A Rift Between Worlds

by Cinders of War

Chapter 50: Facing the Monsters at Our Door

Sunset Shimmer first encountered Grineer soldiers when she exited into a large metal room with a crossroads platform in the middle, splitting off into four different directions. There were decorations of red and black banners all around and every Grineer in here was clad in similar coloured armor, all with the intent of killing her.

Sunset knew there was no way she was going to let them. There was still so much she had to do. With a huge burst of blue magical energy, she pushed the surrounding Grineer away, trapping them against the walls and machinery, dropping them only when she was well away in the next room.

Ember had brought up a map of the place, dropping an objective point in it to show her where she needed to go.

“Sunset Shimmer, I must say,” her Tenno started. “You have proven to be a very capable pilot to my Warframe. A strong fire burns within you and I like it. You have fierce determination to do what is right, Sunset Shimmer. I admire that. I wish us Tenno could one day learn to be our own selves and to live as you do.”

“You can, Ember. Nothing’s stopping you,” Sunset said as she ran along, kicking off a wall to go faster. “You might’ve been programmed to kill, but you Tenno aren’t just robots. You’re more than that. Whatever path you want to take when we’re done with this fighting, it’s up to you.”

“I am glad to hear you think like that, Sunset Shimmer. It fills me with so much fire! Let us do this, Sunset Shimmer. Your way. Together.”

With a sparkle of magic, Sunset’s pony ears emerged from the top of her head and her hair extended down to her legs into a long ponytail.

Maximum Drift. Now things were getting interesting.

“That’s the spirit, Ember!”

More Grineer stood in her way, firing their rifles at her, but Sunset easily took care of them with a swish of her hand, sending them flying back dropping their guns. A Grineer ballista stood to the side, priming her sniper rifle, but Sunset ripped the weapon out from her hands and whacked her on the head with it, knocking her out before snapping the rifle in half like a twig.

Magic really made everything easier and with the Warframe as a conduit, Sunset felt like she could go on for a long time. She felt like her old self again, like the skillful unicorn she once was, though minus the lust for power.

The next room brought her to a single platform in the middle of a cylindrical room, with no other way around, but that was easily solved with the Warframe’s mobility alone. Two Grineer butchers stood on the other side, but Sunset knocked them aside and kept going. She knew the time limit she had and she also had to take her friends’ safety to consideration. The faster she could finish this, the faster everyone could be safe again.

“Not much further, Sunset Shimmer.” Ember suddenly took over and launched a fireball up at a cluster of pipes, bursting steam behind the girl, stopping a group of Grineer soldiers in their tracks. “You have to let me take over from time to time.” Sunset wasn’t sure if she heard it right, but it sounded like Ember was laughing after that.

“If you want, you can push ahead until we reach the queens?” Sunset asked nicely. “It’s not fair if I’m the one controlling the Warframe all the time.”

“I accept your offer, Sunset Shimmer. Time to burn away!” Ember lit both her hands on fire. “Though when you see fit, do as you will. We are one and the same now.”

Ember took over, moving Sunset’s legs, catapulting both of them up a ramp, running up the wall and taking a pipe across the vast room. Grineer ran along the bottom, but so far, none of them have bothered to look up.

When the majority of them had crossed over into the other rooms, Ember brought them down, landing in front of a row of consoles, dropping to a crouch before sprinting over to the door leading away. There was a single Grineer lancer, but Ember flew at him and kicked him in the chest, knocking him against the wall, taking him out.

“Doing things your way, Sunset Shimmer,” Ember said.

Sunset smiled and nodded. It was nice to see her Tenno partner working well with her. She felt like they had never been closer and on the same wavelength than now.

Around the corner, a wave of Grineer appeared, two shield lancers leading the front. Ember got her stance ready, but Sunset made it easier, whipping up a magical storm and sucking in the assault wave above her. When she was ready, she smashed them all straight down, then returned control to Ember as the Tenno leapt over them and ran along the wall, exiting out into a vast room with many pipes. Sunset smiled as her partner got them across the room with ease, using each one to their advantage.

“We’re close now, Sunset Shimmer.” Ember directed the girl’s attention back to the little map in her visor. The marker was very close now.

“You’re really good at this, Ember,” Sunset said, watching herself fly as Ember ran and jumped all over the place.

