Epilogue
The month since Helena and her ship was last seen had gone by so fast that Twilight could hardly believe it unless she checked her calendar. The sheer amount of work it took helping restore and reassure the nation certainly made time fly.
”Twilight,” Starlight Glimmer called from inside the castle. “The girls are here, and Spike made pancakes for dinner, you coming?”
“I’m coming,” she replied as she folded the telescope back into its container. She was about to go inside when she got distracted by the landscape around her.
The shields encircling the cities and towns had all been removed with the final comet sighting, and thankfully there never were any reported cases of meteor impacts anywhere in Equestria. Regardless, it took the combined effort of all four princesses to convince the general public that it was safe to return to the countryside. Luckily, Twilight had good friends to help her out, and little by little, life resumed as if nothing had happened.
The only remnants of alien presence were the bits and pieces that had fallen out of the spaceship, and the dozen or so artifacts retrieved from the ship. Most of the debris lay scattered around the mountains and deep lakes outside of Canterlot, and it would likely take years to recover it all. The study of the metals and pieces of scrap led to a newly found cooperation between the nations, as scientists from every land came to share their thoughts and ideas. Celestia hadn’t wasted any time in capitalizing on this newly found source of friendship. She sponsored seminars and encouraged research agreements across borders, creating an unprecedented unity between the nations.
Not everything was better, though. Cults and charlatans had been quick to play on ponies' fears to further their selfish gains, and some groups even needed to be forcefully disbanded by the Royal Guard. The action was necessary to protect ponies, but military intervention added more fuel to those who saw conspiracy around every corner.
In the end, Twilight never found out why Helena came to Equestria, why she skulked around at an abandoned house in Copperhill, why she claimed to have destroyed the stars when they returned only days later, or what her connection with Discord was. She'd tried asking the draconequus, but the chaos god had deftly avoided any conversations relating to Helena.
There were many unanswered questions; what mystified Twilight the most was the spell Helena used in the palace garden. At first, she’d believed that it only affected those nearby, but no matter who Twilight asked, be it a local gryphon or a trader who were hundreds of leagues away when it happened, they had all felt a strange presence for a brief moment.
In the newspapers, ponies described their experiences with the phenomena, and what they speculated to be the root cause. Only the princesses and a hoofful of guards knew the truth, and they had quickly decided it was for the best that it remained a secret.
What Twilight knew for certain was that the sheer scope of the spell should have been impossible. She distinctly remembered Helena claiming in the library that ponies misunderstood the fundamental truth about magic. Whether that was the case or not, Twilight had searched for evidence regarding the human’s claims and could sense that she was close to a breakthrough in magical learning, one she felt might contain a truth so monumental that it might be too terrifying to comprehend.
“Twilight!” Pinkie Pie yelled from somewhere inside. “Pancakes!”
Twilight looked up at the stars above.
Only a few years ago, she’d have dedicated her entire life to solving the mystery. Now, she knew that there were more important things in life than trying to understand something beyond your control.
“I’m coming,” she called to her friends before trotting inside.
Keeper walked the dimly lit and cobbled stone floor of his workplace, only stopping to admire his outfit in one of the hallway mirrors. His new dark robe with golden sleeves and intrinsic patterns on the neck and flank was glorious enough that he was obligated to strike a stoic pose.
In the two-year time since the great disaster, his collection of artifacts had nearly doubled, along with his titles and salary. There was only one issue for him: the complete lack of a successor. His previous apprentice ran away after Keeper threw him headfirst into a wall, and he fired any other applicants within weeks for being bumbling buffoons. One, in particular, he needed to personally throw out for spouting that ‘the Copperhill incident was an inside job.’
He stopped admiring himself in the mirror and locked the vault door behind him. Keeper’s office and those of his minions were close by, and he opened its thick and creaking doors to find an unwanted visitor sitting in front of his desk. She was a slender beige earth pony with a bright blonde mane, and though Keeper rarely noticed things like a mare’s natural beauty, he imagined that she would look positively dazzling in a dark robe.
His office seemed otherwise undisturbed as he walked up to his desk. The skull of a mountain yeti was still in its display case, the thick red carpet unblemished, and the piece of artifact on his front desk untampered.
