//------------------------------// // Book 2 - Chapter XXXII // Story: The Sunset Trilogy // by ocalhoun //------------------------------// Book 2: Equestria Lost Chapter 24 “And then, I kid you not, she made her own party guests!” Apollo looked over at Twilight incredulously. “She what​?” “Really, Rainbow saw the whole thing, a bucket of turnips, a pile of rocks, even a wad of lint! She was having her own party with her own homemade guests!” Apollo laughed, for what seemed like the first time in a long time. His mood certainly seemed to be improving after spending some time with her! “So that's where Madame Le Flour comes in?” “Exactly!” Twilight said, beaming, as the four ponies approached the casino. She hadn't expected to get along so well with this new pony... but they had really grown to understand each other once they started sharing stories about their friends. “Ugh... finally, I don't have to listen to this prattering anymore,” Splints said as they reached the casino's entranceway. Quartermaster and most of the rest of the crew were outside, loading the wagon. Twilight looked at the odd pink pony... she had become increasingly belligerent as the day wore on... had it been because Twilight had laughed when she freaked out about the mouse? Splints tossed her bag of supplies into the waiting wagon. Twilight looked at Apollo Dawn questioningly as she followed suit, using magic to place her bundle of medical supplies in the wagon much more gently. Apollo just shrugged. “She gets like that sometimes... I wish I knew why... but she just does.” He turned to the ponies bustling around the wagon. “Got everything we needed?” Somehow, Quartermaster's face popped out, upside down, form the bottom of the wagon. “Jus' bout!” Motion from the doorway caught Twilight's eye; the door opened, and the big earth pony mare came out, a huge crate on her back that barely fit through the door. “An there's Pebbles wit tha last of it!” The upside down pony said, vanishing into the wagon again. Twilight looked over the ponies around the wagon, trying to remember all their names... The old one was Quartermaster, the big one Pebbles, the shy one Needle, and the little colt... where was he? ... After a moment of looking for him, Twilight's mind caught up with her, where was the other youngster? Where was Sunny? Inexplicably distracted, she had hardly even thought of the little filly all day, and now suddenly she was filled with worry and self-reproach. Had she failed again? It was her job to keep track of the little filly, and she had just completely forgotten about it because she was off with Apollo! Where was she? Was she safe? She could feel the eyes of a few of the other ponies on her as she began to go into full freak-out mode, “Sunny? Where's Sunny? Is she okay, has anypony seen her?” Before anypony could answer, the casino door burst open again, a giggling bright yellow filly came shooting through them with one of the casino's shiny, gold-plated thousand bit chips in her mouth. A neon orange and yellow blur shot through after her, yelling, “She stole my chip!” Apollo tried to keep up with the pair as they ran in zig-zags all over the entranceway, “There's a whole box of those things back in the cashier's room,” he called out. “I know!” Trigger replied, zooming around the wagon in an attempt to head Sunny Daze off, “And this one's mine!” Sunny Daze's great escape was suddenly hindered by a surprise tackling hug from a purple unicorn. “Oh Sunny! I was so worried about you!” Twilight said, as the filly looked up at her in confusion. “I was here the whole time, relax!” she mumbled back through the chip in her mouth. “But I thought I might have lost you, and–” Twilight was cut off by Sunny, who seemed to finally notice the seriousness in Twilight's voice and face. She smiled reassuringly, taking the chip out of her mouth, holding it in one hoof, and drawing Twilight into a hug, “I told you, Twi, we'll always be together.” As the two pulled apart again, a maniacally laughing little pegasus shot in between them, and suddenly the chip was gone. “Hey!” Sunny cried out, jumping up after him, “I stole that fair and square, givit!” The two carried their pursuit back through the casino doors as Pebbles stepped up beside Twilight. “Don't worry, we've been keeping a close eye on the littles. Me and Needle always work to keep Trigger out of trouble, what's one more furball in the mix?” Twilight looked up at the big mare in gratitude... she felt that she might be able to fit in here after all. * * * Sunny Daze hopped up onto the back of the wagon again. Now this was the way to travel! It beat walking, for sure, and it didn't make her feel dizzy like Twilight's teleporting. She could see a longer way from here too. She craned her neck and squinted, and she could still make out High Stakes waving from the casino entranceway. She hopped down again – she couldn't seem to hold still long, not with the excitement of a new trip ahead of her – landing next to where Trigger was at the moment, though it didn't stay that way for long; that little pegasus seemed even more excited than her. Up ahead, she could see the other ponies in the group walking along... Twilight was walking up in the front with the blue pegasus. She giggled a little, just out of pure joy. She was happy to see Twilight made a new friend. She was glad to see Twi making friends again and laughing... because she had seemed really sad and lonely lately. Sunny knew though, the best cure for that was making friends and laughing... just like Twilight was. Sunny continued trotting along down the road, Trigger once again appearing for a few moments at her side before dashing off again. Yep, things were looking up! * * *