Starfleet Humans: A Tale of Two Sunsets

by DakariKingMykan

Act 7: Split Forces

ACT SEVEN

The team finally managed to catch up with Artie, and they all now stood atop the roof of the high-rise.

“You’d think a place like this would at least have guards on the roof.” said Rainbow.

Lightning had seen something like this in travels before too, “This could be a setup; they may already know we’re here.”

The others anticipated this as well, and Artie, he was still acting very brash and willing to just bust right in to confront his parents.

He clenched his fists and rammed right through the ground, shattering it and opening a way in.

“Artie, wait!” called Starla, but he had already leapt through the hole he had made.

Pinkie Pie on the other hand went over to the unlocked door on the roof, “I think this way is much easier.”

Many of the others rolled the eyes, but suddenly they began to feel rather strange-- a little tired, and not just from the flight from the airport.

“Look at the energy readings!” cried Dyno.

“Que? They’re dropping!” said Myte.

Everyone checked their visors, except Celestia who simply noted that her glowing sword blade was starting to dim down a bit. “What’s going on?” she asked.

“I don’t know, but something’s draining our magic and power.” answered Buddy.

Twilight suddenly called in over the radio, “Guys, really bad news-- I’ve been trying to hack my way into the systems of that building, I haven’t gotten in too deep yet. These systems are unlike anything I’ve ever seen.”

“So what’s the urgency?” asked Applejack.

“The entire building is equipped with power suction electrodes all over the place!” answered Twilight “They’ll constantly drain your powers and energy and collected it all in a larger chamber somewhere inside.”

The team all gasped in shock.

“Artie,” Lightning called “Did you hear all that? You’ve got to get out of there!”

No response!

“Artie…!”

No response!

“It’s no good,” said Twilight “I can’t make contact with him either. The signal’s blocked out from the inside.”

Some of the team thought of leaving at once, but others were concerned, “We can’t just leave Artie and Sunset in there.” said Fluttershy.

“Yeah, but we can’t help them if we don’t have any power to fight with.” said Buddy.

Rarity moaned and whimpered “What should we do then?”

“Well we can’t just stay here,
We’ll lose power-- that is clear.” said Rhymey.

Lightning decided, “I’m going in!” and he dove through he hole Artie had made in the floor.

“Lightning!” called Starla, but he was already gone, and Starla, concerned for his safety too, “Wait for me!” she called, and she jumped in after him.

“If you are going, then so shall I!” said Rarity.

Soon, it seemed pretty much a unanimous choice, and all the fighters jumped in.

Artie, all by himself tried to make contact with the others, but it was no good. “Figures, my folks try jamming all outside communications.” he grumbled to himself.

Still, he proceeded cautiously down the corridors, and even though he knew his power was draining, he didn’t feel nearly ready to drop.

Strangely though his visor could detect no hidden laser-fields, and there were no security guards in any corridor or at any doorway.

Regardless of this, he continued to proceed, and used his visor to scan for anything would lead him to Sunset.

Suddenly, he had a lock on her energy signal and he soared down the halls, which was faster than running.

Finally, he came to a large steel doorway, which would only open via a cardkey in a slot to the right.

“Hmm…” Artie wondered, and he drove his foot right at the solid metal, kicking the entire door wide open.

Which made Sunset wake up from her cell, “Who’s there?” she called.

“Sunset…!” Artie cried with delight.

Much as Sunset was delighted to see and hear her husband, “Look out!” she screamed at him, but Artie was already being jumped at by the droids guarding the cell.

Artie began to brawl with them, but these droids seemed much stronger than the ones form the park!

He thrust his fist forth, and the droid caught it, nearly crushing his hand in such a strong grip.

He tried to kick the droid, and it matched his kick with its own kick, blocking the attack perfectly.

Suddenly, he was ensnared from behind by the other droids firing beams of magic, levitating him off the ground.

“Hey!”

“Artie!” cried Sunset.

Artie tried to activate his own magic, but by this time his power was already at half, and he couldn’t hope to break out of this, but he didn’t seem willing to give up and continued to pour on as much strength as he could.

“Stop!” shouted a voice “Don’t kill him.”

The droids stopped attacking, but kept Artie levitated in midair.

“That voice!” Artie growled, and on a huge monitor screen at the side of the room, images of his parents were shown.

“It’s been a while, Arthur.” said Jewel “Who’d ever think you’d involve yourself with a girl we sought for our master plans.”

Artie felt his rage broiling. “I was right about you two; you haven’t changed a bit.”

“Now, now,” said Richard “Is that any way to speak to your parents?”

“You’re no parents to me!” thundered Artie.

His folks were starting to feel annoyed with his outbursts, “And you’re no son we would ever wish to have!” growled Richard “After everything we did for you, you turned your back on your name, your heritage, and just left it all to pressure petty dreams of low-class quality.”

“And look at you now!” added Jewel “You have all this power, and yet you choose to use it to help others. You don’t bother to ask for profit, and you still haven’t done it with your own wife who has more power than you!”

Both Artie and Sunset felt most disturbed.

“Why does everyone keep throwing that in our faces?” Sunset grumbled to herself.

“It matters not!” sneered Richard “We nearly have everything we want, from you, form your wife and even from your friends.”

He explained about the power drain, and then showed images on the screen of many droids being manufactured and standing by to be activated.

As for the others, in their pursuit through the building, they came across a large window that allowed them to see down into the factory where the droids were being manufactured and infused before their eyes.

