Before

Boredom.

Here I sat with just myself and the ever present, crushing boredom. When I was called out on this Emergency Medical Teleport I thought I was going to, you know, preform emergency medicine. Yet they left me here to wait.

***

I was doing my paperwork at the Ministry of Peace Hub in Canterlot. My desk was piled high with papers and forms, most of which were shoveled onto me by the assholes that work with me. Apparently being new to the job means I get to do all the shit that no pony else wants to do. Though as much as I thought it was stupid and want to tell somepony to fuck themselves with a Zebra's front hoof, I knew it would only get me fired and being a unicorn with a medical cutie mark in the Ministry of Peace meant that I did NOT want that happening.

Medicine is all I've ever known. Both of my parents were medical ponies and Luna be damned if they were going to let me go off and be a toaster repair pony or something. Fortunately I had some interest in medicine so my parents weren't forcing something I didn't want. Unfortunately, due to the pressure from my parents, I refined only my medical skills so any other line of work was out of the question. It's like being a party pony at a construction site.

Anyway, the call came in for an emergency teleport. Outside of Cloudsdale there had been an accident involving two pegasi. So my team had gathered and the designated teleporter, her name was Cherry Blossom, cast her spell.

Sidenote: I've never been able to get used to teleporting. I've been through it plenty of times in my career and have even mastered basic teleportation, but just the feeling of being taken out of existence by arcane energy and shoved back into it...it just makes my stomach turn. Especially after treating ponies who have had...um...problems with teleporting. Seeing a pony halfway teleported into a mailbox will make a unicorn paranoid.

When we arrived, not in a mailbox thank Celestia, the scene was a mess to say the least. A refrigeration cart with the Sparkle-Cola logo had embedded its front half into the ground. The pony who had been pulling it was leaning against the cart to support himself. He was the one that had sent out the call from the emergency radio on his cart. He was bleeding from his wing joint and one of his legs was bent at a slightly odd angle, but he was breathing and conscious. The other pony wasn't as lucky. She was laying in a pool of blood that was flowing from her head. It was hard to tell if she were breathing or conscious from the blood. Her harness was the only immediate evidence that she had even had a cart.

My team of four split between the two ponies. Cherry Blossom choosing to check out the stallion as he seemed in less critical condition and she was still drained from teleporting. I and my two other team members, who for the record were named Gene Splice and Warm Heart, rushed to the mare. I did a vitals scan while the others focused on her bleeding. I lifted my Pipbuck and tapped the broadcaster expansion.

"Alive," I shouted, "Pegasus Mare. Concussion. Shattered front right foreleg. Several cracked ribs. Many possible fractures. Slight internal bleeding. External bleeding mainly on forehead and front foreleg. Blood level: low. Breathing: irregular. Heartrate: irregular. Priority: high."

This was usually my main duty. Reporting information back to the Hub so that they were prepared when the patient arrived. In critical situations like this the faster the patient can be put into stable condition, the more likely the patient is of surviving. I am trained in advanced medical spells, but the main healing done by an Emergency Teleport Team (or ETT) is to stop the patient from bleeding out or otherwise dying immediately. My Pipbuck static-ed to life.

" -kzzzt- Received. Doctors on standby. Ready for teleport. Room 27B. -kzzt-"

"Got it," I shouted into the Pipbuck, then I addressed Gene Splice. "27B's ready, Gene."

Gene nodded and went back to treating the bleeding mare. Gene was the second teleporter on our team. Every ETT was equipped with two teleporters: a To and a From. A To teleporter got the ETT to the scene and the From teleporter took the critical patients back to be treated immediately. The To teleporter would bring everypony else back after they recharged their magic.

I left Gene Splice and Warm Heart as I went to check on the other pegasus. He was still leaning on the cart but his wing had stopped bleeding. Cherry Blossom was examining him. I tapped my recording program on my Pipbuck and held it up so that it would record both of our voices.

"What exactly happened, sir?" I asked.

"What the? Are you recordin' me?" He responded.

"Yes, sir. It's standard procedure to get a report of what happened. So please tell me, sir, what happened here?"

