Epilogue
Over the Edge and Over Again
Epilogue
Sunset Shimmer huffed as she closed yet another webpage. She rubbed at her heavy eyes until she finally gave into temptation and let her face fall deep into the warm embrace of her pillow. Minutes passed in beautiful darkness before she pulled herself back to task.
Tilting her head back towards the screen, she clicked through her laptop until she found herself back at her favoured search engine.
Easing out another breath, she began typing anew. After almost four hours of pointless research, the words felt almost automatic to her fingers.
Captain Hector Barbossa
“Stupid pirates,” she mumbled. Her neck twisted uncomfortably as she sat herself upright. Just to her right, a little out of her reach, was a small table. Atop that table was a framed photograph.
It was of her friends, all gathered together around her. Princess Twilight was positively beaming, front and centre.
Smiling, Sunset took a fresh breath in. “Right, that’s it; one more time.” She sat up straight and cracked her knuckles into one another. “If this comes up cold he definitely didn’t exist here.”
She hit enter.
☠
“Josiah.”
It had taken quite a while for the name to crop up. Celestia had been surprised when it was first dropped into casual conversation, falling into the murky darkness again moments later. Even in the months after, it had taken time to cement inside his mind.
But after years of help and hardship, they had rediscovered his name.
Josiah. He may have been the Moonlight’s Torment once, but that was a long time ago.
Celestia once again knocked at his door. Much like any other in the more secure parts of the castle, it was decorated it radiant gold and white.
Unlike most others, barnacles had begun to take hold over the handle and seaweed throughout the growing cracks in the wood. An after effect of Davy Jones’ influence, Celestia mused. They would need to look into maintaining it.
At least so it did not spread beyond the door to his room.
Which did eventually open.
It revealed a damp space. Polished in places and rotted in others. A pristine bed, changed daily sat amongst a green floor originally fitted with a purple carpet. Weeds spread over the surface, clinging to the damp that permeated the fabric. Hardy clothes in various states of disrepair and a window that overlooked the Royal Gardens.
After so many years a prisoner aboard and ghoulish ship and so many more living in the wilds of Equestria like a wild animal, a room to his tastes and needs was the very least she would have ever offered him.
“You all in?” he asked, his voice scratching and dry.
“Oh, definitely!” Celestia replied. “There are so few who play games with me, these days. If you’ll have me?”
Issues still arose. Panic attacks. Disorders and syndromes compacted into one mind that Celestia would not have wished separately upon one hundred. Josiah was a broken soul, drowned in hate and agony.
Hopefully with some heart and a little warmth, she could help to make his life a worthwhile one.
His fish-like features had not settled in the years gone by, but not had he grown more into them. Even his blackest eye, that of a terrifying angler fish, seemed to sparkle when he got his way.
Or when he gets a worthwhile gambling and drinking partner.
“’Course,” he replied. He fully opened the door, revealing Luna to already be sat at warped table, cups in front of her and a very disappointed look on her face. “You provide the best bets.”
☠
“More tea?” Discord asked.
“Of course!”
Fluttershy lifted her teacup forward, letting the tea rise from below before settling into the very top of her cup. The hot aroma of orange taffy and butterscotch spread though her nostril before she brought the cup back took a gentle sip.
“Mmm,” she sighed. Glorious.
“Can you guess the flavour?”
Well, it wasn’t orange taffy and butterscotch, but she would have surely been disappointed if it was. It tasted like… something you don’t taste. A feeling. Or a concept.
“Is it… a feeling?”
“Nope.”
“It could be shape flavoured.”
“Closer! But no.”
Hmm. Sip. Oh! “It’s a colour!”
Discord’s grin split his face clean in pi. “Yes!”
Another sip and she knew instantly.
“Blue flavour. I never tasted the colour blue before.”
“I wanted to give you something different. Plenty of ponies can offer you a tea that tastes like a flavour. But I can give you a tea that tastes like a colour.”