They progressed up, getting to a higher level using all the pipes, finding a long tunnel at the end. Ember jumped and skillfully slid right through the tunnel on her first try, sliding for a good distance before hopping back up to her feet to carry on.

On the other end of the tunnel, Sunset and Ember emerged in a large squarish room with red lights and plenty more decorated banners fanning each side, leading up to a large circular door at the end. There were two Kuva guardians standing by the door, their weapons in their hands, but they made no move to engage the girl and her Tenno.

“This looks like the right place,” Sunset said, starting up the magical energy in front of her forehead, forming her magical horn.

“How would you like to proceed?” Ember asked. “Actually, you do not need to answer that, Sunset Shimmer. I already know how you want to do this. Let us do it together.”

Sunset approached them at a decent pace, walking up to them, her magic ready for anything they might try to do. When she got closer, they raised their staffs, but Sunset was ready. She lifted both of them and tossed them aside, ripping the weapons from their hands and using it to pin them against the wall. Even for such large armor, the two guardians seemed to have trouble getting down as Sunset ripped the large doors open, throwing them down in the room before her.

“My, my, she has returned,” a wizened old voice said, followed by a series of coughs. “The human with the shell.”

Before Sunset, on a pedestal of sorts, sat the twin Queens of the Grineer. The whole place was dimly lit like the last place Sunset had met them in, but this time, they had at least six Kuva guardians around them, each one accompanied by the smaller jesters.

“It is your fault my sister is like this!” The younger queen pointed a finger at Sunset. “She is dying and she needs your body!”

“Silence, Worm,” the older queen barked, then lifted a frail finger at Sunset. “Have you come back to resume our continuity? We have seen what you can do. Your body will be perfect for me.”

“No.” Sunset shook her head. “I’ve come to talk.”

“Talk?” The Worm looked at her sister. “She has come just to talk? She doesn’t know any better. I shall call in reinforcements.”

The Kuva guardians and jesters around them began to move forward.

Planting both hands on the ground, Ember channeled her energy and waited, satisfied when pillars of fire began to erupt from the floor all around the Grineer and their queens. The guardians seemed unaffected, but the jesters were blown off their heads and set ablaze.

“Great work, Ember.” Sunset pooled her energy into her horn and when she was ready, she released a pulse across the room, knocking both queens down and relieving the Kuva guardians of their weapons.

As soon as that had happened, the fire around seemed to start affecting them as well, setting their wide armor on fire. The queens sat in the middle, unaffected by the fire.

“Please, this doesn’t need to end with more death,” Sunset reasoned with them, knocking the guardians and jesters back with her magic. “There can be peaceful ways to end it all. We can work something out. None of us need to die here. We can all live peacefully.”

“The scum wants to work something out?” The queens looked at each other and laughed. “Girl, the only way this will work out is if you give us your fleshy body for my continuity.”

“That is a terrible exchange, Sunset Shimmer,” Ember said in her head. “I suggest we roast them. We are capable of doing so now.”

“We can find another way.” Sunset shook her head, refusing to accept that there was nothing she could do to change them. “There’s always another way.”

The Kuva guardians continued to burn, but two of them pulled out their pistols, firing them at Sunset. The first one hit her in the shoulder, jerking her to the side, but the rest were easily blocked with a magic barrier, absorbing all their bullets into it.

“Why do you even want our planet?” Sunset asked behind the blue barrier. “Don’t you have your own planet?”

“Not anymore.” The elder queen leaned down on her staff. “We find our home among the stars. And you Tenno have caused trouble enough for us. We seek to rule the galaxy as we see fit! But you keep us from doing so!” Then she coughed violently.

“Well, of course they stop you!” Sunset yelled and released her barrier, turning the magic on the guardians, picking them up in her grasp. “You can’t just take over the galaxy as you please.”

Suddenly, the room lights seemed to flicker, but it was too dim to really tell if it was a play of light and shadow. Sunset didn’t think much of it until it happened a second time. This time she was sure it flickered.

“It can’t be…” Ember whispered in her ears.

“What is the meaning of this?” The Worm looked around with her round beady eyes. “Beasts! To our chambers! Now!”

When the third flicker came, the entire room plunged into darkness for a few seconds more, the only things illuminating the room being Ember’s flames. Then it came back on as though nothing had happened, but Sunset and Ember knew better.

