Flame of Disparity

by Cinders of War

Chapter 8: Bronze Workshop

Sunset Shimmer returned to the ship’s deck, looking out over the new landscape. The area was clear, with the sun still shining brightly above her head.

The ship had stopped at a wooden dock, with a path leading straight up to a metallic dome structure. From the looks of it, it was made of bronze.

“I wonder what’s in store here…” Sunset exhaled and kicked down a wooden walkway on the boat, using it to get to the dock.

The area was nothing more than a platform for the ship to stop at. There were no other paths away besides the one leading to the dome; just a straight shot ahead.

“Guess I know where I’m going…”

The structure ahead had a mostly smooth surface like a shell, but in certain areas, there were what looked like pipes, jutting out from the dome.

Arriving at the front doors, Sunset put her back into it, pushing both bronze doors with her hands, watching as they slowly budged and began moving out of her way.

“Do normal people even live in these places anymore?” she panted as she wiped sweat away from her forehead.

The path into the dome was dark and Sunset was unable to see more than three meters in.

Swallowing, she began her journey into the new place, pulling her drake sword out, just in case. There were what looked like rows of sconces on the sides, but instead of fire, they were spewing steam every now and then, like some kind of exhaust pipe.

Finally arriving at the end of the dark tunnel, Sunset found herself in a large rectangular room with pipes coming in and out of the walls, some venting steam from vented portholes. From what she’d seen in this world so far, this seemed to be the most sophisticated place. Gears ran on one side, just rotating in the floor; Sunset couldn’t tell what they were used for.

Then, on her right, a set of circular holes slid open, revealing two long tunnels leading deep into the walls. Two round spheres rolled out and landed on the ground with a resounding thunk. Then four spider-like legs extended from them as the top half of each sphere stood up, extending arms from their sides. Arms with four fingers each.

“What?” Sunset held her sword out as they approached her, each leg tinkling on the floor with each step, slowly approaching her. “Oh, how I wish Pinkie Pie were here with me right now…”

Sunset jogged towards the first machine, cutting it with her sword. The blade sheared right through its arm and embedded itself in the machine’s chest. Pulling down to the side, Sunset dropped the automaton to the ground as it tried to claw at her. Kicking against it, she was able to remove her sword from it, just in time to jab it straight through what looked like its head. The machine stopped trying to attack her and fell back to the ground.

Before she could turn around, the second machine reached out and grabbed Sunset by her coat collar, lifting her off the ground.

“Hey!” Sunset yelled at it, her legs swinging below her.

Turning her sword around, Sunset jabbed it back under an arm, feeling the blade pierce the bronze armor of the automaton. The machine shuddered once, then let Sunset go as it ceased to function, it’s head tilting down.

The fiery haired girl stood up and brushed her pants, watching the dust disappear into the air like powder. It seemed that all the places here haven’t been used in years with all the dust she’d seen.

She didn’t want to be here anymore than the next person, but if she wanted to get out, she’d have to keep going.

“Just keep walking, Sunset,” she said to herself. “What’s the worst that could happen? More robots? Psssh. Yeah, of course…”

The large room led into a small hallway with a grated floor, allowing Sunset to see gears and pistons working below, every now and then sending a puff of steam up from one part of the floor.

One four-legged automaton patrolled the area, it’s legs carefully stepping on the grates, avoiding the holes.

“Here we go.”

Sunset ran along, her feet big enough to walk above the grates, advancing on the automaton. It sensed her presence, turning around and raising its hands in fists.

The fiery haired girl swung her weapon, catching the robot in the right hand, slicing its fingers off before ducking under its left, cutting across its midsection with her drake sword. The robot paused for a second before its top half slid off its lower half, steam blowing out from its severed stump.

“Easy,” Sunset smiled and went on. Plus, these things weren’t living like the other enemies she’d fought. Killing robots didn’t raise any questions in her mind.

Sunset followed the straight corridor, watching the gears turn below her feet. She dreaded the thought of falling through and getting crushed, but at least the grates prevented her from doing so. Right?

The hallway led down a flight of stairs after a roundabout, opening up into a huge cavern with pipes reaching the skies through an open roof. Water streamed down from what looked like drainage pipes in the side of the walls, cascading down to a small stream below, going off down another tunnel all the way at the bottom.

Sunset figured that was the direction to go, so she started making her way down, careful to keep away from the edges. She didn’t want to accidentally fall and take the hard way down.

