//------------------------------// // Chapter 43: Enacting the Rescue // Story: A Rift Between Worlds // by Cinders of War //------------------------------// Sunset Shimmer opened her eyes, looking around the dark shell of Ember’s Warframe encasing her. She had done it. She was back in the Warframe. At that exact moment, something red seemed to begin piercing through Ember’s helmet, slowly drilling its way towards Sunset’s own head. Sunset knew she had to act fast. Concentrating, she watched with amazement as her magic began to fill the inside of the Warframe, powering up its functions and visor, allowing her to see outside once more, looking right into the ugly face of the older Grineer queen. “Sunset Shimmer, you’ve done it,” Ember’s voice congratulated. “I knew you had it in you.” “You okay, Ember?” she asked her Tenno partner. “They didn’t do anything, did they?” “They are attempting to. Show them what you have, Sunset Shimmer.” Smiling to herself, Sunset began channeling her magic towards her head, suddenly launching a straight line of magic through Ember’s helmet, destroying the red drill-like object the queen was holding to her head, knocking her back into a rounded seat, knocking her younger sister down as well. “What is the meaning of this?” the Worm squealed and focused her glowing beady eyes on Sunset and Ember as the girl floated up. Two wide-armored Grineer guards to the sides approached Sunset with their staffs drawn, but the girl turned towards them and flung them back with a wave of blue magic. “Stop her! Guards!” the younger queen yelled as she attended to her frail sister. Two doors on the sides opened, allowing Grineer of all shapes and sizes to pour in, their weapons at the ready. Instead of green armor, these Grineer had red and black, likely marking them as the Queen’s guard. Wasting no time, Sunset sprinted forward, jumping up and kicking off the Worm’s head, launching herself up into the air and grabbing onto a pipe leading to the other side of the red room she was in. The first bullets pelted the metal around her, but the fiery haired girl simply flung herself atop the pipes and ran on, dodging what she could while Ember’s shields protected them from the rest. “Excellent work, Sunset Shimmer. You have improved. My controls are still locked, so I will have to leave it to you until I regain control.” “Don’t worry, Ember,” Sunset answered. “I’ll get us out of here.” Hopping off the pipe at the last second, Sunset slid under a Grineer’s legs before using a wave of magic to launch him into his comrades at a doorway, knocking them all down before she spiraled herself over them, sprinting down the corridor, searching for a way out. She remembered Home Run and Princess Celestia were likely still somewhere on the galleon, so she made it her first priority to find them. “Ember, is Home Run on the map?” “Let me see… I can feel Vauban’s presence; he’s further away. You need to get closer. My functions aren’t available just yet.” “Got it. I’ll just keep going.” Sunset kept her glaxion behind her back, not seeing the need for it while she could blast her enemies away with her own Equestrian magic. This was actually pretty exciting for the her. She didn’t think she’d ever be able to use magic as a human, but these suits really were something else. If she knew they could act as a conduit for her magic sooner, maybe they’d have saved a lot of time and trouble the last few months. A duo of Grineer manics materialized out of the shadows and jumped for Sunset, one on her left and the other on her right. The fiery haired girl channeled more magic and suddenly, she was past them, almost a whole hallway down. The manics turned and saw her, but Sunset blasted them back with a wave of magic, knocking them out. All the corridors started to look the same and if it weren’t for the map she had at the corner of her visor, Sunset was sure she’d never make it out of here. “Wait, there!” Ember suddenly said. Sunset looked up and saw a small blue blip on her map, just west of her location, still on the move. “That’s Vauban. We should regroup.” “No need to tell me twice.” Sunset changed directions, going one hall back and exiting through a different door, looking for a path straight to Home Run and Vauban. She watched his blip stopped and moved, this time turning towards her. Excellent. Come on towards me. Guessing he must’ve seen her on his radar, Sunset used her magic to teleport herself across the room, arriving outside another doorway, where she could hear gunfire on the other side. As she opened he door, the body of a Grineer lancer flew by her, bouncing on the metal floor behind her before stopping on its back. Sunset looked in, watching Home Run club another Grineer down with his hammer, before joining in to help him, using her newly acquired magic to knock every single Grineer in the room back, some falling off the edges and into the machinery below. “Sun-Sunset?” he looked at her and lowered his hammer. “That was cool. How did you- Are you alright?” The fiery haired girl ran up to him and enveloped him in a hug. “I’m fine now. It’s good to see friendly face.” “You can say that again,” Home Run patted her back. “Velvet and Rarity are in the ship. “They’re headed towards me. Speaking of which… Hey, girls, I’ve