Flash Sentry’s reflection stared back at him in the mirror, and he barely recognized the other pony in the glass. The electric blue eyes seemed to be filled with a pale gray sheen, as though fog had seeped into the orbs. He had combed his mane, which limply clung to his skull. Looking closer, he saw a thin, premature streak of gray running over the crown of his head.

Sighing, he brushed off the front of his dress uniform. The formal suit of crimson red fit perfectly around his form, with holes for his wings. A white sash crossed his torso, which was decorated with a row of colored ribbons. His eyes went towards the white and golden square on the far right of the row, then dropped to study a small black box that sat on the dresser before him. Inside the box, he knew, was a silver star-shaped medal, attached to a blue ribbon, designed to be worn around the neck.

He should have been honored. The Celestia Star was only awarded for acts of the highest valor; it was rare indeed for a pony to be awarded one while they were still alive. But he did not wish to wear the medal; it weighed far too much with all the blood and lives it was drenched in. Sighing, he lifted it up and draped it over his head. It felt like an iron collar around his neck.

There was a knocking at the door and Twilight entered. He could see her face reflected in the mirror. She looked just as tired as he did, and nervously clutched her pale blue coat about her. “Flash?” she called quietly. “It’s time.”

Flash swallowed and nodded. Turning, he followed Twilight out of the room and down the grand hallways of the Canterlot Castle. Neither of them spoke. The only sound was the echo of their hoofsteps off the tile floor.

Finally, they exited the castle into the bright sunlight, their breath frosting before their eyes in the winter chill as a light snow fell from the partly cloudy sky. Flash looked up towards the great yellow sphere hanging above them. What a wondrous thing, the sun! A gift from the heavens, providing the planet with heat and light. Life simply would not be possible without it.

Suddenly, the sky turned completely dark before his eyes: the sun vanished, and blackness covered everything, crushing him, choking the air from his lungs…

“Flash?”

Twilight’s voice pulled him out of the memory, and he shook his head to clear it. "Yeah. I'm okay," he mumbled.

“Come on,” she said, taking his hoof. The warmth of her touch revived Flash a bit and he managed to smile as she guided him towards a motorized carriage gilded in gold and white, where a uniformed chauffeur waited. They climbed into the safety of the carriage, behind the bulletproof glass and magic-resistant structure, and the chauffeur closed the door behind them before climbing into the driver's seat.

With a grumble, the engine started up and the driver pulled away from the castle, guiding them down the cobbled streets of Canterlot. Out the window, they could see ponies walking about the sidewalks, tending to shops, greeting neighbors with smiles, or simply pausing to admire the world going by. The sight of the city returning to a semblance of normality brought warmth to their hearts.

But that warmth was extinguished as they reached their destination. A set of black iron wrought gates opened before them. Above them was an arch that declared in great, swirling letters, “Celestia Park Cemetery.” Lines of ponies snaked out of the gates and into the sidewalk outside, murmuring quietly. Two columns of Royal Guards—the sunshine yellow of the Canterlot City Guard, the golden-white of the Solar House Guard, and the dark blues and purples of the Lunar House Guard—formed a clear pathway into the cemetery proper.

Flash instinctively reached for Twilight’s hoof. She took it without looking and squeezed. The carriage stopped and Flash and Twilight dismounted. Every pony’s head turned to observe their progress as they passed beneath the arch and into the column. As they passed between the columns, the Guards snapped to attention and saluted. Flash barely noticed. Twilight kept holding his hoof.

The park cemetery was a great, sprawling land of green grass lovingly smothered in pure white snow, decorated with rose bushes and great oak trees that provided shade. A crowd of ponies stood in the center of a clear patch of land that had been cleared of snow for the ceremony. Most of these ponies, which included several Guards in formal uniform, sat in plastic chairs that faced a makeshift stand that was already set up with a podium and microphone system. A large, shapeless object stood behind the stand, covered in a tarp.

Princesses Celestia and Luna sat on this stand, both of them with their heads bowed as their manes flowed around them. Shining Armor sat to Celestia’s right, adorned in his own formal uniform with its blue officer’s sash and double row of ribbons. He managed to smile at Twilight as the two of them approached the stand.

Rarity, Applejack, Rainbow Dash, Fluttershy and Pinkie Pie sat in chairs to Luna’s left. Flash’s stomach lurched slightly as he noticed that each of them was wearing their own Celestia Stars, the medals gleaming faintly like distant stars. Each of the mares briefly smiled encouragingly at them as they walked up onto the stand, and Pinkie waved. Twilight waved back.

“Now, just remember what you practiced,” Twilight whispered urgently into Flash’s ear. “Take deep breaths, only check your notes if you need to, speak slowly and clearly from your chest and not your throat...did you bring lozenges? I have some in my pocket if you need them.”

Ordinarily, Flash would’ve shook his head and chuckled at his fiancee’s regular fretting, but all it summoned from him now was a ghost of a smile. She reluctantly let go of his hoof and took her seat next to Shining, who draped an arm around her.

Flash stepped up to the podium and cleared his throat. The speakers magnified the sound over the crowd, disrupting the relative peace of the park. Every head turned toward him, faces expectant. Flash struggled to swallow, glancing back at Twilight. She nodded encouragingly. He took a deep breath, faced the crowd and their bated breath, and began to speak.

