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// Fateful Meetings (Edited 10/29/17) 
// Story: Equestria Louds: Of Secrets And Superstitions 
// by EquineAvenger 
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It was morning, Sunset Shimmer was now awake for another glum and lonely day. After waking up, Sunset decided to take out the trash. Sunset walked out of her row house in her pajamas carrying a waste basket filled with trash. She walked over to the trash can on the right side of the building, took the lid off, and poured the trash from the waste basket into the trash can without looking inside it. Once the waste basket was empty, she put the lid back on the container and walked back inside her home to get dressed. Little did she know was that the trash she had poured into the can had become a slight inconvenience for the run away boy who was using it for a place to sleep.
“Ick,” Lincoln said popping out of the trash can brushing garbage off himself. Then he turned to the readers. “Just another day in the wonderful life of Lincoln Loud,” he said sarcastically as he climbed out of the trash can with his backpack. He started walking down the sidewalk when a car suddenly drove by and its wheels drove through a puddle drenching the poor boy. Lincoln stood where he was for a moment soaking wet with an irritated look on his face. Clearly the day wasn’t starting out very well, just like so many of his days in the past. “Well, at least it washed some of the smell off,” he said and continued walking down the sidewalk to find a place to have breakfast.
Back at her home, Sunset Shimmer had gotten dressed and had stepped out to find a place to have breakfast. She brought a satchel carrying her journal with her incase she felt like writing a message to Twilight Sparkle. Coincidentally, she headed down the same direction Lincoln had went.
After walking a bit, Lincoln came across a place called Sugarcube Café. Luckily, the morning sun had dried him off along the way. He walked inside and stood in line for people waiting to reach the counter and make their orders. Shortly after, Sunset arrived at the café and took a seat at an outside table all by herself. She wasn’t feeling very hungry yet because she had a lot of depressing thoughts on her mind. She decided to get out her journal and write a message to Twilight.
Dear Princess Twilight,
Haven’t heard back from you yet. I guess you must really be busy right now. It’s been almost a day since I left Canterlot High and broke up with my friends. I haven’t made any new friends yet. I don’t really think I can trust anyone in this town anymore. 
While Sunset was outside writing her journal entry, Lincoln had finally reached the end of the line and was at the counter.
“Good morning, dearie,” Mrs. Cake said in a motherly voice. “What can I get you?”
Lincoln looked at the menu for a moment before making his decision. “I’ll take that, please.”
There really isn’t anyone around here I can really talk or relate to. If I don’t find someone that I know I can trust to be my friend, then I don’t think I can it bearable to live here anymore. I’m at the end of my rope and could really use your help or advice. Please get back to me as soon as you can.
Your Friend,
Sunset Shimmer 
Back inside, Lincoln had bought a chocolate smoothie and was slowly drinking it as he walked toward the exit with a depressed look on his face. Even the sweet taste of chocolate wasn’t enough to make him feel good after everything he’d been through. As he approached the café doors, he failed to notice an older girl approach the doors about to come in.
With her message finished, Sunset was finally ready to have something to eat. She got up from her seat and approached the café doors. She was still so depressed that she failed to notice a young boy with a chocolate smoothie approach the doors about to leave. When she pushed the doors open, the force accidentally knocked the boy on his back spilling his drink all over his head and shirt.
“OH NO! I’m so sorry!” Sunset apologized as her state of depression turned to a state of anxiety. She quickly helped the young man back on his feet, grabbed a handful of napkins, and began cleaning him off as best she could all the while apologizing sincerely for her carelessness. “Are you alright? I’m very sorry.”
“I’m okay,” Lincoln assured the red and yellow haired teenager. “I’m sorry I accidentally got in your way.”
“No, it was completely my fault,” Sunset insisted. “I should’ve been looking where I was going, and I made you spill your drink. Let me buy you a new one.”
“No, that’s okay,” Lincoln kindly tried to decline the offer. “I don’t want to be guilty of costing you a few more dollars.”
