Epilogue: A New Generation
Epilogue: A New Generation
~BlackRoseRaven
Antares Mīrus was sitting quietly on the back deck of the cottage, gazing silently up at the moon high above. It was his sixteenth birthday, or rather, it had been... and it had been great. Lots of gifts, lots of laughter... and yet under it all... sadness. Pain. Thoughts of his Mom and Dad... wishing they were here. He was a tall, athletic, handsome young stallion now... his coat glossy black, his mane radiant white, and his horn was tall and sharp and leathery wings strong enough to let him fly fast and hard before they got too sore. He was an excellent fencer and graceful on his hooves... Aunt Tia said he would have made his mother proud, even if he found it difficult to use a lot of magic still.
He reached up, silently fiddling at the onyx star of his necklace before he heard hoof-steps... and he couldn't help but smile faintly as his cousin Aphrodisia strode out onto the balcony and sat down beside him with a soft look to him. Six years younger, and yet she was essentially a fully-grown mare already: her beautiful light pink coat all but shimmered, her sharp teeth glinted, and her straight, raven-black mane fell in a waterfall to one side of her face, through which gorgeous green eyes studied him curiously. “You wanna have a fling? Get your mind off things.”
Antares laughed and shook his head, pushing at her playfully, saying softly: “Thanks for trying to cheer me up, Apps, but... not right now.” He smiled a bit, and then the glanced up at the night sky as she nodded seriously before wrapping a foreleg around him, closing her eyes and dropping her head on his shoulder. She was his cousin, and probably his closest friend. It didn't matter that she was a demon and could be particularly creepy and had no sense of privacy: she was always there for him, and she pestered him but she was always good to him. And thankfully didn't get more weird than awkward questions and her audacious teasing.
They were joined a few moments later by Avalon, who sat down on his other side and grinned at him as she brought a hoof up to smooth her short, unkempt red and gold mane back, and he couldn't help but reach up and ruffle it, making her huff and glare: she was still only about half his size, if that. But she was tough as ever, too... and Antares smiled a bit as he glanced over his shoulder as Meadowlark and Rustproof both approached. One a slender, beautiful young Pegasus, the other a bulky, powerfully-built gentle giant of an earth pony who was almost as tall as Antares but easily twice as wide, even though he was technically the youngest of them physically with how Aphrodisia had aged twice as fast as the rest of them.
He could hear their family and friends inside: from his Mom and guardian, Twilight Sparkle, to Sleipnir and Celestia and so many others. All talking, and so much of it was code for Luna and Scrivener, and for him, he knew. He closed his eyes, reaching up to rub slowly at the gemstone hanging from his necklace again... and then he nodded slowly once before gazing up, eyes that were the same dark blue-green as his mother's locking on the moon high above, as he said quietly: “I believe my Mom and Dad are still alive.”
“You say that every year, Antares.” Aphrodisia said quietly, sitting up a bit and studying him curiously, and then she frowned and cocked her head curiously.
Avalon looked up attentively too, sensing it as well as the others leaned in... and then Antares shook his head and only gazed up at the moon again, saying quietly: “I know. But... now... I'm not going to just say it, and hope that everypony will believe me. Now... I think... I think I'm going to do what I've always talked about. No matter how long it takes or where it takes me or what I have to do... I'm gonna find them.”
“Then you can count me in.” Aphrodisia grinned at this, nodding firmly as she licked her teeth slowly with her forked tongue.
“Adventure, huh? I could do that. Besides, you and Apple Pie go anywhere without me and you end up getting messed up.” Avalon said easily, leaning in with a wink at him, and Antares laughed and shook his head. “Plus I'm way better in the air and faster than any pony you'll ever meet. Navigation and all those horseapples.”
“But more than adventure, you're looking for something... for your parents.” Meadowlark said softly, and she nodded slowly before reaching a hoof forwards and touching Antares' shoulder as he glanced back at her with surprise. “I'll come too, if you're serious about this. It would be an amazing story, anyway... reuniting with your parents across layers.”
“Just don't rush off now. Take it slow. Do it gentle-like, and we'll be there to help you ever step of the way.” Rustproof added softly, the enormous earth pony smiling quietly. “Momma always says I should be more like her. This kinda sounds like her.”
Antares laughed a little and nodded, and then he glanced up at the moon and shook his head, saying quietly: “I appreciate it guys... and... I don't mean tonight, or tomorrow. I don't know when I'll go, and I mean... Rusty, no offense, but you're still a kid, and Meadowlark, I don't know if-”
“Don't turn down your friends' help.” said a soft voice, and Antares turned around with surprise to see Scarlet Sage standing in the doorway, the mare smiling softly at him. She was beautiful, and tall, and strong... and she strode quickly over to the group to lean down and hug him tightly before nuzzling him firmly, and Antares blushed before his big sister sat back and looked into his eyes, adding quietly: “And tell Twilight Sparkle, and Celestia, and Sleipnir. Ask them for help, to train you, and don't go sneaking off. If you want to save Mom and Dad... you gotta do it right. And you gotta do what they didn't, and accept help, and trust in your friends to help you and protect you... as much as I know you have their same urge to do anything and everything to help and protect us all.”
