Finally, I'm able to move past the Writer's Block and not procrastinate for a month before posting a new chapter! I hope you all enjoy how I'm winding down the story, given there's still some questions that need answering, which I hope this chapter provides. So, with that said, hope you all like this good, long chapter!
Preparations had been made for Aversion's coronation within the next few days, and everypony in Canterlot, and eventually all of Equestria became aware of their new Prince. Blueblood, needless to say, was utterly shocked by this revelation. He was still in just as much shock as the day he laid eyes on the alicorn stallion.
"...Wh-why...?" Blueblood uttered in Canterlot Castle's great hall before the coronation was to begin. "...Why is that peasant feigning royalty?!"
"Mind your attitude, Blueblood!" Luna scolded.
"But, Auntie...!" Blueblood complained. "...He was not born into our pure bloodline! He is contaminated by commoner heritage! Change him back to his regular, worthless self so I can banish him from the kingdom!"
"Blueblood..." Celestia spoke, coldly, "...this will be the last time you ever speak ill of Aversion! After today, he will be a true Prince, outranking a lesser Prince like you!"
At this point, Blueblood had no clue what he was going to do about the whole situation. Since Aversion was an alicorn, he no doubt had magic abilities that would overpower and counter Blueblood's. Not knowing what to do with himself, and wanting to avoid getting scolded any further, the white unicorn retreated to a secluded spot at the back of the hall.
There were, however, others who were quite pleased with Aversion's ascension. Twilight, the rest of the Mane Six, Starlight, and Spike all showed up for the ceremony. All of them were quite ecstatic to see their soon-to-be Prince.
"Wow, this is amazing!" Twilight remarked, looking over Aversion's new wings and horn, as well as his new height. "First alicorn stallion ever, huh?"
"Actually..." Celestia said, "...there have been a few in history, though in smaller numbers than mares. However, there have been many forgeries in the history books by biased historians wanting Equestria to forget about male alicorns."
Everypony fell silent and frowned.
"There were alterations to written history... because they found such a thing distasteful?" Rarity asked.
"Well, that's pretty messed up if ya ask me!" Applejack remarked.
"Yeah," Twilight said, "and it especially sad for ponies like me, who just love history! All it does is force us to look harder than necessary for credible sources."
Aversion nervously shuffled his hooves. "I'll be honest... I don't feel like I'm ready for this."
Everyone looked at him.
"Avey," Luna said, placing a hoof on his hunch, "you've come so far! And with the resolve you've shown throughout your life, I believe you are more than ready to take up a throne for yourself!"
"Yeah!" Pinkie said. "Don't get all low and blue! Think about how exciting your life is about to get!"
Starlight nodded. "I used to give in to self-doubt myself... but I learned to overcome it. Trust me, Aversion. Good things will come of this new chapter in your life!"
"You got this, dude!" Rainbow Dash said.
"Totally!" Spike added. "Go for it! Don't let this big chance go to waste!"
Aversion smiled. "Everyone..."
"How encouraging," Luna said.
"Well, enough dawdling," Celestia said. "The ceremony is set to begin soon!"
"You sure you don't want to turn back now, Avey?" Luna asked.
Aversion pondered for a moment. After taking some time to reflect on his life, and realizing how much Luna has turned it around for the better, as well as the privileges she had, in addition to the wealth...
"...Through thick and thin, Lulu..." Aversion spoke, "...I'll always stick by your side!"
Luna smiled warmly at her coltfriend.
A little while later, the hall was filled, presumably beyond maximum rated capacity, with Canterlot civilians and travelers from all across Equestria. There were also television cameras setup all about the hall. Aversion tried his best to calm his nerves with slow, deep breaths as he processed that a large portion of the kingdom's population was watching him as he made his way up the stairs to the stage where Celestia, Luna, the Royal Council, the Mane Six, Spike, Starlight, and Scolus all stood.
Despite his nerves, however, he still felt quite excited by the whole situation, imagining how different his life was going to be going forward. No doubt, things were going to be much better moving forward.
Aversion stepped in front of Celestia, who levitated a custom-made crown off a cushion resting atop a short pedestal between the two alicorns.
"Aversion of Ponyville..." Celestia spoke, "...you have demonstrated the resolve of a true hero, aiding in the defeat of a malevolent entity that posed a threat to the dream world. Had it not been for your efforts, nightmares would become reality... our worst fears would become our daily lives... our world would descend into chaos for all eternity..."
Luna, standing off to Celestia's side, watched as happy tears filled her eyes.
