— — — Twilight — — —

The cold snow crunched beneath her winter boots as she walked along the path. A blanket of this knee-high snow laid on either side of it, but the path was consistently cleared of its accrual. She took in a breath of fresh air, admiring the beautifully white landscape surrounding Ponyville. Her matching yellow and red scarf hugged her neck comfortably as they walked.

It was almost Hearth’s Warming Eve, and the town was starting to liven up to its arrival. This time, it was extra special, as the nightmarish apocalypse was slowly coming to a close. She had helped form coalitions of ponies that swept through the cities of Equestria, bringing ponies out of their zombie hypnosis. In just a few weeks, their efforts had exponential effects, sweeping Equestria free from the plague just as fast as it had started. Even though nearly two months had gone by, she was still reminded of the fateful day they started bringing back their beautiful world.

Next to her, Trixie walked along the path with her blue winter boots and matching star-speckled scarf. Twilight glanced over and observed the mare quietly. It was evident that Devan and her had grown a special bond as well, judging by how she reacted to his death. While curious, Twilight allowed the mare to mourn peacefully alongside her instead of bombarding her with questions about every living second Devan had spent with her. They were already on the same page.

As they continued, two ponies appeared ahead of them. One was a filly, and when they got close enough, Twilight realized it was Applebloom walking with Big Mac. Both of the ponies were covered up with winter hats, scarfs, jackets, and boots. Big Mac also wore large skiing goggles, despite Twilight never seeing him actually skiing. She chuckled at their distaste of this winter weather. They approached the two and stopped along the path.

“Hiya Twilight!” the filly called, galloping up to hug her foreleg.

“Hey girl! How are you?”

“Cold! Big Mac is fillynapping me!”

The group laughed. Big Mac had ‘forced’ the filly on a walk for their mental health, and so they could spend time bonding together. Twilight appreciated his efforts, and she was happy that the stallion had survived to continue caring for his precious little sister.

“Have you spoken with your Crusader friends recently?” she asked the filly.

“I have. Big Mac helped me send a letter to them a few days ago.”

The other crusaders still spent a lot of time in Ponyville, but after the apocalypse, they had to be reunited with their families. Twilight sniffed, reminded yet again of her friends’ deaths, as well as her mentor. They had yet to find a replacement pony to take the role of raising the sun, but there were prospects Princess Luna would assess in the coming spring. In the meantime, the night princess had made a full recovery at the Ponyville hospital, and helped Twilight guide the others to a recovering Equestria.

As she mourned the loss of her friends, she made new ones. Trixie was close to her now, along with the two mares that tried to take Devan to Canterlot. Candy had helped her a lot in recovering from her losses, and the sweet Canterlot unicorn spent a lot of time visiting her, giving her candy gifts, and making sure she was alright. Spark, the country mare akin to dear AJ, had also spent time with her. Candy and Spark had practically become sisters in the past few months, and every time they were together, one of them ended up getting beat up.

There was also Typhoon. That gleeful mare brought so much unexpected happiness to her that she was very grateful she had survived. Ty was also sad at their losses, especially Princess Celestia, but she promised that she would still fly over Canterlot with the Wonderbolts in her honor. Along with her, Cloud had become another close friend. Their shared grief for Devan brought them together, and for this, Twilight was grateful.

After talking a bit more, she and Trixie continued down the path toward her castle. Along the way, she turned to the mare.

“Have you spoken with Vinyl recently?” she asked.

“I have. She’s finally starting to stray from her guilt, thankfully.”

Twilight tsked. That poor mare had a rough ending on that day. She was under the assumption that her bass cannon had single-hoofedly murdered Princess Celestia and Applejack. While the events that had unfolded suggested as such, Twilight tried to persuade her otherwise. She had seen the barn start to collapse prior to her bass. It was gravely unfortunate that the cannon happened to roll down the hill, but the barn would have probably collapsed on its own eventually. On top of this, her bass cannon was able to lure half of the mob away, so without her, they might have all died on that fateful night. She was still a hero, even if she didn’t think so.

Twilight herself had experienced this overwhelming sense of guilt, as she was the one who caused Devan to bleed out. If it weren’t for Trixie and the others convincing her otherwise, she might have been stuck in that detrimental state for the rest of her life. She had to forgive herself. It was not her who caused Devan’s death … even though it felt like it was.

