//------------------------------// // Chapter 7: Sunset of the Seven Seas: The Sequel, part 1. // Story: Sunset Shimmer's magic adventures, Volume 2: The Villain Gauntlet. // by Justafanfictioner //------------------------------// Sunset Shimmer and her friends, for the second day of their vacations, decided to explore the vast ocean around the island. Transformed into mermaids, they immediately began swimming away from the shore. After a couple minutes, they reached a popular spot for the sea creatures. “Look at this fish!!” said Rarity, amazed by it’s shiny white scales “He look just like me!!” She saw another fish with orange scales. “Oh!! Look, A.J, this one look just like you!!” she said. “I see a school of Clown Fish!!” said Pinkie Pie. “I heard they are called like that because they’re funny!! Let’s see if that’s true!!” It was not long before the girls drew the marine creatures’ attention. The white and purple fish Rarity was fawning over earlier and the orange and beige fish she compared Applejack to were the first to come to the group. “Well, hello there!” said the orange fish, with an exaggerated male Southern accent. “I’ve never seen anyone lookin’ quite like you before...Where y’all comin’ from?” “Not only does he look like you” said Rainbow Dash to Applejack. “He also talk like you!” “I don’t speak like that!!” said Applejack. “Well, most of the time...” “Please forgive my husband” said the white fish with an exaggerated noble accent. “Though i always tell him to use a more distinguished accent when going in public, he never seem to listen...” “Well, this one definitively look and sound like you, Rarity” said Applejack. “But the fact they’re a couple is quite the surprise.” “You know what they say” said Twilight. “Opposites Attracts. The forbidden love between a Noble and Commoner is quite a popular trope in love stories. You’d make quite a cute couple, you two...Rarity with her noble manners and Applejack with her less-than-noble ones.” Applejack and Rarity looked at each other, then away, with embarrassed faces. The thought of them getting married was making them feel uncomfortable. “What’s your name, Darling?” asked Rarity to the female fish, to change subject. “I’m Rarity...Because i’m quite the RARE gemstone in a world full of pebbles. Call me Rare, Darling” “Oh please...” said Applejack. “Water Lily” answered the fish. “Due to the impeccable white color of my scales and my purple fins. But just call me Lily.” “Call me Rusty” said the orange fish. “It’s the nickname my parents and siblings gave me” “Call me A.J, short for Applejack.” said Applejack. While Rarity, Water Lily, Applejack and Rusty were bonding and Pinkie Pie was busy telling jokes to a Clown Fish, Sunset tried to search for Chuck, her whale friend. Rainbow Dash, her, was showing off her swimming skills to a large public, while Fluttershy was playing with baby fishes. Twilight was trying to explain in a scientific manner what her and her friends were. In short, everyone was having a blast. An hour later, the group parted ways with their fish friends, heading further into the ocean, on Sunset’s request. After a moment, she stopped and told her friends to stop moving too. “He’s coming” said Sunset. “Who’s coming?” asked Rainbow Dash. “Chuck!!” answered Sunset. “He’s a Blue Whale! I met him on my first sea excursion!” The Blue Whale showed up from the depths of the sea and stopped in front of Sunset. “I couldn’t believe my luck when you contacted me!!” said Chuck. “I was just passing in the area!! What are you doing in this part of the ocean, friend?” “What happened to your australian accent?” asked Sunset. “Oh, ya mean that accent?” answered Chuck with his Aussie accent. “I was just trying to sound cool...This is how i normally speak...” “Oh, those are my friends, Chuck” said Sunset. “From right to left: Rainbow Dash, Fluttershy, Rarity, Applejack, Pinkie Pie and Twilight Sparkle.” “Nice to meet you all” said Chuck. “My name is Chuck!” “Fluttershy’s the animal specialist” said Sunset. “She can understand them, and command them. It’s thank to her we can communicate so easily with you and other aquatic species.” “You’re so huge!” said Fluttershy. “Can i call you Chucky? Please!?” “Of course!!” said Chuck. “We’re friends, so it’s normal to call ourselves by nicknames!! What’s your?” “I don’t have one” answered Fluttershy. “It’s just Fluttershy...But Rainbow Dash’ little nickname is Dashie.” “For him, Dash will do just fine” said Rainbow Dash. “Call me Rare, Dear” said Rarity. “And me, A.J” said Applejack. “Call me Twily” said Twilight. “Call me Pinkie!!” said Pinkie Pie. “And call me Shimmy” said Sunset Shimmer. “Last time we saw each other, you offered to give me a ride! Is that offer still available? " “Of course!!” answered Chuck. “Get on my back!!” Fluttershy got of his back first, then the others followed. “Bermuda Triangle...Here we come!!” said Chuck. “There is so much myths going on about this place” said Twilight. “I have to verify if they’re true!!” “I hope we can fight a huge sea monster!!” said Rainbow Dash. “Like Cthullu!!” “I just hope he’s nice...” said Fluttershy. “Legends don’t make him look so good” A couple hours later, Chuck had arrived at destination. “I won’t go further than this point, friends” he said. “There is barely a mile for you to make t’ill your there. I’ll be waiting for you to come back.” The girls got off his back and swam toward the famous spot. As they were getting closer, a mysterious veil impaired their views, like a fog. “I see why he didn’t want to go further” said Fluttershy. “We can barely see anything, what if there was monsters hiding behind that fog?” “It will take more than that to scare me!!” said Rainbow Dash. “Only