"So, in adherence with our honor system, and in regard to your new anatomical change..." Celestia said, placing the crown on Aversion's head, just behind his new horn, "...I hereby crown you, Aversion, as the Prince of Perseverance!"
The crowd erupted into applause, and Aversion turned around, waving happily at all his new subjects. Never, not once in his life, did he ever expect to receive such a standing ovation from the ponies who he believed were actively working against him. Once it died down, he took the microphone Celestia was using to make his speech.
"Thank you, all of you," Aversion said. "You know... I would like to be the first to say that this is probably the biggest honor I could ever receive in my now-eternal life. As an earth pony... I felt like I had nothing for a future. Everything looked so bleak... but that's because I was too afraid to ask for help. Once Princess Luna came into my life... that's when my perspective forever changed. I lost sight of what was right in front of me... but what was once hidden from my view became crystal-clear."
Many of the audience members, clearly inspired by the words, stared wide-eyed at the new Prince.
"Luna, who just so happens to be my lover... she genuinely changed me," Aversion continued. "I was never the same after I met her, but not in a bad way. And with the events that transpired over the past few months... I can safely say that I now know I have the capacity to leave a lasting legacy on this world. So, that leaves me with one question, for all of you... what's your story? I implore you all to figure out how you can change this world for the better. Even if you can't fulfill your own ambitions, you can be just as good to help somepony else fulfill theirs."
"STOP!" A mare's voice called from the back of the chamber, after the doors burst open.
Nearly everypony in the hall looked back to see...
"Star Buck?!" Aversion uttered.
The former café manager was not alone, however. Standing at her side was a familiar large-figured, brick-red stallion.
"Brawn Brutus!" Luna said.
"You...!" Star Buck growled loudly, making her way forward. "...You are going to pay for what you've done!"
Confused murmurs started among the crowd as the two uninvited guests made their way to the stage.
"What the hell are you two doing here?!" Aversion questioned.
"Teaching you a lesson!" Brutus said. "You have no idea how difficult it was for us to get here!"
Star Buck gritted her teeth with an angry stare. "Mr. Aversion... you took everything from my ex-husband and I! We're bankrupt and broke! Our business is ruined! And on top of all that... my husband filed for divorce and left me for some rich model mare! Are you proud of yourself for ruining my life?!"
"And I had to have my buddies scrounge together a lot of funds to pay my bail!" Brutus said. "And I'm not gonna let it go to waste!"
Aversion's eyebrows came down low over his eyes. "You two have no business screwing up my big day! Get out of here!"
"That ain't gonna fly, Ass-version!" Brutus shouted. "I don't give a shit if you're a Prince! I'm not living in a world where a scrawny, stupid assbag like you is royalty!"
"You ruin our lives, we ruin yours!" Star Buck added.
Luna stepped forward. "I hope you realize you are making yourself look like a pair of spoiled brats across the kingdom! Vengeance is a fool's game! Besides, Avey no longer works for you!"
"He's just suspended, not fired!" Star Buck said. "He's still employed by me, so he's still my subordinate!"
Aversion narrowed his eyes. "Then how about you read my lips and decipher this message: I QUIT! Consider my coronation an official resignation!"
"Well, you're not getting out of a well-earned ass-kicking!" Brutus stated.
"Guards!" Luna said. "Arrest them!"
Almost immediately, the two earth pony intruders were pounced by the Royal Guard. They struggled as the guards attempted to bind their hooves in shackles.
"GET THE BUCK OFF ME!" Brutus shouted.
"This is harassment!" Star Buck chimed in. "Get off, or I'll sue you for violating my civil rights!"
"Interfering with a royal ceremony is a serious crime!" Celestia said.
By this point, the crowd angrily shouted at Star Buck and Brutus for barging in on the coronation without invitations or tickets. Once they were detained and cleared off, the crowd cheered and stomped their hooves in applause once more. Aversion chuckled a bit at the fact that ponies were cheering for his former boss and bully getting taken into custody.
Everything after that minor hiccup proceeded as normal, with the celebration kicking off nicely. The party lasted all day, and continued well into the night. It was truly the happiest time of Aversion's life, better than his first meeting with Luna, their night at the amusement park, professing their love, or battling a malevolent spirit.
He would never, ever forget that day.
A few weeks passed since the coronation, and Aversion was adapting fairly nicely to royal lifestyle. It was a bit difficult and tedious, but with Luna's guidance, he was able to get his workload sorted and squared away for a solid schedule. Plus, he found royal work a lot more enjoyable than barista work.
