A train's engine whistled, signalling that the engine was fired up and ready to leave. On the platform it was soon to leave behind, the conductor held a last call to come aboard, doing a double take when he saw the undisguised changeling standing around as if it were no big deal.

It's been a few days since one of the most impactful days in Thorax's life*. He would never have believed it a week ago, but here he was, black chitin warming in the sun without any of the ponies nearby pani- er, attacking him. The first day had quite a few guards and tourists running for cover from him, and occasionally a member of the latter still ran off screaming when he walked outside the castle. At first, he was surprised that many of the locals didn't react with much more than idle curiosity, but then he learned that all they knew of changelings had basically amounted to hearsay, which wasn't helpful in identifying him as one. By the time they realized it, he had come across as harmless long enough for the crystal pony to be easily coaxed out of hiding.

*The other contenders for the top spot definitely win out in the physical sense of the term.

Anyway, he was waving goodbye to his first friend, Spike. The little dragon lived in Ponyville, as did Twilight and Starlight, so they couldn't stay forever. Spike did say that they could stay in touch as pen pals, which he agreed was a good idea. He just had to ask Sunburst what that meant.

Speaking of Sunburst, the unicorn as well as the prince and princess were also there, waving goodbye just like him on the platform. Outside of them, everypony on the platform was staring at him with varying degrees of disbelief and fear. Even the royal couple kept glancing at him, though they kept their expressions to a smile, which made it feel more awkward than anything else.

Sunburst, on the other hoof, avoided looking directly at the changeling. Thorax didn't notice this until now, as the two were busy with their own friends, but the trip to the train station made it rather apparent.

After the train left the station to head south to Equestria proper, the group made their way back to the castle. Outside of a quiet conversation between the prince and princess that Thorax couldn't really understand, it was a silent trip, at first.

To his surprise, Sunburst spoke up all of a sudden. "So, uh... Thorax?"

"Yeah?"

"Sorry about not standing up for you a few days ago. I, uh..."

"It's fine. I know it took a lot out of Spike to do that, and while I don't know you all that well, you do seem almost as timid as I am."

The unicorn grimaced. "I would like to think that I have a bit more confidence than before, but you're right about that. I did forget about you entirely until Spike said your name, and by that point he was singing, and everypony knows you shouldn't interrupt a song unless you plan to join in, and he was doing amazingly on his own."

Thorax blinked, then decided to just steam past that he did not, in fact, know that particular point of musical etiquette. "Well, I didn't think much about you either after a couple of weeks. Of course that was reset when you saved the day when the Heart was shattered, but I was a bit busy hiding to do all that much extra."

He chuckled sheepishly. "You were there for that?"

"Hiding as a colt in the crowds as it was happening."

"...why a colt specifically? Wouldn't it be easier to get around as a stallion?"

The changeling went on to explain the differences with how adults treat peers and children, and the two followed tangent after tangent within their conversation. By the time they reached the castle, the two had largely forgotten where it began.

Still, the strange sense of finality it brought caused the winding thread to end. A few seconds of silence later, and Sunburst asked, "Do you want to be friends?"

While genuinely surprised by this, Thorax hardly showed it. "Yes, of course. But... didn't you say you weren't good at it?"

The unicorn winced at the memory. "Well, yes. But when Starlight tried to convince me to give her another chance at being friends, what she really did was convince me to give myself and friendship in general another chance." He paused, then remarked, "Also, saving the day helped that."

The changeling commented, "Honestly, my time here did the same for me."

His new friend snorted in amusement. "It's nice to know somepony else went through the same struggles, isn't it?"

A nod with a smile of fulfillment was the response.

Author's Note

I realized I accidentally gave Thorax and Sunburst parallel character arcs in the last few lines of this epilogue. That, or I may have realized it before and forgotten it since. I do write this chapter by chapter, after all, and had to take a long break due to IRL issues. Anyway, I decided that focusing on that would make a fitting finish to this bit.

While I have an idea for maybe doing an epilogue with a couple of the named OC's, for now, I'll mark this as complete. The whimsical, creative part of my mind wants to look at other things, so this is it at the moment.