Sunset Shimmer continued to struggle in the Templar guard’s iron grip, trying to get to her friends to protect them, but there was no use. No matter how much she tried to get away, the man’s hand was still firmly latched onto her arm like a vise.
“Let go of me!” Sunset punched him in the shoulder, doing what she could to try and hurt him, or at least, to loosen his grip on her.
The lead Templar and the others had finished arranging the Rainbooms and the remaining Assassins in a single line, pushing them down to their knees.
“Say goodnight, Assassins,” he smirked as he pointed his rifle at the Frigid Night’s head. “Your Brotherhood ends tonight.”
Sunset strained against her captor, but there was no breaking his grip, and nothing she could do to save her friends. She closed her eyes, hating herself for not being stronger, not being able to help her friends.
Then out of nowhere, there was the deafening roar of an engine, and a blazing spotlight seemed to fall on the whole scene.
Ramping over the car barricade and smashing into the lead Templar, came a black motorcycle and its black-clad rider. The front wheel ground the Templar into the dirt, his rifle flying up into the air.
The rider caught it, immediately taking advantage of the moment of surprise by sweeping the rifle’s muzzle in an arc and gunning down three more Templars before they could recover.
“What?” one of the Templars turned and aimed his gun at her, failing to see Frigid Night jump up and stick a hidden blade through his back.
The Assassin lieutenant and Keila spread out, picking targets from the ranks of enemies and tossed a few knives, downing a few from afar before closing the distance, their hidden blades and daggers drawn. A knife had found its way into the Templar holding Sunset, allowing her to run to her friends, who had retreated back to the van for cover with Velvet Breeze and Morning Blade.
The rider continued to shoot down Templars until the gun clicked empty, then she dropped it and aimed her wrist at the last Templar standing. She cocked her hand and there was a loud click as her hidden blade shot from her wrist and into the man’s throat with a blur of silver. Bright red blood spurted onto the snowy street as he went down.
Frigid and Keila quickly returned, their weapons dripping with the blood of their enemies, joining the rider by her bike as Sunset looked on, comforting her friends at the same time.
“Dewdrop?” Keila spoke first. “Is that you?”
“About time,” Frigid said, wiping his hidden blades on a fallen Templar’s coat. “Where have you been? We’ve been trying to contact you.”
“Nice to see you too.” Dewdrop removed her helmet, her sea-blue hair spilling out around her shoulders in a wave. “What’s going on? I saw a lot of fire and lights coming from the bureau, and now you guys are out here. What the hell happened?”
“Templars…” Frigid sighed and began his walk back to the van. “Lots of them. Sombra too. But now’s not the time. We need to go.”
Dewdrop held up a hand. “This is about that Sunset Shimmer girl in the Templar files we stole, isn’t it?”
“Yes. They’re trying to get her. How did you know?”
Dewdrop’s mouth twitched. “Well for starters, she’s standing right there.”
Sunset noticed the new Assassin looking at her and gave her a halfhearted little wave. So this is the Assassin I’ve heard so much about.
“Yes, well…” Frigid opened the van door. “Now that you know, we need to go. We’re wasting valuable time.”
“Wait, what about the Mentor?” Dewdrop stopped him again, much to his visible annoyance. “Is she alright?”
“The Mentor’s gone, Dewdrop,” Frigid said in a low voice. “She sacrificed herself to take Sombra down.”
Sunset watched Dewdrop’s mouth open, then close. Finally, she nodded once.
“What’s done is done. Now’s not the time for mourning. What’s the situation now?”
“Like I said, we need to go. The Templars are still on our tail. We need to get the kid out of here. Right now.”
“In the van?” Dewdrop said scornfully. “You’ll never outrun them in that old thing.”
“It’s outrun cops before,” Frigid reminded her.
“I’ve got a better plan,” Dewdrop said. “That is, if Sunset Shimmer doesn’t mind going along with it.”
