Sunset Rekindled

by EldritchNexus

The City of Bridylon

"So...let me guess this whole thing straight!" Hotrod Sterling said to Mauve Mirage and her surviving guards, when they returned to New Mustangia. "Your soldiers were all killed by a giant scorpion monster?"

"That's the truth, sir." Mauve said, nodding her head slowly.

"Hogwash!" Sterling snapped. "That's what this is! Hogwash! How in the name of Neo Genesis could y'all let yourselves get killed by some wildlife?! And in your own homeland, too, Mauve! You're a disgrace to us templars and you Saddle Arabians!"

"This isn't just some giant scorpion, minister." said Mauve. "It was Mordikaukis, the Guardian of the Desert."

"I don't care if he's the Great Cattle-Rustler in the Sky!" said Sterling. "Unlike those lackadaisy alicorn gals back West, we ain't gonna tolerate something that powerful messing with our citizens! Well, I'm gonna take this matter into my own hooves! Fifty thou' for the pony that--"

Suddenly, there was a scream from outside. Sterling, Mauve, and the others rushed outside in response to the noise. There seemed to be a long streak of partially unearthed dirt leading from the desert and ending in the town square. And at the end was the pointed end of a massive white scorpion tail, which was swiveling around in place, as if looking for something. There were colonists and guards alike around the tail, the latter trying to block the tail from making any possible contact with the former.

Sterling just stood there both flabbergasted and horrified as the large tail, which was as thick as an oak tree, swathed left and right experimentally. Every so often, it seemed to point at each pony, bending and arcing as if to strike. Mauve cautiously decided to approach the tail, setting her hoof on the sand. As soon as her hoof touched the ground, the tail instantly snapped sideways to face her direction, and slowly drew closer to her, plowing through the sand as it went. Mauve had a shocked expression on her face, her blue eyes shaking with fear. Sterling looked at her, then swatted his hoof against her leg. Mauve pulled her leg back with a pain-stricken grunt. She put it against her mouth to scratch the bruise with her teeth.

"What in blazes did you do that for?" she whispered to Minister Sterling.

"Look." Sterling pointed forward, with the most casual expression on his face.

The tail started to swath around again, before lunging forwards to hit the exact spot where Mauve's hoof was, before disappearing deep into the sand. There was a low rumbling, and the sounds of a large object dragging itself underground became audible, then distant. The colonists all paused, mutually surprised and shocked. They all waited five minutes to see if the tail, or whatever it was connected to, would return. When nothing else rose from the ground, they all started chattering frantically amongst each other. Hotrod Sterling, who previously had a calm demeanor, beckoned Mauve and her surviving bodyguards back inside, where the minister collapsed into his seat.

"Well..." he said, panting. "Now that I've taken the time ta think 'bout it...I think waiting for back-up from back West wouldn't be too bad an idea."

"That certainly seems like a splendid suggestion, minister." said Mauve, still trembling.

"But don't think yer off the hook, Ms. Mirage." said Sterling, climbing out of his seat. "You've still gotta lot to do before you earn mah forgiveness. Blowin' your cover and gettin' your boys killed like that. Honestly..."

"Yes, minister." Mauve Mirage said, shutting her eyes and bowing her head in shame.

"You're gonna have to do a lotta work 'round the building." said Sterling. "Startin' ten minutes from now, in my private chambers. So get yourself ready."

Mauve opened her eyes.

"Oh, joy." she snarked.

TEN MINUTES LATER...

Sterling sat on his king-sized bed, eagerly watching his bedroom door, which Mauve slowly opened and went through.

"Make sure this whole room's cleaned, got it?" Sterling said. "You ain't leavin' this room till the whole place is ship-shape! And I'm gonna stay here to make sure ya don't mess around. Ya got it?"

"I know, sir." Mauve rolled her eyes. "I always aim to please."

---

The Summerstar was now nearing Bridylon.

"Okay, we all know what to do, right?" asked Sunset Shimmer.

"Of course we do, Sunset." asked Teddy, before pausing. "Hang on, what are we going to do again? I mean, I didn't think we'd have a plan."

"We're going to get the news on the paladins' progress at Mareusalem, and then head over there." said Sunset.

"Why don't we just fly over there right now?" asked Teddy.

"Because King Nelphyn might blast us out of the sky, and Bridylon is a safe enough distance from Mareusalem to prepare ourselves if the paladins aren't able to take him." said Sunset.

"Okay, that makes sense." said Teddy. "I just hope there isn't a repeat of what happened at Bahaggara. I almost had my tail cut off by one of those crazy guards."