"Well, Ah was makin' a delivery of Sparkle-Cola t' Manehatten when some other pegasus ran righ' into the side of ma cart. It must've knocked ma spark battery loose or somethin' because Ah fell outta the sky. Luckily Ah have a quick release on ma harness so Ah didn' get smashed into the ground like the front half of ma cart. Ah still hit the ground mighty hard. Then Ah noticed that mare there bleedin' somethin' fierce. So Ah used ma emergency radio."

"Okay." I said tapping a button on my Pipbuck to save the audio log. "Thank you, sir."

Cherry Blossom had been speaking into her Pipbuck, giving the results of her scan.

"...Priority Medium."

"*kzzt* Received. Doctors on standby. Teleport when ready. Room 12A. *kzzzt*"

"Roger." Cherry Blossom said to her Pipbuck and looked back at the pegasus. "We'll teleport in a moment, sir. Just let me get my strength back for my spell."

"Yes, ma'am." He responded.

Cherry Blossom nodded to Gene as a signal that the stallion wasn't in critical condition and that she could teleport him. A flash behind me told me that the mare had been teleported back to the Hub. Which meant my job was just about done. I just had to teleport back with Cherry Blossom and write up an accident report. Then my Pipbuck flashed as it had received a message. I brought it up to my eyes and read it. It was from my boss telling me that Sparkle-Cola was coming to retrieve their cart and that I needed to wait by the cart for their arrival.

Wait, really? I gotta wait here for Sparkle-Cola to come get their cart? But they're based all the way in Manehatten! This is bullshit! I work for the Luna damned Ministry of Peace! This wasn't in the fucking job description! I thought. But I couldn't argue because, well, I like having a job. It's kinda nice having bits in my saddlebags.

"Cherry Blossom, I'm not teleporting back. I gotta wait for Sparkle-Cola to pick up their stuff."

I gestured to the big metal cart in question. She nodded and in a flash of pink light they vanished.

***

Now here we are again, waiting. Just me and this huge metal piece of shit.

Though I have to say, that thing was pretty durable. It fell out of the sky and was still in one piece. It wasn't too beaten up either. Mostly a bunch of scratches and a huge dent where the mare had run into the side. She's definitely going to have a bit of brain damage after a hit that hard, but on the bright side they will both live. That's really the most I can ask for.

The only other place to look was up at the pegasus delivery carts flying to and from Cloudsdale.

It's a really populated place and thus has a lot of accidents involving cart crashes. Minister Fluttershy really dislikes this area of sky for its frequency in accidents. She always seem sad when I deliver the weekly reports and a lot of them are from this area. There really isn't much we can do either. That stuff needs to get to all of Equestria and to slow or stop that would result in loads of angry ponies. Among them being the Ministry of Peace itself. Our Hub receives some of its medical supplies via a pegasus delivery service. A specific one as well. Something about Minister Fluttershy being old friends with the pegasus that drives the cart. I'm the one that has to sign the Receiving Form so I see this mare pretty often. She's very sweet and her name is-

"Ditzy Doo?"

There she was, pulling the cart with her trademark bubble design on the side.

That's right, today we're expecting a delivery for Minister Fluttershy. I was told it was a footlocker containing some personal items and to alert Minister Fluttershy when it arrives. I hope I'm able to get back before it gets there. It's always a highlight of my day to see Ditzy. She's always so unconditionally nice and kind. It's as if she's nice just to be nice and that's a rare virtue in Equestria today.

I waved up at her and called her name, but I guess she didn't notice me down here.

Aw well, I'm sure I'll see her again later today. It's not like it's the end of the world. But this waiting is sure going to be the end of me. I wish I would have grabbed a book or something before I had left. I was halfway through my copy of "The Big Book of Science." There was this great article about hacking computer terminals which looked like it might be of use.

Finding some comfort in watching Cloudsdale in the distance, I zoned out and kinda surfed my thoughts. A message from my sister over in Manehatten came to mind.

