Tales of an Equestrian Battle Mage

by Babroniedad

08 - Sunset - Manehattan Mayhem

Sunset, Twilight and Cadance enjoyed the next few weeks studying under the Princess together. Increasingly though the Princess would cancel the time with her students to work with her niece, trying to raise her magical skills to a level expected of a Princess of the Realm. Cadance was working very hard and making progress, though her learning seemed to be going frustratingly slow.

“What’s the hardest part of magic for you so far?” Sunset asked Cadance as they were getting ready to join the Princess for breakfast, something else that was becoming increasingly rare lately.

“It’s not the magic itself,” confessed Cadance. “Once I understand what I’m supposed to be doing it’s simple enough. It’s just understanding the spells. The books describe the forms I’m supposed to keep in my mind as I cast the spell, but sometimes what they’re describing just doesn’t make sense when I read it. I wish there were pictures or something showing me how to do it instead of walls of words that only make sense once I’ve done it a few times,” she lamented.

Twilight looked confused. “They always made sense to me,” she stated.

“That’s because you think in words,” noted Sunset. “There are all sorts of different ways to think of things. Someponies think of things mostly with words and descriptions, and for them a book full of words describing things is the best way to learn about something new. But someponies think of things mostly in pictures and actions, like myself and Cadance. For us seeing how something works is the best way to learn, then doing it ourselves. Or even books with pictures or diagrams showing how a spell or anything is put together with short descriptions of the different parts and processes. Someponies even do better with both. It’s all just whatever helps you visualize the process best and recreate it in your mind.

“I think that’s what you’re experiencing, Cadance,” explained Sunset. “I think you learn more like me. The textbooks that are used to teach magic all assume we learn best with words, but I bet you would learn better with a more interactive, hoofs on approach. That’s why I always spend more time practicing a spell than pouring over books about it. Seeing and doing work best for me.

Sunset thought for a moment. “You know, we should ask mom if I could take over some of your magic training. I could teach you the techniques that worked best for me. I bet that would help you learn the lessons quicker.”

“I would really appreciate that,” agreed Cadance. “It’s getting very frustrating stumbling repeatedly over these supposedly basic lessons.”

“Okay then,” agreed Sunset. “I’ll ask her over breakfast, and if she agrees we can start today.”

There was a knock at the door. Sunset trotted over, opening the door to find the orderly with a scroll in her magic. “Mage Sunset Shimmer, I have your orders. You’ve been assigned an emergency case. You need to leave immediately. A diplomat has been kidnapped and time is of the essence. Please grab your gear and go. Your team is waiting to take you in the courtyard. Time is of the essence! Here are your orders,” the orderly held out the scroll. Sunset took it in her magic, reading it.

Twilight and Cadance trotted over. “What’s it say?” Cadance asked. Sunset read the order quickly.

“A Nippony delegate has been kidnapped from their Consulate in Manehattan. They want me to investigate immediately and retrieve her if at all possible before it becomes an international incident,” summarized Sunset. “Sorry Cadance, I guess we’ll have to start your lessons when I get back if mom’s okay with it. Can you give her my apologies? I need to go.”

Cadance and Twilight nodded as she fetched her saddlebags and robe, throwing both on as she trotted out the door after the orderly. “I’ll tell you all about it when I get back!” she promised.

Cadance and Twilight headed off to breakfast with the Princess while Sunset followed the orderly down to the courtyard. She saw Major Tailwind and a pegasus stallion hitched to the waiting chariot.

“Major! Good to see you back!” Sunset greeted.

“Shimmer,” returned the Major coldly. “We’re prepared to take you to the Nippony Consulate in Manehattan. Please prepare for departure.”

Subdued by the Major’s snub, Sunset climbed into the back of the chariot and secured her hooves in the straps. The pegusi sprinted across the courtyard and up into the sky, rising up above the clouds then heading off towards Manehattan.

“So that’s how it is,” sighed Sunset to herself. “I wondered if she would resent me for my failure with the Sergeant.”

A half hour later, they landed at the Nippony Consulate in Manehattan. Sunset stepped off the chariot.

“Major…” she began.

“We will return for you when you summon us after you’ve completed your assignment,” interrupted the Major. “If you have no further need for us, we will take our leave.”

