Epilogue
Princess Celestia missed the sunlight.
Her throne room had been a magnificent and awe-inspiring space, befitting a sovereign ruler of Equestria. There’d been a time when a thousand courtiers a day would shuffle through the huge crystal doors and mill between the marble pillars, each vying for her favor. They would pack themselves into every corner for gatherings or proclamations, climbing onto the ledges beneath the stained-glass windows that depicted legendary scenes from Equestrian history. Daylight would fill the chamber from dawn to dusk, channeled by the architecture to warm every stone and erase every shadow.
But the shadows were thick today. The hall was full of them. Heavy curtains had been hitched up and drawn tight, blocking the beautiful artistry of the windows and the light they provided, and transforming the once-radiant hall into a gloomy dungeon.
She paced in front of her throne, frowning at the darkened corners of the chamber. She glanced at the closed doors, the beautiful engravings outlined by a small beam of light that struck its upper edge. There would be no visiting nobles or petitioners or musicians today. Not unless she opened it.
She turned around, pacing the other direction and looking up at the grand stained-glass window behind her throne, the one window that she had insisted remained uncovered. The depiction of herself and her sister was barely discernible through the filth caked across it. A cold sliver of sunlight filtered weakly through it, illuminating the center of the hall.
The click of the doorknob echoed across the chamber. Celestia stopped and faced the entrance as one mighty door cracked open, spilling a beam of scarlet into the hall. A pony stepped through, their coat painted crimson for a brief moment before the door shut behind them and engulfed them in shadow.
For several seconds the pony was lost to the gloom, their hoofsteps silenced by the plush rug. Finally they stepped into the light, taking the form of a bespectacled earth mare with an ivory coat. She carried a clipboard in her hoof and had a pencil tucked behind her ear. She wore her mane tight and neat, and her tail tighter and neater. She bowed, her nose brushing against the rug.
“Your Highness.” She straightened up, baring her teeth in greeting. “How are you doing this morning?”
“I am well, Raven.” Celestia turned to face her, politely returning the bow. “How go the renovations?”
“Proceeding according to schedule.” Raven kept showing her teeth. “You could order the curtains down, if you’d like to see for yourself.”
“Mm. No.” Celestia pursed her lips, looking towards one of the blocked windows. The curtain was plain and black. “I can’t open the hall. The renovations aren’t done.”
“Yes. Of course.” Raven looked down at her clipboard and pulled the pencil from her ear. “You have another busy schedule today.”
“Oh. Yes.” Celestia sighed. “A Princess’s work never ends.”
The renovations were taking quite a while, and the hall grew dimmer. Strange shapes cluttered the corners, their identities concealed under a blanket of shadow. The light from the tarnished window had weakened. Only a small circle of light surrounded the throne, and the alicorn standing fitfully in front of it.
The heavy doors opened. Raven stepped through the light, her silhouette framed in angry red, and shut the door behind her.
A minute passed. Celestia bit her lip, listening to the stones shift around her. Finally Raven stepped out of the shadows, teeth bared.
“Raven! Good afternoon.” Celestia pushed out a weary smile. “I just finished this letter for Twilight. Could you have it delivered for me?” Her horn glowed as she floated a letter towards the other mare.
Raven frowned at the mention of Twilight’s name, but accepted the letter nonetheless. Celestia was glad she couldn’t see the teeth anymore. “Of course, Your Highness.”
“Have you been able to get in touch with her at all?” Celestia asked hopefully. “It’s been so long since she sent a letter.”
“I’m sorry, Your Highness. She’s been quite busy with her work abroad.” Raven’s red eyes roamed the room. The letter was gone. “Your ponies are asking after you, Your Highness. They’re wondering when you’ll hold court again.”
Celestia did her best to keep the smile going. “I’m sorry, but I can’t. The hall is under renovation. It’s very important.”
Raven bared her teeth. It was not a smile.
Celestia sat on her throne. She could not see the floor, as the light from the window did not reach. She could not see anything, and that was how she liked it.
She jumped at the sound of hooves outside. The angry red light traced the shape of the doors as they opened, silhouetting a thing with the shape of a pony.
The doors shut, and Celestia was alone again. She fidgeted in her seat and glanced back at the tarnished window. Sunlight pushed through in only a few places, where the filth was thinnest.
Minutes passed. Celestia wiped a hoof against her cheek, and did not look at the red stain on her coat.
“Good evening, Your Highness.” Raven appeared at the base of the throne, barely more than an outline. “Are you well? You look pale.”
“Raven, do you know when the renovations will be done?” Celestia asked. “They must be done before sunset. It’s very important.”
“Is it?” Raven’s silhouette shifted, her red eyes disappearing as she looked to her clipboard. “There’s nothing on the schedule for today, Your Highness. You should relax. Open the curtains.”
