Sunset Rekindled

by EldritchNexus

Discharging the Commander

The combined assault team scattered as the templars' Gatling Gun discharged hot lead down on them. Several ponies and Changelings were mowed down by the gun's stream of .45 caliber bullets, but others managed to duck into potholes, while others hid behind corners, support beams, and crates. There was little they could hope to do, but wait for the gunfire to cease.

---

A loud, constant pounding echoed throughout the underground levels, and it didn't take to long for Sunset Shimmer to recognize the sound: someone was discharging a machine gun of some kind!

"You hear that, Sunset Shimmer?" asked Royal Commander Firewing, coldly. "That is the sound of my weapon making mincemeat of those other intruders! If there's anything I regret, it's that your precious princesses weren't around...so I could use it on them, too!"

"You...heartless...murdering...beast!" shrieked Sunset, horrified.

"They all got exactly what was coming to them!" said Firewing, angrily. "Those who choose to live like oblivious fools deserve to die like oblivious fools! The same goes to the Changelings! They can all die like the bugs they are! They will all learn the hard way, that the Neo-Templars are superior to any royal guard, any drone, any two-bit group of misfits that their respective leaders could ever throw at us!"

Just like that, Sunset Shimmer just snapped: ground her teeth furiously, and her horn started to glow.

"I wanted...to be nice." she growled. "I wanted to show compassion, and give you a chance to see the error of your ways, Firewing. The way Princess Celestia or even Twilight Sparkle would've done. But you totally blew it! You're going down today, and there's nothing your army of psychopathic freaks will do to change that! Nothing!"

"Oh, really?" retorted Firewing. "Templars, open fire now! Kill her!"

The templars all fired their blowguns and hurled their javelins at one target: Sunset Shimmer. But Sunset's used her telekinesis to levitate all the mining equipment and powder kegs nearby, and threw them all at the templars. Then she unleashed the greatest concussive blast she could muster at the objects, shattering or detonating them all just inches from Firewing's soldiers. Several of them were set ablaze or outright killed by the impact, while others fled in terror back to the upper levels.

"That's right!" she shouted. "You better run!"

But as soon as the smoke cleared, she noticed that Royal Commander Firewing was nowhere in sight. Growling angrily, she teleported up to the high levels, trying to deduce which way Firewing had gone. She took a moment to look at all the dead and scorched templars around her. She just realized the horrible thing she just did, and regretted it dearly. But she knew this wasn't the time to start moping over it. She had to find Firewing and somehow stop him before he could do any further harm to the citizens of Equestria and the Changeling Empire.

"Quick!" she shouted to the prisoners below. "Now's your chance to escape! Do it now, or it'll be too late!"

The prisoners took her word this time, and fled unscathed from the labor area. Then Sunset noticed that one of the templars was still alive. She teleported over to him, and pinned him down with her front hooves.

"Where's your commander?" she demanded. "Where'd he go?!"

"Upstairs, to the next...level." said the templar, painfully.

Sunset let go, and ran up the stairway to the next level.

---

Teddy and the others, after landing the Summerstar, reached the ruins of Fort Echidna, when several concealed trap-doors suddenly opened up around them. Several ponies, gryphons, and zebras in tribal gear climbed out, clearly trying to escape from something. When they noticed the five newcomers, they stopped, formed a phalanx and took out their spears and javelins. One of them threw a javelin straight at Scarlet Blaze, who simply swiped it out of the air with her hoof, and flicked it around. Then she shot a cluster of projectiles from her horn into the middle of the group of templars, and then charged at them, knocking them aside with her new weapon. All the templars that weren't incapacitated by either attack simply dropped their weapons and fled for their lives.

"Dang, Scarlet!" exclaimed Frosty. "Dat was awesome!"

"That's just one of the reasons I'm glad to have her as my wife!" said Golden Sun, nodding in agreement.

They could hear the faint echoing of a repeated pounding noise and more yelling from down below.

"Sounds like we're just in time for their party." said Scarlet. "Let's go down and give our children some help!"

"Got it, dear!" said Golden Sun, as they and the others climbed down the trap-doors.

---

"All right, this is where I draw the line!" Canopy shouted while she and Sigma were digging a tunnel. "Darts or not, I'm not doing this degrading job any longer!"

"We got a problem here, bugs?" said an overseer. "Don't let the noises distract you. You still have your job, now do it! You're not resting till you get three more feet dug in!"

"Rest on this!" Canopy retorted, her horn glowing.

The overseer's eyes shuddered, and he fell to the dirt floor unconscious.

"Why didn't ya do 'at in the first place?!" questioned Sigma.

"I don't know, Ziggy." said Canopy. "I don't know."

Lightning Dust flew up to them, having just escaped from her own overseers.

"Boy, this place is really going nuts lately." she said. "Seriously, it's like a war zone or something. C'mon, let's find the prisoners below and get the buck outta here!"

---

Radiant Dawn and Felix Summerset snuck up to the level where they saw the templars carrying those strange objects. They followed the source of the loud pounding, and crept around a corner to see what it was.

"How'd these guys get a machine gun?!" Radiant whispered to Felix as they looked at the Gatling Gun, which was being fired at someone below.

"I have no idea." Felix shook his head, just as puzzled as Radiant. "But whatever it is, we've got to get them away from that thing. Radiant, I'll take out the gunner. And then you can take care of the rest of that weapon's crew!"

"Look, the gun's stopped!" said Radiant, pointing towards the Gatling Gun. "It's stopped firing..."

"But they haven't run out of ammunition!" said Felix, noticing the ammo belt still in the middle of the weapon.

