• Published 28th Aug 2016
  • 1,299 Views, 54 Comments

Sunset Over The Wasteland - Thunder-Bolt



In a world gone mad, Sunset Shimmer must survive in the ruthless wasteland

  • ...
9
 54
 1,299

Chapter 2: Welcome To The Citadel

Chapter 2

It had taken several days, (Twilight had lost count), for she, Slash, and Jawbreaker to reach their destination. From what the poor mare could gather from the warboys constant bickering, she was in a desert known as the “Wasteland” and much of it was under control of this “Immortan Sombra.” At one point during the trip she had asked Slash, who was driving at the time, what he had meant by being a “prized breeder” of Immortan Sombra.

“What do you think? It means you get to make more of us warboys! A tremendous honour indeed!”

Twilight’s cheeks immediately turned sharp pink as she imagined, or rather, tried not to imagine what that would look like.

Jawsnapper, having switched places with Slash, shouted from behind over the groining of the Volkswagen’s engine.

“You should be proud! Breeders under the Immortan’s throne are given the cleanest water, the best food, and have the second biggest priority for medicine. Second only to Immortan Discord!” Jawbreaker said this with much enthusiasm, trying to get Twilight out of her sour mood. He knew the Immortan would not be pleased to see a breeder in such a mood.

“Are you honestly trying to cheer me up?” Twilight spat at Jawbreaker. “After you’ve just kidnapped me, and are taking me to be a-” Twilight shuddered and didn’t bother to finish her sentence..

That conversation had taken place on the same day the warboys had captured Twilight. Know she entered the palace of the Immortan himself. By Equestrian standards, it was more like the kind of home Diamond Dogs would be proud to have.

By Wasteland standards, however, the place was absolutely fit for a king. It was dug out of a plateau, with several heavily guarded entrances leading into the maze-like corridors of the palace. Along with the one plateau, two others formed a triangular shape, forming a sort of large courtyard.

O O

O

There was also a gate and large fence that surrounded the perimeter, denying entry to intruders. The Beatle had to get through the gate. After a brief explanation to the gate keepers as to why they were back, the Volkswagen was allowed into the compound.

Within the courtyard was where the villagers lived. Twilight had to look away to keep from all out bawling her eyes out. These men, women, and children looked like they on the brink of falling over and dying on the spot. Their cloths were made of rags hastily stitched together. Their homes were made of whatever the people could get their dusty hands on. Their bodies were completely covered in sweat, grime, and dirt. And their faces-

“Dear Celestia, their faces.” Twilight thought. Their faces were ones that were broken, both quite literally, and in their eyes. Their eyes were shrouded in suffering and neglect. However, oddly enough, they didn’t look at the Beatle with envy or jealousy. They were more like looks of curiosity. The warboys had a strict schedule when it came to coming in and going out on patrols. A car coming early or going late was something to notice.

The Volkswagen went down a road that went straight through to the citadel. The road was also bordered off from the reach of the villagers. The Beatle roared into one of the entrances, the entrance of the garage. The smell of gasoline was so pungent that it made Twilight’s eyes water. The garage was lit by torches and kerosene lamps. The Volkswagen rolled past rows cars of varying shapes and sizes.

Rigs with gas producing tanks. Muscle cars with giant bug catchers. Trucks with buzz saws attached onto their flatbeds. Souped up sedans with harpoon guns fused to their backs. And many, many more.

More than Twilight could ever hope to count. Yet, she could’ve done so rather easily. The cars were organized rather nicely, for such a primitive establishment. They were all lined up side-by-side, and back-to-back. The biggest of the vehicles were sorted to the far left of the garage’s entrance, the vehicles becoming smaller as one’s eyes swept from far left to far right.

The Volkswagen had made a sharp right as soon as it entered the garage. Jawbreaker, the one who was driving at the moment, drove the vehicle into the second row from the farthest right you could go. He parked it in what looked like a pre-designated spot for the car. Slash hopped off the back, while Jaw removed the steering wheel from the steering axis.

“Come on out, we’re here.” Jaw said to Twilight. He held the door for her and she got out. “Thank You” She said dryly. She didn’t smile, or even look at him. Slash rolled his eyes at Jaw’s unneeded kindness.

“Quit the bloody chivalry Jawsnapper! She ain’t a breeder yet!” Slash called out to Jawsnapper. Jawsnapper looked down in shame.

