Epilogue: The Ripple
“You wanted to see us, Thorax?”
“Ah, yes, Fang, Trochanter! Come on in! The paperwork is completed!” As they sat down at the small table, I took a pair of scrolls and set them in front of the couple. “Now just sign here and here, and it’ll be official!”
One by one, they took the quill provided for the purpose and did as instructed. I checked the signatures and added my own, gave them one copy of the scroll and set the other aside for the archives, and turned to the other pair, much younger, sitting at the table.
“Ecdysis, Mayfly, meet your new daddies! Congratulations, all of you!”
The nymphs pranced into their fathers’ grasps and the surge of love coming from all four of them was so rich it could daze any non-changelings that happened to be in the area! It certainly dazed me! I grinned at the new family. Right now, it was easy to forget all the pains and hardships of being a leader; moments like these made it all worth it!
“Wanna play chase?” Trochanter asked Mayfly.
“Sure thing, daddy!” she said; the sweetness in her words was to die for!
“I want in, too!” Ecdysis exclaimed.
The four ran off squealing and laughing, though not before Fang paused to tuck the adoption certificate under his elytron. I sighed contently as I watched them disappear behind a vine curtain.
Something slamming onto the table snapped me back into hard reality.
“Did you conspire about this?” Pharynx growled.
“Huh?”
He pointed a hoof at the copy of Canterlot Times he’d thrown onto the table.
I took up the newspaper and found the cause of his ire right on the front page. The title of the article read: Shift in Royal Power Announced - Celestia and Luna Retiring, Canterlot Throne to Pass to Twilight Sparkle!
I glanced wide-eyed at Pharynx and read the article. It didn’t go into too much detail - no matter, I could ask my friends about those - but the gist of it was that Celestia and Luna felt it was the right thing to do after Twilight and her friends had proven themselves more than capable of handling every threat that had popped up over the years. Twilight herself hadn’t commented on the ruling, but the reporter expressed his confidence that she was ready and determined to prove herself a worthy successor to the royal sisters. The next several pages consisted entirely of many reporters’ speculations about the process of the transfer of power, Twilight’s leadership style, how she’d handle herself in the early days of being the sole leader of the most influential country in the world, how the change would affect an average citizen, and so on and so forth. I only glanced through those pages; I could always read them later if I wanted to, but knowing Twilight personally, I hardly felt it necessary, not to mention that I could easily add a theory or two of my own to the pile! None of it mattered right now, anyway; I knew why Pharynx had brought this here.
“I didn’t know anything about it,” I told him.
“Then how in the name of eggshells did they come up with the exact same idea for a royal succession as you?”
“I don’t know-”
“Did you discuss your plans with them?”
“No-”
“Did Celestia and Luna tell you about their yet-to-be-announced plans for Twilight? Is that how you got your idea?”
“How would they tell me? I haven’t seen either of them since Ocellus went missing!”
“Didn’t Luna come to silence your nightmares almost every night for a while?”
“We talked about other things, and she never stayed long enough-”
“Twilight said nothing?”
“No…”
“The dragon?”
“Pharynx, what’s the matter with you? Okay, yes, their idea is uncannily similar to mine, so what? They must have had enough of ruling after a thousand years so they went with the obvious choice to replace them!”
“The timing is awfully suggestive!”
“A few weeks after my ‘breaking with tradition’ as you called it?”
“Yes!”
“So?”
“What?”
I groaned. “Pharynx, why are you so upset about this?”
He clenched his jaw and looked into the distance. “...it’s like they’re trying to give your move some validation just to annoy me,” he grumbled.
“You still haven’t gotten over me not looking for a wife, have you?”
“Are you sure you don’t want one?” he asked back. “I still can’t believe a guy with an aura like yours can’t find something in it that a wife would like…”
“Things weirder than an asexual king have happened,” I said. “Yes, I’m sure.”
He sighed. “So, that’s it, then? No nephews and nieces?”
Wait, that was what the whole deal was about?! Or at least part of the whole deal?!
“I never said that,” I countered. “There probably will be, now that some of the pressure is off my back, but unless something drastic changes, they’ll be adopted.”
He smirked and a spark lit up in his aura. “Then you might want to hurry. At the rate your subjects have been adopting nymphs, there won’t be any left for you anymore pretty soon, and then someling will need to have a tragic accident so you can adopt theirs.”
“Pharynx!”
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This is so petty, it's hilarious. Only Pharynx would try to push his brother into a marriage so he could have some nieces or nephews to snuggle.
Overall, an interesting look at one of my favorite relationships. My only real complaints are that it feels short and that there isn't really a counterargument presented to "I don't like romance/sex, therefore I'm broken." Not everyone has to extend their bloodline through the next generation, Pharynx.
10864991
I honestly agree.
Holy shit, only Pharynx could jump through so many hoops to get Thorax married without actually telling why he wants him to get married. Tsunderebug strikes again.
