Authors note: This is it... the last chapter.... after 3 years plus, this story is coming to its close....
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A week had passed since the contest had come to its end.... and the backlash from Champagne's outburst was barely at an end......

Once he'd been taken into custody, Champagne had given a written confession that he'd been involved in the murders of Maria, Ace, and Pedal Hareis. But the thought of a trial was erased from everyponys mind upon seeing the wreck that he had become and instead he was locked up in the Manehattan Aslyum, a muzzle permanently covering his mouth at his insistence to "stop the voices from being heard."

Rollins had gone back to his world, but Celestia didn't even bother with erasing his memories. The singer had been quick to point out that even if he had told anyone about Equestria, he'd have a hard time proving it and, more to the point, even HE was still trying to take in every single bit that had occurred. Instead, a compromise had been made where he'd be allowed to retain his knowledge of the other world, but would keep it a secret to his grave.

Derpy had come out and confessed that she was the one who was responsible for the video tape showing what really happened in that interview and was rewarded with a cool grand in bits by Rainbow Dash. She'd also been given a week's paid vacation from Weather Patrol, with the promise that, effective immediately, she'd be given a ton more respect and even possibly groomed for an executive position. She, however, had declined the second part, saying she was happier just doing an honest days work.

The 50,000 grand had been awarded to Ponyville for Dash's victory... and used to, as expected, replenish the foods used over the course of the training and the festival, although a small amount had been set up for a new scholarship, meant for future E.W.R.E.C. competitions.

Gilda had left immediately after the festival, giving her farewells to her friends and saying she was gonna "scope Black Thorn out by its roots." But she had given a Pinkie Promise, at the Party Pony's insistence, that she would one day return.

Rainbow Dash had immediately put the million bits she'd won into a bank account for herself, as well as using a good portion of it to help with a few repairs for Sugarcube Corner and Sweet Apple Acres.

Scootaloo had been returned her memories of her time with Pedal. She'd wept openly for hours after the seal was broken, Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy holding her as the tears came out, her heart feeling like it was broken into a million pieces. She didn't blame Luna and Celestia for what they'd done though.... She knew they were only trying to help her and she had to admit, the time passed did help to heal the wound in her soul....

And as for Joshua.....
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"Are you ready yet, sweetie?", Rainbow Dash called out from the front room to her friend, her weight considerably diminished from the 300 pound equine it had been at the contest... although she did still have a plentiful amount of girth to throw around. She'd actually grown slightly fond of having the extra pudge and even compared it to "being literally 20% more of a pegasus." "We've got our reservation at Hardshells in an hour!"

Back in her bathroom... Josh just looked at his reflection in the mirror, barechested and fractured like a broken doll.

When he'd gone into the hospital to get the entrance hole from Champagne's horn tearing into his chest closed up, things had started to go wrong almost instantly. The pre-surgery M.R.I. had revealed that the headaches and vomiting were products of a clot in his brain, likely caused from the impact of his fall to the ground, coupled with a delayed reaction from Dev's ambush. They'd been forced to remove his left eye in order to try and fix the clot and, although they were successful, they'd had no choice but to fasten an eye patch, black as a starless night, to his socket until a prosthetic could be arranged. The procedure had left him with an ugly set of stitches running down his eye and branching down towards the corner of his mouth and even though Rarity and Twilight had helped him with a hefty amount of make-up and concealer, leaving only traces of his damage visible, he still felt like shit warmed over.

The hole in his stomach was patched up, now only bearing a small moon-shaped scar, but he'd been given a prescription for heavy painkillers to help deal with the nausea and acid reflux caused by the gouge. This was the first night in a week he'd been allowed to ingest solid food and him and Dash were going to meet up with the fellow Elements to celebrate both her victory and the start of his recovery.

His hair, once long and smooth, was absent now in patches on the left side of his skull, a result from them having to shave off a fair amount of hair in order to get to the clot. He didn't mind this so much as he thought it gave him a little bit of an edgy look, but he was still eager for it to grow back... or at least as much as it would, so that he could grow it out to cover his empty socket in case he was left with a permanent dent in his skull where his eyeball should have been.

The waterproof radio in the bathroom was belting out a rock song as Josh looked on at the mess that had been his body, music helping as a distraction from the shit of the situation he was in. He'd spent over an hour in the bathroom, showering and washing off the hospital grime and filth and trying to gather his thoughts altogether.

