//------------------------------//
// The Road to Saddle Arabia, Part 1 
// Story: Sunset Rekindled 
// by EldritchNexus 
//------------------------------//

Captain Shining Armor and Royal Commander Star Shield were along the river, overseeing the search for Bloodwing's body. There were royal guards from the Baltimare garrison searching every which way. Eventually, Flash Sentry went up to the two leaders.

"Dad--I mean, commander." Flash said to Star Shield. "We've checked all the riverbanks. Firewing's nowhere to be seen."

"Not too surprising." said Shining Armor. "Sunset Shimmer told me he was blasted to bits with one of his own explosives."

"I didn't know she had it in her." said Flash.

"She didn't." said Star Shield. "Someone else did the deed. But that's beside the point. Even if Firewing was blown apart like what Miss Shimmer described, we should still find bits and pieces of him somewhere."

"That's the thing." said Flash. "There's no evidence of him being dead. No blood, no body. Nothing. Neither in the river, nor on the shores. The only thing we found were pieces of some kind of prosthetic leg in the ruins of the fort."

"Firewing had a prosthetic leg." Star Shield told Shining Armor and Flash. "Then he can't be too far away, unless..."

He paused uncertainly.

"He isn't dead." he said finally, with an ominously grim expression on his face.





The Summerstar had already passed over the eastern coast of Equestria, just as Princess Celestia's sun sank into the West. They were now flying over the ocean, en route to Saddle Arabia. Felix Summerset and Sunset Shimmer were sitting together in the lounge room.

"To think that this airship once belonged to my uncle Lionel." Felix mused. "Incredible."

"That's right, Felix." said Sunset. "And now, I guess it belongs to me and my friends. At first, we were just going to use it to get back to Canterlot from Las Pegasus, but I guess we've grown fond of using it. Now it's pretty much our Mystery Machine...our Starship Enterprise, our Mil--"

"I'm sorry, but I don't understand what any of those are." said Felix, puzzled.

"Oh, well it's not too important, anyway." said Sunset.





Meanwhile, Radiant Dawn was talking with his parents and grandfather.

"So, you're my grandpa, huh?" Radiant asked Crimson Blade. "I heard my mom talking about you."

"And I actually heard quite a bit about you, Radiant Dawn." said Crimson Blade. "Your mother used to send me mail telling me about you...before her disappearance, anyway. Told me you were quite the momma's boy around her."

Radiant blushed, and chuckled a little.

"And he's recently proven to be quite the fighter." added Scarlet Blaze. "You would be proud of him, father."

"I think I already am." said Crimson Blade. "Congratulations on your recent promotion, grandson. I'm sure you'll make a great captain."

"Thanks, grandpa." said Radiant.

"I can tell that you've inherited the strength and finesse of a true Saddle Arabian." said Crimson. "And I'm not just saying this because of how tall you are."

"Well, that's just how mom raised me." said Radiant. "She's probably the biggest influence on my life."

"That's very true." said Golden Sun. "I'm certainly not ashamed to admit that my wife is more a warrior than me or any of my own ancestors have ever been."

"But my husband makes up for it by being so kind and smart." said Scarlet, blushing with her eyes closed. "I've been proud to bear his children." --she opened her eyes again and turned to Radiant--"Especially you, son."

Radiant Dawn nodded his head nervously.





Sunset Shimmer found herself asleep in her room. She twisted and turned in bed in her slumber. She started to whimper, but her eyes did not open. She began to squeal and mutter incoherently, even as the door to her bedroom opened. Radiant Dawn peered inside to investigate the strange noises, and was aghast to see his sister flailing around in her slumber. It took Radiant a while to realize that Sunset was trying to gallop her hooves, like a dog would try to run as it dreamed.

"Sunny..." Radiant whispered. "Wake up...please!"

Sunset kept whimpering, and even her eyes started to twitch and shed tears.

"No...I can't believe this!" Sunset suddenly shouted, horrifyingly loud. "I just won't! Noooooooooooooooooo!!!"