“And it’s not even blueberry or blue paint flavour.”
“I know!”
Fluttershy let out another sigh and leaned back into Discord’s couch. She so enjoyed their weekly tea parties at her cottage. It was strange to think that only a short while ago the situation had been very different. Violent and not very nice at all. Before she could even stop herself, she remembered all the fear and hurt, everything that occurred over those nasty few days.
“I’m sorry.”
“Why are you sorry?” Fluttershy asked, perhaps a bit too quickly.
“I’m not an idiot, you know. I can see it in your eyes.” Discord sat within his flowerpot, waving at the memories flashing through her mind. “So… I’m sorry. For getting you involved in everything.”
“We’ve spoken about this,” Fluttershy said, her relaxation bubbling into something as blue as her tea tasted. “Tirek tricked you. He… he tricked all of us. It wasn’t just your fault.”
“I was the one that sided with him.”
“And I’m the one he tricked into releasing your powers. Behind everypony’s back. He manipulated a lot ponies and… a lot of us made mistakes.” She couldn’t deny that. Tirek had told her how cruel the others were being, how unfair it was to keep something as important as magic from Discord for years after they were taken.
She believed him. She stole the nine pieces of eight. She freed Discord… then he turned his back on her just like she had done to her friends.
Fluttershy knew how he felt in the days after, because she felt the same when he friends confronted her. It was too early, too dangerous. Especially with Tirek on the loose. She thought she was being kind.
She learnt that day that being kind was not always the best option. Sometimes you have to get mean or end up hurting them even more.
“We’re both moving forward. The girls forgive me. And we all forgive you. What matters now is the new memories we make, not the old ones we bear.”
Discord thought over this. Literally; he floated above her head, drifting on a cloud crafted from her own imagination. Until he came to a conclusion.
“In that case, how about we go to shake the ice-cream tree and see what flavours we get today? It was smelling rather melancholic this morning, but it was a nice shade of silver the last time I checked so there should be some nice sour flavours and sprinkles in there.”
Fluttershy beamed. “I would be delighted.”
☠
“Seein’ as we’re here, mate…”
Barbossa let out a long, dreary sigh. “Right. O’ course.” He knew. He just knew. “The ponies?”
Jack smiled gleefully. “The ponies.”
With a palm tree at his back, rope around his stomach, wrists tightly bound and not nearly enough alcohol in his leg for the occasion… Barbossa relented.
Fine. “Sure. Ask whatever ye wish. I know ye’ve been waitin’.”
Like a child being given that one piece of confection they had been waiting all week for, Jack rubbed his hands together. Or, he would have, had they not been as equally bound in rope as Barbossa’s own.
“I have been led to believe that there was a pink one.”
“Aye. Right shame ye missed her. Everyone else saw her.”
Jack’s face fell, like it always did. This game had been fun for as long as it had lasted. A sight to behold; a talking horse, right from the pages of myth and legend.
And the mighty Captain Jack Sparrow was the only blaggard who hadn’t seen it.
“I know they were real,” Jack defended. “Misters Pintel and Ragetti were rather illustrative on the subject. Details upon details, names and hobbies. They said one had a very nice hat. Marty said he kicked a dragon in the eye.”
“Did they?” Shame.
“There are too many witnesses.”
“Yet ye still trust me over them.”
“I trust Gibbs and you over a bunch of drunken pirates.”
“Such a pity that he did not see much te trust ye with.”
“And I’ve seen that grubby little bit of cloth you wear.”
Ah, bugger. “What?”
“Just once or twice,” Jack smugly replied. “You tie it face down but every now you forget. There are little patches on it. One has a horse on it.”
Technically two had horses, Barbossa wished to point out. But it had become worn in recent years and the patches were not sticking like they used to. He supposed only the bare essentials would remain before long.
“Plus, Ragetti said you were there for a week.”
“Not possible. We were only in the Locker for two hours. Not a lot of time to fit seven days into such a short span, is there?”
