A Pony Called Death

by thehalfelf

Epilogue: Full Circle

Epilogue: Full Circle

Almost one hundred years later

Over the city of Canterlot, a light wind blew. It meandered above the sleeping ponies, past bars and nightclubs teeming with life, up around the highest spires of Canterlot Castle. It even blew into the chamber of Princess Luna, causing her to shiver and move to shut the window.

Luna was halfway across the room when the faintest of noises pricked her ear. “Hello, Rose Petal,” she said, finishing her task and turning around. Sure enough, standing next to the alicorn’s desk, partially obscured by a pile of books was a black cloak-covered pony, completely hidden but for a face framed by pink hair and four white hooves.

Rose smiled, tossing the hood back on her cloak. “Good evening, Luna.”

The princess returned to her desk and took a seat. “I suppose hoping this visit is merely a social call is too much to hope for.”

“I’m done, princess. I just took my last soul. I need the name of my successor.” Rose took a seat on the floor, eyes glancing over the book open on Luna’s desk.

“May I ask why?” asked a voice from the corner of the room. A brief flash of light and rustle of paper later, Divine Sight walked over. “Why give up immortality after a century? All your friends, your aunts, and your mother are dead. You’re good at your job, Rose, we make a good team and--”

“I still don’t like you,” Rose interrupted. “You of all ponies can’t convince me to stay.”

Divine Sight blew out her cheeks. “After all this time? After all of the Office Hearth’s Warming parties?”

Rose simply glared.

“I must agree, I am somewhat curious as well. I thought after all the trouble you went through to secure your position, you would not give it up after a mere century,” Luna said, breaking up the inevitable fight.

“Do you remember the stallion I told you about, princess?” Rose asked.

The other two mares in the room nodded.

“Well, he... he proposed to me last night, and... I still haven’t told him what my job actually is.” Luna winced. “I just... I’m ready to be done. It’ll be too hard to keep the job and him, and he is worth more to me than this scythe,” Rose finished.

“I am not about to deny somepony happiness.” Luna walked over to Divine Sight, gently poking her in the head. “I need her successor.”

“But--” Fate started, but the alicorn held up a hoof. “Fine...” There was another flash of light, and then Fate was a book.

The princess levitated the tome from the floor, opening to a seemingly random page somewhere in the middle. “Your successor is to be a mare by the name of Bluejay. She lives in... Cloudsdale. If I were you, I would spend some time sightseeing before you are grounded once again,” Luna added with a wink.

“Just like I told Cloud, may his soul rest in peace, you are a friend to me, Rose Petal. If things don’t work out with your stallion friend, just send word and I can have you accommodations and a job in the castle,” the alicorn continued. “Of course, you can always just write. It is nice when not all of my letters are impending diplomatic disasters.”

Rose flipped the hood on the Death cloak back up. “I will, princess. Have a good night.” Before Luna could respond, or Divine Sight could poke her head back out, Death poked the wall with a hoof and vanished.

Exploring Cloudsdale was something that Rose made a personal mission early in her tenure in office. As such, she was able to appear closer to her target than normal, saving her the walk and curious glances from resident pegasi. It was a short jaunt from the park where Rose appeared to the resident of her successor, and she was able to catch the powder-blue pegasus as she left for work.

“Hey, your name is Bluejay, right?” Rose called out.

The pegasus froze mid-step and slowly turned around. “Um, yes. How... how do you know my name?”

“My name is Rose Petal. We need to talk...”

Author's Note:

So, here we are. The end of story, extended Author's Notes.

Almost a year ago, while working on The Last Hope of a Fallen Nation, I was in a rut. No matter which way I twisted, I couldn't seem to get the story to go in the direction that I wanted it to. Finally too frustrated to continue, I decided to rewrite and ponify a scene I had just read in the actual book I was reading at the time, On A Pale Horse by Piers Anthony. Being lazy as I was, I just did it in the same doc as Last Hope. This simplified, ponified scene would turn into the first scene of this story.

A lot of things have changed since then: the fandom, the show, my writing style, my editors, even where I live (sort of). Looking back on the first chapter, I can see so many different ways I could have taken this. Better ways? Maybe. But this is how the story ends, and I am proud of it. I am proud of Rose Petal, Divine Sight, and even Mortis in a way. Being an evil bastard takes some talent.

I would like to thank every one of you who came with me on this journey, the people who favorited, upvoted, edited, commented, liked, disliked, all of you, but a few I think deserve special mention.

Cloudy, you already know. My first couple editors sort of left, I don't begrudge them, they're some of my best friends, but you jumped in to cover the slack. Thank you.

IC, your insistence that I couldn't use Nightmare Moon as a villain led to the creation of Mortis. I think we all know this story would have been very different without him.

quick, you jumped in here in the middle, like most of my projects, and once you got used to how things were done around here you did amazingly, even if you suck at titles.

ChangelingLumin, if you're reading this, you took up my call of editors, and edited like, a chapter. So, thanks for that, I guess.

