• Published 11th Dec 2012
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The Sunset Trilogy - ocalhoun



Twilight Sparkle faces the end of the world as she knows it. An epic three book series depicting the fall of Equestria and the rise of a new nation from the ashes.

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Book 3 - Chapter XLIII

Book 3: Equestria Abides
Chapter 9

The huge building loomed above Twilight and her new friends, indomitable and impenetrable so far. Like most of the buildings in Las Pegasus, it had been locked up tight for some reason. Surely there had been some survivors of the plague... but where had they gone, and why had they locked everything up behind them?

“Come on, come on!” Apollo's voice could be heard from around the corner where he was struggling with a big bay door. “Just a little more...”

A snap and a crashing sound later, Twilight saw Apollo fly out from behind the corner, landing with something almost exactly unlike grace, upside down on the pavement, half a crowbar still in his hooves. He shook his head, eyes rattling around for a moment, before noticing Twilight still standing there.

As the echoes of the crash died down from out of the empty streets and blank building faces, Apollo looked up at her a little sheepishly. “Uh... a little help?”

She just gave him a little grin and trotted around the corner as he struggled back to his feet. “Trigger told me you might be needing a little help,” she said amusedly, coming face to face with the door Apollo had been struggling with. She found Needle Point and Quartermaster already there next to the door, inspecting the damage done to it... which only amounted to a few scratches, despite the pile of discarded or broken tools beneath it.

“Jus' don know whats wrong with this here door,” the elderly pony said, “It's jus' too strong!”

She walked up to it and looked at it closely... she could feel something odd about it. Curious, she touched her horn to the door, opening her magical senses to see what had been done to it... she could feel something... something powerful, and it seemed to be building up for something... She was promptly thrown backwards, flying straight into Apollo who was just now getting back on his feet.

“Ugh,” The pegasus pony moaned from beneath Twilight, thrown onto the hard cobbles of Las Pegasus's roads for the second time in under a minute. “I think I'll just stay here this time.”

“That,” Twilight said as she staggered to her feet, and turned back to roughly face the door again... she was pretty sure that at least one of those three doors was the real one, after all, “That was one hay of a ward spell!”

“A what?” Apollo asked, now from a more comfortable pose, but still laying in the street. Apparently he hadn't been kidding about staying put this time.

Twilight shook her head, punished by a hint of a headache it generated, but rewarded in that the three doors in front of her merged into just one, clearing her vision. “A ward spell... it's kind of like a magical lock... it's meant to protect things.” She approached it again, much more cautiously this time. “And this is one doozy of a ward spell!”

She gestured down at the pile of broken and failed tools. “That's why all your tools could barely even scratch the door... it has some powerful protections on it.” She eyed it closely. “But that's a good sign. Ponies wouldn't put such a powerful spell to lock the door if there wasn't something important inside! ... Now, if I could just find the unlock trigger and–”

A bright yellow flash shot out and Twilight found herself once again on top of the unfortunate Apollo Dawn somehow.

“Okay...” She said, shakily, looking up at the concerned faces of Needle and Quartermaster, “maybe that wasn't such a great idea after all.” Back on her feet again, she planted herself firmly. “Okay, door, you've met your match... you want to do this the hard way, we'll do this the hard way!”

Apollo peeked at her from safely around the corner, watching her as her horn began to glow brightly, growing into a huge violet aura above her head. The surrounding buildings began to shake a little as the whole street lit up with purple light.

A laser thin beam of light shone out through Twilight's horn, now pointed directly at the door, and it was met with the now-familiar yellow flash... but the flash didn't go away this time, sustaining itself like a luminescent bubble protecting the door. Through the strain on Twilight's face, a smug grin could be seen growing. Her little tendril of magic stayed the same miniscule width, but suddenly grew incredibly bright, threatening to blind anypony who looked at it too long as it surged with raw power.

The protective bubble around the door seemed to surge for a moment, matching Twilight's beam in increasing its power, only to falter after just a moment of the onslaught, vanishing altogether with an odd popping noise, it sent a ripple around the base of the whole building, blowing back anypony close to it as the ward spell broke completely and Twilight's beam disintegrated the door.

Twilight looked at her handiwork, panting a little. The door was now completely obliterated, shattered to smoldering splinters. Needle Point and Quartermaster both looked on, mouths agape... they had never seen magic like that, Twilight supposed. She wavered on her feet for a moment... neither had she very often, for that matter. Whoever had set that spell was either really powerful or had a lot of help.

“Heh, see,” She said, struggling through her new exhaustion and looking over at the corner of the building for Apollo, “No trouble at all.”

Her weakened bravado was wasted on Apollo though, who was lying groaning in the street once more, blown away from where the shock wave from the ward spell breaking had hit him. “I knew I should have stayed home today,” he grumbled, rising to his feet once again. “Well, let's go see what needed to be protected so well. I hope this was all worth it.”

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