//------------------------------// // Chapter 42: Sun Takes Flight // Story: The Lost Shimmering Sun // by Pinkie Pie Sweets //------------------------------// It's been some time since Sun has written a message to her friend Twilight and can't wait for her to reply back to see what she says. Today is a holiday called Thanksgiving and there's going to be a parade and a fall fair today. Sun and her family have just arrived at the fair right now and they are having a good idea at the fair and what they have to offer. Screwball turns to Sun and asks, "So Sun, what do you think of the fair." "It's sure looks fun, and crowded too," Sun answers looking at the fairgrounds. "Well it wouldn't be crowded if it isn't Thanksgiving," Discord says. Then Screwball happily says, "Dad's right, there's going to be a lot of people here today and lots of fun." "I guess you're right," Sun says with a smile. "That's the spirit," Screwball replies happily. She then grabs Sun by the arm and says, "Now come on, let's go have fun." At that moment, Screwball starts to drag Sun to the fair so they can have some fun. Discord simply laughs and follow the girls before she lose track of them. During the time at the fair, Sun along with her father and sister have been going on rides, playing games, getting some prizes, and anything else the fair has to offer. Sun is having a great time with her family and wonder if in her past she has this much fun with her other family. After having a wonderful time at the fair, Sun and her dad and sister are having some lunch. They even have some candy apples for dessert. "These french fries taste good," Sun says. "Yep. And these candy apples are delicious," Screwball says with a smile as she eat her lunch and snack. Sun giggles for a bit seeing her sister is very excited about having something to eat. She then turns to her dad and asks, "So what are we going to do after lunch." "We're going to get some good seats to see the parade and then we'll have some dinner at home," Discord answers. "Okay," the girls reply. After having some lunch, Sun and her family have found a good seat for the parade that will be traveling across town. Sun decides to have a little stroll before the parade start and hopefully will see her friends here too. However, she figured that her friends are with their own families and are having family time together as well. As Sun is looking around the fair, she hears a voice and the voice is screaming, "Help!" Sun looks around to figure out where the voice is coming from, but so far no luck. Then she hears the voice again, screaming, "Help me!" Sun looks around some more until she find out where the voice is coming from. Sun can see a giant turkey balloon floating through the air. At the end of the rope, she can see a man hanging from there with all his might. It hasn't taken long for Sun to know that the man needs help and decides to take action. Sun is able to run through the crown and find the man being lifted into the air by the balloon. Sun runs to the man as fast as her legs can carry her. she is able to grab the man by the ankle and grabs the pole with the other one. Sun says as she struggles, "Hold on! I'm going to help you get down!" The man look to see that Sun is able to hold on to his ankle and the pole long enough to use his other hand to grab onto the pole too. Sun grabs the rope so she can give the man enough time to climb down. The man is able to get down and is able to tie the rope to the pole. But before the man can tie the rope and Sun can let the rope go, a sudden burst of wind blows on the balloon really hard. The wind is blowing the balloon so hard that the rope snaps from the pole and Sun is being carried in the air. Sun scaredly screams, "Woah! Aaahhh!" The man stares in fear for Sun. Sun has tried to help him and ends up putting herself in danger by being carried off by the balloon. The man grabs his walkie talkie from his pocket to confirm to one of the workers of what happened. Then he is planning on going after the balloon with Sun on board. Sun is being carried by the balloon and wondering on how to get down from the balloon and back to the ground. From her point of view, Sun can see that everyone is very small and that she is very high up. Sun says in her thoughts, "I need to find a way to get down from here. But how am I going to let them know I'm down from way up here?" As Sun starts to think of an idea, she remember that Sun has her backpack and remembers her phone and anything else she needs is inside. "That's it, I can use my phone or anything else from my bag to call for help," Sun says in her thoughts. Sun then tries her best to get her backpack from her back, but making sure she is hanging on to the rope. Sun is able to get her strap from one of her arms and is still holding on