Epilogue
HISTORY REPEATS
By Saddlesoap Opera
EPILOGUE
ONE MONTH LATER
Katherine - not Kathy, thank you very much - slowly inched closer to the stall. Her white and pink runners scraped on the dirty stone floor and her freckled hands wrung her long ginger braid in a nervous habit she firmly denied having. She was wearing her favourite tattered blue jeans under her favourite pink sundress. Several gel-bracelets hugged one wrist; a hospital ID bracelet hugged the other.
Katherine took a breath. Her nose wrinkled. The air in the stable smelled heavy and damp and kind of icky, but also grassy and warm. It made a nice change from the boring conditioned air on the long car ride.
She looked over her shoulder. Daddy was there, just outside. The sunlight behind him turned him into a black paper cutout.
There was a noise, and a blonde grown-up dressed like a cowgirl stepped out in front of her. Katherine turned back around and looked up at her.
She was wearing jeans too, but the knees weren't tattered like Katherine's. The sleeves of her plaid shirt were rolled up to the elbows, and her hair was tied back with a red ribbon and covered with a light brown Stetson. She had little marks on her skin here and there - faint scars.
Katherine straightened to look her tallest.
“Well hey there,” said the woman. “I’m Megan. You’re Kathy- no wait. Katherine, right?” She smiled.
Katherine nodded and inched a step closer to the stall the woman had come out of.
“He…” Katherine paused, and worked up a bigger, more grown-up sounding voice. “He’s in there, right?”
“He sure is,” Megan said. “Do you wanna meet him?”
Katherine’s eyes brightened. But she folded her arms and put on a cool, grown-up pose. “Sure, I guess, yeah.”
“Okay. I figured I’d ask because you’ve been in here sightseeing for a while. And some people get a little nervous around ponies, you know. Nothing wrong with that.”
Katherine’s eyes darted to and fro. “I’m not nervous!”
Megan smiled again. “Nah, of course not. You’re brave. I can see it. TJ will see it, too.”
Katherine looked up at the girl again. She took another step.
“That’s it,” Megan said. “You take your time. Just so you don’t startle TJ, of course. He’s getting on in years a little.”
Katherine smiled. Bit by bit, she inched forward until she reached the stall’s opening.
The horse was there, all sand-coloured and big and chewing up hay and flicking his long, floppy pony-tail. He had big eyes, like shiny marbles.
Katherine looked at the animal in wonder for a long moment before she found her voice.
“Is he… friendly?”
Megan rested a hand on the girl’s shoulder.
“He sure is. Believe me, if you do right by them, Ponies can be the best friends you’ll ever have.”
THE END
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Well. A very nice end to a rough ride of a story. Recommended.
i want some sort of sequel like a slice of life with her visiting equestria or...anything!
What about the Flutterponies? did they return to being changelings once the Rainbow of Light faded?
This should/could be an episode. For fanfic, I have no higher accolade. I used to watch the original shows, back in the early 90s, when they were on TV here in Phoenix & I'm glad to see the G1 ponies tied to the G4
The only other fanfic I ever read as good as this is On A Cross and Arrow
5358139
agreed. that part wasn;t really clear.
5358325 5358139
Alas, it was only a temporary reprieve. There is reference to them returning to dark, shadowy forms as Megan draws in the Rainbow once more. They got a reprieve - a chance to put right an ancient wrong - but it was only temporary. And in exchange for that taste of redemption, they spared the weakened Pony lands and returned home... for now.
5358541
Kinda unfair, if you ask me. Grogar, despite his willing terrible crimes, could have avoided his ultimate fate by simply saying "I´m sorry"; yet Chrysalis/Honeysuckle and their changelings, who were turned into monsters against their will long ago and did their best to save the day ...got nothing.
Unlike in the case of, let say, the Delightful Children From Down The Lane/ Sector Z, there is no evidence their conditions were permanent; Megan could have used another wish or asked Celestia, Luna, Twilight... even Discord to help them. Why couldn´t the Elements have restored like they did with Luna?