Prison gates won't open up for me
On these hands and knees I'm crawling
Oh, I reach for you

"How are you feeling?"

Looking to his side, Josh found Kira standing next to him. An agreement had been made when he had gone under for his surgery that Josh was done with the dream-world bullshit. Now if Kira needed to talk to him, he could project himself into a shadowy spirit and just talk to him like a normal.. or at least a similacrum of a normal being.

Well I'm terrified of these four walls
These iron bars can't hold my soul in
All I need is you

"Like a bag of hammered hell....", he groaned, stretched and rubbing the tip of his wing. It'd been a small miracle that he hadn't needed his wings to be removed, nor desiring to be permanently grounded, "But I'm alive.... All that matters is that I am alive..."

Come please I'm callin'
And oh I scream for you
Hurry I'm fallin', I'm fallin'

"In what could be said anyways.", Kira smirked, wrapping his hands along the sleeves of his shroud.

"Kira..... what happened?"

The spirit paused and gave him a knowing look. "The flash?"

"Yeah."

Show me what it's like
To be the last one standing
And teach me wrong from right
And I'll show you what I can be

"Remember what I said about if somepony were to attempt to take me by force?"

The teenager nodded sullenly before his eye widened in realization. "You mean....."

"I'm a being of untold power.... treat me with respect and I can impart the secrets of the world.... but treat me with arrogance and I can make you reveal the ugliness inside...... Champagne did the latter and....."

"He... saw me as Elbert Hareis, didn't he?"

And say it for me, say it to me
And I'll leave this life behind me
Say it if it's worth saving me

"He had to face the energy that he'd suppressed since the day he took them from this world."

"So... you knew he did it?"

"......Again..", Kira remarked with a slight touch of annoyance, "I can see ALL of a beings secrets and darkness. I think I've told you this a number of times."

Heaven's gates won't open up for me
With these broken wings I'm fallin'
And all I see is you

"You could tell me it a quadrillion times and I don't think I would understand it 100%.", Josh remarked with a rueful laugh.

"Hopefully that won't be necessary.", Kira rolled his eyes.

"Well... least I don't feel like I don't want to be here anymore... I know there's always going to be ponies and creeps that think I'm the cancerous one here...."

These city walls ain't got no love for me
I'm the ledge of the eighteenth story
And oh I scream for you

"But now you have the capabilities to deal with them... not to mention a cool million bits now and a lot of prestige."

Turning to his side, Josh could swear that, for the slightest instance, he said the faint shadow of a deadpan smirk creep across the spirits face.

"Kira.... was that some sort of wisecrack???"

Kira didn't reply, but the look in his eyes said it all. All Josh could do was give a soft chuckle.

"Far cry from the demon who scared the shit out of me first time we met."

"Believe me, I didn't enjoy appearing to you in that manner either, but...... well, I've said what happened and wether you want to accept it is not my concern."

Come please I'm callin'
And all I need from you
Hurry I'm fallin', I'm fallin'

The human sighed again as he began to slip on a black T, the logo of a yellow rose plastered to the front of it, shining out like a second head. The fabric felt cool and smooth, a swift change from the hospital get-up he'd been wearing for the past week. By now, he and Dr. Whooves were even considering setting up a private wardrobe for if the human did have to return some day, although inwardly he would have loved to go the rest of his life without ever being in room 612 or ANY room in that clinic again.

"So tell me.....", Kira asked coolly, "Now that you've got the rest of your life ahead of you.... any plans?"

Show me what it's like
To be the last one standing
And teach me wrong from right
And I'll show you what I can be

At this question, Josh just gave a shrug, idly brushing the strap of his patch with a tuft of what was left of his hair. "Right now, I'm just focused on trying to do what I was brought here for in the first place, showing some new life lessons to the citizens...."

"And how do you expect to do that?"

"To be honest, I have no fucking clue. Public speaking, lectures.... maybe ask Cheerilee if she'd consider starting lessons in Foreign Cultures, or even one of the proctors at Canterlot University. I mean... I love helping Dashie, Derpy, and the others with the weather, but I have the feeling I was brought here to do more than just move clouds or act like a hero. Honestly, anyone or anypony could show them what it means to do the right thing."