“No, no. They can’t be opened.” Celestia shook her head firmly. “You know why, Raven. It’s not an option.”
“Your ponies want to see you. They miss you. Open the curtains. Say hello.”
“It would ruin the work.” Celestia shook her head again. “I’ve waited very long, and I’m sure they’re almost done. Tell them to hurry, please. I just need it done before sunset.”
Raven bared her teeth. They were just as red as its eyes. “As you wish.”
Celestia clenched her jaw.
Celestia sat on her throne. She held her head high, as a princess should, and did not look down. A single ray of light shone through the window behind her, haloing her head.
She heard the doorknob twist and closed her eyes. She did not look, but she still saw the maddening red light. She did not hear the hoofsteps, and she did not count the hours.
The renovations would be done soon, and then she would open the curtains. She would let the light back in, and the hall would be beautiful and clean like it was supposed to be. She would let her ponies in, and they would be happy and alive. They would smile without showing their teeth, and she would smile back.
“Celestia.”
Celestia did not open her eyes. She saw Raven standing on the side of her throne, red eyes and red teeth.
“I’m very busy, Raven,” she said. “A Princess’s work never ends, and I must have the hall ready before sunset.”
“We should open the curtains, Celestia. Don’t you miss the sunlight?”
“The work is almost done, Raven,” Celestia whispered. “We can let the light in once the hall is clean.”
“But Celestia, if we don’t open the curtains, you’ll miss the eclipse.”
Celestia’s eyes blinked open. She could not see anything, but the faint outline of the bloodsoaked window behind her throne. “Eclipse?”
“Yes, Celestia,” Raven purred. “You haven’t heard?”
“Twilight finally wrote. Nightmare Moon has returned.”
Concluded in Act Three: Ashen Horizons
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Can’t wait for Ashen Horizons to break the 600k mark, I will be there to witness it!
(Despite having been banned from the community server for some time now)For those who have been struck with curiosity by all of the insane reveals in these latest two chapters, which have been a long time coming, we would love to have you in the discord to discuss everything and hear your ideas for what’s coming!
As one of the editors there was a ton of work put into this finale and many different plot points that have been hinted that over the last few years were really brought forward.
Look forward to seeing you over there, and hey if we get enough discussion it might inspire gold to start the third story this year!
Obvious not Raven is obvious, but Im pretty sure doing a bait and switch with Trixie just wont cut it this time.
So many questions and so few answers.
I Have to say i realy loved this Chapter and epilogue. Great work.
Awwww
its over cant wait for the sequel. Seriously this is probably the best fic that i have read in a long time
Beautiful fantasy! Thank you so much!
Exquisite. Ready the sail! Onward into uncharted waters!
So, Celestia was trapped within herself all this time? Seemingly fighting, with meager effects? Damn...
And just like that the second act is done, after all this time. Onwards, to yet another horizon.
Eeeeeeeeee can't wait for the next one! This is one of my favorite series!!
Nice, can't wait for the finale of the trilogy.
Oh boy, here we go again!
Holy shit
So Luna is filling in Twilight, but it also seems she's rallying the bat ponies or something? And it kind of sounded like she planned to reconquer Equestria in response to it being violent and poorly ruled, or at least do whatever built the original nation. She lamented her poor job as an Alicorn but maybe just compared to the previous pair.
The revelation about Twilight being planned for ascension I caught no hints for, nor that there were prior Alicorns. If anything is strange it's that the ultimate revelation leaves no particular villain besides a corrupted Celestia; the world is crumbling as it is and the only way to fix it is the hard and long way... or a climactic ascension to basically godhood and rewriting aspects of the world, but friendship and love don't sound like they'd fix the Waterworld situation.
Celestia...
11601782
MY THOUGHTS EXACTLY.
It has come! And so the wait returns!
Very well done Golden, honestly loved seeing the little change that, with Twilight carrying the darkness, Midnight becomes a voice of morality
Delicious, wonderful lore-drop right as we transition over to the third act.
11602027
I say it less about friendship and more giving back hope to pony kind where there been none long time
11602027
I think the point (well, one of the points) of the last chapter is that the Waterworld situation cannot be fixed; it’s just how the world now is. What can be fixed is the violence and political division of ponykind which, hey, sounds like a friendship-and-love problem!
Oh my, such an ending, leaving me hanging on for another couple years until the next book is finished! Great work again!
finally! this was one of my fist fics i read and its complete! thank you!
Sun of the Night INTENSIFIES
Still one of the best stories on the site. Stories like this are one of the reasons I was inspiered give writing a go myself. Thank you for sharing this with us.
Also, this is terrifying... My thoughts are that renovations being destorying the world and sunset her time being up.
Great now with Luna's help we can go get Spike
I physically cannot wait for Ashen Horizons to come out. Physically. If time travel was more than scifi, I would do everything in my power to travel into the future and read it. And if it was never released, I'd find a way into a timeline where it was.
