But the Sun Refused to Set

Rainbow groaned. She blindly fished for a bottle of cider on the floor and tipped it into her mouth. Not even a drop. She sighed. It was going to be a long day. A sudden pinch on the back of her head forced her to open her eyes. She stared.

Pinkie Pie, clad in blood and fire, sheepishly stared back at her. “Heya, Dashie.”

Rainbow had been the first of her friends to learn not to question Pinkie Pie, but even she couldn't help but ask the obvious question. “Pinkie, what did you do?”

Pinkie pouted. “I didn’t do anything yet!”

Rainbow knew that it had been a mistake as soon as she asked the first question, and knew that asking a second one would only compound that mistake. She knew better than anyone that the only winning move was not to play. But even knowing that, how could she possibly resist? Her lips began to move on their own. She tried to hold out, but it was no use. Her curiosity was too strong. She resigned herself to the inevitable. Whatever Pinkie was up to was about to become her problem.

“Yet?”

Pinkie yanked a hair out of Rainbow’s mane. “Let me explain. No, there is too much. Let me sum up. What you see outside is a Blood Sun. Twilight left the library to talk to Discord about it a little less than ten minutes ago. My left knee twitched twice followed by an itch on my right ear just a few minutes ago, which means somebody is about to make a Pinkie Promise, and given the timing, the person about to make a Pinkie Promise has gotta be Discord. However, to reach his house, I need a trans-dimensional cake.” She held aloft the rainbow hair. “And to make one, I need a sliver of a rainbow. Thanks for that, by the way.”

“But Pinkie, my hair isn’t… never mind. Do you know what caused this ‘Blood Sun’?’”

She shrugged. “No idea! I usually let Twilight figure out stuff like that. I’d offer to help, but last time I tried to help her brainstorm, I got banned from the library chalkboard for a month.”

Rainbow smirked. “You know, Pinkie, that may be the first reasonable thing you’ve said.”

“Thanks!”

Rainbow laughed. “So, what are you going to do next?”

“I’ve still got some ingredients to gather. Want to help me?”

“What do you need?”

“I need three alicorn eggs, a golem’s heart, a pinch of moondust, the four winds, and a half cup of molten gold.”

“Uh… good luck with that. Let me know if you need me to point the elements at somebody.”

“Come on, Dashie, it’ll be fun!”

“Pinkie, I love an adventure as much as the next mare, but, like, some of those things don’t even exist. How are we supposed to find alicorn eggs? They don’t even lay eggs.”

Pinkie pouted. “Please?”

“And moondust? What, do you think Princess Luna’s got chunks of the moon just sitting around?”

“Pretty please?”

“And what’s the plan with the four winds? Are we just going to put ‘em in a jar?”

“Pretty pretty, please?”

“You’re not listening to a word I’m saying, are you?”

“Nope!”

Rainbow sighed in defeat. “I guess now I know how Twilight feels. Fine, I’ll tag along. But you owe me.”

Pinkie beamed. “You won’t regret it!”

“I already do.”

* * *

Sunset left the library at dusk. She was intensely uncomfortable, and not only because of the icy wind whipping around her cloak. No, she could handle the cold. What she couldn’t handle was the complete and total silence. It wasn’t just the ponies in town, either. No crickets chirped. No owls hooted. No coyotes howled. One would be forgiven for assuming that it was the dead of winter, though it was only early autumn.

Sunset gripped her map tighter as the wind nearly blew it out of her magic. Twilight had insisted on giving her a map, despite her assurances that she knew the way to the Everfree Forest. It was… irritating. Even more irritating was Twilight’s complete refusal to acknowledge what had happened that morning. It would be one thing to be rejected, but it was quite another to be ignored, her feelings pushed aside like some official princess business that Twilight just didn’t have time to get to yet. She shook her head. That wasn’t fair to Twilight, and she knew it. Twilight had gone through a lot recently, between her sleeping problems, the Blood Sun, and Sunset’s confession. She just needed to give her time to process it all. Knowing that didn’t make waiting any easier, though.

