Epilogue, Part 2: Two Months Later
Out in the streets of Ponyville, it was turning out to be a peaceful day. The skies were clear and would stay that way for the remainder of the week. Being in the middle of the weekend, everyone was taking advantage of the beautiful weather by strolling out in the parks and streets.
One young filly, sporting a yellow coat and orange mane, carried around a bouquet of flowers in her mouth. Her jaw could hardly carry the whole thing inside, and she had to stop every now and then to keep it steady. Her father, a slender blue stallion, was following her closely.
"Tell me again, why are we going to Princess Twilight's house?" he asked.
The filly dropped the bouquet and caught it with her hooves, so she could talk. "Mom says a really bad thing happened to Princess Twilight a few months ago, and she hasn't been feeling well, so I should bring these to the front door. And I worked really hard so they would smell good."
The father bent down to smell the roses, and was delighted at the scent. "Good job. But...I don't think you're the only one who was thinking the same thing."
She turned around to see the princess' front door, and sure enough a whole shrine of flowers waited at her doorstep. Some even came with sketches of get well cards attached to their stems.
She was upset that her idea wasnt that original, and her ears drooped. But her father came to her aid and rubbed her mane gently.
"It’s the thought that counts. I'm sure she'll appreciate it."
Encouraged, the filly went ahead with her original plan and picked the bouquet up with her muzzle. She carried it over to the countless other flowers and placed it neatly out in front.
She looked up to the second floor window, curious if the purple princess was feeling any better. Stomach aches were always the worst to go through, young or old.
After she prayed that Twilight would feel better, she left the doorstep and joined her father to see what else there was to do that day.
Everything was quiet for a moment, but a pair of eyes from the front window peered outside. He had to make sure the coast was clear. And nopony else was coming along, thank Celestia. So the person went to the front door and opened it all the way.
Surely enough, the young dragon with those eyes was stunned by the shrine of flowers by the doorstep. He went to work getting each bushel inside, but it took three trips to get them all in.
"This is insane!" Spike exclaimed, wiping the sweat from his forehead. "This is twice the size of flowers we got yesterday, and its only been a week since you were sick. You must have a lot of admirers."
He looked up to the bed upstairs, where Twilight would have been resting. But nobody was there. The blanket was folded neatly, and there was no sign that a pony had even slept in it.
Spike panicked, throwing the rest of the flowers to the living room table, and ran upstairs to see where the princess was. She was gone from his sight, and given how she had been for the week, this wasn't good.
"Twilight! Where are you?"
As if to answer, he heard something coming from the bathroom. Something like a toilet flushing, followed by a sink running water. He took a deep sigh of relief. Looking after your adaptive sister was hard work sometimes.
The bathroom door opened with magic, and Twilight came out looking refreshed. She was still a little sweaty, but her face was clear and she seemed cheerful to Spike.
"Hi Spike. Are those flowers from the townsponies again?"
"Yeah. You're looking a lot better than you have been all this week."
"I feel better. I don't know if that was a stomach virus or what, but that was rough. I'm still going to the doctor later today, but at least the fever's gone."
"Thank Celestia. You were worrying me there for a day."
"Yeah, so was I. Thanks for looking after me. Now that I think about it, I could use those flowers for lunch..."
After a few minutes of preparation, Twilight was in the middle of one of the best sunflower sandwiches she ever had. Her thoughts had turned to the endless amount of ponies concerned for her well being the past week, and how the load of flowers had come out of it. A blessing from a curse, one could say.
It was a nice escape from the usual round of events. Checking on her current royal duties, regardless if Celestia thought it was too early to do so, and making sure the rest of the Elements of Harmony were in high spirits.
Just seeing more signs of Twilight's recovery had done just that.
After a few minutes of a peaceful lunch, there was a knock on the door. There were a few muffled voices, suggesting that there were more than a hoofful of ponies waiting for her.
Her eyes widened as she was reminded of something. She levitated her schedule book over to the table, and flipped over to the current week.
"I almost forgot. I'm supposed to be scouting for locations for my castle today! That must be the group of construction ponies I'm supposed to see."
"Are you sure you should be doing that today?" Spike questioned. "You're supposed to be in the hospital this afternoon."
"It can wait. I'll get through this meeting first, then I'll get checked in. I'll make it."