found Sunset. She’s fine. She’s even got some fancy powers now.” Sunset listened on her comms, but nothing was coming through yet. Ember’s systems must still be down. “Uh, Sunset, Vauban wants to know why he can’t hear Ember,” Home Run said after a short pause. “They did something to the Warframe,” Sunset explained. “The Warframe’s systems are down, but I’m able to power it through my magic. I’ll… I’ll explain all that later. We need to find Princess Celestia.” “Right.” Just then, the door behind Sunset burst open, allowing in two of the large-sized Grineer, one immediately pushing Sunset so hard that she crashed down into Home Run. “More Kuva Guardians, Sunset Shimmer,” Ember spoke in Sunset’s head as she teleported herself and Home Run away from the Grineer’s downward strike. “The Queens’ elite. They are not easy to take down.” Home Run got up and spun his jat kittag in his hands. “Let’s see what these guys are made of.” He took a step forward and swung his hammer as hard as he could towards the guardian’s side, but it raised its weapon and blocked it, stopping it entirely. “What?” the baseball player gasped. “It’s legs are so small. How can it do that?” Then the Grineer pushed, knocking the boy a step back before swinging its staff at him. Sunset stepped between them and projected a barrier of magic, before exploding it in the Kuva Guardian’s face, knocking him down to a knee. The second one approached them with his weapon up, but Sunset quickly teleported past the first one, grabbing his staff and swinging it at the second. “His weapon’s down! Get him, Home Run!” As Sunset whipped up another magical wave, Home Run took his chance to draw his hammer back and approach the first Kuva Guardian. Out of nowhere, the large-armored Grineer brought out two pistols, firing them at the baseball player. Home Run moved from side to side and with the help of Vauban, brought the hammer up to the Grineer’s helmet, launching it up and away to the other side of the room just as Sunset stole the weapon of the second guardian. He pulled out his pistols and pointed them at Sunset’s head, but he was immediately smashed down by Home Run’s hammer. “Great work, Home Run.” “Me?” the boy rested his hammer’s head on the floor. “With all your magical whooshing, the great work definitely belongs to you. I mean, wow. That’s useful. You think the rest of us can learn that?” Sunset smiled, but shook her head. “Unfortunately, Home Run, I can only do this because I’m Equestrian. These Warframes are actually magical conduits. They, uh, power up my innate ability, you see.” “Ummm…” Home Run rubbed his head. “Equestrian. Got it. I’ll leave it at that.” Just then, more Grineer troops emerged from the same doorway, their guns already pointed for Sunset and Home Run. “No time to lose!” Sunset threw up a barrier of magic and pushed Home Run ahead. “Let’s move. No use hanging around here. We’ve gotta find the princess!” “Any idea where she might be? Oh, hold on. Vauban says there’s a detention facility in here. He’ll mark it on the map… and there. Follow me!” Sunset followed behind Home Run, knocking Grineer away with her magic when any of them showed up. With her new powers, it felt like the Grineer weren’t even a threat to her, not even in the slightest. All she had to do was channel her magic and watch it work. “Ember, how’re your systems?” she asked her Tenno partner. “How soon will you be back?” “I saw my control blink for a second, but it stopped. If I have to guess, I’d like to think I can join you soon,” Ember answered. “Hold on to that hope then.” Sunset smirked and launched a magic ball ahead, knocking a Grineer eviscerator down before Home Run could smash his head in. “You know, that magic is really too strong,” Home Run laughed as they continued on. “I mean wow. Seriously. I wish I could do that.” “Ha, I wish you could do it too,” Sunset laughed along with him. “I wish you could all do it. Then we don’t even need to worry about this invasion.” “True.” After another big room with generators, Sunset Shimmer and Home Run found themselves on an upper level, proceeding up a slope, heading deeper through the galleon. “It’s just right around this corner,” Home Run pointed. Just then, two more Kuva Guardians popped up, readying their  staffs in their hands, along with two weird white shapes on their heads. “What are those?” Home Run spun his hammer in his grip. “They look sick.” Suddenly, one of the white things detached from the guardian’s head, flinging itself onto Home Run, latching on to him with its arms and legs. “It’s on me!” the boy flailed around. “Get it off! Vauban, do something!” Then he lifted a hand and grabbed ahold of the creature, tossing it off before latching two tesla grenades on its chest. Electricity arced across the weird creature before it collapsed, its body still shuddering from the current. “Vauban says they’re called Kuva Jesters,” Home Run leaned back as the guardians began their attack, along with one remaining jester. “Pesky little Grineer.” “Easy enough for us,” Sunset whipped up a magical wave, sending it cascading into the guardians, strong enough to knock them over. The remaining jester fell off its guardian and tumbled to the metallic floor, allowing Home Run to finish it with a smash of his jat kittag. Sunset