She looked up at the sky. The last rays of sunlight had already dissipated, leaving the sky well and truly dark, lit only by the stars and a scarcely visible new moon. She looked down at her hooves. The stone path that led out of the town was now a dirt road, with room for little more than a single wagon. This was no Canterlot, that was for sure. The chill wind was growing more intense, despite the abundance of trees to cut it. In fact, it almost seemed to be coming from the Everfree itself. She used her magic to tighten her cloak and pressed onwards.

Perhaps because of the wind, or perhaps merely because her mind was preoccupied, Sunset didn’t immediately notice when the forest began to speak. At first, it was nothing more than the faint skittering of a squirrel. Then came the quiet flaps of a songbird’s wings. Finally, a howling timberwolf broke her from her reverie. Then two. Then five. They were close. She paused to ignite her horn. The faint but familiar smell of burnt hair filled her nostrils, and she breathed it in deeply. The timberwolves, of course, were of little concern to a fire mage such as herself, but she preferred not to kill them when she could ward them off instead.

She continued this way for the better part of an hour, occasionally stepping over tree roots and under low hanging branches. She had some time ago passed the edge of the Everfree, yet Discord was nowhere to be found. A terrible thought occurred to her. What if this was all some cruel joke of his? What if he never intended to talk with her at all, just to send her on a wild goose chase through the Everfree until she slipped up and touched poison joke or ran into a cockatrice. He didn’t have a sense of humor that twisted, did he? She shook her head. She came this far; she would just have to see it through.

Then she felt it, and her heart sank. A single drop of water hit her back. Then her nose. Then her horn. She looked up. The storm clouds were dark and sat low in the sky, nearly touching the tops of the trees above. That wasn’t a good sign. She had a few minutes at most before her fire would be put out, and then… it wasn’t worth thinking about. What was wrong with her? How could she have missed the brewing storm? Why didn’t she just kill those timberwolves? What had happened to her common sense? She had lived here, once upon a time. Was it all that time in the human world? That didn’t seem quite right, but nothing else made sense. The howling timberwolves seemed to be growing closer, as if they knew what was to come. She steeled herself. Now was not the time for panic. She needed a plan. She needed someplace to hide during the storm. A cave would do nicely, but she hadn’t seen one for miles. The rain began to pick up, and it became slightly more difficult for her to keep her horn ablaze.

She had less time than she thought. She could hear them clearly now. There were six of them howling, though there were probably a few more in the pack. They were less than a minute away, and there would be no outrunning them. They must have been following the scent of smoke. They were smarter than most. She didn’t have time to keep looking for shelter. She needed to act. Time for plan C.

To other ponies, the tree would look perfectly normal, but Sunset knew what to look for. The bark was thick and slightly green, but the branches were thin and fragile, and a whole host of mushrooms surrounded the base. Despite the healthy bark, this tree was dying. A small hole on the side of the tree no bigger than a horn’s width was all she needed, and she found it. She stuck her horn into the tree and ignited it. She sat there for a moment, waiting. She was rewarded with an explosion of heat as the fire ignited the rotting wood inside the tree. A fire on the outside of the tree wouldn’t last in the coming tempest, but a fire on the inside would last for hours.

The storm began in earnest, waves of water crashing down on her back, and winds nearly taking her off her feet. She could see them now, hulking masses of wood and vine, eleven strong and quickly approaching. She dug in her heels as best she could, though the dirt beneath her hooves was quickly turning to mud. The timberwolves, seeing that she wasn’t moving, slowed their approach. Their rancid breath hung heavy in the air as they slowly inched closer, overwhelming even the scent of the burning tree behind her. They were close now, only a dozen feet away, but still she waited. She knew that they wouldn’t scare easily, not now, not when they were so close to a meal. They needed more than a little spark.

Suddenly, one made its move. It launched towards her throat, clearly intending to end this with one move. Sunset flicked her horn, and from a tiny hole in a dead tree poured forth a blinding fire that instantly charred wood, melted vine, and boiled sap. Even the pouring rain wasn’t enough to save the timberwolf. It whined, shuddered, and died in the sopping mud. The other timberwolves scrambled away from the sudden blaze, but even the death of their packmate wasn’t enough to rout them. A strange clapping sound echoing through the woods, however, was. Sunset watched as they turned tail and ran as if hell itself were behind them.

“Very impressive, Sunset Shimmer. You never cease to entertain. Might I tempt you for a spot of tea?”