She had only walked halfway down the stairs when a strange short creature lumbered out from a dome like shelter on the side, holding a double-edged axe in both hands.

“What now?” Sunset groaned.

The creature had on a cone shaped helmet with two horns protruding out the top, and it had a long black beard, somewhat resembling a dwarf, though its helmet covered its eyes, stopping only above its round potato-shaped nose.

Releasing a deep bellow, the dwarf ran to Sunset as fast as his short legs could go, his battleaxe already raised horizontally above his helmeted head.

Sunset readied herself and stepped back as his axe came down, cutting a line into the bronze floor below. As he tried to pull out his weapon, Sunset was already on him, kicking the dwarf in the helmet. The bearded man let go of his axe and stumbled back, a foot slipping off the edge, before he plunged down without a sound.

Sunset sighed and kept her weapon. She had looked forward to killing robots, not people or monsters again. She’d been getting dangerously close to stop caring. She had no intention of getting used to killing.

“I just want to get out of here…” Sunset rubbed her head and kept going.

The staircase led around one of the skyward pipes, turning as it led down to a lower level, which was just a straight path to another staircase.

Sunset saw two more dwarves and one of those four-legged robots hanging around by a large sconce, and unfortunately, they saw her.

Great… Sunset spun her weapon into her grip. “Can you guys just leave me alone? Seriously…”

She decided not to give them a chance to get moving, swiftly rushing to the first dwarf as she cut up, slashing him along the body, sending him back against the sconce; he didn’t get up again. The second one had hefted its axe, blocking Sunset’s second attack as it spun in a circle, trying to kill her.

Sunset parried to the left with her sword, swinging it back, knocking off the dwarf’s helmet as the robot advanced on her, punching her in the gut.

“Ooh…” Sunset doubled forward and clutched her abdomen. The metal fist had hurt bad.

The dwarf recovered, lifting his axe high as he approached the bent over Sunset Shimmer. The girl quickly threw herself back, avoiding the axe as the automaton came after her again.

In a moment of risks, Sunset turned her sword around and threw it at the automaton, spearing it through the midsection. It grasped for the blade, but shut down before it could pull it out, its arms falling to its side as the dwarf came at Sunset with its axe.

The girl rolled to the left, avoiding the battleaxe before kicking out at the dwarf’s head, knocking him back. Rolling back, Sunset grabbed the axe’s handle and yanked it out of the floor, delivering a downward cut to her enemy’s head. The blade simply sank through his helmet, spraying blood against Sunset’s face as it lodged into the dwarf’s head. Sunset let go of the weapon as he tipped back, falling off the edge and down to the stream below.

“Ooh, that was close…” Sunset lay there, rubbing her abdomen and staring up at the open cave ceiling.

Slowly inching her hand to her pack, Sunset dug through it until her fingers closed around an estus flask, sighing with relief when she unstoppered the cap. The girl quickly downed its contents, feeling her sores and bruises instantly vanish, refreshing her.

“This always hits the spot,” she smiled and kept moving.

The path ahead led into a new building, one in the side of the cavern, with a ladder going straight down inside. Shrugging, Sunset stowed her sword and grabbed the ladder, making her descent. About halfway down, she realized it was going to take too long before she reached the bottom. Trying her luck, Sunset let go of the rungs and held onto the sides, letting her body slide down.

She screamed at the top of her lungs, but soon found her feet touching the bronze flooring below.

“I’m still alive!” she touched her face and laughed. “That was pretty awesome.”

Just up ahead, she noticed a faint glow against the bronze walls. Rushing forward, Sunset found an extinguished bonfire. Grinning from ear to ear, she lifted a hand and watched as the flame sparked to life, the warmth already filling the area and her body.

“Ah…” Sunset sat down and closed her eyes. If it was one thing in this world that made her feel safe, it was a bonfire. There were never enemies around these things and the warmth just made her feel really comfortable.

Sunset took her time in filling up the estus flask she had used, dipping it in the flame and watching as the orange liquid returned.

“I don’t know how that makes sense, but whatever…” Sunset was glad enough that these things didn’t run out. They’d saved her on countless occasions now.

After deeming it was time to go, Sunset pulled herself away from the safety of the bonfire and forged on, looking for a way down to the tunnel at the bottom.

The next path brought Sunset to two more automatons, but she took care of them easily enough, walking past their broken remains as she found another ladder leading down. She swiftly slid down it, making sure to hold on tight enough as she headed down.

Sunset Shimmer’s feet touched the bottom with a resounding clang, only now one floor above the stream below.

