Sunset Rekindled

by EldritchNexus


The Path to the King, Part 1

Lionel Summerset was sitting in his cell once again, when a jailor approached his door.

"Mr. Summerset, you've got another visitor."

"Very well." said Lionel, without turning to look. "Who is it this time?"

"Helllllooooo, Mr. Summerset." said a mare's voice, with a sickeningly sweet tone in her voice.

Lionel turned his eye, and saw a magenta unicorn with a purple-and-blue mane and blue eyes standing at the door. He frowned even lower.

"Well, if it isn't my old business apprentice." he said, sternly. "Starlight Glimmer, what brings you to my corner of Equestria?"

"I heard about what happened, and that you were arrested!" said Starlight, with a melodramatically concerned tone in her voice. "It sounded so...horrible, so I came here as fast as I could."

"Starlight, you may be able to fool those idiot country-ponies, but not me." said Lionel. "So spare me the theatrics and tell me what you want."

"Oh, Mr. Summerset, I think you know what I want." said Starlight, whose face started to grin wickedly.

"Well, then by all means." Lionel grinned, lifting his hoof up in an invitational gesture. "Come in here and take it."

Starlight nodded, and teleported into the cell.

"Your cutie mark's gonna be mine, boss." said Starlight. "Don't worry, I'll put it to good use."

She strained her horn, then groaned in frustration.

"What...what's going on?" Starlight whispered, frantically. "Why isn't my magic working?!"

"Disabling field." said Lionel, proudly. "I requested that my cell be reinforced by it. Cancels out all that pesky magic unicorns like you simply love to conjure up. Even spells cast by the likes of you."

Then he seized Starlight from the neck and held her up to his face.

"So whatever you were planning to do with my cutie mark, it's not going to happen." said Lionel. "I may be serving a prison sentence, but that doesn't make me completely helpless. Even in captivity, I have power."

Then he loosened his grip on Starlight, who dropped to the floor, and started coughing.

"Very clever, Mr. Summerset." groaned Starlight. "Very clever. Just when I think I've bested you, you always stay a step ahead of me."

"Four steps." said Lionel Summerset, gesturing down at his hooves with a smug grin. "But it's above me to insult my competition's intelligence."

"Insult my--" Starlight began, when the door in the prison corridor audibly opened up again. "How dare you!"

"Take it easy, little Starlight." said Lionel, calmly.

He put his hoof down on Starlight's back and pressed her down to the floor. Then he approached the cell door so that Starlight was hidden from view. He peered out to watch the jailors pass by, then turned to face Starlight again once they were out of earshot. Once he was sure that the jailors had left again, he suddenly brandished a plastic key from the sleeve of his jumpsuit, and inserted it into the cell's keyhole. He gingerly opened the cell door, and gestured for Starlight to leave.

"Wait..." said Starlight. "You could leave any time you wanted?"

"I helped make this city what it is today." said Lionel Summerset. "So of course I would know every way in and out of it, and be prepared if anything went...awry."

"Then why stay here?" asked Starlight.

"Because doing so allows me to preserve my public image. It would take years for me to show my face again in public if I made a jailbreak too soon. As for you, though, you're free to leave. And as a bonus, I'll give us both the opportunity to pretend this little exchange never happened."

"What...why--?" Starlight said, slightly confused.

"You're a manipulative trickster, young Starlight." said Lionel. "Perhaps even more so than me. But you're what I taught you to be. So I certainly wouldn't want to hinder the work of those directly influenced by me."

"My views are my own, Mr. Summerset." said Starlight.

"And yet, they're completely insincere." countered Lionel. "Even I admit what I've done would be considered...morally unethical by others. Maybe someday, you'll come to reflect on the decisions you've made on your own. But by all means, go out there and prove me wrong."

"With pleasure, Mr. Summerset." said Starlight.

Starlight trotted out of the cell, and teleported away. Lionel then shut his cell door, and re-locked it.

"They grow up so fast." he muttered in a deadpan tone.


"C'mon, ya stupid--ugh!" Frosty strained himself as he telekinetically pushed a Megamite worker out the entrance to the colony, and then groaned in dismay when the worker crawled back inside.

He and the others had been called down to help get some of the Megamites to leave the colony to help them, but their attempts were unsuccessful; every time they tried moving a mite outside, it would always return. Even Nose Nip and Teddy weren't able to carry them out since they would either break free or a soldier would approach and threateningly gnash their mandibles at them, prompting them to let them go. Trixie tried to cast a number of spells to scare the workers out and wound up damaging the antennae of a nearby soldier with a stray projectile. Said soldier then started screeching furiously and charged at Trixie with impressive speed. This mistake would've surely costed Trixie her life, if Pressure Point hadn't arrived at the moment, and used his magic to calm the mite and mend its antennae. The soldier then grumbled in a garbled language, then left with its head tilted up in disapproval.

