE IT END IN SUCH A WAY! ALSO, HOW WERE THEY SUPPOSED TO KEEP AN EYE ON THE GROUND? THEIR EARTH PONIES "CAN'T" READ THE GROUND! THINKING ANYONE WAS CERTAIN AS TO NOT DIE IS A SIGN THAT THE GRIFFIN EDUCATION SYSTEM ABSOLUTELY SUCKS! Before you pull history bull, this isn't Fort Sumtier.8860559
I seem to have struck a nerve there... I think in a few chapters they'll do another count so you know how many of each force is left still in play. Flittergear has mad math skills...
As for the griffins... I was going off of their proud nature in thinking that they might react badly, especially if their allies don't handle them correctly.
I'm not sorry for getting you all worked up though. It makes me feel that I have created art to have moved you so.