Book 2: Equestria Lost
Chapter 12
Sunrise came too early: it seemed like he hadn't slept at all... truly early, Apollo realized as he glanced at the clock in his room. The sun had gone down only a few hours ago. If it had been behaving normally, it would have only just dipped below the horizon, and here it was rising again! He had only just gotten into bed, but rose again to close the shutters on the window, blocking out the unnatural light... only then did he realize, his window faced west! He peeked out the window again. Yep, definitely a rising sun, peeking through the clouds... in the west. So much for hoping the sky would return to normal soon...
Still with a troubled mind, he crawled back into bed with a groan. The wind still howled, despite the short break in snowfall... and it had been a long day... but tomorrow looked to be even worse.
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Apollo woke to the sounds and smells of breakfast being prepared. He must have slept in pretty badly... but again he glanced at the clock... no, it was still very early morning... or at least it should be.
Opening the shutters again, he was greeted by the rich purples and reds of a late sunset against the still-cloudy sky... though the light was coming from the northeast, out of his view. More than that, he noticed how awfully high the snow had piled up during the night... they'd be lucky to be able to get out. He thought of returning to bed... but he was already up, and pangs of loyalty forced him to think of how much his crew would need him today.
With a sigh at the warm, comfy looking bed, he stretched, back popping, and headed downstairs. Not everypony was awake yet, apparently. He found Splits sitting sullenly alone at the table, nursing a cup of coffee, and he could hear Pebbles in the kitchen humming tunelessly as she often did while cooking. Hair Trigger was engaged in getting a long-winded story about the good 'ol days from Quartermaster, who was still in the chair by the fire, still covered in the blanket Dawn had put on him last night... he must have slept there the whole night. Trigger was sitting with a look of rapt attention on his face, so it must have been one of Quarter's better yarns... usually the little yellow pegasus couldn't stand to sit through those rambling stories!
As he helped himself to some of the same coffee Splints had found, the rest of the crew began to filter in down the stairs, Albatross and Shimmer being the last to finally make it down.
He listened in to Quartermaster's story, waiting for it to be over before he interrupted by addressing the whole crew. He couldn't hear it all from across the room, but it seemed to have something to do with Quarter's distant ancestor Pennymaster and the first nightmare night... Had Pennymaster really lived that long ago, to have seen the day – or night rather – when Nightmare Moon was banished? Well, at any rate, it seemed an appropriate story to tell after seeing what the sky had done yesterday... was still doing, actually, he thought, looking out the window. As the time normally came for the sun to rise, it was instead just now growing dark. The inn's main window faced south, and through it he could see the moon's glow peeking over the rooftops of the town... still solidly stuck on the southern horizon.
Hair Trigger came running up to the table as the first plates were set down, with Quartermaster following at a much more sedate pace. Apparently, story time was over, so Apollo decided it was time for a talk with the crew as they began to gather around the table. He looked around, making eye contact with each member of his crew... or trying to, anyway: some of them seemed rather distracted, “Well guys, whatever it is that happened yesterday, it's a big deal... Bigger than a whole town of ponies getting sick.” They were all paying attention now. “And if last night's storm is any indication, the winter that's coming is going to be bad ... really bad.” A few nervous looks to the window answered this, and he looked over at it himself... though it was dark outside, the lights inside still lit up the snow covering the lower half of it. “So, more than for getting the news out, we should try to get further south before winter really hits. We don't want to get buried up here!”
A few resolute looks answered him, and a few nods... and a few tired, but resolved, looks from the more experienced members of the crew... they knew that getting further south would be easier said than done. “So, everypony, we need to finish up our jobs from yesterday.” He glanced over at Quartermaster. “And definitely go for putting skids on that wagon!” He turned back to the rest, “I want to try to get out of this town by tomorrow morning... we can't afford to waste any time.” The wind howled again outside, as if mocking his resolve, but he cast his doubts aside. “We can do this, am I right?”
A few nods came from around the table, as well as the bellowing announcement from Pebbles that breakfast was ready. Once again, Apollo found himself thanking his lucky stars – or what was left of them – to have such a crew.
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