//------------------------------// // Ch.4 Easing into things // Story: Sunsets Wild Ride // by glory_dawn //------------------------------// Sunset lay in her bed for hours thinking about everything that had transpired. From arriving to this strange land from Equestria to the delicious dinner she just had with some strangers that she just met. It was all a lot to take in but she just eased her mind with a focal point of a meadow she visited once as a filly. This always helped her to calm down and focus no matter what the situation. She lay in the bed without the covers for what seemed like forever until she slipped into a deep tired sleep. It wasn’t long before she hit r.e.m. and was off to the races with dreams of different outcomes. When Sunset woke up with the sun coming through the crappy blinds and hitting her face. She was on her side hugging a pillow and with some drool on her cheek. She wiped the drool away as she got up and sat with her feet on the floor. She stretched and rubbed her eyes and tried to summon a towel and her tooth brush with her magic as if she was at home. When nothing happened and she opened her eyes from a yawn she furrowed her brows as she was irritated that the loss of her magic wasn’t just a dream. She tried again in vain to lift the key to the room that lay next to her but found she still couldn’t. Sunset hunched over with her face in her hands groaning at situation hoping that when she opened her eyes, she would be back home. No such thing happened but before Sunset could curse the gods as knock at the door snapped her out of her mind. Sunset approached the door with the same carefulness and opened it only slightly to see that it was again Mr. Storm standing out there with another bag in his hand that smelled terribly good. Sunset looked the man up and down seeing that he was dressed in the same cloths he had on the night before but kept the door slightly open as she starred at him. With squinted eyes she stared him down as the sun also hit her face. “Is this a good time? Did I wake you, because I can come back. I just wanted to come by and offer you some breakfast” the Mr. Storm said as he lightly shook a white bag in front of her. Sunset looked at the bag with hungry eyes as she could smell some type of fried goodness within it and her stomach was rumbling. She opened the door more and let the sunlight wash over her as she stood facing Mr. Storm. “Umm yeah thank you Mr.....” “Storm, Mr. Storm, and if you wouldn’t mind, I was going to invite you to have breakfast with us. If you wanted, that is.” the man said as he passed Sunset the bag of food. Sunset took the food in her hands and looked back at her empty room and then back at the smiling man and decided to follow him back to their room next door. When the two entered, Sunset could see that Rain was laying on her stomach in a large black T-shirt with some pajama pants on the bed. Her face was down in a pillow with her hair wild and all over the place. “Rain! Get up, I got breakfast and Sunset is joining us for breakfast. So, I need you to get your butt up before we eat all the breakfast.” the man said as he walked up to his daughter shaking her back lightly. “Ugh, c'mon pops what time is it anyways? Just save me a bite will ya” Rain said as she sunk her head back down to the pillow. “No, it’s eight o’ clock and it's time to start the day. So up and at em”. Sunset watched the exchange as it in a way reminded her of when her own father would try and wake her up. The moment was touching as she looked on but as Sunset back up to lean on the counter top she bumped into something sharp that poked her hard. “Ow! God what was that!” Sunset shouted as she grabbed for her lower back. When Sunset turned around, she saw it was a blade of some sort. A small knife that was on top of the counter jutting out. She held onto her lower back as it stung quite a bit, as the father a daughter duo was now looking at her as she danced around in pain. “Whoah there watch out for that there! I got some sensitive items on top of the counter so why don’t you just sit over here for the time being.” Mr. Storm told Sunset as she continued to rub the spot the knife poked her in. As she pulled her hand back, she noticed that there was blood on her fingers. Mr. Storm saw this and pulled Rain up to her feet from the bed she was sitting on now. “Go get the balm and the bandages Rain. Then patch up your new friend here”. Rain only looked displeased and went over to the sink counter outside the bathroom and grabbed some bandages and went over to Sunset. “Turn around. I need to put some of this balm on you so hold still. Its gonna sting so don’t be a baby”. Sunset winced as the balm was put on and as Rain had said it did sting a bit. She stood there turned around with her shirt up a bit so she could be bandaged up. She noticed that Mr. Storm had stepped outside the room and was smoking something with the door open. Once Rain was done and Mr. Storm finished his smoke, the three sat for their breakfast. The meal was nothing special but damnit if it didn’t taste good. It was a wrap with egg and cheese in it, Sunset ate the entire thing before the other two were done with theirs. During her short time eating Sunset was taking in again what was in the room. The counter top seemed to be filled with more items than the night before. Baggies and orange plastic pieces littered the counter along with red powder dusted here and there. “So Sunset now that we’ve had a meal twice, I’d like to ask you again. What was with the gold and silver coins?” Mr. Storm said as he leaned over eating his wrap. “Ya, what's up with that? When my dad told me what you were doing, I gotta say that’s crazy that you’ve been walking around these parts with that kinda treasure.” Rain chimed in as she also chomped down on a big piece of wrap as she sat next to Susnet. “So I gather that this place isn’t the safest? Look I had what I had on me and that's what I tried to use. Ok" Sunset said a little defensively since she didn’t know what to say on the spot. “Ok ok calm down, sorry for prying, I was just beside myself when