to the rope. But as Sun is able to get her backpack strap from her other arm, the wind blows from the other direction and she drops it by mistake. Her backpack falls and hit the top of the tent. Without her phone, there is noting Sun has that will help her get down. Sun scredly says in her thought, "Oh no! What do I do now?" Sun then realizes there is only one thing she can do, and she loudly screams, "Help!" It may not be possible, but hopefully someone will hear her before she either falls of or the balloon will take her out of the city. Back at the street where the parade is, Discord and Screwball are starting to wonder where Sun is and are starting to get worried. They know Sun isn't the type to be taken so long, unless she's in deep in thought with her memories. "Daddy, do you think Screwball's alright?" Screwball asks in concern. "I'm sure Sun is fine. But you know, it sure is taking very long for her to get back," Discord replies. Discord and Screwball start to think about where Sun has gone off to and wonder if she's alright. Just then they look to see Sun's friends along with Screwball's friends are walking towards them and seem very excited for the parade. Discord and Screwball think it will be a good idea to ask them if they have seen Sun. Screwball walks over to the girls and says, "Hi guys, how are you doing?" "We're doing fine, Screwball," Scootaloo answers. "Are you here to see the parade too?" Sweetie Belle asks. "You know it," Screwball answers. Then Applejack asks, "Where's Sun? I thought she'd be here with you?" "She did, but she decides to go for a walk and she hasn't been back in a while," Screwball explains in concern. Then Discord who is still sitting and asks, "Have any of you seen here?" They all shake their head and saying no, meaning they haven't seen Sun. Then Rarity says, "I'm afraid we haven't seen her today." "But I'm sure Sun is around here somewhere." Fluttershy says. "But where is she?" Rainbow Dash asks. The girls along with Discord and Screwball are trying to figure out where Sun has gone. As they think Pinkie is starting to get a bit distracted by staring at the sky and looking at the fair. That is, until she notice a flying turkey balloon heading towards them, and can see someone on it too. Pinkie pie looks at the girls and asks, "Are they starting the parade already because the turkey balloon is coming towards us." Rainbow Dash looks at Pinkie and questionably asks, "Are you sure, Pinkie? The parade doesn't start for another half hour." "Rainbow, I don't think the balloon is being carried by anyone. I think the turkey balloon is carrying someone," Applejack nervously replies. The group looks up to see that the turkey balloon is floating over the street. Everyone on the ground are starting to notice the runaway balloon, but then notice someone is hanging on to the rope. "Oh my goodness, there's someone up there," Fluttershy scaredly says. "Don't worry, I'll go take a look," Pinkie says with a serious look. She then grabs a big batch of balloons and tie it to her waist. With that, the balloons are carrying Pinkie up into the air. The girls are wondering how Pinkie can get these balloons so face, but glad she is able to get them in a hurry. In the air point of view, Sun is still holding on to the balloon's rope and she is starting to get scared. She is able to hold on to the rope and use her legs for extra support, but her hands are starting to get a little numb. She is starting to worry about being in the air and wonder if anyone can help her. "I hope someone sees me. I'm not sure how long I can hold on to the rope. I really hope someone will help me," Sun scaredly asks to herself. Just as Sun is starting to lose hope, a familiar cheerful voice happily says, "Hey Sun. What are you doing up here?" Sun turns to see Pinkie Pie floating in the air with a batch of balloons tied to her waist. Sun can never understand Pinkie's methods, but glad this one is able to help her. Sun happily says, "Pinkie! Never been so glad to see you." "Me too," Pinkie answers with a smile. Then Pinkie curiously asks, "Um, you do know that you're riding on a runaway balloon?" "I know," Sun scaredly answers. "Good. Then, do you know that people can't really fly?" Pinkie asks curiously. "I know. I just want to get down," Sun scaredly replies. "I love to carry you down, but I don't have enough balloons to help get both of us down safely," Pinkie says in concern. "Okay. Can you get the girls to help? I don't think I can hold on to the rope any longer," Sun replies, feeling that her hands are starting to feel a bit numb. "Hang in there Sun and I do mean, hang in there. I'm going to hang on to the bottom of the rope," Pinkie says. "Good idea, that will help put some weight on the balloon," Sun replies agreeing to the idea. Pinkie then