Epilogue
Dense waves of fog rolled through the forest, pushed along by a light afternoon breeze that rustled the leaves just enough to fill the air with noise. Heat and humidity seemed to radiate out from the earth. It was the kind of day that made creatures feel stiff and sticky if they went outside for more than a few minutes, and more often than not they’d wind up back home covered in itchy bites.
None of this seemed to phase The Driver as he trudged along. His hooves left deep tracks in the soft ground as he shouldered his burden and pushed on. The old covered carriage rattled and shook as he pulled it, and the overpacked wagon hooked up behind it threatened to topple with every turn.
The Driver hadn’t carried a full load in quite a long time, but he did so with ease and a stoic expression.
Even the carriage, which rarely even carried two passengers, was full. It was a small carriage, with two benches facing each other that both had room for two ponies, and carrying the full four made it fairly cramped.
With the lack of room, the shaking of travel, and the slow pace that came with a full load, it had been a less than comfortable few hours for the group.
Still, laughter and smiles had filled the cabin the entire time.
Eventually, most of them had found some manner of comfort. Fluttershy leaned against a wall, and Pinkie leaned against Fluttershy. Across from them, Rarity had stayed sitting straight up the entire trip, and as always never let her veneer of dignity and class slip.
Rainbow Dash, on the other hand, couldn’t sit still. She shifted around into new, often awkward positions every few minutes, none of which looked comfortable at all. For the moment she was lying sideways, her head resting in Rarity’s lap, and she had her hind legs propped up against the wall of the carriage.
“Thank you again for helping us move,” Fluttershy said. “I still feel kind of bad for asking. I mean, I could do it all myself, but—”
“Nonsense, dear,” Rarity told her. “We all know you could do it, but that’s not the point. We’ve missed you! And, really, I couldn’t sleep at night if I didn’t at least come and see the town that’s stealing you away.”
“They’re not stealing us,” Fluttershy protested. “I just… I can help them. What kind of pony would I be if I just left them here? I can’t do that, I have to—”
“I’m just teasing,” Rarity interrupted. “You’ve no need to justify yourself.”
“Oh.” Fluttershy pursed her lips in embarrassment.
“Well, I still don’t really get what you’re gonna be doing here,” Rainbow Dash said. “Is there some kinda position only a shadow monster can fill?”
“Hey.” Rarity flicked one of Rainbow Dash’s ears. “She’s not a monster.”
“Oh, it’s okay,” Fluttershy said. “It doesn’t really bother me. I kind of am a monster now.”
“Rarity just doesn’t want the competition,” Rainbow Dash muttered under her breath. Rarity huffed and pushed her onto the floor, where she landed with a heavy thump, and Pinkie raised a hoof to stifle a snicker.
After a moment, Fluttershy cleared her throat and continued. “Um, so, no, that’s not really why I can help. I guess it wouldn’t really have to be me, even, I’m just a good fit. They need some kind of connection to the outside, and I know all the Princesses and, if I need to, I know I can tell them when things need to change.”
“So you’re like an ambassador,” Rarity suggested.
“Kind of.” Fluttershy nodded. “I’m also going to be advising Dracula, though, and that’s going to be a bit of a struggle. I mean, she’s finally at least trying, but… Well, I just hope she gets past the nihilism soon. Anyway, I also have a lot of ideas for little improvements I’d like to make. I mean, The Architect was clearly a very talented creature, but his work is kind of… Hostile.”
Rainbow Dash crawled back up onto the seat and plopped her head in Rarity’s lap again. “Yeah, that’s pretty obvious,” she said, “what with the eyes and the gray mane and the scar and all.”
“Sc—” Fluttershy reached up and touched her cheek, then looked at Pinkie. “I still have the scar?”
“Yup,” Pinkie said. “There’s a couple little ones, too, like here, and here.” She poked Fluttershy’s sides as she spoke. “I thought you knew.”
“I haven’t looked in a mirror,” Fluttershy said. Her face sank. “Does it… Does it look bad?”
“Nah, it’s cool,” Pinkie told her, ”and nothing can make you less cute. It just kinda put the cool on top of the cute.”
Fluttershy turned her head. “Rarity? Does it mess up my, um… How I look?”
“For once, darling, Pinkie’s nonsense is actually right.” Pinkie protested and pouted, but Rarity ignored her and went on. “It takes quite a bit for a scar to damage one’s look. Nopony will stop seeing you as a cute pony, they’ll just see a cute pony who has a scar.”
Fluttershy smiled softly and nodded. “Thank you.” Then she turned to Pinkie. “And you, too, sweetie. You’re just… A little biased.”
Pinkie huffed. “Not my fault you’re so cute. You just—”
Suddenly, Pinkie gasped and sprang to her hooves. She bounced in her seat and pointed out the window excitedly.
“We’re here!”
Rarity and Rainbow Dash both moved closer to the window so they could take a look outside.