“So did Pintel. And Tia Dalma.”
That blasted witch. Even after their deal was good and done, she still held a palm over him.
“Come on, Hector. Tell me. We’re best friends.”
“I don’t remember agreein’ te that.”
“I don’t know if you’ve noticed, but Blackbeard seems on track to killing us both once he gets what he wants. On that note, I’d rather not die without knowing about all this business with the talking horses.”
Jack was right on thing; Blackbeard was a dangerous foe. A stain on the sea and all that he touched with his presence. A vile plague that Barbossa wished gone.
“It was a land of whimsy, Jack.” In that case, why not? At least he still had two legs in Equestria. “They call it, Equestria. A place so fuelled by magic that the inhabitants who live there control the sun and stars with a mere thought. Where jewels grow from the ground like flowers and the weather is set to a schedule of mortal design. Rain where it is needed and sun where it is sought. A paradise by any name.”
“And they’re all ponies?”
“Yes. Yes they’re bloody ponies.”
“For a paradise you don’t sound so happy about being there.”
“More happened than I have time te say. Not all of it kind.”
“Might be worth heading back, then. Getting some of that loot. Seeing some old friends, eh?”
Ah, of course. That explained it all. Jack had heard all the stories he needed to hear. He wasn’t interested in Barbossa’s.
He just wanted a route to some easy gold and jewels.
“I’m afraid I shan’t be goin’ back, Jack,” he said and saw an instant reaction in Jack. Where he had defensive before, Jack now deflated, leaning back against the tree. “Besides, I doubt they’d let you in.”
“And why’s that?”
Barbossa pursed his lips. “There’s a magic te friendship. One they hold quite highly and ye usin’ me te get some easy gold? Well, that’s not very magical now, is it?”
☠
The castle was quiet, as was normal for that time of night. As much as Princess Twilight Sparkle enjoyed having ponies visit her castle library to further anything remotely related to the pursuit of knowledge, that point in the day where the murmur of noise reduced to a still silence was a beautiful one.
Because that meant it was time to go to her chambers are start doing some more work of her own! Well… perhaps work was a strong word.
Staring at the coin she had crafted, a fine gold bit with the skull of a pony on it, Twilight concentrated as she weaved her desired spell between the metal.
Mild ‘pops’ sounded as excess magic escape from between the atoms of the gold, dissipating into the air yet more power was forced back into. A few more seconds-
A final chime. A noise run out from the coin and settled as Twilight put it down onto her desk.
“Okay. Thirty-eighth times a charm!”
Calming her breath and taking a deep breath, Twilight picked up the coin with her hoof. A wave of energy came over as that ‘chime’ came from the coin once more, vibrating the air as if it was spinning at impossible speeds on an invisible axis.
She looked it her mirror.
She was not a skeleton. “Drat.” Her coat had the texture of a slightly dry orange and, indeed, she could see the innards of an orange inside her mouth, but she was not a spooky, scary skeleton.
It appeared dead fruit was not going to make her spooky either.
Heaving out a deep sigh, Twilight placed the coin back on her desk. She would remove the spell later. It would not do well to have another ‘incident’ where a charmed coin got into a certain dragon’s food supply and left him looking like a draconic hoofball for several days.
Still, she would make her coin eventually.
She would make the rest of her body invisible eventually. Pinkie had been requesting such a coin for Nightmare Night for the last year or so and Twilight finally had the time to work on a side project. For fun, as well as the value of learning how to make only your bones visible.
Looking back at the coin once more, she shifted to look at the photo on the desk. A copy, of course. The original had sadly perished along with most of her belongings when the Tirek torched her library to smithereens.
“Heh, copy.”
Captain Hector Barbossa looked out at her, caught in a moment that could never be replicated.
She had thought about him over the years, wondering. All the questions she could, should and would’ve asked had she the chance. Maybe even the chance to follow after him for a visit or two. Maybe even find a reference to him at Canterlot High School. She was sure the humans there were different, but it never hurt to check.
