Epilogue: The Land Carries On
The bleak, stone table was dimly illuminated by yellow orbs, hanging down from the tree roots. The six mares sat quietly in their cutie-marked chairs, all staring at the modest, silver tiara in the table's centre. They had a very important business to discuss, but nobody knew how to begin.
“Is this really happening?” Rarity broke the silence in a quivering voice. “Can she really be dead?”
“I can scarcely believe this isn’t some ruse either,” Twilight stated grimly.
“Can’t you, like, brew that stuff again and bring her back? Since when dying is a problem for her?” Rainbow asked.
“No,” Twilight shook her head. “There is no body. As soon as it happened, her body broke down back into the magic energy it was composed of.”
“Yup, saw it meself,” Applejack confirmed. “One moment she trots ‘round and talks, next she falls down and disappears in thin air. Bat folks went barmy.”
“Oh dear… What happened?” Fluttershy covered her face.
“She wanted to atone for the wrongs she did, to stop pretending and let the rest of us see what she is really like and decide for ourselves if we want her to rule us. Her sister panicked and stabbed her with a poisonous stiletto,” Twilight grimly recounted. “Shadow took the blame.”
“Dat changeling missy? Dat lying spit?”
“AJ, for the thousandth’ time, Shadow is not like that,” Rainbow sighed. “She is nice, she is just loyal to a fault. If Nightmare Moon told her to lie, she would; if she told her to kill, she would. Don't blame her for following orders,” Applejack huffed loudly in response.
“She is in the dungeon, no one knows what to do now,” Twilight continued. “Everyone who ever seen her together with Nightmare Moon knows that she would never do that.”
“And… Daybreaker? That’s her name, right?” Rainbow asked.
“Crushed. She is in her tower, Baron volunteered to stand guard at her door and keep an eye on her. If her state when she went in there is any indication, she won’t be useful for a few days at the very least.”
Pinkie suddenly laughed aloud,
“This is the greatest prank ever! Stabbed by her own sister at the moment when she finally found a way from the problem she herself created!”
“The hay are you talking ‘bout? Pinkie, laughing at the dead ain’t good, even if it’s Hag.”
“Didn’t any of you notice? Oh, I love explaining jokes!” Pinkie wasn’t dismayed in a slightest. “Ever since Celestia was back, Nightmare Moon felt like total namby-pumby. She figured out exactly why everypony didn't like her so much and it huruuurt, let me tell you! Must have taken her helluvan effort to pull herself together again! Guess it bothered her enough to give up her authority.”
“How do you… You know what, don’t answer that,” Twilight rubbed her tired eyes. “Okay, everyone, we need to figure out what to do now. Any suggestions?”
“Well, Daybreaker would be the most obvious heir,” Rarity suggested. “Poor darling must be positively devastated!”
“Ugh...” Rainbow face hooved herself. “Really? Rarity, she literally murdered Nightmare Moon before your eyes, and now you pity her? For real?”
“Rainbow, dear, show some compassion! Daybreaker is rather mean spirited, but imagine how would you feel if you caused the death of your own sister! This is a dreadful position to be in!”
“How ‘bout Luna then?” Applejack suggested. “You said she’s around.”
“Well no... she isn’t anymore,” Twilight awkwardly answered. “She is gone. Nobody saw her since. We don’t know where she is or what she’s doing. Looking for her isn’t going to work, we won’t see her unless she wants us to see her. She can be on the other side of the planet by now if she wanted to.”
“Well, we need Daybreaker anyway, right? Someone has to raise the sun and moon,” Rainbow said.
“Daybreaker can’t rule. Nightmare Moon specifically said that she cannot be let close to the throne. Provided she would even agree after what she did,” Twilight declined.
“Then… the only one remaining is you, Twilight!” Rarity gasped. “She taught you, didn’t she?”
“I am not ready,” Twilight shook her head. “She said so herself. We have to find someone else. Maybe one of the ministers.”
“Excluding Cloudy,” Rainbow wedged in. “She’s a traitor.”
“Traitor to who, us or her?”
“To the state.”
“Oh, so dat’s how it is now, ain’t it, Rainbow?”
“Ah, girls please-please don’t start!” Fluttershy tried her best to avoid the fight.
“No, Twilight, it has to be you!” Rarity persisted. “You are the one who she taught specifically in case something happened.”
“Rarity, I can’t! She said it herself, I am not ready! She even showed me exactly how would I fail!”
“But, Twilight, there isn’t anyone better than you! She taught you herself! Remember how she used to say: 'A Princess has responsibilities!' You have to, Twilight!”
“I… Let’s have a vote,” Twilight proposed. ”Who is for me to take over temporarily?” To Twilight’s despair, 5 hooves were held up. "No-no-no! Girls, I-I can't! I am going to make everything even worse! I cannot rule!" previously restrained panic was no breaking out as if she was a punctured water barrel.
