//------------------------------// // Outside Fort Echidna // Story: Sunset Rekindled // by EldritchNexus //------------------------------// It wasn't long before the Pony-Changeling joint assault team emerged from the entrances to Fort Echidna with the remaining templars in tow, as prisoners. They brought them to their respective leaders. "Well done, commander." Queen Chrysalis told Commander Grubb. "You and the Changeling Elite have proven yourselves...assuming the members of my royal family weren't killed by the templars, that is." Grubb shifted uneasily. "Are you telling me they didn't make it?!" said Chrysalis, alarmed. "Not necessarily, your majesty!" said Grubb. "It's just that...well, in the heat of our conflict, we forgot to search all the cells." "Well, you don't have to look far now." said a voice. Chrysalis and Umbriel turned to another of the trap-doors, to find Princess Dana, Princes Naurius, Sigma, Canopy, Scarlet Blaze, Golden Sun, Crimson Blade, and Lightning Dust climbing out of it. Dana went over to Umbriel. "Hello, father." said Princess Dana, bored and uninterested. "Hello, daughter." said Lord Umbriel, approaching Dana. "If you came to save me, father, that was unnecessary and overall pointless." said Dana. "I would've gotten out on my own days ago if my imbecile of a brother wasn't such a useless little brat." "I'm neither an imbecile nor a brat, sister!" said Naurius. "You just treat me like--" "Shut up, Naurius." snapped Dana. "Sorry, sister." Naurius bowed his head in submission. "I see you haven't changed too much during your time in incarceration, neice." said Chrysalis, approaching Dana. "And why wouldn't I, Aunt Chrysalis?" said Princess Dana. "I've followed your example all my life. You wouldn't break in a situation like that, so why should I? What kind of heir would I be if I just gave up and accepted my fate?" "Heir?" repeated Chrysalis. "Dana, you have quite a ways to go before you become my successor, assuming that ever happens."--she turned to Umbriel.--"Brother, how many times have I had this conversation with your daughter?" "Fifteen, sister." said Umbriel. "One for each of her birthdays since her sixth." "Dana, I'm going to tell you this one more time." said Queen Chrysalis. "First, the crown princess--my daughter, Princess Pupa--will succeed me, then whoever her future husband happens to be, then your father--assuming Pupa never has any offspring of her own before her passing--and finally you." Princess Dana scowled. She disliked being reminded of the Changeling Royal Family's chain of succession. She believed that the oldest surviving member of the family should always be the ruler of the empire, and not the offspring of the offspring of the...it just felt ridiculous to her. She even thought it was ridiculous that she had a great-uncle who was middle-aged and all-but retired from his own royal duties, yet was still called a "prince" and only fulfilled the role of a military officer all his life. Not to mention that she found it somewhat insulting that a fully-grown, fertile, and high-functioning lady like herself would be forced to wait for a physically and mentally inept cousin that wasn't even a third of her own age to kick the bucket. But instead, she was little more than a glorified courtesan. And the fact that said cousin was the same gender as her didn't make it any better. "Do you understand, Dana?" asked Chrysalis, wearily. "I do, aunt." Dana nodded, reluctantly. Out of sheer curiosity, Princess Luna approached Prince Naurius, who was quivering at the sight of her but did not attempt to flee. "And who might you be, little one?" Princess Luna pondered, softly. "N-Na...Naurius." the young Changeling stuttered. "Prince Naurius Roachanov of the Changeling Empire." "So may I assume you are Queen Chrysalis' child?" asked Luna. "No, I'm the son of Prince Embryo--I mean, Lord Umbriel." said Naurius, fidgeting. "Oh, I always get father's names mixed up. Please don't tell him about this, will ya?" "Strange, I was not aware that Umbriel had children of his own." Luna said, suspiciously. Naurius looked up at Luna's puzzled face, awestruck as he noticed her horn. "You're Princess Luna, aren't you..." Prince Naurius gasped. "Ha!" He clopped his bony front hooves together. "Father told me so much about you." said Naurius. "Well, I mean...he never told me directly, but I heard him talk about you." "Really?" Luna asked, flatly. "And what did he say?" "He said that you were..." Naurius' eyes--which grew wide as saucers--started to shake, and his lower lip started to tremble. "What is the matter, little one?" asked Luna. "Naurius, what have I told you about talking to strange ponies?!" Princess Dana shouted at him from nearby. "Get over here before I make fly-pie out of you!" "Sorry, sister!" Naurius turned to reply. He started beating his wings to hover in the air. "I'm so terribly sorry, princess." said Naurius, shaking his head bitterly. "But my family needs me. You understand...right?" "Of course, Naurius." said Luna, nodding kindly. Then Naurius fluttered away, just in time for yet another scolding from his elder sister. Radiant Dawn and Felix Summerset led Trixie, Maud Pie, Sunflower, and Pressure Point out another trap-door. Radiant almost tumbled back down when he saw all the royal