The Sunset Trilogy

by ocalhoun

Book 2 - Chapter XXXIII

Book 2: Equestria Lost
Chapter 25

The wagon rattled along the cobblestones as Apollo Dawn and his crew made their way out of Hoofington. The sun had only set moments ago, and they would leave the paved road soon. Apollo had been tempted to stay; there was a small, peaceful group of survivors here, seemingly led by a chubby older earth pony mare by the name of Blueberry. She had run a sweet shop before she apparently began running what was left of a town... he could still smell the mouthwatering aromas coming from her parting gifts in the wagon... but his crew couldn't stay here. It was too close to Everfree, and with the collapse of the kingdom, who knew what might come wandering out of there?

As had become his habit lately, he walked alongside Twilight Sparkle. He hadn't liked the mare at first, but he was enjoying having somepony new to talk to... someone other than his crew, since he could pretty much predict what any of them would say on any subject... At least, that's what he told himself, anyway... He glanced over at her, only to see her looking back at him. He quickly looked away again, breaking the unintentional eye contact... now why had he thought it necessary to do that?

As he looked away, he noticed Shimmer walking along with the group dejectedly... She hadn't had any family in Hoofington, or even any real friends, but it was still her home town... Seeing it like this had taken a toll on her, he could tell. He decided to try and talk to her about it, see if he couldn't help her out of this mood a little. As he stepped over to her though, a thin howl cut through the dusk, answered by another.

Twilight stopped walking with a gasp, “It's timberwolves! We used to hear them sometimes in Ponyville, on the other side of the Everfree Forest.”

Albatross's voice cut in from above, “Oh, don't worry, we're still in Hoofington, and headed away from Everfree... we couldn't be safer.”

Apollo told himself there was no need for worry... Albatross was right, after all. He continued on, listening to the staccato beat of the wagon's wheels against the stones. As he looked around at his crew, he saw Needle Point was looking a little nervous... but then again, anything seemed to be able to scare that little mare. The rest of them seemed to accept Albatross's assessment, and were traveling normally... or at least as normally as this little group ever traveled. As he began to relax, another howl rose from behind them... it seemed louder this time.

“They're in the town!” Hair Trigger called out. Apollo looked over to the little pegasus in shock. Timberwolves never left the Everfree Forest! Trigger shot straight upwards with a burst of his wings – he couldn't quite fly but he was able to pop up and hover for just a moment before falling – and landed stiffly, with a puff of dust.

“Did you see them?” Apollo asked, “Are the ponies in the town safe?”

“Yep,” the little orange-maned pegasus said. “But we're not.” Apollo could see the fear on his face. “they've already passed where the ponies are staying... they're headed for us!”

Apollo's heart froze... but only for a moment. This wasn't the first time his team had seen danger, and he wouldn't let it be their last either. As the ponies around him began to run, he yelled out, “Stop!” He had managed to stop them, by shock value alone, perhaps, as they all turned to look at him confusedly. “We can't outrun them with the wagon, and we can't go on without food and water.” He took a fresh look at their surroundings – this seemed to be something of a town square, a big empty circular spot in the road, with a dry fountain in the middle.

“We'll stand here and fight them off,” he said. “Get the wagon over to the fountain there, and get Pebbles unhitched. The rest of you, get the extra firewood out and light it all.” He turned to Twilight and Shimmer, “You two, let's get some kind of barrier up.” He ran right along with the rest of them, unloading firewood from the wagon as Quartermaster worked on getting the first few pieces lit.

* * *

Sunny Daze huddled close to the now roaring bonfire they had made in the center of the dry fountain... she had made sure she was on the side closest to Twilight, and Trigger was at her side... but she was still scared. She realized, as she watched the shadows at the edge of the square warily, that she was the only one here who hadn't been through anything like this before... It wasn't a pleasant thought... what if there was something she was supposed to do, and she didn't know about it?

She let a little gasp escape when she saw the first pair of eyes in the shadows, glinting off from the firelight. She shot over closer to Trigger, who still looked into the shadows defiantly.

* * *

“Umm, Shimmer,” Apollo asked a little nervously, as he too began to see the eyes in the shadows, “Are you and Twilight about ready with that spell?”

“I think she's got it,” Twilight replied, to Apollo's surprise. “I learned this one from my brother. Just needed a few quick modifications to be cast by two ponies instead of one.” She turned, and said a little quieter, “You ready, Shimmer?”

“Ready,” came Shimmer's voice from the other side of the fire.

“Then let's go,” Twilight called out, and her horn began to glow brightly. Peering around the fire, he could see Shimmer's also glowing... oddly not her usual color, but a bright violet. As he noticed that, twin beams of light, the same color, shot up and met overhead above the fire, where they stopped and spread out in a circle... falling down and becoming more transparent until they formed a dome over the whole group.

“Nice going!” Apollo congratulated her, “we'll be safe now.”

