Author's Note
Stop rushing contest entries because you don't keep up with the news or draw 25 cards.
Guess who's not hitting uno anytime soon?
Enjoy this sleep-deprived rambling piece written between 8 PM and 5 AM!
Nicest Worst Case
"Pull!" Scootaloo barked.
"HHNNNGH!" Applebloom's grunt was drowned in the sound of crashing waves, crying seagulls, and now the sound of a motor trying to come to life.
"COME ON!" Again, the pegasus yelled.
"RRRGHHHH!" Again, Applebloom's teeth pulled the cord.
Scootaloo had to resort to desperate measures. "Imagine you're a dog and the stray next door is trying to snatch your favorite squeaky toy!"
"RRRRUUUUFFFF!"
With one triumphant pull, the fans of the boat's motor started to vibrate, and the engine roared to life - the pony seated in it jumping from surprise, but nonetheless eager to see that his machine was working. "CMC's, you really did it!" Flim happily cried out. "I have no idea what we'd do without you! I felt like this thing wouldn't start in a million years!"
Scootaloo spoke while helping Applebloom up after she had fallen over pulling the cord. The earth mare was happy that her genetics gave her such healthy teeth, especially in a time where toothpaste was a luxury. "Didn't you guys use to make complex machines in your scamm--...in your entrepreneur years?"
"Well, about that..." Came Flam's voice, who had occupied himself by loading crates and barrels into the cargo section of the boat. "We actually outsourced most of our designs and machine ideas to a certain Torque Wrench in Hope Hollow...Since that place is- uh, used to be so isolated we thought she wouldn't ever claim credit or talk that she was the one who had made them..."
"Well confessed, brother - but it's not that the designs were completely unoriginal on our part, my c-mark hunting friends." Flim asserted, checking the controls of the boat. "For you see, we took liberties on her finished designs...Such as...Removing safeties. Erm, overclocking certain components..."
Scootaloo and Applebloom shot each other a knowing smirk. It made sense why their machinery always ended in some disaster. At-least the two seemed finished with conning others - since it's hard to simply scam someone in such a small and tightly-knit community. Word would spread around the already-limited population. Not that money had much value - not when what was left of the world had turned to bartering and the exchange of services.
"Torque Wrench?" Asked the unexpected voice of Sweetie Belle, who was so preoccupied painting labels and little illustrations on the barrels that she hadn't spoken at all since the repair efforts on the boat began. "Rarity told me about her. So some of the ponies from Hope Hollow actually got here?"
"They showed up for the Final Battle." Scootaloo said. "They've been living in Macaw Valley for all these years - Sweetie there's no way you didn't know."
"Well..." The unicorn shrugged. "Come on, how am I supposed to remember where each pony and creature is from?"
"Won't blame you gals." Flim said. "Say, need a lift over to New Ponyville?"
"That's a good point." Applebloom suddenly spoke up. "'Ah don't think we got any more business in Coconutport, do we?"
"Just helpin' with the boat." Scootaloo said. "Sooo...I'm game!"
"Hop on in, my fair fellows." Flam bowed gently. "Brother, let me at the steering wheel!"
"No way, brother - today’s my turn!"
"Hence the engine's gone belly up! Now, scoot!"
***
The boat made a long way bouncing against the crystal blue waters. Sitting on the sides while safely attached with life vests mixed with harnesses. They saw the land mass before them - the brothers having taken the boat a little away from the coast to avoid rocks and shallow water.
Taking the boat nice and slow, the young mares - recently having left teenagehood, longingly looked at the land.
"...Yo, Applebloom..." Scootaloo said, turning to the earth pony. "Feels like we've been on this island forever, huh?"
"...Nah." Applebloom bittersweetly smiled. "'Ah remember Equestria like it was yesterday...'Ah mean, hard to remember havin' an apple farm..."
"You still got a farm, AB!" Sweetie Belle encouraged the other mare. Applebloom looked at her fondly, giving a nod.