guards and Changelings that were waiting on the surface. "Whoo-ee!" he exclaimed, when he caught the rungs on the ladder. "Ow!" shouted Pressure Point below, when one of Radiant's back hooves nicked him on the scalp. "What's taking you so long? I want to get out of this place as much as you!" "Sorry, Presh." said Radiant, who was clambering onto the trap-door. "Are you hurt?" "Just back away, you idiot!" Pressure shouted up to him. Radiant frowned, then stepped away from the trap-door so that Pressure Point could get out. When he did, he took a deep breath and exhaled slowly, as if he hadn't had fresh air in eons. Once Felix brought the others back up, he decided to walk up to Radiant. "Hey...Fee-fee..." Radiant panted, out-of-breath. "Ya...said Sunset was here too, right?" "Positive." said Felix. "It's just a matter of whether or not she came back up--" "Red! Big bro!" shouted a voice. Sunset Shimmer was galloping towards her older brother, teleported onto his back, and wrapped her front hooves around his neck. "Sunny..." Radiant said, hoarsely. "I can't believe it...you came all this way, just for me!" "I'm sorry, Red." said Sunset, worried. "I just couldn't help myself. I didn't want anything bad to happen to you, so we came to help you." "Bonjour, Radiant Dawn." said the Cajun pegasus, who was actually King Craw in disguise. "It's quite nice to meet you." "Sunny, who's this?" asked Radiant. "Um..." Sunset stammered. She knew that this was the absolute worst place to reveal Craw's identity, so she had to think fast. She quickly leaned to his side and clung onto him. "He's my new boyfriend." said Sunset, rubbing her head against Craw's neck. "His name's...K.C.." "Wow, that's great!" said Radiant, still tired. "So...where'dya live, Casey?" "Sorry, but I just don't have time to talk right now." said Casey. "I must leave now. Au revoir, Sunset." He kissed Sunset on her front-left hoof, and flew away. Sunset stood there for a moment, blushing and then smiling absent-mindedly. "Sunset Aurora Shimmer Daystar!" shouted the voice of Golden Sun. Sunset turned to see Golden Sun running up to her, and then gripping her neck. "Daughter, what were you thinking?" he said, shaking his daughter frantically. "I was so scared about what might have happened to you out here." "Dad, how do you think I felt about Radiant?!" Sunset shouted as she fought to escape her father's grip (which wasn't really that strong to begin with). "I know, Sunset." said Golden Sun. "And I commend you for caring about your brother, but you should've at least told me or your mother what you were planning to do! We would've even gone to help you!" "Actually, me and Felix went to your apartment, but apparently you and mom were too busy doing...you-know-what." "Who-know-what?" Golden Sun asked. Sunset whispered something into her father's ear. Though Radiant couldn't hear what Sunset was saying, he could easily guess what it was by the way Golden Sun blushed, and then chuckled nervously once Sunset stopped whispering. "Umm...no, Sunset." he laughed awkwardly. "I wasn't doing that with your mother!" "Then...what were you doing?" asked Sunset. "Exercises." said Golden Sun, simply. "Exercises?" Sunset and Radiant repeated simultaneously. "That's right, kids." said Scarlet Blaze, approaching her husband and children. "I was making your father do warm-up exercises to help get some of that baby fat out of his system." She stuck one of her hooves against Golden Sun's slightly chubby underside. "I'll admit, I'm not exactly a physical type of pony." said Golden Sun, nodding in agreement. "But what were you all doing here, anyway?" asked Sunset. "Isn't it obvious?" said Scarlet. "We came to help you and your brother!" "Well, well..." said Crimson Blade, approaching the other four unicorns. "So you two are Sunset Shimmer and Radiant Dawn." "Yep." said Sunset, looking at the middle-aged, tall unicorn. "Who are you?" "Sunset, Radiant." said Scarlet. "This is my father--your grandfather--Crimson Blade." Before Sunset or Radiant could react, Nose Nip and Frosty came busting down a nearby wall, with Frosty covered in some kind of tribal warpaint and yelling excitedly, and Nose Nip lugging the Gatling Gun on his back, it's barrels red-hot and still spinning. "Rock n' roll, baby! Yeah!" Frosty shouted excitedly. Radiant ran over to them, completely dismayed. "What--how--what?!" he said, lost for words. "Where--why?!?!" "Calm down, Radiant." said Nose Nip. "Frosty and I just took a shortcut, and we needed to use this--Frosty wouldn't leave without the gun, okay?" "Yer darn right I wouldn't leave without dat gun!" said Frosty. "Dat thing's practically my baby!" Crimson Blade went up to them. "Don't you realize how dangerous that weapon is?" he demanded. "Sure I do, old-timer!" said Frosty. "That's why I think it should go up on our blimp!" "Nips, where's Teddy?" Radiant said to Nose Nip, looking around. Nose Nip and Frosty looked around, Nose Nip looking slightly concerned and Frosty totally annoyed. "So Teddy makes us run all the way out here, then he ditches us!" said Frosty. "If I see the--" Lightning Dust quickly flew down one of the trapdoors, and resurfaced three minutes later. "Hey, I've been looking all over those tunnels, and I haven't seen Teddy anywhere!" she said. "Neither