“The Grineer Queens…” an ominous voice echoed around the room. “Your reckoning is here.”

---

“Do you think Sunset’s alright in there?” Velvet asked as she spun around Home Run, firing past him at a squadron of dargyns, taking them down after a few precise bursts of bullets.

Being so close to the Balor Fomorian, it couldn’t fire its deadly laser at them, which Home Run didn’t mind. The less things trying to kill you, the better. Unfortunately, it was still slowly heading towards Earth, which was still a bad thing.

The rest of the Grineer fleet, or what was left of it, was positioned around the mammoth vessel, still sending troops out to kill them.

“Sunset’s a smart one,” Home Run said, switching his rathbone out with his imperator. “She’ll figure it out. She always has, hasn't she? I mean, with how many plots to take over the world you all have been through.”

“Yeah, she’ll do just fine!” Applejack agreed, firing a cluster of missiles at the oncoming Grineer forces. “She helped out great durin’ the Battle of the Bands. Ah’m sure she’ll find a way to get this one done too.”

“Yes, I have heard this story from the others, Home Run,” Vauban said. “Whatever took place during this Battle of the Bands, your friends came out stronger.”

“Were you there too, Velvet?” the boy asked, firing at a dreg as it got closer.

The teal-grey haired girl shook her head and continued to shoot at the Grineer. “I was only here right before winter break and my job was to-”

“W-Was to study well and… and pass the exams!” Applejack suddenly cut in, ending with a nervous laugh. “Yeah, that was what Velvet was tryin’ to say.”

“I find that statement highly suspicious…” Vauban voiced.

“Yeah…” Home Run squinted, but then shrugged it off. “But whatever, we have more Grineer to deal with before anything else. Besides, I kinda already know something went down during the winter break, just that no one wants to tell me.”

“One day, Home Run, Ah promise,” Applejack told him and brought up a barrier.

“That’s what you all say…”

“So what’s the plan?” Rainbow Dash asked from atop Applejack’s archwing. “We just keep shooting until Sunset gives us the go?”

“That’s the idea…” Then Twilight Sparkle flew over from behind a group of Grineer, smashing through them with her veritux blade, returning to the group. “We just need to hold out until she’s done.”

“And then we go to the core and destroy this thing once and for all,” Nyx said.

“That’s if Sunset doesn’t manage to convince them to leave,” Home Run reminded.

“Please, Home Run, do you truly believe the Grineer would just leave like that?” Nyx appeared in his visor, her expression unreadable, seeing as her head was just the Warframe shell. “The Grineer are ruthless and cruel. No amount of convincing will get them to leave.”

“Well, why did we let Ember and Sunset Shimmer go in, then?” It was Rhino’s turn to speak. “If there was no way to do this, we should just destroy the core now.”

“She deserves this chance,” Ash said. “After what I’ve heard from you all and what I have seen her do, this Sunset Shimmer is a unique life form. Perhaps she can do things we cannot.”

“Darn right, y’all!” Applejack pumped a fist up. “Sunset’ll get the job done! Then when she’s back, we can all go home.”

A swarm of dargyns came from another Grineer galleon, but Home Run and the others began firing upon them in a coordinated blast, taking a lot of them apart before they could even reach them.

“I hope you’re right,” Nyx replied. “While being optimistic might help you achieve what we’re doing here, it means nothing if it is not even possible.”

“Hey, just trust Sunset,” Home Run cut her off and released a pulse, knocking the remaining Grineer away. “No matter what, she’ll know how to get the job done. We just have to wait and see.”

Author's Note:

Hey y'all! I apologize for forgetting to add on to Rift, but here's another! Hope y'all enjoy it! Cheers!

Comments

[LuftRaptor]

And then surprise sentients?

[JMP]

I'm with the Tenno; trying to negotiate with the Grineer is pointless. Better to destroy the Formorian. Besides, Stalker's gonna kill the Queens anyway.

[Marcthelightspark2004]

“ The Grineer Queens… ” an ominous voice echoed around the room. “ Your reckoning is here. ”

Oh, it gon go down.

[MoonlightRift]

Stalker redemption

[MoonlightRift]

I just realized Sunset's new power being blue is like what the Operator has. God damn it, I'm so stupid, it's so obvious.