- A year ago, before destinies changed –
The thrum of the silent vessel was sadly something that she had gotten used to in the last few years, one of the many different things she had become accustomed to; one of the few advantages of being the only person that had travelled across different worlds and realities.
“So, this is it?” The planet was unlike anything she had seen before; while most planets in the Hegemony could be put into three different categories, this planet was completely out of the norm. There were metropolis, rural and then there were the new planets, the newly colonized ones and those were the most dangerous at times, but this one, it seemed almost abandoned if it weren’t for the unnatural man-made creation in the distance.
“I don’t know why you wanted to come to this place, but I suggest you to go out and let me leave,” the man that had brought her to the planet said. He owned her a favor when he got in trouble with some local thugs and she had asked him to bring her to this forgotten planet.
“I have something to do and basically, this is my only chance to do it. This is the only answer I could find that could help me. Thank you for bringing me here.” The man smiled, but Sunset could still see how terrified he was about this place, That did not bode well, or maybe it just maybe confirmed what she had heard about this place.
“Well, I’m not sure if you are brave or crazy for wanting to come to this place, but for what I heard about this thing, then you are definitely in trouble.”
“Not in trouble, I just… need to save someone. Still, this is what I’ve been looking. Thank you Kobe, I appreciate you helping me this time.”
“Don’t mention it Sunset, I owed you a big one… so, this is goodbye. I mean, you either die in there or… go back to do what you need to do and I never heard of you.”
“I’m afraid so. Either way, it was nice knowing you.” And with that, the redheaded woman put on her favorite jacket, the one she had with her when the portal spit her into this age and walked into the world outside.
It was dark, the sky was dark and it smelled of gunpowder, blood and despair. Well, that was basically her imagination, but it was an ominous place. Truthfully, in a way it made Sunset think of the last few years, walking everywhere and traveling across the stars, never staying in one place. The nightmares and the Hegemony never let her get settled down.
Guilt and fear was a terrible combination to be able to have a normal life, even less conductive to sleep at night, but in the last three years she had grown used to the idea of always having the image of Twilight Sparkle asking for her help burned under her eyelids.
Sunset Shimmer, once a promising student of the ruler of her country, then a budding student on Earth, now nothing more than a space vagrant. What a travel it was as she looked at her new destination, the answer to all of her problems. It was so crazy she didn’t think anyone would be able to believe any part of it.
The ship that had brought her here did not lose any time to skip from this terrible place, its ion engines going online as quickly as it could to escape the planet. On deck she could see Kobe’s wide grin as he waved his goodbye; She didn’t want Kobe to face the problems she would get into. He was a naïve boy always getting into trouble with the wrong kind of people, but she couldn’t protect him all the time, she had a mission to finish. She knew that if everything went well she wouldn’t need a ship out of the planet, if things went bad, well, she wouldn’t have a need for it either.
It was a pessimistic way to look at things, but at this point in time Sunset was more than a little jaded with all the different ‘magical’ solutions around the galaxy that would bring her back to her friends being fakes or simply legends with real substance. No, so far she has only found disappointment and lies. This time was the last time; either she found the answer, or she will die trying. The place certainly looked like it.
An ominous glowing face as an entrance, with the fortress doing its best to remind Sunset of a horror movie location, with the mist rising across the place, hiding anything of interesting, with only old banners and broken weapons visible, making the place even creepier.
It was probably one of the creepiest places she had seen in her life, and considering she had traveled across the galaxy that was saying something. All across the Hegemony she had seen majestic metropolis and also the worst of hive worlds, all in search of the power that she could find inside.
“Whatever you are thinking of, I can assure you, it is even worse inside.” The voice made Sunset jump in surprise, her hand ready to unleash her magic. Thankfully, the man that had spoken to her was simply smiling as he sat on top of a steel briefcase.
He wasn’t wearing the Hegemony colors and uniform. Instead, it seemed almost like an old-school military uniform, long and red with black highlights. It probably reached his knees due to how long it was. Instead of looking at her he was reading something on his… smartphone? At least it looked like it, instead of the usual datapads that people used around the Hegemony.
“Excuse me?” Something felt… wrong with the man, that Sunset knew after being acquainted with strange phenomena all her life, either as a human or a pony. It was like sixth sense in terms of magic, probably what allowed her to see the magic of the Dazzlings. It was like a cloud around the man, but it wasn’t darkness or strife which encircled him. It was way more primal. It showed how utterly bizarre he was even though he was at first sight entirely human.