"'Ah know." She said. "Just, we ain't the "apple farm" no more 'cause we're diversifying' what we're growin'...If 'ah or any of 'mah cousins end up havin' kids, Big Mac and AJ are gunna have a heart attack when they see the first foal with a yucca or avocado...Or coconut, or banana, or...Y'get it."
Gently sighing, Scootaloo placed her hooves over the railing and tiredly rested her head against it. "Y'wonder what woulda happened if...Tirek's magic didn't hit the Windigos?"
"...Eesh." Sweetie Bloom rubbed her face in thought. "I hate to imagine how the old Ponyville looks like right now...I mean, you think it's preserved underneath all the ice and snow? I wonder if the old Carousel Boutique is left standing..."
Overhearing the conversation was Flam, who was pulling in the fishing net that he had been dragging along the boat, just in-case some fish schools would be naive and unaware enough to get caught. Seeing it empty, he shook his upper lip, making his mustache wiggled with dissatisfaction. He turned to Sweetie Belle, smiling. "Rest be assured my good mare, your new boutique is no less smashing. Your sister has done brilliant work adapting to our new environment - and she's done well repurposing whatever salvage the expedition teams have brought back."
"Thanks, Flam--uhm...Flim." Sweetie Belle smiled back. "But...Wait, the expedition teams - isn't today the day they're supposed to be back?"
"Should be." Scootaloo nodded. "Yona and Sandbar's team was supposed to check out if there's anything they could fetch from Fillydelphia. They shoulda been back this morning, actually. Starlight's team returned yesterday, too. Seriously, you do live under a rock, Sweetie."
The unicorn shot Scootaloo a slightly annoyed look, but couldn't stay angry at her friend forever. Still longingly, they gazed upon the coast.
***
The town was called New Ponyville - but even after the years that passed, the name did not stick colloquially. It was the largest town of Azure Bliss, even if it was modeled after a mere village back in the now-frozen mainland. Even the positioning of the buildings was somewhat reminiscent of the old home, with a city hall fashioned out of sheet metal roofs and cane walls. Thicker material was available, but not used - not when nobody wanted the building to retain heat in such a hot place. Maud Pie still enjoyed her skills, having constructed a lighthouse in a span of only three months.
Missing of course were more sophisticated facilities, and some sacrifices were made too. Filthy Rich's money had no value, and just like the others, he, his wife, his daughter, and his daughter-in-law lived in a hut. A well-built hut with many utilities, for the creatures may have lived in worse conditions, it didn't stop them from trying hard to establish a sense of infrastructure. They were able to set up primitive water systems and water tanks made of salvaged and de-rusted scrap metal. They were able to produce electricity using solar energy and slight feats of unicorn magic, powering lights and batteries. The pegasi were able to create portable clouds in jars, which could be released to cool down homes in the event of high temperatures.
Sugarcube corner stood too, albeit no longer a building decorated into a gingerbread home, but rather a humble hut attached to a stand, though painted to resemble it as much as it was possible. The Cake Twins, who stood behind the counter, happily waved to the Crusaders, who promptly waved back. The twins took the front of the business, allowing their parents to focus on baking. Apart from relying less on wheat and more on corn, the family's dream to run their business together never faded, and Pound Cake eagerly served Lyra and Bonbon a nice, cool coconut cheesecake. Pumpkin Cake, in the meanwhile, stirred smoothies, chilled with ice farmed in the clouds by the pegasi.
A large, thick meranti tree was hollowed out to be a library - containing books both salvaged from the mainland, and made on Azure Bliss. Books became as valuable as gold - containing information on how to keep civilization alive, and how to keep it tethered to how it used to be. The building also doubled as the school, where Cheerilee eagerly taught and passed knowledge onto her students - as much as she tried not to fall into a sad nostalgic rant over how things were...Oh, how she missed the old schoolhouse of hers.
