Epilogue
One year later...
Summer tucked her wings as she went into a dive, dodging narrowly around an outstretched bank of thick cloud. She skimmed its surface by inches, close enough that even a tiny bit closer would probably have sent her into a mad spiral down to the surface. Clouds lifted around her in wispy white lines, trailing behind her like a fluffy white cloak. The flash of green ahead of her was still in the lead, but not for much longer. She was so close now, almost close enough to snap at the hairs of her tail with her beak.
Emerald finally noticed her, squealing with delight and fear as she drew closer, spreading her wings into an abrupt loop. That was one of the advantages of ponies in the air—they were so much lighter that they could make harsh turns and delicate maneuvers her own wings just couldn't handle. But while she'd avoided Summer's advance, dancing in the sky took speed, and now Summer was blasting past her.
Her target hovered over crystal seas, maybe twenty meters above the surface. The gasbag was a relatively small target, obscuring the Horizon's deck below. But the reflection of their oversized antenna was enough that she wouldn't have missed it, even if they were flying over something less uniform than the ocean.
"No fair!" Emerald called from behind her, voice barely making it over the wind. "You startled me!"
Summer twisted slightly to one side, pulling up from the dive. Emerald just didn't have the right build for a maneuver like that. But Summer didn't actually need to win this. "You're the one who did a loop! It's not my fault you picked something slow!" While she turned, the little pegasus zipped past her, leaving only a single gray feather in her wake.
Emerald cheered excitedly as she dodged around the balloon for her final landing, but Summer knew there'd be no catching up with her now. That was fine. The filly could use a little confidence now that her legs were all stretched, and her balance was totally thrown off. Puberty was tough, even in Equestria.
Summer landed behind her a few seconds later, skidding along the deck for a short distance before stopping a meter or so behind the pegasus.
"Equestria wins again!" Emerald cheered, her voice so loud it echoed off the gasbag. Summer returned her smile, though of course she'd lost. But it was hard not to share Emerald's enthusiasm for just about everything she did. I wasn't sure you were ever going to get better, kid. I'm glad you did.
"Yeah." Summer patted her briefly on the head. "Guess I'll have to keep practicing before I can fly as good as you, if I ever can. You're getting so big." She reached down, extending one of Emerald's wings with a claw. "How am I supposed to compete with that?"
Emerald giggled, pushing her away. But she couldn't keep the pride from her face. "Stop, stop."
Summer kept going for a few more seconds, then turned back towards the helm. Sharp watched from the elevated section, grinning. Then he noticed them both, and straightened, looking awkwardly away. "Oh, Summer! We got a message from Corey while you were up there. Do you want to see it before we go down?"
Summer lifted easily into the air, hovering vertically up to the upper level. If there were any thoughts of embarrassment about her nudity, they were long gone now. Equestria just didn't give her the luxury of that particular taboo. She landed beside him on the modified helm a second later, and wasn't even a little surprised as he pulled her close for a kiss. She didn't hesitate, nor did she hurry to get his body away from her. The longer they were together, the better. "I can already tell," Sharp whispered into her ear. "Emerald's not stupid. She'll figure it out soon too."
Summer's tail tucked briefly between her legs, and she felt the first real echoes of embarrassment. There was at least one thing she had good reason to be shy about. She nipped at his ear with her beak, though didn't actually grab it. It was meant for hunting fish, after all. She could hurt a pony with it if she missed. "I won't be that big. Don't hippogriffs lay eggs?"
Sharp laughed once, loud enough that Emerald actually noticed. "What's so funny?" she called. "Did I get cloud in my tail again?"
"N-no!" Summer called hastily. "Nothing!"
Sharp kept smiling as smugly as ever. At least he was sensitive enough to keep his voice down. "You really think you can hide that? ‘Yeah, we built a gigantic egg-incubator. We're raising ostriches on an airship now!’"
She shoved away from him, then stepped under the canopy. There were a few chairs here, but more importantly was the instrument table. It was made with standard hippogriff shipbuilding techniques, with one exception. The weatherproof box protected a ruggedized military tablet, connected to the larger server downstairs. Summer took the tablet hanging by its cord into her teeth, and selected their incoming messages.
