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It Begins5,213 words
Castle Sweet Castle6,085 words
Taking the First Step4,292 words
How to Train Your Wolf5,230 words
Befriending the Night5,841 words
The Days Fly By5,185 words
The Truth Is ...3,135 words
Deep Reflection4,210 words
Blast from the Past4,060 words
Love Troubles5,181 words
The First "Date"7,253 words
The Hunt Begins5,348 words
True Colors4,839 words
Meet the Family6,022 words
Everything's Fine5,300 words
The Grand Galloping Gala5,925 words
The Last Creature4,838 words
Heroes Don't Die4,017 words
Death Wish6,609 words
Revelations7,662 words
Guy Bonding5,692 words
One Final Hurdle5,247 words
Hello Darkness My Old Friend3,870 words
Goodbyes Are Always Hard7,384 words
Epilogue890 words

Epilogue

Black - of the very darkest color owing to the absence of or complete absorption of light; the opposite of white. This color was appropriate for what today marked. One year had passed since that terrible battle took away the wolf they loved. They tried to postpone the funeral as long as they could, believing that there was some magic spell that could solve everything. Afterall it was magic that had saved them several times. They had considered going back into time even, but after Twilight’s experience with time travel and how it never really did solve anything, they abandoned the idea.

It was easier that there was no body, that Twilight, Luna and all of their friends had to look upon Nick’s battle torn corpse. Instead, the Tree had been merciful enough to leave them a beautiful statue of their hero. Still, it couldn’t have been kind enough to give Nick, someone who had given everything he had, another chance.

Both mares stood bravely at his side, knowing that he didn’t want them to grieve too much at his passing. He’d want them to stay together, keep his memory alive through their love and how they were all brought together.

Ponies, once knowing what had blanketed all of Equestria and who had saved them, had travelled to pay their respects, for both the princesses’ loss and to honor the wolf. Both princesses were grateful for each gift, accepted every condolence and hug.

Thorax and his changelings set to work on restoring the castle ruins. They were in abundance enough to both maintain control of the badlands and start anew, especially once the changelings began to integrate with the ponies. Being at the battle themselves, they understood the true meaning of friendship and were glad to embrace this new set of emotions, even if they had been draining love for thousands of years. This felt more satisfying, to earn love rather than stealing it.

Besides being his new palace to rule and be involved in pony affairs, Thorax wanted it to be Nick’s home as well, the wolf had lived there before fully becoming involved with Twilight and Luna and it was his own way to keep his best friend’s memory alive. Turning into him or delegating one of his changelings to on the anniversary would be too hard on him and Twilight and Luna, so he struck out that idea.

There was one more symbol to represent what Nick had done in Equestria, the Everfree Forest itself. While still wild, it was safe enough for ponies to now explore, once certain areas were either blocked off or had guards stationed nearby. The inhabitants could visit the much talked about Tree of Harmony and appreciate a forest that nopony could control.

As the ponies continued to pay their respects, Twilight and Luna looked up to the statue. For the briefest moment they could swear they saw it move, along with feeling him hug both of them tightly. They dismissed the thought, instead of trying to bring him back, they would keep him alive.

“Well I never thought my death would be so meaningful. I know you couldn’t bring me back completely, but maybe this is for the best.”

“It’s the best I could do. You also got to see Alex, Sabrina, even your parents as well. It worked out for the best. Also don’t think I didn’t notice you trying to let your marefriends know you were still here. We agreed to rules, remember? And you know how much I don’t like rules.”

“It was just a hug and some happy thoughts.”

“Well if you start possessing things, I’m gonna have to send you back in that statue.”

“Fine. Fine, I’ll be a good wolf. Thanks for keeping me in this form as well.”

“Well you did save all of Equestria, it's the least I could do. Honestly I don’t agree with Harmony on not just letting you live, but that’s what she demanded. If you could come back, then she’d have to answer to a lot of other ponies.”

“Yeah. I’ll take what I got. Still can’t I do something like materialize once every ten years or something.”

Silence.

“Fine. At least they’re still together, that makes me happy. Do alicorns really live forever?”

“I dunno. Stop talking and just watch. You should still be tired after all of that. A year wouldn’t be enough to even fully recover if you lived.”

“I never felt more alive, heh heh.”

“Ok, that one was good, I’ll admit. Well I have to go myself, things to do, so many things.”

“You know, I think that was the best twist, what you told me.”

“I’m surprised you didn’t figure out after all that time we spent together. I was trying my best not to spoil it for you.”

“Well you knew me well. I wasn’t sharp at reading others, you especially. I’m just glad you told me or I may have hated you forever.”

“I messed up. Somehow I got this chance and really wanted to redeem myself. You were the first one I thought of when the Tree told me the situation.”

“Well that means a lot to me. Shoulda known you never stopped watching over me. Well I guess I’ll let you go. See you around Discord, heh.”

“So long, brother.”