'Hey, bro. I heard you got the job with the MoP over in Canterlot. Good job! I knew you could do it. Just wanted to say that I got some space in a local Stable shelter. I was able to get in as the medical professional for the Stable, and after a little string pulling I was able to get space for three more ponies. I know you don't think they're necessary because you think that they'll be a peaceful solution to this war, but I can't quite believe that. I'm scared, bro, I really am. This isn't the Equestria of Mom and Dad's time. That Equestria seems dead and gone. Mom and Dad have both agreed to go into the Stable. Since you're now out in Canterlot, I know you'll want to stay, but promise us that you will look into Stables in your area. I know you think it's a waste, but I'd rather you be out a few bits and be safe than on the other side of the Stable door. Please consider it."

I got that message about a month prior, and while I did look at Stables, I just felt like they were a waste of my bits. Maybe those at Stable-Tec thought the world was going to end, but I stood with Minister Fluttershy that a peaceful solution could be found.

I got another message earlier that week that sorta spooked me.

"Big brother, they've loaded everypony into the Stable. They're telling everypony that it's only a test, but they're lying. I know ponies up in Stable-Tec and they said that Stable-Tec is getting scared. Honesty, I'm getting scared too. I know that in this Stable I'm as safe as can be, but I fear for Equestria...and I fear for you. You still not having a spot in a Stable is scaring me to the point that I'm having nightmares. It scares Mom and Dad too. They asked me earlier today if you had gotten into a Stable and I lied and told them you did. The last thing they need is that on their minds. Listen, bro, I know siblings are supposed to hate each other's guts but I truly love you. I don't know where I would be if it wasn't for my big brother helping me every step of the way. Saying that, I have to ask you one more time to try to get into the Stable. Tell them you work for the Ministry, they love MoP unicorns. Anything so that you're safe, okay? Please message me back as soon as possible."

Something about that message seemed ominous. Sure, not all the Stables were being loaded because I would have heard about it over the radio. It's just the idea of a Stable being filled makes me slightly paranoid. Especially after remembering their purpose.

Waste of bits or not, after I finish my shift I'm going right to Canterlot's Stable-Tec building and getting a place in a Stable. Luna forbid those Zebras do something drastic and I'm unprepared.

While zoning out at Cloudsdale I noticed something that drew my focus back.

Rainbows? Was Minister Rainbow Dash doing one of her morale-boasting Sonic Rainbooms? That's awfully close to the city. If I didn't know any better I'd think that was a....No...Fuck no...Those Zebra bastards....They actually used a Celestia-fucking Megaspell...I need to get out of here.

I tried to move my hooves but nothing happened. I tried to scream but nothing happened. I tried to blink but nothing happened. It wasn't because I was frozen with fear either. It actually was that my brain had yet to even put together the order to send out to my body. It was as if the time-space continuum took a golf club to the side of the head and still hadn't gotten back to his senses. Time was going so slow that I wasn't even breathing. All my knowledge of pony anatomy told me it was impossible for the brain to process this fast, but there were more pressing matters at hoof.

The rainbow explosion began to expand rapidly, even in this slowed time. Cloudsdale was dissolved with ease as the water vapor became rainbow plasma. Those poor ponies were now nothing more than excited polychromatic particles fueling the destructive chain reaction.Now was not the time for science talk, I needed to escape.

Surely there is something I can do to escape the Megaspell. Moving is out of the question. Maybe I can teleport back to Canterlot. Surely the Princesses had the whole city protected against such an attack.

As I tried to focus my arcane energy into the pattern that represented a teleport spell, I noticed that the entirety of Cloudsdale had been consumed in the rainbow explosion. Then it inexplicable began to get hot. Which I may have wondered about, given the fact that time was going so slow my brain couldn't tell my legs to move, so signals of heat going from my skin to my brain was ludicrous. Instead I was busy freaking out.

This can't be happening. Nope. I totally fell asleep at work. I was up too late last night reading Daring Do again and fell asleep on my inventory forms. Any moment now Gene's gonna wake me up by dumping cold water on me. Heh heh. Gene's such a dick.

The explosion was getting closer. The air was getting much hotter.

Fuck. Why did this fucking accident have to be so close to Cloudsdale? Why couldn't that fucking bitch watch where she was going? It wasn't even like this was a road with specific lanes, it was the fucking sky. Three dimensional space. How fucking hard is it to keep from hiting somepony in three dimensional fucking space?

