9 . Epilogue: Welcome Home
Epilogue: Welcome Home
By N00813
--
In the Ponyville sky, the sun smiled warmly downwards. Pegasi danced amongst small, rotund clouds. Earth ponies walked the paved stone streets, saddlebags straddling their backs. Unicorns were the rarest breed of all, and the few she’d seen kept a hasty pace as they went about their lives.
Even from a casual glance, one thing was obvious; Ponyville was a town now, not a village. Houses extended towards Canterlot, blurring into multi-coloured dots in the far distance. Town Hall’s flag flew above a new, red-stone building that was surrounded by glittering, moving shapes, and the old schoolhouse had been built with a fence surrounding the grounds. The incongruous, massive tree in the middle of the town had been abandoned, and a bronze plaque had been erected in front of the hanging doors. At her height, it was just a glinting speck in a painting.
As the chariot descended, Twintel found herself hunching away from its thin metal sides. No doubt it was enchanted to deflect spells or projectiles, but she wasn’t sure that the protection extended to the passengers as well. Keeping a low profile was almost second-nature to her. Common sense, too.
The cloak hung impotently in a saddlebag. Celestia had insisted that she took it off. After some hesitation, she had.
Behind and below her, steam whistles shrieked as a train slid to a stop alongside a long stretch of wood and stone. Soon, the train had unfolded its sides to begin the process of unloading all sorts of cargo and people. The station hadn’t been that big, the last time she’d seen it.
Ponyville’s wall stood to the east, a thin line of wood, metal and stone that its citizens hoped would protect them from the darkness in the forest on the other side. Even from up in the chariot, she could see the anti-air defences in the nearby Guard base, delicate-looking wooden constructs that hid their deadly purpose beneath their thin limbs.
The base itself was a great piece of flattened, thinly-grassed land sitting on what had once been the no pony’s land between the Everfree and the village itself. One side was bordered by the wall; the opposite side had a gate that opened into a wide dirt road, which snaked towards the town itself. White buildings, gilded with yellow paint, jutted out of the ground like teeth. In between them rushed a plethora of armoured figures. From her height, they looked like insects.
One patrol of pegasus guards banked towards them, then broke into salutes as soon as they saw the Princess sitting next to her. Twintel kept her eyes on them until they were mere dots in the blue sky.
There was a light touch on her back.
Adrenaline smashed into her bloodstream. Her heart rate doubled instantly as Twintel twisted around, her lips drawn back to expose teeth and her horn at the ready. She found herself looking at the Princess’ unfurled, snow-white wing.
As she turned back, she thought she caught the Princess’ sigh. But the exhale was so quiet that it almost mixed into the rustle of feathers on a closing wing, or the wind rushing past the chariot. Perhaps it was just her imagination.
They angled towards the base. Close by, she spotted a small cottage that sat beside a small, still brook. No light seeped through the drawn curtains. Although there were the remnants of hundreds of animals’ worth of burrows and nests surrounding the cottage, there was no sign of life. It was a miniature ghost town.
Below them, a thin strip of hard-baked grass and dirt rose to meet them. As they descended, Twintel began to appreciate the true height of the wall separating the Everfree from civilization. It rose ten metres into the air, a massive construct of what seemed to be solid stone with wood and enchanted steel weaving through like veins. Sapphire power gems were inset in regular intervals along its length, glowing bright blue as they powered the spells woven into the wall. A wooden system of steps that seemed to have grown out of the wall itself led to both the gem, and to a small platform that punched out just below the top of the wall. Pegasi trotted along the top, patrolling the length of it. They were armed with binoculars, whilst the few unicorns on duty sat near locked weapons racks.
Her horn felt a hint of warmth as a nearby section of the wall discharged a spell. Her eyes couldn’t catch the tell-tale blue flash, but she could hear the dying squeak of some small animal and smell the scent of carbonised flesh drifting in the soft wind.