It's finished! A great read, I personally think the ending was very satisfying and you're great at packing a lot of content into a small package, usually fanfics with this much going on tens to go on for at least twice the number of words. Kudos to you and your editor and thanks for a great story.
5358679
Chrysalis did it for personal redemption and to correct a wrong she did in the past, not to renounce what she had become, and like Luna said, "the Megan I'd not so merciful", Chrysalis felt both her love and her hate at the same time.
5358727
Please, tell me how much she looks like wanting to go back to the usual "emotional parasite" routine.
And Megan isn´t merciful enough to ask for a chance for a fallen friend?
5358679 5358727 5358755
The problem is the missing Sunstone. Meshing G1 and G4 makes the thing a CRUCIAL aspect of the world to have been destroyed -- akin to having Sombra have succeeded in corrupting the Crystal Heart. The loss of it is directly the reason why Unicorns/Alicorns have to manually bring the dawn. There is something broken about Equestria's cosmology now. Without the Sunstone, there is a sucking void inside the Flutter-Ponies that can't be ever truly filled. The Rainbow provided a temporary relief, but it was like trying to fill a bucket full of holes; eventually, it wouldn't have been enough.
The Elements can help cleanse a darkened soul, but they are not literally omnipotent, and likewise, the Rainbow of Light had vast power, but only on a smaller scale. Restoring the mutilated Flutter-Ponies permanently is simply too tall an order... and replacing the Sunstone is beyond any magic they have. Giving the Flutter-Ponies and Honeysuckle a chance to set things right one last time was the best they could offer them.
When it runs rampant, evil can sometimes do damage that can never be repaired -- it's a sobering reminder why good souls have to struggle against it at every turn.
As for Grogar, Megan only did what she did because she knew he wouldn't apologize or repent or seek help. He had no friends to cling to, no hope or joy in his heart to balance out the shame and guilt. He was defenseless against emotional pain he'd never known before. As Luna implied, it was a far more cruel fate than simply eradicating him wholesale... but Humans are contradiction-creatures. We can be unfathomably cruel and impossibly kind. Sometimes both at once.
Arrgh! It took me forever to get this one imported into Microsoft Word so I could save it back as DOCX and add it to my Story Archive. As it turned out, the reason why word was being so contrary and slow opening it was all the images.
I ended up having to edit the raw HTML code and remove them...
Fuck you Microsoft, fuck you...
Very nice fic. I'd say this is one I can come back to again and again. It has that feel of a well wrapped story.
5358791
What a beautifully constructed tale. I wish I could upvote it exponentially. Thank you so much for writing it! (And finishing it!)
Like I said before Pinkie Pie is just EPIC. This was a great story that you crafted.
hoping for a sequel. Also Megan why you know ask for weight in gold?! You have been through hell for 10 years, spending the rest of your life living it up doesn't come to mind at all?
A great end to a great story
Blasted through this fic, and WOW. Just loved it, through and through.
mylittlefacewhen.com/media/f/img/mlfw4137-132434205267.jpg
The Megan was always first and foremost a protector and a healer.
That was GREAT!
Glad I waited to read it till it was finished, I wouldn't have been able to wait for new chapters this long.
I do think the Epilogue needs a touch more. I get why it's there, as a sort of short Denouement, but it almost serves no purpose in it's shortness imo. Maybe an extra few scenes for the other main players? Like Applejack & Apple Bloom coming back to the farm, or something with Lightning Dust, I'm not sure. It just seems like that scene is just outta nowhere with no relevance to anything beyond Megan being completely over her fears, which we already knew.
Also what of Danny and Molly? Are they not "deranged" as she once was too? The epilogue would be the perfect point to show her reuniting with them as well.
Currently in the process of reading this - its amazing! I hope someday, you would consider publishing it on blurb.com. So a physical copy would then be available.
Can't wait to finish reading this, its one of my favourite fanfics.