Sharp crowded next to her, close enough to make her squeak with surprise. She looked up, glowering at him again. Emerald's here, we can't just... on the deck. She shoved him with one of her hindlegs, pushing him well away before selecting the single received recording.
It was voice only, given the extremely limited bandwidth of the radio they used, bouncing around the planet's atmosphere when the weather was right. It was one of a very limited number of options for communicating at such long range with no infrastructure.
"Message received at 12:40am, yesterday," began the synthesized voice. "Beginning playback:”
“Hey Summer, Bravo Site checking in for the week. We've got our second real shop—these brothers came all the way up here from the Equestrian mainland to sell to us. Well, maybe not us. How many things can you sell to a base with three actual humans in it?"
As the recording went on, Sharp's amusement was replaced with more of his usual annoyance. She couldn't really blame him—Corey could speak passable Ponish now, and had been for months. But he still sent all his messages in English, even though he knew the whole Horizon was listening to them. That was the real reason why he'd waited to listen to this. Sharp was gifted in many skills, but with language he was hopeless. He still struggled to ask for the bathroom in English.
"I know what you're going to say. None of us are human anymore. We need to accept—blah blah. The volunteers are pretty good about that. Molly—that's the cute Canadian girl, if you forgot—she's almost as excited about going home like this as she is about all her great zoology data. I watched her put together her letter home in the rec room yesterday—shitting you not, she's filling it up with SD cards. Apparently she's putting her vlogs up on YouTube. She says they're huge over there, I'm not sure I buy it. Would you watch a channel called ‘Molly's Nest?’ where a bird walked around in the snow collecting samples of alien plants and put them in machines and stuff?
“Everything's gearing up for the big meeting with that Twilight... princess? That's her title, right? Yeah, her. It's all anyone can talk about, human or pony. I hope she doesn't mind staying in one of our crappy bunkrooms for the video conference, because that's all we have. Sure you can't be down here for that? I know she's not here to talk to nobodies like us, but the videoconference isn't going to last forever. When the doors close and the cameras are off, we'll only have the ones on our side to keep her happy. You know this stuff better than I do.
“Stay safe out there, Summer. Use bird protection and all. Peace."
She flushed deep red, glancing over her shoulder again at that last bit. Too late, Corey. Apparently Equestria wasn't at all unfamiliar with family planning, they had cheap spells and everything. But they didn't have any unicorn shops three thousand feet over the sea.
"Must've been an interesting one," Sharp said, leaning briefly up against her neck. "Should I be upset about anything he said?"
She shook her head—much too rapidly to be convincing. But she'd never been a good liar, and being in Equestria didn't make her better at it. She translated the whole thing over, cutting away some of the fat, and not bothering to go into detail about what “YouTube” was.
When she finished, Sharp had forgotten all about the ending, which was probably for the best. "The princess is actually going to visit." He turned away, muttering something under his breath. "I didn't think there was any chance of a real meeting, after... everything that went wrong before." He made his way over to the railing, resting one hoof against it and looking down into the swirling depths beyond. "Buck, right when we find this. Why couldn't she go in a month? What's so special about right now?"
Emerald landed on the deck beside them, with a tray of cold drinks. The yellow liquid within wasn't anything special, just powdered lemonade from Bravo Site's supplies. It was now her absolute favorite beverage, so much that Summer had to stop her from going through their supplies too quickly. "Thirsty?"
Summer took it, holding the mug carefully in one claw. All that flying did make her thirsty. She drained the glass, settling it back on the tray.
"You can have mine," Sharp muttered, waving her off. "We've got a decision to make, and I don't think sugar will help."
Emerald glared. "Sugar helps everything, master. You really want to drink seawater over this?"
"The process isn't quite the same as drinking," he countered, apparently by instinct. "Seaponies have distinct biology. They don't even—"
Summer pushed his mouth closed with a claw, giggling. Maybe you should guest-star on an episode of Molly's biology show. “You’re really thinking about going back? With Setessa's ancient ruins right under us, waiting to be explored? Is meeting with your princess special enough for that?"
"No." He took the other mug, wedging his hoof into the oversized grip as Emerald had to do. "It's about helping to set the tone. The human volunteers are fine, and Corey is a good enough representative. But Twilight has already met you once. One of her friends likes us. These unicorn types... they care about who you know. You could make a real difference."
