//------------------------------// // Periodic Antagonism, Part Two // Story: Sunset Eclipsed // by EldritchNexus //------------------------------// Captain Umbriel went out through the front doors of the school, and walked across the lawn to where Sergeant Craw and Corporal Ghost were arguing. "Look, this whole dream thing's just a coincidence. There's no way that Sunset could've put a curse on you!" argued Craw. "Wake up and realize, sergeant, that Sunset came from a magical world!" countered Ghost. "Who's to say she doesn't still have some kind of weirdo powers that she can use in this world? Maybe she's like a gypsy, and could put curses on people whenever she felt like it?" "A gypsy? Puh-lease!" dismissed Craw. "And then there's the fact she turned into that demon thing at that school dance." said Ghost. "How do you explain that, sergeant? Tell me!" "At ease, corporal." intervened Captain Umbriel. "I would like a word with Sergeant Craw over here." "Yes, sir." said Ghost, putting his helmet back on, and walking back into the school. Umbriel took off his own helmet, and leaned against the statue. "Sergeant, I have some good news for you." he said, casually. "What news, captain?" asked Craw, curiously. "My sister has finished translating the books you and Ghost discovered." he said, coolly. "It will be only a matter of days before you will see your precious Sunset Shimmer again." Craw was going to smile, but the tone in Umbriel's voice had as he spoke these words made him uncomfortable. "And...is there anything else?" asked Sgt. Craw. "Yes." said Captain Umbriel, quickly. He leaned forward, and quickly grabbed Craw's shoulder, and squeezed hard on the area beside his neck. The sergeant yelped in pain as Umbriel pulled his subordinate towards him. "Sergeant, didn't my sister ever teach you to never go over my head when submitting status reports?" questioned Umbriel, menacingly. "And to report everything to your commanding officers straight away?" "Ow!--What--are...you...talking about?" strained Craw. "Would you care to tell me how my sister learned about Sunset Shimmer using the portal before me?" Craw stammered and hesitated, and found himself staring into Umbriel's ominous eyes. "I'm sorry, sir!" groaned Craw. "It slipped my mind!" "Slip this!" Umbriel jumped aside while simultaneously Irish-whipping Sergeant Craw face-first into the horse statue. Craw cried out in pain, and clasped his hand over his bloodied nose. "And another thing:" continued Umbriel, whispering into Craw's ear, with a cold, sadistic tone in his voice. "I'm holding you accountable for wasting Syndicate resources on this little wild goose chase that you had brought upon by yourself and your hormone-addled antics. You should hardly blame Corporal Ghost for acting as he did, when you were the one that unleashed him upon Sunset Shimmer to begin with. Do you get it, Synthe?" "I get it, captain!" moaned Craw, bitterly. "It was all my fault, sir! I screwed up, and wasted your time! I. Am. Sorry!" "I know you are, sergeant." said Umbriel. "That's why I'm not going to have you disbarred from the Syndicate." Craw sighed. "I am going to silence your shame, and let you receive a final goodbye from my good old friend, Mr. Deagalizer!" Umbriel drew out his large, twin-triggered, double-barreled sidearm, and pointed it at the back of the sergeant's shaggy-haired head. Craw just stood there silently, waiting for his commanding officer to pull one of the two vertically-stacked triggers, and put either a .357 bullet from the lower barrel or an armor-piercing round from the upper barrel, into his skull. He closed his eyes, expecting the last sound he would ever hear again to be a-- "Bang." said Umbriel, flatly. "You are dead." He swiveled his SombraTech Deagalizer in his hand, then stuck it back into his holster hip, before backing away from Craw. "What...you're not going to kill me?" questioned Craw, surprised. "No." said Umbriel. "I hardly think my sister would approve of it. Or the school, for that matter. Thank you for being such a good sport, Craw, not shouting out at all. The silence was able to let me think about whether or not I should actually kill you." "Is this some kind of sick practical joke?!" growled Craw, pulling his face away from the now-bloodstained statue. "I'm tasting my own blood right now, because of you!" "Do I really need to answer that?" deadpanned Umbriel. "Well, I'll leave you to clean up that mess. And your nose, too." "I liked it better when you were still a midget." muttered Craw under his breath. "And that's not saying much, really." Umbriel halted, and turned his head. "And I liked it better when you still had your dignity." said Umbriel. "You're losing yourself over a bloody pony, sergeant! You're a cold-blooded killer, Craw. Start acting like one!" "Don't give me ideas, captain." thought Craw, angrily. Captain Umbriel put his helmet back on, and was about to walk towards the front doors, when the two soldiers heard a girl's voice nearby. "Hey, what the heck did you do to Craw?!" It was Rainbow Dash, who had been walking back from the soccer field, when she apparently witnessed Umbriel tormenting Craw. "That's none of your concern, little girl." said Captain Umbriel, dismissively. "'Little girl'? I'm seventeen years old!" Rainbow Dash growled. "And Craw happens to be my friend. What the heck were you doing to him?" "Oh, I was just giving him a private lecture of my own." answered Umbriel. "Then why's his nose bleeding?" "It was a crash course." snarked Umbriel. "Listen, colonel or captain or whatever the heck you're supposed to be, you shouldn't be such a bully to your