“Nonsense,” Sunset insisted. “It would be my pleasure.” She gently took Lincoln’s hand and led him back to the counter. Realizing nothing he could say would change this girl’s mind, Lincoln decided to go along with it. “What did you order?”
“The chocolate one,” Lincoln answered pointing at the smoothie menu.
Before making the order, Sunset thought for a moment. “May I make a friendly suggestion?” she asked Lincoln getting an idea. “I find it interesting to mix a fruit flavor with something sweet like chocolate. What do you think?” Lincoln arched his eyebrow in curiosity.
A moment later, both Sunset and Lincoln were sitting together at a table happily drinking smoothies.
“Wow, you were right,” Lincoln said. “A flavor of fruit makes a perfect balance with the flavor of chocolate. Thank you, uh…”
“Sunset Shimmer,” Sunset introduced herself. “What’s your name?”
“Lincoln,” the boy introduced himself. “Lincoln Loud. Nice to meet you, Sunset.” Lincoln smiled warmly at the girl who looked to be around the same age as his eldest sister, Lori, but was far nicer than she ever was.
“So, how have things been lately?” Sunset asked trying to start a friendly conversation.
“Not so good I’m afraid,” Lincoln glumly answered.
“Oh sorry,” Sunset noticed the boy’s unhappiness. “Same here.” She decided to change the subject. “So, what school do you go to?”
“I go to…” Lincoln started. “Used to go to Royal Woods Elementary. What school do you go to?”
“I used to go to Canterlot High before I dropped out.”
“Why did you drop out?” Lincoln asked curiously.
“It’s a long story,” Sunset sadly replied. Then she changed her mood to a more light-spirited one. “What are you doing around here all by yourself? Do you have any family?”
“Oh yeah,” Lincoln replied with a hint of embarrassment in his voice. “My parents and sisters.”
“Having siblings in nice,” Sunset said.
“Not all the time,” Lincoln replied doubtfully.
“How many sisters do you have?”
“Ten.”
Sunset stared at Lincoln for a moment in surprise and shock after hearing his answer. “Wow!”
“I know, right?” Lincoln responded.
“The grocery bill must be a nightmare.”
“You don’t know the half of it,” Lincoln said with a chuckle which made Sunset chuckle too.
“So are you waiting for them to meet you somewhere?” Sunset asked innocently.
Lincoln developed a nervous look on his face at that question. “Uh… Actually…” Before finishing his answer, Lincoln took a moment to observe his surroundings to make sure no one else was listening in on their conversation. Sunset had a puzzled look on her face at the boy’s secretive behavior, apparently what he didn’t want anyone to know was about to tell her. “My family doesn’t really know I’m here.” 
“What do you mean?” a confused Sunset asked.
Lincoln let out a sigh before answering her. “The truth is I ran away from home, and no I have no intention of going back.”
“How come?” Sunset asked confused and concerned. “Did something happen between you and your family?”
“Yeah, something really bad. But I don’t want to talk about it.” Then Lincoln clamped his hands together in a begging fashion and looked at Sunset Shimmer with desperate pleading eyes. “Please promise me won’t tell anyone about this. I really don’t want my family to know where I am. Pretty please with a cherry on top.”
Sunset could see that this little boy really didn’t want to return to his family. It was apparent to her that whatever happened between them was serious enough that he felt he had to run away from home. “Alright, I promise,” Sunset reluctantly promised. “Do you have a place to stay?”
“I’m sure I can find a nice trash can or tree to settle in for the night, it’ll be fine,” Lincoln confidently assured her.
“How about not!” an utterly appalled Sunset refused to allow. “I may have promised not to tell your family, but a minor sleeping outside in the cold night is something I won’t allow!”
Lincoln was surprised that this strange girl was putting her foot down at letting a kid she’d just met sleep outside. She was already leagues better than his family. “What do I do then?”
“Why don’t you come stay at my place for awhile?” Sunset suggested.