I saw you. Also, you’d be wise to remember to be careful out around these parts” the man told her as he finished his food and threw it away. “So, what’s the next move for you since you got no money and only a week here?” Rain asked as she too threw her empty bag of food to the bin. “Rain cmon honey, you gotta work on how you say things” Mr. Storm told his daughter as he shook his head. “Well I'm thankful that you helped me out, but I don’t have much plans than trying to get back home is all. I gotta figure this place out if I'm going to make it” Sunset told them as she peered into her mind for a picture of Equestria and its lush green landscape. “Well if you want to unload some of those coins, I can take you to a friend that’ll give you a good price on em. Don’t worry though I'm not looking for a cut of it, I'm just trying to help out a kid in need”. Sunset thought about this for a moment as she wondered what to do. She might as well sell the coins since that was the only thing of value she had at her disposal. The books she brought with her were not to be touched so that was out of the question. She decided to go along with Mr. Storms proposition since she had no liquid cash at the moment and she was sure she was going to need it. “Ok then, let's do that. But I gotta get something good out of it because it’s all I have in the world right now” Sunset said as she shook her head yes. “Good! Let us just get ready and we’ll go and get you from your room. We'll be on our way in no time!” the man said happily as he brushed his black hair back with a smile. Sunset took that as a sign to go back to her room and wait so she did just that. She waited for a few minutes as the two next door got ready for their excursion out into the city. Sunset retrieved the coins from their hiding place and stuffed them into the pajama pant pockets. She felt she was ready to go so she waited alone in the room in the dark trying to figure out the black talking box on the counter top again. The familiar knock song sounded at the door and Sunset went to open it again expecting it to be the father daughter team but instead an older woman was standing in front of her. “Excuse me but would you have any money you could spare? I'm hungry and I haven’t had a meal in days” the woman said. The older woman seemed to be in her forty’s and was disheveled as all hell with her blond hair whipping all over the place. Her sun baked skin was cracked and her lips were split as she spit while she talked. “Get outta here Margaret! Leave my niece alone! Unless you're going to get a rig than I don’t think you should be here, remember they called the cops last time you were asking the tenants for mone?” Mr. Storm showed up out of nowhere saying as he told the woman to go someplace else. “Sorry bout that, sometimes we get people asking for money since we’re so close to the bus station. You ready?” Mr. Storm turned and told Sunset as the older woman moved along grumbling to herself. Sunset nodded and was starting to exit her room when Rain chuckled a bit behind her father as she looked Sunset up and down. “Going a little comfy I see.” Rain said as Sunset looked herself over. “C'mon Rain, the girl doesn’t have anything else to wear. You lent her some pajamas and her other cloths are dirty as hell. You know what? Why don’t you lend her some pants and she can keep on the shirt she’s got on. On and lend her your sandals while you're at it!” Mr. Storm called out to Rain from outside the room as she went inside to fetch Sunset some items. Mr. Storm just looked on at Sunsets bare feet and winced as he could see that they had many bruises and cuts on them. “Gotta get you some shoes when we’re out there, remind me” Mr. Storm told Sunset. Once Rain gave the pants and the sandals over to Sunset the two waited outside as Sunset went inside to put the items on. The pants were black and a bit tight on her figure as it hugged every part of her, the shirt was also black as it seemed to be a favorite color of the two since that was all Sunset saw them wear so far. She didn’t mind the cloths or the sandals that were a light brown, she was just glad to be receiving the help she was getting. The only problem was now there was no room in the pants for the coins to go in so Sunset decided to bring one of her satchels along. After Sunset was ready to go she opened the door and went outside with the two and stood there as she watched them get into one of those metal carriages she saw everywhere. They opened the door to the carriage and Rain motioned for her to get in. Sunset approached the vehicle with caution as it rumbled to life, she put one foot in just to make sure it was ok. “Any day now” Rain said a little annoyed as she sat in the front with her father. Sunset took the hint and saw that they were inside and ok so she jumped into the backseat of the broken down Crown Vic. The seats Sunset found to be quite comfortable as she sunk into them. There was a clear smell of old smoke in the vehicle as the carriage moved along backwards. Sunset turned around like a little kid watching the car reverse as Rain looked at her with suspicion through the rear-view mirror. As the car got out of the dirt lot that was the parking for the motel and into the highway did Sunset finally start to get nervous again. The vehicle seemed to be dashing through several lines of traffic and was going at a speed she wasn’t used to yet. “Look at you back there, I know my dad drives a bit like a madman but is this the first time you’ve ever been in a car?” Rain asked Sunset as she could be seen gripping the edge of her seat with a worried expression. “No, I'm good. I just get uhh motion sickness.....” Sunset said as she tried not to let it be known that she had no clue about such a carriage. “How about we put some tunes to lighten up the mood eh?” Mr. Storm said as he messed around with a device he had in his hand as he turned up the volume. The sounds that came from the car was a cacophony of riffs and crashes from symbols as it blarred through the car stereo. “This is a good one! It's from my favorite band called “Scummy