Sunset Rekindled

by EldritchNexus

The Maul-Ras

Sunset Shimmer felt nervous as she and the rest of her group continued down the corridor.

"What's wrong, Sunny?" Radiant asked.

"Nothing, really." replied Sunset. "I'm just wondering what we'll have to face next, and if we'll ever get back home."

"Don't worry, I'm sure we will." said Radiant. "We just have to keep ourselves focused."

Sunset nodded. She thought about how wonderful it would be to come back to Equestria, back to Daystar Manor with the entire family together again.

"Red, I was curious about something." Sunset asked.

"What is it, sis?" asked Radiant.

"So, I was wondering what you plan to do once we get back home? Aside from your job, that is."

"I dunno." said Radiant. "I was thinking..."

He stammered.

"Yes?" asked Sunset.

"Well, please don't tell mom or Trixie, but..."

Radiant whispered into Sunset's ear:

"One of these days, I'm gonna propose to Lightning Dust."

Sunset snickered.

"That's a good idea." she said, happily.

"What is?" asked Trixie.

"Uh...Red told me that he's going to..." Sunset hesitated. "get mom a Saluki for her birthday."

"You would do that, son?" Scarlet said, with a smile. "Oh, but you don't need to do that."

"Celestia be darned if I don't!" said Radiant, grimacing awkwardly. "I'm gonna get you the purest-bred darn Sashookee--"

"--Saluki." corrected Sunset.

"Whatever-that-dog-is I can find, and make sure it's yours." said Radiant. "You deserve it, ma. Really."

"How thoughtful, son." laughed Scarlet.

Sunset smiled, too. But what Radiant really told her also made her curious: If Radiant and Lightning get married...what about her? She really didn't have any interests in anypony she met since she came back to Equestria, with the exception of--

But her thoughts were interrupted by a sudden scraping noise: A stone wall suddenly slammed across the corridor, cutting off Sunset and Trixie from Radiant and Scarlet.

"Sunny!" Radiant shouted suddenly, banging on the wall with his hoof.

Suddenly, they heard a creaking noise on the other side, as if another passageway was opening.

---

Bathilda was fluttering in the darkness, carrying the Megamite larva in her claws. Suddenly, they heard soft hoof-falls below. Bathilda squeaked, expecting it to be Sunset. She flew down and hovered right in front of...Maud Pie.

"Hi." she said to them. "Looking for everypony else?"

Bathilda nodded, as did the Megamite larva, which broke free of the bat's grip. The bat squeaked and screeched frantically.

"Check over there?" repeated Maud, turning right. "Good idea."

Bathilda found herself shrugging, suprised Maud was able to understand her. She flew after her, the Megamite scurrying after them.

---

Golden Sun and Nose Nip carefully backed away from the site of the explosion, and saw that a gaping hole had opened up when the smoke cleared.

"Well, it looks like we found our way inside." said Nose Nip.

"Let's just be careful not to blow anything else up, okay?" said Golden Sun.

"Oh, sure." said Nose Nip, dryly. "I wanted to try and start another rockslide, but I guess I could postpone that because you asked me to!"

Golden Sun said nothing, while Nose Nip set up a point for him and Golden Sun to climb down into the hole.

The two descended together, and found themselves inside a flooded tunnel, presumably the one that held the water. The walls and floor were still very damp and moist.

"So...which way should we go, professor?" Nose Nip asked.

Golden Sun's horn shone down both ends of the tunnel. He sniffed the air in one direction, and twitched his ear in the other.

"That way!" said Golden Sun, pointing at the end that slanted downwards.

"You sure?"

"Positive." said Golden Sun. "I can hear a waterfall the other way, so that's bound to lead outside. But if we're going to save the others, then we ought to go deeper underground."

The two stallions went on down the tunnel, which was very quiet apart from the occasional trickling of unseen water. Eventually, they found themselves crawling through a narrow end when they realized that the ground made a different noise.

"It sounds hollow." said Golden Sun, tapping the stone floor. "There must be something under here."