“Why are you in my office?” Keeper’s question was blunt, but without hostility, as he sat down behind his desk. He ignored her at first and pretended to read a laundry receipt as if it were highly relevant.
The mare’s voice was mature and direct. “I’m here for the job.”
Keeper pushed away the paper to inspect her closer. She appeared to be in her early thirties, and her determined expression showed promise. Her cutie mark, a cluster of lights surrounded by lesser lights spiraling around its center, wasn’t an astronomical symbol familiar to him, and he couldn’t fathom its meaning.
In truth, she was the complete opposite of the ill-kept and often dimwitted unicorns seeking underground employment.
“And what makes you believe that you’re qualified enough to handle such an important task?” He leaned back in his chair. “My order only accepts the brightest minds with a finely tuned sense of magic.”
The mare raised an eyebrow. “I haven’t seen anyone else down here, and I can assure you my control of magic is beyond reproach.”
A few years before, Keeper would have sent her away without a second thought. This was before he’d witnessed the capabilities of a rural baker.
“Prove it,” he said, with little to no expectations.
“Gladly,” the mare replied and reached for the artifact on the desk.
Keeper stared intensely as she deftly pushed in a combination on the row of buttons on the artifact’s side. Its purpose was a mystery, and he'd been at a loss on how to start it, but now the front of the pitch black cube lit up with alien numerals.
”How did you?” he began.
”I read a few of your articles on their language,” she explained. ”I’ve always been good at deciphering the unknown. It’s how I got my cutie mark.”
Keeper didn’t know what to say. Instead, he used his horn to open a compartment to the side, and levitated out a neatly folded acolyte robe. The mare let out a chuckle when he deposited it in front of her.
”When can you start?”
”Tomorrow,” she replied while moving away from the chair to put on the robe. Once she’d dragged it over herself she made a graceful whirl on her hind legs.
Keeper's heart skipped a beat at the sight.
”Until then,” the mare said before moving to the door.
”W-wait,” Keeper said, fumbling with words for the first time since he’d been an adolescent. ”What’s your name?”
The mare smiled back at him with the door half-open, then left.
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Hmm.... Is that Helena?
i agree.. that's obviously helena. if discord can be altered, so can she. i like the idea though, hellping push them along by being one of them.
Gotta say I really enjoyed reading this, and I'm not into sci-fi stuff much at all.
Well that was... abrupt. Glad to see you put an ending on things though.
Well hello there Helena.
8987082
The pace certainly escalated in the last chapter. Probably could have fleshed this out into another chapter or two, but since we were reaching the end stretch with most of the mystery unraveling, I thought it best to go straight to goal so to speak. It also made sense seeing as how Helena isn’t exactly known for wasting time on pleasantries.
8987021
Glad you liked it!
Yay, you separated it out! :D
Well, this was a great - if short - read. Certainly deserved my upvote and a favourite
She's sticking around huh
8987384
I always separate when you ask me nicely.
8987648
Thanks! Though I find it hard to see it as a short story myself when it took seven months to write.
8988263
I figured that she and Keeper would make for a great team. I mean, what could possibly go wrong?
8987181
Helena's revelation could have probably been a bit longer, maybe with her going over her actions on Equestria and realizing how it looked from the Equestrians point of view.
Overall I liked the conclusion though. No tearful apologies, sure, but that's not really who Helena is. Working in the background instead of up front as she's been doing along the story is already a big enough change for her.
8988626
I'm glad you approved of the ending. Means more to me than you might think.
I have to admit that the main reason why I wrapped up the story was that of the mainly negative comments. For instance, the only change in rating for releasing the second to last chapter were more downvotes. Not precisely the best motivator, but at least writing the story was a good learning experience.
Good read!
Do you plan to make a sequel? Or a short series of oneshots?
8990897
I don't think there is much more to add to this story. I initially thought about having a mini-arc in the epilogue about pony astronauts going up in space in the future and board Helena's ship. After a long search in the seemingly abandoned ship, they'd find and wake up Helena from cryostasis. But I decided it would take to long to write.
She never did really get around to apologizing.
Well, looks like I spoke too soon. Couldn't leave well enough alone, could she?