The Princess stood up, and Twintel realised that they’d landed. “Follow me,” Celestia said, and leapt off the chariot onto the grass.
Twintel did. In the far distance, she could just about resolve Canterlot citadel’s white-gold spires. At this distance, they were as substantial as hairs. Tendrils of smoke from a thousand chimney pipes linked together into a cloud of wispy whitish smog that hung in the sky over Ponyville proper. Amongst the rolling hills of an apple plantation, she recognised a factory’s single smokestack, standing tall and alone amongst the greenery.
By her side, Celestia exhaled quite loudly, and Twintel returned her gaze to the Princess, whose wing gestured towards seven ponies in front of her.
Her mind whirred as her eyes passed over their forms. She knew she’d seen them before, but for some reason their names eluded her right now, slipping away from her mental grasp like skittish fish. Only Cadence’s name sprang to the forefront of her mind in those few seconds.
She frowned, stepping forwards a tiny half-step.
One stood off to the side. This earth mare had her mane cascading down her neck like a pink waterfall. Her sky-blue eyes were creased around the edges with obvious pain and sorrow, but they glinted with a deeper, more solid emotion. Still, the corners of her mouth were turned upwards, if almost imperceptibly.
Twintel’s frown deepened for just a moment, but she turned away to face another.
The only stallion in the group raised his head. He was a big white unicorn with an oddly striped blue mane, who seemed to hang off his gilded purple armour instead of the other way around. Awards decorated the breastplate, welded into the metal. With the way he carried them, it was as if they were pulling him into the ground.
Twintel saw the lines of grey running through his mane, his widening blue eyes, the way he seemed to drag himself forwards as if he was unwilling to approach her and yet was forced to. His eyes were layered over with bags, creased with wrinkles that extended to his temples and from there, tracked over his forehead. A dead pony walking.
He didn’t cry out, or scream, or burst into tears – he merely gaped at her, meeting her eye-for-eye.
By his side, Princess Cadence smiled warmly, but passively. An onlooker. Once the closest of friends – now, nothing more but an acquaintance in the back of Twintel’s mind. It had been twenty years, after all.
It had probably been only a blink of the Princess’s eye.
“Brother,” Twintel said slowly, after a pause. He opened his mouth, and then closed it, before Princess Cadence nudged him with the elbow of her wing.
Twintel turned to her side, where the saddlebag hung. With a tendril of magic and a short glance backwards, she took out seven small, steel tags. Most of them were blackened and deformed, physically barely recognisable, but she could sense the weak magic imprints humming in the metal. She tossed them in front of his feet, and the tags clattered for a moment before he picked them up with a hoof.
“I’d sent fifteen,” he muttered as he turned one of tags over and over, blinking repeatedly as he did so. “All fifteen…”
The group of mares had stood still whilst she’d interacted with her brother, but now, one of them strode out.
It was a light blue pegasus with a rainbow mane. She’d put on some weight since her time in the newspapers, Twintel thought, but she still had the powerful wing-muscles, lean legs and taut frame that had made her famous. It was the newly retired captain of the Wonderbolts, Rainbow Dash, and the most controversial one to date. There had been many allegations that her placement had been influenced by the infamous disappearance of two of her dearest friends about two decades ago.
And it looked like it had all taken a toll on her. Her face was haggard and lined with exhaustion and the remnants of recently departed stress. Her eyes, however, flickered with life – life that was flowing into her veins once more, confused and conflicted. Hope and anger raged in them, like twin fires.
Dash whistled, the sound reminiscent of the call of a solitary eagle. “What happened, Twilight?”
Twintel winced, and she turned her head to face another. Distantly, she could hear Princess Celestia introduce her to them. Re-introduce, that is.
Another one of the group, a white unicorn with an unreasonably impractical mane, made a little sound. Twintel’s eyes swivelled over to examine her. The white unicorn’s hoof was over her mouth, her azure eyes wide and dilated in horror. Even her white fur seemed to have become paler as she stared at Twintel.