The explosion reached the ground. The shockwave was clearly visible as the force pushed clouds and everything on the ground with great power.

Oh Celestia. I'm don't even know god I should be praying to; I've never been familiar with the Equestrian religions. I always been to busy to read up on them and my parents weren't the religious types. I guess the Princesses are the closest things I know to Gods...err...Goddesses.

Dearest Celestia, bringer of the Sun, please keep me safe from this Megaspell. I really don't want to die.

Dearest Luna, bringer of the Moon, please keep my family safe in the Stable. I love then greatly.

If you grant me these things, I will devote myself to worshiping you forever.

The heat was increasing still. It was begin to hurt my skin. I started to hear a clicking that belonged to my radiation detector. The wall of Megaspell was getting closer.

So many are dead. I'm going to be next. I'll never get to see my sweet sister again. My parents either. I never got to tell any of them that I loved them one last time. They'll never know either. They'll just think I got into a Stable. I miss them already. I'll never get to see anypony again. Gene Splice, Warm Heart, Cherry Blossom, Minister Fluttershy...Ditzy Doo...Oh Celestia...I just saw Ditzy Doo...she's going to die too...It's so depressing that somepony so innocent and nice could have been killed by those Zebra bastards...why couldn't she be spared this...why...

Then the world got dimmer and dimmer until the world was dark. I thought I may have passed out or died but I quickly realized that I had only blinked. The heat was beginning to burn my skin. The constant tone of my radiation detector was beginning to be drowned out by wind as the shockwave started to hit me.

This is it. The end. I hope it will be quick. Goodbye Cruel Worl-

***

Suddenly I was pulled out of existence for a moment and thrust back in. My teleport spell had kicked in at the last second. I thought that I must have been in Canterlot, since that's where I was aiming. The only sound I could hear was my radiation detector clicking wildly from the radiation being emitted from me. Also a metallic grinding.

I opened my eyes at a normal speed. I was in what looked like a dark tunnel. In front of me was a giant gear-shaped hole with an equally giant gear-shaped piece of metal moving across it slowly. This must be Stable...and it's closing. Inside was a room with many ponies in it. All the ponies were surprised, except for one that was horrified. The horrified one was a unicorn mare and more importantly was my sister.

She began to run towards me. I couldn't let her do that, she would get locked out here. I had to stop her, but the radiation had left me weak. I pulled together all my remaining strength.

"Stop!" I shouted.

She stopped right behind the threshold of the door. We looked into each others eyes, tears were streaming from hers.

"Big brother..." She said with a sob.

"...L-love you, S-s-sis..." I managed to stutter out.

I smiled, even though it was difficult to do so. She returned my smile as she cried. We remained this way until the Stable door finally closed and slid into place.

Then it all faded away.

After

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Noises.

I begun to hear noises fade in from the silence. Nothing too loud or annoying, just conversation. I couldn't make out what anypony was saying, but I did know that there were a lot of ponies around me at various distances.

Then I was suddenly made aware of my body. I could feel the existence and position of each of my limbs.

Legs! Still got legs!

I was laying down on what felt like soft carpet. It was ever so comfortable. So comfortable that I would've stayed laying there if it wasn't for the fact that I had died a bit ago. A thought entered my mind.

Wait, am I alive? Did I get picked up by an ETT? 'Cause that would be a bit ironic.

Irony aside, I became aware of a very important body part at that moment. I closed my eye lids tight just to make sure they still functioned. I took a deep breath and opened my eyes.

The light was rather blinding at first but I quickly got used to it. I was in an extremely large room occupied by what looked like really tall ponies. Then I realized my position and stood on my hooves. The ponies weren't tall but normal sized. I noticed that the ponies that were in the room were mostly pegasi of various colors. There were quite a bit of them but no where near enough to fill the room.

As stated before, the room was extremely large. Like, it was so big that my description was an understatement. I would need to use every synonym of the word "ginormous" 20 times in order to be in the same ballpark. It looked to be some sort of theatre with a stage towards the front. From the stage there was a lot of empty, carpeted space that was occupied by the many ponies and I. There was still a lot more space for other ponies behind us, as well as balconies above the ground floor. If I had to guess, the theatre could probably hold a million or so ponies. On the stage was a simple podium and on the wall behind it was a video projection of the podium for those farther back.

