//------------------------------//
// Epilogue 
// Story: Words From an Unknown Soldier 
// by carefreedude 
//------------------------------//

I was once again standing on the battlefield, but everything seemed different.  The skies were no longer cloudy and the sun was once again able to shine through.  The fighting has also seemed to have stopped.  I witnessed both enemy and ally alike gathering the corpses of their fallen comrades and retreating to their respected ends of the war zone.  With Spellflash still on my back, I followed my comrades back to our medical tent.  

Once there, I laid him down and told somepony nearby that he fought bravely and had died honorably, I felt that it was all I could do for him.  At least this way he would still be honored as the brave soldier he was.  With a heavy heart, I turned to leave the tent before being stopped by the sounds of panic.  All the nurses were rushing a soldier in critical condition to a nearby table.  I'm no medical expert, but I could see that he was loosing a lot of blood fast.  His eyes were half closed and he had difficulty breathing.  A stallion stood by, shouting at him.  "NO, YOUR NOT GONNA DIE!!  THE BATTLE IS OVER, WE CAN GO HOME!!  PLEASE!!"  Several nurses had to restrain him.  Such a horrid sight it was.  

I once again was about ready to leave when my eye suddenly flared with pain again.  It wasn't nearly as bad as before, but it still caused me to stop in my tracks and wince in pain.  As the agony subsided, I once again saw the spirits floating around me.  I noticed something else as well; a timer.  There was a digital clock hovering above the dying pony's head.  I watched as it ticked away from three to one.  When the timer reached zero, it disappeared and the stallion ceased to breath completely.  I would later discover that this timer would only appear when a pony was close to death.  With a saddened look upon her face, a doctor approached the nearby stallion.  "I'm sorry sir.  But I'm afraid that your brother has passed on.  His condition was beyond the point of help when he arrived."  The stallion only responded by crying into his hooves.  

I looked back at the soldier on the table, his ghost now emerging from the body.  He hovered near his brother for a moment before beginning to fly out of the tent.  He stopped when he noticed that I was staring at him.  He hovered up to me then started gesturing with his hooves, first pointing to me, then his eyes, then his chest.  I believe he was asking if I could see him.  I responded with a nod and he suddenly grew a smile.  He then flew to a nearby drawer used to keep medical equipment, pointing at it frantically.  I opened it with a loud screech that caught the attention of everypony in the room.  Ignoring the question about what it was I was doing, the spirit pointed to a large bone saw that had a highly reflective surface.  I reached my mouth in and extracted it, then set it on the ground.  

As soon as I did, several nurses grabbed me and were forcing me to leave.  I could see the ghost fly down and breath on the saw, much as Spellflash did to the dagger.  Quickly, I shouted at the nurses to stop and look as the spirit began to write his message.  One nurse did so and stopped dead in her tracks as the words began to be etched into the metal from thin air.  Everypony stopped what they were doing to see this, even the brother stopped crying at what he saw.  When the ghost finished his message, he gave a quick thankful salute to me and then took off out of the tent.  Everypony failed to notice him leave and just continued to stare at the saw.  Finally, the doctor approached the tool and began to observe the message.  She then turned to the soldier nearby and brought the tool to him.  His eyes once again began to water as he read the final words of his brother.  

I felt that now was the time for me to leave.  But before doing so, I took a quick peak at the message on the saw.  'I will put in a good word for you on the other side'  It ended with his brothers signature that was written too oddly to be read.  I left the tent and started to trek down the mountain as the vision once again left my eye.  Where I was going, I didn't know, but I knew that my place was no longer there.

The battle soon ended after the fall of Sombra.  Chrysalis managed to regain her senses and called for a full retreat from the battle field.  She would return three weeks later to meet with the princesses to discuss a more diplomatic solution between the changelings and the ponies.
Sombra was taken away to receive trial for his crimes against pony kind.  In a unanimous decision, he was sentenced to be turned to stone until such time that they saw it fit to release him.  His statue is one of the more frightening within Canterlot garden.
Discord, true to his word, did have a party set up back at the castle to celebrate their victory.  Unfortunately, the lord of chaos was unable to attend.  He was found out cold on top of a pile of changelings that tried to kill him.  He had to rest for several days before his wounds healed and his powers returned to him.
The princesses immediately got to work on preparing burials for the fallen soldiers.  As grand as their victory was, many lost their lives in order to achieve it.  They picked a field near the base of the mountain that wasn't being used for farming to be used to house the cemetery and memorial.  Since then, only ponies that had fought in the battle were allowed to be buried there.
The soldiers that survived the fight returned home heroes.  Many cities threw parades and festivals for them, to celebrate their service to their kingdom.