Did the perceived time difference still occur when he left Davy Jones’ Locker? Did the difference remain after the portal was closed? How much time had passed for him compared to her?
Would she be long since dead to him, or the other way around? If he died, would he be back in the Locker? Some other after life? So many variables…
In the end, she supposed it didn’t matter. No matter what happened, in his world or theirs, they would always be friends. Friendly.
They would always be friendly.
Giving the picture a nod and a quick salute, Twilight smiled. Suddenly, she remembered one of the songs he had written down for her.
Yo ho
Yo ho
A pirate's life for me.
We're done. I can't believe it. This story has been dragging its heels for an absolute eternity but I really didn't want to be one of those authors who just stopped. And ever since Equestria Girls, I've wanted an epilogue set in the 'present' but that kept changing too.
The art itself was made... I'm not sure when. Years ago and I have no idea which assets are made from other assets or which are assets are vectors I've saved and deleted over the years.
Part of me wonders if I should changed the cover art to the final piece in this chapter but I feel the cheesiness of the current art is what drew a lot of people.
If you've been here since the start... well, damn, I'm sorry. You waited a super long time! Hopefully it got a few smiles from you along the way 
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Look what I just found one of the first stories I read on this site finished
All stories deserve to end. Thank you for finishing this one.
Quite an enjoyable tale of pirates and ponies.
And yet another arguable classic finally finished. Makes one feel nostalgic, doesn’t it?
Can’t wait to see your next tale!
Congratulations. Always nice to see these really old fics brought to conclusion. 'Twas a wind-tossed ride that put a sparkle of gold in me eye.
Was digging through alot of my back log recently and this came up. Binged through it over the course of the past week and a bit so too see it concluded is a good thing. Congratulations bud, good end!
Hm
I'm so beyond happy to finally see this reach its well deserved conclusion. I loved it all the whole ride through, and I can definitely say it won't be an experience I'll soon forget! Happy trails and sails!
that ending tho.jpg
A nice ending you got there mate, I tip my hat to you. Was a fun ride.
Props for finishing a story this long, that's quite an effort. I do appreciate what a unique pairing this tale had, and the interesting characterizations that came out of it.
I think this is the very last story I was following that still had Discord as a villain because it was started pre-Season 3. Writing a believable way for him to be beaten that doesn't feel like a total Deus Ex Machina is tough, but you managed to pull it off.
Oh my God that Kingdom Hearts reference!
I just had a read through of the entire, as its been years since I read this. I really enjoyed it, thanks for finishing it.
(turn on this music for effect)
really the end ...?
many puzzles have not yet been solved.
Davy Jones is not dead yet ... as is Hector Barbosa ...
maybe there won't be an incident in the Pirates of the Caribbean 5?
there at the end ... you know. maybe there is a sequel?
if we don’t see the good old "pirates of the Caribbean" on the screens ... who will continue the story in written form ...?
i think you stretched the story too much
sooner or later, they must meet.
maybe Jack Sparrow, that is looking for something but got into equestria, along with the ship in a bottle.
through the sea
through enemies
over the edge
via Davy Jonsan
but there will be, apparently not only Jack ...
why am i saying this
because we hardly see our good old "pirates" that we all knew ... maybe we won’t see them again
and I hope to see a sequel at least from YOU.
I do not want to forget our good old pirates of the Coriba ...
one day
we can remember ours from you
good old ...
Pirates of the Caribbean. ☠
Well, I finally got around to rereading this now that it's finished, and it's very good. I like what you did with all of the characters, and I especially like how you balanced the pony's influence on Barbossa with his rough pirate nature. Admittedly there are a few things I would have liked to see more of, notably development of Barbossa's relationship with Rainbow after fighting together and more work in general with Pintel and Ragetti, but the narrative really didn't leave much room for it so this is more a case of wishing something would have fit than anything else.