Scarlet Sage reached up, stroking under his chin, and Antares blushed before the Pegasus smiled softly, gazing back and forth as she said quietly: “Now come on. We're cutting up the cake and Sleipnir's making a big mess of it.”
The others nodded, and Scarlet Sage turned, the ponies filtering one-by-one after her until only Antares Mīrus was left standing outside on the deck and gazing up at the moon... and he closed his eyes, thinking of his dreams, feeling the comfort of the night and hearing the whispers on the wind of his parents' voices coming down from the stars above, telling him it would be okay.
He smiled after a moment, then nodded firmly, looking up and saying quietly: “Yeah. I'm gonna find you, Mom and Dad.” He hesitated, gazing at the ivory sphere in the sky before whispering: “Wait for me, huh? I'm gonna save you both... I promise.”
And with that, Antares turned and headed back inside to the comfort of the family and friends, secure in the knowledge that one day he'd once more be able to share his joy and love with Luna Brynhild and Scrivener Blooms; that he would save his mother and father, just like they had always saved him.
Love, friendship, honor:
Three things better than a reason to die;
Three reasons to live.
May 2nd, 2012 – July 7th, 2012
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749, 207 words and two views. Fav'd by the way. My wish to you is, make this to one million words. It will make history!
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Wait, nevermind, it's already finished!
1324761
Well, this is part of a series, so the total word count of the whole series is around 2 million.
Added to that, 2 more are in the works, and they may be even longer than this - each of BlackRoseRaven's works seems to be longer than his last.
>> Yeah, I noticed that. Thanks for informing me!
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Holy shit. Over 700,000 words?!
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Congratulations, this is now the longest story on this site. How long did it take you to write this?
1337438
Thanks very much. This took me about two months: I always record the start and end date for my longer stories. May 2nd to July 7th to be precise.
1338968 So you wrote about 11500 words per day? Impressive.
Finally decided to actually be on the site. Makes keeping track of all the stories I try and read a LOT easier. Anyways, not much to say about this story other then what I said on ff.net but there was one thing I remembered I wanted to comment on.
After Luna and Scrivy used their own form of the Black Verses to stop the three Tyrant Worms (I'll just call them the White Verses), I kept expecting it to pop up sometime later, maybe as a way reverse corruption or something. Didn't happen, but I'll live with that.
Keep up the writing and enjoy it!
1354840
I did kind of want to use it again, but it ended up not really working itself in. But then again, things do tend to pop up from story to story, so the opportunity for them to reappear might yet present itself. My hands write funny ways sometimes.
Thanks very much though, for the faves and watch too, and I'll certainly continue to write. Probably until I'm turned to stone or something, but there's plenty on the way, either way.
BEHOLD THE GOD OF WRITING
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1390061
I just uh. Get carried away sometimes, really, that's all.
Holy-
what the actual fuck
13 ass
1338968 Wait how is this possible? You are making me question my reality
1443843
I pretty much never sleep and cleverly have no social life to distract me. But my hands do most of the work for me. I just kind of sit and... poof.
Okay ... this will take a while to read ... especially as I just finished the first story of the series
1462497
I hope you find it enjoyable to work through the stories, then, 'cause uh. Yes. It is just a little bit to read.
1465912 I'm sure I will enjoy the reading
1474339
Thanks kindly. I know it's quite a bit to take in, yes. People have said some pretty nice things about it, though, and I figure most people won't sit back and read something this long if it's utterly horrible, so. I have that going for me, at least. I think. I hope.
700,000 words? Remarkable feat. The longest ones that I could find out there can barely top 300k.
The first few chapters pulled me in alright. Now just gimme a few days to finish it off.
1515086
Thanks very much. This was supposed to be a much shorter story, really, but uh... things just kept going. I hope you find it an enjoyable read. And thanks kindly for the watch, too.
1517036 You're very welcome. You do deserve it, after all.
So many words!
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1640583 That "You can do it" is awesome! I found it also works great as music lyrics for Eurobeat Brony - Discord (The Living Tombstone's Remix) - YouTube.
You have my respect.
1766217
I appreciate it. Thanks very much for the fave, too.
Welcome. you deserve it with your skills and talent.
Slepinir and Pinkamena. Genius.
1834624
And the funny thing is it's not even the weirdest couple I write about in the stories. But they are definitely one of the most entertaining, I think.
1836670 True but they are my favorite. wonder what they'er kid would be like?
1838973
Then you'll be pleased to know that question will actually be answered near the end of the story. Apps is a delightful little terror.