“I know why you’re all here,” he said, his voice resounding through the park. “I know what you’re all thinking. You’re all wondering why this happened, what was the cause of this. You all want to know why our neighbors, our friends, our family members were killed a month ago.” He swallowed again, glanced down at his notes, then continued.

“The truth...is a hard, painful thing. But I think that it is something that needs to be told, if we are to understand and move on.”

Something ached deep inside his chest. Something tried to hold his tongue, protested his speech, but he took a deep breath and continued.

“It all started back in Ponyville...with my father. Phillip Finder.”

Forty days prior…

Ponyville was known as a peaceful place; how could the hometown of the bearers of the Elements of Harmony and the Princess of Friendship be anything else? And tonight, the citizens of Ponyville slept peacefully beneath a clear dark blue sky that was painted with twinkling white stars and a bright crescent moon. Their pale white light reflected off of the fresh snowfall that blanketed the ground.

A pegasus sprinted across the grounds of Ponyville Park, kicking up clouds of snow with every step. He circled around the duck pond and paused next to a bench to catch his frosty breath. The flickering light of the lantern over him cast him into stark relief. His ivory coat and golden hair were damp and sprinkled with snow, his chest heaving with breath and his wingtips fluttering. His brown eyes darted rapidly back and forth, searching the shadows for any sign of his pursuers. His cutie mark was an envelope with a red seal and a pair of golden wings.

He scanned the darkness, listening for any sign, but all was quiet and still. He allowed himself to sigh in relief. He’d lost them! His mission was complete! All he needed to do was find the fastest way out of town and—

Something snatched his hind legs and yanked hard, and he tumbled facefirst to the ground, grunting as he impacted against the snow. Looking back, he was shocked to see a lasso tangled around his legs. An orange mare wearing a Stetson hat and a green scarf was rushing towards him, the other end of the lasso clutched in her mouth.

“I got him!” Applejack shouted, rushing forward. “I got him, over here!”

The pegasus snapped his left wing towards her. The throwing knife concealed in his feathers flew towards her, the spinning blade glimmering in the moonlight. Applejack ducked to the side, but even as she did, a purple shield of magic appeared between her and the knife. The weapon bounced off the shield and fell harmlessly to the snow.

Twilight Sparkle, Flash Sentry, Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy descended from the sky, landing around the pegasus to surround him as Rarity and Pinkie Pie ran up to join them. The trapped prey desperately looked from pony to pony, still laying on his back, searching for a way out that did not exist.

“Don’t even think about it,” Rainbow Dash snarled, spreading her wings threateningly. The pegasus quailed.

There was the sound of hoofsteps crunching in the snow. Applejack and Fluttershy stepped aside to allow a stallion to enter the circle. The captive’s eyes widened in horror as he recognized the green vest and the gray trilby.

“Winged Letter,” Phillip Finder growled, stepping closer and fixing his prey with a glare as cold as winter itself. “You’ve gone down in the world.”

Letter’s shivering no longer had anything to do with the cold.

“You delivered a package,” Phillip continued, his voice quiet and hard. “Who did you deliver it to?”

Winged shook his head. “You know what he’ll do to me if I tell you!”

“Do you know what was in that package?” Flash cut in. “Dozens of ponies could be killed because of it.”

“I know you’re scared of him,” Fluttershy added. “But he is just one pony. We are eight. We can protect you, and anypony else that he might threaten.”

“But you need to help us first,” Phillip stated, leaning in closer. His gaze bored into Letter’s, filling up his view. “Where did you deliver the package?”

Winged Letter stared at him for a few moments, still shaking. Finally, he swallowed and nodded. “If I tell you...can you keep me safe?”

“We promise,” Twilight reassured him.

Winged Letter looked around at his captor’s faces, then refocused on Phillip. He slowly nodded. Phillip helped him up as Applejack coiled up the lasso.

“Now, let’s get us inside,” Rarity declared. “It is far too cold and far too late for this.”

“I can make us some hot chocolate!” Pinkie chirped up, bouncing alongside the group as they started to walk towards the park exit. “With some whipped cream and marshmallows! Or maybe you just like whipped cream. It doesn’t matter! I personally think that anything is better with some hot choc—”

While the others were distracted, Winged Letter glanced around, his face slowly setting from fear into determination. He knew what was expected of him, knew what he was to do now that this eventuality had come true. He rummaged around in his mouth with his tongue, freeing the false tooth from its setting, and bit down hard. A bitter taste of almonds filled his mouth and the breath was stolen from him.

“No! Spit it out! Spit it out!” Flash shouted, rushing to his side as Winged collapsed to the ground, coughing and choking.

“What happened?” Fluttershy cried, rushing over.

White foam spewed from Winged’s mouth as he gagged on his last breaths, his shoulders heaving. He turned his head to look up at Phillip, who watched with a look of horrified concern. With a sudden lunge, the dying pony seized Phillip’s vest and pulled himself up into his face. Through the cloud of foam clogging his throat, he gurgled out two hate-filled words as his eyes blazed with the fury of a zealot:

“Hail Zugzwang.”

And with a final cough, he dropped into the snow, his body giving one last spasm as his life left him. The gathered ponies all looked down at the corpse, then at each other, their breath frosting in the winter night air.

Author's Notes:

This is it.

Just under two years and twenty stories later, this is the beginning of the end.

Welcome to Endgame, the final story of the Phillip Finder series. We hope you are prepared for it.