Twintel looked down. As she moved, she could see the metallic tattoos shift with her skin. They glimmered under the bright sunlight, like silver snakes welded into her skin. She lifted a hoof, twisting it, and saw them gleam hungrily in the light of the burning sun.
Rarity. The name struck her out of the blue, like a long-buried memory. Twintel looked closer at her, noticing the bags beneath her eyes that had been covered skilfully by makeup, the grey roots of her mane and the sheer shock in her face. In the utilitarian, ordered environment of the Guard base, her flowing dress looked incongruous. A thin and delicate gold bracelet, carved into the likeness of pair of serpentine dragons chasing one another, wound around her hoof. Around the collar of her too-tight dress, a sliver of a heart-shaped fire ruby glimmered like a drop of fresh blood.
Twintel turned her gaze to the last two in the group, both of whom stood a little to the side behind Rarity.
A yellow pegasus with a short-cut pink mane and tail stood like she’d had her limbs broken, with the way she was shaking. Her gaze kept drifting towards the abandoned cottage in the distance, and despite her gritted teeth and low mutterings, there were drops of tears forming in the corners of her teal eyes. She looked like she’d been pulled straight out of work, judging by the white lab coat she wore. It was stained with splotches of translucent red and yellow-brown, and looked as worn and beaten as its wearer. When she noticed Twintel’s gaze, she froze, eyes wide in complete, utter fear. As Twintel looked on, that instant, primal fright melted into something else. It was cold and empty, devoid of emotion. Shock, and then dread, and then icy nothingness. It was the sort of feeling that someone would get when they were told that their friend had become a mass-murderer.
The other pony was an orange earth pony, whose straw-yellow mane was tied into a tight, no-nonsense bun. Her face was neutral – too neutral to be natural. Her jaw was set, teeth definitely not gritted, and her eyes burned with an odd cocktail of pain, anger, surprise and – despite all of her attempts to crush it – hope and joy. The wrinkles in her sun-worn face only made her freckles stand out more. Her massive musculature twitched for a short moment, before she settled back into that too-neutral look that had as many holes in it as the hat sitting on her head.
All had buried their pain deep inside them. They’d dealt with it over the years, and had learnt to live with it. Twintel could see it in their eyes. And now, she was back.
In them, cold, creeping betrayal fought with sudden, foreign joy. Encrusted layers of sadness wore down with every building wave of excitement. Naïve embers of hope battled against cautious, encroaching cynicism, and it looked like hope was winning.
Somehow, to Twintel, that hurt even more than if they’d simply shown pure and unbridled anger.
Finally, the pink earth pony stepped forwards, and almost everyone turned their gazes towards her. Twintel saw the look in her eyes, and her face tightened for a moment before she realised what it was.
Fatalism. Resignation blended with cynicism, with all other emotion boiled away to leave a hard core of simple acceptance. This one – Pinkie Pie, that’s who she is – had somehow known all along. She’d known, and she hadn’t stopped Twilight in the very beginning.
Hot anger and cold betrayal began to bubble up in Twintel’s heart. But when she looked at it, looked at herself and what she’d done and would have done, she found that she couldn’t blame Pinkie. What would she have done, even if Pinkie did beg her to stay? Why would they even think she was still alive?
The anger bubbled away, replaced by mounting emptiness that hurt more in its starkness.
“I don’t think I’ve met you before,” Pinkie Pie called out softly, with a painful smile on her lips. The lie was evident in her eyes as she stopped at a safe twelve steps away. “But welcome to Equestria. Welcome home, whoever you are.”
Welcome home indeed.
The End
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A great story, I'm sad to see it end. Well all i can do now is wait for spikes story to come out.
Quite excellent.
This. Was. AWESOME!
2450991>>2451140>>2451279>>2451649
Thanks!
2451599
Thanks as well! For both the compliments and the questions.
