Epilogue III - We Can’t Take Back What is Done
“So tell me what brings you to our school, Chancellor.”
The woman across from Celestia was clearly much more than just a mere chancellor, and everything the principal had learned in her briefing from Agent Armor and his State Department goons supported that impression. Ruling and operating her country with a velvet-covered iron fist for thirty years, Seaquestria had weathered a coordinated blitzkrieg assault from a would-be tyrant calling himself The Storm King for two decades until international opposition finally brought an end to the madman’s ambitions before another world war could start. After standing as a tower of iron before the assault, the woman had locked down her borders so tight that the fictional kingdom of Family-Who-Listens would sit up and take notes. Any “intelligence” from the last thirty years could be considered spurious at best, and most likely just rumor.
And the Chancellor was sitting in her office with one of her nation’s youth.
“Straightforward and to the point,” replied Novo, “Good, I like that in a leader.” So saying, she gestured to the girl sitting in the chair beside her. The young lady showed all the expected signs of a very bubbly personality that was inhibited only by her also having to learn how to cope with a world that moved far slower than she thought. “Silverstream here, as well as a small handful of our people, began exhibiting some…abilities about the time the news reports say your Fall Formal happened. Of course, since it wasn’t until after the new year that the video hit the Internet and Equestria established diplomatic ties with the peoples of this world that we were able to discern the source.” A wry smile crossed her face, “It really did disappoint some of the more nationalistic members of my cabinet that the abilities weren’t somehow unique to our people.”
Celestia joined in her humor, chuckling along with the other leader, “It has been an adjustment. Three girls were hospitalized because of a magic flare-up before the student using the magic even knew what was happening. Equestria and the… our former Federal government have been surprisingly helpful in providing the needed resources to cope. I believe I can say with confidence that we wouldn’t even be having this conversation if they hadn’t stepped in when they did.”
Novo raised an eyebrow, “I can see why the princesses endorsed you,” at Celestia’s look of surprise, the chancellor nodded, “I’ve done my homework, probably at least as well as you, and I know that running your own country wasn’t your plan. You’ve a knack for diplomacy and a singular desire to be anywhere but in the leader’s chair.” her grin turned from crafty to consoling, “I can sympathize. I’d much rather be spending the day at the spa than dealing with yet another petty political game being played by some faction in the Assembly.” She sat up straight and leaned forward, handing Celestia a small USB drive. “However, I didn’t come here to talk politics, but about my subject here.”
Celestia took the drive and examined it briefly before putting it on her desk. Her small I.T. department (the one dedicated tech that happened to be on campus when the announcement was made to split CHS away from the district) would have her head if she plugged it in without clearing it through them first. “Yes, and if I’m inferring from the context, she’s experiencing some sort of magic surge and you came here for some form of assistance?”
The girl, a teenager about the age of her second-year students, realized she was being spoken about and turned her attention from the window to the outside of the office to the pair of adults. Almost instantly, her eyes started flickering around, as though looking for a new focus. They landed on a small metal puzzle on the front edge of Celestia’s desk. The girl began to reach for it, but stopped with her hand mid-motion and glanced up at the principal. Celestia smiled and nodded, and the girl snatched up the toy and began fiddling with it, happily engrossed in the task.
Chancellor Novo smiled at the result of the interaction, “Not just the magic, though that is a large factor, but what you just did there; that is what she needs.”
Principal Celestia returned her attention to Novo, “What do you mean?”
Novo leaned forward somewhat intimately, “I mean, you may be a leader and you may be a good contact for resources on magic, but you are an educator first.” She frowned slightly, “We have more citizens than just her displaying magical abilities, but she has a… distracted personality. I believe the proper term in our country’s medical community is Variable Attention Executive Dysfunction, but the rest of the world calls it Attention…”
“...Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder,” interrupted Celestia, “I surmised as much. And your education system doesn’t have the training for it?”
Novo sighed and leaned back in her chair, absently scrubbing her fingers through her short-cropped hair, highlighting the graying streaks in it. “If it were just the VAED…or ADHD, rather, we have enough specialists that could manage it just fine. However…” she turned to the girl still fiddling with the puzzle, “Silverstream?” the student paused and looked up with a slightly surprised questioning noise, “Can you show the principal what you can do, please?”
Silverstream’s face lit with enthusiasm, “Omygosh, you want me to show off my magic?!” without waiting for a reply, she hopped up from the chair, pushing it back slightly in her eagerness, and stood with her eyes closed for a moment, then her form seemed to glow. Her nails grew to elegant clawed points and her face became…sharper, somehow. Not leonine, but more raptor in nature. And from her back sprouted a pair of wings, which explained the backless shirt the girl was wearing. She clutched her hands in front of her chest and started bouncing on the balls of her feet, “Do you want to see my other form, too?!” she asked Celestia excitedly.
