//------------------------------// // Book 3 - Chapter L // Story: The Sunset Trilogy // by ocalhoun //------------------------------// Book 3: Equestria Abides Chapter 16 Apollo woke from a knock on the door. Quickly he glanced up at the window... the sun was high in the sky, still to the west, so it couldn't have been long. He got up, careful not to disturb Twilight, who was still sleeping on the bed after crying her heart out. As the unicorn had cried, he had been able to pick up snippets of what was making her so upset. She did indeed think that the deaths of the princesses had been her fault somehow, though he was still pretty unclear on just why she thought that. Making his way quietly to the door, he cracked it open and slipped through, to find himself face to face with Albatross, the white pegasus again wearing a knowing smirk on his face. “They've been looking for you for hours now... but I knew where you'd be,” he said with raised eyebrows. “It's not like you think! Nothing happened!” Apollo insisted in a sharp whisper, “Twilight just needed to – wait... Did you say hours?” He thought back to his view out the window, “But the sun hasn't moved at all, it can't have been hours!” A sudden realization hit him... “Have I been in there a full day?” “Nope, like I said, a few hours.” Albatross replied. “But... but the sun is–” “That's why everypony's been looking for you.” “Huh?” Apollo asked profoundly, quite confused now. “The sun has been up – in the same place – for six hours now.” Albatross explained patiently. “... and nopony could find you, Twilight, or Sunny.” “Well,” Apollo explained, “Twilight is–” “I know.” Albatross said with a wink. “Augh! Seriously, it's not like that!” Apollo brought a hoof up to his frustrated face. “But where's Sunny, and what's going on with the sun?” “Don't know and don't know.” Albatross replied simply. “But eventually Needle Point said she had seen Sunny talking to you, so maybe you knew where she was?” Apollo thought back... he did seem to remember saying something to Sunny Daze... what was it? Something about how she wanted to play... and he was pretty sure he told her to be back by dark... 'back'? So, she must have left. “I think she went to go play outside.” He said thoughtfully. “Well, what are we waiting for?” Albatross hopped up excitedly. “Let's round up the others and go find her!” * * * “Sunny?” Sunny Daze stirred a little, enjoying the feeling of cool grass scratching her back while the warm sun beat down on her belly. “Sunny, wake up!” She rolled over, still drowsy... Wow... what a nap! She stretched her neck out a little, and flared out her wings, stretching them too... and it felt very good... they had gotten so stiff somehow. “Sunny Daze, are you okay?” She cracked her eyes open a little, finding Twilight Sparkle's face looking down at her. “Oh, hi Twilight,” She mumbled, “You should lie down... itsa good place for a nap...” She drifted off towards napping again... she seemed to remember a really nice dream, something with bright sunshine... something about being in the sun all nice and warm and bright, and looking down at herself sleeping on the hill... or maybe she was the sun? ... It was all a little blurry, but she wanted to get back to it. It was a really nice dream, she was sure she remembered that much. “Sunny!” Ugh... Twilight's voice shattered her dream again... she was a little annoyed, but this time she finally decided to get up and see what her unicorn friend wanted. She sat up, still a little sleepily, opening her eyes and stretching out her hooves in a big, luxurious yawn. “Hi, Twilight... What is it?” Looking around a little, she was surprised to see all her other friends circled around too, all staring at her. “Something wrong?” “Um...” Twilight hesitated a moment before asking. “Are you feeling okay, Sunny?” Sunny giggled a little. “Yeah! I feel really good!” She stood up on all fours, pushing herself forward and stretching her back, letting her wings flare up again and have another good stretch before returning to a more normal standing position. Twilight turned her head, looking back at Sunny out of the corner of her eye, “Well, because you kind of seem to have wings and a horn now.” “Huh?” Sunny replied before looking back over her shoulder. Two little filly-sized wings were there, matching her fur color perfectly... where there had been none yesterday! she realized with a start. Quickly, she brought a hoof up to her forehead, and sure enough she felt an unexpected impact as her hoof hit a stubby little horn growing out of the front of her mane... and she didn't only feel it with her hoof, she also felt the impact with the horn... her horn! “Huh!?!” She questioned again, much more urgently this time, “What happened?” She began to tremble a little... this was all so strange. She felt the comforting hooves of her old friend Twilight wrap around her, a very comforting bit of familiarity in this suddenly strange world. “We were hoping you could tell us, actually, little miss alicorn.” Her wings seemed to close and fold up automatically as she snuggled up next to Twilight. “What do you mean what happened... how I got a horn?” “Well, we are curious about that,” Apollo's voice came from beside Twilight. “But what we really want to know is what's up with the sun.” “Hm?” Sunny asked, a little calmer now with Twilight's help. She looked up, and the sun was still right where it should be, high in the sky. “It looks okay to me.” “That's just it,” Twilight said with a giggle that she could feel from their bodies touching as much as she could hear. “It's perfect, nice and high in the sky... and it has been that way for eight hours now.” Sunny looked up again, making a double take. The sun was higher than she had seen it in a long time now! “How'd that happen?” She asked. “Well...” Twilight said, holding her out a little, and meaningfully looking at her head, her back, and her cutie mark, “we kind of suspect that you might have had something to do with it.” “Huh?” Sunny asked, once again... “Me? What?” * * * Twilight Sparkle looked down on the little yellow filly she was holding, completely understanding her confusion. Hinting around didn't seem to be working... maybe if she asked a little more directly. “Sunny... did you raise the sun?” “What?” The tiny little alicorn protested, “I can't do that!” “You can't just suddenly grow wings and a horn, either.” Twilight pointed out, reaching up to touch the filly's new horn. “But you did that... and just look at your cutie mark... a shining sun, hm...” She looked down at the filly warmly. “A brand new little alicorn with a sun for a cutie mark, and suddenly, the sun is up and shining like it's supposed to be...” “But... but”... Sunny wasn't getting any more coherent, that was for sure. “It's okay, Sunny. I'm here for you.” She discreetly motioned for the crowd of ponies watching to back off a little. “But...” the filly protested, “I got my cutie mark for growing flowers in the sunshine! Not for controlling the sun!” Twilight just shrugged a little. She didn't understand it herself. “Well, you changed... maybe your special talent changed, too.” “But...” “It's okay,” Twilight comforted her, “You don't have to get used to it all at once. Just take your time. You've got all the time in the world now.” Inwardly, Twilight winced, hoping in afterthought that Sunny wouldn't pick up on that. She had enough new things to worry about now without needing to think about the new blessing – or curse – of immorality. “Well, actually...” Apollo cut in again, “The sun has been up for eight hours now... If it stays up too long, things are going to heat up... a lot.” “Shush!” Twilight shot back, “This isn't the time!” “I know, Twilight,” he replied, “but it is kind of important... fate of the whole world and all... okay?” Twilight glanced back down at the filly in her lap. Sunny looked up at her with worry and concern written all over her face. “Come on, Sunny,” Twilight said, trying to make it sound as comforting as she could. “I'm really good with magic, and I was Celestia's own student... if anypony can help you learn how to do it, I can.” To herself though, she wondered about it... She really didn't know much at all about it, even if it was true that she was the best pony still in existence for the job. * * *