//------------------------------//
// Chapter 6: Lost and Found 
// Story: Homeward Bow 
// by Someguy458 
//------------------------------//

Bowlina was sitting in a cave, talking aloud to herself:
“Day 27 — I think. I no longer have the ability to tell. I’ve been in this cave the whole time, hiding from the monster. No sun, no friends; I think I’m starting to go insane! It was cold in here, so I made a makeshift dress out of leaves and vines. Why yes, I did do a good job on it, didn’t I? I’m thinking of becoming a seamstress! Wouldn’t that be great?”
Bowlina started to laugh, which morphed into crying. “I wish I wasn’t such an idiot! I should never have taken Ruby for granted like that!”
Bowlina turned her head. “Wait, what’s that noise?”
It was Ruby, Pan, and Sergeant, flying overhead in Sergeant's hot air balloon!
“There it is!” Ruby pointed to the wreckage of the Homeward Bow.
They landed the balloon, and Ruby got out. “Bowlina! Where are you?”
“Ruby!” Bowlina called out, rushing towards her.
And they reunited in a slow-mo beach hug.
Ruby cheered, “There you are! And — Wow, I like your dress!”
“I thought you never wanted to see me again!”
“I realized I was wrong. I know your heart was in the right place, and you weren’t the only one to blame for that disaster in the Shadow Kingdo-”
They were interrupted by the horrifying shrieks of the monster.
“What was that?”
Bowlina screamed, “We need to get out of here right now!”
The creature shrieked again. It appeared from the other side of a hill, and spotted them.
“What in the name of Celestia is that thing!?”
“I don’t know, but I know it’s going to kill us if we don’t get the ship repaired!”
The monster began to run at them, but lost its footing on the hill and stumbled.
“There’s no time! Get into our hot air balloon!”
The creature was now getting up again.
“No! We can’t leave the Homeward Bow!”
“We have to! It’s the only way”
Bowlina looked at her, then the ship, and then the monster.
And she got into the balloon.
The monster roared in disdain as its prey got away.
“Goodbye, old friend.” Bowlina said solemnly.
“Uh, Bowlina? It’s just a ship.”
“I know, but still… We had some good memories in there.”
“We had it for less than thirteen hours-”
“Just let me feel sad for it!”
Ruby backed off to let her mourn.
“So, where to?” Sergeant asked.
“What the?!” Bowlina jumped (despite already being floating). “What’s Officer Sargent doing here?”
“Relax, Bowlina, she’s not gonna try and arrest us. At least, I don’t think she is… Are you?”
“Well, you did save my life earlier… I guess I could drop the charges.”
“Thank you!” said Ruby.
“You know what that means? You can go back to your home now!” Bowlina exclaimed.
Ruby then became less excited. “Great…”
“I’ll ask again: where are we headed?”
“To the Cap Kingdom!”



After a few hours, they spotted it.
“There it is! My home!”
“We finally made it!”
They landed the balloon in a small field just outside of town.
“Where is he?” she searched around for her friend, eventually spotting him in the town. “There he is! [Cappy] Cappy!"
Cappy looked as she hugged him. "Hey, ⍅ Bowlina! Why are you hugging me like that?"
Bowlina backed off for a moment. "Didn't you notice that I was gone?"
"Actually, I haven't been here in a while, myself!"
"Why not?"
"Didn’t you hear? I've been traveling with a [Mario] new friend!” he turned to a character who was out of Ruby's sight. “Say hi!"
"Hello! It's-a me!”
Ruby was absolutely stunned.
"We were actually just about to go to that new kingdom across the ocean. You want to join?"
"Actually, I've had enough adventure for the month. I'm just going to stay here."
“Well, cap yourself! Come on, [Mario] Mario, let’s go.”
“Okie-dokie!”
“Did we just meet...?!” Ruby gaped.
“Is that really a shock to you at this point?”
Ruby shrugged.



After a quick tour of the town, Ruby realized that it was getting late (the moon was out, at least). "Well, I guess this is goodbye..."
"Do you have to leave so soon?"
“I want to stay, but I need to get back to Ponyville. My entire life is still there. Plus, I have a sandwich I was wanting to eat before it went bad.”
"Well, here's a little something to remember me by." Bowlina pulled out a decorative sun hat with flowers in the hat band.
"A sunhat?"
"Don't worry, I made sure nobody's hiding in it."
They both laughed.
"Well, I'll see you around..."
Bowlina waved goodbye to Ruby as she got back into the balloon.
As it began to take off, Sergeant noticed that Ruby wasn't looking too perky. "Cheer up, Ruby! You're going home, back to your life!"
"Well, at least I'll always have memories..."
"Go to her."
"Huh?" Ruby looked at her.
"You liked adventuring with Bowlina, right?"
"Well, yes..."
"Then why should you end it?"
Ruby thought about it for a moment, before a gust of wind blew one of the flowers from her hat, landing beside Bowlina.
“We’re really striving for the Tarzan ending, aren’t we?” Ruby replied wryly.
“The what?”
“Oh, nevermind.”
Ruby grabbed a loose rope and used it to climb back down.
"Ruby? What're you doing?! That's your only way home!"
"I realised something, Bowlina: My house may be in Ponyville, but I've never felt more at home than when I'm with you."
"You want to stay?!"
"Yep."
Bowlina started to cry, and they both hugged, then waved Sargeant off.
"Now, let's work on getting a new ship." Ruby added.
“But how?”
“We'll get jobs. What are you good at?”
Bowlina gasped.



A week later…
The two of them were now employees at the Crazy Cap store.
“Thank you, and come again!” Bowlina chirped to a customer, putting the coins into the cash register.
When the shift was over, they looked at their earnings. “This may take a while…”
“But regardless, I’m glad I’m doing it with you.”
And they hugged in a completely platonic way.

THE END