Before she could turn around, she felt something pierce into her back, almost pushing her off the edge.

“Aagh!” she screamed, feeling the pain flare across the body.

She turned her head to see an automaton with needle-like hands behind her, one already in her back. Sunset tried to cut back, but it knocked her sword away, sending it flying to the stream below, before stabbing its other hand into Sunset’s shoulder.

The pain was too much. Sunset felt like she was going to collapse anytime, but she couldn’t. Not yet.

Fighting the pain, she reached into her pack and took out an estus flask, willing her hands to not drop it down as well.

Kicking back, Sunset hit her graves against the robot repeatedly, making dents in its armor as she placed the flask to her lips.

The girl tasted her blood mixed in with the healing drink, but felt her strength return, though the robot still had both needles in her. She knew she had to get out of this fast, before she ran out of flasks.

Sunset stomped down on one of its legs multiple times, finally feeling the bronze give way as it swayed to the side, allowing Sunset to free herself from its arms as she fell to the bronze floor.

Before the robot could react, Sunset planted both her feet in its chest, knocking its two back legs off the ledge. The robot scrambled in the air for a second, but soon fell down to the stream below; Sunset heard the echo of its crash and splash a few seconds after.

“Oh man…” she grunted as she searched her pack for another estus flask, quickly drinking it to heal herself.

She definitely needed new clothes soon. The ones she came here with had tears and holes all over it, which was just a little better than running around in her underwear.

“This is just great, isn’t it?” Sunset looked down again, trying to locate her drake sword, but it must’ve gotten washed away, because she couldn’t see it. “What am I going to do now…?”

Sunset Shimmer got up and dusted her jeans before wandering along the metallic path, looking for a way down. At the end, the pathway led into another structure in the cavern wall, leading in a spiral to the bottom of this cavern.

“Yes!” the girl rushed down, careful not to trip on her own feet.

She was so excited to finally reach the bottom that she almost missed a metallic shell looking object, simply sitting on a long stone table. She doubled back after realizing she missed something, walking back up to have a look at it.

“What’s this…?” she touched the top, watching as steam hissed out. The sides folded back like some sort of flower, revealing a squarish metal sword inside, untouched by time and dirt, shining in the sconce fires.

The sword had a bronze hilt with a strange pipe object sticking out its back, just over its guard. The end of the weapon curved back, ending in a little spike at the tip.

“Wow…” Sunset marveled as she picked it up. It was incredibly light for something made of so much metals.

She gave it a swing, hearing it swish through the air with every strike. It was only after her fourth strike did she realize there was a button on the hilt, where her thumb was.

“What does this do…?” Sunset had her answer as she pressed down on it. The pipe in her sword hilt suddenly emitted a jet of hot steam, almost searing her foot off if she hadn’t moved it back. “Woah.”

She wasn’t upset that she had lost her previous sword anymore. This sword was just brilliant.

“I think I’ll call this one… the steam sword.”

Heading back down the slope she had gone earlier, Sunset soon found the bronze flooring at an end, turning into dark stone as she hit the bottom of the area. A huge double door led her out to the open air cavern, the running stream now just a few meters away.

The fiery haired girl followed it, walking down the small slope, watching the water run into the large cave mouth, too dark for her to see far.

“Great… more caves,” Sunset groaned. She’d had enough of dark places for her entire life.

She went in anyway, knowing that it was the only thing she could do to get home. As her eyes adjusted to the darkness, she noticed a bunch of holes in the walls where water was dripping down into the stream, which was the only sound Sunset could hear in this quiet cave.

Then she saw a faint glow ahead in the gloom, just on the left side of the stream.

“Could it be…?” Sunset ran for it, recognizing the charred sword sticking out of the ground, surrounded by rocks.

The girl was so excited that she missed the axe until it swung down, cutting deep across her left arm.

“Aagh!” she yelled and stepped back, dodging a slash at her chest.

The dwarf was nearly invisible in the dark, but Sunset could see him now. He came for her, holding his axe high. Deciding to give it a try, Sunset lifted her new sword up and clicked down on the button. A jet of hot steam shot out, hitting the dwarf right in the face.

The short man dropped his axe and clawed his face, yelling as the heat burned his skin. Sunset walked up, bringing her sword down on the dwarf’s head, ending his pain.

