Part 27: Epilogue
The Caribbean: Saint Thomas, U.S. Virgin Islands
It was under the cover of darkness they arrived on the island of Saint Thomas. It was just a few hours away from daylight, and all of the island was asleep except for the rare few guards who took up the night watch there.
You see, Saint Thomas, at the moment, was playing host to a US Naval Base. Ember and her companions were smart enough to just leave the remaining crew of the ill-fated Moby Dick near the shoreline and let them swim to the beaches while they themselves remained undetected and slipped back beneath the waves. Magical spells, cast long ago, afforded them the luxury of being able to avoid detection by any source and that included modern-day radar if you believe it.
It had been a few months since the journey to find Neighlantis had begun -Five to six months exactly- and it was now February of 1932 by Fancy’s calculations. He chuckled, he couldn’t believe he’d missed the New Years festivities.
As he walked up the shoreline, palm trees swaying in the early morning breeze, he smiled in exhaustion. Solid land once more, and no more adventures beneath the depths of the sea. At least, not in his lifetime. He’d set out what he’d started to do, and looking at Twilight Sparkle, he knew she shared the same thoughts. Now, a quiet life with what little funds they had left was in order.
Twilight chuckled, she didn’t need riches of any kind to be happy. She had a wonderful uncle, a beautiful marefriend and above all else, memories of a grand adventure. She sighed to herself, she’d set out what she’d planned to do -Prove her father wasn’t a fool- and although nopony would ever know this, she’d done it all the same.
Nearby, the Blast Sisters were starting to ramble to anypony who’d listen on how they discovered their love of explosives. Our family owned a flower shop in Neigh Orleans. We would sell roses, carnations, baby's breath, you name it, we had it. One day, I'm making about three dozen corsages for this prom, you know, the one they put on the wrist, and everybody, they come. “Where is it?”, “When is it?”, “Does it match my dress?” Whining all about that crap, really, It was a friggin’ nightmare…” Fuse had grumbled before her sister picked up the story. “Anyway, our best guess there was this leak next door of gas or what. BOOM! No more Chineigh laundry place. Blew us right through the front window, if ya can believe it. It was like a sign from the Lady Faust above. We found ourselves that boom, our calling, y’know?”
“But you know something guys?” Fuse asked. “After all this… Think I need to slow down a little. You know, when I get the proper funding, I'm gonna reopen the flower shop, and I'm gonna think of you guys and gals every. Single. Day. Monday to Friday, 9 to 5, Saturday to 2. Sunday...I'm gonna take Sunday off, probably... Maybe I'll go in for a couple of hours, dunno. But...August, I'm gonna take August. August is definitely off for me…”
Gallants chuckled, and muttered “Well, who’d have thunk…?” to himself. Talk about hidden depths really. He smiled, as he looked back at his former crew, they’d come a long way from the rag-tag bunch of scoundrels hired for the expedition. Now, they were something more, a family.
“So... “ Nimbus asked Gallants, Xenophilius by his side. The former soldier had decided he’d spent far too much time in the depths of the sea, hiding away from his duties, and it was time to return to civilization. “What now?”
“Life. We just go on with it, I suspect…” Target answered for them. “After all, isn’t that what all old soldiers do?”
Nimbus and Xeno shared a smile and continued walking. Eventually, they strode up onto the military base and were cornered by MPs in jeeps and soldiers with rifles pointed at them.
After a bit of talking and a whole lot of negotiation with the odd remaining bit passed around, Fancy eventually managed to convince them they weren’t trespassing and asked them if they remembered a news report about a journey to find the lost city of Neighlantis a while back. That’s when the recognition set in.
“So, what’d you manage to find? Did the lost city ever turn up?” a soldier asked.
“No, it was a fool’s errand in the end, just a folly by a rich man…” Fancy lied. “Only saw rocks, fish, and maybe a couple of sponges. Well, that and one big shark.”
Grape shared a smirk and a shudder with Ender, he knew exactly what shark that was. He then braced himself for what came next, although deep down he suspected it wouldn't help anyway.
“And of your captain?” another soldier asked.
“He… He had a nervous breakdown, Ah’m sad to say… We… We lost him.” Grape replied sadly and the soldier put a hoof on his shoulder.
“Don’t worry son, you’ll pull through.” he was told. Grape looked up at him, and asked him this simple question.
“Will Ah really?”
Eventually, everyone was returned home. For Twilight, she managed to make it through her studies in Manehatten -Though, with no shortage of mockery or scorn, I’m sad to say- and managed to become an Archeology teacher there.
During one class, she stated this: “So forget any ideas you've got about lost cities, exotic travel, and digging up the world. We do not follow maps to buried treasure, and "X" never, ever marks the spot.” with a small sad, but wistful, smile.
As for Grape, he returned to his father’s apartment, -With Trixie by his side, a engagement ring around her horn- and was greeted with warm hugs by the maid Sugar Belle and Rainbow’s young daughter.
He braced himself for the question that was surely to come next and sighed when it did.
“Will… Will my daddy ever be coming home?” the young Rainbow Dash asked, and Grape just brought her in for a hug and cried, thinking of times long since past...
The End
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It's so sad to see this go. I really loved what you did with my OC! By the way, what happened after the expedition for him and Target? Return to normal lives?
8714317
Presumably, yes.
Yeah not so a great ending. Then again, telling stories always ends good would be a lie.
Anyway, this close yet another one of your stories. Overall is was good. The end might have suffer a bit because of all the other stories you were writing at the same time, but still good nonetheless.
Did you meant "thought"?
Figured Twilight would go down that route though I can't help but think that she would often look out to the horizon, out to the sea and wonder to herself. What if.
Huh, that kind of fits but does imply that Twilight regrets not revealing Neighlantis to the world.
One little nitpick though, is Sugar Belle being the family maid intentional or was she supposed to be someone else?
8714397
One would imagine she sometimes does, as adventures like this do often leave a mark.
Yes, Sugar Belle being the family maid was quite intentional. Wanted to show she survived her encounter with the Kraken on the Cyclops and treat her a little better than I did the last time I used her in a story. ...Of course, this opens up the question of if Xenophilius eventually reunites with her...
What happened to the mare I was with, if I may ask.
8715244
She presumably made it to the surface, and continued on with her life. It's really up to you and her creator as to what happened next.
Hehehe, the Blast Twins decide on opening up a flower shop, eh? Hmm... interesting.
A damn good fic well done, well done
This was a fun fic to read and I'm glad the Blast Twins got to be a part of it! Sure they didn't get a lotta scenes, but it was certainly fun to read, so good job, Brick.
Dustchu, signing out.