If there were any good plans, Sunset was all ears. “What do you have in mind?” she asked, not leaving the Rainbooms’ side.
Dewdrop scuffed a boot against the ground. “The way I see it, the Templars are after you, right?”
Sunset nodded yes.
“So if we split up, you guys can get away, while Sunset and I lead the Templars off. My bike is faster and more maneuverable than your van, so escaping a couple of guys in cars should be cake.”
Sunset looked to her shaking friends, scared out of their wits from the near execution. She didn’t know if she could leave them, but she didn’t want something like that happening again. Sunset knew what she had to do.
“She’s right. I should go with her. You girls will be safer that way.”
“But Sunset-” Applejack began.
“It’s better for you guys right now. Don’t worry. We’ll see each other again,” Sunset assured.
“B-but… that’s what High Noon said…” Applejack glanced to the hat again. “And now…”
Dewdrop looked up the moment she heard her friend’s name, looking at the hat in Applejack’s hands. “High Noon. Is he alright? Where is he?”
“Please, Dewdrop, not now,” Frigid stressed. “We’ll fill you in later. We need to get going. Sunset, go with her. We’ll regroup in Canterlot, back at the bureau there.”
“Sunset!” her friends called her.
Sunset went back and handed the Mentor’s book over to Fluttershy and headed back out. “Hold on to this for me, Fluttershy. It’s really important.”
“Al-alright… be safe, Sunset,” she gave her friend a meek smile.
Sunset walked to Dewdrop’s bike. “Don’t worry girls. I’ll make sure to come back. See you later.” She hopped onto the back of the bike where Dewdrop was patting with a hand.
“Here,” Dewdrop passed Sunset her helmet. “You should probably take this.”
The fiery haired girl accepted it and placed it over her head, giving her friends an encouraging nod.
Dewdrop bent down to one of the fallen Templars and picked up a radio. Setting it to all open channels, she spoke into it.
“All Templars, hear this. We have a change in situation: The target, Sunset Shimmer, is now on a motorcycle, not in the van. I repeat, the van is a non-priority. Over.” She glanced back over to Frigid and tossed him the radio. “You keep it, just in case. We’ll wait here till they arrive. You guys had better get going.”
“Right.”
Without another word, Frigid started the engines and began to drive away. Sunset’s friends waved to her from the back of the van, but it was a little hard for Sunset to make their shapes out. She just waved back and hoped for the best.
They watched the van drive down a slope before the first Templar car appeared from around the corner, coming down from the bureau’s direction.
“Ready, Sunset Shimmer?” Dewdrop revved her bike. “Hang on tight.”
The bike didn’t have shelter like the van, but the cold was one of the least worries Sunset had right now.
Sunset placed her arms around Dewdrop. “I don’t really have a choice, do I?”
The bike shot off down the road before making a sharp left turn, heading in a different direction from the van. The wind blow roughly around them, but Dewdrop didn’t seem to mind it. Sunset on the other hand, was trying her best not to shiver or loosen her grip. She didn’t want to accidentally let go of Dewdrop because of the cold.
Sunset turned around to see two Templar vehicles behind them. Unfortunately, there were no other cars around at this hour, allowing the Templars to increase their speed, threatening to catch up with the Assassin’s bike.
“So, why do the Templars want you, Shimmer?” Dewdrop shouted over the roar of the engine, her voice slightly muffled by the helmet Sunset was wearing. “Do you know yet?”
“Well,” Sunset shouted back. “It’s because I’m Equestrian. Like Sombra.”
“Equestrian?” Dewdrop turned the bike again, making a beeline for the highway. “That means you’re from the other world, right? You don’t look like Sombra. With him you can tell he’s from another world. You? Not so much.”
“It’s complicated,” Sunset replied. She doubted Dewdrop would appreciate a whole lecture about Equestria and the mirror right now.
The Assassin nodded and sped up. “I’ll take your word for it.”