"Then get help, darling," Rarity suggested. "There are many ponies in the Empire who would gladly help you."
“I am going to need a new cabinet… reports from all around the Empire… Have to sort through her files... Oh, dear, how am I going to do this?! What will become of us!”
“Just like in the old times! Classic Twilighting,” Pinkie chuckled.
“Hey! That’s right!” Rainbow exclaimed. “Just like old times! Let’s do it all together! Twilight knows a bit about that political thing, Rarity is good at managing the palace, I can do the military bit, AJ can manage agriculture, Fluttershy can help with healthcare, and Pinkie can do public relations or something. That’s a lot of the seats taken! Let’s throw elections for everyone we are missing!”
“That… can work, I guess. Well, it won’t be worse than having no one at all,” Twilight mused. “We still need someone to talk to Daybreaker though, we can’t raise the sun and moon without her. She’d have a few things to say too.”
“It’s settled den,” Applejack stated definitely. “You are goin’ to take over. Should we just call ye Empress and bow now?
“AJ, don’t start. It’s Twilight, remember?” Rainbow wedged in.
“Ain’t ya forgetting somepony else?”
“AJ, Daybreaker would not agree to let Celestia go,” Twilight sighed.
“Ain’t seein’ us asking. We got the Elements in the Tree, ye?”
“No!” Twilight hit the table with a mighty thud. “Daybreaker deserves to live too, I won’t do the same thing to her as she was forced to do to Celestia!”
“Can’t we just talk to her maybe?” Fluttershy’s whisper was barely audible. "If she is Moon's sister she can't be too bad..."
“Well… maybe. In a while, we could convince her, I hope. With some guarantees… and a lot of patience.”
“The poor darling isn’t evil, she’s just afraid,” Rarity came to support.
“Well, everyone. For better or for worse, we’ve got our plan,” Twilight said without a hint of joy. “I just can’t believe it. Nightmare Moon is gone and I am about to step in her shoes. I… I thought we finally figured it out, how to fix everything. I thought that it all is going to be alright, now this… Why does this keep happening? What was this all for?” Twilight’s eyes were rapidly watering.
“Poor darling! It wasn’t supposed to end like this! She was trying so hard!” Rarity blew her nose in her own hoofkerchief for the lack of anything else.
“Y-yeah, she had a good thing going. Damn, never thought I was going to tear up because of her,” Rainbow began wiping her eyes before any drops could escape.
One by one, they all quietly began sobbing, each for her own reason, and only Pinkie Pie kept wearing an unnaturaly wide smile across her face.
Also LikedSimilarAuthor
- The Sound of Loneliness · 206k words · 43 6 · 1.1k views
- The Sound of Loneliness · 32k words · 116 7 · 3k views
- I Vicious I · 2k words · 84 5 · 1.2k views
Stats
Page generated in 0.101 seconds
Total duration
624 users online
817,792 hits today, 2,280,440 yesterday
FIMFiction
My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic Fanfiction
Designed and coded by knighty & Xaquseg - © 2011-2024
Follow & Support Us
Support us
SubStar
Chat!
Discord
Follow us
Twitter
MLP: Friendship is Magic® - © 2024 Hasbro Inc.®
Fimfiction is in no way affiliated with or endorsed by Hasbro Inc.®
This is the one thing that always bugs me. Twilight says Daybreaker haves the right to live, but that doesn't mean she haves the right to steal somepony elses body and life to do it.
And what about Celestia? Isn't her right to defend what hers, doesn't she have the right to live, I mean its her body, her life, those things rightfully belongs to her. Its not her fault daybreaker chosed her body to try and possess, and if Celestia did agree to let Daybreaker take control, like Nightmare did to Luna, She just would of taken permanent control and leave Celestia a prisoner in her own mind.
I love Rarity Nightmare. Unlike her big sisters she chose not to steal Rarity body, for she had no intention to take what clearly did not belong to her, as for Nightmare and Daybreaker that was literally the first thing they tried to do.
I can't understand why Twilight would just sit back and let Daybreaker keep Celestia body like that, speaking of which, why wouldn't she want her back in the first place (unless she's still broken from Luna death and doesn't know that she's alive) I mean yes she haves her faults but nobody perfect. You can't deny that equestria was fine under her rule until Nighmare Moon came and ruin things so that she could rule.
I do believe that the mess with the bat ponies was uncalled for, Celestia should of done something to get everypony to see that their not bad instead of trying to push them away. Again nobody perfect, but that was one of few known mistakes compared to the hundreds Nightmare Moon made.
If their is a sequel to this,I can't wait to see how they plan to fix all the damage Nightmare Moon caused.