"Don't worry, friend." said Felix Summerset. "Bridylon is my home, and we are among the most noble of Saddle Arabians, outside of Mareusalem that is."

"I sure hope so." said Radiant Dawn. "I'd hate to run into any more crazy zealots."

"I would like to add, Radiant, that there is a training ground for paladins in Bridylon." said Felix. "I could take you there, if you would like."

"Oh, yeah." said Radiant. "You can count me in on that anytime."

---

The Summerstar landed just outside the city, and Sunset and the others approached the gates.

"Halt!" said one of the guards. "What business do you strangers have here?"

"They are not strangers." Felix said, approaching the guards. "I am Felix Summerset. I am a paladin, and a resident of this city."

"Of course, Summerset." said the first guard. "But what about the others?"

"They are here to help us with the current crisis." said Felix. "They have come all the way from Equestria to aid us against the tyrant that has seized Mareusalem."

The guards inspected the group of ponies that accompanied Felix to the gate. They both seemed largely disappointed by what they saw. Not only were there little more than a dozen present, but none of them were armed or wearing any sort of armor, only three of them were of Saddle Arabian height, and only a fraction of the group actually seemed like warriors or soldiers of any sort.

"Very well." said the guard, reluctantly. "You may all enter."

They opened the gate, through which Felix led the group through the cobblestone streets and towards a large mansion, which had a more "traditional" Arabian appearance, at least in comparison to the "Oreo cookie" palace and other buildings in Bahaggara. They were stopped at the front gates by a tall stallion flanked by paladins in full armor.

"Welcome back home, my son." said the stallion to Felix.

Felix approached the stallion, and the two quickly gave each other a brief hug.

"Everypony, this is my father." said Felix to the others. "He is Cyrus Summerset. And he is one of the wealthiest stallions in all of Saddle Arabia."

"Greetings, travelers!" Cyrus said to Sunset Shimmer and the others. "Please, come inside."

Sunset Shimmer and her group followed the Summersets inside, where they had a banquet just in time for sundown.

"So I take it that these are the reinforcements the princesses have sent to aid us in our time of need?" Cyrus asked his son.

"Not exactly." said Radiant Dawn. "We sort of...came here on our own accord."

"Is that so?" asked Cyrus. "And who might you be?"

"Captain Radiant Dawn, of the Canterlot Night Guard." said Radiant.

"Ah, so you are a captain?" asked Cyrus, intrigued. "Then this must be some elite fighting force that was sent by Princess Luna."

"You know about Princess Luna?" asked Radiant.

"Of course!" said Cyrus. "She was always my favorite alicorn princess to study."

"Father was an astronomer in his youth." Felix whispered to the others.

"Sorry, but we're not exactly who you think we are." said Radiant.

"Then are they at least mercenaries?" asked Cyrus. "You indeed seem like you would make a capable leader, Captain Dawn."

"Actually, I'm not the leader here." said Radiant. "That honor...would go to my sister, Sunset Shimmer."

He turned to look at Sunset, as did Cyrus. Sunset blushed in reaction to her brother's comment.

"So you are all led by a filly?" asked Cyrus.

"I'm not a filly, Mr. Summerset." said Sunset. "I'm a fully-grown mare."

"Ah, forgive me." said Cyrus. "I didn't mean to be so insensitive of your...disability."

"Disability?" asked Sunset.

"Well, I've already deduced that your brother is of Saddle Arabian descent, so if you are in fact his sister, I would have thought you would be...taller since you are one of our breed. A shame that such a lovely mare like yourself, should succumb to...well, stunted growth."

"Hang on a sec!" Radiant said, loudly.

"Hang on, Red." Sunset said quickly. "Actually, I'm of normal height by the standards of ponies in Equestria. Which makes sense, since my dad over here's from Vanhoover."

"That's right, Mr. Summerset." said Golden Sun. "My family's lived in Equestria as long as they've existed. I don't have a drop of Saddle Arabian blood in me. My wife and kids, though, do."

"Yeah." said Radiant, calmly. "I'm actually more of an Equestria pony than I am a Saddle Arabian. Sunny and I are only one-eighth Saddle Arabian on our mother's side." --he pointed to Scarlet--"So I'd say it's more surprising that I am as tall as your typical Saddle Arabian than it is that Sunset isn't."

"Very true." said Scarlet. "He wasn't that much bigger than Sunset when they were both little, and they're only three years apart in age. Son, when did you start getting so tall again?"