1841695 Your my fricking favorite writer ever
1922098
Names are tricky. I really, really hate names, to be honest, and it takes me forever to figure out appropriate ones. Most of my names end up culled from mythology, or end up following a specific theme. All the Architects are named after ancient cities/civilizations, my pony characters are almost always named for their talents or a defining feature, Valthrudnir has a blurb about him in Norseolgy. And the dictionary actually helps a lot too. At worst, I can always twist something Norse or Latin into something moderately-cool sounding if necessary, as well. That's my fallback.
As to pronouncing, I shortform pretty much everything. Iggy, Ten, Val. It's a lot easier than trying to sound out names that have like, five vowels in a row.
1342805
It is. I'm not very good, but I write for my own enjoyment (At times, it's been a few years since I wrote last) and I know for me personally that when I get into it, the words just come to me and it.. Just easy. I don't know how to explain it. But still an average of over ten thousand words a day is really something. It's not easy to write that much. Still takes discipline even if you are on a creativity binge.
So many feels. So many laughs and choked-up moments. It's taken me far too long to get through this story, but it's been worth every moment.
Well done.
2134836
Thanks very much. I'm glad to hear it proved a worthy read.
Thanks for favin' LDT, too, and I hope you continue to enjoy the stories as they come.
I finished reading this book yesterday. 2390 pages took me freaking 2 months to read, but it was worth.
I cried at the end... And I'm not the type of guy to usually cry, but I went school-girl mode once I finished it... The letter touched me hard as well, and I can relate to much of the stuff said in this book on an emotional level.
The writing is that of college level. I saw no memorable spelling mistakes and very little grammar mistakes (but i mean this book is huge, so what can you ask for?). The way you formed Scrivener Blooms and Luna Brynhild alongside Twilight Sparkle was also extremely well thought out and very well done. Every character received a perfect amount of attention and a good story, and Scarlet Sage's story also gave me the feels.
If I could, I would nominate you for every award possible related to literature. And for some reason, I feel like you poured a bit of yourself into Scrivener Blooms and dropped life lessons here and there. I don't know if you are actually like him, but nevertheless I felt that he was kind of.. closer, i guess, to what I would imagine you would be like.
10/10 Would buy in stores
Now to read Antares's story!
2187523
Thank you very much. I'm glad to hear you found it such a good read, and it got through to you so much.
It also is always really reassuring to hear when people say I did well with Scrivy, Luna, and Twilight. It's always been extremely important for me to try and cover that properly, try and make it... understandable.
And well, that's not the first time I've heard that. I really don't know much myself. There is a... kind of avatar character... well, it's complicated. You'll see him in Absolution. I think at the end of the day I've decided to call him an Emissary, because he doesn't really snap into true avatar territory. But. Yes.
Thank you again though, and the fave is much appreciated as well. I hope you continue to enjoy the stories, since. There is much insanity with Absolution, and I'm in the process of working on another big story to top things off. I. Hope it does, anyway.
2333912
My greatest fear is that someone will one day ask me to name all the references he makes.
2352108
Thanks very much. I'm glad to hear it had such an impact.
1355954 I must ask, how did you edit this beast? My partner and I are sitting around 200,000 words on a 2 week release schedule of 10k each release. I write 1000 words a day.
We have bitch of a time making sure each release is the best it can be and have been working for nearly a year. Even with three editors, we still have weeks where we have typos.
At 10k per day...You must have a huge team.
-Chessie
Still can't believe your writing BlackRoseRaven, took me another couple of months to read but you captivate me every night as I go to sleep. It often gets to the point where ill finish a chapter and want to keep reading so much ill fall asleep mid-read the next chapter. I commend you on this entire story and am amazed at your imagination to have kept this going so long. Here's to the next story, I can't wait!
Ps. Sorry about the whole single paragraph, on my phone and also rather excited :3
2515687
I wish I did. I actually have no beta reader or anything: basically, I write the story, and then I do a fast edit sweep to catch any glaring errors or misspellings, and then I do a closer editing run of each chapter before I post it. I still have lots of typos and plenty of repeated words, of course, no matter how many times I edit something, something will always slip through, but I just try and do my best to make sure things are readable.
2517678 That's impressive in a way I can't really describe. I've been writing for years and output on that scale is, flat out, BEYOND me.
-Chessie
2517459
Thanks very much. I really appreciate hearing that, and that you've found reading these so enjoyable and worth your time. It always means a lot to hear that I've managed to captivate someone's attention, and it really makes the time spent on all this feel a little more worthwhile and me feel kinda lucky that I've got readers who can enjoy this long, endless stream of madness. Thanks again, and I hope you continue to find the series just as good. Stuff only gets crazier from here on out, after all.
2517694
I really just. Hope for the best and let my hands do everything for me. They seem to know what to do, even if they get uh... carried away. I'm just kind of the neurotic who happens to be along for the ride.
Wow. BlackRoseRaven, you are an amazing author, and I greatly hope you continue your writing, and possibly make a career out of it. I for one would certainly buy books you wrote. You have done an amazing job. Please keep it up.