It had taken them almost an hour to gather up the injured and unconscious pirates, patch their wounds, and carry them into the Silver Talon’s brig. Starlight had set herself to work with reburying the Aushaylians and interring the fallen pirates into a separate set of ground.

“Are you going to be okay?” Flash asked Twilight. She was sitting on the docks, her nose buried in Bushwacker’s journal, which she had recovered from the pirates.

“I’ll be all right,” Twilight smiled, looking up at her horn. “It’s just cracked, it’ll repair itself in a few days.”

“No, I meant…” Flash paused, then glanced down at his sword, sheathed in its scabbard.

Twilight sighed. “It was...unavoidable. It was either us or them, I suppose.”

Flash extended a wing around her and pulled her close. “If you ever need to talk…”

“Thank you, Flash,” Twilight whispered, nuzzling up against his chest. “But it’s not me I’m worried about.”

Both of them looked over towards the ruins of Sydneigh. A stallion in a green vest and a gray trilby was sitting in front of the remnants a cottage, staring at the front door that hung half-opened, as if hesitantly inviting him inside. But Phillip knew that there was nothing left inside; nothing but ashes.

Starlight, Fluttershy, and Daring slowly approached. Daring scuffed her hooves across the sand to announce her presence, but he did not respond. “Are you all right?” she asked.

Phillip blinked slowly before responding. “I always came home after school,” he said in a low monotone. “Raced right back here so Dad and I could practice. He started teaching me piano when I was five...sax the year after. Then composing when I was eleven. Sometimes the other band members would be there, and we’d have a barbie once a month.” He swallowed and continued. “Timmy would teach me how to dance, and Charlie would be at the grill...we all begged him for the recipe to his seaweed slider, but he never let up. Rock and Roll would sit out there and sing, and Ella would tell us these stories that’d have us laughing and laughing...and sometimes Dad and I would sit out, just the stars and the dingoes and us, and he’d...he’d tell me about Mom…”

Suddenly, he turned and lashed out, his hoof striking a nearby tree trunk that shuddered from the impact of the punch. “Dad!” he screeched, his voice echoing off the ruins as he punched again and again. “Mom! Charlie! Tim!”

Daring started forward, but Fluttershy put a hoof out and stopped her, an uncharacteristically stern look on her face as she shook her head. The ponies watched as Phillip continued to punch the tree, screeching out a name with every blow. Chunks of bark flew off the tree with each sledgehammer-like impact.

After almost a full minute, Phillip finally collapsed against the tree, panting and trembling in exhaustion. Blood trickled down his hooves and dripped onto the ground as he leaned against the tree.

“They’re gone,” he whimpered, tears running down his face into the sand. “They’re gone...they’re gone...they’re all gone…”

Daring slowly walked up and placed a hoof on his withers. He did not react.

“But we’re not gone,” she whispered reassuringly. “We’re right here, okay? We’re all here for you. You are not alone; not anymore.”

Phillip took in a shuddering gasp and let it out in a choked sob. Daring extended a wing over Phillip’s shoulders and hugged him close, rubbing a hoof up and down his back. Fluttershy walked over and hugged him as well. Flash and Twilight hurried over and also joined the embrace. Starlight hesitated for a moment, then slipped in between Twilight and Fluttershy, helping to hold the trembling stallion.

Slowly, Phillip’s shaking subsided and his breathing returned to normal. He wiped his eyes off and smiled softly. “Thank you,” he whispered. He kissed Daring on the lips, then nuzzled Flash, Twilight and Fluttershy. “All of you.”

The group disbanded. “Now, let’s go home,” Fluttershy suggested as they started walking towards the ship. Trim Mainsail was waiting on the gangplank.

Daring glanced back at the land of Aushaylia. “Shame we didn’t find the treasure,” she commented.

“It’s not that important, right?” Flash asked. Daring glanced at him, but said nothing.

Twilight was still reading Bushwacker’s journal. “Huh, this is interesting,” she said. “Bushwacker became a stockpony after he retired from sailing.”

Starlight suddenly stopped and turned. “Did you say ‘stockpony?’”

“Yeah,” Twilight nodded. “A pony that handles livestock.”

Starlight’s eyes widened. “Bury me deep down below...in the shade where the coolibah grows…” she recited.

“Coolibah?” Flash asked. “That’s like the name of those trees we rested under, right, Twilight?”

