//------------------------------// // Book 3 - Chapter XLIX // Story: The Sunset Trilogy // by ocalhoun //------------------------------// Book 3: Equestria Abides Chapter 15 Twilight Sparkle breathed in the brisk late spring air deeply, but it did little to soothe her nervous excitement over the coming celebration. Again she brought up her checklist, triple-checking it. She had taken it upon herself to organize this remembrance day for the fallen princesses, and she wanted the very first one to go off without a hitch. Despite her organizing skills and her time spent with the pony herself, she was no Pinkie Pie though... planning parties wasn't exactly her forte. Complicating that was the fact that this party wasn't meant to be a raucous celebration, but rather a somewhat somber affair, memorializing Equestria's lost leaders... She hadn't been to many parties like that... and she wasn't entirely sure what one was supposed to be like. “Are there enough streamers?” She asked, turning behind her to where the boxes were bing unpacked, just in time to see a blue flank and waving grey tail sticking out of the box towards her... A strangely fascinating blue flank... “What was that, Twilight?” Apollo called back, popping up out of the box. Twilight turned away at the last moment... she didn't want to be caught staring... why was she staring anyway? Quick, change of subject! “I asked if there were enough streamers in there?” “Enough to cheer up five funerals and a divorce filing or two, I guess,” he replied laughing. “Seriously, did we really need fifty pounds of streamers?” Now Twilight was doubting herself again. She had put streamers on the checklist... but was the occasion supposed to be cheered up? Oh, what to do? “Um, okay, I think that's enough,” she said, silently wondering if it was actually too much. This was the two year anniversary of when the princesses – and Equestria with them – had fallen. She looked again at her checklist of festivities... it didn't seem quite appropriate now, really. An outpouring of joy on this day might make it look like they were happy about what happened that day. Twilight found herself getting a little choked up just thinking about it again... how it was all her fault, really. Was she really the right one to be putting this event together? Should she even be here? She began to feel a little ill, dark thoughts continuing to run through her head even as she continued to work her way down the checklist... Balloons? No, too festive. She crossed the item on the list out, not that it made much difference. They didn't have any balloons anyway. And cake? She thought for a moment. Yes, they could have cake, but... “Twilight?” ... “TWILIGHT!” “Huh, what?” She responded, jolted out of her thoughts. Apollo just shook his head and giggled a little at her. “Where were we going to set up the stage again?” * * * Apollo Dawn clapped his hooves together in time with the music and shouted right along with the rest of his crew, cheering on Shimmer's piano work. Who knew that pony was so talented? She was just sitting there in front of the piano, letting her horn do all the work, and though she tried not to show it, he could see that she was eating up the enthusiasm from the ponies crowded around the table next to him. The piano may have been a little out of tune, and Shimmer's special talent certainly wasn't music related... but it was still very passable, and entertainment was hard to come by these days! As Shimmer Spell's musical number came to its glowing crescendo, Twilight came in, floating the cake in front of her on a platter held up with her magic. “Who's ready for cake?” She called out through Shimmer's applause. The weakness for sweets being as common in ponies as it was, she was heard despite the uproar and greeted with several variations of 'Ooh! Me!' Apollo just shook his head a little though. Twilight had been serving their food, setting things up, and generally not getting to be any part of the party the whole night. He had tried to talk to her, tried to get her involved... but she kept shutting him down with talk of being 'not worthy' and 'making amends'. The worst were the muttered comments of 'my fault'. Apollo was no foal. He knew something was getting to the unicorn, and he knew it had to do with this day in particular. And what was special about today? The anniversary of course. * * * With the rest of his crew – sans foals – well into their wine by now, Apollo took note of Twilight Sparkle leaving the party early, everypony else too besotted or distracted to notice. He rose to follow, interrupted for a moment by the little yellow filly, Sunny Daze. “I wanna go play outside, okay?” She said. He looked out through the window, now hanging open to let the breeze in. The sun was just finished rising for the last time of the day, off to the west at the moment. “Sure,” he said absently, more concerned about Twilight at the moment, “Just be back before dark.” As Sunny ran off toward the exit, Apollo tried to discreetly make