What a great story, you perfectly mixed grand action with personal narratives of redemption, while doing a fantastic job tying together the worlds of G1 and G4.
That was very nice. Your sense of pacing was excellent. Didn't care for the epilogue-- it may have been what Megan wanted, but from my perspective it seems like she happily traded the fantastic for the mundane.
5358791 5358755
I imagine what Flutter-Ponie Chrysalis could like something like this:
th00.deviantart.net/fs70/PRE/i/2013/091/3/6/the_shahbanu_of_the_crystalline_raj_by_lionel23-d60544p.png
And to what happen to Grogar around the end remind me of how the heroes defeat the Emptiness in the The NeverEnding Story II movie and remind me of the Indigo Lantern Corps how the Indigo power rings seek criminals and forcing them to feel Compassion and to felt remorse over their past actions.
5358791
So basically, the sequel should be Twilight inventing a new magical awesomeness to mend the wound
There is so much this story does right that it's kind of hard for me to even start this comment like I normally would for other stories.
I've never seen the G1 series. I've seen clips of Midnight Castle, but that's it. Megan's character was a stranger to me, and after reading this story, it feels like I've known her forever. The heroic journey theme in this story is done so well that it's kind of shocking to read about it. Even calling it a heroic journey doesn't really encompass all the things happening with her character. Not just her character, but all the main characters in this story. They each have interesting conflicts to overcome, and I can safely say there is not one dull moment in any chapter. That alone is pretty damn impressive.
Honestly this story is kind of inspirational. Again, there is so much this story does right. My one sticking point is the flat antagonist, but even that element fits like clockwork in the overall plot. An argument can be made that there is such a thing as pure evil, and the antagonist fits that role perfectly of course, but then it raises the question of if there is such a thing as pure good to balance that? Megan is not pure anything, and I think that's why she's such a great hero. She's so human, and it stands out so well when paired with the ponies. Her and Applejack together just felt kind of magical. That's not an easy thing to pull off in writing.
I wish I had not waited to read this story. This is fanfiction done right, and I'm not calling it perfect. The loose ends with the Flutter-Ponies is a sticking point, but it's forgivable. The conclusion might be a bit too fast, like coming off an exciting rollercoster that jerks to a halt when the ride is over.
Overall, this story feels like it should have been the MLP movie we could have gotten, instead of Equestria Girls. All the tropes are there, the story follows a steady formula that, while a little predictable, still work, and work very well. Hell you even included songs! How has no artist taken these up yet?
Thank you for writing this. This is what makes the fandom good. This kind of story inspires others to want to write and reach this level of skill.
5368100
That is no faint praise to say the least, and I really appreciate it!
I would agree that Grogar was a bit one-dimensional now and then, but he was as faithful as I could make him to his G1 appearance: vicious, snarky, arrogant, and irredeemably cruel. If anything, I think the added suggestion that his centuries of experience with dark magic helped corrupt both Sombra and Luna gave him more depth than he had in G1!
If you're interested in getting more familiar with the G1 toons that most strongly influenced this fic's fanon, I suggest watching Rescue at Midnight Castle, My Little Pony The Movie, The Return of Tambelon, and The End of Flutter Valley. Aspects of all of those meshed together to produce the G1-G4 fusion I created... along with some concepts developed in fanon-brainstorming with my esteemed fellow fic-writer Patchwork Poltergeist. Check out her work The Last Human for more G1-G4 welding that also touches on a novel as well.
I was hoping her request would be forgiveness for the changelings. What happened to them? Can we have a sequel of her returning, like G1 was? Maybe Danny and Molly come along too? Please?
What happened to Squirk? He seems to be extremely long lived, so I doubt he died.
5358791 Now, I'm just wondering what's going to happen when the Changelings realize the Celestia decided to have Discord reformed...
Will there be a sequel?
5368685 Heh heh, the cherngelerngs being former Flutterponies corrupted by darkness and wanting revenge for abandonment makes perfect sense when you cross G1 with G4.