“Yes, of course.” Jaw replied.

Slash grabbed Twilight’s arm and dragged her down the aisle of cars. Several times Twilight had to cover her eyes from flying sparks, as there were several mechanics making more modifications to the various vehicles.

“Like they needed to look more menacing.” Twilight thought.

“Back already?” A mechanic walked up to the two warboys, speaking to Slash. He was wiping some grime off his hands.

“Indeed, Petrol,” Slash glanced towards Twilight. “Found ourselves a future breeder!” He gloated about their catch.

Petrol, the mechanic, whistled. “She’s a beaut, I’d imagine the Immortan’ll be givin’ you a promotion.” He started to wipe some grime off his face.

Slash nodded in agreement. “If you still had a leg, I’m sure you’d be in a combatant position.” he referred to the prosthetic that replaced half of Petrols leg.

“Mmm, well, best get back to work then.” Petrol turned and walked off to the car he had just been working on.

Twilight noted that Jawsnapper had remained silent for the entire conversation.

Slash led Twilight all the way to the back of the garage, with Jawsnapper falling in behind the two. At the back was a rust- covered submarine door installed, obviously a means of keeping intruders out of the rest of the “citadel”. When the three came to a stop at the door, Slash rapped on the metal. A rectangular plate within the door slid to the left, revealing a pair of eyes.

“Who is it!?” the eyes demanded.

“It’s Slash, and Jawsnapper.” The eyes squinted.

“The two of you are early, you weren’t supposed to be back until next week.” The eyes said.

“We found a potential breeder, wandering in the desert.” Jawsnapper explained.

“Probably was a survivor of a raided camp.” Slash finished. The eyes looked to Twilight, who was looking down at the dusty floor. They sized her up, knowing the Immortan always welcomed another breeder. The eyes looked back to the two warboys.

The plate slid shut, the door squeaked open. Slash jerked hard on Twilight’s arm and led her inside the corridor. She looked back to see that the doorkeeper was dressed in complete black garments, from head to toe.

“Must be pretty hot in those clothes, in this heat.” Twilight thought. As she did, she began to slow. Slash put an end to that quickly. He jerked on her arm hard, earning a gasp from Twilight.

“Keep moving!!” Slash ordered.

“Eyes forward!” Jawsnapper followed. Twilight did as told. She noted that the corridor was one that was all over the with its curves and twists. One would've had to grow up here or have made the tunnels to not get lost.

It implied that the stone hallway had been dug out of the plateau itself. It even had a number of pipes leading up and down the tunnel, delivering precious water to the different parts of the citadel. As she heard the echos of conversation throughout the halls, she worked up the nerve to speak to Slash.

“Um, if you don’t mind me asking, where exactly are we going?” Twilight inquired.

Knowing Slash hated answering questions like that, Jawsnapper answered for him.

“We are headed to the throne room” Jaw said. “of the glorious Immortan Sombra.” The warboy grinned as he finished his answer. It always gave him chills saying his grand leader’s name.

Twilight gulped.

The three came to a primitive looking elevator. All it was was a larger version of a hot-air balloon basket, attached to four ropes at the corners. Slash yanked Twilight into the basket, and Jawsnapper followed. Once all three were on board the basket, Slash yanked one of the ropes. The three waited for a few seconds, before the “elevator” began to move up. And up, and up and up. On the way, Twilight asked Jawsnapper

“So, what does this thing run on? I don’t hear a generator or anything.”

“Manpower, people turn the wheels that lift this.” Jaw answered, he himself becoming annoyed at Twilight’s dumb questions.

“And no more questions.” He said. Twilight did as instructed. The elevator reached the culmination of the upwards journey. The three got out, into a hallway that was identical to the one at the bottom of the plateau. The continued to the left.

The tunnel became wider as the throne room neared. The three finally came to the culmination point of the halls widening. Two giant doors, made completely out of car doors, roofs, and hoods welded together.

The doors were to the right, and if you kept going past the doors, the hall would shrink back to its initial size. Slash left Jawsnapper to grab ahold of Twilight as he walked to the immediate right of the doors where there was a bright red button and a speaker above that. He pressed the button.

“BING-BONG!!!” Twilight internally laughed at the ironic fact that the button was supposed to be a door bell. A voice bellowed from the small speaker.

“Who goes there?!?” The voice was so deep and so loud that for a moment it looked like it would blow out the speaker.

