//------------------------------// // Book 3 - Chapter XLVI // Story: The Sunset Trilogy // by ocalhoun //------------------------------// Book 3: Equestria Abides Chapter 12 The wind tore through Twilight's mane as she trotted through the castle courtyard. Her storm preparations were complete, but Albatross's food gathering team still hadn't come back yet... and the storm was coming in. She could see it as she darted out through the big main gates, billowing up high overhead and cutting off what little was left of this sun cycle's light. The light covering of snow already on the ground was blowing around all over the place, obliterating her footprints almost as soon as she raised her foot. She cast a magical shield around her as she trotted on towards Las Pegasus. It wouldn't keep the cold out, but it would block the blowing snow. It obscured her vision a little as the snow worked its way around the edges of her sphere, but not as much as snow blowing into her eyes would have. She forged on, just as fast. She wouldn't have gone off quite so readily, but with the others still busy with preparations, she was the only one available to go find and retrieve the scavenging team. No problem; it would be easy: just find the team, then teleport them back. Spurred on by her concerns, she sped along even faster. The storm was growing now, wind-driven falling snow coming in thickly. She could barely see the road as it became more covered, drifts already forming... but that was fine; she knew it well now, well enough to follow it without problems. She just had to find that team before this got any worse! A big sheet of paper or fabric or something suddenly loomed up in front of her, driven by the wind maybe? No problem. With the help of her magical shield, she punched right through it, continuing on down the road as fast as she could. With a sudden shock, though, she lost her footing, her traction suddenly gone as she hit a wide, solid patch of ice. She found herself skidding, bringing up uncomfortable memories of her brief span as a lake scorer in her first Ponyville winter wrap up. A leg slipped out from under her, and she slid on her side, shoulder first, breaking her concentration on the barrier spell and letting it fall... how could an ice patch this big have formed in the road anyway? She had precious little time to ponder that question as a pillar suddenly loomed out from the white background. It promptly made contact with her head. Twilight's world was quickly turned into a very unpleasant place. A ringing filled her ears, an uncontrolled spin confused her sense of balance, and her vision kept blurring out to black... not to mention a new, splitting pain in her head. With another impact, her spin stopped, even though it hurt her legs a little. She tried to stand, but slipped down again. Winding herself up for another effort at it, the darkness in her vision became complete, and she couldn't help but lay down. She tried to think of something, but she never had the opportunity as she lost herself and knew no more. * * * Apollo sped his wings against the growing wind, pushing on the last shutter far up on the top floor. In retrospect, it would have been wiser to start with the top first, and so be doing the more protected lower windows as the wind picked up... but then again, it had never been the plan for just one pegasus to be closing them all. He pushed with just a bit more force, straining as hard as he could. Since this was the last one, he could put his all into it without worrying about leaving energy for the others. With his redoubled efforts, it finally slapped closed, and he quickly threw the latch on it to keep from losing all his hard work. He looked down at the courtyard as he began descending, and it was already becoming difficult to see due to the amount of snow blowing around in between him and the ground level. Still, he could make out Albatross's group coming back in, just in time to not help closing the shutters... He didn't mind though; he was just glad to see the ponies all back safe and sound... or at least that's what he told himself. Gliding down likely a little faster than was wise given the conditions, he managed to meet Albatross at the entrance to the castle. “Good to see you all back in one piece!” He called out as he landed. “Good to be in one piece,” his assistant replied, shaking the snow out of his cerulean mane, “We've got our little Trigger here to thank for that. He noticed the change in weather just in time.” “Well, let's get in!” Apollo replied, opening the door against the force of the wind. “It's way too cold out here!” * * * “So then,” Albatross laughed, “The little guy comes in wearing a snorkel and a floatie... Good thing too, 'cause once those milk barrels were loose he was swimming!” “That is SO not funny!” a perturbed and rather fragrant Hair Trigger protested. “There were chunks in there!” Still, Apollo couldn't help but smirk a little at the thought of Trigger swimming in a pool of spoiled milk. The little pegasus had earned that much at least with his 'trash can monster' prank from earlier. “You go and get cleaned up, okay? We'll just have Twilight help unload all this.” It really wasn't much anyway. With the more fruitful scavenging locations already emptied, the wagon was so light on the return trip that anypony could pull it. He called out at the yellow filly running away before she could follow Trigger upstairs. “Hey Sunny! Send Twilight down, okay?” “Okay!” she said, running off while Apollo Dawn began to look and see just what they had brought home this time... Not too much food; it was a good thing they were already pretty much set for the winter... but they had apparently found most of what they had been looking for: some spices, glue and tape, a bunch of baskets, a few coils of rope... no soap, but surely they could find some next time... maybe they could search ponies' apartments rather than stores next time... He turned as he heard somepony coming down the stairs, and saw Sunny Daze and Shimmer Spell coming down. “I couldn't find Twilight, but I found Shimmer!” the filly called out, causing the unicorn next to her to stop and stare at her. “Wait, you couldn't find Twilight Sparkle?” She asked. “She wasn't with you?” “Of course not silly!” Sunny replied, “I had to take a bath!” Shimmer looked up at Apollo with a look of sharp and growing worry. “But she passed Shimmer on the way out... she said she was going to go find you... Where is she?” The wind howled outside, shaking the door behind Apollo, and he turned along with the other ponies to look at it, a sick feeling of dread quickly sinking into him. He knew where she was now... out there. * * *