A rather admirable attempt of a carousel-shaped building stood too, as Coco Pommel and Sassy Saddles stood in its front yard, passionately discussing fashion ideas. Thunderlane muttered quietly as he stood by their side in the maxi dress, his attempt to flirt and spend time with either mare causing him to become a mannequin for the day.
Sometimes, things change. Yet, maybe if they change too much, they do stay the same. Except for the children becoming teens, the teens becoming adults, and the adults now having wrinkles under their eyes...The Crusaders saw the same old Ponyville they were forced to leave when it became ground zero for the accident that robbed them of their mainland home.
Though, it was curious how many ponies were gathered in the square.
"Hm, 'ah wonder what's up with the commotion..." Applebloom softly said, scanning the crowd briefly to notice the abundance of items, many of them either frozen, damp, or covered in snow. The realization hit as she nudged her friends. "Hey, that must be the expedition team!"
"Let's say hi!" Scootaloo said with excitement. "Maybe they found skateboard or scooter's or somethin'!"
The young adults came over to the group dubbed "The Students". They had brought a wagon of various things, as ponies gathered around. Requests were being completed, with Silverstream giving things according to the demand and necessity, such as tools or crafting components. Their leader was the one that had the strongest resistance to frost - a yak that outgrew Prince Rutheford so much, he had to crane his neck up to look at her.
And soon, the hulking yak saw the team. "Oh! Hello Crusaders!" Yona cooed, shaking some remaining snowflakes out of her hair, annoying her husband who desperately tried to cut the wool with shears.
"Yona..." Sandbar sighed. "Keep still - if you wanna keep living in New Ponyville then we gotta cut that hair or else you're gonna drown in your own sweat." He said. There was the option to move to Breezetown, a terraformed patch of the island made to be colder, but what was the point when all the action was here?
"Yona is still, Yona is still." The yak giggled softly. "Yona and team members - found many cool things! We found components, some industry tools, lots of books, and sentimental things!" She happily said. "Oh, oh, and the best thing - we reached seed vault number 3!"
"Seed vault? What's that?" Sweetie Belle asked.
"What's a seed vault, she asks..." Gallus smirked, the older griffon leaning in with a smug expression. "Only one of Equestria's most important post-apocalypse preparation projects, one of several built around the world. It's only just, what - one of the five depositories for all vegetation samples of the continent?"
"Not that it'll be super helpful trying to grow pumpkins on a tropical island..." Ocellus softly said. "Even if the pegasi terraformed Breezetown to make it cold for the Yak and the other thick-furred creatures, I doubt the soil is gonna fit."
"It's worth a shot!" Silverstream excitedly cooed as she flew with huge sacks of goods and other things they had taken from the mainland. "You ever tried broccoli with melted cheese? It's like, the bestest thing ever!"
The conversation was joined by Smolder, who came in with a devious smirk. "I'm honestly hyped for these ghost reapers." She said, waving a small bag labeled with a skull on fire. "Seriously, someone thought we should preserve one-and-a-half million scoville peppers in-case the world falls apart? Heh, don't mind if I do."
Scootaloo sighed. "There goes ten years minus one day without hot pepper challenges..."
"Oh, the anniversary's tomorrow!?" Sandbar grinned, temporarily setting the industrial scissors down. "That explains why Twilight was so serious about making sure we came back on schedule..."
"Yeah..." Ocellus quietly looked at the waves - facing west. "...Ten years, huh? Ten years of being exiled from home and--"
"TEN YEARS YONA ON ISLAND WITH BESTEST FRIENDS!"
The changeling let out a shrill scream of surprise as a massive force swooped her up - including the other ex-students, and the crusaders. Yona immediately pulled them all into a tight hug, so tight that oxygen was becoming more and more valuable for them. It was bad enough when she was a teenager - but now she was an adult yak - one that put many yak males to shame. Her hug was certainly loving, if not vice-tight.
"Y-Yona...Y-Yona...Spine...spine...spine..." Gallus grunted.
"You guys really have weak bones..." Sandbar quietly muttered.