“Well...” Twilight said, with difficulty, groaning under the strain of keeping the shield up, “I'm no Shining Armor though... I can't... make it as big as he can... and... I can't hold it up as long.”

“How long?” He asked.

“With... Shimmer helping... an hour maybe?”

Apollo winced. The wolves were visible now, prowling around the outside of the shield. He could see Twilight wince every time one of them tried to push through it... No, this wouldn't do at all... He looked at them... ugly creatures, the looked like walking woodpiles... but with sharp edges and lots of teeth. He didn't want them anywhere near his crew. He looked back at his crew worriedly. They all looked either grim or fearful now... He turned his eyes back on the wolves again, instinctively backing away a little... and winced away with a start as he got a little too close to the now overheated stones of the fountain.

With a start, he looked back at the wolves, their wooden forms menacing in the flickering firelight... He looked back at the fire... and to the wolves again... the wooden wolves... he looked back at the fire again... and he had an idea.

“Twilight,” he asked, “Can your spell let ponies through without letting the wolves in?”

“That's... what it always does.” She responded, sweat beginning to break out on her face.

He broke into a challenging smile. “Albie! Come on, we're going to do some bombing runs!”

As his assistant looked at him in confusion, then turned to the other ponies around the fire. “Line some wood up around the fire... break of pieces of the wagon if you have to.” They looked at him in confusion as well, until he flew up to the fire, grabbing the end of a piece that hadn't completely caught on fire yet. As he flew up through the barrier, well above the wolves, his crew seemed to finally understand what he was doing.

* * *

Sunny cheered as another wolf ran away, engulfed in flames. Quickly she turned back to her task of helping the other ponies line up wood by the fire. She set out another piece, just right so that part of it would be in the fire, part out... as Albatross whizzed back in grabbing one of the pieces she had set out earlier, and whisking back up into the air again. Her fear was mostly forgotten now. Now she was excited to be helping... proud to see that her efforts were helping.

“Only two left!” Hair Trigger called out. He was far from Sunny now, circling around the inside of the barrier... He had been put on wolf spotting and counting duty soon after things got going, and he had helped a lot too... even warning Apollo about the wolf that was waiting for him on a rooftop. Her pride extended to him for some reason too... she was proud of him!

She paused for a moment, looking out again, in time to see a flaming piece of the wagon's sideboard lodge itself in a wolf's face.

“Last one! Get em!” Trigger called out. “It's over there under the tree!”

The tree on the edge of the square was dangerous, as the two pegasi had quickly learned. Sunny remembered screaming in fright when she had seen one of them almost get Albatross as he darted under the tree to try and hit a wolf hiding there... Their flaming wooden 'bombs' got caught up in and bumped around by the tree. They couldn't hit the wolves from above there, so he had been swooping down under it...

She watched as Apollo and Albatross circled around the tree, looking for an opening... neither one seemed to want to go down in there again... It was on the side closest to Sunny, so she had a good view. Next to her, she heard Twilight give a gasp and collapse. She rushed over in concern, but she found her friend exhausted, but okay. She sighed with relief, looking up... just in time to see cracks appear in the dome's surface... and spread... and then the whole thing collapsed into sparkling shards of magic.

She heard a snarl to her left, and she turned to see the last timberwolf running towards her... now with nothing in between. She froze in terror. She wanted to run, but she couldn't. She stood trembling as the wolf zig-zagged to the side, avoiding the piece of wood Apollo threw at it, turning back and heading... straight for her.

Time seemed to slow, and she was transfixed on the wolf as it drew closer... It seemed like she couldn't see anything else. She shrank down as it was about to reach her. She wanted to scream, but her voice seemed like it was gone... It was right there in front of her, mouth open wide... she would feel its bite any moment... But suddenly, a pair of big, green hooves hit it from the side.

Knocked to the side, it missed Sunny, continuing on in its charge. It wasn't able to stop fast enough... and hit the edge of the fountain, flipping over and landing in the fire on its back. It let out a horrible wail, and shot out of the fire faster than she had seen anything move before, howling all the way. She watched it breathlessly as it ran away... but before it vanished from view, it slowed, then stopped... and after a moment more, its howling stopped too.

She turned around to see Pebbles looking at her with a warm grin on her face. She ran up to the big green mare and jumped up into a hug. She had just saved her life!

* * *

Comments

[0]

whew, 43k words in a sit... wait, its has already been published? Darn, it's 4am. Enjoyable story.

[ocalhoun]

Just published the last chapter of book 2.
Almost halfway done!
Yes, book 3 is longer by itself than everything else so far. Enjoy!

1941637
Take a break there, buddy!
Too much to read all at once.

And thanks!

[Commander Darklight]

i forgot how damn long the third book is

[Amos Anon]

With a start, he looked back at the wolves, their wooden forms menacing in the flickering firelight... He looked back at the fire... and to the wolves again... the wooden wolves... he looked back at the fire again... and he had an idea.

It seems we were thinking the same things.