“So what’s the plan?” Sunset wanted to make sure she knew what was going to happen. “We’ve lured them off. Now what?”
“Now we lose them…” A small smile formed on Dewdrop’s face and she leaned lower, accelerating the motorbike way past the speed limit.
“Ummm… Is this safe?” Sunset had to yell over the wind rushing past them.
“Pft. No. But don’t worry there, Shimmer. I’ve got this! You just hang on tight!”
Without warning, Dewdrop made a ninety degree turn around a lamppost, speeding out through a different road, turning so fast that Sunset would’ve flown off if she wasn’t gripping so tightly to Dewdrop’s waist.
“You can ease up on the grip there, kid,” Dewdrop shouted back as she made another turn.
Sunset turned her head to watch one of the Templar vehicles attempt to follow them down the smaller road, but turned too quickly, rolling and skidding on the snow and ending up on its side as it skipped into a pile of snow that had been shoved to the sidewalk, blocking the entrance to the road.
“Well… that worked out extremely well.” Dewdrop swerved right and then another right. Before long, they were back out on the main street, heading back towards the highway. “They should’ve lost sight of us by now.”
The roar of another engine made itself known. Two streamlined black cars barrelled into view, each one with a black crystal cross on the hood.
“Damn. Guess not,” Dewdrop sighed. She gunned her bike’s engine and the two zipped off down the highway. The two cars gave chase, following close behind Sunset and Dewdrop as they raced down the highway. Dewdrop’s bike may have been able to outmaneuver the previous Templars in their large SUVs, but these cars were faster than the ones before. “Sunset Shimmer, do you know how to use a gun?”
“What? No!”
“There’s a gun in my left coat pocket,” Dewdrop shouted as the cars began to catch up with them. “I need to you take it, and shoot out their tires!”
Sunset hesitated. The cars got nearer.
“Do it! Or we’re both dead!”
Sunset unstuck her throat and reached into Dewdrop’s coat pocket, coming back a few seconds later with a sleek black pistol. “How do you use it?” she asked frantically; the sight of the gun in her hand gave her more chills than the weather itself.
“Turn off the safety, then aim and pull the trigger,” the blue haired Assassin briefed. “Safety’s the little switch just above the trigger.”
Sunset easily found the safety, disengaging it at eighty miles an hour. When she looked back, she was rewarded with the sight of both cars drawing up alongside Dewdrop’s bike, one on either side, penning them in.
“Do it, Shimmer!”
Sunset’s finger curled around the trigger, its cold metal pressing into her finger. Taking careful aim, she squeezed the trigger, and almost fell off the bike as a deafening bang came from the gun, which jumped in her grip, nearly causing the girl to drop the weapon. A huge flash of orange erupted from the gun before something crashed into one of the cars’ doors.
“Aim lower,” Dewdrop told her, still trying to get ahead of the two cars. “You have to take the recoil into account.”
Sunset nodded, one arm still wrapped around Dewdrop’s midsection. The car on the right swerved, as if to hit them, but Dewdrop was too quick and maneuvered the bike out of the way. Aiming again, Sunset pointed lower, squeezing the trigger again. Her arm swung high from the shot, her bullet hitting the snowy road, barely missing the tire. Sunset tried again, learning from her mistakes. Her third bullet found its way into the car’s tire, popping it with a louder sound than the gunshot. At that moment, several things happened. The car that Sunset had shot skidded, spinning out of control on the icy roads, swaying and jackknifing into the other car. Dewdrop accelerated, barely getting out of the way as both cars collided, slamming into the waist high wall of the highway and exploding into a massive orange fireball.
Dewdrop skidded the bike to a halt, watching as burning fragments rained down around the crash.
“Well damn. Nice shooting, kid.”
Sunset widened her eyes and shakily returned the weapon into Dewdrop’s pocket. “I… I d-didn’t just do that d-did I…? What have I done…?”