SonicMario3, I know how much you love this story. I don't know if you actually edited anything, but knowing I had at least one guy out there who was waiting on the next installment helped write them more than you know.

So, yes, the story of Rose Petal as Death is over, but the tale is not necessarily. What will I do here next, you ask? Well, you'll just have to stick around and find out, because I don't plan on spoiling anything. Just know I plan on delving back in time, and back into the realm of shipping. So, until the next one.

--thehalfelf

Comments

[GordonFreebrony]

The description reminds me of "Mort takes a holiday" or whatever the name for that fic is. This is definately gonna be read by me.

[thehalfelf]

3766376
Good timing then, because I just finished uploading the last chapter.

[Dusty Old Qrow]

Bloody brilliant.

I demand teh sequeal nowe pls.

[thehalfelf]

3768673

3768713
She.... she is Death... I am disappoint. And no, not sequel now. Last Hope/ISoK/new project now.

[quick_study]

3768713

[GordonFreebrony]

Well, I'm slightly unsatisfied with the ending. It was a good story, but there are a lot of loose ends. It's never fully explained why Mortis wanted 'revenge' or what he would use Space's power for. It's barely explained how Rose came back. There is just a lot of, excuse the pun, unfinished business here.

[thehalfelf]

3770586
Actually, you may find it's all there, just not given to you on a silver platter. Every question you pose is answered, it just requires a little thinking back on the powers of Death, and what happened to Mortis in the past.

[GordonFreebrony]

3770598

You explained that Mortis quit after a century of being Death, and passed on the role.

Nothing about him being 'stripped of office' by Fate.

And I just thought of another loose end. How the HELL did he start killing ponies if he was supposedly a spirit? How did he slit Cloud's throat? or disguise Cloud?

[quick_study]

3770605
Have you ever heard of untrustworthy narrators or, perhaps, delusional villains?

You're seeing a discrepancy (one we are entirely aware of) and assuming it means we missed something (we didn't). How he continued to have powers was, admittedly, not well telegraphed but it is there.

[thehalfelf]

3772752
>>points out that how he got his powers was your idea.

[quick_study]

3772757
> trying to greentext on fimfic

Him having Death powers at the end was my idea, yes. Him having any powers the rest of the time was all you.

[Lars]

(Idea for personified Death "borrowed" from Piers Anthony. All else is my own brain's creation)

Welp, time to fav and (hopefully remember to - got quite a backlog) read.

[Derek Watterson]

Had this is my favorites when it first released, watched it avidly for the first few updates, then I moved, lost almost all internet connection for 4 months, and lost it.

Having come back to reread and finish this story, I must say, well done.

It was written very well, the story made sense, and most of it clicked into place.

I do however feel as if this isn't the full story. As in, it feels incomplete. Like it was more a piece preparing readers for the 'true' first installment of a series. Maybe I'm wrong, and there is no such thing, but I feel as if there is. In the end though, I leave this tale satisfied.

My thirst for the ever-present moar however is not sated. So, good author, I ask of you this; MOAR PL-LE-E-EASE!!?

~AnimatedGamer

[thehalfelf]

4698932
*Gently nudges you towards the box on my profile page of all the other shit I'm trying to work on at the moment.

[Derek Watterson]

4700418 *Gently forces head back to stare at author, before turning on puppy dog eyes.

"B-but mister author..."

[thehalfelf]

4700659
4 and a half active projects, one of which is a two book "epic", four separate planned projects, two of which are sequels, two one-shots that I promised various people and an entire folder entitled "Tat" which ranges from full chapters to little snippits of dialog some no more than three words. Not to mention being a full-time college student, teaching myself programming stuff on the side, and a part-time job that consists of ten-hour straight days.

Oh, and anime. I don't need to write the second story in this saga, not right now.

[Derek Watterson]

4700674 Lol, believe it or not, I can sort of understand as my own list of things seems to grow everyday. I was sorta hoping my last message would be taken lightly as possible.

Anime is great by the way.

To sum up; I understand and have many of the same things going on, I love anime, I was trying to joke around, aaaand.... As sad as hearing more isn't on the way for now is, I can deal with it, because you seem like a nice person (been lookin at your other stuff as well), and I don't wanna be that guy that pushes things too far.

[thehalfelf]

4700796
No, I totally get it. But I'm not a nice person, and felt like crushing your hopes and dreams with a twenty-ton hammer.

[Derek Watterson]

4700872 Aw man, why would go an do something like that?

....

I can wait.... I can wait....

[Shining Dawn]

I'm a huge fan of the Incarnations of Immortality. I'm going to have to read this soon.

[thehalfelf]

6632669
I'm going to be honest, other than the first scene and a few little things, it was kind of more inspiration than anything else. But I'm glad I found a fellow fan.

[Starlight Nova]

Are we going to mention how nobody ever seems to die in the show?

[thehalfelf]

9275267
Rose is really good at her job.