Either there's going to be some kind of announcement or me and a LOT of other ponies were suckered in to see a school play.

Time began to tick on. I had no idea what I was doing here or where I was, but something inside of me told me to be patient and my questions would be answered. That didn't stop my boredom unfortunately. My eyes began to look at the pegasi around me. I didn't really recognize any of them, and they didn't really seem to pay me much mind either. They mostly seemed to be in serious conversation or slightly shocked.

I tried to listen in to their conversations but got distracted by the sound of noise behind me. I turned my head and my jaw nearly hit the floor. The huge amount of empty space behind me was filled with a myriad of ponies. It was surely impossible that so many ponies could enter the room without raising any attention.

Holy buck! How in the name of Princess Luna did an amount of ponies equal to that of Manehatten's population just sneak in here? I can't even sneak into the movie theatre without getting caught.

Suddenly everypony got quiet and turned towards the stage. I turned as well and saw a pony standing behind the podium. This mare looked very familiar. She was bright pink with blue eyes. Her mane was poofy with the texture between that of cotton candy and a cloud. Then it hit me.

Minister Pinkie Pie.

It was indeed the Minister Mare of the Ministry of Morale. She looked younger, like those pictures of her before the war. She also seemed nervous, as if she was about to share bad news. She tapped the mic.

"Um. If I could get everyponies' attention for a moment," Minister Pie said in a worried tone, her hair started to straighten as she talked. "I'm sure you all are very confused as to where you are and what happened. I know what happened....but I need to wait for somepony that will be able to tell you...better than I."

Her voice was shaky and seemed forced. As if she wanted to cry but built a wall to try to keep the tear-flood from coming out. Unfortunately her wall was made of sugar and was crumbling away.

She backed away from the podium and took a seat in a wooden chair off to the right. She seemed to stare into space as she tried to remain calm. Her expression seemed to be in a constant tug-of-war between neutral and sad. Absentmindedly she begun to fiddle with her now completely straight, slightly grey mane.

Conversation seemed to pick back up amongst the ponies in the room. I couldn't take my eyes off of Minister Pinkie Pie.

I had never seen her so sad or at such a loss for words. She always seemed so unconditionally happy that any other expression was new and different. I've heard that even during the most dark and stormy of days she would smile and hum as if it were sunny and beautiful. Whatever she had to say must be terrible news. Like death-of-a-Ministry-Mare bad or ,Luna forbid, death-of-a-Princess bad.

I gulped as I pondered these thoughts. I was genuinely scared of the news, as well as slightly impatient.

After a few moments I blinked and another pony was on stage. They were in an odd pose that looked as if they were leaning against a window with their hoof pressing against it. The pony opened their eyes and looked around. They then looked at the hoof they had been holding up, inspecting it as if for damage.

The video feed on the wall moved to show the new pony on stage. It was a unicorn mare that had a white coat and beautiful purple mane. The mane was styled so that it curled at the end and her tail was styled in a similarly curled manner. This gorgeous mare was also immediately familiar as she was another Ministry Mare. Minister Rarity of the Ministry of Image. She seemed more confused than anything else.

The room quickly silenced which caused Minister Pie to snap out of her trance and notice Minister Rarity. Minister Pie walked over to Minister Rarity. Minister Rarity looked confused as she said something to Minister Pie. Minister Pie hugged Minister Rarity and started talking as tears streamed down her face. She kept talking for several moments as Minister Rarity's face turned from expressions of shock to those of immense sadness. Minister Pie broke the hug and wiped the tears from her face. She said some final thing and gestured to the podium. She looked at Minister Rarity with pleading eyes. Minister Rarity looked at Minister Pie for a moment and nodded. She walked up to the podium and looked over the crowd.

"Good afternoon, everypony," she said with a slight sadness to her voice. "I have some bad news that might be a touch tough to hear....Equestria was hit with Megaspells launched by the zebra nation."

There were gasps and ponies started to talk amongst themselves.

"That's not all," Minister Rarity spoke up, silencing everypony once more. "Every pony in this room is...dead...we all died during the last day..."