She did make 'friends' -- The Jackal (sort of), Akila, Eri (sort of) and Archangel (sort of) amongst them. They're only mentioned in their own bits, but they're there. This story actually feels like it should be much longer, and that was my mistake.
The friendship lesson thing -- I suppose Twi's thinking about how, by doing the stuff she was doing to find information and money, she'd ignored all her morals that she'd learnt (in Ponyville) good friends should have. Luckily, her new 'friends' had as well.
The memory spell -- 1. I forgot all about it, and 2. Maybe dragon resistance to magicwork? Also, Spike has spent the same amount of time (a year longer, actually) as she had out there -- he'd remember all the good old days AND the new...
As for the climax... I thought that the main climax bit was Death, Reflection and Ember.
Darn
2452091
You might get Spike's side as a side-story. If I ever get around to finishing it.
2452091
i know right?it's so sad!!
*shock and horror*
My GOD. What did you DO TO HER. Twilight's all... blah.
I can't. I just can't. That was really well done, excellent application of empathy and gut-wrenching horror.
You know, I've realized something important. Twintel's a badass.
If nothing else, this story highlights something extremely important: being a badass means giving up a lot of precious things. Is this worth it?
It's a shame there won't be a direct sequel
I would love to see Twintel's attempts to reintroduce herself to civilization and her friends reactions to just how much she's changed. This almost feels like a prequel, or half of a story. Don't get me wrong, this is absolutely amazing. It's just so good that I can't help but want more 
That certainly was dark...
I guess after all she has done, there is really no going back.
I am surprised you did not have Celestia euthanise her at the very end - sort of a mirror of Twilight/Twintel's actions with Spike to save him from himself.
you really should continue this, we barely got a reaction out of her friends. She didn't even tell them Spike was dead. Twintel's attempts to reintergrate into society could easily be a massive story all of it's own. But oh well, that's your choice, excellent story though.
2453171
Thanks! I'm glad this got you thinking!
2453937>>2454204
Unfortunately, I probably don't have the time or skill to write something that big. I'd have to seriously plan out each of the main characters' modified motivations and personalities, and with the time difference of ~25 years from the start of the show, they'll probably have to become sorta-OCs for me to flesh out. I'll think about it, but nothing is set in stone.
2454065
I'd considered another end, where she cuts ties with all of her old life -- ditches her old identity for her new one and doesn't return to Equestria -- but I wouldn't have gotten the Ember chapter (which, alongside Death, I liked the most).
I can see the euthanasia end, maybe when she's in the twilight of her life and she's being haunted by what she's done. Or she just goes out into the world to die doing a job (like Thane Krios, come to think of it).
sounds interesting. But because i really don't like reading i guess ill have to wait for some one to make a dramatic reading of it.
2454991
I'd like that, but I'm not that famous or well known, so that might not happen. Sorry.
I was really hoping for a sequel.
Oh well, this story was still awesome.
Also, what exactly is the WTWE universe?
2457301
Perhaps Spike's story as a side-story. Twintel's slice-of-life in Ponyville will take much longer.
This will help you out.
http://wtwe.wikia.com/wiki/Where_the_World_Ends_Wiki
2458426
Good for you.
Not everyone is like you, though.
I was sooo lazy to start reading this, but last night I was really bored, so I read it! While at some points it was hard to differentiate between the flashbacks (a line made of some schnitzel ~**~*~*~*~ or something would have helped, in the sections that needed that, not the running up the mountain section).
Truth be told, I wasn't disappointed. I never expected Spike to be killed, never expected Twilight to become a mass murderer and be badass.
What really irked me though, was the ending. It was anti-climatic. I really expected more from Twintel's discussion with Celestia. As her journey progressed, she died a little more on the inside. Seeing acts of brutality and murder and actually going so far as to do them herself is mindblowing. She saw through the lie Celestia crafted for her. There was more out there than harmony, love and happiness; there was a world out there made of famine, sickness and death. The 'Known World' as you label it.