"If you say so..."
That out of the way, Twilight trotted to the front entrance. All those voices hushed again as she opened the door.
A team of six ponies, four stallions and two mares, stopped and saluted the princess. She blushed on the spot, still not used to being treated like royalty.
"Wow. You were a whole thirty minutes ahead of time," she marveled.
"No, thank you for considering us for this job," one stallion spoke up. "I understand you were very ill, but wanted us to continue on schedule."
"It wasn't that bad. I'm pretty sure its just a stomach virus. So where should we start?"
----
Twilight found herself a fair distance from Ponyville, out in the far meadow that made the land between her two hometowns. A river neither shallow nor deep curved around the lands here, and Ponyville was just a couple of miles away.
It seemed more like an area Fluttershy would call home than a princess would. Not that there was something wrong with that.
"So why did you pick this spot?" she inquired.
"When we picked this possible location, it was more geared for the future," one of the mares said. "Its not in the middle of Ponyville so you won't have to rearrange the town around it. And since you chose to stay here rather than Canterlot, we figured the town is set for expansion anyways.
"This way, the town's expansion can form around your castle, in any way it chooses. There will be a lot of interest in developing around it, no matter what."
"That's interesting. And for now, Ponyville wouldn't be any different for a few years, save for this castle that will be two miles south of it, right?"
"That's the concept."
"Hmm, I really like the idea. It’s planning for a long term future. I'm just not sure if Ponyville will ever be that big, with or without me."
"I see. It is your decision in the end, and we do have three other options."
"Then let's look into those."
The party of six ponies and one alicorn made their way back to Ponyville. There was a dirt path leading directly to town, and it would be a few minutes before they all made it there. After all, not all of them were pegasi.
It was early in the afternoon, and it was turning to be a cool day. But even with a cool breeze whistling around Twilight's neck, she felt like she was on fire. She thought it was her golden sandals that were making it unbearable at first.
But when she took them off and readjusted them, she felt even worse. Her facial fur was drenched in sweat, and she wiped it off so nopony could see that she was under the weather again.
Just three more trips, and she could see a doctor. Just three more...
By Celestia, she still had three trips to go...
Her stomach felt like it was a volcano inside her body, and her head was spinning. She tried to walk a straight path, only to fall flat on her flank. And somehow, it got worse.
"Princess Twilight Sparkle, are you all right?" the stallion in charge asked.
"No, I am not all right," she finally admitted.
Oh no. The stomach virus was coming back in full force. She knew mixing sunflowers with ranch was a bad idea, but Spike talked her into it. Never trust a dragon for good eating habits.
She felt even more like a volcano, and ran to a bush to save face. She threw up uncontrollably in no time, and her cheeks were flustered red.
The party ran to her aid, seeing if there was something they could do. But she kept throwing up again.
"Take me to a doctor," was all she could say, before she passed out cold in the meadow.
----
A few hours later, she was in the middle of a doctor's room, sitting on the bed. She swore that it wasn't so bad that she needed to be hospitalized, just that she needed to know what she had.
Spike had been there for a few moments, but she told him to finish the scouting trip for her. She really didn't think that the trip needed to be completed, but she didn't want Spike to worry about her condition. And by pretending to be her nerdy self, it worked.
She nudged her front hooves together, hoping that the news wouldn't be that bad. This went beyond a stomach virus, that's for sure, but she was afraid just how bad it would get. Hopefully, it was nothing that threatened her life. But she didn't have a clue what to expect. This wasn't like most illnesses.
Her stomach had calmed down, and the fever wasn't as strong. But the fear of the unknown still played on her psyche.
Eventually, a doctor did come in. It was the same doctor that looked over Rainbow Dash when she broke her wing and discovered reading, so it helped that she knew this stallion already.
"So how bad is it?" she asked.
"I need to ask a few questions to be sure. I might have an idea what it could be, but let's begin. How long have you had these stomach issues?"
"On and off for a month. It only got seriously bad this week."
"Have you had persistent headaches lasting any longer than a day over the same period?"
"Sometimes. About four times this month."
"And have you found yourself either liking or disliking certain kinds of food all of the sudden?"
"I like sunflowers a lot more, and milk doesn't taste as good as it used to."
The doctor responded with silence. This caused Twilight's fears to skyrocket.