"Umm, I think sometime after I turned thirteen." said Radiant. "I started getting all these growth spurts out the wazoo. At first, I thought it was some spell that Sunset put on me, but we couldn't find any spell that would permanently duplicate the effect on Sunset herself. I guess I just inherited my height from mom."

"Interesting." said Cyrus, turning back to Sunset. "But still, since you are the leader of this group, would you care to share your strategies with me on dealing with King Nelphyn?"

"Well..." Sunset scratched her mane. "To be honest, it's kind of a work in progress. I think we need to see how the paladins are doing against King Nelphyn before we can confirm anything. Do you have any news about it?"

"The siege on Mareusalem continues on, I'm afraid." said Cyrus Summerset. "There are probably hundreds of paladins blockading the city, yet there's been no success in entering the city. The walls are too heavily-guarded, I'm afraid."

"Have any pegasi tried flying over the walls?" asked Lightning.

"Yes, but all attempts to do so have met with disaster." frowned Cyrus. "There's an evil cloud hanging over the city, or so I hear. Any pegasus that tries to fly through it disappears forever, and if they try moving it or flying around it, a swarm of locusts emerges from the cloud and mutilates them. Not to mention, that there are very few--if any--unicorns here in our land, let alone any that have the kind of magical skill needed to destroy the cloud."

"A cloud, huh?" said Radiant. "Lemme check it out."

He closed his eyes, and his horn glowed. He was aparently using his ability to detect weather patterns, so Sunset and the others knew not to interrupt him. He remained stationary for a moment, before finally saying:

"Huh, there's something pretty weird about it." said Radiant, his eyes still shut. "There's definitely something going on in there, that ain't even remotely natural. Don't know if it's dark magic--which it probably is, anyway--but it's definitely not of our world."

"So you're basically saying that either we're being visited by aliens, or that the cloud is actually an inter-dimensional anomaly of some kind." deduced Sunset. "Either way, King Nelphyn's not holding back on his defenses."

"Tell me about it, sis." said Radiant, shuddering as he re-opened his eyes. "Well, that's as much as I can detect from here. We'll have to get closer if we wanna learn anything else."

"Good idea." said Sunset. "We'll have to get ourselves ready as much as possible before King Nelphyn can achieve what it is he's planning."

"A good idea." repeated Pressure Point, skeptically. "A good idea?! Sunset, I'm your...acquaintance and all, but let's be a little realistic here. We're not monster-hunters, or combat specialists, or whatever you think we are. I'm sure you and your brother know what you're doing, but look at the rest of us! We're just a bunch of ponies that are in over their heads. In case you need reminding, all we are is a couple of mountain-climbers,"--referring to Frosty and Nose Nip.--"A doctor,"--pointing to himself.--"A stage performer,"--pointing to Trixie.--"A schoolteacher,"--pointing to Golden Sun, then to Scarlet Blaze.--"A freakin' nun!"

"Priestess." Scarlet corrected.

"Whatever." Pressure said, pointing to Lightning Dust. "A loose-cannon, another even older loose-cannon,"--pointing to Crimson Blade.--"A fashion queen,"--he pointed to Sunflower.--"A rock-farmer..."--he pointed to Maud Pie.--"And Teddy."

"Hey!" Teddy said.

"Oh, and am I forgetting anyone?" said Pressure.

At that moment, Bathilda the fruit-bat flew into the room, apparently following them all the way from the zeppelin. She started fluttering and squeaking around his ear.

"Right, and a bat with da shortest attention span in the history of short attention spans!" said Frosty, jokingly.

"Precisely." said Pressure. "Yeah, just put us all in tight spandex and call us the Power Ponies, because we just scream 'Undefeated Champions of the World', don't we?!"

"And...?" said Sunset.

Pressure face-hooved, grumbled and then said:

"Sign me on..." he sighed, reluctantly.

Comments

[Lord Nopony]

"Precisely." said Pressure. "Yeah, just put us all in tight spandex and call us the Power Ponies, because we just scream 'Undefeated Champions of the World', don't we?!"
"And...?" said Sunset.
Pressure face-hooved, grumbled and then said:
"Sign me on..." he sighed, reluctantly.

LOLZ!!! That Pressure.

[00RaiserGundam]

This just keeps getting better and better. You really know how to keep up the comedy in this story.

[Admiral Q Ponyform]

Hey Hotrod, just FYI, your doomed.

[JimmyHook19]

5595610 I know right?!! XD I'm going to have a lot of fun during when I make Sunset Eclipsed and Sunset Rekindled into comic adaptions, and during when I make the scenes with Pressure Point in it..... well, wait and see