Starlight leapt up at him. “Were there two saplings there? With carvings on them?”

“Uh, yeah,” Flash nodded, his brow creasing in thought. “An x, a sort of swirl, and a diamond.”

“Cross, stockwhip and blanket! Yes, yes, yes, yes!” Starlight cheered, jumping up and down in excitement.

“What are you so excited about?” Twilight asked in bemusement.

“You gotta get us back there!” Starlight said. “I know where Bushwacker is buried!”

Leaving Mainsail, Flash, Twilight, Rainbow, Applejack and Pinkie in charge of watching the prisoners, Starlight guided Phillip, Daring and Fluttershy back into the bush. It took them until afternoon to intercept the trail that the friends had followed to reach the Wandering Colt, and longer still to find the patch of coolibah where they had rested.

“This is the place,” Daring indicated, pointing to the copse of trees.

A rustling in the branches above them caused everypony to look up. A small, gray bear-like creature with large, rounded ears was clinging to the trunk of one of the eucalyptus trees, chewing on one of the shoots of leaves. It blinked down at the ponies in curiosity.

“A koala!” Fluttershy cried in delight. “Oh, I was hoping we’d see one!”

Starlight hurried forward and started studying each of the trees. She eventually spotted the two saplings that had the carvings on them. “It’s just like in the song!” she cried, casting her magic on the ground in between the two trees.

“Are you sure about this?” Phillip asked, setting Bushwacker’s trunk down on the sand.

“Positive,” Starlight nodded.

Phil hesitated for a moment, then nodded. Starlight placed her tongue between her teeth and started weaving her magic over the sand. The packed dirt started lifting itself off of the ground, digging out a hole in seconds. The koala continued to eat its leaves, watching as though fascinated.

Before long, Starlight had dug down three feet, then stopped suddenly. “I found something!”

Everypony looked into the hole and saw that buried into the ground was an old, molding blanket and the remnants of a whip, wrapped around a long shape. Carefully, Starlight extracted the bundle from the hole and set it on the ground beside her. After a moment of hesitation, she pulled the blanket off.

The faded yellow skeleton of a unicorn and the tatters of a blue shirt and red bandana lay within the bundle, the only remnants of Captain James Bushwacker. A golden key hung around the neck on a lanyard.

With trembling hooves, Phillip took the lanyard off of his ancestor’s corpse and carried it over to the chest. Slowly, he inserted the key into the lock; it slid into the gap easily, and he turned it. The entire chest glowed with a faint blue aura, then unlocked with a click. Phillip threw the top of the chest off and everypony gasped as the contents were revealed.

Mounds of gold and silver coins, jewelry that was fit for the Princesses themselves, golden bars with royal seals embossed into the surfaces. But that was not the only thing within, and far from the most valuable. Also within the chest were woven, multicolored bags, carved wood reliefs and painted rocks, several boomerangs and bullroarers on strings, and a number of bound books.

Daring extracted one of the books and carefully flipped through the yellowed pages. “A collection of Aborigineigh mythology and a dictionary of their language,” she reported, turning to the other books. “A history of the Aborigineigh people...instructions on making boomerangs...notes on artwork…” She looked up, her eyes glowing with joy. “We found it!”

Phil smiled at Starlight. “Nice work.” Starlight beamed with pride.

“What’s this?” Fluttershy asked, pulling out a strange object from the bottom of the chest. It was a long wooden tube, carved out hollow, with the exterior painted in red, black and golden stripes.

“Oh,” Phil breathed, taking the object with a level of reverence. “It’s a didgeridoo. I haven’t seen one in seventeen years.”

He raised the tube to his lips and blew into it, producing a strange, almost hypnotic warbling buzzing sound that echoed off the trees and the hills.

“It’s a musical instrument?” Fluttershy laughed.

“The very first one I learned to play,” Phil sighed with a smile, placing the instrument back into the chest. “Let’s take this back to the others.”

They respectfully wrapped Bushwacker back in his blanket and returned him to the earth, pouring the sand back over him to lay him to rest once more. As they started back, the koala raised a paw as if waving goodbye. The ponies all waved back as they returned towards Sydneigh with the treasure.

“Raise anchor and cast off!” Trim Mainsail barked from behind the wheel of the Silver Talon, his voice carrying through the crisp air of the evening.