Woooo!
Now that this one is finished, I've been inspired to re-read both of them.
Currently up to XVII: The Ruin in Empty Horizons.
One of the Best Apocalypse Equestria stories on here!
I rarely comment on this platform, and detailed reviews are even rarer for me. Yet, this story has captivated and inspired me so much that I cannot help but share my enthusiasm. It should be obvious that I like the story more than just a little. To illustrate how much it has impressed me, I want to mention that I recently joined your Discord server and signed up for a Patreon subscription. So I won't miss it if you start writing on Ashen Horizons and as a small thank you for the great story.
Honestly, I find it hard to even find a starting point for this review. There's so much swirling in my head. But I think the best starting point is always the foundation of every story: the setting. A post-apocalyptic Waterworld, with floating islands and the sunken ruins of a long-forgotten high culture deep under the sea level, haunted by corrupt monsters... it's just the perfect setting for this narrative. It gives the story an immediate aura of mystery and adventure – after all, one is eager to find out what happened to the world. At the same time, it arouses a sense of wonder and awe. It was also interesting to learn that Equestria has lost its magic, so hardly any ponies with Cutie Marks are born anymore and that the princesses have disappeared, replaced by a new divided, selfish, and corrupt upper class. The setting serves not only as a backdrop but really contributes to the story.
At this point, I want to mention that I had Empthy Horizens on my "read it later" list for months and somehow wasn't 100% convinced to check it out. But that changed immediately with the first chapter, and I couldn't stop reading. Seeing the Main 6 thrown into an unknown future and fleeing through the dark ruins of Canterlot from mutated changelings is just a super exciting entry. The story wastes no time with long expositions but immediately draws one in with a combination of action and devastation. The decline of Equestria is also immediately clear, and as a reader, you have to wonder how it could have come to this.
But enough about the beginning and setting, otherwise, we'll never finish. What really impressed me is how you've brought this world to life. The variety of locations and the perspectives of ponies from different social classes contribute immensely to making this world feel real and tangible. But what really brought the world to life for me is your talent for creating believable characters. Characters like Ana, Whitehorn, Saber, River Pie, and Titus are much more than just OCs with stereotypical traits and pushing the plot forward. They all have convincing motives and act in a dynamic and realistic way. It's also nice to see that we don't have standart villains in the story (even though characters like Sombra, Titus, Silverblood, Gava, etc., take on this role somewhere and are clear antagonists) but everyone acts from understandable motives and positions, even if you don't always agree with their decisions and actions (or hate them… Gava). But you understand why they do what they do. What also helped a lot was the portrayal of societal structures, (especially in Rarity's story arc). Such things lend the world a convincing depth and vitality.
Speaking of the Rarity story arc, I want to highlight how much I liked each arc, especially because of their variety and focus on different aspects of the world and character traits. It's often the case that I find one plotline interesting, but the others rather boring. That was not the case here. I found it super interesting to see the various perspectives of the characters. Whether it's from Ana, Rarity, Rainbow, or Twilight.
At this point, I probably should talk about your characters. To keep this to a somewhat readable length, I probably shouldn't write about every character, but I must mention my favorites.
Twilight and Midnight. The dynamics between these two are simply entertaining and cute at the same time. Although they have the darkest and most tragic journey behind them and although they didn't really like each other at the beginning, there were many very funny, but also tenderly affectionate (and cute) moments between them, such as the shared chess game – a great scene in which I just loved Midnight. It was also fascinating to watch how they grew closer to each other, not just in terms of growing understanding and friendship, but also in character development, in which they became more and more similar. Moreover, the scene at the end of EH where Midnight destroys Gava's ship was 100% epic. I'm really looking forward to seeing more of them and how their relationship develops. Especially in light of the dialogue from "XXX: OF REVELATIONS". (Prediction: Twilight and Midnight achieve actual harmony in the end. Thus, they become something other than just Wyrd and Pony and ascend to Alicorn... probably the Elements also play a role because they accept Twilight/Midnight again). Honestly, I was emotionally invested in most characters. Anyone who wasn't shocked by Ana and Gava's argument has no heart, and anyone who finds Rarity's optimism and idealism inspiring rather than just naive... I have no words for them.
Another character I really loved was Whitehorn. His political ideology is interesting, and his intrigues and interesting character dynamics with Rarity make him one of my favorites. Especially how he managed to cause political unrest in Friesland.
I could write so much more. About Cadance's letter, the great underwater scenes, Rarity and her optimism, Friesland politics, The Crystal Empire, Sombra, the portrayal of war, the system of the gifted, Celestia…, but I think this is long enough. But if you want to hear more, feel free to tag me on your DC server or just write to me here. (Username: Blando) And pretty please start writing Ashen Horizens
If you really want to continue the whole thing, I'll try to write a comprehensive commentary under each chapter. (if you don't mind)