teleported past the downed guardians, stealing their staves from their hands. “Good job, Sunset Shimmer,” Ember said in the girl’s head. Suddenly, Sunset’s arms lifted up and conjured twin fireballs before hurling them at the guardians, immolating them. “My controls are back. You did a good job. Now let’s do this together.” Then Sunset was taken up in a glowing aura as her pony ears appeared atop her head and her hair grew into a ponytail. “Nice!” Home Run finished off one guardian with his hammer. “You’ve got your Warframe powers again!” “Good work, Ember,” Sunset heard Vauban’s voice in her head as his face appeared on the side of her visor. “It’s good to see you again.” “It is good to be back,” Sunset’s Tenno answered. “I thought I would never regain control of my Warframe, but here we are now. Let us find the Lotus and get out of here.” The second Kuva Guardian brandished his pistols, but Sunset brought up a barrier, nullifying them before knocking the Grineer down with a ring of fire. Home Run tossed out a jump pad and launched himself up, returning down with a groundbreaking smash, taking out the last guardian. “That wasn’t too bad,” he laughed. “Let’s get going.” The next door led to a small room with a single console in the middle. Sunset looked at it, but couldn’t figure out a use for it, so they carried on. The next room was at least fifteen times bigger than the one they had just been it. There was a big courtyard-looking area right in the middle, along with ramps that led up to various different platforms all around the room. Sunset made out four different Grineer heavygunners patrolling the area. “Is this it?” Sunset looked to her radar, remembering Ember’s systems were back online. She could now see a little objective marker, pointing them to the back of the room. “The Lotus is close,” Ember confirmed. “The readings lead through that big door there,” Vauban lifted Home Run’s arm and pointed. It was a large rectangular door at the top of one of the ramps. “Two ways in. There’s an underground duct under the ramp, or we could simply hack through the console and get in like that.” “The bottom sounds just fine,” Sunset headed down a ramp and kept low, her gifts from an old friend already kicking in. “Wait back here, Home Run. I’ll go find the princess.” “If you say so,” he whispered and crouched behind a plated cover. Honing her vision, the world around Sunset suddenly turned a dark blue hue, highlighting her enemies in red. She crept towards the main ramp, keeping out of sight of the heavygunners. So far so good. With the Warframe, it was almost too easy to get to the underground duct without getting detected. It helped her move faster and at the same time, making her footsteps more silent. “We were built for stealth infiltrations, Sunset Shimmer,” Ember had told her. Heading in through a dark tunnel, Sunset soon found a panel above her that she could remove. Slowly pushing up at it, she peeked her head out, scanning her surroundings with her eagle vision. She almost couldn’t believe it. There wasn’t a single Grineer in the room. “Cool,” she pushed the panel aside and hopped up into the prison room. “Which cell, Ember?” “My readings don’t say. You’ll have to try them all.” Sunset looked around. There were only four cells, two on a second floor, two below. She decided to start with the bottom, checking out a console by the door, which looked like a lock. “So how does this work?” Ember held out a hand to the console and suddenly, a strange circular screen popped up, along with three shapes around the circle. A smaller circle kept going round and round the edge of the large one. “What is this supposed to be?” “The lock, Sunset Shimmer. Just watch and see how it’s done for this one.” Ember clicked a finger down on a button every time the smaller circle passed over one of the inner shapes, clicking it into the larger circle like the inner workings of a lock. It couldn’t be this easy, could it? Sunset thought to herself. Ember moved the other two shapes into the inner circle and the lock clicked, the light on the console and door turning green. “Seriously…?” Sunset looked at the console again. “They use this as security?” “Don’t bother, Sunset Shimmer,” Ember took over and walked to the door. “We asked that question ages ago. We still do not have the answer.” Not wasting time, Sunset walked through the doors, almost not surprised to find the cell empty. Running to the opposite side, she tried the console there, remembering what Ember had done. In no time, the lock buzzed and turned green, but the cell was also empty. “She must be in one of the second floor cells,” Ember said. Ember took over and leapt up from the ground floor, spinning in the air and sailing high above the second floor platform. Maneuvering her body, Sunset and Ember landed with a light clang, right in front of one of the cell’s consoles. She brought up the cell’s security window, noticing there were seven different locks this time. Waiting for the circle to pass over each one, Sunset pressed down on the button, clicking each lock into place. Once she had cleared them all, she rushed for the cell and flung the doors open, a startled gasp exiting her mouth. Finally, we’ve got her. There on the floor before her, was Princess Celestia.