“I’ve never seen anything so ghastly!” groaned Rarity.

“It’s horrible!” agreed Fluttershy.

The others all felt the same, remembering the droids they had faced in the park with only small bits of Sunset and Artie’s powers, and now they were being infused with everyone’s powers!

“We’ve got to find the source and shut it down.” said Lightning “We can’t let any more of these droids be made.”

Everyone checked their powers, and they were all at half and steadily decreasing.

“If can just find where our powers are being kept, we could reenergize ourselves.” said Starla.

“And we still need to find Artie and Sunset too.” added Pinkie.

The team decided to split up. One half-- Celestia, Rarity, Pinkie, Rainbow, Fluttershy, and Applejack-- would search for their friends, the other half-- Lightning, Starla, Buddy, and The Twins-- would try and shut the factory down and get their powers back before things got worse.

So they split up, and the Equestria girls and Celestia went off.

“So, how do we get into there?” asked Dyno.

“Simple.” said Myte “We’ll melt the glass down.”

His brother agreed, and they joined hands, and held their other hands at the glass, using their fire-magic to melt the glass so as not to make a terrific noise.

“Good job, guys!” said Lightning, but suddenly The Twins felt a little woozy.

“Are you two okay?” asked Buddy.

The Twins snapped themselves awake, but realized that their power had drained a lot after what they had just done.

“Try not to use up so much energy.” suggested Starla.

The Twins agreed, and they along with the others headed into the factory.

“Watch it!” snapped Buddy as a crane and claw moved right past the team.

Then everyone found themselves on one of the moving conveyers, and they jumped off before disappearing down a long tunnel.

“Is everything here run by machinery?” asked Lightning.

“I suppose Artie’s folks do it to save money.
They’re so greedy it’s not even funny.” said Rhymey

The managed to make their way to the floor, but the factory only seemed to be more gigantic, with all the tracks and machines, and droids being made, and this was only one room on one floor.

“How are we supposed to find the power in all this chaos?” asked Starla.

“We better find it quick.” said Lightning.

He tried to scan for it with his visor, but the power was surging all through the machines as the droids were being charged with it, making it hard to pinpoint the main source.

“Let’s follow the powerlines.” suggested Dyno.

“Si, they should lead us to the source.” agreed Myte.

Meanwhile, more and more droids were finished being made and empowered and were put on shelves in hangars, waiting to be awakened, but Jewel and Richard saw no reason to. They had no intention of unleashing their army on the Earth. Just the few that they had already active were enough to them.

Artie and Sunset were still unimpressed and continued to scoff at them.

“We just don’t understand you, Arthur.” said Richard “You know nothing about our business! That’s all it is-- simple, ordinary, business!”

“And think of it” added Jewel “With soldiers like these, imagine the number of uses! Kamikaze pilots, suicidal bombers, and real humans wouldn’t have to suffer anymore. So much money can be saved!”

Much as that was a good idea, meaning less would be killed, “It is a fiendish plot!” snapped Artie “You kidnapped me, my wife, and my friends, you’ve tried to hurt us all to get our powers, and you still don’t realize what you’re getting into.

You’ve got to stop this now! If you have any sense, you do it!”

“I second that!” agreed Sunset “This magic comes from another world, and while it is capable of wonders, it can also have extreme consequences if you’re not careful! I should know!”

As usual, the parents were unmoved and undeterred.

“You always were ungrateful.” said Richard.

“Quite a pity, really.” said Jewel “You could have had so much more.”

Then the couple logged off the monitors, but not before ordering the droids to hold him and drain what was left his magic.

The droids shocked him, and drained him of power, making him shout in agony.

“Artie…!” Sunset called.

Suddenly, the droids just stopped, and released him, letting him fall, right on top of the control console, which disabled the force-field and released Sunset from her bindings.

Human Sunset’s cell was open as well, and she was released from bondage too, though she was still unconscious.

Sunset and Artie were both surprised, and even more so when the droids simply ignored them and began to march out of the chamber.

Regardless of this, Sunset ran up to her husband, and the two embraced.

“Are you okay?” she asked.

“Just a little exhausted.” answered Artie, and he looked up at his wife with love, “I was really worried about you.”

His wife smiled at him, but they had no time to be all lovey-dovey, especially when the Equestria girls and Celestia found came in through the door.

“Here you are.” chirped Pinkie.

“Are you two alright?” asked Celestia.

“We’re fine,” answered Sunset “But how did you find us?”

“And didn’t you see the droids out there?” added Artie.

“We did,” answered Fluttershy “But they just walked right past us as if we weren’t even there. Not even after we waved at them.”

Regardless, Sunset told them what Artie’s parents were planning with droids.

“How despicable!” growled Rarity “…We cannot allow this.”

“We better round up the guys and get out of here, quick.” said Rainbow “Our powers won’t last much longer.

She was right, by now all their powers were less than half, which Artie’s was totally depleted and his suit powered down, and nobody had enough power to give to him.

He and Sunset still felt good enough to walk, and they all left the chamber in such a rush, they had completely forgotten about Human Sunset, still in her cell.

She was just waking up from being knocked out, and was she ever furious, but she was far from finished.

“I’m going to get you yet, Shimmer!” she sneered, “And I think I know the perfect way now.”

With no human guards or any droids around, she snuck out of the room, and was surprised that no one was coming after her or even noticed, making it much easier for her to sneak around.

“Strange.” she said to herself “I’m sure I’ve tripped an alarm by now. Why are no droids coming after me?”