//------------------------------// // Book 1 - Chapter I // Story: The Sunset Trilogy // by ocalhoun //------------------------------// Book 1: Equestria Burning Chapter 1 Twilight always found it a little trying, getting the nocturnal Owloysius roused for pony pet playday. She had resorted to caffeine this time, slipping the bird a little coffee. It was working wonderfully: the normally groggy owl was as chipper as ever, despite the bright sunshine... Problem was, Spike's little Peewee had insisted on getting some too. For the hundredth time, Twilight suddenly stopped in her tracks as a bright hot orange blur shot right in front of her. “SPIIIIKE! Get control of your bird already!” The little dragon growled in frustration, “I'm TRYING!”, waddling after the hyperactive baby phoenix. Twilight seethed, this is NOT the time or the place for out of control fire birds! She looked around at all the bustling ponies in town... and all the horrifyingly flammable buildings. Spike's little Peewee had already started two minor fires in town, and Twilight was not in the mood for another 'incident'... Some ponies in town already were grumbling about how dangerous a baby phoenix could be... Twilight listened, sure she would hear even more now that there was a caffeine-fueled firecracker whizzing around town... She listened, but only heard the normal babble and a few coughs... nothing about little birds, and nothing about fire. She tried to sigh with relief... but for some reason it felt hollow... there was just something hanging over her head, but she couldn't put a hoof on it. With a shrug, she turned her attention back to the moment. The trip to the pet park was actually going swimmingly, all things considered. Twilight usually was all but dragging a drowsy owl along, but this time she was being rushed, trying to keep up with Spike's little bundle of energy. Which is almost literally true, She thought, The Marvelous Manual of Magical Monsters had said that phoenixes were creatures of energy more than matter... which some speculated to be the reason for their unorthodox life cycle, in fact... She shook her head. No, it's not studying time, play time, remember? Her friends had been trying to help her with that recently, after she had admitted having a bit of a compulsive studying problem. Her habit, though, was proving hard to break. As she approached the park, Twilight could see that they had arrived very early. Only Applejack had arrived so far, causing Twilight to wonder for a moment if she would ever get to any appointment before her earth pony friend. If Twilight had a problem carrying her studying into the rest of her life, Applejack was definitely letting her work ethic bleed over into everything else! Not that it's a bad thing, she thought, it's nice to have somepony you can always rely on. * * * “Wow Twilight! You gotta give that little guy a boost more often! That was AWESOME!” Rainbow Dash had spent most of their pony pet playday effectively having traded pets with Spike. Watching the two of them careening through the sky had been quite the sight. They had even tried a few races, once Rainbow discovered the little bird's speed... not that they had turned out well... it his current state, the little bird didn't have the attention span to fly in any particular direction for long. “Ya said it R-D!” Applejack spoke up. “With y'all two featherbrains cavortin' around up there, ah hardly missed Pinkie n' Rarity.” “Featherbrains!?!” A high-strung voice from the sky called out... a little more raspy than usual? “Oh, please don't be mad,” Fluttershy, said, quieter even than normal, “I'm sure she didn't mean–” only to be suddenly cut off by Rarity's late arrival. “SO sorry girls, I was only stopping for my appointment at the clinic, to pick up a few lozenges for this dreadful little cough going around... but wouldn't you know, the place just had to have the longest line, all the way out the door... it was just dreadful!” She adjusted her saddlebags again; her cat, Opal, was weighing down one side, while the other looked relatively light. After a demure little cough, she continued her tirade, “Can you imagine that kind of RUDE service right here in little old Ponyville? Making me wait at the end of the line when I had an appointment for that very time? And so early in the morning! Why would they have a rush at this time anyway, don't those ponies have jobs to do?” Ignoring the fashionista's continuing rant, Twilight looked thoughtful for a moment... “Wait, if you were at the clinic the whole time, where was Pinkie Pie?” “Yeah,” Rainbow piped in. “We thought she was with you.” Finding her rant (rudely) interrupted, Rarity replied, “Why, no, I haven't seen her all day.” A few slightly worried looks passed around between the five ponies, and wordlessly they set out for Sugarcube Corner, their various pets struggling to keep up... or struggling to keep focused as the case may be when concerning a certain baby bird. * * * Twilight Sparkle followed Rainbow's tail through the front door of the confectionery, the little bell on the door ringing, prompting a call of “Just a moment dearies,” out from the back