"We're making a difference here." Summer pointed down over the side, holding out her necklace. It was entirely mundane now, quite similar to the ones that most hippogriffs seemed to wear. With the single exception that Sharp had made it for her, out of tiny links of precious metals he'd forged himself. She was pretty sure the custom was some kind of pony engagement, but she was still too shy to confirm as much. "When we go down there, we'll be finding more clues about the history of our worlds. Kate wasn't acting alone, and the Chevaliers are still out there. Understanding their history is important. And... you know, finding enough to build a door that doesn't transform creatures into birds on the way through."
"Could we even make it all the way there in time?" Emerald asked, settling the empty tray down beside the instruments. "All the way back to Bravo... that's a long way to go in a week."
Sharp grinned, taking a few steps back and resting one hoof on the throttle. "If we flew through the night, we could make it all the way to Bravo in three days. Don't tempt me."
Too bad we can't just mark this place with GPS. They'd written down its position using Sharp's compass and sextant, but that was far less precise. Finding a long-flooded ancient city of Seaponies now lost to the tropical sea was something they might never repeat. "That means we have four days to work," Summer said, hurrying forward and wrapping one wing around him. "Four days in the sunken city, then three heading to Bravo."
She could see Sharp's sudden doubt, expression faltering. He glanced down, probably thinking about the engine as they spoke. "Unless it was all just bragging."
Sharp met her eyes. "Four days. Fine. But if there's nothing down there, we're leaving early. It's not that I don't like swimming... but there's no reason for us to be wasting our time when we could be working on more important things."
"Fine." Summer nudged him down towards the stairs. "Drop anchor. Let’s see what’s waiting for us.”
After one year, thus ends the story of Through the Aurora.
Before I go through my acknowledgements and all that stuff, I wanted to transition directly to a super-awesome announcement. I hinted briefly at it last week, but this story is getting a hardcover print. Lucky, this story's sponsor, has really gone above and beyond getting tons of art for the various chapters and characters. I think this project is going to be something really special, and also the most affordable print I've done to date.
Anyone who would like to grab a hardcover, I'll be raising funds the next month right here: https://igg.me/at/through-the-aurora, where you can check out some of what's been done for the project so far.
The book will have somewhere between fifteen and twenty illustrations as it's planned right now, and 10-20k of new content taking place after the epilogue of this story. There won't be a sequel to this story here on fimfiction, so I'll be using the book to cap off the narrative for Summer and her friends.
But if you're not a fan of hardcovers, that's fine too. I'm thrilled you made it to the end of this story. Even if I'm too busy to reply to every comment the way I did when I was younger, I still read all your feedback, and looked forward to posting day each week to see what people thought.
Of course I have to say my thanks to everyone who supported the project. First the project's sponsor, Lucky Ray. Though that word alone doesn't do justice. This is probably the closest anyone has ever collaborated with me on a commission before, and it's safe to say that their hands are as firmly on the project as mine. The execution might've been my creation, but the ideas were theirs.
Likewise I have to give props to Canary, who removed my wordcount limits and let the story progress as fast as I could keep up. I wasn't always fast enough as a writer to keep up with the publishing speed I imagined, but we got there in the end.
And of course, to my editors Two Bit and Sparktail, who tolerate my garbage writing and spend hours with me making drafts into finished stories. I couldn't do anything without you.
Many of the people mentioned... and me of course, can be found on the Starpub discord server. If you're looking for a fun pone-writing community, consider yourself formally invited to: https://discord.gg/DMDrCrG
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Hopefully humans are faster on the uptake if those are the Flimflams.
Setessa? Huh. Who'd have thought the griffins were involved in this?
In all, great to see the spirit of multiversal cooperation pushing through fear and conspiracy, especially given what went on a few Equestrias over. Thank you for a fantastic read throughout, and to Lucky for helping make it happen. Though there are still several questions to answer in this world...
My favourite part of this fanfic was all the world building you did. You hardly ever see hippogriffs in fanfics, and you made Mt. Aris seem way more interesting than in canon. I didn't like how it's never explained why there were untransformed humans in those ruins, and Sharp was kinda bland.
The story been awesome, I enjoyed it all the way through but what is this igg dot me thing exactly? I goggle it and no results come up.
As one story ends, another begins. Thank you, Starscribe, for another wonderful entry into your catalog. Thanks also to all those who aided you. It was a fun ride.
