The Sunset Trilogy

by ocalhoun

Book 2 - Chapter XXII

Book 2: Equestria Lost
Chapter 14

Apollo groaned as he looked at the mess his crew was in. Five weeks! Five weeks since he had said he wanted to get started 'tomorrow'. Old mare winter must have had a good laugh at his expense there! The supplies had been gathered, the wagon readied and parked in front of the inn door, the crew was ready to go... and when morning had dawned, it was all buried. They hadn't even been able to see that from the downstairs window. They had needed to look out from an upstairs window because the lower ones were completely covered!

To make matters worse, they had already eaten most of their stored trail rations, threatening to run out of food and leaving them without provisions for the journey south. As Needle Point came back inside – having walked through the inn's new main entrance, the window in the hallway upstairs – he asked her, “How's the excavation going?”

The shy little navigator had been on digging duty all morning, working on digging a way into the restaurant next door. “Well, um... uh... we found the front porch...” She said, “but...”

“But what?” he asked. The little mare was a great asset to the team... but getting her to talk was never easy.

“Um... it's just that... nopony remembers where the door was on the porch.”

“But they're looking for it, right?” He asked.

A soft “Uh huh” was the only answer he received.

He tried to settle Needle's apprehension with a warm smile of thanks, and she walked off towards the couches in the common room, but Apollo was still unsure if he had actually reassured her at all.

As he looked into the common room, he could see Quartermaster and Hair Trigger engaged in a game of chess. Trigger seemed to be winning, though Apollo wasn't sure if that was due to Quarter's kindhearted nature or his senility. Suddenly, Trigger perked up, sitting straight up and perking his ears. Apollo knew to pay attention to that! He trotted into the common room, asking, “What is it?”

The little pegasus stayed motionless and silent a moment longer – a very rare occurrence for him – before saying, “The snow... it stopped.”

The snow had still been gently falling the whole time... had the little pony really been able to hear it? Quickly, Apollo trotted upstairs. Looking out the window he saw it was true... the snow had finally stopped.

The sun was beginning to go down again, just in time for lunch, and the remaining excavation crew ponies were on their way back inside, trudging along in their improvised snowshoes... and miracle of miracles, they were carrying bags of food! They must have found the entrance!

* * *

It had taken another week, time Apollo alloted only begrudgingly, but the team had finally done it. As the first light of the morning broke above the horizon – from the south, unnervingly enough – his crew were all arrayed outside the inn, decked out in layers of heavy coats and kludged snowshoes. Bringing their wagon – or sled rather – to the surface of the snow, rather than deep underneath it had taken countless hours of hard work, but Quarter's ingeniously insane idea of a ramping tunnel had actually worked... It was finally time; they were ready.

The feeling of setting off usually invigorated Apollo Dawn. Truth be told, the feeling he got when he took the first step on a new mission was what he lived for... And there still was some of that feeling present. A vague feeling of dread poisoned it though.

He began walking along where the train tracks should be, with Needle Point at his side... not that navigating along this trip would be difficult. Even under the heavy snow, the railroad's path was clear as a long straight line where the thick coverage of evergreen trees was missing. Albatross and Shimmer Spell fell in behind him, along with Splints for some reason. Bringing up the rear, Quartermaster walked along with Pebbles, who was pulling the sled. The big mare always got stuck with the heavy jobs like that... she would always complain about it, but everypony knew she actually didn't mind. Physical work seemed to come to her effortlessly. Hair Trigger, of course, didn't exactly stay in any position in the group, flitting all over back and forth, and to the sides. Apollo had no idea where the little colt found the energy; that little pegasus would probably end up traveling twice the distance the rest of them did, if one counted all his zig-zags. Like the rest of the pegasi on the team though, he didn't wear snowshoes. Having wings brought more advantages than just flight – for a pony who could walk on clouds, walking on soft snow was nothing.

Looking ahead, Apollo could only see an endless expanse of mountains covered in snow and fir trees. He sighed – it was going to be a very long journey. He kept on though. It wasn't the first long trip on foot this team had made... and probably wouldn't be the last either. With only the sounds of the ponies' hooves and the sled's slow rolling crunch breaking the silence, the determined group of ponies pressed on.

* * *

Comments

[Astarea]

I read the entire thing, all of the whooping 112,000 or so words. Took me six hours or so...
At first I was frustrated and disgusted by your destruction of everything we know.
At one point I even gave the story a down-vote!
But then I saw the growth. Your style and this story have grown and changed as you've written it. It became something more, something better.
Even if it's not complete here and some people might not understand, I gave this story an up-vote and a favorite.

Even if I felt like some parts were rushed and somethings I didn't understand, it was worth to stick through the story.

To any readers that are struggling with understanding the first chapters - bear with it. It's totally worth it and almost everything that
was promised is delivered at one point (haven't seen the zebra!) and the pace of the story rises considerably at one point.

EDIT: I almost forgot! RANT TIME!
HOW DARE YOU KILL LUNA!

[Fiend from the Darkness]

I this story is really good,
As the deserved amount of up-votes says it should,
I'm gonna keep on moving through,
and try to believe the death of Celly and Woona hurt you too,
Though you have made some dark chapters to tell,
they are done and make the story swell,
So now I shall continue on,
and find Apollo and Twi's meeting spot, mon
and before I forget this bit from feels coaster making me sick
Gotta say "hi! Your with this story too 1879298!
-Eclipse