"Got it." said Nose Nip. "This might get dangerous, so just hang back."

Golden Sun crawled away from the hollow part of the ground, while Nose Nip repeatedly but cautiously smashed his front hooves against the floor, which started to break away...into a deep cavernous chamber. They were at least a hundred yards from the bottom. Golden Sun looked through the opening, and gulped nervously.

"So...who goes down first?" he asked.

"Well, let's do it the way Frosty and me always decide things:" Nose Nip said.

He pointed a hoof at Golden Sun.

"Eeney..."

He pointed at himself.

"Meaney..."

He pointed at Golden Sun again.

"Miney..."

And then he pointed at himself, when he suddenly heard a faint rumbling.

"Mo...boy." he said, when he heard the rumbling getting closer and louder.

Water was rushing down the tunnel they were standing in, giving them little choice:

"Forget it, let's get down there while we can!" Golden Sun shouted over the oncoming tide. "Let's find a way to--"

The floor collapsed underneath them and they both found themselves plummeting downwards. If it weren't for Golden Sun's telekinesis, they would've been splattered all over the rocky floor in a heap of horse-guts.

"Not bad, professor." said Nose Nip, breathlessly.

"Don't mention it..." replied Golden Sun.

Then water droplets started to fall down on their manes. Nose Nip and Golden Sun both looked up and gasped in shock as the ceiling above them was not only breaking apart, but water was cascading down from the cracks and holes. Each millisecond, the water seemed to come down in larger amounts.

"Run!" they both shouted at once.

They bolted away as fast as they could, as metric tons of rocks and dozens of kiloliters of water began falling to the ground. As the roof continued to collapse, shards of sunlight became to open above. But still, they went on, galloping madly towards the underground city, hollering hysterically.

---

Daring Do, Crimson Blade, and Lightning Dust travelled through the subterranean city together. As they passed through streets and lanes, Crimson frowned.

"This place is starting to remind me of Fort Echidna." he stated, gloomily. "Though this place, as ancient as it is, definitely looks sturdier than those tunnels that Commander Firewing made us dig."

"Which makes me wanna ask..." Lightning turned to Crimson. "Why the heck would you stay with a bunch of deranged, slaving, meat-eating brutes like the templars at Fort Echidna?"

"Because I had nowhere else to go." said Crimson. "Or so I thought anyway. When I heard what happened to Scarlet and her husband, I had feared the worst. I gave up on living a normal life, and moved directly into Baltimare's garrison. But then I...acted out against the Princess and was disavowed and imprisoned. When I finally...got out, I fell in with a very bad crowd. I did...very unsavory things during that time, and I was practically desensitized by the time I joined the Templars. My self-esteem was so low that I didn't mind seeing slavery, hard labor, cold-blooded torture, or weapons of mass destruction being made under my supervision."

"Man, I'm really sorry to hear that." said Lightning. "Your daughter must've meant a lot to you, huh?"

"Scarlet was my whole world." said Crimson. "I couldn't have asked for a better child. Nor for better grandchildren."

Suddenly, there was a strange noise in the air, that seemed to descend for an eternity: Shepard's Tone. This tone kept going for a few seconds, before fading into silence. Several dark shadows sprang around them, appearing and disappearing at random. One of the shadows leapt over Crimson Blade, and was illuminated by his aura for a few seconds: A large, bow-legged creature with digitigrade, clawed feet, razor-sharp claws for hands on the ends of its long rail-thin arms, a scorpion's tail, and a head that resembled a mixture between a jaguar, a jackal, and a raptor and a curved lower jaw.

"What the heck is that thing?" gasped Lightning Dust.

"It's bad news." said Daring Do. "Very bad news."

The creature opened its maw, and dilated its luminescent eyes. It let out a roar that seemed to "roll" back and forth, as if the sound was revolving in its throat. As it did so, the lower jaw was revolving back and forth like a petal on a bicycle. It lashed out with its right claw, between Lightning Dust and Daring Do.