“But will your family be okay with that?” Lincoln asked concerned. “I don’t want to be a burden.”
“Trust me, you won’t be,” Sunset assured him. “Besides, I don’t have a family.”
“Wait, you live all by yourself?” Lincoln asked shocked. Sunset nodded her head ‘yes’. “I’m sorry, I didn’t know.”
“Don’t worry,” Sunset warmly assured him. “This way things work out for both of us. You need a place to stay and I could use some company.”
“Well, I guess if it’s okay with you,” Lincoln reluctantly agreed.
“Then it’s settled,” Sunset said happily. “You’ll stay at my place.”
“Where do you live?”
Soon enough, Sunset led Lincoln to the row house she lived in. Lincoln was surprised to see that it was the same place he slept next to in a trash can last night.
“What are the odds?” the astonished boy said to the readers.
“Come on, let’s go in,” Sunset said leading him up the concrete steps and through the front door.



Later that day, the Loud family had arrived in a town looking for Lincoln. Unfortunately, they weren’t having much luck, no pun intended. As their search produced little results, the sisters had begun to grow more and more restless.
“AAAAAAAHHHHHH!” Lola screamed in horror as she looked at herself in her little mirror. Her hair had been dyed black and she had very black eye shadow. With Lincoln, her favorite pageant couch, gone she had to ask one of her sisters to help her maintain her beautiful looks. She was just realizing Lucy wasn’t the best choice. “What did you do to my beautiful face?!”
“Brought out your inner darkness,” Lucy replied in her usual monotone. “You’re welcome.”
“I’m not going to a stinking funeral!” the angry pageant winner yelled. “I can’t believe I traded Lincoln for this!”
“Any of you have any luck?” Lynn asked her two younger sisters returning from her search. The word ‘luck’ suddenly triggered something in Lola.
“YOU!” Lola yelled angrily pointing at Lynn. “This is all your fault! You and your stupid superstitions!” Then the pageant princess viciously gave chase to the athlete with murder in her eyes.
The two of them ran past their eldest sister, Lori, who paid no attention to them and was answering a call on her phone. 
“Hi Bobby,” she said into her phone. “How are you doing?”
“Could be better,” Bobby said. “How about you?”
“Haven’t had any luck in finding Lincoln,” Lori told him sadly. She immediately regretted saying that accursed word.
“Speaking of which, I hate to tell you this but if you don’t find Lincoln within the remaining days you have, I’m afraid I’ll have to break up with you.”
“What?! But why, Boo-Boo-Bear?” Lori asked utterly shocked and upset.
“I can’t keep living with the guilt for my ignorance. If I had known this whole ‘bad luck’ thing was this bad for Lincoln, I never would’ve let it happen. What you and your family did was absolutely inhuman! Also, Ronnie Anne says if I don’t break up with you if Lincoln’s not found, she’ll never speak to me again. I’m sorry, Lori.” With that, he hung up leaving Lori in a state of shock and anxiety. Her relationship with her boyfriend was one of the most important things in the world to her. She often saw her little brother as an annoyance that often got in-between her relationship with Bobby, whether intentional or not, and tried to push him away most of the time. But now in a vicious twist of irony, Lori realized the only way to save her relationship with her beloved ‘Boo-Boo-Bear’, was to find and make amends with the very person she used to see as a obstacle in that relationship.
“Lori, a little help?” Lynn appeared next to her big sister. She was still trying to avoid the wrath of her younger pageant sister. “Can you get Lola to calm down?”
The minute Lori heard Lynn’s voice, fury took over. This was the girl responsible for this mess they were all in. If it hadn’t been for her crazy superstitions, Lori and Bobby’s relationship wouldn’t be in this danger. “YOU!” Lori yelled furiously and gave chase to her younger athlete sister.
Lynn screamed in terror as she ran for her life from both Lori and Lola, who had caught up with them, and even the family dog, Charles, started chasing Lynn and barking angrily after her. 