“Sorry, you were thinking about the Gungeon, right? Everybody does it when they reach this place,” he said standing up and looking at the creepy fortress at the end of the sinuous road. The glow dimmed and intensified at intervals, almost as if the construction was breathing, as if it were alive.
“I… I think this is a really creepy place.” She wasn’t lying. Everything about the structure screamed danger, but no matter. This was an important place that she needed to conquer.
“You should be wary, dungeons as mysterious and powerful as this always have that effect on those that can feel its energy,” he said once more with the smile. “But still, you took your sweet time coming to this place Sunset Shimmer.” Once more the man had surprised her. After all that she had lived through, she knew when something was wrong or she was about to enter into a trap.
“How did you know my name? Do I know you?”
“No… at least not directly, but I’ve heard of you, because the person that told you about the gungeon was a tall, British man wearing a suit, glasses and an umbrella, am I right?” At those words she relaxed just a bit. She remembered the gentleman, he who had paid for a coffee at the last planet she had been living in. It was his manners and his vast knowledge about the galaxy that made her take her things and ask Kobe for one last trip. Sadly, the man had disappeared as mysteriously as he had appeared when she went to thank him and nobody knew where he went or who he was.
“You two know each other… he told you about me, but why? Who are you?” Sunset was surprised. Very few times she had found people that wanted to help her, not since the past, back at Canterlot High.
“Well, I built his house… and his umbrella, which he hasn’t yet paid me for it. Always remember to charge for those things immediately, or people can take their sweet time in paying you,” he said taking his steel briefcase. “As for who am I? Well, the Gungeon has this aura around it, it makes people simply… disregard its past, not that I do that. After all, I have too much past,” he said in what was obviously an inside joke. “If he is The Observer, I am The Architect. So, now that we know each other, he said you may be going into the Gungeon. He just never said why.”
“Does it change why? For what I’ve heard, lots of people come in here for treasures and such. It is a dungeon after all.” It was as good an answer as any other when it came to places like this. What was the difference?
“Ah, but you see, this is a special dungeon after all, considering what you can find right in the heart of it. No one comes here and face death JUST for the actual treasure, IF there is any. No, there is only one thing why people are desperate enough to go inside the Gungeon, so tell me Sunset Shimmer, why does someone like you want to find the Gun That Can Kill the Past?” The Architect sure did know a lot about the place.
“Because I need to go back, I need to… I need to save Twilight, I need to save my friends. It was a mistake that happened years ago. I could have saved her from that vortex, but I couldn’t do it. I… I wasn’t powerful enough to save them.” She could hear it even now. Twilight’s plea. It repeated over and over, the same as her friend’s faces as she fell through the portal.
“You mean back on Earth? For what I know what happened centuries ago, it was what they called, an academy meeting? Something like that… no wonder you need the Gun, so that’s why Observer sent you here. Guess you need a little bit of help to get it,” the man said putting down his briefcase, before taking hold of the handle and pushing up. To Sunset’s surprise, the briefcase remained in the floor, but instead of lifting it, it simply grew, becoming taller and wider. Instead of a briefcase now it looked more like a tall locker. If this man was not a wizard then he had some amazing technology.
“So you can help me? I don’t get it. What do you gain from all of this? Not that I don’t appreciate it, but, well, after what I have been gone through, it’s weird to see people like you lot doing something like this for someone like me.” Her old insecurities were once more in exposition, what with her hand behind her head in a way that was shy and confused.
“You just want to help, that is all. Besides, I don’t think the world would be a bad place if you are able to save your friends… and most of the continent after that disaster. Well Sunset, you can find an answer here, alongside Convicts, Soldiers, Hunters, Pilots and so many others looking for that Gun inside. I guess in your case, that will make you The Sorceress, right?”
“Sorceress, I guess it’s a better title than Demon. I guess that’s what I am, but what’s with the titles?”
“Easy, we all are either becoming something new, something anonymous until we get to change our past… or we are too old to use our old names. I suppose you are a bit of both Sunset;” he said with that same calm smile as he opened up the elongated briefcase sideways, showing rows of handles, dozens of gun handles showing inside, all of different colors, different sizes, some of them too big to be able to fit on the briefcase… neat.
“I suppose that’s right. According to this world I’m too old. So, all these guns?”