"That explains..." Smolder grunted. "...Why you're...into...ack!...her!"
***
The next day, it was time to address the elephant in the room. Ten years since things have changed completely...
The purple alicorn stood before the crowd - on a podium by the town hall. Many have gathered here - even those from neighboring towns, albeit the trip had taken them a mere hour by flight or two by foot at most, thanks to the proximity of the towns and the size of the islands.
Before she'd start the speech, Spike would talk to her. He was now her height, no longer having to crane his neck up to speak to her. "Twi, you gonna be okay?"
"...Not a speech if you don't feel nervous before you do it." She said. The dragon put a claw on her shoulder, smiling.
"You got this Twi. You always do. Now show 'em why I think you being the one to raise me was the luckiest thing that happened in my life."
Gasping and nearly crying from joy at the words, the two hugged. Alas, the crowd waited, and soon, Twilight would make her way to the front as Spike snuck into the back. The alicorn wiped her tears, hiding her emotions well...for now.
"Dear creatures of Equestria!" Twilight cried out into the crystal blue sky, then sighed. The creatures quietly watched her, some tilting their heads.
"...While I respect the name of this island - Azure Bliss...I cannot refer to this place as anything else but Equestria." The alicorn proudly said. "All the creatures here, whether I've known them for most of my life, or whether I've yet to be introduced to them, I consider you all my friends, and that's why Equestria is my home, because I cannot call the land of my friends anything else."
Although the yaks, changelings, griffons, and especially hippogriffs had no idea how to feel about their land being dubbed "Equestria", it's not like politics mattered anymore.
Twilight looked to the sun, then west, towards the continent.
"...It was ten years ago when Celestia and Luna sacrificed themselves, using Discord's power that he had sacrificed, too." She softly said. "Ten years since Tirek's magic was taken by the Windigos and gave them near unlimited power, and sent Equestria into an ice age, worse than before the age of reunification..."
Silver Spoon yawned as she rested her head on Diamond Tiara's shoulder. The hyperactive Lil' Cheese kept crawling on Cheese Sandwich's body like a spider, trying to keep themselves busy.
Then, Twilight swallowed.
"...I..."
Rarity nearly fainted in the back. Even though Rainbow Dash and Applejack were married to one another, it was as if they knew Rarity's mannerisms even more, as they wordlessly and in unison prepared to catch her if she did.
Twilight sighed, and crumpled up the piece of paper she had enchanted to be visible only to her eyes, throwing it aside. The crowd was confused, even a little shocked. Twilight giggled.
"Sorry about that. I wrote the speech and wanted to take the poetic approach, but the more I read it, the more...eh, "bad", I felt it got." She said, focusing on the more simple vocabulary to prove her point. "I mean everything I said earlier - that you really are what makes Equestria - not a huge landmass. I know we've all lost so much, and I can't sugarcoat that even ten years aren't enough to heal these wounds."
Cadence and Shining Armor, Thorax, Ember, Rutheford, Novo, and Gilda all looked sadly to the sides and the ground. It was hard to lose a nation when you were leading it, yet they never felt any anger from their own kind. Zecora sighed, knowing she'd never return to her homeland. Some remembered the things they owned, the things they had going on for them back on the mainland.
"...But please, look at the sky." She gazed up, seeing the sun through a layer of clouds, as if her mentor had chastised her for trying to look directly at it. "Princess Celestia, and Princess Luna - they were never gone. They're still there with us. Years ago, they watched us as we lived our lives..."
Sunset Shimmer sadly sighed at the clouds - but with Twilight's words, she felt that warmth she'd felt with Celestia.
"Creatures thriving together, friends spending time alongside one another and foals playing...I know we've gone through a lot. So much heartbreak, so much loss - and so much fear, so much uncertainty. But it all pales against the fact we're still together - and no matter what happens, we will all have one another." Twilight warmly spoke - not to the audience, but to the world, too.
Starlight and Trixie locked hooves as they sat near the back, understanding that even if life had turned in ways they hadn't expected, things were going to be alright.