"Could this kill me?"
"No. But I'll need you to get on your back. I'm going to check your stomach for something."
Twilight was confused and more than a little worried over what this meant, but she did as she was told. She got on her back and laid her hind legs straight on the surface.
The doctor brought a stool over to the side of the bed, and balanced his hind legs on it. He brought his right front hoof up and brought it on Twilight's stomach.
As he moved around her belly, she found that it was a lot more sensitive than usual. She felt like laughing, as it felt less like he was massaging it and more like tickling from Pinkie Pie.
"How sensitive does this feel?"
"A lot. Stop it, that really tickles," she said between laughs.
"Just as I thought. I know what this is now."
Twilight got off her back and sat back down on her rump. "So what is it?"
"Are you sure you want to know?"
"I need to know, doctor."
"Princess Twilight Sparkle, all signs point to one thing. You're pregnant."
----
The chariot flew as fast out of Canterlot as it was possible. The four Guards flapped their wings endlessly, noting that Celestia was more edgy than usual. And that was not a good thing. Bad things happened when she was edgy.
Celestia peered her head out the carriage, ignoring the blast of wind in her face, and looked down to Ponyville. She had to get there as fast as she could, come hell or high water.
The town was approaching at a high speed, only not fast enough. The town square flew by them in no time, followed by Sweet Apple Acres. Eventually, they came to a large lake outside of town. Only one pony was there that afternoon. A familiar pregnant pony.
The wheels touched the ground before coming to a complete stop. Celestia flew out of her chariot soon after, and she ran to see her prized ex-student.
To her surprise, Twilight was quiet out by the lake. She stared at her own reflection, one that carried no expression at all.
Celestia ran to her side, and she turned to see the purple alicorn in the eye.
"I got your letter, and I had to see you as soon as possible. Is it true? Did they tell you that you were pregnant?"
"Yeah. They didn't leave any doubt about that," Twilight explained in a monotone voice.
"It's Sombra's child, isn't it? I don't know any other pony you had sex with."
"I know its his child too. Its been two months since I was his. And they told me that I'm two months pregnant."
Tears streamed down Celestia's face, and she hugged Twilight with her own front legs. Twilight still didn't respond to her actions, and that didn't help matters.
She didn't know why Twilight was quiet and still in her embrace, and she cried all the harder for it.
King Sombra was even more twisted that she had imagined. This was his final cruelty, forcing Twilight to bear his child. And she had to do anything she could to make this better.
"I'm so sorry, Twilight. I regret more than ever that I didn't stop this sooner. You don't deserve this fate, and this is on me."
"What are you talking about?" Twilight said.
Celestia was so surprised, she pulled Twilight out and held her like a foal. And when she did, Twilight had a slight smile to her face.
"I'm talking about how he's making you the mother of his child. If I had found out sooner, he wouldn't have had sex with you, and you wouldn't have to go through this hardship."
Twilight grinned from ear to ear, giving her the scariest smile ever. "I love you, Celestia. You're like a second mother to me."
"Stop talking like that. You're scaring me."
"But you forgot one thing about this child."
"And what would that be?"
Twilight sat down on her rear limbs, and held her stomach delicately. "This child isn't just his child, its mine as well."
Celestia stopped in her tracks, and poured her thoughts over those ten words. "What do you mean?"
"It's my child. His father is dead, but I'm still here. I can raise him up to be my child too. He might be like his father in some ways, but I can still raise him to be like me."
Twilight was starting to cry, but they were tears of joy.
"And I won't let him become the tyrant and life using monster Sombra was. I won't allow it. I can stop Sombra's legacy before it begins."
Celestia listened closely to every word, and it hit her at last. The pony that had started off as a filly, one that started off accidentally causing a baby dragon to grow into an enormous one, had fully grown up before her eyes.
Even after all she had been through, after the hell Sombra had put her through, she was stronger than ever. And it was clear that when the day came when Celestia would finally die, Twilight would continue her legacy. Not Sombra's.
And that left her more optimistic about the future than she had ever been.
"You may never know fully how proud I am of you, Twilight Sparkle."
"I'm proud of you, too. You saved my life back there."
The wind had picked up around Twilight, causing her mane to lift and fly around her head. It was almost like it was flowing in the same manner Celestia and Luna's mane had done.