Minister Rarity went silent and looked down at the podium itself. It looked like she was trying to collect her thoughts.

Meanwhile, the room exploded in noise as ponies began to react to the news. Some cried and wailed, while others seemed deep in thought. I was the latter.

Okay. So I didn't fall asleep on my inventory forms. Damn. I was hoping this was just a dream. Wait, if I'm dead, where the fuck am I? Is this some kind of afterlife? I really hope they have big bathrooms because there are a lot of ponies in here. On the bright side, the carpet is pretty comfy...Wait a minute, if we all died that means...

"Ditzy Doo!" I said out loud.

I stood up straight in an attempt to look over the ponies around me. I began to look around for the grey pegasus.

I saw a unicorn who had somehow gotten a bench into here and was sitting very oddly on it. She was comforting a normal sitting earth pony with three candies as a cutie mark.

Some grey did catch my eye in the form of an earth pony mare. Her mane was a darker grey and she wore a bow tie. Her cutie mark I know now to be a treble clef and not a "weird music thingy." She seemed to be mirroring my actions of looking for somepony in the crowd. We made eye contact for a few seconds and I felt her raw emotion in her gaze. Immense sadness and just the overall fear of being lost. I couldn't help but hope she found the pony she was looking for.

I continued searching, but didn't see a glimpse of Ditzy. This left two possibilities. Either she was lost in this myriad of ponies or she was still alive. I'm not sure which would have been better.

As I began to look forward again, I became aware of a new presence next to me. A zebra, except this one wasn't a tall, growling beast with glowing red eyes like the ones I was told about. It looked rather pony-like in fact. It was just a striped pony with a mohawk and a spiraling cutie mark. Nothing more, nothing less. He was examining me much the same way. We were probably thinking on the same line of reasoning. The Zebra looked into my eyes with an expression that wasn't evil nor bloodthirsty, just curious.

I decided to take the chance on the thought of "Oh what the hell? We're ALREADY dead." I extended my hoof. He looked down at it for a moment and then to me again. He smiled slightly and met my hoof with his own and we shook them.

That being out of the way we looked back to the stage. Minister Rarity was no longer at the podium. She sat next to Minister Pie who was trying to comfort her. Minister Rarity stared into space, no doubt trying to wrap her mind around the recent news. Now standing at the podium were two ponies or a pony and a zebra to be exact. The pony was recognizable as the Equestrian hero Big Macintosh. The stallion that sacrificed his life to save Princess Celestia from an assassin. For some reason Big Macintosh was wearing a wooden collar of sorts with two pieces of metal coming off of it. I couldn't make heads or tails of it, but I assumed it meant something to him. I didn't recognize the zebra, but to my credit I had only met my first zebra literaly a moment earlier. The only thing I could figure out from the zebra was that she was a mare.

The crowd exploded for a second time, I didn't think things could explode twice, in loud conversation. This time directed towards the stage. Ponies were yelling at the zebra on the stage. While the zebras, which there appeared to many in the crowd all of a sudden, were yelling at Big Macintosh. Big Macintosh took a deep breath.

"SILENCE!" he yelled.

The microphone cut out, but the sheer projection of his voice had caused it to echo off the walls. Needless to say, everypony shut up on the spot. Big Macintosh let out his remaining breath and began to speak.

"You ponies ought t' be ashamed of yourselves." Big Macintosh said, "The war is over. No one won. There is no reason that y'all should treat zebras so poorly."

"That goes for you too, zebra-kind.
Surely other things are on your mind."
The zebra rhymed,
"Must we always fight and bicker?
Wouldn't making friends be much quicker?
No matter how hard you yell and argue,
It won't bring your life back to you.
So turn to those to which you surround,
And make an apology that is profound."

With that there were murmurs of sorries from all around. I turned to my new zebra friend with my head hanging low.

"I'm sorry for how poorly I and my fellow ponies have treated your kind." I said.

"Well, we didn't exactly extend the olive branch of peace either." He said, "For that I do apologize on my country's behalf."

He extended his hoof with a smile. I matched his smiled and shook his hoof.

The room became silent once more. Big Macintosh smiled and began speaking again.