Her horn started to glow, and a strange three-dimensional image of some kind projected from it. But it disappeared before Radiant could make sense of what it was. Then her eyelids snapped open and she was awake again, and looking her brother in the eyes.

"Sunny, what happened?" said Radiant Dawn. "Bad dream?"

Sunset nodded slowly, sweating all over.

"I've never seen you do anything like that in your sleep." said Radiant.

"Anything like what?" asked Sunset.

"You were moving and yelling and stuff while you were sleeping." said Radiant. "I've never seen you do that when you slept."

"You're right." Sunset said. "But the dream...it was just...horrible."

"Why must Trixie be disturbed by--" Trixie loudly shouted as she went to investigate the raised voices, but stopped when she saw Sunset sweating and shaking all over as Radiant held her in his front hooves. "By Celestia, what happened to her?"





Sunset Shimmer sat in the lounge area with Pressure Point, Felix Summerset, and Golden Sun. Pressure Point was magically scanning her body for any infections or illnesses that might be responsible for her sudden behavior, while Felix and Golden Sun were trying to get her to calm down.

"Sunset, dear..." said Golden Sun. "What's the matter? What happened?"

Sunset started to twitch, then she suddenly ran to a nearby trash can and noisily vomited into it. Then she went back to her seat slowly and mechanically.

"Daughter, are you sick?!" said Golden Sun.

"She can't be sick."  said Pressure Point, whose horn was still glowing. "There aren't any signs of poisoning, injury, or infection anywhere in her body. Or at least, nothing that would make her act like this."

"Then what is making her behave this way, doctor?" asked Felix.

"I'd say some kind of traumatic or mental breakdown of some sort." said Pressure Point. "I think we should let her lay down for a moment."

Sunset Shimmer slowly opened her mouth, as if to speak. Felix leaned over to help her stay in place.

"Take a minute to get a hold of yourself, Miss Sunset." said Felix.

"I'm f-fine now." she choked out, nervously.

"Sunset, honey." said Golden Sun. "What happened?"

"It was a nightmare." said Sunset. "Probably one of the worst I've had in my life."

"Can you describe it?" asked Felix. "I mean, if you can bring yourself to do so."

"I'll try." Sunset nodded, and began to describe the dream.





Sunset Shimmer found herself trotting slowly through a flat, featureless desert with no signs of life for miles. The hot sun was beginning to set, when a long streak of green light shot over the horizon. It was like a shooting star, but much bigger. The object hit the sand-dunes not too far from where Sunset was, and caused the earth beneath her to shake out-of-control. She heard and felt a low rumbling as the shockwaves issued from the spot where the object landed. Several fissures and sinkholes opened up in the desert, only to be filled once more by sand. Sunset Shimmer fell over as one of the fissures opened between her legs.

Fortunately, she didn't fall in, but rather to the side. As soon as the clouds of sand that rode the shockwaves cleared, Sunset ran to where the mysterious object fell, and was surprised to see that several tall ponies were all standing on and around it. She tried to call out to them, but none of them heeded her words. They were all feeling and walking all over the object, which seemed to be a giant glowing rock that was at least fifteen feet in diameter and three times as long in length.

"Ganto-Mahsu declinu." Sunset heard one of the ponies utter in a foreign language she doubted was ever spoken today. "Pekk-pekk. Mahsu, Pekk."

One of the stallions in the crowd, a lean pegasus, took off into the air, and landed on the top of the giant rock. He beckoned for the others to move aside as he scrutinized a series of rune-like symbols etched into the sides. He put his hoof on one rune, then another, and then two at once.

Suddenly, the rock began to glow brighter and started to vibrate. Several of the ponies that were on the rock with the pegasus fell or rolled off the rock, but the pegasus stayed atop the rock, still touching the symbols. The pegasus slowly began to transform. But the transformation did not daunt the others, who simply climbed back on with him. They too began to change their appearance. Some took beautiful shapes that would easily rival those of the four alicorn princesses, while others took vile, monstrous forms.