his way toward the door Twilight had left through. After being a leader for a while, he could tell when a pony needed to be talked to, and Twilight needed it as much as anypony he had ever seen. He slipped through the door quietly, not wanting anypony else following to talk to him, or worse, eavesdrop... but there was no sign of the purple unicorn on the other side of the door, despite the fact that this was just a storage closet off of the ballroom. Where had she gone? Of course! He thought, She teleported! Now, where would she go? She liked to look at the stars, but they weren't out right now, so probably not the roof... Her room? But she would be expecting Sunny Daze there soon. So where? Ah, but what if she knew Sunny well enough to expect the filly to go play outside? Well, it couldn't hurt to check... and maybe he'd find a clue somewhere along the way. He slipped his way back through the closet door, back into the ballroom with the other ponies, checking behind him a moment to see if he was noticed... to find Albatross looking right at him with a knowing smirk, despite the semi-conscious blue unicorn wrapped around him. Apollo actually blushed a little when he realized what the other ponies had seen... Twilight Sparkle disappears into a supply closet, followed by Apollo sneaking into it... They stay vanished for a little while and then Apollo sneaks out. Silently with some very interesting attempts at sign language, he tried to convince Albatross that nothing of the sort had happened... but he only managed to convert his assistant's knowing smirk into a full-fledged grin. In exasperation, but not wanting to cause a scene, he simply walked to the actual exit and left the room. Once his cheeks cooled again, he wondered what Albatross would think when Twilight never came out of the closet. He stopped walking for a moment, realizing what ponies might think... he did not want to end up as the subject of a murder investigation! But no, his crew knew him better than that, right? And there was no body in the closet... it would be easy enough to explain that she must have teleported out. Still... he hoped she wouldn't stay disappeared long. * * * Sunny Daze stretched out and luxuriated in the warm glow of the sun, now at the highest point it would reach in the day. She had been through a fine run through the grass near the cliff side, and found a wonderful bunch of blue butterflies drinking from a mud puddle left over from the recent rains. Now though, now was the time to relax in the wonderfully warm sunshine she had been missing so much. She knew it wouldn't last long, but while it did, she would enjoy her nap! She had always enjoyed taking little naps outside in the middle of the day back in Ponyville, something she had sorely missed on the road... but now she had found a lovely little grassy hill close to the castle; it almost always had a face angled toward the sun, no matter which direction it was coming from... when it was up anyway, that is. She rested her head on a front hoof, still stretched out absorbing the wonderful warmth like a cat in a sunbeam from a window before scratching her back against the prickly grass... it was so itchy lately for some reason. She closed her eyes slowly, already feeling herself drifting off into the comfort of her old pastime. She drifted off to sleep, wishing that the sun could stay up for a long time again, like it used to... she would sleep as long as it kept shining down so happy and warm... * * * Apollo knocked on Twilight's door. He was sure she was in there; he had heard a few muffled sobs... but now after knocking, he heard only silence in return. She didn't want company, apparently. “Twilight... I know you're in there... and I know you're hurting.” Still, only silence greeted him in return. “Twilight Sparkle... I want to help you!” “I don't deserve help,” her voice finally returned from inside the room. “Everypony deserves help when they need it,” Apollo called back. “I'm not a pony.” She replied, confusing him for a moment... was she another changeling? That might explain her extraordinary magic... “I'm a monster.” “Twilight, please let me in... we need to talk.” He said, hoping she would listen... he wasn't sure he could console her through a big wooden door. His hopes raised as he heard hoof steps inside, and were vindicated when he heard the latch opening. Suddenly in front of him was a disheveled, red-eyed purple unicorn looking up at him with an awful mixture of sadness and self-loathing... and his heart felt like it just dropped out of his chest. As he had walked down the halls to her room, he had thought of what he would say... He would tell her it wasn't her fault really... that she couldn't have seen it coming... that she was still a magnificent unicorn with a bright future... but all that left him suddenly, and he just found himself holding her as she cried into his shoulder. He held her close, slowly realizing that talk hadn't been what she needed after all. This was what she had needed. * * *