The Sunset Trilogy

by ocalhoun

Book 2 - Chapter XXVI

Book 2: Equestria Lost
Chapter 18

Twilight Sparkle wasn't exactly happy about walking to the next town... But this was the last town! The last place she hadn't yet searched for her friends. She wished she could teleport there, as she had to the other towns all over Equestria... then she could meet back up with her friends right away! But no, the town was very far, very remote... and maps of it were frustratingly vague. She could teleport somewhere she had never been, of course, but she needed to know precisely where it was – something she couldn't do when given maps that only vaguely showed the direction Fairflanks would be in.

She wouldn't let that stop her though! Not after searching all of Equestria for her lost friends. She moved on, Sunny Daze at her side as always. Her mission was almost complete. After all, she had looked in every other town, which left only one logical possibility, however unlikely it seemed: her friends were in Fairflanks. Thinking on it, what could be more reasonable than that, really? If you wanted to escape a deadly disease, where better to go than the most remote town in all of Equestria?

Twilight walked on, a little lost in thought about how wonderful it would be to finally see her friends again. The railroad line was an easy path to follow, and it left her paying little attention to her surroundings.

Sunny Daze broke her reverie, “Hey, look Twi, Somepony's coming!”

Twilight looked up, and indeed, a group of ponies were coming down the line in the other direction, just barely now within sight. They seemed to have a wagon, too, and looking up, she saw they had a pegasus flying overhead. She felt conflicted... she wanted to ask them if they had seen her friends, of course... but over the course of her travels, she had learned that the world as it was now wasn't always the safest place... and a big group of strange ponies roaming around might not have the best of intentions.

She looked over at Sunny Daze. The innocent little filly was straining her eyes, trying to get a better look at the oncoming strangers. Fear took hold of Twilight... she didn't want Sunny exposed to... whatever that group might do. With a violet flash, Twilight and a surprised and confused looking Sunny suddenly appeared well off to the side of the tracks, in the woods where they wouldn't be seen. Twilight cut off the filly's shouted complaint with a hoof in the mouth.

“They might be bad ponies, so let's just stay here where it's safe, okay?”

“Mpfhm,” Sunny replied... correcting it to, “Okay,” once Twilight removed her hoof from Sunny's mouth. “But they don't look bad,” she whispered.

Twilight just wrapped around the filly protectively. She had taken responsibility for this little pony, and in these troubled times, she wasn't taking any chances.

* * *

As his crew approached the place where the two ponies had vanished, Apollo looked for signs of them... which weren't difficult to find. Two sets of hoofprints, one bigger and one smaller, led to a slightly singed patch and disappeared there. As he stood looking at the spot – unicorn magic had always secretly freaked him out a little – Hair Trigger caught up with him.

Apollo felt a nudge at his side, and looked down at the little pegasus colt. “Um... 'Pollo?”

He looked down at his youngest team member.

“Those two ponies, they're over there, watching us.”

Apollo looked to where Trigger was pointing, and after squinting into the woods for some time, he was finally able to make out a little flash of yellow far off in the distance. He couldn't see it, but he was willing to bet there would be a little purple not far away. He could only barely make out a tiny bit of color. He would never have noticed without having it pointed out, and definitely couldn't tell if the two ponies were watching them or not!

“We know you're out there!” He shouted at them. “Show yourselves!”

* * *

Twilight cringed and hid further behind a tree when she heard one of the strange ponies call out. Unfortunately, in doing so, she loosened her grip on Sunny.

Twilight winced as Sunny called out with a loud, “Okay!” and began running toward the newcomers. Quickly, she took chase, determined to catch the filly before she could get herself into trouble. Branches slapped her in the face as she zig-zagged through the dense woods. She ran on at top speed, desperate to catch up, but the little filly was fast – and she could run right under the thick fir branches that were slowing Twilight down.

Finally approaching the errant yellow filly, Twilight caught her with a leaping tackle, landing together in a heap. Thank Celestia's ghost, she had stopped Sunny in time! She looked up in relief, right into a pair of vividly blue eyes looking back down at her. She jumped to her feet, ready for action... only to stop as she noticed the variously confused and bemused faces looking back at her.

She stood a moment longer, legs still braced wide for a fight, as her look of fierce determination faded to a more bashful tone. These ponies didn't look evil. As she came to terms with how her suspicions were probably just paranoia, the first pony she had seen – a light blue pegasus with a grey mane – stepped towards her.

“Apollo Dawn,” he said, “explorer extrodinaire. It's nice to meet you, ... ah”

Twilight let herself relax a little, “Oh, uh, Twilight Sparkle,” She said with a blush, “And this is–”

“Sunny Daze!” the little filly shouted out, jumping up from where Twilight had tackled her.

“And nice to meet you, too, little lady!” He replied. “So what brings you two out here?”

“Oh, well,” Twilight said, “We're looking for some friends of mine. Maybe you've seen them? There's a pegasus with a rainbow mane, and a pink–”

Apollo interrupted her, “We haven't seen them. You're going to Fairflanks to find them?”

“That's right,” Twilight confirmed, “We've looked everywhere else, so they have to be there!”

The pegasus pony's face fell. “You won't find them there. Trust me.”

“What?” Twilight asked, incredulously, “I told you they have to be there. It's logically the only place left where they could be!”

Apollo sighed, “Everypony there is gone. It's a ghost town.”

Twilight refused to accept it. She would find her friends, she had to. And since she had looked everywhere else, they had to be in Fairflanks. “You don't get it. They have to be there.” She tried to explain.

Apollo just shook his head. There would be no reasoning with this one. “All right then... it's been nice meeting you. Have a nice trip.” He turned, continuing to walk down the tracks, but looking back as he did so.

Twilight set off northward again with a sigh, taking a quick look back to make sure Sunny was following. She would show that guy. She would go to Fairflanks, and she would find her friends there, and they'd fix everything that was wrong, and they'd get back to normal, and everything would be like it should.

* * *

Apollo looked back at the now receding unicorn.

“She'll be dead a long time before she gets there,” Splints commented, “Serve her right, too, for being so dumb and stubborn.”

He graced her with a reproving look, which she didn't seem to notice.

“Awww,” Needle Point added in, “But what about that cute little filly with her?”

Trigger jumped into the conversation, literally. “Yeah! What about her!?!”

Apollo looked at the two strangers again... and made his decision.

* * *

Comments

[ultra1437]

And the real journey, begins.

[ocalhoun]

1904268
Indeed.
Now the real story can get started.