I would like to know what happened in Alaska after the Great Escape. Did the dark secrets get exposed, and stuff like that. So my mind is a little quirky at 0600... but you done good. Thanks.
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Indiegogo.
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Ah I see, just looked up on YouTube about it too. I looked at the link and all I got was a blank white page. There nothing there.
Surprised things managed to improve. But how did they get there? Was it the transmission? The letter? A disgruntled soldier that had been there?
So many possibilities
Ohhhh that was a great story! Part of me thinks ending there is perfect but another part would love a sequal.
Either way thank you again for a wonderful tale.
Looks like the two worlds finally reconnect. Our group is finally ready to discover the secrets of the past. And our couple ready to discover parenthood.
And so the story ends. If there is a sequel, I will certainly read it. For now, I'll just say I loved every second of it.
Guess my Corey theory was a bust.
Hah, I thought that last chapter felt like an end.
Oh my!
That's a lot of progress for just one year.
Ahhh, more humans must mean that in the end Kate and her people failed.
They failed hard if one of the newly bird humans has a YouTube show.
Too late for that.
Yeah, they need more information about Kate's group for sure, and the rest of the history would be good to know too.
Pretty big sequel or part two hook.
This has been an interesting story to follow along with for me. Last year I took a trip that included some time driving though one of my childhood hometowns, and for a bit of that drive I ended up listening to this story through text to speech while driving around. Since then it's never really lost the feel of being connected to my childhood in a way, so I'm a bit sad to see it finish.
Gah! All these sequel hooks without having an actual sequel >.< did her parents get the letter? Is their child a hippogriff or pony? What do they find in the ruins? All the human and pony relations. The missing explanations on Feather and how she had so much support and her organization. Just feels like a whole lot is left unexplained
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The Author's Note says
So if you want the sequel, you'll have to get the hardcover, which I'm kinda bummed about. But I guess I don't really get to complain, as I got to enjoy this all for free.
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Damn! How long will the hard covers be around do you know? Just sunk years of saving up into a computer and I’ll be broke for a while.
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That does seem to be a trend on Starscribe's stories unfortunately, at least the ones I've read.
The one and only thing that dispeases me that we never found out what Kate and her allies was, I'm happy that in the end they failed, but is it a hook for a second book or what?
It seems the transformation is permanent.
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The Indiegogo goal for the book currently has 31 days left to pledge, which I assume to be the cutoff date for availability. I'm not involved in the book at all, so if you want more specifics you should probably ask Starscribe.
Gah, why’d you have to end it there? I still have so many questions!
That ended abruptly. With a Starscribe story, it could easily take off on a different tangent and go for another 300k words.
Oh... Uh, okay...... I guess?
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If only....
I hate you. Platonically.
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For the love of god someone either post scans or bug Scribe until he uploads it himself lol
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I wouldn't call it a full sequel or anything. I just wanted to play with these characters one last time.
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You could always commission it.
Far too many hanging plot threads directly related to the main plot. Again.
Completely pointless government conspiracy. Again.
Please halt this pattern.
It got old fast.
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Thanks for the feedback!
I'm curious about what plot threads you felt were "hanging." Can you name them for me? That would help me narrow down where things went wrong for future stories.
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I'm not speaking for them but this other comment
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does highlight several issues that were mentioned and never really got a proper resolution.
And no offense, but from the handful of stories of yours that I've read it does seem like a recurring theme. If this story were to get a sequel then I'd understand them being hooks that would get addressed later, but with the story ending like it did and with a confirmation that it won't have a proper sequel we're just left unsatisfied instead.
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That's why I ask, I like to get an idea whether there are things I didn't think of, or whether it's a difference in writing philosophy and reader expectation. Taking those three items as an example, I agree that readers are entitled to an answer about Summer's parents (and will when I write the epilogue novella in the hardcover), but would not necessarily guarantee those other things (what is in the ruins or what species their child is). One is something set up earlier in the story, the other is "even though the pages end, the world goes on."
I'd much rather leave some things to the imagination, and not spell out everything. But I know not every reader is going to agree with that particular choice, and it does bum me out to see regardless.