He sold his old property in Ponyville, and made the Castle of the Two Sisters into his permanent residence, alongside Luna. He retrieved his portal door from the small house and simply stowed it along with the other. They already had Luna's door to connect the two castles, but kept the others in case they needed a spare set for something. Scolus, similarly, abandoned the changeling hive to live in the castle as well, since he was already labeled as a renegade traitor by Chrysalis, who placed a sizable bounty on him.
Even though he had wings and a horn... Aversion had a bit of trouble learning how to use both. His magic was a bit uncontrollable, working at odd moments, and not working when he wanted it to. And his flight patterns were unstable, in particular, he had trouble with pitch, often going into either a nosedive or stall, sometimes crashing (though Luna always healed him when he was injured). Because he was an earth pony, and unaccustomed to either, nopony really expected him to get the hang of it right off the bat. Luna and Scolus, however, were coaching him on the matter, so he could eventually take full advantage of his newfound abilities.
One day, Luna came to Aversion to inform him of a matter she attended to in her personal time.
"There's something I feel you should know, Avey," Luna said to her lover.
"Oh?" Aversion asked. "What is it, Lulu?"
Luna sighed. "...I've taken some time to rectify some of the wrongdoers of your past."
Aversion lowered his eyebrows. "What do you mean?"
"I've tracked down Sledge Hammer," Luna began. "I myself reminded him of what he did to you all those years ago, and was accompanied by a Royal Guard escort to his residence in Fillydelphia. He's been arrested and is currently awaiting trial. He will be convicted in a matter of days with the evidence I will submit."
"Wait..." Aversion spoke, dumbstruck, "...my abusive stepfather's finally in jail?"
Luna nodded. "And let's just say... he was not very happy about it..."
(Flashback)
Luna arrived at the porch of the home owned by Sledge Hammer, her batpony guards escorting her all the while. She gave a menacing, vengeful glare at the door of the place.
"I believe it is high time your past caught up with you, Mr. Hammer," Luna said.
With that, she walked up on the stoop, ringing the doorbell.
"Sledge Hammer!" She called. "This is Princess Luna! Get out here right now! Open the door!"
After a moment, some very firm hoofsteps approached the door from the other side, and opening up the door was the very same stallion she saw in Aversion's flashbacks.
"Your Highness?" He asked, annoyed. "May I ask what you're doing on my porch?"
Luna glared at him. "One, I will not tolerate you speaking to me with such disrespect! Two, we have a warrant for your arrest, provided by my sister after I presented her with some compelling evidence of your crimes!"
"Crimes?" Sledge Hammer asked, his eyes wide and brows pointed downward. "What crimes?"
"Have you forgotten about your stepson, Aversion?" Luna asked.
"That stupid little runt?" Sledge said. "What about him? I haven't seen the little shit in years!"
"Then it seems you have not been keeping up with the news," Luna said. "It just so happens... he is my lover, as well as now an alicorn and new Prince recently coronated!"
Sledge's jaw fell. "What?! Your highness, with all due respect, I think there's been a mistake here!"
"And I also know that you abused Aversion and contributed to the death of his mother, Evasion, all the while managing to escape justice!" Luna said. "Well, karma ALWAYS punishes those who deserve it! Your past catches up with you eventually!"
Sledge Hammer pursed his lips. "Get the hell off my property! You have no right to be here anymore!"
"You shall come with us!" Luna said. "Sledge Hammer, by my authority as co-ruler of Equestria, I hereby place you under overdue arrest for foal abuse, mareslaughter, domestic violence, and endangering a child in your custody. So you have no choice other than to, what is commonly said nowadays, 'come quietly.' "
"NO!" Sledge Hammer shouted.
"THOU SHALT OBEY OR FACE THINE REPROCUSSIONS!" Luna spoke in her Royal Canterlot voice.
The batpony guards instinctively tackled Sledge Hammer to the ground, restraining his four hooves in shackles so he could walk, but not run. Before too long, he was also muzzled along with being put in the back of Luna's carriage. The Princess took her seat as the guards took control of the carriage once again, taking off back to Canterlot.
"You, Sledge Hammer, shall learn about the concept of 'long-term consequences'..." Luna warned.
(End Flashback)
Aversion stared in awe at his marefriend. "Wow... so he's actually in the box now, huh?"
"Yes," Luna said.
"So many things I can finally have closure on..." Aversion said.
"Also..." Luna spoke, "...I've tracked down another individual... somepony I'm sure you've wanted to meet all your life."
"Who's that?" Aversion asked.
Luna turned to the door to the room they were in. "Come, Avey..."
