The Sunset Trilogy

by ocalhoun

Book 2 - Chapter XXIX

Book 2: Equestria Lost
Chapter 21

Twilight Sparkle sat alone in the dark and quiet casino floor. She had found it to be the perfect place to be alone for a while, and the eerily gloomy and silent atmosphere suited her mood. All around her were slot machines, game tables, even a vacant bar mouldered nearby... but instead of the din of activity, light, and noise the place would normally be full of it was all empty. Somewhere – in the bar maybe? – she could hear water slowly dripping, a sound she never would have been able to hear in the casino's heyday. It was the perfect place to sit back and think... especially for the kind of thinking she was doing now.

She had slowly come to trust Apollo... something about him just seemed like he wouldn't be the type to lie... something about him reminded her of Applejack, actually. If he was telling the truth though... if Fairflanks really was an abandoned ghost town... It would mean her quest to find her friends had failed. She wasn't sure she could handle even more failure from herself. Hadn't it been her failure that had sealed the princesses' fate? Hadn't it been her failure that had doomed Applejack? And now she was failing again... she had told her friends to scatter and run... it was her responsibility to find them again... and she had failed. Again.

She slammed her hooves down on the nearest slot machine, breaking the eerie silence with a clanging thud... followed by another slightly softer one as her head followed suit. She felt sick... like she was hollow inside. Without her friends, she had lost everything now... even herself – she didn't want to be herself anymore. She was just a failure, a wretched useless failure. Another string tugged at her conscience. Apollo's team had thought she would have died if she had continued on the railroad as she was... That she would have been responsible for even more loss... If they hadn't stopped her, she would have lead Sunny off to freeze... another failure... of the only responsibility she had left. She slid down to the floor, curling up into a ball and moaning. There was nothing left for her... nothing at all... and–

“Twilight... Sparkle?”

She looked up, to see Trixie – Trixie of all ponies! – looking down at her with a strange look on her face – Twilight couldn't quite figure out what it was, but she knew if Trixie had come for her revenge, to prove she was better than Twilight... she couldn't have picked a better time. Twilight was sure at this point that she was the worst pony in history, completely worthless in every way. Anypony could prove themselves better than her now, and she would only agree.

“Shimmer Spell came here to... well... apologize. ... She didn't mean to disturb you... um... she'll leave, it's no problem.”

“Wait, Trixie! ... oh... or... uh, Shimmer!” Twilight called out. She had now recognized the look on the blue unicorn's face as a mixture of shyness and pity... a strange mixture, and doubly unrecognizable as neither emotion was one she would have expected from her! Suddenly though, she very much needed somepony to talk to... so much so that even Trixie... or Shimmer, would do. “Apologize for what?”

Shimmer turned back to face Twilight again, but averted her eyes, seeming to suddenly find one of the dead gaming machines next to her fascinating. “Well... um... for the last time we met... when Shimmer Spell's name used to be Trixie... she wasn't very nice... she said things that Shimmer regrets... and she did things that she regrets.” She looked up at Twilight again, still looking remorseful. “But she learned her lesson. And she changed her name... so Trixie is gone... and now Shimmer is ready to make amends.”

Twilight looked up at Shimmer, grateful, even if it did nothing about her problem. “I forgive you. I always hoped you'd learn someday and become a good pony again... and now you have.” She gave a weak, teary smile.

Twilight's smile brought concern to Shimmer's face, “What were you doing alone in the dark anyway? It took Shimmer forever to find you.”

Twilight fell back into her gloom. “I... I've lost everything.” She couldn't believe who it was she was confiding in... but who else was there? “And I'm a worthless failure. Everypony around me dies and it's all my fault.” Shimmer Spell knelt down next to the curled-up Twilight, and wrapped a hoof over her comfortingly. “And now I've failed to find my friends... I've lost them too... Lost everything and now I have nothing and nowhere to go nothing to do.” Her face fell back into her hooves again. She had never felt so low.

“When Shimmer left Ponyville, she lost everything, too. She lost her home and her outfit, and her act... and all her fans... She lost everything she had. She ran down the road until it hurt to run... and she ran some more. She had to escape her failure.” Twilight looked up at Shimmer. She hadn't realized what that pony had gone through. “When Shimmer couldn't run any more, she dropped on the side of the road and she cried. She had no friends, no family, no home, and nopony to turn to. She couldn't even be proud of herself.”

Twilight sat up now, still looking morose, but now paying attention to the story more than her own misery. “She didn't want to be Trixie anymore... so she changed her name and she became Shimmer Spell...” She looked down regretfully. “but that didn't change anything, of course. Shimmer was still broken, she was still cold and hungry, and she was still lonely. She thought her life was over... she would just lie there until she died... but then...” A warm smile came to Shimmer's face. “Then a group of ponies came down the road... they took pity on Shimmer, and they gave her good warm food, and brought her to the next town... and when they found out that Shimmer was homeless and jobless... they gave her both.”

“Apollo and his group,” Twilight guessed.

“MmHm. And that's when Shimmer learned... even when you're broken and everything is gone... there's only one way to go... to move forward. Now Shimmer has a life again... she has friends... and she has a lover... But if she hadn't moved on from the side of the road there, she would still be broken and worthless.” She lifted a hoof, raising Twilight's face from staring at the floor to looking at her. “You have to move on and move forward with your life Twilight Sparkle... you can't stay broken forever...”

Twilight ended Shimmer's talk by suddenly rising up and hugging her fiercely. “Thank you Shimmer,” She said. “I'll try... and I won't forget this.”

* * *

As Twilight softly shut the door of her room behind her, the first sunrise of the night was just beginning to become visible in the window. She looked at Sunny Daze, sleeping soundly, curled up in a ball, with the beginning of the sunrise through the window behind her... This was her future, she realized. And she would move on... for this little filly's sake. With her magic, she softly drew the curtains closed before the sun could shine in fully, taking her own place on the room's other bed. As she drifted off to sleep, she wondered, moving on or not, could she ever forgive herself?

* * *

Comments

[Archivist Nightwatch]

so u listed it as alicorn twilight when will we see that?

[ocalhoun]

1908161
Or can it? ^.^

1908424
Stealth Trixie is stealthy ^.^

1912141
Good luck with that; The whole story is already posted in the link in the full description, if you need it.

1908508
She may indeed... and in the next chapter, she'll deal with that some.

1913860
A good plan, I suppose. There are only a few chapters left in book 2, if you want to read one book of it at a time.

1923235
Spoilers.
...but if you must know, book 3 chapter 30. (Chapter LXV) -- It's going to be a while.