They’d broken out of the trees, and with them the fog. Now the sky was clear, and the sun beat down harshly. The soft peat turned to hard, cracked dirt that made the carriage rattle twice as loudly. Slowly, The Driver turned them and started to walk along the long stone wall.
“Oh.” There was more than a hint of disappointment in Rarity’s reaction.
“What’s wrong?” Fluttershy asked.
“Oh, nothing!” Rarity caught herself far too late. “Nothing, really, just… Well, really, cobblestone? Don’t you think it’s kind of tacky?”
Fluttershy gave her a puzzled look. “But… It’s a wall.”
“Well, just because it’s a wall doesn’t mean it can’t look good,” Rarity replied. “I mean, it doesn’t even match the environment!”
“She kind of has a point,” Pinkie agreed. “We have a lot better stone nowadays.”
“Exactly.” Rarity tsked and shook her head. “It’s the modern age, Fluttershy. Be bold. Be daring. Might I suggest a nice obsidian? It would contrast wonderfully with the fog.”
“I don’t think obsidian would make a very good wall,” Pinkie said.
“Oh, what do you know?” Rarity replied.
“A lot. I grew up on a rock farm.”
“Oh, pssh.” Rarity waved a hoof dismissively. “You left almost as soon as you could walk. I be today’s obsidian is far stronger. Certainly enough for—”
The argument dragged on as the carriage tumbled over pebbles and stones on its way to the town. It creaked and slowed when the gate came into view, and The Driver stopped so expertly that there was hardly a jerk. It wasn’t until he knocked impatiently on the door that any of them even noticed they’d arrived.
“Ride’s up,” he grumbled.
Fluttershy didn’t keep him waiting. She hopped up almost immediately and opened the door.
“Thank you very much, Driver,” she said as she jumped out.
“Anytime, Miss N,” he replied.
“You really can just call me Fluttershy.”
“Not how I do things.” He walked past her and started to unhitch the wagon from the carriage.
“Of course.”
The others filed slowly out of the carriage and into the oppressive heat. Pinkie walked up beside Fluttershy, and Rainbow Dash took straight to the sky to look over the wall.
Rarity, meanwhile, trotted over to The Driver with a smile on her face. “Thank you so much for the travel, Mister… Driver.” She laughed awkwardly. “Do you take any sort of tip?”
“Nope,” he said. “Get paid plenty by the castle. Patience is thanks enough.” He glanced sidelong towards Pinkie, then shook his head. “Just stay out of the woods. It falls on me if you go and get yourselves lost out there.”
“Of course, sir.” Rarity gave him a kind smile before she turned away.
As she walked back, Rainbow Dash was shielding her eyes with a leg as she stared into the sky. “I mean, do you guys even have pegasi? This would never fly in Ponyville.”
“We have, um… Vampires?” Fluttershy shrugged. “It’s just a different climate. The fog blocks it out most days, we just got unlucky.”
“Unlucky?” Rainbow Dash scoffed. “In Ponyville we have a schedule.”
Fluttershy looked at her coldly. “I know how things work in Ponyville.”
Behind them, the carriage started rolling noisily away.
Rainbow Dash went on without responding. “So, which of these shacks is yours?”
“Oh, we’re not in town,” Fluttershy said.
Rarity’s eyes lit up. “Are you in the castle?”
“No, sorry,” Fluttershy said. Rarity’s face sank in disappointment. “That was a little too detached.”
“Well, what’s left?” Rainbow Dash asked.
Fluttershy laughed and walked over to grab the wagon. “Oh, you’ll see.”
The streets were bustling when they walked in through the gates. The crier was on his stage, talking up a storm to a crowd of creatures, while even more walked by. Some had bags or carts full of groceries, others stacks of books and supplies, but most were just walking with friends, talking and enjoying the sunny weather.
Rarity stopped walking as she stared out at all of them with wide eyes. “So… So many…” She was muttering under her breath.
“Yeah, it’s a lot to take in,” Fluttershy said. “Really, though, they’re all just like you and me. You just have to—”
“So many ideas!” Rarity spun around and grabbed Fluttershy’s shoulders. “Who do I talk to about a business permit?”
Fluttershy flinched. “W-What?”
“Look at them all, Fluttershy!” Rarity put a leg around Fluttershy’s shoulders and gestured out grandly. “These creatures deserve to look good, do they not? Well, I can make that happen!”
“They’re more than just new bodies for you to put dresses on, Rarity,” Fluttershy said.
“I—” Rarity swallowed her words and nodded. “You’re right. That was very rude of me. I’ll just… Get to know the local designers? Yes, I think that should work.”
“Let’s just get me and Pinkie moved in first.”
“Yeah, come on,” Rainbow Dash said. “The sooner we get to Fluttershy’s, the sooner we can get out of this heat.”
Fluttershy led the group past the stage, saying hello as she passed and apologizing for being too busy to stop, and onwards down the castle street. She took them past the businesses and the homes, telling them who, and what, lived in each as they passed by. They walked on past the vampires’ guild, which had construction materials stacked up outside the door. Two vampires, tired and messy from a day of work, smiled and waved as Fluttershy passed, and she returned the gesture, but still they didn’t stop.