10729910
Well, there is a number of things to talk about here. First, mind that Nightmare Moon is extremely divisive on purpose, and both Twilight and Rarity are the products of her conditioning. They think in the way that Nightmare Moon wanted them too and the way she wanted them to think is not necessary very moral or consistent. This is why Nightmare Rarity refused to have contacts with her, she knows that she cannot resist her sister's subtle form of domination. Notice how even Rainbow Dash eventually gets into the same line of thinking even though she hates Nightmare Moon. Her way of control is not physical, nor with fear, but something very subtle and nearly unnoticeable.
Twilight refuses to do anything about Daybreaker and Celestia because Nightmare Moon hammered into her head the thought that there is no resolution. Someone will get hurt and it is not for Twilight to decide who gets to have a life and who gets to watch. In Nightmare Moon's defence, she did not do that because she preferred Daybreaker over Celestia, but because of Daybreaker's neurotic personality. She wanted her sister to stay calm and eventually earn enough of her trust to make her let go without anyone having to get hurt. She almost got there too, but just a little short on time.
Second, remember that Nightmare Rarity is having her own interest in mind as much as she has Rarity's. She is a lot younger and she can learn from the mistakes of her predecessors. Watching Nightmare Moon's experience, she knows that attracting attention means inviting ire upon herself. In this case, the very attention of her sister is going to mean eventual and inevitable enslavement. Nightmare Moon shackles to her will everyone she can reach and Nightmare Rarity did not like the future of servitude. And she did try to seize control, once. She tried to flee from both her sister's influence and from everyone who could help Rarity. She may genuinely like Rarity, but there can only be one in the end and it is not her fault that it is this way. But she failed and relented, not wishing to confront Nightmare Moon. Nightmare Moon's sisters are creatures of deception by necessity, even if they do not lie outright, they may not be meaning all of what they are saying, there are ways to sew deception while not saying a single lie. Nightmare Moon herself is a great example, she deceives nearly every single character she has contact with while practically never lying.
Lastly, I am afraid the sequel either not coming at all, or it will be radically different from what you expect. This is a story about Nightmare Moon, after all, and we cannot have it without her.
10729986
I figured as much. Nightmare moon was just too smart, even at the end her influence still remained alive. The only way things could get better if they all truly she how Nightmare manipulated them and try to do things the way Celestia did but better.
If Celestia was still in power when the griffons came asking for food, they would of been given all that they needed, and not do no harm to the Equestrian food supply. But of course Nightmare did something to the food supply so she can use it to her advantage.
If the girls weren't so focus too much on the good and more on the bad they would of seen her for the villian she still was.
And i'm a bit confused about Pinkie. I'm guessing she's the only one who knows everything about Nightmare Moon plans.
10730041
Well, here's the catch. Nightmare Moon is not a villain, no longer anyway. She did a lot of bad things once upon a time, she openly recognized as much and she did her best to atone. She did care for her subjects and tried her best for them, for a selfish reason, but nonetheless. She wasn't a bad monarch, not one bit less competent than Celestia and sometimes even surpassing her.
It's just that when she finally realized what she was doing, she already was so far into the problem of her own doing that she saw no other way but to continue forward and hope that she can find a way to fix it at some point. She didn't know another way, so she continued ruling in the way she knew how. She did cause the food crisis, but not intentionally. It was a consequence of her rule that she no control over. In the end, she did find o solution to her problem though and to that end she willing to give away everything she worked for over a thousand years.
The end was kinda rushed and have many questions abou future.
Poor NM, i hate Daybreaker for what she do.
I hope there will be sequel about future of this Equestria.
Could use an editor to go over the work...
There were plenty of times where the text seemed to be copy pasted over and over. Some paragraphs were certainly repeated.
The story was good reading though.
10784281
Any specific cases? I did, actually, have editors. 2 separate people at that. They were thorough enough as it seemed.
10784286
huh... I got on my computer so I could find them faster... but, I can't find them. There were at least 4 times in different chapters. Perhaps it was some kind of loading error when viewing them on my phone...?
10785893
Maybe. No one ever noticed before.
How did The_Darker_Fonts help you with this story?
11309833
It's the other one he helped with. For this one, I have an entirely different person helping, but they specifically asked to remain anonymous.
And so ends one of the best "villain" stories I've ever read, with a sour ending and something I was afraid would happen. I became so attached to Nightmare Moon that it has officially become one of my favorites.
Because as you say, the best way to relate to a villain is to see his most *human* side, and in these stories I saw this statement taken to its best level. It's definitely going into my favorites library, and I'm looking forward to more stories like this, maybe with this character again, maybe not but it will be worth reading.
Thanks a lot for your work. Even though there were a few inconsistencies and just strangely unrealistic reactions from characters, overall the story was great. I felt the characters in your story and it made me thinking, that's a success from writer's perspective I think. Thanks again and do more!
P.S.: by story I mean both parts as I was waiting for you to finish them both and read them in one go.