Of course, in my mind, I tend to link it to the Hearth's Warming Story and assume that the Queen of my version of the Flutterponies, Lacewing, cried out in despair and rage after the 3 tribes abandoned their lands after bringing the empowered Windigoes and summoned a creature from beyond who whispered that he could help, he could help her and grant her people their own fire, the fire to change, to consume the flame of life from others... if only she would let him in their world to spread a little chaos.
Discord need an origin story, after all. And his power sometimes feels as if it doesn't even belong in their world. I thought it'd be interesting if he was a wandering entity who, like many magical entities, can only physically enter a new realm when summoned.
5368100 I have seen the stories of real-life individuals to know that, yes, a person can become irredeemably evil. No, they never start out that way. But their actions change them. They grow to enjoy savagery and cruelty and death. The lust consumes them. They become pure evil. And from that state, there is no cure.
Seems to me like it could've been extended more. (Although you did keep the whole continuity angle, which I liked. I really, really did.) To me, it read like an hour (maybe 90 minute) long show, which may have been the point. Still loved it!
5370462 5371511 5371514
I have no solid plans for a sequel, since "settling old business" was a strong theme in History Repeats (along with shame and redemption).
As for the Changelings, as I mentioned in a different comment, they are not simply FlutterPonies Behaving Badly. With the loss of the Sunstone, they might as well be SeaPonies sprawling in a sun-baked desert. "Redeeming" them is not as simple as getting them to be nicer. Sometimes, there's no healing the wounds evil inflicts. One can only learn to live with the damage.
5371509
I was forced by concerns about story-length to limit the scope of the G1 critters I included. I cherrypicked the most relevant ones, and left the rest obscured by the mists of ancient history. So to answer your question... who knows?
5372729
I was indeed going for a "cinematic" or TV-show feel; I try with my fics to match the storytelling rhythm of the show itself, which means a teaser, a main plot, a side-plot or two, and a denouement, all broken up into chunks interspersed with "commercial breaks" - the points where the dots break up chapter sections.
5373972
I only hope for a sequel or a non-canon story. This story was awesome and it has the strong potential to continue and be just as good. But it isn't my story.
Excellent end to a fantasing story.
Good job Megan, nice to see an unredeemable villain actually getting what they deserve for a change.
I'm now just wondering what would happen if Megan and Sunet Shimmer (and co) ran across each other in (the? a?) human world...
Great story all the way through, Saddlesoap.
Even if it did take you quite a while to finish.
Man, how does one even begin, or learn, to write something like this? Amazing story. I found it all really wonderful and rather awe-inspiring, both story and writing wise. Man! So much happened and in such a small amount of words. It sort of felt like this could have gone well longer but for the size of it I never like I was being rushed from one place to another. After about the second or third chapter I got the rhythm of the story and linger on every paragraph to get a good grip and immerse myself on what was happening in the story. Even with all the horror and tensions building up I still wanted to stick around to cheer of the characters fighting on towards the lingering light.
I found it rather odd, on reflection, that each shift in story location wasn't jarring or breaking me out of the flow of the story - even the musical numbers! Never expected them. Wow, they were something else.
Two thumbs way up on the little side stories here and there. I was thinking along the way that there was a chance that...one of these, like Rainbow Dash, was going to come in a save the day, in some awkward fashion, yet, thankfully that didn't happen - everyone had there own time to shine and character reveals. Which must of taken a great amount of thought and energy to get them all together again at the end without being overbearingly convenient.
Now having read this I feel as though I should check out the previous My Little Pony incarnations. Thanks very much for sharing! This is a great story to read and to learn from. ^_^
This was fantastic! The only reason I waited so long to finish the last chapter (and epilogue) was because I had to wait until a time I could get a real focus on it. I did not want to waste the ending to such a beautiful story! The pace and rhythm was like watching a movie, and I loved every minute of it! Seriously, that was inspiring!