"You're an ugly guy, arent'cha?" Lightning Dust said, hovering in the air.

The creature reared itself up to lunge forward, but Lightning ascended in time. She swooped down and spun around the creature fast enough to form a tornado around it. But it was fruitless, since the creature was practically a whirlwind of claws and teeth on its own and the tornado only accelerated the speed of its attacks. Many times, Lightning Dust had to dodge the creature's blows, going faster and faster until started to get dizzy. She felt her stomach getting queasy and her cheeks sank into a deeper shade of green and her golden eyes started to roll around in different directions.

"Oooh...I don't feel so good." she said groggily.

She had no choice but to stop, and started hacking. Afraid she would vomit, she flew over to a nearby urn and stuck her head inside. She finished gagging and hacking, when she turned and saw that the creature was being carried away in the cyclone she created. She suddenly realized a creature identical to the first was behind her, leaning sideways. Before Lightning could say or do anything, the creature lashed at her with its foot. Not with the claw, but the knuckled top-side, swatting her high up into the air towards the cavernous ceiling. She went upwards, before descending in an arc into the side of another building.

---

Trixie and Sunset were trying to force the wall to open again, when suddenly they heard a creaking noise, and the ceiling above them opened up. They heard screaming, and none other than Lightning Dust fell down through the opening. Sunset telekinetically caught Lightning with her magic, while Trixie was crouching and wincing in a state of panic.

"Trixie, it's okay." Sunset said. "It's just Lightning Dust."

"I know." Trixie responded, quivering. "I'm talking about that!"

The creature that struck Lightning climbed into the opening of the ceiling and jumped down with a trilling growl, as another corridor opened and another creature emerged.

"Maul-Ras!" exclaimed Sunset. "King Nelphyn's onto us!"

"Mall-whats?" said Lightning, still laying on the ground.

"King Nelphyn's terrible trio." said Sunset. "I...met them before."

"Trio? There's three of them?!" Trixie gasped.

"Yeah, but I left the first one in a cyclone and he got blown away...somewhere!" said Lightning. "Let's hope for the best for whoever crosses paths with that dude."

"Don't forget us!" said Trixie.

The Maul-Ra that emerged from the wall opening growled angrily, and brandished a strange black object with a curved handle, and started to sway its fingers to get a grip on it. The other Maul-Ra slashed and swung across the room in a single, brilliantly fluid-like motion only to stop and lean at the side of the first. It turned its head to look at Sunset, apparently recognizing her from the human world. it started to hiss and growl, which the first responded with similar noises. It brandished a second object identical to the first, and held it in the other claw. The second angled its scorpion-like tail, poised to strike as it crouched with its head relaxed at a jaunted position so that its jaw was facing the ceiling.

"What do we do?" said Lightning Dust, getting herself straightened.

Sunset's horn glowed, and she said with a grave tone and narrowed eyes.

"We fight."

Comments

[00RaiserGundam]

OK, I am still having trouble trying to picture the maul-ras in my head even with your description of them.

Secondly, how much time has passed between Eclipsed and Rekindled? I really hope that Radiant does get the chance to ask Lightning the big question.

[EldritchNexus]

6139418 First, imagine the Skedar from Perfect Dark with the attributes mentioned in the story.

vignette2.wikia.nocookie.net/perfectdark/images/6/6b/XBW91comm_revsperf_7--screenshot-1.jpg/revision/latest?cb=20100423190031

Second, I say it right in the title of the first chapter: "Two Weeks Later..."

[00RaiserGundam]

6139442 Right, which means that Radiant and Lightning Dust haven't even been dating half a year. For Radiant to consider proposing to her, that seems to be going a little fast. But that's just me.

[EldritchNexus]

6140154 A lot more time had passed since Rekindled started.

[Lord Nopony]

WHOO! Time for some sweet payback everypony!! WHOOP!

[JimmyHook19]

If it weren't for Golden Sun's telekinesis, they would've been splattered all over the rocky floor in a heap of horse-guts.

-shudders- that would of been really bad O-O