Novo chuckled in a matronly fashion, “No, Silverstream, we’re nowhere near a body of water for you to really show that form off.” The girl pouted slightly but sat down and resumed her fidgeting with the desk toy.
Celestia raised an eyebrow, “Other form?”
Novo nodded, “Our people’s magic seems to be very specific; we have two forms we can change into, one suited for the air like Silverstream is now, the other is aquatic…we look like mermaids.” the chancellor replied with a slight blush.
Celestia grinned, “I presume from the fact that you’re wearing similar clothes as Silverstream that you’re one of those gifted with magic, as well?”
“Indeed, was quite a shock to wake up with a fish’s tail during the initial… ’outbreak’ for lack of a better term.” she adjusted her top, also a backless shirt like Silverstream’s, but this one also armless, which showed off a very fit and toned pair of arms and shoulders, “We are…learning…how to teach, and discipline, those who have magic. We’ve known for at least a generation how to accommodate someone with VA…ADHD,” she corrected herself absently, “What we don’t have is an educator who can do both. Unlike certain members of my Assembly, I’m not without the humility to seek out help from someone better at something than I am.”
Celestia chuckled and reached for her PA microphone. She pressed the button and addressed the student body, “Rainbow Dash, please report to the principal’s office to assist with a new student.”
The “Thank you,” had barely left the chancellor’s lips when Rainbow Dash zipped in, bringing a gust of air and trailing loose papers in her wake. “What’s up, Principal C?” chirped the athlete.
“Would you kindly show Silverstream around the school while I get her intake finished up with Chancellor Novo here.” she nodded to indicate the other adult in the office.
Rainbow Dash turned to take in the new people in the room, and grinned hugely when she saw the other girl’s wings. “Whoah! You got ‘em too?!” Dash closed her eyes and breathed deep and was suddenly surrounded by a nimbus of color as her hair extended, resembling an equine tail that stretched down to her calves, a pair of pony ears popped up through her hair, and her wings burst out behind her, stretching nearly from the office door to the window facing the school’s courtyard.
Silverstream hopped up excitedly, dropping the puzzle absently to the floor and spreading her wings as well. Celestia and Novo had to duck down and back to avoid being smacked by the additional limbs, though a few feathers still brushed against their heads. “Wow! I didn’t know other people had wings outside Seaquestria, that’s so cool!”
Absently, Celestia noted that the wing shapes were different. Silverstream’s were longer, but more narrow than Rainbow’s, and had the angular joints of a seagull, while Dash’s wings were more rounded, like a bird of prey. “Girls, please take it outside.”
“You got it, Principal C!” it took a few moments and a try or two, but the girls managed to get through the door without reverting to their non-magic forms.
The two adults finally let loose chuckles after the door closed. “I didn’t expect one of the ambassadors to be her guide, but it seems you made an inspired choice.”
Celestia’s mind took a moment to connect the title of “ambassador” to Rainbow Dash. She still thought of her as a bit of a class clown and prankster athlete. Such a… mature title just didn’t seem to connect, “Ah, yes. For all she seems to be all about her own physical development, Miss Dash seems to be very good at interacting with neurodivergent peers. She didn’t even think what she was doing was in any way unusual, she just seems to be able to read and adapt to the needs of people with anxiety, depression, ADHD…she has a surprising talent that only really came to light when she was helping with my daughter.”
A genuine maternal smile parted “Ah, your adopted child, one of these…Equestrians? The first here from the other side of the portal, if I understood the files correctly.”
It was Celestia’s turn to smile with motherly fondness. “Yes, and I couldn’t love her more than if I had given birth to her myself. In spite of everything, she makes me more and more proud of her every day.”
Novo settled back in her chair, clearly enjoying being able to relax and talk about anything that wasn’t politics, even if only briefly. “Indeed, I’m a mother myself. Nothing has brought me more happiness than to watch her learn and grow. Every day she brings me great joy…”
The door to the principal’s office burst open just then, revealing a young woman, older than the students at the high school but only just, bearing a remarkable resemblance to Chancellor Novo. She had her arms wrapped around Pinkie Pie, who had her arms and legs curled up slightly, posed like an oversized puppy being carried by a toddler, and was letting her tongue loll out from her grinning mouth and making happy panting noises. The girl was practically squealing as she said, “Mom! Look what I found!”
Pinkie chirped, “I followed her home, can she keep me?”
Both of the older women rolled their eyes and were visibly restraining themselves from clapping their hands over their faces. Novo didn’t reply directly to her daughter, but turned to Celestia and said, “Such…great joy…” with an undercurrent of sarcasm.
Chancellor Novo had left with her daughter (but not Pinkie Pie), and school had let out for the day. Students, both old and new, gathered in the courtyard, many eager to greet their new classmates that gathered from other countries with the sole purpose of learning magic…and forging alliances with the micronation that had sprouted up at the fulcrum of two major world powers.