"Good. Ma name is Big Macintosh but y'all can all me Big Mac. This here is Zecora. She's a good friend of mine. Now I'm bettin' y'all are curious as t'where y'all are. As Rarity", he gestured over to Minister Rarity, "Had said, everyone here is dead. This is mighty sad news, Ah know."

"Despair not, all of you.
For this land, while not home, is new."
Zecora said,
"While gone are those you once knew.
They'll soon be here, this is true."

"Like Zecora said, yer friends and family will be here eventually. Ah know it's a mite morbid to think this way, but it's the honest truth. It might be hard, but Ah must ask those with loved ones not here t' be strong an' patient." Big Mac paused for a moment and looked very tired, "Ah know how y'all feel. Family is what's most important t' me. Not a moment passes that Ah don't miss ma sisters."

Big Mac closed his eyes and tilted his head downwards. He didn't look like he was crying, he seemed too strong, but no doubt he felt immense pain. Zecora started speaking in his silence.

"I, aswell, am missing great friends,
With whom my friendship will never end.
Although death separates them from I.
Time is a very long way to die.
Much like what was said by Big Mac,
Patience is what will bring your friends back."

With that the room fell once more into silence as everyone contemplated what Zecora and Big Mac had said.

On stage, Big Mac had picked up his head and was looking a little better. He smiled and nodded at Zecora. Meanwhile, Minister Pie seemed to deeply ponder this. As if she had come to a realization, a smile began to form on her face. As she smiled, her coat seemed to brighten in color and her mane start to return to its signature puff. She got up from her chair and approached the podium, Big Mac and Zecora stepping aside to allow her passage.

"I'm sorry, everypony...and everyzebra too! I'm sorry for being a complete mopey pants. I was just sad because I missed the other world and my friends, but my friends are going to be here eventually and this world is so totally AWESOME! I look just like I did before that icky wicky war. No grey at all. And now I have all the time I need to be friends with everyone."

Minister Pie sunk behind the podium and sprung up in the audience. She was in front of a pegasus mare about 10 meters from me.

"Like you!"

She sunk out of sight and I could hear far behind me.

"And you!"

I turned my neck to see where she had popped up. When I turned back I was nose to nose with the pink mare. Her big, blue eyes filling a large portion of my vision.

"And YOU!"

I felt a hoof grab my chest and pull me down. It was like I had gone through the floor. Everything went black. When light returned I was facing the large room of ponies. I looked around and found myself to be on the stage. Next to me were the pegasus mare from earlier and a zebra stallion. Both of whom with the same confused look I'm sure I had as well. I looked back out at the crowd and felt incredibly tiny in comparison. I had no idea what had happened or why, but oddities like these were common with the Ministry Mare. I simply chalked it up to Minister Pie being Minister Pie.

I heard a rather cartoon-y BOING and turned my attention to the bouncing Ministry Pie at the podium. After the third bounce, she stopped and began talking again.

"First things first..."

The was a loud thud as a section of the stage turned into stairs leading into the audience. Behind me I heard a magical zap and turned to see a large door that was a very bright pink with balloons designs on it. I turned back to Minister Pie.

"It's time to PARTY!"

On the last word she somehow pulled me, the zebra, the pegasus, Big Mac, and Zecora into a rather tight side-hug. At the same time the large door creaked open and spewed out confetti and balloons. It was hard not to smile at that moment. Almost as if Minister Pie was some kind of joyous disease that was spread by contact.

Thus ended Equestria as I knew it, and began a more peaceful and friendly afterlife. Surely this is paradise.

Epilogue

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Paradise.

The unicorn stallion stared at the word, quill hovering above the page. He seemed unsure if he had written enough or if he had ended it on the right note. A few seconds ticked by before the stallion put the quill down next to the book he had been writing in. Finally satisfied in both his writing and the dryness of the ink he looked up.

He was back in the library. He had spent so long writing that he had been kind of lost in his own imagination, but his surroundings were suddenly looking familiar again. The library that looked both inside and out like a large tree. Books lined the walls on shelves that seemed 3 or 4 meters high. Typically the books were labeled with titles of varying topics, but these had names instead. Across the room at another desk was a unicorn mare who was reading a book.