Sunset sighed. “Very well.”

The Major nodded, and the pegusi launched up from the Consulate grounds, returning to Canterlot.

“Well, that could have gone better,” grumbled Sunset. She trotted towards the Consulate proper and entered.

“May I help you?” asked a Kitsune receptionist from behind her desk in the lobby.

“Yes, Mage Sunset Shimmer, ma’am. I was told you needed me to investigate the disappearance of one of your diplomates?”

“Of course. Follow me, please,” the receptionist responded. She rose from the desk and loped down the hallway behind her desk, Sunset trotting after her. She stopped before a mahogany door with Jade inlays. Knocking on the door, she opened it and stepped inside.

“Consul? The mage is here regarding our missing diplomate,” she informed her.

“Show them in,” responded the Consul, a large Kitsune vixen with five tails. The receptionist nodded and bowed., then waved Sunset in. “The Consul will see you now.”

“Thank you,” Sunet nodded as she entered. The receptionist nodded and shut the door. Sunset stood before the Consul’s desk and bowed.

“Mage Sunset Shimmer, reporting as requested. I am here to discuss your missing diplomat.”

The consul nodded. “Rise please.” Sunset rose, facing the Consul. “Yes. We were told you have some skill with tracking missing persons, so we requested you specifically. Yesterday, one of our junior diplotating envoy’s failed to return from her courier assignment. She is a three-tailed Kitsune, and niece to the secretary general of our Beloved Minister. We hope you can find what has happened to her and recover her before this becomes an embarrassment for us and your government.”

Sunset nodded. “I won’t disappoint you. What can you tell me about what happened?”

“Very little, I’m afraid,” reported the Consul. “I have instructed Kaede, one of her coworkers whom she befriended, to accompany you. She’ll show you what we know. Please report back to me with anything you find.”

Sunset bowed. “It will be done.”

“Excellent. You’re dismissed.” The Consul waved her away in dismissal. Sunset rose and left the office, shutting the door behind her. A two-tailed Kitsune was waiting for her in the foyer.

“You are the mage that was sent to help us find Aiko?” she bowed and asked.

“I am. Mage Sunset Shimmer, at your service,” Sunset bowed.

“I am Kaede,” she introduced herself. “I will assist you in finding my friend Aiko.”

“What can you tell me about when and how she went missing?” asked Sunset. “Did she receive any threats prior to this? Was she ever in any perceived danger, or in a dangerous situation?”

“No, nothing like that,” responded Kaede. “She was well regarded by all, and was never allowed to take any dangerous or questionable assignments due to her nature.”

“Nature?” asked Sunset.

“The nature of her relationship with our Minister’s Secretary General,” clarified Kaede.

“Ah. Understood,” nodded Sunset. “Please continue.”

“She was delivering routine diplomatic dispatches from the Consulate to the Princesses office in Manehattan as a regular part of her job. She had delivered the dispatches and collected the Princesses responses. As she was returning to the Consulate she went missing,” continued Kaede.

“Was there something in the dispatches that perhaps was the cause for a possible abduction?” asked Sunset.

“It would not appear so. When she did not return in a timely manner, I was sent to find out why she was late. I found the satchel of responses. I returned them to the Princesses office where they confirmed nothing was missing, and that Aiko had been there picking them up only a short time before. I then brought the responses back to the Consulate and informed the Consul herself. A security team was dispatched to search for Aiko but no sign of her was found. We then conferred with the Princesses office and they recommended we request you to aid us in finding Aiko.”

“So no sign was found of her. Does that mean that they found no clues or indications of where or why she was abducted?” asked Sunset.

“Only one,” clarified Kaede. “A rag was found near where I found the satchel. The security team determined it had been soaked in chloroform leading us to suspect she had in fact been abducted.”

“Sound reasoning,” agreed Sunset. “Can you please take me to this location so I can search for anything that may possibly have been missed?”

“Of course,” agreed Kaede. “Anything you need I am happy to provide.” She led Sunset out of the office and off the Consulate grounds. As they departed a two kitsune security team followed them discreetly. Kaede walked for a short distance stopping on a side street between the Nippony Consulate and the local office of the Princess. She stood on the sidewalk, pointing to a set of brick steps nearby.