What the heck, Pharynx? This is very elaborate if all you wanted a nephew or niece
10865060
That was part of the reason. He also genuinely wanted some sort of a backup plan for what happens in case Thorax dies and thought this would kill two birds with one stone
10865178
Gotta be honest though; calling his younger brother “useless” and a “disgrace to the regime” was a dick move.
10865228
He got a little carried away, yes
10865243
Yeah, no kidding... poor Thorax...
It took me way to long to realize that the cover is a drawing of thorax in the ace flag color scheme
Wonderful job Owtcast!
While I do believe Pharynx was a tad bit OOC in this story, I can see why it was needed. Thorax needed an external pressure in order to first seek out help from Spike and Twilight, and then overcome said pressure so he could feel fulfilled. I do enjoy that tad bit of snark at the end signifying one of the real reasons Phar was pressuring Thorax-though he probably would have come up with random excuses to get nieces/nephews, I doubt he would've been that stubborn at telling the truth for that long. But all in all, Phar's attitude, while frustrating in parts of the story, can be overlooked, and overall added to the plot of the story.
Thorax himself was very in character the whole story, and you really captured his frustrations in dealing with both his brother and his own feelings. (Though I am a bit intrigued on how badly those dates must have gone for him to receive such threats like what was mentioned). Thorax was written very well, same as his brother, and I greatly enjoyed him as this story's moosebug protagonist.
Long story short...fantastic job, I look forward to more in the future. Happy Pride Month. 🏳️🌈
10865315
It was my intention to not make it immediately obvious. The cover image for my last year's event entry included an actual rainbow flag and I got a f*@#ton of downvotes on the story and most of the comments. I wanted to avoid the hate-spamming this time if possible
10865504
Something tells me we don't want know the particulars of what happened on those dates
Thanks! Happy Pride Month to you too 🏳️🌈
10865624
No problem, the story was great! Happy pride!
As an Asexual person myself, most of the crap here is so relatable. This was good.
10868630
It may be relatable because, as an asexual, I've been through similar crap
10868660
Ive just been called weird. Mostly because ive been known to write gay, straight or sexual based stories despite not being in a relationship.
This is cute. I like this take on Thorax.
I can't help but wonder what his dates were like, but I think it was probably a good idea to skip over them in the story. I imagine it would be too easy to slip into cringe comedy or swing the other way into something sad or downright depressing. Either would have been completely antithetical to the story. There is nothing wrong with Thorax; he shouldn't be mocked or pitied, least of all by the reader.
I wouldn't mind getting to see him build an intimate-but-platonic companionship with someone one day though
So it took me realizing that I'm several weeks late to reading this fic to realize I somehow wasn't already Following you.
Anyway, I'm glad to see this. I think Pharynx was a bit... much... and I honestly can't possibly imagine what Cinnabug of all people could possibly do to get the reactions from the 'ling mares that drove him to Twi and Spike, but I liked the conversations we did get and, well, Thorax has never been more relatable for me. I mean, I've never even bothered to try dating, mostly because I didn't want things like what apparently happened to Cinnabug in this to happen to me.
I kinda wish there was a little more here, like showing the 'lings actually forgiving Thorax and maybe apologizing themselves for, y'know, threatening and assaulting their kind, soft-hearted leader, but meh. I understand if you didn't have time or something.
By the way, was this is fic at all inspired by my comment on King of Love Bugs' third epilogue?
10889469
The rough idea for the story came up shortly after the last year's Pride and Positivity, or maybe near the end of the event but too late to actually write it, so I put it off to be written for this year's event. I'll have to check your comment to remind myself if it influenced something about the story, though. And no problem about only now watching me; I too still discover I forgot to watch people
10889469
Okay, just checked the comment, and well, I seem to remember thinking wait until you see what I'm about to write after reading the first part
10889608
Uh, what’s that supposed to mean?
10893069
You know the story King of Love Bugs by NavelColt? Damon made a comment on the final chapter on that story saying, among other things, something along the lines of having a headcanon about Thorax being aroace. This was around the beginning of Pride Month and also shortly after this year's Pride and Positivity event was announced, and I was at the time just about preparing to write this story (which I'd been planning to write for this year's P&P event ever since the last year's one).
10893138
Oh, now I get it. At first I thought you had something else coming.
10893149
Something else is coming, but not in the immediate future
(I mean the final part of the Walk Where There Is No Path series, and I have half an idea for a spiritual successor but that isn't even in serious planning stage yet)
10893170
Alright then.
i so love how you have played Pharynx in this story.
and at the vary end the truth slips out Pharynx want's nephews and nieces he wants family.
I certainly wasn't expecting that curveball!
I understand being an "ace", from what I gathered, is hard when you do want a family but have no particular pull to love. Learning more of your version of these two are always a treat!