The stallion spoke up.

"Minister Sparkle? I'm finished."

The unicorn looked up at the stallion and rolled her eyes.

"I've already told you, I'm not a Ministry Mare anymore. Just Twilight is fine." she said, levitating the book from infront of the stallion. She examined it as she flipped through. "Is this everything you want to write?"

"Yes, Minis-er I mean Twilight." the stallion replied with a nervous smile.

Twilight levitated the book back to the stallion.

"Could you please alphabetically place it on the shelf labeled 'Wartime'?" asked Twilight placing a check on a scroll she had nearby.

"Sure, Twilight." said the stallion as he went to complete said task. "Umm...if I might ask, why did you need me to write out how I died?"

"Well," started Twilight, "It was an idea by both Luna and I that we should have a record of the dead so that recently deceased ponies, and zebras, could find out if their loved ones had died. I thought it would be interesting to take it a step further and have those that had died write how they died because it makes for an interesting and unique story."

The stallion push his book into place. He double-checked that it was the correct spot and that he had spelled his name correctly. It would be terrible if he were to spell his own name wrong...again. Satisfied with his book placing skills, he turned and walked back to Twilight.

"Isn't that just a tad insensitive?" The stallion asked, "I mean, no doubt that some ponies have cool ways that they die, but death is a pretty traumatic experience. On top of that there's the grief of, like, losing the world and ponies they knew and loved. I wouldn't think it would be the best idea to ask them to relive all of that."

Twilight nodded politely before replying.

"That's a very good point and I assure you that it's all voluntary. I understand that not everypony wants to relive something like death. We just try to get a record of everypony here and if they would like to donate to our archive, we're happy to accept. I mean-"

Twilight was cut off from her statement by an explosion of confetti. When the smoke cleared there was an increase in the amount of Pinkie Pie in the room.

"Hi Twilight!" shouted Pinkie.

"Oh, hi Pinkie." replied a slightly dazed Twilight, "Is it 3 already? I lost track of time."

"I could tell! That's why I snuck up behind you and use my PARTY CANNON!"

With that Pinkie Pie presented a blue cannon that immediately filled the room with more confetti than a library goer would be comfortable with. When it cleared, Pinkie was infront of the stallion who flinched slightly.

"I remember you!" Pinkie shouted, "I picked you out of the crowd right before my big Welcome-to-the-Afterlife Party! Your name was-"

With that Pinkie Pie shoved her own hoof over her mouth to silence herself. She removed it and continued.

"Oops. I almost forgot that I'm not supposed to say your name so you aren't canon to the original story line. Sorry about that."

"Huh...?" was all the stallion could say because anything else and he would start questioning what a certain <i>somepony</i> had said. Pinkie moved on and stopped breaking the immersion.

"So, Twilight, I'm TOTALLY up for our tea party but I first I gotta finish a game of hide-and-go-seek my little friend started."

Pinkie stepped aside to reveal a little pink filly with yellow hair.

"Hi, I'm Puppysmiles!" said the little filly excitedly, "Have you seen my mom?"

Twilight smiled as her heart melted.

"No but I'm sure we can find her, Puppy."

Pinkie bounced an exit with Puppysmiles not far behind. Twilight put a bookmark in the book she was reading and turned to leave when she remembered the stallion she was talking to. She faced him and smiled.

"I'm sorry about that. I have appointment for tea with Pinkie Pie. You can join us if you like."

"Maybe some other time," said the stallion mirroring Twilight's smile, "I have an appointment of my own. I'm meeting my sister and her foals...and their foals....and their foals... "

With that, the stallion and Twilight Sparkle parted ways and went on with their separate afterlives. Their future encounters would be brief and no more than just a greetings. They would go on living carefree lives without the ever present stress of wartime. Life would return to that of Twilight's youth, living in the thousandth year of peace. To her it would just be normal, but to the stallion it would be paradise.

Thus ends this hoofnote of a rather bloody chapter of Equine history. Ignored by many but important nonetheless. It's important to remember that even with death counts in the millions, every pony has a unique story that's untold. But that's the price of war. And war, war never changes.

Fallout Equestria: The Last Call

by sparkypchu

Before

After

Epilogue