own men!" said Rainbow Dash. "I'm not. Craw isn't even one of my own men, he's one of my sister's." "Oh, and that makes it okay?" questioned Rainbow Dash. "Dude, you're such a thug! Sunset Shimmer never did anything like that!" "Except try to incinerate you and your friends with a fireball." retorted Umbriel. Rainbow Dash gasped. "You...you know about what happened at the Fall Formal?" The captain nodded jerkily. "Oh my gosh, that's the reason you guys are after Sunset Shimmer?" asked Rainbow Dash, a sense of terror in her voice. "That's an affirmative, young lady." confirmed Umbriel. "Dude, you don't need to go and kill her over that!" said Rainbow Dash. "She may have been a jerk, and she may have turned into a demon or whatever that was, but you don't need to hunt or kill her like an animal! Especially if you've got this whole army with you! This is just ridiculous!" "Killing Sunset Shimmer isn't our primary objective, or at least it wasn't." said Umbriel. "What are you talking about?" "All we wanted from her was information on how she turned into that demon, and whether or not it would benefit our organization. But your friend over here, Sergeant Craw, blew a gasket when he learned that Sunset Shimmer was a pony, threatened to have her killed, and scared her out of our world." Rainbow Dash turned to Craw, who approached them while pinching his bloody nose. "Craw, is that true?" asked Rainbow. "I'm afraid it is." strained Craw. "I can explain why I reacted, though. You see--" Before he could do this, Umbriel turned around again and interrupted him. "You can do that when your shift is done, sergeant. For now, clean yourself up, pull yourself together, and continue monitoring that statue! As for Miss Rainbow Dash, I advise that you stop harassing my organization's personnel, and get your lean little keister back in the building!" Normally, Rainbow Dash would've threatened to smack someone upside the head for berating and physically abusing her friends in front of her, let alone accusing her, of all people, of being some kind of troublemaker. But of course, those kinds of people normally weren't power-armored soldiers with fully-loaded guns and an (assumed) licence to kill; Even someone as hotheaded and determined in assisting her friends like she was would've known better than to act up under these given circumstances. "Whatever." said Rainbow Dash, pretending to be uninterested. "I'll just wait until I hear Craw's side of the story, anyway, before I jump to any conclusion about his 'actions'. Later." And then she went back into the building, followed by Captain Umbriel, who was walking back to Vice Principal Luna's office. Umbriel paused and contemplated whether or nor he should contact his sister again, recommending that Sergeant Craw be discharged or executed. But then he decided that someone like Craw could still prove to be a valued asset to the Syndicate in the future, and (reluctantly) shot this idea down. He walked by a vending machine, which was in use by a purple-eyed, silver-haired teenage girl wearing blue-and-purple clothing. Captain Umbriel seemed to see her at or near the vending machines at this school nearly everyday that he was here. This time, though, she seemed positively steamed about something. "Obey your mistress, stupid machine!" she growled, banging a fist against the side. "The Great and Powerful Trixie has made her request and paid her tribute! Now give Trixie her peanut butter crackers!" "And what seems to be the problem here, young lady?" Captain Umbriel asked, approaching slowly. Trixie turned around, and looked up at the captain with awe and glee, before turning around to face the snack machine again. "You have met your demise, mechanical vendor!" proclaimed Trixie, in a melodramatic manner. "The Great and Powerful Trixie has successfully summoned a champion that can aid her in a acquiring the coveted snack food!" Captain Umbriel looked at Trixie, fighting the urge not to burst out in laughter. Instead, he decided to humor her, and inspected the machine for the problem. Upon further analysis, he discovered that exactly $1.00 were in the machine, yet the price tag for the peanut butter crackers was removed. Deducing that either the price was raised, or exact change was needed, he pulled a quarter out of one of the packs on his belt, and deposited it in the machine. He then entered the combination, and a pack of crackers fell to the bottom of the machine. Trixie wore a grin in a perfect cresent shape, and she took the crackers out of the machine. "The Great and Powerful Trixie is in your debt, sir!" said Trixie, with a bow. "And you can fulfill that debt by getting back to your class." said Umbriel. "And by putting that quarter on your I.O.U.." Trixie nodded, and walked back down the hallway. There was a soft clap from the other end. "Well done, captain." said Vice Principal Luna. "That was a very generous thing to do for Miss Lulamoon." Captain Umbriel turned around to see the vice principal walking towards him was a little smile on her face. "Well, it wasn't that big a deal." shrugged Umbriel. "I can be a nice guy whenever I feel like it. By the way, would you like me to get anything from this machine for you?" "No thanks, captain." said Luna. "Please, just call me Umbriel." "Okay then, Umbriel. I was just heading to my sister's office, anyway." said Vice Principal Luna. "Apparently, Sunset Shimmer's landlord and his building's electrician are both inquiring about Sunset Shimmer's whereabouts. I think you ought to come along, too, seeing as your organization is behind her search." "Very well." said Umbriel. "I'll follow you there."