And say it for me, say it to me
And I'll leave this life behind me
Say it if it's worth saving me
Hurry I'm fallin'

Josh paused as he slipped on a pair of black capris, brushing down the denim and smoothing it out from the moisture gathered from the steam of the shower.

"Doesn't mean I should be treated like some sort of messiah.... And I really need to ask Celestia why in the world she brought another human here JUST for a performance. I mean, why not get Octavia or Vinyl or some other pony to sing...."

"She probably wanted to make this event special..."

Josh pursed his lips at this. "But it made no sense.... I mean.... Yeah, Henry Rollins is a great singer and he'd be less weirded out than say someone like Burnley or Reznor.... But it's a WORLD of PONIES.... How did she even know he existed?"

It was then a lightbulb seemed to click on in his head. "Hardshell... he gave some of the restaurant mixes to her, didn't he?"

"Rollins on it?"

"Low Self Opinion, Liar, Inhale Exhale, some of the best.... but... I don't know, am I reading into this too much?"

"You still are having trouble gripping the fact that this world has technology like yours... aren't you?"

At this, Josh had to admit he was. "Guess they have Shazam and Wikipedia and shit like that.... But I never took Celestia or Luna for metalheads.... Another preconception gone out the window."

Putting on a pair of white tennies, he completed his outfit and stood back, just looking on in amusement.

"You know.... this doesn't mean you're my confidante or anything.... That position is already filled."

"Honestly, that was never my intent in the first place. I only appeared this time because I had the feeling you were going to ask me about that flash... and why you remembered our talk in the first place."

"Yeah... bout that..."

"You had enough trauma to your brain as it was. If I tried to go in there to mess up memories, I can't gaurantee something wouldn't have gone fatal."

"Then... how would you have made me forget about----"

Kira cut him off, "Same way I influenced her to bring you here. I may not be able to occupy her, but I can still be the messenger of suggestion."

Josh frowned, his one good eye glaring at him.

"There's a lot you're not telling me, isn't there...."

"Yup."

Josh just sighed in resignation. "Well... just for the time being.... don't pull shit like this again. Stay in the recesses unless I specifically ASK for you... After how we met, you owe me THAT much."

Kira nodded in agreement. "Very well...."

With that, the form of his friend faded away, seeming to be sucked back into the golden necklace around him.

And all I need is you
Come please I'm callin'
And oh I scream for you
Hurry I'm fallin', I'm fallin'

Now standing alone in the bathroom, Josh shook his head and reflected on what was waiting for not just him... but for them all... He knew by now there were plenty of foes who would have loved nothing more than to take down Equestria for their own perverse reasons and he didn't know when the next time would be that not even the magic of Twilight Sparkle would be enough to vanquish the sin.

But for the moment, he didn't really have an interest in thinking about enemies or hardships or anything.....

Show me what it's like
To be the last one standing
And teach me wrong from right
And I'll show you what I can be

He was more focused on making sure he could prove to Dash, to Shy, to everyone that he was done acting like some sort of unstable emotional nutjob. He wanted to not be a joke anymore, but one who was respected. He knew that besides villians like Thoroughbred and Champagne, there were pricks like the ponies that mocked him and Derpy for their faults and shortcomings. But like Kira had said before... they mocked that which they did not understand.

"JOSH! ARE YOU OKAY???"

Hearing Rainbow Dash's voice from outside, he called out, "One minute!" and took one last look at his appearance.

And say it for me, say it to me
And I'll leave this life behind me
Say it if it's worth saving me
Hurry I'm fallin'

"Well.... cheers to a new beginning... no more bullshit, no more flip-flopping, no more acting like I'm a powder keg..... Time to man up and show them what I can truly be...."

And say it for me, say it to me
And I'll leave this life behind me
Say it if it's worth saving me

And as he opened the door and looked on at the cyan pegasus before him, Josh just gave a small half-smile and took a breath. He may not have looked 100 percent... he may have been half-blind... hell, he may have permanent damage to his psyche...

But at that moment, in that foyer.... looking on at his sweetheart.... Josh felt like maybe..... everything would turn out for the best.....

"Ready... Dashie."

And all the pegasus could do in return... was return his smile.
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Song List
Savin' Me by Nickelback from the album All the Right Reasons

This is dedicated to the memories of David Lipton, Robin Williams, and Claude Bedell.

Thank you all.