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Reach

by ToixStory

Chapter 19: Epilogue: Never Forget

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Sunny kept her wings, and Sunrise did too. The light that had engulfed Starlight had swallowed all of Sundown, and when it was left some ponies were back to normal, and some weren’t. According to them, they were given a choice by a voice in their heads. Most of them chose to go back to normal.

Starlight missed the feeling of power from her horn and wings, but she smiled as she ran a hoof over her smooth forehead. Then grimaced as the van bounced, and she smacked herself in the face. She was still grumbling about it when Red, seated next to her, opened the sliding door.

“We’re here,” he said. “I’m surprised a dinky little vehicle like this even made it. It sure ain’t the Odyssey

The IS had been kind enough to lend them a van, but Starlight agreed that she missed the cushy seating and heavy shocks of the RV. Everypony piled out of the vehicle, and she followed them, setting her hooves onto the sand outside. She covered her face with one hoof to block out the sun in her eyes.

Gulls chirped and circled overhead, riding the cool sea breeze. Just beyond the van, deep blue water lapped at the sandy shore. The beach was empty so early in the morning, with only the seabirds and foam to accompany their little group. Sunny and Sunrise took to the skies, laughing and chasing after each other. Starlight rolled her eyes when she saw Sunny slap the stallion on his rump.

“I always forget what the west coast smells like until I come back to it again,” Red said. “It smells . . . clean. Like you can come here and be anypony, do anything.”

“Is that right?” Starlight asked.

He nodded. “It’s out here that I decided I was done taking anypony’s orders but my own, and started smuggling. Funny to come back to it now, after everything.”

“I’ve never been out here, you know.”

“Really?”

“First time going coast to coast.” She breathed in the air and smiled. “And you’re right, I can smell it too.”

Starlight reached back inside the van and pulled an object out of the box. She hefted it in her hooves and brought it over to where Red stood, by the water. It was a thick, ivory urn with brass handles.

She walked into the ocean until it was knee-deep, then stopped. “I think this is what he would have wanted,” she said. “I never really knew how he would want to be buried . . . I called my mom back at Lupine Falls, and she wasn’t up to telling me.”

“I think it’s fitting,” Red said, taking her by the shoulder. “He got you here, didn’t he? The way I see it, he wasn’t always the best pony, but he did what was right in the end. I think that counts for something.”

“I wouldn’t be alive if he hadn’t saved me.” Starlight opened the urn and bit back the tears that stained the edges of her eyes. “He did right in the end.”

She overturned the vase and watched the ashes fall out into the water. Soon, they were washed away by the endless waves, borne back ceaselessly into the great unknown. Starlight watched for a long time. The waves had a way of putting her into a trance, until her breathing matched the coming and going of the tide.

Beside her, Red stood firmly and looked to where she did. After a few moments, he asked, “What now?”

Starlight looked back at the van. The two IS agents had accompanied them to the beach. They were now playing with Dawn on the sand. The little colt wobbled on unsteady legs in the uneven terrain and giggled as he fell. Above them, Sunny and Sunrise continued to swoop and dive around.

She turned back to Red. “Well, the IS gave us just about all the money we could ever want to shut up . . . why don’t we use some of it?”

“To do what?”

“I don’t quite know.” She wrapped a hoof around his shoulder and smiled, looking out to the horizon. “I’m sure we’ll think of something.”

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