“Well, Observer told me you will be going into the Gungeon, so I thought that I should give you a heads up, seeing that THAT place is one heck of a doozy, so in preparation for that, maybe I should give you something to defend yourself,” he said taking a look at the multitude of guns in the briefcase before taking a critical look at her. “You DO have a gun to defend yourself, right?”
“Not really, I mean, I can use magic so,” she said shrugging her shoulders, not that she had many resources to use. She COULD have asked for a gun from Kobe or any of the other people she met in her travels across the Hegemony, but really? She had never been a fan of guns in general.
“I have bad news for you kiddo, inside that thing, magic… doesn’t work very well, so, you know what? The first gun is free in your case.”
“Just like that? You guys go around the galaxy helping people?”
“Pretty much, I mean, Observer’s job is kind of like guiding people to where they need to be, mine is… well, build things others may need some time,” he said taking a hold of one gun. It was black and red, pulling it out it showed a handgun. It was a semi-automatic looking gun, long handle with a long and wide barrel. “Like this for example. It’s lightweight, maybe doesn’t pack the same punch as many other guns inside the Gungeon, but its accuracy is pretty good and reinforced absorbing coils can keep the recoil from making a shot go wide. This is Lady Red, it’s a gun made in memory of a friend of mine, he gave me a gun once very much like it, Lady Finger. It was very useful, so hopefully this is as useful too.” Then he threw the gun at Sunset who caught it, surprised at how light the gun was.
“So, you are just going to give me this?”
“Like I said, this is one of my jobs, I go around and build stuff for others. Observer keeps helping and Keeper takes things that are too dangerous out of the way. We do a good job if I am sincere.” With a disarming smile he took the briefcase back to its original size and began to walk away.
“Wait, what about payment? Don’t I have to pay you or something?”
“Like I said, consider it a gift.Maybe next time we see each other you will be able to pay me back, who knows. Maybe you will be successful and you won’t need to, but still, if you are serious about killing your past, then Enter the Gungeon,” he said and then… he simply disappeared, leaving Sunset surprised once more.
Looking at the gun in her hands, Sunset shook her head, knowing that her story had just become even weirder, but hell, she was looking for a gun that could help her kill her past that was supposedly inside a dungeon with a gun name pun. How weirder could it get?
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The answer was that it could get even crazier, but so were things for the man that had called himself Architect. He hadn’t lied, it was kind of his job to build things for others, but he was never sure where his next mission would be or who will need his help. He simply looked into his very little handy phone. It wasn’t exactly a phone considering there was no company that could give him coverage across all known alternate dimensions scattered across the multiverse.
What he had built one day was the closest thing one could have to search for anything across everywhere, not an easy thing, but still, it was useful for what he had to do. Why he did this? Well, because, nobody else could. Besides, it was a fun thing, especially when his job got him into situations like he found himself in after taking his portal out of the Gungeon world.
It was a creepy dungeon no more, instead, he was greeted with white snow and falling ashes, the smell of blood, gunpowder, burning flesh and oil… it was pure undiluted war, one that he hadn’t seen in a long time.
Screams took him out of his remembrance and he had to use his personal briefcase. Leaving it on the snow, the briefcase suddenly opened up and coughed a long rifle, black and blue, a seal on the barrel and a golden skull on each side finished the design. The Architect arched an eyebrow at the weapon and what type it was. In his hand there was a weapon with a long barrel and the marks of the Imperium. This was a Bolter he had made to fight monsters and it seems he will need it once more.
Flying beasts and running monstrosities fell one by one as the bullets on his weapon tore them apart, painting the snow red and ashen. The screams of the creatures tore through the snow wastelands as more sounds of guns, bombs and screams accompanied his little battle.
The beasts of chaos were dead, but where did they come from? Looking into his device, he could see the order for his weapons had been placed inside the city somewhere in the distance, but that had to be wrong, unless… which one of the Queens could be involved in all of this? Which Sunset? Something to do with them was the only possible explanation for this.
“I must be going crazy, because that’s the Crystal Empire… and unless I am wrong, that’s a train.” In the opposite direction a fast train was approaching quickly, without thinking twice he jumped onto one of the wagons, holding unto one of the sides and quickly climbing to the roof.
A battle between Imperial forces, ponies and Chaos Beasts? With a Sunset Shimmer involved in the middle of all of that? One must be insane to get in the middle of all that craziness. There was no way he could miss the fun.