Sunset Rekindled

by EldritchNexus

The Road to Saddle Arabia, Part 2

On the bridge of the Summerstar, Nose Nip was still consistently flying the airship eastwards over the ocean. Just as he was about to yawn, Frosty and Sunflower entered the room.

"Wow, Nips!" said Frosty. "Ya still up?"

"That's right." said Nose Nip, hoarsely. "I was waiting for you to show up five hours ago. What the buck were you doing?"

He turned around to see Frosty's mane was sweating and Sunflower was wearing a damp, red silk bathrobe, with her curly orange mane, which was also sweating, tied back.

"Um...I was helpin' Sunflower shampoo her mane!" said Frosty. "Just can't say no to my Manehattenite beauty queen!"

"Never mind what you were doing." Nose Nip said, exhausted. "Look, since you're both here, why don't you let the others know that we'll be landing by tomorrow night."

"Right." said Frosty.

"Ya got it!" said Sunflower.

"Oh, and Frosty?" asked Nose Nip, stopping him before he could leave with Sunflower. "Next time, stop wasting time with your girlfriend. I mean, you don't see me doing that with Maud!"

"Dat's be-cuz Maud's more into rocks than she's into you!" retorted Frosty, snidely.

Nose Nip started grinding his teeth, when he suddenly heard a loud whooshing noise coming from the other side of the bridge's windshield.

"What the heck was that?" Nose Nip said, distracted as he turned around.

---

Sunset Shimmer was in the study room with Felix Summerset, going through a number of books on Saddle Arabian lore. Surprisingly, or perhaps not so much, there were already many books about Saddle Arabia aboard the Summerstar before Sunset and her friends took it over. Apparently, Lionel Summerset liked keeping track of the history of his homeland.

"You know, I sometimes wonder why my uncle left Saddle Arabia to begin with." said Felix. "The way he keeps all of these books stocked, you'd think he never left it."

"Maybe he wanted to keep these in case he ever wanted to go back for...business reasons." speculated Sunset.

"Yes, Miss Sunset." said Felix. "If he's half the businesspony I've heard he is, that idea sounds quite reasonable."

"In some ways, he is." said Sunset.

There was a knock on the door.

"Come on in!" said Sunset.

The door opened, and Radiant Dawn came inside with a concerned expression on his face.

"How ya doin', Sunny?" he asked.

"Just fine, Red." said Sunset. "You're still up, huh?"

"Yeah." Radiant confirmed. "You really gave me one heck of a scare, sis. So I thought I'd check on you while I was up. Maybe help you with your research."

"Oh, bro...you don't have to do that." said Sunset. "I think you deserve a good night's sleep after last night, and especially the troubles you went through at Fort Echidna. I think anypony could use a nice time to rest after that."

"You and Felix went out of your way to help me and Lightning escape from that whole mess, so I think it's only right that I found some way to return the favor. I mean, you just know that mom would do the same for dad under the same circumstances. So what'dya say?"

Radiant went up to Sunset, and the two siblings hugged.

"Thanks, Red." said Sunset. "You really are the best brother I could ask for."

"Oh, and I thought I'd ask grandpa to come help us, too." said Radiant.

Crimson Blade went into the room, with a little smile on his face.

"Anything for my family." he said. "So what are you trying to look for?"

"I'm trying to look for a book about the history of Saddle Arabia between eight and fifteen hundred years ago." explained Sunset. "I had a dream last night that I think might be involved in the nation's history, so I'm trying to look for any books that go back that for to help explain it."

Sunset gave Crimson a basic summary of the first part of the dream she had, but decided to omit the second half with the voice and the apocalyptic images.

"I have to say that this sounds very ominous." Crimson noted, once Sunset finished. "But very familiar. The rock, or monolith as you call it, sounds very much like the Elder Rock in Saddle Arabia. But I never heard any tales of it glowing, let alone bestowing magical abilities or transformations on pony-folk."

"But what about that battle, though?" asked Sunset.

"I'm afraid my knowledge of the military history of Saddle Arabia doesn't go that far." said Crimson Blade.

"But mine does." said Felix. "I may have been born and raised to be a paladin, but I have also extensively studied my homeland's history of conquest and warfare. There were tales and legends about an ancient empire that ruled thousands of years ago over most of this world's eastern hemisphere, and their capital was located in what is now called Saddle Arabia. They were equines that dwarfed even the modern Saddle Arabians in size and stature, and were even larger than horses. However, their proportion were no different than that of the modern pony of Equestria, so they were technically ponyfolk as opposed to horse-folk."

"So they were the precursors of the Saddle Arabians, right?" asked Sunset.

"It is believed they were." said Felix. "But they weren't quite as noble as our people are now. In fact, they waged war many times with neighboring kingdoms. They battled zebras, gryphons, minotaurs, and even centaurs. In fact, they almost drove the centaur race to extinction, and likely would've succeeded if they weren't mysteriously wiped out themselves."

"Wiped out?" asked Sunset. "How?"

"Yeah, I'd sure like to know, too!" said Radiant.