Aversion followed Luna out of the room, and made their way to the lower part of the Castle of the Two Sisters, and who was waiting for them in a lounge was a stallion Luna herself was quite familiar with, having worked long and hard to trace him, yet Aversion did not have the slightest clue who he was. He stood upon seeing the two alicorns enter, staring in awe at Aversion.
"Hello," Aversion spoke.
"Dear Celestia...!" The stallion uttered. "After all these years...!"
Aversion tipped his head off to one side. "I'm sorry, but... who exactly are you?"
"M-my name is... Lorn Longing," the stallion spoke.
Aversion's eye widened. "Lorn Longing...? You mean... you're my birth father?"
"Yes," Lorn said. "And I just want to be the one to say... I'm sorry, Aversion."
"Sorry?" Aversion asked.
Lorn sighed. "I'm sorry about forcing you to live in such adverse circumstances. I'm sorry I never did anything on my end to support you. I felt relieved when the courts waived my childcare mandate at Evasion's request, but, at the same time... I felt guilty about never contributing to your wellbeing."
Aversion lowered his gaze to the floor momentarily. If anything, he probably felt more sorry for his biological father than the other way around. Just the thought of him having lived with this since before Aversion was even born...
"It's okay," Aversion said.
Lorn shook his head. "No, it's not okay."
"Sure it is!" Aversion said. "If anything... maybe what happened was all for the best!"
"How?" Lorn asked.
"As it turns out," Aversion began, "if I didn't live the life I did... I might never have met Luna and ended up where I am now! So I guess, in a bizarre way... you making the choices you did was actually the best thing for me in the long run!"
Lorn stared off into space, lost in thought. He never considered the possibility that anything good could come out of this. But then again, perhaps it would be irrational to think such a thing could occur, let alone a matter involving the Princess of the Night herself. The odds, needless to say, were astronomical.
However, their thoughts were thrown off by someone else entering the room.
"Hey, you two, thought I'd find you in..." Scolus trailed off when he caught sight of the earth pony stallion in the room, "...oh, who's this?"
"GAH!" Lorn shrieked, hastily backstepping. "Ch-changeling...!"
"Wait! It's okay!" Aversion said. "He's my friend."
Luna stepped toward the drone, still facing the frightened Lorn Longing. "This is Scolus, and trust us when we say he means no harm."
"Totally!" Scolus added. "Av and I have been best buds since we were kids! In fact, I've decided to leave Queen Chrysalis' hive entirely. I live here with Av and Luna now."
"Really?" Lorn asked, lightening up a bit.
"Yeah," Aversion said. "He's really been helping this place feel a bit more lively."
"And as they say, 'the more, the merrier,' right?" Luna asked.
"Yes," Lorn said. "And...?"
"What I would like to offer you, Lorn Longing..." Luna began, "...is the opportunity to live in the castle with us, and have the opportunity to catch up with your son."
"Me?" Lorn asked. "Live here? I-I don't know..."
Aversion was actually a bit surprised to see another pony who behaved very similar to him. Now he knew for sure where his timid ponysona came from.
"Hey," Aversion spoke, "I know how jarring something that sounds too good to be true can be. But trust me, you'll regret passing it up! Take the chance and it may turn your life around for the better! So..." he extended a hoof toward Lorn. "...what do you say... Dad?"
Lorn looked anxiously at his biological son's hoof. He was still a bit surprised, after all these years, to see his own son, let alone that he was now an alicorn, and much taller than him.
"Plus, I think we may just be able to hook you up with the real love of your life," Aversion said.
"W-well..." Lorn spoke, before slowly placing his own hoof on Aversion's, "...alright. I trust you," he looked at Luna and Scolus, too. "All of you."
Aversion smiled. "So glad you agree. And I can't tell you how fulfilling it is for me to finally have all these pieces falling into place for my life, after twenty-seven long years."
"And at least this place won't be nearly as lonely!" Scolus remarked.
"I guess this means you and I are gonna have a lot of overdue father-and-son catching up to do, huh?" Lorn said to Aversion.
The four laughed. If there was anything they could all agree on, it's that fate has shifted them in a truly extraordinary direction, and given them all a more-than-reasonable tradeoff for the hardships they faced in their lives.
Yeah, really tying up all the loose ends here. This isn't the end of the story, but there will be one final chapter to showcase what happened later on, once I can get to it. I hope all of you are staying healthy amidst the... well, pandemic. I don't think I can say what it is here, but I'm sure you know what I'm talking about. Anyways, catch you all again real soon! Keep holding on...