did I." said Felix, who came back up with her. "But it looks like one of those tunnels by the dungeon levels recently caved-in." "Yeah!" agreed Lightning, nodding her head. "There's gotta be ten square feet and seven-hundred pounds of rubble in that tunnel. Nopony could survive that much debris falling on them." Sunset and the others heard this, and went to the trapdoor. They all looked absolutely shocked, even saddened. Even Trixie knelt by the trapdoor, her eyes watering. "Oh, T-Teddy!" she said, shakily. "Noooo...don't be dead! Please!" Sunflower went beside Trixie, and placed on a comforting hoof around her neck. Suddenly, a nearby door was knocked off its hinges, letting black smoke out into the late morning sky. A dark equine shape with a large hump on its back slowly trotted out of the dark smog, making a raspy noise as it did so. Everyone present braced themselves for another templar attack, when the noises grew louder. They were of a pony coughing and wheezing. When the shape raised his head, revealing his ash-covered, bruised face. "Teddy!" shouted Trixie, galloping towards him. Teddy didn't even flinch as he watch Trixie running at him. He was too fatigued to feel nervous or afraid. When Trixie was just a couple feet away, she stopped and opened her mouth: "Teddy, you stupid jerk!" she shouted, angrily. "You almost scared me--I mean, you--" "Trixie, I'm not in the mood right now." said Teddy, whose throat was totally dry. Trixie and the others realized that the hump on Teddy's back was actually some kind of black bundle. He went up to the Changelings, despite several protests from the others, and approached Queen Chrysalis. "I take it this..." he said to the Queen of the Changelings, softly. "Belongs to you?" He shook the bundle off his back, revealing Princess Pupa, laying prone on his back with a rapidly drooling mouth. "Pupa!" Chrysalis gasped. "Daughter, you're safe!" She sped over to Pupa, picked her up in her front hooves, and hugged her dearly. "You're safe...I can't believe it!" said Chrysalis, turning to Teddy. "Congratulations, my little pony. You just saved my daughter and prime heir." "Yeah...I saw the resemblance." said Teddy. "Cute kid, if you get past that drooling problem of hers." Chrysalis handed Pupa to Lord Umbriel, while she sped up to Teddy intensely. She glared down at him with her big green eyes. "Lady...I don't care what you do to me, okay?" said Teddy. "I've got all the time in the world to recover from whatever--" Suddenly, Chrysalis started to giggle, then she bent her head down and licked Teddy on the cheek. "What's your name?" Chrysalis asked. "Teddy." the stallion replied, nervously. "Congratulations, Teddy." said Chrysalis. "You've earned my respect. You're only the second pony to do so. You should feel lucky." Teddy blushed as Chrysalis turned back and returned to her subjects. Umbriel handed his niece back to Chrysalis, and then went up to Teddy, smiling as sinisterly as usual. "And I think you might've earned a little something else from my sister." he said, adding to what Chrysalis said. He moved his head to Teddy's ear and whispered: "But I won't tell you what." He turned and went over to Princess Luna, who was standing nearby with Sunset Shimmer. "Well, this was a fun experience." he said to her. "Fun?" said Princess Luna. "Several of my guards, as well as our Royal Commander, were brutally killed or injured, and you call this fun?" "Oh just relax, sweetheart." said Umbriel, coolly. "Me and my sister lost many more soldiers than you did because of those pesky Neo-Templars, but you don't see us complaining about it!" "That is not the point, Umbriel!" said Luna. "We still suffered a significant amount of casualties. How can you be so calm about this?" "I have my reasons, Luna." said Umbriel. Luna approached so that their faces were inches away from each other. "If you had any part in this..." she said, warningly. "I don't like this scenario any more than you do, Luna." said Umbriel. "Who said I had to show how upset I was? You and Celestia aren't the only ones to be separated from your sister." Luna looked towards Chrysalis, but Umbriel grabbed her head to turn her to face him again. "No. Not her." said Umbriel. "My other sister." "What other sister?" asked Luna. "Exactly." Umbriel said, bending his mouth into a frown. He slowly turned back, and approached his daughter, who seemed very uninteresting in seeing him, and stroked two of his dragonfly wings along her back. "Alright, let's leave." said Umbriel to his children. "Now?" asked Dana. "Yes...now." said Umbriel. "I'm not going with you, father." said Dana, spitefully. "I'm still not speaking to you." "Princess Danauria Roachanov the Second!" Umbriel snapped, angrily. "We...are...leaving!" She didn't need telling twice, and Princess Dana flew off into the sky, not even waiting for her escort to prepare itself. Prince Naurius flew up after her, smirking at his sister as he did so. Umbriel's soldiers flew up with them, followed by Queen Chrysalis with her daughter, and then the Changeling Elite. Umbriel took one last look at Princess Luna, smiled, then took off into the air himself. As soon as the Changelings were all gone, Sunset Shimmer said to Princess Luna: "So...you and Celestia are going to need a new Royal Commander."