Celestia stood framed in the window looking out on the courtyard of the school watching her students. The two versions of Twilight were bickering, about what she could only guess with the panes of glass in the way, but whatever it was couldn’t be too serious as Sunset was laughing more brightly than Celestia could ever remember her new daughter doing.
The very large girl from Yakyakistan named Yona had a small crowd around her, blushing but apparently pleased with the attention, apparently having been monopolized by Rarity of all people. The budding fashionista seemed to be acting as the perfect social buffer, keeping Yona, who had grown up in a nomadic tribe on the Yakyakistani Steppe, from being overwhelmed.
Gallus was the first student from the Griffon Diaspora to be entered into a mainstream school in nearly a century and seemed to be having a hard time fitting in anywhere, but seemed to gravitate toward Applejack, as the girl seemed to sense when people were pestering the new students a bit too much and was intimidating enough to make the directive to give them some distance stick.
Ocellus was entered into the school by…someone. Agent Armor had been unable to divulge more information than that, as apparently who exactly her parents were was so highly classified that even heads of state were prevented from knowing for reasons of plausible deniability. When her caretaker, an agent of an unidentified TLA named Thorax (who was not, it was emphasized by both Ocellus and Thorax, her father), dropped the girl off, he had explained that her new magical ability could eventually be of use in the covert operations field, at the moment it was too much of a challenge to get it working, get it working right, and keep it working for long enough. While Celestia was somewhat leery of training up a new spook, she couldn’t say no to a magically gifted student in need, and given the green flames she could see popping out of a gaggle of students periodically. Having seen the girl’s ability earlier that day, she figured the spy in training was demonstrating her ability to mimic another person’s appearance, right down to fingerprints and voice.
Smolder was an odd one. Having arrived by herself, she seemed completely normal at first glance and had demonstrated an independent streak so severe she almost refused to demonstrate her magical tallent, which was the ability to breath fire, sprout leathery wings, was apparently fireproof, and was able to extend that ability to anything touching her skin. The girl had dropped her registration paperwork, passport, and consulate letter on Raven’s desk and demanded her class schedule. This had happened about the time Pinkie was being…disentangled from Novo’s daughter and Pinkie seemed to have made it her personal mission to get Smolder to laugh.
Rainbow dash abruptly swept down, wings splayed out in a sudden brake to a dive as she swept mere feet over the other student’s heads, Silverstream laughingly chasing the other winged girl through the air.
She heard the door behind her open and saw her sister entering the office with a stack of forms. “We’re entering a new era of mankind, Luna. We’ve made contact with alien life forms, we’re exchanging culture, technology, knowledge...even magic.” She chuckled in amusement as she watched yet another changing of the guard at the portal…the entryway to her very own micronation from another universe entirely. She was in charge of the only magical school in the world and it still made her dizzy to think about.
Luna, for her part, simply dropped her packet of papers on the empty seat she normally took and moved to stand next to her sister. “Yes, and all the administrative headaches that come along with it. Change is change, sister, I just hope we’re up to the task.”
Celestia nodded sagely, “I think we’ve got a better than average chance. I really should take you to the Isekai one of these days. It will help you get…perspective.”
Luna rolled her eyes. “So you keep saying, but I’ve got enough craziness in my life with one Sunset. I hardly need to go to some interdimensional bar just to get drunk.” she shook her head, “No, I think one of us being so…magically touched is enough.”
Celestia raised an eyebrow at her sister as she felt the sword manifest in her hand again. With an eye roll she said, “I suppose you have a point, but I don’t see how you'll be able to avoid it for long.” She dismissed her sword back into her belt and nodded her head to the courtyard through the window. “We’re in charge of a school that already had some gifted students, and we’re collecting more seemingly every day. I’ve been negotiating with the federal agents and Equestrians about the new construction, and they’re talking about new programs that will require hardened facilities in dedicated buildings to accommodate the incredible potential of our students. And the sheer variety…we have people with super strength, invulnerability, super-speed…” she trailed off as Pinkie Pie tossed a handful of confetti in the air for Pinkie reasons…which promptly popped in fireworks-like explosions over the heads of the students she was around, scattering them. No harm seemed to have been done save for some soot, which was gusted across the courtyard by Rainbow Dash’s flyby to land on Rarity’s outfit, which elicited an anguished cry laced with fury. “...and Pinkie. Can’t forget her.”
The two sisters watched the students reacting with alarmed humor before Luna said, “Do you think we should shave your head and get you a wheelchair? You know, just to get ahead of the curve?”
The vice-principal laughed as her older sister slugged her in the arm.
The End of My Empire of Dirt
2019-2022
Vice-principal Luna will return in Voice of Rage and Ruin
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This has been such a great story. Thanks for writing it for us.