"I want us to accept the past - to respect it and cherish our memories. But the sun always rises, Equestria. In the present, we will make more cherished memories together. In the future, we'll keep thriving together. We'll be here together - and I think you'll agree with me that there is no community greater than this. Across all of Azure Bliss's towns, I will happily live on this island knowing that I did not lose the most important thing in my life. You."
Spike softly wiped tears in the backstage, with Ember softly nudging him and smirking. The adult dragon quietly chuckled at her.
"I know not what challenges we'll face in the future, but I will shoulder them with you. Through the worst life has to offer, I'll be happy in the end no matter what. Because in the end - I'll have the happiest thought of all." She said, looking backstage to see the teary-eyed, smiling elements of harmony.
Twilight locked eyes with them all, her mouth widening into a bigger smile. "...The thought that you were, you are, and will be my friends!"
The cheers erupted. The sadness that once lingered was finally dispelled. There was a closure that all yearned for after they realized that ten years passed - living so primitively, and yet so harmoniously.
Pinkie Pie waved to her husband and child as they stepped on stage to hug, then to the Cake Twins, the Cake Parents, and to all of Ponyville and its visitors.
Rainbow Dash and Applejack both challenged one another, trying to get as many ponies and creatures into the hug as they could - would Rarity being squeezed right in the middle. Twilight yelped and cried for mercy, drowning as now the students, cutie mark crusaders, Spike, and a lot of others joined in.
After the hug was broken up, Fluttershy walked to Discord, who had himself hidden in the canopy of palm trees. The pegasus smiled up at him, and nuzzled his neck. Reassuring him. The unpowered Draconequus sadly looked down at her, and stroked her mane with his paw. The burden of regret slowly left - a little each year.
Tempest Shadow heard the cheering in the distance. She hadn't attended the speech - for she knew Twilight. She had predicted how the speech would go, and she knew she'd do well. The beach today was empty, and that's what she needed. She sipped her ice cold drink...She'd lived in apocalyptic places before.
For one of the worst case scenarios Equestria could have ever faced, this was perhaps the nicest.
***
Shivering, the centaur stumbled into the cavern. It was not a natural cavern - rather the ruins of a caved in Canterlot that they barely remodeled into some place relatively warm, and relatively liveable.
"Oaf, you're not sneaking at all!" Chrysalis shouted as he entered, having been a dragon to produce as much flame as she could - with the two other stooges as a meager source of love. "Did the Windigos see you, Tirek!?"
"They circle our hideout day and night!" He yelled at her. "And I swear, each time the sun and moon rotate, it's almost as if I hear those alicorns laughing at me! Honestly, why don't we leave!?"
"Leaving!?" Chrysalis shouted. "W-We...We wanted Equestria, and we got Equestria. Soon, we'll find out how to dispel those Windigos! We just...need a lead."
"Ten years without one..." Tirek grunted.
"Hey, it's perfectly okay." Cozy Glow proudly said, plopping herself on one of the three makeshift throne and kicking her hooves onto the "ottoman", in this case a stone slab she had levitated over. "What matters is, even if Equestria is now a wasteland of snow, ash, despair and loss - it's still OURS!"
The two older creatures sighed. "I should've never fired that stupid beam...Who knew Windigos would take my magic? The nerve..."
"...Ugh." The changeling queen shook her head. "Let's just sleep it off and conserve strength."
"About that...Chrysalis." Tirek mumbled. "Can you turn into a bear that doesn't snore...? It's humiliating having to huddle up just to not freeze at night, but--"
"I can let you sleep by yourself. Maybe you know where to get a blanket." The changeling queen hissed. "I'll gladly sharpen a rock so you can shave the fur off your flank, if you're so inclined. At-least this one doesn't complain."
Cozy gulped. "Y-Yeah, Tirek...I'm perfectly okay cuddling with a grizzly, even if it snores and salivates all over me." The teenager awkwardly laughed.