At his cry, the crew of ponies heaved at the capstan, which creaked and groaned as it raised the anchor from the depths. Starlight and Rarity unfurled the sails, which billowed as they caught the wind. The former pirate ship began to sail away from the shores of Aushaylia, heading back northwest to the mainland, chasing the setting sun.

“You know, you all still owe me a ship,” the captain grunted to Applejack, who was standing beside him.

“I wouldn’t worry too much about that, partner,” Applejack grinned. “Between your share of the treasure, and the reward for catching Whitestone and her crew, I think you’ll have enough to buy a whole armada!”

Mainsail grinned. “You think they’ll let me keep this one? Now that she hasn’t got a jolly roger over her, she’s a pretty fine ship.”

“I do know a Princess,” Applejack chuckled. “She might be able to put in a good word.”

Said Princess was currently sitting on the main deck, studying one of the books recovered from the treasure chest, jotting down more notes with her hoof as she did so. Flash sat next to her, watching with a look of quiet amusement.

Starlight hovered nearby for a few moments, then approached. “Twilight?”

Twilight smiled up at her student. “What is it, Starlight?”

Starlight scuffed her hoof against the deck. “I, uh...I was thinking. This adventuring thing...I don’t really think it’s for me.”

“Why not?” Flash asked in surprise. “You saved our lives! You were the one who figured out where the treasure was!”

“Yeah…” Starlight said slowly, looking down at the crystal still hanging around her neck. “But how did I do that? I wasn’t using any magic.”

“Yes, you were,” Twilight said. “You said those crystals are like lenses for focusing magic, right? When you jumped in front of Flash and I, you were using magic; the most powerful magic of all!”

Starlight stared at the crystal in wonder. “I saved your lives...because of friendship?”

“It’s the only theory that makes sense,” Twilight nodded, laying a hoof on Starlight’s shoulder. “Friendship is a very real, very powerful magic, and I’m proud of you for being able to find it.”

Starlight smiled hesitatingly back at Twilight and briefly rubbed her forehead against hers. “But, anyway,” she added, pulling away. “I was saying...I did save your lives and all that, but that was all by accident. Almost this entire time, I was scared out of my mind, too scared to even do anything. So, I...I…”

“That’s all right,” Twilight reassured her. “I understand.”

“Well, you won’t have to worry about these pirates anymore,” Flash commented. Everypony turned towards the set of stairs that dropped down into the interior of the ship.

“Seventy-six bottles of rum on the wall, seventy-six bottles of rum!” Pinkie’s voice filtered up the stairs. “Take one down and pass it around…”

“For the love of all that is good and holy, make her stop!” Satsuma pleaded. The ponies all chuckled quietly.

Phillip stood up at the bow, holding his hat in one hoof as the wind swept through his mane, staring at the western horizons, painted in dark reds and oranges by the setting sun. Daring approached and took a place beside him.

“How’s Whitestone?” he asked.

“She’ll live,” Daring reported. “But she’ll be in a hospital for quite a while. Her pirating days are definitely over.”

Phil nodded. “Blue deserves a cut from this treasure.”

“Definitely,” Daring agreed. “And I think you and he should spend some time together when we get back.”

Phil smiled and nodded. “I was just thinking that.”

“Phillip?” Rarity called. Both he and Daring turned as Rarity approached, carrying a black book in her magic. “I found this in the Opera House,” Rarity said, handing Phillip the bound book. “I thought...I thought you might want it.”

Phillip opened up the album and began flipping through the photographs. He paused at the group photograph of the band, his hoof laying on his father’s smiling face. A small smile spread across his face and he looked up at Rarity. “Thank you,” he nodded.

Daring noticed the didgeridoo sitting next to Phillip, leaning against the hull. “Hey, play us something,” she requested.

Phil looked at her for a long moment, then grinned. Picking up the instrument, he closed his eyes and raised it to his lips. A strange hum, hypnotic in its otherworldly beauty, soon filled the air as the friends and family made their way back home.

Author's Notes:

Treasures come in all shapes and sizes, and not all of them have a monetary value. Some are much more important.

And that's the end of this adventure! I apologize for taking so long, but I thought it'd be a good idea to write the entire ending in one go and release it in two chapters.

I hope you enjoyed this story, and are looking forward to Endgame, the finale of the Phillip Finder series!

In the meantime, please enjoy Phillip serenading you!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TnCzoIGXiPw&t=