pops some of the balloons with the pin she keeps with her. She is able to grab the rope from the bottom, that causes the balloon to get weigh down a bit. Sun sadly says, "I don't think we weight enough." "Don't worry, I'm on it," Pinkie says with a determined look. She digs into her hair and brings out a megaphone. Sun has no clue on how her friend does these kind of things, but glad they do come in handy at times like this. Pinkie puts the megaphone in front of her mouth and screams, "Hey guys!" "What?!" Rainbow asks while screaming. "Sun is stuck on the turkey balloon!" Pinkie screams from the megaphone. "What?!" Everyone horrorly screams when she mentions Sun's name. They all look to see that Sun is holding on to the rop really tight and she has no intention of letting go from this 're glad they find Sun, but not glad that Sun is holding on tight to the rope of the balloon into the air like that. Then Pinkie screams through the, "And she needs help getting down! She can't hold on to the rope much longer!" At that moment, the group realize that Sun is in serious trouble and now, Pinkie is up there too. They need to get her down before she lose grip of the rope and falls into the ground. Rarity screams in worries, "Oh my goodness, Sun!" With that, they all start to run after the balloon that is carrying Sun and Pinkie Pie into the air. They need to find a way to get Sun and Pinkie down, before they get hurt. Rainbow Dash turns to the other and says, "We need to get them down from there." "We need to grab onto the top of the balloon so we can pull it down," Applejack confirms. "I don't know how much longer Sun can hold onto it," Discord says in fear. "But how? They're too high for us to reach," Fluttershy asks in concern. The group start to look around to see if there anything they can use to reach her. Just then Rainbow Dash notice a bunch of crates making a staircase that is able the right height to get up here. Rainbow Dash says, "We can use these create to get up there." "They seem to be high enough to get, but they don't look very stable," Applejack says. "It might be the only way, Applejack," Rarity says. "There's no way I'm going to leave one of my daughter hanging up there," Discord says who is now in protective father mode. He then turns to where Sun and Pinkie Pie are and screams, "Don't worry, we got a plan now!" "Good, but hurry!" Sun screams as she feels like losing her grip. At that moment, Discord, Applejack, and Rainbow Dash start to climb on the crates. It is able to support their weight, but not too long. When they reach to the top, they can see, the runaway balloon coming right for them. Discord turns to the girls and says, "Okay girls, we only got one shot of this, so the timing needs to be right." "Right," Rainbow Dash and Applejack replies. Discord and the girls are looking at the balloon to see that it's coming right towards them. They waited until the right moment to grab on to Pinkie, who is hanging at the end of the rope. They know that they only have one chance to get the girls down from this height. Discord can see that the time is right and informs with a scream, "Now!" With that, Discord, Applejack and Rainbow Dash, jump off of the crates and heading towards the balloon. Discord is able to grab to Pinkie's ankle, Applejack grabs, Discord's ankle, and finally, Rainbow Dash grabs onto Applejack's ankle. With more weight on the balloon, it is able to be pulled down for around six feet off the ground, but it's not enough. "It's working," Pinkie happily screams. "Yeah. But we're not heavy enough to reach the ground," Applejack replies. Rainbow Dash turns around and says, "Look! someone's coming." There are five people running towards them and one of them is the man that Sun help. the other four are police officers who are securing that area. Now they are on a rescue mission to save Sun and the others from the balloon. The man is able to grab Rainbow Dash's ankle, and the police officers is able to grab on to the man. At that moment, the balloon has stop floating around and being pulled down. the five men pull down the rope, The girls and Discord are being pull down as well. After getting Discord, Applejack, Pinkie, and Rainbow Dash down, the men grabs the rope and together are able to pull the balloon to the ground with Sun safely on it. When Sun reaches the ground, she is able to let go of the balloon, but because her hands feel numb so it's a little hard at first, but she is still able to let go of the rope and glad to be back on the ground. Sun turns over to see her friends and her family and she is happy to see them again. Discord and Screwball look to see that Sun is safe on the ground now. They simply run over and give her a big hug. Screwball happily screams, "Sun, are you okay?" Discord happily asks, "Are