Dewdrop turned round, concern in her eyes. “Feeling alright, kid? Remember, you did what you had to do, nothing more.”
“I-I know…” Sunset continued to stare at the fire from the explosion, trying not to throw up. “But… I killed people… I-I’ve never done s-something like that before… I shouldn’t… Oh no, I… I can’t believe it.”
“I’m sorry to have made you do something like that, Shimmer,” Dewdrop placed a hand on Sunset’s arm. “But if not for you, we might not have made it out of that one in one piece.”
Sunset pulled off her helmet and gulped a couple of times until her heart stopped pounding so hard. The icy air soon cooled her down and settled her stomach.
“Better?” Dewdrop asked sympathetically.
Sunset grimaced. “Not really…”
“Well, I’m afraid we don’t have much more time to let you recover. We have to move before more Templars show. Besides, that explosion would’ve caught more than just the Templars’ attention. We better go before the authorities show up…”
Dewdrop trailed off as a faint rumbling sound filled the air, coming from behind the crash. Suddenly, bursting through the flames, came a black and green racing motorcycle, its engine’s roar filling Dewdrop and Sunset’s ears. The rider was clad in a black jumpsuit with a matching helmet, its visor tinted to hide the rider’s face.
“We really have to go. Now,” Dewdrop spun the bike around and started slow. “Helmet on, Shimmer.”
Sunset pulled the helmet on, but the other motorcyclist had other plans. Tires skidding on the asphalt, the black and green motorbike swerved around and stopped right in front of Dewdrop’s bike, blocking her advance.
Sunset held on as Dewdrop stopped the bike, pulling on the brakes. The Assassin seemed to stare at the other rider for a good ten seconds before the rider turned the key in the ignition and got off, stalking over to Dewdrop’s bike.
The fiery haired girl looked between them worriedly, debating whether she should get off the bike or not. Her question was answered when Dewdrop turned the engine off.
“Out of the way, Mirror Match,” Dewdrop said violently, a hand reaching low for what looked like swords, hidden in sheaths on the side of her bike. “You’re not getting the girl. Never!”
Mirror Match’s head tilted at the sword, her arms dangling at her side like a gunslinger’s. There was a heavy looking pistol strapped to her leg but she didn’t go for it.
“We’ll see about that,” she said.
Dewdrop moved first, grabbing a sword and flinging herself off the bike in one quick motion, the blade’s tip already aimed for the Templar’s visor. Sunset got off the vehicle and took a few wary steps back, keeping a good distance away from the fight.
Dewdrop’s first strike skated off the surface of Mirror’s visor, leaving a small scratch in the tinted material. The Templar ducked low and delivered a quick punch to the Assassin’s thigh, followed by a second one to her gut, sending her falling forward and to the side.
Dewdrop had dropped the sword and was now clutching her abdomen, coughing and rolling in pain. “I-I’ll kill you…!”
“Yeah, yeah,” Mirror muttered, her voice muffled by her helmet. “I’ve heard it all before.” She picked up Dewdrop’s sword and snapped it over her knee like a twig, throwing both pieces away. “Now, on the the business at hand…”
Dewdrop grabbed Mirror’s leg as she passed, gripping on firmly. “You leave that girl alone.”
Then she extended her hidden blade, watching the long blade pierce through Mirror Match’s heel.
“Hey!” Mirror withdrew her foot, kicking Dewdrop as she went. “These boots are expensive, you know. Is that any way to repay me for sparing your life?”
“As long as you’re fighting for the Templars… Yeah. It is,” Dewdrop spat blood from her mouth, rubbing at her jaw where Mirror had kicked.
“Just stay down,” Mirror pointed a finger at the Assassin.
Sunset heard Mirror mutter something that sounded like, “Humans these days,” and then Mirror Match was upon her, reaching out to grab the girl.
And then, an inch from Sunset, Mirror’s arm halted.