“It was there I found the diplomatic bag of responses. It was still sealed. It looked to have been tossed rather than set there. The bag was scuffed and dirty, as if it had been thrown and rolled on the sidewalk,” clarified Kaede.

Sunset trotted over to the steps, examining the sidewalk as she went. A few canvas threads were still stuck to the pavement, shorn from the bag as it slid. There was no other sign of an abduction. Sunset picked up the threads with her magic, putting them into a parchment envelope that she placed in her saddlebag.

“And where was the rag found?” asked Sunset.

“Just inside that alleyway, right next to the wall,” responded Kaede, pointing to a small alleyway less than a half block away.”

Sunset trotted over to the alleyway, Kaede following. She examined the area where the rag was found. Nothing was obviously out of place. Trotting a bit further in, she saw a trash can that had been knocked over.

“May I see the rag please?” asked Sunset.

Kaede pulled it from the satchel she was wearing. She handed it to Sunset who took it in her magic. Looking at it closely, she flipped it to its side, then held it to her nose, sniffing carefully. Arching an eyebrow, she then trotted over to the toppled trashcan and sniffed around. A moment later she pulled a scrap of fabric from the trash, holding it up in her magic.

“She put up a fight. Whomever abducted her got bitten here. She tore off a shred from their garment and drew blood. There’s blood along the edge of the rag and on this scrap of fabric that match.

Sunset held the scrap in her magic. It glowed with a teal haze as she ran diagnostic spells against it.

“Interesting,” nodded Sunset, placing both the scrap and the rag into parchment envelopes and securing them in her saddle bags. “Her attacker was an earth pony. I can tell that much from the blood. If we find her attacker I can match them from this, but this alone won’t help me identify them. I’d need a larger sample for that.”

“Were you using blood magic just now?” asked Kaede in concern. “I thought that magic type was forbidden.”

“It is, and I was,” confirmed Sunset. “But I care about finding your friend too much to be concerned with what is forbidden.” Kaede just nodded, still looking concerned.

Sunset resumed looking through the trash for more clues. She spied another scrap, similar in texture and color to the first scrap she found. She held it up, noticing it had a decal on it. She recognized the logo of the local dockworkers union. “I know where we should head next,” confirmed Sunset, placing the scrap in a parchment envelope as well then securing it in her bags. “We’re heading to the dockworkers union headquarters now.”

She trotted off with Kaede following.

They stopped for coffees then sat sipping them as they watched the front of the dockworkers union headquarters. Ponies wearing the jacket of the union local were heading in and out of the office getting their assignments for the evening. Eventually Sunset spied a stalky earth pony wearing a jacket with a hole torn in it right where the union decal would be. “There’s our pony I’d bet,” said Sunset, tossing back the rest of her coffee, throwing the cup into the trashcan next to her. Kaede threw her coffee away as well. They trotted after the pony, following him from a discrete distance as he headed down the street.

“Stay close to me. When he passes the next alleyway, run up and stop him for a moment while I come up behind him. I’m going to take him and ask some questions,” whispered Sunset.

“Stop him? How? He’s a tank!” whispered Kaede back, panicked.

“Use your feminine charms! Flirt or something?” suggested Sunset.

“With a pony?” Kaede’s nose wrinkled up in disgust.

“You're not going to do anything with him,” growled Sunset. “Just make him think you are for a moment!”

“Fine, okay! I can do that,” whispered Kaede back. “Here goes.” She loped up to the pony.

“Hey big guy!” smiled Kaede. “Looking to have a little exotic fun?” She moved before him, brushing her tails against him as she passed. “You look like you could use a little break.”

“Lady, I don’t know what your game is, but can you step off please?” the stallion requested.

Sunset came up behind him. “Now that’s an interesting choice of words,” she chuckled. With a teal flash, Kaede, the stallion, and Sunset disappeared.

They reappeared on the roof of the building next to them, farther down the alleyway and near the edge of the roof. The stallion was held in Sunset’s magic out from the edge nine stories above the pavement below.

“Interesting, because you seem to have stepped off the edge of this building, and I don’t think the bounce is going to do you a lot of good,” grinned Sunset.

“Lady, are you bucking insane! What are you doing! Put me back down this instant!” he shouted.