9002944
True, but as Luna pointed out, there was no trust between them. Any apology Helena might make at the time would likely be hollow and met only with skepticism. There is a time and a place to apologize and that probably wasn't the best moment, and sometimes actions speak louder than words.
9002952
She only promised not to interfere in any meaningful way.
9002991
Isn't that just a ready excuse to put off apologizing until never?
9002999
It could be. Though, never apologizing would ultimately be counter-productive to her goals of trying to earn their trust.
9003031
The best way to do that would be to leave. Forever. And never come back. And maybe jump in a black hole on the way.
Well i thoroughly enjoyed this! It was an interesting twist on the usual human in equestria theme, though i find myself wanting to know what Helena will do in the future. You've already said that you wont continue this story any further, but I'll be keeping an eye out for future works by you for sure!
9012540
Glad you enjoyed it! Been toying with the idea of releasing an extra chapter if enough people are interested. It was initially intended to be in the epilogue, though the concept got too long and became almost a separate story. It’s more likely I'll start a fresh new fic instead.
9014943
Whatever you do in the end, im looking forward to seeing it!
I don't care how it will turn out. -_- MORE
That was an oddly satisfying ending!
Congratulations on this good fic. Like everyone else though I can't help but wonder if that is Helena in disguise...
Whether we know or not I LIKE IT.
9134450
Thank you for those kind words! And yes, I can confirm that was Helena in disguise.
This was certainly an interesting read. My only complaints are that it was too short, and the pacing suffers because of it, in addition to the lack of any real character development from anyone until Helena’s big revelation.
That said, the premise was very interesting, and there were some truly inspired ideas throughout. I was quite thoroughly hooked!
9220009
Thanks. I do try my hardest to make my stories at least interesting. Beyond Achlys was a bit short and could have used another 10k word to flesh things out, defiantly. I was somewhat caught in a corner because Helena's actions became too obnoxious for some readers, and I couldn't properly reveal why she acted as such until the end of the story. I also find that when all the mysteries are out in the open, the story should wrap up sooner rather than later. The central conflict was ultimately between two good guys, and it's hard to keep that going without risking being too contrived with events.
Character development was slightly limited by the briefness of Helena's 'visit'. The first to last contact takes place around twenty four hours.
9385978
Ah, that does explain some things. Thanks for that little tidbit of information. :)
Coolio
You can has review!
10245436
And a fine review it was!
What a great read I loved this story. Would love more works like this in the fandom
I am DEEPLY, DEEPLY disgusted by this thing you claim to be human. This piece of shit of a character. And how your let it get away with everything.
This thing barged in, destroyed all defenses, terrorized the citizens. She brings private property, abducted and mind-raped the guards, damaged and stole vital technology from defense system, stole their secrets and knowledge, broke into they houses, harmed and threatened to kill the rulers, attacked and mind-raped their creator. It literally scanned their entire planet for all information they're have including memories and feeling of all residents.
And then it just went and left as if nothing is wrong. And even demanded to oversee then later. And it seems even sneaked back in to tamper with their stuff in secret.
Truly despicable, disgusting character.
I don't care what it learned about itself, but it was definitely not enough to understand the must basic respect of not treating everyone as it's toys.
11026180
Sorry for the late reply. But I figured it was better to wait, and then accidently forgot about it until now.
Yes, there were no real consequences, but there is a reason for that. I think it's easiest to explain by pointing at the show and Discord. We all know he may well be the most powerful entity in the series, and the issue is if Discord does something wrong and illegal, there really isn't any way to enforce it. And Discord sure did some questionable things in the series. But you can't give him a fine, take away his driver's license, or even put him in a jailcell.
The only two options you have is either convincing Discord to do the right thing, or something drastic like turning him back into a statue. That's it. The same applies to Helena. And by taking the latter option, even if you feel justified in doing so, it becomes a huge risk to everyone involved. Something I can only see Celestia using as an absolute last resort. It might be vexing that there is no comeuppance, but I believe it was the most realistic scenario for the story.
Ended up finishing this after long time ago. Pretty good characterization here, the Trans-humanist space explorers like would have very large moral and ethical drift after certain amount of time. It was a fun story to read even if the ending really felt a bit too short.