Theres got to be a way for Humans to come to Equestria while still being physically Human. No offense to Hippogriphs, but there were Human bodies at the one site. And contact will be limited until that happens. I mean I'd rather say the same species and gender and i'm sure theres plenty of people who'd agree with me.
GPS? Military got inertial units, they need to be re-scaled for another world, but they should work and they don't need satellites. Next goes radio-triangulation.
I’m honestly sad to see this story end. There’s some questions still left unanswered. Who are the Chevaliers? Did the Hippogriffs come from the human world or vice versa? How were things sorted on the other side? Where did the Feather ponies go?
I hope this gets a sequel, or something. It was a great story, I loved reading every chapter, and I don’t want it to end.
Well, that's... Kind of disappointing. This was a good ride, though. I can appreciate an open ending, but that did feel a little abrupt. I don't particularly like having to buy the book (and wait for it) if I wanted to read more of these characters, yet I can understand why you're doing it. Commissioned work, book publishing, bills to pay, etc, etc.
Nevertheless, this was a story I thoroughly enjoyed. Thank you for writing it.
This was a thoroughly enjoyable ride, thank you.
I've loved this story, I'd also love to see a sequel. Are there any plans for one?
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that was actually what i was referring too
Despite wishing there was more, this is still an amazing read, thank you and your sponsor(s) for making this exist!
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You’d think so, but photographic evidence of the kind that the camera Theo had takes is very hard to fake. Why? Because it’s physical, not digital.
I believe there are ways to tell how the photo is printed. Anyone who knows about Polaroid cameras would know how to prove it’s real if they wanted to. Therefore, by proving it was taken on a Polaroid camera, they can prove the image is genuine. Similarly, anyone who knows about image editing and photography can identify whether it’s been digitally or physically tampered with, or whether it’s simply a Polaroid photo taken of a digital depiction.
Spoilers about the rest of the story:
This is proven by the fact that Theo’s friend found the image. He can tell it’s real, but he thinks it’s been faked somehow anyway, because it’s insane to think it would be real. The agents sent to investigate can likewise immediately tell the image is real, they use deduction to further prove that is the case.
will not be a sequel. D: D: D:
why good stories has to be end at some time. i really started to like the caracters.
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I picked F not because it's what's used here, but because -15 F is colder than -15 C (which I agree is more likely to be used by science staff, especially when from Europe) and still isn't cause for panic.
As much as I'd love to see a sequel, or more material, I kind of like having the reader do the reading, kind of like an audiobook.
And then I went and ordered a copy anyway. XD
I'd have loved to have a scene where they meet Princess Twilight and she tells them she could have gotten them home with a lot less fuss. Probably would have been more satisfying if the Equestrian guard had been investigating and actively dismantling Feather.
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I mean, sure he didn't say scale... He didn't need to. Unless he's using a niche system -15 either celcius or fahrenheit just ain't that cold. I've done time in -40 and suffered sure, but I've had a coworker outside all night in not much more than a survival suit and he was toasty in it.
The point is -15 in even decent winter wear isn't something to worry about, especially in celcius which taking context clues is what he's be thinking in. To my knowledge Star hasn't spent a winter at even my latitude, forget above the arctic circle. I have to fight the same bias with hot summers. Anything more than a day or 2 at 40/100 is cause for me to bunker down from the hellscape outside. If I were from someplace like Arizona I'd laugh at that.
For context on how cold -15 celcius is to me, I went to work a few times with a light hoodie on under a fall jacket. no long johns under my uniform either.
TL;DR the character would probably suffer heat stroke before hypothermia if he layered up like that in -15
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I spent eight years in North Dakota. They get entire weeks during winter that see highs of -20s F. I have worked outside in -60. Getting ready in the morning I regularly remembered a line from Total Recal, "Get your space suits on! WE'RE GOING OUTSIDE!"
Funny you should mention that... I don't live in North Dakota any more. I went for the other extreme, though I do still work outside.
So, Starscribe...
How much did you know about this recent "parallel universe" discovery?
Y'know, the one at the South Pole?
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Literally all she had to do was play along. Pretend to just take the bribe and do all the other stuff later. She would have had a head start and possibly some resources she otherwise would not have had. You could be right that she was planning on immediate murder but it seems unlikely.
I just finished it and I genuinely feel empty cuz I can't read it anymore.
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I stand by it.
That was a wild ride, love it
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thanks, that helped