"That mean's that the gun's either jammed or overheated." said Radiant. "Now's as good a time as any, so take your shot!"

Felix loaded a dart into his blowgun, and shot the gunner in the head, killing him easily. Before the other templars responsible for aiming and re-loading the gun could make of what just happened, Radiant charged forward, and knocked them all off the platform. The royal guards and Changelings below cheered, then proceeded down to the other labor areas.

"Hey-Ya, Radiant!" said a familiar voice.

Radiant turned to see Frosty and Nose Nip.

"What're you guys doing here?" he said, surprised.

"We're here to help!" said Nose Nip. "What's it look like we're doing here?"

Frosty turned to the Gatling Gun.

"Sweet! A machine gun!" said Frosty. "I always wanted to have one of those! We gotta bring it back to da Summerstar when dis is all over!"

"But where are the others?" asked Radiant.

"We all split up to go down the trap-doors." said Nose Nip.

"Then we better help them now before these templars get the best of them." said Felix.

"Right." said Radiant.

"You two go on ahead." said Nose Nip. "Frosty and I will stay up here to make sure no more of those renegade guys come this way."

"Good idea." said Radiant. "But if things look bad, I want you two to get out of here as quickly as you can. Understand?"

"Sure, sure, no prob!" said Frosty, still marveling at the Gatling Gun.

"And Nose Nip, be sure not to let Frosty try bringing that thing out if those those bad things happen."
Radiant added before he and Felix left.

"I don't give a hoof what Radiant says." said Frosty. "Ain't nopony gonna make me not take this baby back with us!"

"Frosty!" said Nose Nip, urgently.

"C'mon, Nips!" complained Frosty. "Don't be a buzzkill!"

"No, look down there!" said Nose Nip, pointing down.

There were at least thirty templars armed with javelins looking up at them.

"Umm...uh, don't mind us!" Frosty nervously called to them. "We're here to...uh, tune-up this gun!"

The templars didn't seem convinced.

"Yeah, just doin' a bit o' polishin' here, little refittin' dere!" he said, stroking and adjusting the Gatling Gun's barrels.

"And a little target practice there!" Nose Nip suddenly said, grabbing hold of the gun, pointing it down again, and rotating the wheel to open fire on the templars, who all dropped their weapons and scattered. Frosty didn't even have time to take his hooves off the barrels, which became steaming hot as Nose Nip discharged his ammunition, and were scalded as a result.

"Hey, how 'bout a little warnin' next time ya do that, Nips?!" said Frosty, after blowing on his hooves. "You coulda left a mark!"

The templars all fled back up to the higher levels.

"Dat's right!" Frosty shouted after them, even as he lay on his back. "Ya better run, ya bozos!"

---

Sunset Shimmer continued ascending the subterranean levels of Fort Echidna, blasting aside any templars she met with her magic, being cautious not to kill any more of them. Eventually, she came to a locked door. She blasted it open, and saw Royal Commander Firewing waiting patiently inside for her.

"Let's finish this right here--" Sunset began.

"Right now!" Firewing soared towards her and tackled her to the ground.

He proceeded to pummel her with his hooves until she started to vomit. As she laid bruised on the ground, Firewing stood over her.

"A weakling like you could never understand how important it is to keep Equestria safe." said Firewing, growling furiously. "Neither do your precious princesses. That's why King Nelphyn will succeed in his own plans. The mercy he offers extend only to those who rightfully deserve it. But you, Sunset Shimmer? You're pathetic! A joke! You still don't understand the importance of leadership, responsibility, or justice. You even betrayed your fellow equines once, and for ridiculously infantile reasons at that! You have no idea what hardships I went through in my entire lifetime. You don't deserve any mercy."

Suddenly, a toxic dart struck Firewing on the neck, and he let out of roar of deep, seething rage before slowly collapsing sideways to the floor.

"Neither do you." said a familiar voice.

Sunset slowly got up, still groaning in pain, and turned to see the towering form of Juggsman in the doorway, holding a blowgun. He burst into green flames, revealing himself to be--

"Craw!" Sunset moaned in relief.

"That's right." said King Craw.

Craw went up to Sunset, and bent his legs. Sunset wrapped her hooves around Craw's long neck, and shed tears of relief.

"Thank you." she sighed. "Thank you so much, Craw. You saved my life!"

"Yes, but I only came here to dispose of him." Craw said. "Still, I suppose I did save you."

"Actually, I'd say he bought you some time." said a deep, guttural voice.

Sunset gasped, and she and Craw turned to face Royal Commander Firewing, who to their mutual surprise, was getting back up.

"But...I killed you!" exclaimed Craw. "That dart had cyanide in it!"

"It should've killed me." said Firewing. "But King Nelphyn was generous enough to give me a gift that can save one from death."

"What kind of gift?" asked Sunset.

Firewing opened up his breast plate, revealing that his body was paling and growing thinner and thinner, almost skeletal. His teeth became longer and very sharp, his wings suddenly became leathery and bat-like, and his eyes began to turn black with shimmery red dots in the middle.

"Call me...Bloodwing!" said the beast-pony, half-growling.

Comments

[Lord Nopony]

Oh boy! This is black magic at its worst people!!!

[00RaiserGundam]

A gatling gun? That's what the machine was? The way you worded it last chapter almost made it sound like a fireworks cannon from Kung Fu Panda 2. You sure proved me wrong.

Anyway great chapter. Can't wait to see how this fight is going to go down.

[JimmyHook19]

my reaction at the end of this chapter:

what do you think Bauglir100? is that a great reaction?