That said, there was one thing I thought was a clear-cut mistake, although since it was in the epilogue it's not a big deal. Specifically, draining Discord like that should have completely derailed the Tirek stuff, so your explanation of that felt like railroading to hit the stations of the canon to me. Ultimately I think that section would have been much, much stronger if you left that out completely and instead focused on Discord learning to get along with the others to cap off his story arc instead of dragging irrelevant stuff into the mix, but ultimately it doesn't matter much since I can easily ignore that bit.
9530862
I agree with pretty much everything you said, actually. Also, very good point about the stations of canon. I think I had planned from the start for everything to end up the same in the end, as if this story could fit into either series. But as time got on, more and more of each series happened. I wanted to keep to the Original plan but I admit it is one of the many points in the story I would alter if ever had the time.
Thank you for the words! They will be put to use in the future
9533261
Nice, I'm glad we're on the same page. I personally come at canon from a different direction because I see exploring the changes as part of the fun, but I definitely understand how you were approaching it as well.
As for altering it, as I said before my first inclination is not to bother. That said, if you feel so inclined it would be easy to clip that bit at the end out without much work if you feel like it. It would also be nice if you could work in a real conversation between Barbossa and Rainbow at the end if you happen to get a brainwave about how to make it fit, but I wouldn't put any effort into trying to find it since the flow is rock solid as is and adding a conversation would probably just break that.
As for the future, I must admit I'm wondering what you're planning at this point. Based on your history here I suspect you're also not a fan of what's happened to the show in recent years, but that doesn't necessarily preclude throwing it out and building something radically different off a divergence in the season 1/2 timeframe.
9534658
Might come back to the ending and tweak various aspects but like you said, for the time being it can sit comfortably where it is.
As for my take on the show on a whole in recent years, there are a lot of aspects I like in the show, I just haven't had as much time to look into it as I did when this story began. I've watched episodes here and there because they introduced a new element to the universe I liked or a character I wanted to understand more about. But overall, I guess I just haven't had as much time for My Little Pony. It hasn't held my interest where other series have, some of which are also cartoons.
That said, never say never! If a great idea pops into my head I still write them down. If they get published here, they likely won't be as long as this story though
9535508
Heh, sounds good, and based on what you're saying about the show I suspect you recognize the show has gone to shit but don't really think about it. If you want to test that theory you can hop back to seasons 1 and 2 for comparison, but you're probably better off not worrying about it since you are also very clearly not someone who has built their identity on the show and thus sees criticism of it as a personal attack.
Oh hey, I just remembered another bug I forgot to mention. That bit with Rainbow getting shot was horribly unrealistic. Those old muzzle loaders are enormously powerful because the abysmal rate of fire meant every shot had to count and you didn't carry many of them so they fired very heavy projectiles. That shot should have either grazed her to some degree before continuing on its way or blown the limb completely off (and kept going), not lodged in her with minimal damage like you showed.
Admittedly this would be way more trouble to fix than it's worth here with the way you integrated it into the plot, but it's something you should do more research on (or get into since you can buy and shoot muzzle loaders as a hobby) if you want to write more pirate stuff in the future.
It is interesting to know what you will continue to write?
Do you still like pirates and ponies? With the new motivation and the sunrise, you can write another story, maybe the sequel to the pirates in equestria?
Lots of ideas, yes?
I ask YOU because you do it very well
Please...?
9609015
I can suggest one idea
Yo ho...yo ho...A pirates life for me....
Do you plan on doing a sequel?
10429784
I'm afraid not. I feel the story wraps up nicely for all parties here, and anything I add would feel like even more of an epilogue than the one already present.
Impressed you finished it, most stories in general are left incomplete but a story over like 7years getting finished is super rare.
10929359
https://www.fimfiction.net/story/220234/gerald-ford-turns-into-a-cat
I haven't felt in a long time that the story goes so long. That the long story has finally come to an end