Lost
Chapter X – A Spot of Tea (Epilogue)
A year had passed since the events that took place deep within the Everfree forest, the lives of the elements had returned to normal and the day was nothing more than a distant memory. Fluttershy’s injuries had fully healed and the nightmares had gone, she had told the girls all about what had happened in the forest. They found it hard to believe at first but knew Fluttershy wouldn’t lie to them about something like that; Twilight had taken great joy in noting down and cataloguing all she had been told about Grendel from Fluttershy, and had thanked her thousands of times.
Fluttershy had been to several random surprise parties that Pinkie had thrown to show how much she had missed her, even throwing them just by herself out of nowhere. The other girls had told Pinkie to turn it down a notch but Fluttershy didn’t mind, she knew it was just Pinkie’s way of expressing herself. On the advice of Twilight she had written several letters to Celestia talking about how she had felt during her time with Grendel, discussing in great detail about her nightmares and about his world.
To any other pony the today would off been nothing to them but another regular day, to Fluttershy and the girls however, it was the anniversary of the event and had decided to stop all they were doing and spend the day at Fluttershy’s house, just the seven of them. They included Spike in the get together as he was also part of their friendship group, they had eaten a large and wondrous lunch cooked by Applejack and Rarity followed by an array of treats from Pinkie. They then played a series of party games again led by Pinkie before settling down in the afternoon to have tea, as the afternoon turned into early evening the girls and Spike bid farewell to Fluttershy and headed for their homes. Fluttershy sat down with Angel cuddling against her, since the day she had gotten back he had a complete change in attitude doing everything he was told to do, she knew it was because he had missed her dearly.
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Celestia and Luna had been taking a quick break from their duties to enjoy a spot of afternoon tea; they had spent the year doing their usual routine of raising the sun and the moon as well as court duties. They had spent some days looking out over the forest hoping to still feel Grendel’s life energy still flickering, worried about the possibility of it ever fading from existence. They could also still feel the life energy of Raven each time they felt Grendel’s.
Like the girls, they had suspended all appointments in the afternoon to have the some of the day together to remember the day’s events; they were remembering it for two reasons. The first was the safe return of Fluttershy; the other was for getting the chance to meet another human from Cyrium, they talked quietly to one another about hoping to get the chance to talk with Grendel once more before he left when they felt it.
Celestia and Luna heard inside their heads the sound of an ear piercing screech of pain followed by a sudden silence; they gasped feeling one of the life energies suddenly disappearing. However they soon smiled and looked to the window knowing which one it was.
At the same time, Twilight was in her library when she had felt the same sensation, if a little weaker than the Princesses as she didn’t hear the scream and looked out of the window confused. She shrugged it off and returned to her studies as Spike carried on cleaning the library.
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In the middle of the forest was a crater, surrounding it were several destroyed and burnt trees some embers still remaining. Not a sound was heard in the area and no creatures were about. In the crater there was nothing more than several charred bits of wood, and what remained of a black cloak…
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Fluttershy was in the kitchen turning on her kettle when she heard a knock at the door, curious as to who was calling on her at this time of evening she opened the door. Her eyes immediately widened and she gasped.
“Sorry I’m late…any chance we can still have tea?” Grendel smiled softly kneeling to be level with her.
Fluttershy didn’t respond, she simply stared at Grendel’s old face for a while her mouth agape, she heard him lightly chuckle before feeling his hand gently close her mouth. She whimpered as her eyes began to water, Grendel didn’t say a word but opened his arms and Fluttershy immediately embraced him tightly and began to sob happily.
“I missed you Mister Grendel…” she whispered softly.
“I missed you to Miss Fluttershy…”
The two remained in their embrace for a few more minutes before Fluttershy smiled and sniffled then led him into her house, Grendel smiled as he followed her, gently closing the door behind him.
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Far to the north in the frozen artic of Equestria, something was stirring. In the snow-capped mountains a shadow was forming deep in the caves, the shadow was weak but could feel its power slowly growing back. It slowly advanced towards the mouth of the cave as a twin flash of green and red appeared in the centre of the shadow, purple energy emanating from them as a sinister smile soon followed…
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Here is the sequel to Lost.
Also, the Prequel which I recommend reading as well to fully understand what's going on in the sequel.