“The Great and Powerful Immortan Sombra, it is I, Slash” Slash said in his most respectful voice. ”and Jawsnapper.” Slash finished for Jaw. There was a small pause before, what was clearly Immortan Discord, spoke again.

“The two of you are back early, you were not supposed to return until next week.” Discord reminded through the speaker. Twilight noticed that Slash and Jaw exchanged nervous glances.

“You are absolutely correct in your statement your excellency, and we apologize for our premature return.” Slash replied. “But out wandering through the desert, we found a potential wife for you!” Slash said with enthusiasm in his voice. Another pause.

“She may enter.” Discord finally said. “You and Jawsnapper will return to your patrol, immediately.” he commanded.

“Yes your excellency.” Slash obeyed. Slash turned to Twilight. “You will stay right here.” He ordered. He looked to Jaw.

“Let’s go,” Slash said. Jaw nodded and let go of Twilight. She could have run right there. But she knew that there was no way she could escape. She stood there, as told, and watched in anxiety as the two warboys walked down the hall from which they had come from.

No sooner had the warboys exited from view, the large doors creaked open inwardly. Her nervousness grew with every passing second. Finally, when the doors stopped, she could see the greatly referred to Immortan Sombra.

“Approach!” he boomed. Twilight did as instructed. As she moved into the throne room she see that there were several guards armed with belt-fed machine guns, plus bullet proof vests. The throne room itself was hardly extravagant, in that it was simply large room carved from the rock of plateau where the walls met up high in an upside down “v” formation.

Immortan Sombra himself was a hideous sight. His rotting skin at the chest and back was protected by a bullet proof, plastic shell. His hair was black, long and stringy. His face was twisted beyond comparison. The arms were large and muscular. His waist held human heads tied to a belt by the hair. A tank on his back pumped steroids into his body through plastic tubes, which was probably why he was so muscular. However, it was the type of over-the-top muscular that looked, well, really disgusting actually.

Twilight stopped at about about five feet from the steps that led up to the throne.

Well, well,” Sombra said, as he got up from the throne. “What do we have here?” Twilight didn’t bless that question with an answer, especially since she knew that she going to have to “breed” with this guy. Sombra walked down the steps to meet her at the bottom. He then walked around Twilight, getting a good look at her. Sombra chuckled.

“Yes, you will be an excellent addition to my breeders.” He said. “What is your name?” He asked.

“Twilight Sparkle”. She replied, still looking down at the ground.

“An excellent name”. He stuck a finger under Twilight’s chin and lifted it.

“You are very beautiful”. He said with a smile. A terrible, twisted smile.

“And you’re bucking ugly”. Twilight shot back.

Sombras smile faded faded and turned into a frown “You will learn to respect me, as your husband!” Discord commanded.

“If you think that’s gonna happen, you must be crazier than you look.” Twilight suddenly realized how sassy that sounded, and had no idea where that came from. Rainbow Dash’s influence?

Sombra’s glare looked like it could burn a thousand Manehattans.

“Take her to the safe!” Discord shouted to two guards to his left. Twilight offered no resistance, and allowed the guards to take her to the “safe”.

“What do you mean he didn’t give either one of us a promotion?” Jawsnapper asked for the third time. Slash turned his head.

“I mean, he didn’t give either one of us a promotion.” Slash answered in annoyance, for the third time.

“And if you ask again, one more time, I’ll feed you to the Cannibals of Beggar’s Pass!” Slash threatened. As the two warboys approached their vehicle, Jawsnapper continued to speak.

“We should have at least been put on one of the rig crews. That would be something to be proud of!” Jaw said longingly.

“We came back from the patrol early, apparently that was reason enough for the Immortan to not give us anything in return.” Slash said begrudgingly.

Before Jawsnapper could reply, Slash turned, and slapped a hand over the other warboy’s mouth.

“And don’t say ‘But we found a breeder’, or else.” Slash scolded. Jawsnapper nodded.

Slash removed the hand and continued walking to the Volkswagen, as did Jaw. Without another word the warboys got in the car. Slash hopped onto the back, Jawsnapper entered the driver’s seat. He placed the steering wheel into the axis, and gunned the engine. The Volkswagen set off to resume its patrol.

Author's Note:

So, second chapter! After getting that many likes in such a short time span, I figured I'd give you guys a quicker update. As always, creative criticism is appreciated.