"Ah...forget it." said Frosty, going back to the others. "Gettin' these bugs outta here ain't gonna happen. They don't seem ta like leavin'."

"I guess it's just where they're meant to be." said Sunset Shimmer, exhibiting sympathy.

"I should've suspected such." said Professor Autumn. "The workers' place is with their queen, here in the colony. Sorry, everypony."

"It's all right, Autumn." said Golden Sun. "You told me yourself that you should always test your theories out to make sure they'll work."

"That I did." said Autumn, grinning slightly.

"But at least we know where we're supposed to go now." said Silver Schmitar. "Everypony, disperse!"

Silver and the other paladins went back up to the palace.

"I guess we'd better go, too." said Sunset. "See ya later, professor!"

"Anytime, my little pony." said Autumn. "Anytime."

Sunset and the others left, when suddenly there was a clicking noise. The others looked back, and saw a larva scurrying after Lightning Dust.

"Hey, that's the one from earlier, ain't it?" asked Lightning Dust. "Wanna come along with us, little guy?"

The larva approached Lightning Dust, and allowed her to pick it up. The larva squealed like a harmless piglet, and clicked some more. It swiveled in place, then curled into a ball-like shape.

"Interesting." said Autumn. "It must think you're its caregiver."

"So I can keep him?" asked Lightning.

"Actually, I think that the larva is female." corrected Autumn. "But yes, I guess if the larva wants to go with you, then the choice is up to you."

"Then I'm totally gonna keep her." said Lightning. "She just soooo cute!"

"Okay, enough wit da mushy stuff!" said Frosty. "Let's am-scray back to the Summerstar and do somethin' about dat King Nelphyn guy."

"Oh...right." Lightning blushed.


"And you're certain about this?" asked the sultan.

"Very certain, your majesty." said Sunset Shimmer.

"So there is an entire colony of ancient insects still living under our palace, and somepony was able to bend them to his will?"

"Not necessarily." said Golden Sun. "They're still very independent of themselves. But I can assure you that they're not going to attack the palace anytime soon. We made sure of that."

"So they're all dead, then?" asked the sultan.

"Only the drones and new queens." said Golden Sun. "The ones capable of leaving the colony to start new ones. The others seem to have no interest whatsoever in leaving their tunnels."

"Then you have my thanks, Professor Sun." said the sultan.

"Oh, I can't take all the credit." said Golden Sun. "I had help..."

"Hey, will ya guys c'mon?!" Frosty called to them, his head sticking between the double doors to the throne room. "We got a ruined city ta dig up!"

"Okay, Frosty!" said Sunset. "Just give us a sec."

She turned to the sultan.

"Sir, could it be possible for us to have some paladins come with us?"

"I'm afraid not." said the sultan. "I shall need everypony available to watch over the city, and make sure King Nelphyn's creatures don't re-enter our walls."

"Not even Felix?" asked Sunset.

"I am sorry, Miss Sunset." said Felix Summerset, who appeared at that moment. "You and your friends have been marvelous company. Strange, but still marvelous. But my loyalty goes to the sultan and the paladin's code first and foremost. So I'm afraid it's time to say farewell...for now."

"Thanks, anyway." said Sunset, giving him a salute. "Good luck, Felix."

"Good luck, Miss Sunset." Felix gave Sunset a salute of his own.


Sunset Shimmer and the others were on the Summerstar, which was preparing to take off.

"Okay, everypony ready?" asked Sunset.

"Ready!" said the others at once.

"Then everypony's here?" said Sunset, before adding: "Well, apart from a certain somepony."

"You mean me?" said a voice from the ramp.

Sunset and the others turned, and saw Daring Do leaning against the entryway, all dressed in her explorer's gear.

"You missed me?" she said to them, slyly.

"Heck yeah!" said Lightning Dust, flying up to her. "Welcome back to the team, Daring!"

She gave her a big hug, squeezing her tight.

"It's..." Daring shook Lightning away. "It's nice to see you, too. Congrats on your promotion, too."

"What're you doing here, though?" asked Sunset Shimmer. "Shouldn't you be working on your next book or something?"

"Um...I had a little writer's block, so I came to Saddle Arabia for some background notes." said Daring Do, casually. "And I heard you were flying around in that oversized balloon again, so I thought I'd tag along to see what you were doing. I meant to get here sooner, but I ran into a roadblock or two..."

She paused for a moment.

"And...?" asked Sunset.

"And I heard about King Nelphyn." Daring adopted a more serious tone. "I think you ought to know--"

"Oh, we already know where King Nelphyn's holed up." said Frosty.

"Maybe, but do you actually know how you'll actually get to him once you find the place?"

"Uh..." said Frosty.

"Exactly." said Daring Do. "Well, I'm going to stick around to help. It's the least I could do for Las Pegasus."

"Then welcome aboard." said Sunset Shimmer, with a smile.