Still, a very good story! I had fun!
2460356
Thanks! Just a bit confused, though.
Do you mean that you think Twintel / Twilight should have been a bit angrier with Celly than she was shown, or something else?
Again, thank you for your feedback!
2460508 Indeed, I do believe Twintel and Celestia needed to have 'The Talk', but it's well done anyway.
As for the time blending, I will post later when I have a little more time.
So Spec-ops the Line influenced you?
I bet it was the one who influenced the most on Twili-...Twintel's pernsonality, from the common Twilight, to the drastic changes that Twintel had to suffer, and thus mold her personality
brilliant.
2462094
"This is Captain Sparkle... Attempted rescue has ended in... complete failure. Death toll... too many."
2462129
I have a spec ops the line Poster in my studio. It was worth every penny. I love looking at it while I'm editing.
Great story! Just wished the jurny was more more detailed. =)
2466098
Ah, yeah. So do I. Then the themes and ideas would have been clearer. Still, I don't have a lot of time to write big epics anymore. Oh, well.
2466150
Well, we can`t have everything we want, so we have to live with it. ^^
Just know that me and anyone else who love`s this story is happy that there is someone out there like you who writhe`s them for us. =)
Wow, what a read.
The author's note also confirmed what I suspected all along... I instantly recognized the inspiration for this story with the word "sintel" and someone looking for a long lost dragon friend. The inspiration fits well, but also manages to make a unique story all by itself. I thought Sintel was incredibly sad, but somehow this story matches it, although in a much darker and (like pinkie pie is described) fatalistic way. It's depressing, but exceptionally well written. The prose did get a little flowery and unnecessary here and there (describing the same thing with a dozen adjectives) but I would rather have this than something poorly written and superficial.
Well done N00813, this goes straight into my favourites.
One of the best stories I read. Not a statement I make lightly.
Hate the read-later-list. Once again I find a gem among tons of rubbish that kept me from it for so long. Too long. Anyway, thank you for this amazing story. That's what true grimdark is.
P.S. Archangel... I know what his voice is. Wonder what would he calibrate now (thatwasawfuldontshootmeplease)
2487468
Thanks for the praise!
Correct identification of reference. Nice.
2477761
Thanks!
I think it's better to overdescribe than underdescribe, but I'm happy you enjoyed it!
2474694
Yep. Very true. Thanks for reading!
so as i was doing the dishes today i was thinking of all the good fics iv read recently and this one popped into my head....then i started thinking about the name. how did he come up with it? schemering-sintel.... sintel....
WAIT A SECOND!!
EDIT:and then i hit the more button on the description
2513841
It is a wonderful film, isn't it?
2517550 something i would have paid money for
I imagine Twintel's voice sounding like X-23 in marvel vs capcom 3, just way more stoic
read it again, feel some weight in my hearth (again
)
2643197
I hope that you enjoyed the experience, at least.
2644110 indeed I did
, poor Twilight, she not only lost Spike, but herself along the way. Re-reading was worthwhile, my stupid blackberry didn't told apart the flashbacks and the present time the first time I read it
I kinda of wish you would continue on how Twintle gets reformed by the princess and her friends to begin acting more like Twilight Sparkle (never the same Twilight they new but more into a mare in todays society) plz do something like that.
You had me in tears from the moment she sat down in front of the cave until the very end. I wish I were a better artist, so I could put that scene to paper, but I couldn't possibly do it justice. And the way she treated Shining Armor in the end...
I don't often favorite stories labeled "tragic" or "sad," as they often just tell the reader to feel sad because of what happened, but this has earned that reaction. So to my list of favorites it goes.
Edit:
I've now watched the short film "Sintel," and I find this story far more powerful. Twilight's confrontations with the cruel nature of the world add a lot compared to what we see of Sintel's travels. More importantly, the fact that Twilight makes a deliberate decision to hurt and kill Spike hits so much harder than the remorse of the accidental death in Sintel.