"Hey, get back here, Charles!" Lana called chasing after the canine.
“Kids please, this isn’t the time for this,” their father called to them in an attempt to reason and calm them down. But Lori and Lola were too much in a blind state of fury to hear him.
Lynn ran down a sidewalk desperately trying not to get caught by her two angry sisters and dog, who was being chased by another one of her sisters. None of them were looking where they were going and collided with a group of people. They were all lying scattered on the ground making painful groans when the rest of the family caught up. The people the four sisters and dog had bumped into were a group of five colorful teenage girls roughly around the ages of Lori and Leni.
“Ow!” exclaimed a rainbow-haired girl as she got back on her feet. “Where’s the fire?!”
“Oh dear, we’re so sorry,” Rita anxiously apologized to the five girls as she and the rest of her family helped Lori, Lynn, and Lola up. “Is anyone hurt?”
“Everythin’s fine,” a girl dressed a country style outfit and speaking in a Southern accent assured the matriarch while helping one of her friends, a very timid looking girl, to her feet.
“What seems to be the problem, darlings?” asked a pretty-looking girl with a Trans-Atlantic English accent while helping up one of her friends who had pink skin and hair.
“It’s nothing you need to worry about,” Lori said not wanting to cause the girls anymore trouble than they already had.
“Come on,” the pink girl pleaded sweetly. “I can tell when someone’s having troubles, and you’re all obviously having some troubles. Maybe my friends and I can do something to help.”
“No really,” Lori still insisted. “It’s literally nothing.”
“I SAID SPILL IT, STRANGER!” the pink girl said changing her tone from sweet to crazy. Realizing this girl wasn’t going to take no for an answer, the family decided to confess.
“We’re here looking for our missing brother,” Luna told them.
“Oh no, you poor things,” the timid girl said with sympathy in her voice. 
“Maybe we can help y’ll look for him,” the country girl suggested. “Ah’m Applejack.”
“I’m Pinkie Pie,” the pink girl introduced herself.
“I’m Fluttershy,” the timid girl said.
“Rarity,” the girl with the Trans-Atlantic English accent introduced herself.
“Rainbow Dash,” the rainbow-haired girl said.
“Nice to meet you,” Rita said politely. “I’m Rita Loud and this is my husband, Lynn Loud Sr.” she introduced herself and her husband. “And these are our daughters: Lori, Leni, Luna, Luan, Lynn Jr., Lana, Lola, Lisa, and Lily.”
"And this is our dog, Charles," Lana introduced the family dog who greeted them with a few friendly barks.
"You forgot me," Lucy said suddenly appearing behind everyone nearly scaring the life out of them.
"Oh year, I almost forgot about Lucy," Rita said recovering from her fright.
"Story of my life," Lucy remarked.
The five girls were shocked to see how many kids the couple had.
“And ah thought mah family was big,” Applejack whispered to Pinkie Pie. “Y’all look famished. Why don’t y’all come over ta mah house? Granny Smith is makin’ her famous apple stew.”
“I don’t want my family to give you any trouble,” Lynn Sr. tried to politely decline the offer. He knew how troublesome his kids could get.
“Nonsense,” Applejack insisted. “Granny always makes enough to last a whole week.”
“It’s really good,” Pinkie excitedly added.
“Besides, maybe we can talk and see if we can figure out a way to help you find your missing son,” Fluttershy suggested.
After thinking about it for a moment, Lynn Sr. and Rita finally made their decision. “Alright, I guess we could use some help,” Lynn Sr. reluctantly agreed. At this point, they could use all the help they could get since their days were numbered.
“Yay!” Pinkie exclaimed happily pulling both Lori and Leni into a tight squeezing hug. “Dinner and slumber party at AJ’s house!”
Not only was this a good opportunity for the Louds to get some help in finding Lincoln, but it was a way for the Humane Five to help take their minds off the day Sunset had broken up with them which had been plaguing their minds for quite sometime.