Jones”, they’re a freakin blast! Just give it a chance!” Mr. Storm shouted over the music to Sunset as he then turned the music louder. One wild ride and buzzing ear drums later and they were at their destination, it was a terribly old building that looked like it was falling apart just like the motel. Sunset sat in the car and looked at the sign outside the building that read “big Joe’s pawn”. “Are you gonna get out? We’re here, this is the place” Rain said as she leaned on the car and spoke to Sunset through the semi opened window. Sunset felt a little stupid for being slow on the pickup and quickly got out of the vehicle and followed Rain and her father into the shop. The place the went into filled Sunset with wonder as there seemed to be an infinite number of items spread all over the place. Things hung on the wall and were placed on tables, there was even a large section of jewelry of all types. Sunset couldn’t help but to begin to wonder around the shop looking at all the things up and down twice so she didn’t miss anything. “Hey why don’t you go with Sunset, so she doesn’t get lost there. I need to talk to Joe for a bit real quick” Mr. Storm told Rain as he motioned for her to follow Sunset. “Ok ok im goin” Rain said as she took off after Sunset who was getting farther and farther away into the wide shop. Rain followed after Sunset who was looking at the guns through a display. Sunset happened to be pressed against the display looking at a bunch of pistols through the glass. “Yah you don’t need one of those yet” Rain said coming up behind Sunset. “What... I mean these items here look interesting, especially that one” Sunset told Rain as she motioned with her head to a particular hand cannon. “Holy crap, you wanna blow off your hand or somethin?! Come, lets go look at what kinda DVD's they got or if they got any new games” Rain told Sunset pulling her by the arm and chuckling as she did so. “Wait! The....the items here! What's a DVD?!” Sunset said as she was yanked along towards another section of the shop. The shop itself was huge and felt like a maze to Sunset as she was being yanked this way and that rather roughly by the one called Rain. She in her usual black cloths that seemed like a uniform finally came to a large couple stacks sitting on a table. “These are DVD’s, and these are games! Here help me look for a game called ETERNAL ZLAD : DEATH CULT!” Rain said as she set Sunset in front of a stack of old looking plastic cases with a number of pictures on them. Sunset flipped through several looking for the title Rain wanted but only found several with silly titles that made her chuckle. There was gems such as “Poodle ex con: live fast” that had a dog of some type with metal surrounding its body in places, and another that just had some type of dragon on it with blood coming out its mouth. All that seemed intriguing to Sunset but after a few minutes she was yanked again in a direction as she read the back of game box. “Let’s see if my dads ready, you got you stuff with you?” Rain asked Sunset nodded as she put a hand on her satchel she was carrying with her. They moved through the maze until they came to a counter area where a rough white hair and bearded man stood behind hunched over talked to Mr. Storm. “So we got a deal?” Mr. Storm asked the man “If it proves good then we have a deal?” the rough looking man said as he straightened up as he saw Rain and Sunset approach. The man was tall and was wearing a blue shirt with several tattoos on his arms that swirled around his forearms. He had one some black slacks with a belt that held it all together, Sunset also noticed he had one of those items Sunset had seen in the display on his waist. “Oh just in time! You girls see anything cool out there?” Mr. Storm asked with a grin on his face as he looked at the both of them. “What are we doin here pops? Like can you help Sunset or not cuz shouldn’t we be getting back anyways?” Rain asked her father in an annoyed tone as she crossed her arms. “Yes, well let’s get to it then. Sunset may we see the items?” Mr. Storm asked Sunset asked as the rough white haired man breathed heavily. Sunset fumbled with her satchel and then brought it up to the counter top and pulled out the coins that happened to be quite a few. Ten coins in all, some bigger than others and some with stranger markings than the last. The coins were a historical treasure for sure Sunset thought as she placed them on the counter. There were five gold and five silver and two actually seemed to be palm sized and heavy. The two older gentlemen looked in awe at the coins they saw before them. Sunset was starting to regret her decision but pushed the feeling down as she knew she needed something to work with in this new world. The old man looked at the coins and ran his fingers lightly over the coins and took out a magnifying glass to start his inspection. “These are magnificent clearly but I need a closer look at them, and please call me Joe, Miss Sunset was it? Ah look at this here, this I need a second opinion on. This just might be a little out of my expertise” said the man all at once as he flipped a heavy palm sized gold coin on the table. “Ya well look we need somethin today so how about we make somethin happen on one of these smaller ones here” Mr. Storm said as he pointed to the smaller gold coins. “Can I keep one over night for a closer inspection?” the man looked up and asked Sunset as he held firm to the giant coin. “No. You can have one of the smaller ones, like these two here” Mr. Storm said as he scooted to thick medium sized coins towards Joe. “Ok ok let's see. Without knowing more about the coins, I can only give you the amount its worth in weight alright” Joe said to Mr. Storm completely ignoring Sunset now and only dealing with Mr. Storm. Sunset felt something in her gut that told her to stop this transaction but didn’t know why. Mr. Storm was only trying to help her and she did need some capital. Before she could chime in the two were shaking hands and laughing as Rain looked at some little black box in her hand. “Ok, so let's see here, your total is........”