I don't think this story will ever fully leave me.
Well, that was certainly something. I can't actually figure out what I should feel. The ending was so dry. It was just handed out like food in a lunch line. I commend you as a writer, though. But I feel that the story was lost after Spike was killed. At that point, there was no use in continuing.
Overall, 8/10. Could have been better, but it was good in its own right.
This is a good story. I loved how you showed the transition from Twilight to Twintel through the flashbacks, and I found it to be a believable transition. The scene with Spike was great, with how she didn't want to give up and accept he was already gone. And finally, her return to Ponyville, showing definitively that nothing is the same, nor will it ever be. I actually feel that Pinkie's words at the end weren't really a lie. She hasn't ever met Twintel before, and she doesn't know her. That, in my opinion, is largely what makes this a good ending.
It's going to take me a while to process this. I'm just trying to let it all even try to soak in.
But, I can at least say this: This is one of the deepest, most hauntingly beautiful things I've ever read. Bravo!
3655657
Honestly? This.
Still, it was interesting to see how the princess met her and reacted to the whole thing.
THAT did it. That let it out for me. Well fucking done.
Yes, thank you, JATL, for recommending this fic to be assessed. I'm sure there will be quite a bit of discussion in regards to this story.
I'll post a link to the discussion thread (when it opens) later, N00. Great story.
There is one thing that was never truly explained, though. Why the tattoos? Where did she get them?
An interesting story. I'm not sure how or what to feel about it. A bit sad, a bit bittersweet. A little annoyed, and a little wanting more.
That first half of the story was weird. I don't think I've ever read anything that unique. It was like two stories being told at the same time. I wasn't bothered by that so much as how often it cut from one to the other, even with the italics I would start getting into the flashback/memory and all of a sudden it doesn't quite make sense. I then realize it's back to the present so I have to reread it thinking of that context instead and it just kept flip flopping and was just annoying for a while. It did explain things while progressing the story at a fair pace. Though I felt a few things could have been explained better. Like the tattoos or that power filled gem, during one of the flashbacks. I was kind of was looking forward to one of those covering the tattoos in more details.
I guess I'm not use to that kind of abrupt scene change. I like what it did, but not how it was done I guess.
The last half of the story I think was good. Kind of wanted to know how Twintel's life went after it ended. It was deep, deeper than the morality part in the first half. Especially Celestia and Twilight's conversation about what was "right". It strongly reminded me of a favorite quote,
-William Shakespeare, Hamlet
What makes a "right" or a "wrong" isn't in actions, but in what individuals think make those actions a "right" or a "wrong".
Good stuff to think about form time to time. A pretty good story as well, if not a little odd story telling I think. Good feels and pacing though. If I were to rate it I'd guess I'd give it around an 8/10
5023616
I realise that I come a little late to the party, but I actually think that continuing the story after Spike was a great idea and I applaud the author for doing so.
I personally enjoyed a lot how it shifted the focus of story from Twilight's journey to find Spike and what she did to find him, to the moment when she realised that all these years she threw everything she had away chasing an impossible dream, that she is no longer Twilight Sparkle and will never be able to return to her previous life. In this respect, I find that the latter half of the story is considerably more powerful than the first.
All in all, this is a brilliant short story and I am very glad to have come across it.
This story reminds me a lot of the Blender short-film "Sintel." its the story of a girl who finds an injured baby dragon and raises it until it gets kidnapped by another dragon. She goes on an epic journey to find her little buddy, and when she finally finds her she's a fully grown monster. She kills her and goes back home. The difference though is that she gets redemption in the end, she finds out her buddy was a mother and raises her now orphaned hatchling.
edit: Oh! You were inspired this! That makes much more sense.
Okay, I take it back: that was a solid way to end the story. And to see how Ponyville – how the world – had changed so much in twenty years? Well done all around.
I'm filled with so many emotions right now...I loved the story though great work!
damn.... just damn >_>