"Very well." said Felix, pausing to try and remember. "According to legend, the Gianequus Empire--as that ancient civilization was called--was waging war with and enslaving many lesser tribes of both ponies and non-ponies over two thousand years ago, so it would have been well before Princess Celestia and Princess Luna's rise to power as princesses, possibly even before Equestria was founded. One tribe, whose name has long since been lost and buried beneath the sands of time, acquired an unknown power and became known as 'the Altered Ones'.
"They were transformed by this power into borderline demigods who could rival an alicorn in power. Some of them became beautiful creatures while the others were turned into dangerous beasts. But regardless of what they turned into, they wouldn't tolerate the pain and suffering caused by the Gianequus Empire, so they used their newly-found powers to completely dismantle their civilization, city by city."

"Well, that sounds fair enough..." said Radiant Dawn.

"But then they became power-hungry and selfish themselves. Instead of using their divine abilities to help the world, they used them to destroy or plague all that didn't submit to their own beliefs."

"Now that's just ridiculous!" Radiant scoffed.

"But what happened to the Altered Ones after that?" asked Sunset. "They can't still be around, can they? Otherwise, we Equestria-folk would've seen or heard of them by now."

"You're right, Miss Sunset." said Felix. "I'm not entirely sure what happened to them, either. I've heard different versions of that same legend many times. Though I suppose that's what would make them legends, and not purely accurate history. Some accounts claim the Altered Ones fled Saddle Arabia to another land, other accounts state that they were all destroyed by the remnants of the Gianequus Empire in a large battle where both sides were totally wiped out at the same time. Further still, other versions claim that the Altered Ones were destroyed or cursed by their own pagan deities for relying on the power of another divine source."

"Weird, this all sound a lot like the dream I had." said Sunset. "And this empire sounds interesting. A whole race of larger-than-life ponies. I wonder if King Nelphyn had anything to do with them."

"It is possible, though there's little evidence to prove that today." said Felix.

"King Nelphyn, huh?" repeated Crimson Blade. "Well, I certainly know who he is."

"Really?" asked Felix.

"That's right." said Crimson. "In fact, it was my ancestor, Maroon Inferno, that made his first defeat all those centuries ago possible."

"I know who Maroon Inferno is." said Sunset. "I mean, I saw him in a vision I had a month or so back."

Suddenly, Radiant started scanning through the books, and chose one titled The Ways of the Hero. He telekinetically lifted it up, and skimmed through the pages before stopping on Page 94.

"Take a look at this." he said, showing the others a colored and stylized sketch of two Saddle Arabians, one an earth pony stallion and the other a pegasus, and both were wearing billowing cloaks and padded armor. The pegasus on the right had a dark curly mane, slate-colored coat, and violet eyes.

The earth pony on the left was clearly Maroon Inferno, since he looked exactly like he did in the vision King Nelphyn had shown to Sunset Shimmer in the human world. However, he looked slightly younger, with less bristles on his chin and upper lip. He also had lips curved into a subtle grin and his green eyes set in a way that implied he had a clever, even mischievous personality. In fact, Sunset couldn't help but compare his expression in the picture to one she used to make herself.

"Well, I can see the resemblance." she said aloud. "But who's the other one, the pegasus?"

"That would be my own ancestor, Onyx Summerset." said Felix.

"Onyx Summerset?" repeated Sunset.

"Yes, he used to be a king of thieves, who roamed the deserts of Saddle Arabia." said Felix.

Sunset and Radiant, knowing about Felix's uncle Lionel, exchanged awkward glances, but said nothing.

"But I had no idea that he knew, or was even alive at the same time as Maroon Inferno." Felix continued.

"According to this book, the two of them were friends." said Sunset. "Onyx persuaded Maroon to betray King Nelphyn and inform him of his plans of conquering Equestria to Princess Celestia. Maroon agreed to compose the message, which Onyx then delivered. After the disappearance of King Nelphyn, Maroon left for Equestria to start his own family, while Onyx was pardoned for his past crimes and allowed to live a legitimate life in the city of Bridylon, in exchange for promising that he would give up his life of crime. He went on to gain mounds of gold that he earned through strictly honorable means."

"How interesting." said Felix.

Suddenly, there was a loud crash in the corridor outside, raised voices coming from the bridge, and banging on the door. Frosty barged right in before any of the four present could say "Come in!".

"Oy...ow..." groaned Frosty.

"Frosty, what's wrong?" asked Radiant Dawn.

"We're under attack!" Frosty panted, before sinking to his knees. "There's gotta be a dozen of 'em!"

"What?!" said Sunset. "Who's doing it? Templars? Changelings?"

"I don't know!" said Frosty. "It was too dark to make out what they were!"

"Then we better find these attackers and stop them!" said Crimson Blade.

"I'd watch out if I was you!" said Frosty. "They can sure take a beating. Sunflower pulverized one of 'em ta dust, and it just came back up, good as new! Even got some new wings!"

Sunset paused, realizing what this meant.

"Oh, boy." she said.

"Sunflower and Nose Nip are pinned down on da bridge!" said Frosty, running out the door. "We gotta save 'em before it's too late!"

Comments

[Lord Nopony]

Could the things that are attacking be creatures similar to Bloodwing?

[JimmyHook19]

oh dang, cliffhanger at the end of the chapter

speaking of cliffhangers....

sorry couldn't resist! I loved that a lot back when I was little