There came a peculiar sound from inside Mirror’s helmet. It sounded like… sniffing. Yes, definitely. There was a sniffing sound coming from Mirror’s helmeted head.
“Thissss…” Mirror said quietly, withdrawing her hand as if it had been stung. “This cannot be… You can’t be… She never had any children...”
“Wha-what?” Sunset took a defensive step back. “What are you talking about?”
Mirror Match brought a hand up and lifted her helmet’s visor, revealing a pair of pale blue eyes and a light purple face that Sunset could tell was pretty, even from the small swathe that she could see.
“You… Where are you from?” Mirror started quietly, so Dewdrop could not hear, looking at the girl from head to toe. “No. There’s no time for that. You are her heir, aren’t you?” Without waiting for Sunset to respond, she continued, “This changes everything. You have to get out of here, and fast. I can delay the rest of the Templars for a while, but you’ve got to leave. Now.”
Sunset looked at her almost as though she had just ordered her to drink acid. “You… what? You’re letting us go?”
“And be quick about it,” Mirror whispered. “Sombra has some dark designs that I would rather you not be part of. You must go, now.”
Sunset was still reeled back from the Templar’s words, but eventually nodded her head. She was about to run back to Dewdrop when a loud gunshot pierced the air around her, forcing her hands to her ears instinctively. She looked around, but she couldn’t tell what had happened, that is, until Mirror Match stumbled and fell to her knees, turning her head to look back.
Dewdrop still lay in the snow, but her pistol was in her hand, the barrel smoking from the bullet it had just fired.
“Hmm…” Mirror said thoughtfully, casually flicking her visor back down. “Ow.”
“No!” Sunset rushed to Mirror Match’s side as she began to fall forward, catching her before she could hit the floor. She looked around the Templar, who had a single puncture in her back, just between her shoulder blades. “I-I can get help! Do you have a-any supplies in your bike? Anything? Dewdrop, why’d you shoot her?”
“She’s a Templar,” Dewdrop said as she pushed herself up. “Why are you helping her? Let her go. We need to get out of here.”
Sunset looked down at Mirror Match, then back to Dewdrop. She was right, they had to go.
“Go…” Mirror Match coughed. “Don’t worry about me.”
“But-”
“You’re only wasting time, Sunset Shimmer.” Mirror Match squeezed out of Sunset’s arms and pushed her towards Dewdrop. “Go, before more Templars get here…” Then she slumped down to the ground and stopped moving.
“Sunset Shimmer,” Dewdrop called again and swung back on her bike. “Let’s go. You heard her. Time to go!”
Sunset did as the Assassin said, but looked back one more time at Mirror’s body, remembering her words. She had let them go, but why?
“Dewdrop, you didn’t have to shoot her,” Sunset said as the bike began to pick up speed on the highway. “She let us go. She wasn’t going to take me.”
“Let you go?” Dewdrop scoffed. “Are you joking, Shimmer? Mirror Match is the Templars’ deadliest assassin. Do you know how many of our brothers and sisters she’s killed? She deserves to be put in the ground.”
“But she did…” Sunset whispered and looked away towards the passing buildings across a bridge. “She let me go…”
Back at the crash site, Mirror Match stood up and dusted herself off. She reached up and took off her helmet, and coughed into her palm. Dewdrop’s bullet dropped from her mouth and into her hand, along with a few spatters of blood. By some luck, Dewdrop’s shot had managed to slip between the kevlar pads that she had lined her suit with.
Throwing the bullet away, she meandered over to her bike and sat back on it, ready to make the long journey back to the Templars’ headquarters. Unhooking her radio from her belt Mirror said, “Attention all Templars, this is Mirror Match. We have a negative on the target. I repeat, the target has escaped. Set a grid search on the city of Trottingham and call off all pursuit units. Over.”
She lowered her radio and slipped her helmet back on.
I’ve done what I can, Emerald. From here on, Sunset Shimmer is on her own.