When they approached the inner gates, one of the guards gave them a friendly nod. “Finally committing, huh?”
“Yeah,” Fluttershy said with an embarrassed smile. “I put it off too long. It’s been… Hard, to let go of Ponyville.”
“Yeah, I bet,” the guard said. “Well, I won’t keep you. Go on in.”
“Thank you.” Fluttershy grinned.
As they walked in, Rainbow Dash landed next to Fluttershy and matched her pace. “So, are you?”
Fluttershy glanced at her. “Am I what?”
“Letting go of Ponyville.”
“Oh.” Fluttershy stopped walking. Behind them, the gate swung shut silently. “I’m… I have to try to, I think. It wouldn’t be right to not put my all behind what I’m trying to do here.”
“What about the cottage?” Rarity asked.
“Empty, for now,” Fluttershy replied. “I want to find somepony to fill the space I’m leaving behind, to take care of the animals and the forest, but…” Fluttershy frowned and looked down. “This all just happened so fast. I never thought I’d need to be thinking about a replacement, and now I’m too busy to look.”
“Well, we can keep an eye out, dear,” Rarity told her. “The animals are tough. They’ll be able to take care of themselves in the meantime.”
“I wish I could just do both,” Fluttershy said, “but it’s just too much. Even after all this, I…” She looked down at herself and shook her head. “I’m still not good enough.”
Rainbow Dash nudged her shoulder reassuringly. “Hey, c’mon, you’re plenty good enough. I mean, you took out Dracula. Sometimes we just gotta make tough choices.”
Pinkie hopped over and nuzzled Fluttershy’s cheek. “None of us want you to tear yourself to shreds for us. You’re doing amazing already. We’ll figure out the rest.”
Fluttershy sniffed and wiped her eyes with her leg. Then she looked back up and smiled. “Thank you all.”
She let go of the wagon then and stepped to the side of the path. “Anyway, um, we’re here.”
She was standing in front of a little shack that sat just inside the gates. Even with the work she and Pinkie had been putting into it, it still looked almost too ramshackle to be lived in. The lawn was filled with dead grass, the plants were dry and withered. The roof was in shambles, and the walls were full of holes. In some places, the wood was so weak and worn away that it made the cabin look even older than the castle itself.
They had been working on it, though, and it was starting to pay off. There was a lovely new door painted in a soft green, and bit by bit the walls were being replaced with clean, orange-ish wood. The window frames had been replaced to match the door, although they had decided to keep the paintings that sat in place of the panes. They made up for the lack of real windows by installing a new one where the massive hole in the wall had been, and through it they could see a home under heavy construction. The half-finished renovation gave the home the feeling of being stuck between times, tethered to the past, and at the same time being dragged to the present.
Fluttershy was looking it over proudly. “This is where The Artist stayed, a long, long time ago. None of the creatures seem to know what she could actually do, but they all assume that Dracula wouldn’t have just any artist, and so it’s stayed empty ever since because of her last words. ‘Do not touch my home. Nothing is to live there.’” Fluttershy chuckled quietly. “I thought it was a funny coincidence.”
“Uhh…” Rainbow Dash gritted her teeth as she looked over the mess of a building.
Rarity had her head tilted to the side, trying to find a flattering angle. “It’s, um…”
Fluttershy turned around to face them. She had a huge grin under still-teary eyes.
“Isn’t it perfect?”
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What would Pinkie actually know about obsidian? She grew up on a rock farm. Obsidian is glass.
10076895
Obsidian is a volcanic glass. Which is rocks.
And it's over. I kind of want more, but have no idea where that more would go. I feel as if a sequel would detract from this, but can't help but want more. Good job. I haven't seen a story wrap itself up so well in a long time.
10076921
Obsidian is only a rock in the same way that regular glass is sand, or that plastic is petroleum.
10076932
glass isn't sand glass is a rock
10076964
Glass is typically made from a spefific type of sand, due to the high silica content, making it ideal for glass. So let's just call obsidian a mineral.
This was an amazing story that captivated me from the very beginning and each chapter left me waiting for the next one. Not only was this story powerful, it was exciting. I think you deserve a round of applause for this awesome story. Thank you so much for giving us the opportunity to read this
great work. Brohoof my friend. /)
10077462
Thank you! ^w^ I'm really happy I was able to captivate ppl, & all your comments were really nice to get. :3
well that was a brilliant ride, and a fitting ending
it was open-ended, but still felt nice and... final, i guess
i'm going to miss checking fimfic every day for the update :p
10078055
Keep an eye out, cuz the next story should be starting up soon enough, and I've decided that it is in fact going to be set in this universe, so there's more Pinkie and Fluttershy right around the corner! (Although, I can't promise I'm gonna stick to the daily updates, cuz they're... A lot. lmao)
Glad you enjoyed!
Your story has been reviewed!