11709219
Well, I thank you for such a high praise. Although I do not quite understand your criticism. This is a tragedy, a genre steeped in theatrical tradition. Reactions are not meant to be totally realistic. Without exaggerating them ever so slightly the viewers in the back might not see the actors' expressions or hear their words. I thought this would be a positive feature.
A thousand years ago, a war began, and now, with Princess Celestia accepting defeat and her new role at the court, and the new Empress forming a reluctant understanding with the Element Bearers, it appears the rangefinder of history has brought about a resolution. Nightmare Moon finds herself on top of the world with no remaining enemies. While ponies reluctantly accept their new leadership, Princess Luna still maintains a legitimate claim. However, little do they know, their beloved Princess has long ceased to have a say in the court's affairs.
11758512
It's alright, Like I said I think it's a well written fic and you did catch my attention quite a bit throughout, but I'm not too big on the everything gets worse till they die genre I suppose, I've seen tragedy in stories before, and some I quite liked. It just felt so hollow here, so impersonal, like it was just supposed to punch you in the nose to meet the quota. There wasn't any real emotional follow-up, prelude or reaction in the moment that let me understand how much of a loss this felt like to Nightmare. She just had to put the mask back on to deal with Daybreaker and that was it. None of the other characters mention it for at least the next few chapters I read, though I understand that this is because it was kept a secret but still...
I like tragedy when it makes me feel sad, when I can resonate with the characters about it, when I can see through their actions or thoughts how they have been affected or changed, which I just didn't get here. I won't say that is your fault by any margin, that's just how I feel. So if the story will continue to punch me in the nose like so, I will take my leave and wish you well, perhaps I'll check out the sequel at some point, but I will break for now.
Also If I were to give an honest bit of critique, I don't quite understand why after having seen what Nightmare did to herself and having helped separate her and Luna from each other due to his love of Luna, why Sombra would suddenly begin to send crystal/ice soldiers into the city for the soldiers to shoot. There was no previous foreshadowing to him plotting to do such a thing as far as I caught, We saw no moving ice soldiers from the perspective of other characters in chapters prior. And even if he had been doing it for a while, he could have stopped or warned Luna that he had been doing such a thing. He seemed insightful and cunning enough that he'd not forget to mention such a thing.
I understand that certain things need to happen for the story to move forward, but that just took me out of it a little. Another thing I quite like about tragedy is when you can see that it's going to happen at any moment, but can do nothing to stop it. There's tension to that, drama and hope, but it stipulates a requirement for the viewer to have a chance of seeing it coming before the characters do, and I do mean earlier than in the same chapter a couple of lines up.
Regardless I'd chalk that up to personal preferences and nitpicking. I did enjoy it up till this point, so I thank you for penning this well done story author. I'm not so happy with how the story is turning, but I've been happy to read it up till now. So thank you.
11758774
Ah, but that was the whole point. It was impersonal because it was always meant to be. Just like Romeo could do nothing to avert the death of Juliet, so couldn't Nightmare Moon avert her own. Memento Mori - that is the very meaning of the ending. No matter how long it takes, every life eventually ends. So do not waste your life chasing things that will only make you more miserable. Nightmare Moon finally had a moment where she briefly saw what was it she really needed. First, she thought she needed power, then she thought she needed to prove that she was better than Celestia, then she thought that it was family and finally, she caught a glimpse that all she truly wanted was something different - she wanted to see the people she loved to be happy. The tragedy here does not come from the personal pain and suffering that Nightmare Moon experiences, she, broadly, is prepared to die. It comes specifically from how cold and impersonal it is. Nightmare Moon both caused and suffered a great deal of pain and when she finally found the crumb of what she always wanted - it was all over. No ceremony, no crowds of weepers, not even a tomb. The uncaring Fate simply cuts the thread of her life and moves on with her duties, just like Nightmare Moon herself would have done. I think it is quite beautiful, by the means of contrast.
As for Sombra and his golems, it is exactly one of those circumstances that I spoke of. In Greek tragedy, things do not always happen because of a clear cause. Sometimes gods intervene, and sometimes the universe itself conspires against the hero. This is the latter one. As hard as it is to imagine, Sombra in the entire story never had the intention to harm anyone with any of his actions. He is defeated, he's done. He tried his best and it only came out worse for one person that he cared for. The purpose of his golems is distraction, nothing else. He made them to give the soldiers, and specifically Shinning Armor, something to do other than to cause problems for Sombra personally. It is quite hard to be an evil wizard when every other day a party of heroes barges into your laboratory and rummages through it. If you cannot destroy the said heroes, you may as well find something else for them to do to at least reduce the chance of that happening. His golems causing Nightmare's own men to take her and Luna as illusions was an accident that he never intended or foresaw.
Well, I thank you for your time, attention and high praise, and I shall await your return patiently. Perhaps by the time you have rested enough, I will have something even better for you to enjoy.