cowards hide in the mist. Is the mythical Chtullu too scared of humans?” The girls continued swimming for a moment, then, all of a sudden, the magic fog disappeared. “We made it, i think!” said Twilight. “We’re in the central zone of the Bermuda Triangle!!” “Are you sure?” asked Rarity. “Yes” answered Twilight. “There can be no fog underwater...Which mean that fog was of magical nature.” “A defense system” said Sunset. “I think that fog just sent us back to our starting point.” “It’s true!” said Fluttershy. “I can see Chuck over there!” The girls also saw Chuck in the distance, confirming Sunset’s claim. “We have to get rid of this fog” said Applejack. “Any idea?” “We could use our magic in a way that would dissipate this fog.” proposed Twilight. “I know!! Your Daydream form might be powerful enough to get us through it, Sunset!!!” “You know what to do, then” said Sunset. “Blast me, girls!!” The girls concentrated their magic into a powerful beam that they aimed at Sunset. Once transformed into her Daydream form, she concentrated and used her magic to eliminate the fog. Since nothing particular seemed to show up, Sunset fired a blast of magic that revealed a wall made of metal. “An illusion barrier!!” said Sunset. “Then, i guess the fog was what brought us back to our starting point.” “Let’s go inside before it close!!” said Rainbow Dash. The girls swam quickly to reach the rift. Using her magic once more, Sunset removed a part of the metallic surface. They girls were sucked inside the empty space. Sunset immediately repaired the hole and the water stopping flooding in. The girls took back their normal appearances and got up. It was quite dark, but Pinkie Pie took out a lamp from nowhere and lighted up the surroundings. Realized they were standing on a set of large stairs. After a more careful inspection, Twilight came to the conclusion they were inside some sort of metallic tower. Rainbow Dash looked at the stairs, going up and down, like a spiral. “Where should we go?” asked Rainbow Dash. “Up or down?” “Both...” answered Twilight. “Let’s split in two groups. Pinkie Pie, Rarity, Rainbow Dash and me will go up.” “Then that mean me, Fluttershy and Applejack are going down” said Sunset. “Careful, darling” said Rarity to her. “The stairs are wet” And so, the two group went in opposite directions. After half an hour walking down the tower, Sunset started shivering as the air was getting colder. Applejack touched the metal wall and removed her hand immediately, since it was really cold. After 30 more minutes of descent, the cold became almost unbearable. Fortunately for them, though, they were almost at the bottom of the tower. 10 more minutes and they reached the last floor.A dozen of lights suddenly illuminated the place and the girls could see clearly. Right in the middle of the room was a mysterious runic circle. The room itself was full of book and by reading one, Fluttershy realized it had been written ages ago. She examinated more book that had also been written long ago. “Those books were redacted centuries ago!” said Fluttershy. “This one has been written by a certain Stygian!!!” Applejack walked around and saw a book glowing faintly in a shelf. She took it and looked up the name of the author, who was a certain Rockhoof. She realized after opening it she was holding his journal. She searched around the room and found another journal, who belonged to a certain Mistmane. A third one had been written by a certain Flash Magnus. The next journal she found was Meadowbrook’s, and the one after it, Somnambula’s. Then, she finally found one more, written by Starswirl. Upon realizing what Applejack had found, Sunset was more than excited. She ordered Fluttershy and Applejack to bring her their journals. Fluttershy did it without question, but Applejack was less willing to do so, knowing their monetary value. “Princess Twilight would totally freak out if she was with us right now” said Sunset. Applejack examinated the magic circle in the middle of the room. In it, there was circles with a symbol, similar to those on the journals. There were 7 of them and there were 7 journals in total. She shared her discovery with Sunset and Fluttershy. “Great find, Applejack!” said Sunset. The girls put each of the books in their corresponding slot. When the last journal was placed, nothing happened. “I thought for sure something would happen!!” said Applejack. Sunset looked at her geode and she suddenly had a realization. “There are seven journals, each one written by each one of the Pillars” said Sunset, thinking out loud “There were 7 geodes...7 Elements of Harmony, and we were chosen by them. We’re 7, just like the Pillars!! Twilight is Starswirl, Rarity is Mistmane, Applejack is Rockhoof, Fluttershy is Meadowbrook, Rainbow Dash is Flash Magnus, Pinkie Pie is Somnambula and i’m...Stygian?” Sunset contacted the rest of the group by telepathy, telling them they found something. Twilight got the message and told Sunset that they were on their way down, since they found nothing at the top. A few minutes later, Rainbow Dash arrived with Rarity, then Twilight and finally, Pinkie Pie. Sunset explained them their discovery and obviously, Twilight was at the peak of happiness and excitation. Sunset handed to each of them a journal, following her intuition from earlier. She placed herself in the center of the magic circle and told the girls to place themselves on the slots corresponding to each of the journals. All of a sudden, the 7 geodes on the girls neck started glowing and the magic circle was activated. The girls’ geodes fired a beam of magic at Sunset, who was overwhelmed by an intense light. Then, the magic circle, the geodes and the light faded and Sunset was gone.