room. Fluttershy was the last through the door, leaving Spike outside with some of the more rambunctious pets – particularly his own, though the little bird was by now merely bouncing everywhere, rather than flying... Perhaps the caffeine rush was wearing off? As Fluttershy stepped inside, Mrs. Cake emerged from the kitchen, quite covered in flour. “Oh, don't mind the mess dearies, with my hubby off to Canterlot to get some ingredients and with Pinkie locked up in her room, I've been having to do all the baking and all the selling.” A buzzer went off back in the kitchen. “Oh! Just you wait, this will only take a minute,” and with that Mrs. Cake whisked back into the kitchen. The five friends waited for a moment... and then another... Mrs. Cake was taking much longer than just a minute! As they waited, Rainbow sidled over to Rarity. “Say, you wouldn't mind letting me borrow a few of those cough drops you picked up, would you?” “Oh, poor dear,” Rarity cooed, “You've got that little bug going around as well?” “What!?” Rainbow started. “Me, the most awesome pegasus ever, sick? No way! I was just wanting them for... for... uh... Tank! Yeah, for Tank!” Rarity simply gave Rainbow a look. ... Rainbow held her own in the stare-down... right up until she broke down in a little fit of coughing. Sensing defeat, Rainbow quietly admitted, “Okay... for me.” Rarity smiled, looking more than a little motherly. “There's nothing to be ashamed of to have caught a bit of a cold my dear. Here, have some – my pleasure to share with my friends.” As Rainbow gratefully took the proffered medicine, another cough could (barely) be heard... Very dainty, and it would have gone unnoticed had there been any other sound at that moment. “You too, Fluttershy?” Rarity asked. Fluttershy just looked a little abashed and nodded, hiding behind her pink hair. Another package of cough drops floated over to Fluttershy, enveloped in a light blue glow, to be quickly snapped up by a white bunny who ran them over to Fluttershy's side and proceeded to guard them as if they might be stolen at any moment. Twilight saw the grateful look Fluttershy gave Rarity, and it warmed her heart. She knew that Rarity – fashion aspirations aside – loved nothing more than receiving a look like that. Twilight's thoughts on the magic of friendship were cut short, however, by the return of Mrs. Cake. “So what can I get for you my dearies?” “Actually,” Twilight replied, “We were looking for Pinkie Pie... You said she was locked in her room?” “Oh, yes,” the baker answered, “I can't for the love of sugar get her to come out... something's bothering her and she's...” Mrs. Cake leaned in conspiratorially. “in one of her moods.” The five friends all looked at each other worriedly... none of them wanted to consider what may be going on with the odd pink pony this time... Despite that, Rainbow Dash led the way up the stairs to Pinkie's room. – Not that Rainbow was any less worried about what they might find. Rainbow just couldn't let herself be seen as being afraid, especially not after that loss of face earlier with the cough drops. As her friends arrived at the top of the stairs behind her, Rainbow knocked on Pinkie's door, which was indeed locked tightly. “Pinkie, what's wrong with you? You never miss a pony pet playday.” Without warning, the door opened, and a pink hoof whipped out, impossibly grabbing all five ponies and dragging them through the door, which promptly was locked behind them... with a truly staggering number and variety of locks. Having re-fastened the locks, Pinkie Pie stood, chest heaving, with her back pressed against the door, as if she was afraid something would try to beat it down. Well, at least her hair's still fluffy, that's a good sign, right? Twilight thought. Still, it wasn't all that reassuring; Pinkie looked like a wreck, with a grimace on her face and eyes narrowed down to points, darting all around the room... and where did she get all those locks anyway? “Oh, my...” Fluttershy said, rushing over to her friend. “Pinkie, what's the matter?” Seeming to realize how forward she had been, she added, “Um, if you don't mind.” A pleading look came on Pinkie's face as she said to her friends, “My knee is PINCHY! Not even regular pinchy, but super-duper like it's never pinched before ultra-uber-extreme pinchy! It's like that time I tried licking the electrical socket – 'cause it looked so tasty – have you ever looked at them they look soooo delicious and then it hurt so much but that time was in my face not in my knee but it felt kinda like that so maybe –” Pinkie's chatter was cut short by Applejacks' hoof. “So ya say there's gonna be somethin' scary happenin' sugarcube?” Everypony there knew enough about the Pinkie sense to know that a pinchy knee meant that something scary was about to happen. Still with a hoof in her mouth, Pinkie nodded. “MmHm!” “Well what is it?” Rainbow Asked. Pinkie looked defeated for a moment, plopping down on her haunches. She looked up at her concerned friends. “I. Don't. Know.” ... and promptly started to cry, eliciting an embrace from Fluttershy, and worried looks from the rest of her friends. * * *