The years went by and Twilight saw her friends die one by one.  Each death hurt, but she knew that they were at least in a better place now.  seventy-two years after the battle, Rainbow Dash, the last of her friends, passed on.  Her, as well as the other princesses, her brother, and Rainbow Dash's friends and family were at the cemetery, crying as the pegasus was lowered into the ground.  Twilight felt the pain more than ever, seeing the last of her friends now gone from her life.
After several words from the priest, everypony gave their blessing then proceeded to return home.  The only ones who stayed longer were Twilight and Rainbow's family.  Twilight gazed blankly in the distance at the rest of the cemetery.  She saw the scores of tombstones for all the soldiers of the battle.  She saw the statue of Soarin and Spitfire residing in the middle as tribute to their bravery.  And she saw somepony sitting in front of a random tombstone.  She didn't recognize this pony, which was odd because she took it upon herself to be familiar with everypony in the kingdom.  She decided to approach him.
The pony was an old timer and was wearing a cloak over himself, which concealed all but his blue mouth and hooves.  He sat with his head bowed before a standard tombstone, one that was no different from the hundreds surrounding it besides the name inscribed.  Twilight approached from behind and began to read the words on the stone.  Spellflash Darkheart.  This was followed by the standard date of birth and death, as well as the standard quote at the bottom of the tombstone.  Had fought bravely and had died honorably.  The message was used for those who had no family to leave a quote for them.  It was suggested to her by one of the doctors working at the battle.
The stallion either didn't notice or didn't care that Twilight walked up to him.  He just continued to bow his head before the stone.  After several minutes, Twilight spoke up.

"Did you know him?"

"Yeah..." He responded quietly

"Since he is buried here, I guess he had fought in the battle."

"He had..."

"And judging by the date of death, he died at the battle."

"He did..."

Twilight felt awkward around this stallion.  She felt that he didn't really feel like talking to her.  She was about ready to walk away when he suddenly let out a cry of pain.  She looked to see him holding a hoof up to his face.  He then lifted his head up and began to move it around at rapid speeds, as if he were witnessing something that the princess could not.  Before she could ask what he was doing, he turned his head to her.  "Your friend died recently didn't she?"  Twilight responded with a nod.  "How long ago did she die?"

"She passed away in her sleep three days ago."

The old stallion smiled a bit.  "You have a very loyal friend to have her stick around this long after dying."  He then reached into his cloak and pulled out a small silver mirror.  Placing the mirror on the ground, he said "I was saving this for a friend...  But I don't think he is going to show up."  I didn't expect him to.  No pony ever comes back after they crossed over.  He thought to himself.
Twilight looked upon the mirror curiously, wondering if he was giving it to her or not.  Suddenly, the glass began to fog and it seemed like an invisible hoof was pushing the condensation away to write something.  Well not so much write, as much as a draw.  Before the fog left the glass, a picture of Rainbow's cutie mark was drawn into it.  It was followed by a message, Keep being the coolest princess ever.  It finished with Rainbow Dash's signature.
As this was happening, the stallion had stood up from his spot.  He placed an old, poorly maintained book on the ground and started to walk away.  Twilight noticed this and immediately spoke to him.  "What in Tartarus was that?"  She questioned, motioning with a hoof towards the mirror still resting on the ground.

"A final message from your friend.  Be thankful that she stuck around long enough to deliver it."

Twilight was confused because she had never even had heard of such magic, and being done by an earth pony no less.  Twilight returned her gaze to the mirror, almost unable to believe that this actually happened.  She then looked upon the old book that was left behind.  "Sir, you forgot your book."  She said to him from a distance.
Without turning around the old stallion responded "Keep it, I heard you like books." as he continued down the path away.

"Sir.  I also never asked, who are you?."

The stallion stopped in his tracks and turned his head to the princess.  With his head up and looking directly at her, she could see the detail of his face.  She saw the wrinkles from age that made him look older than Granny Smith, bless her heart.  She also noticed how he smiled at her.  It was a kind smile, a trusting one, the kind of smile that would push away the fears within any pony.  But most notably, she noticed the giant scar and the lifeless look within his left eye.  She realized that this Stallion was half blind.

"Who am I?"  He asked, pulling Twilight away from her thoughts for a moment.  He let out a soft chuckle and a small tear escaped his good eye.  "I'm afraid that I'm just a nobody.  A nobody that looked in a mirror, and saw that he is almost out of time."
With these words, the stallion left, never to be seen again.  Twilight opened the cover of the book and read the first few lines from it.

In memory of Spellflash Darkheart.  A true stallion.  A true soldier.  A true friend.