She kept her sword, grasping for her wounded arm as she made for the bonfire, her strength rapidly draining from the loss of blood. Got… to get… to… bonfire…

Sunset had fallen to her knees when she reached a hand out, watching as the fire burst to life, its warmth wrapping around her like a soft blanket. The girl fell to her face, but soon felt her strength returning to her as her wound closed up. She gave herself a few minutes to rest up on the floor, not wanting to get up, but finally did so, dusting gravel off her tattered clothes as she looked past the bonfire, spotting a large bronze door in the cave wall, just a few meters ahead.

“I wonder where that leads to…” she mumbled and picked her sword up, ready to continue on.

She reached the entrance, looking up and down for a way to open it. She scrabbled her hands around the smooth surface, but found no handle or latch to open the door. Pushing and pulling also didn’t do anything.

Then the girl found little indents at the bottom of the door. Investigating them, she pushed and pulled, eventually realizing she had to lift the door up to the ceiling. With all her might, Sunset strained her arms and lifted, watching the bronze slowly move, untouched for years. As the door past her knees, it finally went up all the way on its own, the mechanism taking over.

“Phew…” Sunset panted looking up at the entrance. Unfortunately, something else stood in her way. Another fog wall. “Aw man!”

She quickly looked around for any white signs, hoping to find one from Pinkie Pie, but this time, there were none.

“Horseapples…”

With no alternative, Sunset took a deep breath and pushed through the fog wall, peering through to the other side.

The room ahead was of a circular shape, but with four generator-like machines on the sides, along with tubes running all along them and the entire room. The ceiling had a large metallic dish, with a glowing gem in the middle of it.

“I wonder what this is…” Sunset walked further in, waiting for something to jump out and attack her.

She arrived in the middle, still anticipating an enemy, but none showed up. Then above, the gem seemed to glow brighter, its reflective surface reflecting rays across the room, lighting up the center, forcing Sunset out of the middle circle.

Without warning, the ground in the center split open, with both sides shifting into the floor before the entire ground shook, the sound of machinery turning all around the fiery haired girl. Then from the hole, something began to rise. At first, it seemed to just be a golden head with well carved humanoid features, including two spheres for eyes and a large squarish nose. Then the rest of the body came into view, which was humanoid in nature as well.

The golden automaton stood a whole meter taller than Sunset and for arms, it had a sword and a claw, while a red gem sat in the middle, slowly beginning to spin as red light seemed to pulse across the entire robot.

“Great…” Sunset could guess what was coming.

The automaton’s eyes glowed red as its head began to move, looking from side to side before coming to a stop at Sunset, looking down at her.

“Have at you!” Sunset ran forward, instantly stabbing her sword through the automaton’s leg, the metal cutting right through the metal.

And then the automaton opened its mouth and began to scream an almost unearthly scream. It sounded almost human, but much more tormented. Sunset removed her blade as it began to stomp wildly, swinging its weaponized arms from side to side, the sword arm even damaging the ceiling in the process.

Sunset had to dance away from its feet and arms as it swiped randomly everywhere, all the while screaming with that bone-chilling voice it had.

This whole world is sick…

The gem in its chest made a loud whirring sound and suddenly, it stopped moving, turning to look right at Sunset before sprinting over, like the crazed automaton it was.

Sunset yelled and rolled to the side as its sword arm came crashing down into the floor behind her, getting up behind its right leg and cutting it with her steam sword. Once again, it began to scream, going on a rampage across the room, breaking everything in sight. Sunset kept away to the best of her ability, but then it came back in her direction, spinning its arms like windmills.

Sunset tried to roll again, but then one of its claws caught onto her shirt through one of the tattered holes and yanked her off her feet, swinging her in the air wildly.

“Wooooaaaaah!” Sunset tried to dislodge the claw, afraid that if she tried to cut it, she might end up cutting off her own head with all the swinging going on.

Almost unsurprising to her, her weight tore her off her shirt and she fell back to the metal floor, hitting her head.

Everything turned a dark blue and started spinning around her, but Sunset still managed to retrieve a estus flask from her pack and downed it groggily.

Instantly, her strength and vitality returned to her and she pushed back to her feet, rubbing the side of her head. Her tattered shirt still hung from the crazed automaton’s claws, leaving her top uncovered now, save for her black bra, which she thankfully still had.

“Now I really need new clothes…”

Eventually, the automaton stopped its rampage again and came for her in its more civilized state, raising both arms to attack.

Sunset dodged around its blows, trying to think up methods on stopping the robot. Everytime she attacked it, it went crazy, making it harder to approach. If she was going to attack again, she had to make sure it would be a lethal one.

The gem.