Considering how many awesome things this fandom has done, I wish someone would try to animate this story! It would fit so well!
Now that this is done remind me to take you out for a drink to celebrate... Anywhere but the Honest Lawyer.
5428011 5508380
Thanks so much for your kind words! ^__^
The "cartoon/cinematic" feel was very deliberate on my part - I tend to write with the show in mind, and strongly attempt to match the rhythm of the action as it is presented to us. With scenes of high action I try to picture what the "camera" would focus on and where the "audience" would find their attention drawn, and for pacing I try to imagine each * * * * * break as a fade-to-commercial. The prologue in this story would have ended with "Opening Credits".
It's hard to precisely describe how to catch this vibe, and I'm not always sure when I'm hitting it. But when I do, it's clear - because readers say the story feels like the show. : )
5512055
I don't get it. I honestly don't get why this story is so popular. Seriously, someone explain it to me, because I can't see it at all.EDIT: This was an non-contructive way to preface my comment. I apologize.All I see here is melodramatic dialogue, a convoluted plot, and one note characters. The pacing was erratic, and all the dialogue was painfully hammy. I can see the effort put into this, how you're trying to make a complex, epic story, but there wasn't enough time spent on showing us the world and situation you've made for me to get interested. I honestly found this so campy that at times I was laughing.
I don't think you're a bad writer; I think that you attempted something far too ambitious without checking yourself. Seriously, go more slowly next time you try something like this. "Show, Don't Tell" is something that you need to consider; most of the exposition was at the bare minimum "Here's what happened, now let's move on". That was the number one problem here, and it's so pervasive that I'm considering writing a full review of this story.
Also, if you're going to include songs, don't add stage directions. It ruins the flow.
5602998
Considering what I know I set out to do, and the opinions of writers I consider my peers, the readership at large, and myself on whether I succeeded, and examining the style, tone, and feel of the source show (both G1 and G4)...
I think the best I can offer here is an "I'm sorry you feel that way."
5605410 I don't go into fics wanting to hate them, and I don't think you're a bad writer. I'm not trying to be confrontational or anything (though I think I ended up sounding that way anyway, bad on me); it's just that the sheer quantity of problems that I saw here baffles me. I want to provide you with some form of constructive criticism for this. Saying "I'm sorry you feel that way" isn't a good idea, even on a well received story.
Let me be clear: I'm not discounting the opinions of the other people who read this. I'm actually quite interesting in hearing people describe why they liked this story in terms more than "it kept my attention" or something along those lines. I didn't see many people explaining their thoughts on this thing in detail, so at the moment it's literally impossible for me to consider them when forming my own opinion. I want to consider them, but I can't when I don't understand them.
BTW, looking at my first comment again now, I'm punching myself for not giving examples. My bad.
5605442
Look bro, I really don't enjoy getting into this sort of a conversation when it's abundantly clear it will not produce anything of value for either of us. I don't enjoy lengthy internet debates - they exhaust and depress me.
My reply wasn't a refusal to give a proper response to constructive criticism - it was recognizing that your perspective is so completely different from that of me and mine that there's nothing I could say in rebuttal that would accomplish anything. I say it's a rocking chair. You say it's a penguin. We aren't going to make any progress from those starting positions.
It's really that simple: I don't see what you seem to, it's clear you will never think differently, I'm not expecting everyone alive to like my work, and I don't plan to change anything in my story to match your perspective, so...
"I'm sorry you feel that way."
Thanks, however, for putting a cork on the rather sharp spike at the start of your first comment.
5606392 Alright. Once again, I appologize for not paying attention to my wording earlier. At this point, you're correct in saying that this won't end up being productive, and that's really my fault. Here I am trying to give criticism, and I completely screwed up.
I don't want this whole thing to be completely pointless though. May I offer one suggestion?
5606905
I appreciate your candor and your courtesy.
But since you asked... I would rather you didn't.
5607634 OK.
Blending G1 and G4 is not an easy task, but you handled it beautifully!