She looked over the lake, where miles of wilderness surrounded it. She could still feel Sombra's love for her, the kiss of the dark that might never go away for good. But she would fight off his legacy as hard as she could.
Raising a child by herself would not be so easy. But she could do it. The foal will grow up to be as terrific of a pony as she was. That much she knew.
And deep down, knowing her friends would have her back, and her family's, with Celestia and Luna to help out on top of that, she wasn't scared of the future at all.
That was when she knew everything would be all right in the end.
And sometimes, that was all the encouragement she needed.
She looked to the sky, the expansive blue canvas as beautiful as it had ever been.
Also LikedSimilarAuthor
- Soothing Stone · 17k words · 338 15 · 12k views
- Lucidenn · 49k words · 1,029 41 · 18k views
- Lucidenn · 7k words · 482 20 · 10k views
- Lucidenn · 48k words · 399 29 · 11k views
- FinnPony · 129k words · 709 34 · 14k views
- Mordy · 23k words · 317 16 · 14k views
- Lapis-Lazuli and Stitch · 56k words · 878 25 · 17k views
- ChaoticHarmony · 45k words · 693 43 · 16k views
Stats
Page generated in 0.101 seconds
Total duration
1,045 users online
1,761,411 hits today, 2,561,572 yesterday
FIMFiction
My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic Fanfiction
Designed and coded by knighty & Xaquseg - © 2011-2024
Follow & Support Us
Support us
SubStar
Chat!
Discord
Follow us
Twitter
MLP: Friendship is Magic® - © 2024 Hasbro Inc.®
Fimfiction is in no way affiliated with or endorsed by Hasbro Inc.®
And as always, another great end to another great fic by Soothing Stone. *claps*
*CLAP CLAP CLAP*
Very good ending
amazing....just, amazing.
Hah! I knew it! Good thing I chose to keep it to myself :) (wasn't that hard to guess anyway...)
Keep it up! I like!
my prophecy still stands...
...
on page 9 of the comments currently, i believe...
You shouldn't be so hard on yourself, This is a fantastic story.
I liked the supportiveness of the townsfolk and the meadow location for the castle, and I absolutely loved Twilight's reaction to the news.
Lovely ending.
By the way, I would advise against posting your author's notes in a separate chapter. It's apparently against site rules and the mods have been cracking down on the practice.
3348558
Oh, OK.
3348558
Edited the author's notes for the final chapter so it has every note I wanted to say.
Hell yeah, there I am!
These guys are also awesome, though I'm not sure what they did in regards to this story...
Good ending, even if I preferred the dark ending.
Good job writing; this story was fun to read and follow. I eagerly wait for next story that you maybe or maybe not will put out at some point in the future.
Cheers- Morfonious
THIS STORY IS HAPPY END!
Glad to see your emotional state is good. Who knew fanfiction would do this to a guy?
At last a great story comes to an end. I thoroughly enjoyed this read and I do hope you continue this with a sequel.
i DO hope theres a continuation!! BUT I LOVED IT!!!
Don't forget I made the wiki page for this story
I applaud you for giving this an epilogue
and I'm happy that you seem to be ok now.
Now,would you like a suggestion? and I think some people will hate me for this,but maybe you should move on to other things,explore other themes in your stories.It seems that this story in particular has taken a lot of you,left you mentally drained.I've seen various cases similar you yours in this site and I can understand how messy things can get with people over just one story.Many authors weren't that lucky.You in particular got better in the end,and I'm glad for it.
So why not trying with a new story in the future? It doesn't have to be a sequel to this,just something new.Something less dark,you know what I'm saying?
But taking a break from this universe,or just leaving like this.This epilogue was fulfilling and you certainly did a good job.
Just basically try to think about yourself first.
Now, I could just heap praises on you like everyone else, but I'm tired so I'll be quick.
It's great to see that you decided to finish this story, and you finished it rather well. Wrapped up many of the plots but left some threads for possible sequels, which is always nice.
Now then, the next thing you should probably think of doing is some nice, mindless fluff. Don't worry about deeper meanings, plot, and so on. Make something that will bring a smile to your face as you write it, and just have fun with it. Trust me, fluff makes everything better.