Suddenly, Sunset's vision blurred, and cleared again a minute later. There was loud whinnying in the distance, and Sunset turned to see an entire army of large earth ponies approaching the rock and the transformed equines. They were all wearing Ancient Egyptian-esque attire and battered armor. Some were carrying spears while others had slings and javelins.  Sunset wondered where they all came from, since she didn't see them before. Shecould only assume this happened later on.

"You will pay for what you monsters have done to our civilization!" said the leader of the newcomers, whose cold voice sounded vaguely familiar to Sunset. "You draw power from this monolith?! Fools! I will show you what power really is! My people shall be avenged, even if it mean sacrificing all our lives!"

Then the leader stomped on the ground hard, and a fissure even larger than the ones produced by the rock spread fifty yards forward, forcing the transformed equines to break away from the rock. While some of them fled into the distance, the others charged head-long towards the army, and a massive battle ensued. Suddenly, Sunset's vision was obscured by a rolling sand-storm that appeared at that moment. Though she couldn't see or feel anything, she could hear the sounds of battle and screams of agony. But by the time the storm cleared, the battle had already ended to a horrible sight: Everypony on both sides was dead.

At least, all except for one of the newcomers, who Sunset recognized as the leader from earlier.

"Are...are you okay?" Sunset asked, stupidly.

The leader said nothing to her, nor even turned his head in her direction. Instead, he approached the monolith that the Altered Ones coveted so much.

"So whatever do we have here?" the leader said aloud, even though there was nopony alive for him to speak with.

"Don't touch it!" Sunset shouted in vain.

The earth pony leader removed the striped coif from his head, revealing his curly black mane and allowing Sunset to see his black eyes. He had a strange grin on his face.

"I may have lost all my soldiers." mused the leader, as he circled the monolith. "But now I have you. I don't know what you are...but you must be worth losing most of my people for. Maybe I can restore them to their former glory."

"Leave it alone, please! Listen to me!" said Sunset. "That thing's bad news!"

Then she gave up, deciding she would never be heard by him. Instead, she began approaching the monolith as the leader touched it. The rock glowed brightly once more, and started to vibrate again.

"Yes!" shouted the leader. "I can feel it! Oh, it feels so good! This power is incredible, unlike anything this world has ever seen!"

Sunset Shimmer now had a very uncomfortable feeling she knew who this earth pony was. She just had to stop him.

"Stop!" she charged at him, her horn glowing.

Suddenly her vision blurred, and she heard a deep, menacing voice she never heard in waking-life speak directly to her, even as she kept galloping into what was now nothingness.

"What you saw was the past..." said the voice. "One that exists in the present cannot hope to change it. For what was done, little unicorn, has already been done. But the future looks no less dark for you, my little pony."

A large, thin shadowy bipedal figure with both hooves and horns stood in front of her, amid a neverending dark void. He didn't seem like a minotaur, but rather...like something else.

"The clock is ticking, and it will soon be the time to put the other pieces into place."

A fleeting series of horrible, violent images of what looked like an apocalyptic Equestria coursed through Sunset's subconscious: Canterlot crumbling from the side of the mountain it was built upon, Baltimare being washed away by a tsunami, Appleoosa being ripped to shreds by multiple cyclones, massive riots breaking out in Las Pegasus, and a great fissure splitting Manehatten in two. The images kept coming and coming, each more gruesome than the last. Unable to take anymore, Sunset cried out in fear and disbelief, and opened her eyes.





"Goodness, Sunset." said Golden Sun, his eyes widened and voice quivering. "That sounds...horrible."

"I don't know if it's supposed to be for real, but I have a feeling that that's what King Nelphyn could do if he succeeds in conquering Saddle Arabia." Sunset Shimmer said.

"But what about that other vision you had, with the falling rock?" asked Pressure Point, curiously.

"I don't know, but I think that King Nelphyn might have some sort of connection with it." said Sunset. "I think it's time for me to hit the books again. Felix, I think I might need your help with it."

"Of course, Miss Sunset." said Felix.