“Down? You want down?” laughed Sunset. “Okay!” she dropped him, letting him fall screaming several stories before lifting him back up to face her.

“You know what they say? Watch what you wish for?” she teased.

“You bucking crazy! You crazy bitch, you trying to kill me?” he shouted.

“No need to shout,” Sunset smiled, pulling him closer to the side of the building as his hooves scrambled for the edge. When he was close to edge she lashed out, smacking his face with her forehoof sending him spinning back out over the alleyway. He resumed shouting and screaming obscenities at her as his muzzle bled.

Sunset looked at her hoof and the blood along its edge. She lifted the blood in a teal glow then ran the diagnostic tests she’d performed previously. “We have a match,” she confirmed after a few moments.

“Wow, just not your lucky day is it stud?” smiled Sunset as he spun over the alley. “Care to tell me about the cute little Kitsune vixen you kidnapped earlier? I’d really love to know all the details!”

“Screw you, bitch!” yelled the stallion. “I don’t know what you think you got on me, but you got nothing! And I ain’t squealing to no two bit bitch unicorn and her pet fox! Piss off!”

Sunset turned to Kaede. “I have a plan. Watch to make sure this jackwad takes me down, then report to your Consul I’m going undercover to find your friend.” She removed her saddle bags and robe, folding it and placing it in one of the bags pockets. “Take this as well and return it to the Princesses office. They’ll know what to do with it,” she instructed.

Kaede took the saddle bags and nodded. Sunset shot a blast of magic at the stallion and his eyes rolled back in his head. She teleported them all back into the alleyway below.

“I planted a suggestion in his mind that I’m an exotic who knows the ways of pleasing Kitsune in the arts of love. When he comes to, he's going to want to capture me for his masters and take me to them, just as he did with your friend. Hide quickly! He is coming out of it now.

Sunset turned, sitting down a bit away from the stallion, her back turned to him. Kaede loped off and hid behind a large trash container. Sunset shook her head, acting like she was feeling dizzy and looking away from the stallion with her hoof to her head. “Uhhh…” she groaned as the stallion snapped out of the spell that was holding him.

Squinting, he looked closely at the mare groaning before him then smiled. He removed a bottle and rag from his pocket, drenching the rag with the liquid in the bottle. Placing the bottle back in his pocket, he trotted towards Sunset then clamped the rag over her muzzle. Her horn sputtered then went out as she thrashed briefly in his grasp, then collapsed. Holding the rag over her muzzle, the stallion counted out loud to twenty, then placed the rag back in his pocket. He pulled the unconscious Sunset over his broad back then trotted off down the alleyway, disappearing around a corner.

Kaede rose from her hiding place and loped off quickly to do as Sunset had requested.

Sunset came to. She was stuffed into a shipping container. An inhibitor ring was strapped to her horn and her legs were tied beneath her. The container was so small that she was kneeling on her trussed legs while shoved back into a squatting position. Her head was pushed back by the front of the container. Her barrel was squeezed by the sides to the point she couldn’t take a deep breath.

“Good thing I’m not claustrophobic,” she groused. The rough wood of the container chaffed her muzzle as she tried to find some way to get comfortable. “Definitely not first class accommodations.” She shifted a bit and knelt as best she could while waiting for her captors to make the next move.

Several hours later she heard voices outside her box. They came closer, stopping next to her box. She heard metal rasping and a click. The top of her box opened and a muscular earth pony stallion looked in. She started thrashing like she was trying to get out.

“Hey, bitch! Knock it off!” said the stallion, punching her face. Sunset dropped back down into the box, seeming dazed. “Don’t you cause no trouble now, you hear? We got a right good price for you, and I’d hate to lose me some money ‘cause I had to rough you up, you get me? So settle down!”

He reached in, making sure her bonds were still tight, and the ring securely on her horn. “Lucky you, you’re getting an all expense trip paid to Nippony. Gonna have a nice life making some Nippony Yaks very happy,” he grinned. He reached in and wrapped a muzzle on her as well then shut the lid again. Sunset heard him secure the lock.

Sunset knelt and waited. She sent out a coded magical pulse using earth pony magic.

I am here, she stated.