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better at something than i am
A fine ending to a wonderful story. I enjoyed myself thoroughly, and I really must compliment you on an impressively original interpretation of the original setting.
If I had to complain about something it would be that the Elements were never taken to task over their inadvertent harm, but hey, sequels.
Speaking of sequels, I am very much looking forward to seeing what you have planned for this world, the glimpse we see in this last chapter is quite tantalizing.
11131212
Fixed, thank you!
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11131215
I probably won't be doing much with this angle in Voice of Rage and Ruin, but at least one story thread in You Need Never Feel Broken Again will be all about the Elements and their operation in the EQG universe.
Awesome ending!!!
So there are now a whole bunch of students with magical abilities. Does that mean Canterlot high has become a school for gifted youngsters or a wizarding school? Will Principal Celestia become Professor C or Cellydorf? Will she sit in an specially constructed room, wearing specially constructed headgear to locate young people with special abilities or will she send out owls delivering letters?
A good end to a great story.
11131341
Nah; I thought about giving Celestia the ability to turn into a phoenix and create time loops, but that felt a little OP.
I saw a reference to Sunset's Isekai.
if that is a throwaway line i will be angy.
11131419
In 2019 I made the creative decision to separate Music Box Blues from My Empire of Dirt because I wanted it to have a self-contained story arc that would be a cute little Christmas gift to my readers. I would include cameos from other fanfics from my favorite authors, drop pop-culture references like DJ-Pon3 drops the base (frequently and with great passion), and end the whole thing with a twist ending that nobody would ever see coming.
In separating it out, I made the worst possible mistake of my writing career.
So many people have not read it, and it's a canonical side story that's intended to be read between Ch. 4 and 6.
That's where the Isekai comes in, and if you got to the end of Empire and found yourself wanting more and you didn't read MBB, go treat yourself.
Sidebar: EVERY scene that references other creator's works is done with their blessing and considered soft-canon to their universes.
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I still want that yin yang sun marked door to make a meaningful appearance.
11131231
Most excellent.
Young 6 setup, Luna story, hmm. Good shit, and an enjoyable story. I might have more to say when I eventually reread it but for now, that's all I can say
So which blog post covers the series' future?
Can't wait for "Voice of Rage & Ruin"
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Still writing it, stay tuned...
A very satisfying conclusion
well solid 8/10 great finish.
Edit: Dropped to 6/10 Above average because the author is gatelocking a probably plot important chapter behind a probably $40 physical book.
A+ story!
11201013
She didn't (see the "dream walk" scenes in ch. 9), but remember that Twilight actually called out their elements during the "rainbow bitchslap" scene in Equestria Girls. Sunset will know which girl goes with which element from that interaction.
shame on Spike. Smolder is a normal person in this world, but Spike is just a dog.
It would be interesting to see how awakened magic causes not only acquired abilities, but also begins to negatively affect the character so that students try to overcome these vices.
(For example, Dragons in equestia collect mountains of treasure. Therefore, dragon people should have a craving for kleptomania. While changeling people theoretically should have had an inexplicable hunger that they still do not know how to satisfy.)
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Yeah, one thing I learn over and over again as I get older is there's never one, single, pat end to everything. There's always loose ends, always someone dealing with some problem that nobody else notices, always something, and nowadays "pat" endings just feel...incomplete without the author acknowledging that life...goes on.
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That's it exactly! ...for this universe, anyway.
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Oh sure, Blame me for my diagnosis making my brain work differently.
I know you didn't do so but I still hate the person I am.
Well, this was a delightful find. I'm really glad I read this story, especially since I'm such a sucker for Sunset forming good and supportive emotional bonds and family connections. It was engaging and explored some concepts I haven't really seen much of, like the EQG governments getting involved and the whole multiversal diplomacy situation.
Seeing Sunset struggle with the locks the Elements put on her, and how her friends and (soon to be) family cared so much about her and kept reaching out. Sunset and Principal Celestia being able to connect and overcome their insecurities and fear of rejections to accept and love each other was great, especially after that couldn't happen with Princess Celestia.
It seems it's something of a multiversal tragedy that Celestia and Luna will hurt each other and be lost for a time, and that Sunset and Celestia will struggle to express and accept that they love and want to be loved by each other. I'm very glad Principal Celestia was able to break that trend, even if she never had the chance to try with her own Sunset she was able to connect with the one who came into her life regardless. There's a harsh tragedy with Princess Celestia that while an immortal princess can have greater successes and achievements than a mortal principal, her failures and regrets can be just as great.
Overall, I loved this story. Thank you for writing it, I look forward to reading more whenever it may be written. I hope everything is going well in your life, and wish you the best.
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Thank you!
Right now my focus is on
In short, due to the way the story for Empire's gonna go, there's a fairly unique opportunity to reward my more loyal readers and I'm taking that opportunity.
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Even better!