You sir deserve a cookie. A MILLION COOKIES. Thank you for finishing
3349410
No. In my mind, he did love her, but it was a side effect of how he mantipulated her into loving him. He would have tried to overthrow Celestia no matter what.
Congrats on finishing your greatis creation
and it's enough to make a grown man cry 
to see this legend of a story complete!
CONGRATULATIONS!!!
Have a million
3349393
I'm planning to do that with the next story, actually.
Neat. Although it's 'adoptive', not 'adaptive'
Magnificent epilogue, sir. Thank you.
All I can say is thank you for picking this story back up and finishing it! :D It's been a thoroughly enjoyable read
On a side note:
Me: "She's preggurz."
NAILED IT!
3348567
NO FUCK NO! NO! PLEASE FUCKING NO! MY SON IS A FUCKING ASSHOLE TO ME!
3349906
WAT?
my mind right now.
3352335
You're a guy who chokes people to death, destroyed an entire planet your daughter lived in, pretty much killed millions, and you're controlled by the only guy with more wrinkles on his face than Clint Eastwood. Seriously, why wouldn't your son want to defeat you?
I really liked this story. :-) I would enjoy reading a squeal if you chose to make one.
reactiongifs.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/11/standing-ovation.gif
Wonderful ending. I'm very glad to see this story end in a satisfying way. You, sir, have a gift and I want to see more of it.
3352590
Because of the fact of how I didn't kill him on Bespin.
LOVED the story I liked it from the start hope you make a sequel :D
You know Twilight might not have to raise the child alone. Somepony like Flash Sentry just as an example could still marry her and love the child as if it were his own.
3355867
I started the story before we even knew about Flash like that.
Actually...that's not the worst idea. But I'm not making the sequel right now.
3355867
no.
3356761
Why do I like this idea so much?
Is it because I want to craft Flash into a dork?
Loved the story
and I personally liked the second version of how the ending turned out. If it would have ended the other way Twilight could have just become another enemy to equestrian and I like it better when a character has to pass thru troubling times to forgive herself for what she's done. Again great story and I hope too see a sequel in the near future.
3356761
Oh yesss 100 times yes
This was my first fanfic and I'm glad it was my first, but to be totally honest i would like to know if somewhere there is the evil ending dont get me wrong i loved your ending it made me cry tears you sir are amazing take this from a fellow villan writer you sir are incredible writer
Seriously I think you did an amazing job with this ending and the whole story itself!
If you do decide to write a sequel, I would read it.
3369646
Actually, I imagined Sombra and Starswirl as two characters. Sombra just took advantage of Starswirl's thirst for knowledge.
Ifanything, comparing Starswirl's fall to Twilight's is a better metaphor.
3356761
dat no.
3327705
Am I the only one thinking your trying to get attention?
3402495
I'm allowing anyone who wants to write a sequel to this story to do so. I finished.the story how I wanted to. So I have no issues with this.
3402537 I'll send you the link to the first chapter of it so you can tell me what you personsaly think of it.
Of course I'm still working on it though.
Sequel thoughts (and I'm not a big fan of sequels, but true continuations of a story can be done well): Think Nyx being used to revive Nightmare Moon. Don't just do the same, but not everypony will be forgiving of little Prince Sombra, or even her mom Princess Twilight, since ponies died because of her and his father (or Princess Sombra, but this fandom needs more well written OC male ponies).
Also, thanks for the dark ending and the light one. Perhaps the continuation could be a combination of both, with the foal raised with the internal conflict in Twilight, the foal's, Celestia's, etc. minds. (make it what / if you want: light, dark, or twilight)
3348515
To be honest, it didn't feel like I was hard on myself back there. Maybe I overworked a bit...
Nice, but I wish it ended without Sombra dying. Him and Twi are cute together.
Just finished this and I have to say, after reading everything(including both endings) I can see the appeal of the 'evil ending' and how it opens up a whole nother story. But I believe that if your original idea of the story was this ending and the only reason it almost didn't come about was because of what you thought others wanted. That you made a good choice in finishing it in a way that you liked. Sure there are times where authors should take into account ideas and comments from readers to shape some of the story. But if it leaves you feeling the way you did, that is just a good sign that its not the way to go.
A great story and was worth the fact that after this I have to wake up very soon to deal with my day
Cheers too you and keep up the great writing.
This story will always have a place of my MOST favourite story's EVER list