Several hours later she felt her crate taken up and loaded onto a lorry, near as she could tell. For the next several minutes she felt the lorry rocking over the surface of the street, then stop. Rough hooves rocked her crate back and forth, snapping and clicking on the four corners of the crate. Somepony hit it twice in quick succession, then she felt a jolt with disorientation as she felt herself lifted and swinging through the air, coming to a dizzying stop moments later. She was abruptly dropped several times then felt a thud as her crate settled down to the floor of whatever she was being loaded onto.

She was abruptly dragged to one side a moment later, then forward. She stopped. She felt somepony carefully buck the bottom of her crate, sliding it into place. When it slammed up against something, the bucking stopped.

“Secure it here! Then we can move onto the next one,” a voice called out. She felt her crate creak and shift a bit as somepony secured it, then the voices moved off.

Waiting a few moments until they were gone, Sunset sent out another coded magical pulse.

I am here.

What seemed like hours later she heard the voices again. “Okay, this batch has a cargo specialist shipping out with it. He says he needs to check on the cargo once a day, so he needs a path of some kind so he can get to his crates. Move that one and that one, then lash them here.”

There was a jolt, and some noise as crates were pushed around and relashed. A few moments later it stopped. “That oughtta do it,” the voice said. “Okay, that was the last of the special orders, let’s get off this crate and go home. Don’t want to stow away and end up in Nippony,” he joked.

Sore and tired, Sunset mused as they left. She had done it. She was headed to Nippony apparently just like her target. She settled in as best she could to wait for her departure.

Several hours later she felt slow movement as the ship cast off, headed for the island nation. She sent out another pulse.

I am here.

Shortly after she felt pushed into the bottom of the crate briefly, then gently swaying as the ship rose from the ocean into the air. They were on an airship. Waiting awhile, Sunset enjoyed the gentle rocking of the ship as it sailed through the clouds, sailing with the prevailing winds. Once again, she sent her message to those who watched, to those who waited.

I am here.

A while later she heard metallic scraping then the top of her container lifted. A large earth pony stallion looked in.

“Huh,” he laughed seeing her looking back. “Somepony screwed up. You’re definitely not supposed to be awake yet. Chow time. I’m taking the muzzle off so you can drink and eat. No screaming or biting or it goes right back on with a beat down then you don’t eat for a few days. Not something I’d recommend. Not that it would matter if you yelled anyways. This crew is paid to not be curious. Nopony would come for you even if you yelled yourself hoarse.”

He paused to laugh at his own joke. He placed a j-hook over the edge of the container then took Sunset’s muzzle off. “Thanks,” she muttered.

“No problem,” returned the stallion. He hooked a small feed bag filled with water and oats on the j-hook. Sunset stared into the slimy mess with a distinct lack of excitement. “When you finish that, I'll fill the bag with water. But you only get this and one bag of water a day so best make it count. And if you don’t finish this wonderful meal before I leave you don’t even get that, so I’d suggest you get cracking. Go on now!” He shut the lid over the hook, locking it into place and plunging her back into darkness.

Accepting the inevitable, Sunset dipped her muzzle into the slimy mess before her so she could enjoy her dinner.

He came back a while later, lifting the lid again to check on her progress. “Good girl, done it all up. You’ll do fine. The ones that don’t eat don’t tend to do so well. Here’s your water. Remember it has to last all day, so I best not to guzzle it all up at once.” He hung her muzzle on the hook as well. “I'm leaving this off. You seem to understand what we’re working with here. Don’t make me regret it.” He shut and locked the lid again.

She heard him saying something a few more times, then moving off. Waiting a few minutes after she no longer heard anything outside, she sent out another pulse.

I am here.

Bone tired, still wedged tightly into the crate, muscles cramping from lack of movement, she fell fitfully asleep.

The first day of her new assignment was behind her. She had no idea how many stretched out before her.

Author's Note:

And Sunset is off! On assignment again, this time half-way around the world to track down a missing Kitsune. This begins the Yak-uza arc, I hope you all enjoy it.

Comments

[RolkFlameraven]

Yak-uza? It fits, but I still feel like you should feel bad for that pun.

Sunset hit most of the ways people think, but are their no ponies with aphantasia in Equestria, or just so few that Sunset doesn't know about them?