you alright?" I"m fine dad, Screwball, just feeling… a little… squished at the moment," Sun answers being squish by her father and sister's hug. Discord and Screwball realizes that hey are kind of suffocating Sun a bit and says, "Sorry." They let go of her and can see that Sun is alright. Her friends start running towards her to see if she's okay too. "Sun darling, are you alright?"Rarity asks. "Did you get hurt?" Fluttershy asks in concern. "I'm fine, but my hands feel a bit numb and I'm just glad to make it back on the ground," Sun answers with a nervous smile. Applejack asks, "Jumping jumbugs Sun, how in the hay did you get up there?" "There was this guy who needed help with the turkey balloon so I helped him get down, but ended up getting carried away by the balloon and a strong gust of wind," Sun explains. Discord, Screwball and the girls are shocked about Sun's story. The main reason she ends up hanging on to the balloon is because she is trying to help someone who needs some help. They think this is one of those situation that you help someone, but get in trouble at the process. Discord turns to Sun and says, "Well Sun, it looks like you not only did a good deed, but end up worrying us." "Sorry dad," Sun says sounding ashamed for worrying her family and friends. Discord can tell Sun is starting to feel back and doesn't want her to feel sad. He simply smiles and says, "It's okay Sun. I understand that you wanted to help someone. But for now on, why don't you try to get some help while you're add it." Sun makes a calm smile and says, "Okay." Just then, four of the police officers, the man Sun helps out, and three people who are incharge of the fall fair. Sun and the others are kind of wondering what this is about. The man Sun helps out comes up to her and says, "Miss I'm sorry about the trouble you had while trying to help me, but I'm glad that you're alright." "Thanks, but are you alright and what happened to the balloon that caused it to go wild?" Sun replies. "I accidently put too much helium in the balloon and I lost control over it," The man explains. "Wow! I guess the more helium the balloon has the more wild the balloon is," Pinkie replies. "I guess, " Fluttershy replies with a smile. "Well I can tell you one thing, Sun should be very thankful that she has a good friend and a family that care for her so much. It just shows that Sun has a good heart," The woman with light blue hair says. Sun looks at her friends with a smile and says, "You're right, I'm glad to have great friends and a great family. Then the man who Sun helps and says, "Well, I'm thankful for kids like Sun and her bravery." Then the man says, "Now, let's get this balloon to the float so we can start the parade soon." The man along with the security guards is able to take the balloon to the float with no problem, since they're five of them. Sun along with her family, and all of her friends decide to head back to their seat for the parade. But before they leave one of them woman who is in charge of the fair says, "Excuse me, but your name is Sun right?" "Yes," Sun says with a confused look. The man with white hair comes over and says, "All of us in the committee have talked it out and we decided to award you with something special." "And it will make up for the trouble you've went through, we have a special treat for you," The woman with blue hair says. Screwball looks at the people and asks, "What kind of treat?" With that, the people of the committee is having a talk with Discord about the surprise they have for his daughter. After the talk, they think it will be a good idea to award Sun with that kind of reward. At the parade, Discord, Screwball and the girls along with their families are enjoying the parade. There are a lot of band members, floats with bright autumn colors, and animals balloons. Everyone are really enjoying the parade and are glad to have a wonderful time. Rainbow Dash looks at of the floats with a smile and says, "There she is." Everyone turn to see a nice colored float, that has the turkey balloon behind it. The float has a lot of autumn leaves on it, and has some vegetables and fruits used for thanksgiving food. On top of the float Sun is waving happily and is with a turkey that is the fall fair mascot. The turkey snuggles it's head against Sun leg and Sun pats it on the head. Screwball waves to her sister and happily screams, "Hi Sis!" Sun hears Screwball and waves back to her sister, her friends and dad. Discord, Screwball and her friends are proud of Sun and happy that Sun gets the chance to be in the parade. They are very happy that Sun is able to full their lives with smiles on their faces. Sun is very thankful that she has a great family and wonderful friends to be with. She can't wait to see what other excitement will lead her.