Thankfully, Vinyl’s new friend Split had also survived, despite suffering lasting injuries and losing a leg. He told them it was fine, as he already sported his wing defect. He was a resilient one, and also a very valuable asset for Vinyl. So, while Vinyl had Split, she had Trixie and the others. The apocalypse had taken so much from everypony, but it also brought everypony that much closer to one another.

“What about you?" Trixie asked her, "Have you spoken with your brother?”

“Yes. He’s doing fine.”

Celestia had lied to her. She swears she had a suspicion, but she understood why now. It was a bold lie, but it helped keep her mind off of her brother for some time. When she was finally able to send a letter to him, Princess Cadence helped him send one back. From them, she heard of the actual horror the empire faced. The empire had gone through its own adventure when the apocalypse broke out, but thankfully, her brother, and best friend Cadence, ended up alive in the end. Even Discord survived, despite his very early ‘death’.

Twilight’s castle stood tall in front of them. Parts of its roof and the high up balconies held a blanket of snow on top, and the hanging ornaments sparkled in the white wonderland. She turned away briefly, still hurt by its aura. She needed more time to grieve for her friends. Spike was inside, but she imagined the dragon was getting tired of her tears running on him. Candy was also inside, visiting her for the night. She took a deep breath as she looked back at the castle.

“We should renovate your castle, Twilight,” Trixie said.

She turned to her friend confusingly.

“Renovate? Why?”

“Your castle should serve as a memorial to your old friends. Those empty thrones are just haunting. I’ve been wanting to say something, but I’ve always been afraid of what you would think. I say, once spring comes back around, me and the others can help renovate, and give your friends a proper memorial. All of your pictures, all of your momentos, a combination of everything that they meant to you … that should be what your castle is. What do you say?”

Twilight’s eyes swelled. As she gazed back at her castle, she shed a few tears for her old friends. She felt Trixie’s hoof wrap around her shoulder, and the mare leaned her head against hers. She appreciated the gesture, and as they detached, she made up her mind.

“Yes. I think that would be wonderful.”

With that, the mares appreciated the view once more before splitting apart. She could almost see the sun setting through the clouds, so she walked up to her castle's front doors, awaiting a dawn that was yet to come.

Author's Note

Quit crying. Or don't. Whatever ... I couldn't quit either.

I want to thank everybody for reading my book. I know it is said often, but it really means a lot to me. While I was getting closer to the end of it, this book started meaning more and more to me. I'm very proud that I finally finished it, even cough cough ... 8 years later ... cough cough. Eh, most of that was in the past 5 months really. Lol.

Regardless, I put a lot of effort into it, and I am surprised, and very happy, to see it get so much recognition. I hope despite its sad ending, that y'all enjoyed it. I had A LOT of fun writing it—when not crying like a little baby—so I hope you had fun reading through it.

I especially enjoyed writing my OCs, which was (at least in the original timeline) supposed to be just Devan and Blaze if I'm not mistaken. It was fun writing the personalities of ponies like Candy and Spark, and I hope you grew a liking to them. Especially Spark. Spark's badass. I'm definitely gonna pay someone to draw her on a motorcycle and hang it in my room.

With that being said, in a lot of ways, this book can relate to our own lives. (incoming cheese)

We don’t always get the outcomes we want out of life. Sometimes, we get even worse than we once thought possible. We can lose what’s most valuable to us in the blink of an eye, just by the fate of our universe; no hard feelings attached. This can cause our fragile minds much grief, but it can also change us in ways we don’t yet understand.

Just because we did not get the life we desired does not mean the life we get is undesirable.

Our past can be a driving factor in our present lives as we process through it, and while we can learn a lot from it, we must not dwell on it. Our future is decided wholly by what we do in the present moment, and we should not take this for granted.

No matter how hard your life becomes, be strong in the present. Who knows? There may be a whole new life waiting for you in the future, perhaps one you did not expect. Whatever happens, use your today to make for a better tomorrow.

Okay, enough cheesiness. Lol. Thanks again for reading my book. I hope it has found a little sweet spot in your memory. Hope y'all have a good rest of your day, and as Celestia said, life!