Sunset looked at the spinning jewel on its chest. Everytime it calmed down, the gem did something. Sunset figured that must be the thing powering the entire automaton.

“Here goes nothing.”

When the automaton attacked again, Sunset leapt to the side, then grabbed on to its sword arm, throwing herself on top of it where there were pipes running up its arm. Sunset began climbing, flipping herself to the side once to avoid its claw arm as it tried to get her. Her thigh accidentally pressed against its sword, cutting into her flesh, but Sunset did her best to ignore the pain and press on. If she stopped now, she would surely die.

Using its metal engravings and patterns to haul herself higher, Sunset soon found herself on the crazed automaton’s shoulder, now looking down at the gem as it tried to shake her off. Needing a distraction, Sunset turned her sword to the automaton’s face and pressed the button, releasing a blast of hot steam in its face.

The crazed automaton went berserk, screaming like no robot should be able to, thrashing around the room once more. Sunset knew she had to be quick, or risk getting crushed.

Twisting her body over to the front, Sunset let go and dropped, grabbing a rung next to the spinning gem. Hauling her body up against the automaton’s golden frame, Sunset brought her sword back and drove it as hard as she could into the robot’s gem, watching her steam sword pierce right through the gem and the metal within.

The crazed automaton screamed louder than ever, its arms just going crazy and spinning like fans, tearing up the floor as it walked. Sunset hung on for dear life, keeping her legs in, hoping that they wouldn’t be sheared off if she dangled out too far.

Still the automaton wouldn’t go down. Reaching back up, Sunset thumbed down the button on her sword, releasing hot steam from her weapon.

The crazed automaton stopped in its tracks, vibrating on the spot, its mouth hanging open in a silent scream. The metal of its body began to heat up and soon, it got too hot for Sunset to hang on and she leapt off, watching as smoke began to rise from the automaton’s body.

And then it crashed to its knees and began flaking off into ashes, blowing away in some kind of unknown wind; her steam sword clattered onto the ground, bouncing once as the machine faded entirely.

“Finally…” Sunset retrieved her sword and looked ahead. Opposite the entrance she had come in from, part of the wall began to slide up, the gears turning and steam hissing as a new exit appeared to the fiery haired girl.

“About time…” Sunset moved a hand through her hair and headed for the exit.

Just past the opened door was an open air square room, with nonfunctional automatons to either sides, leaning against each other and the walls. There was also a wooden chest to the left, almost hidden among the mass of golden machines. In the center of the room, much to Sunset’s relief, was a bonfire.

“Great to have another break…” Sunset went to light the bonfire, then turned to look at the chest. “And what do we have here…?”

Moving over, Sunset gripped the lid with both hands and pulled up, lifting it off the bottom; there was something shiny inside. It was a pair of armored leggings.

Sunset looked down at her own tattered jeans and the choice was easily made. Throwing her jeans aside, Sunset slipped into the new leggings, finding it surprisingly comfortable as she strapped the armor on. The insides were made of a soft leather, which didn’t irritate her skin too much.

“Now if only I can find a top too…” Sunset Shimmer looked at her exposed body and blushed. “As long as there aren’t any guys around…”

She took some time to rest at the bonfire, basking in the warmth of the safe zone. It was always nice to just sit back and relax after a perilous journey through a new area. If not for these bonfires, Sunset didn’t know how she would be able to keep pressing on. The fire always seemed to rejuvenate her, even removing her hunger and fatigue, meaning she never felt like she had to eat or sleep, which wasn’t too bad. She hadn’t come across any food since stepping into this world, so without these, she would probably starve to death.

A positive thought in a dark, dark world. And it would have to be enough to keep Sunset on her path to the end. There was still so much to do to start being pessimistic about everything.

Author's Note:

Achievement Unlocked: Crazed Automaton. You defeated the Crazed Automaton.

Hey, everyone. Sorry for the long hiatus with this story. The problem consisted of me running out of ideas, and also the length of the typing process. For now, I'm pleased to say I've gotten back on it and will do my best to upload chapters for this again! Cheers, y'all! I hope it still continues to entertain after such a break!

Comments

[Wanderer D]

Hm. I'm enjoying this, but it's taking a bit of a toll, considering the lack of interactions. Although I know the game series is very, very lonely, it doesn't lend itself too well for storytelling in the sense that limiting her dialogue to reaction noises and the occasional two-word grunt, things get complicated.

[Venerable Ro]

Dwemer now? What a psychedelic world this is. Puts me in mind of Myst for some reason...