Clock Tower: The Rudella Legacy

Chapter Two: Judgment! The Duty of the Rudellas

“My name’s Sweetie Belle. What’s yours?”

Sunset only stared at the spectral filly, unsure of whether or not she was actually there. She tried to speak, but the words kept getting caught in her throat. Sweetie noticed this and trotted over to a drawer on the front counter.

“You’re still panicking, I get it.” She pointed a hoof at the drawer. “There’s a small glass bottle of lavender water in here. If you drink it, it’ll calm your nerves.”

Sunset stood, her legs shaking from the fear. She steadily made her way toward the drawer and pulled it open. Rummaging through the items, she finds a small purple glass bottle with a lavender flower printed on the label. Uncorking the bottle, she takes a small sip before downing the entire thing.

“Better now?” asked Sweetie.

“Better.” Sunset placed the bottle on the counter and cleared her throat. “My name’s Sunset Shimmer. You may not believe me, but I think I traveled through time...and space…to get here.”

The filly giggled. “It does sound a little crazy.”

“I guess it does”, Sunset laughed nervously.

“Sunset, do you think you can help me with something?”

“I don’t know if I can do much for a spirit, but I’ll try my best. What do you need?”

“Follow me.” Sweetie Belle phased through the door leading back to the workshop, followed closely by Sunset. The filly stopped in front of a door on the far end blocked by a grid of barbed wire. “You see, there’s a very important memento behind this door, but ever since I became a ghost, I can’t do much to retrieve it.”

“Why is the door blocked with wire?” Sunset asked.

“It was that crazy hammerhead that did this! He wanted to make sure that no living person could get to it either!” She kicked her hooves as she floated through the air, her legs dangling below her. “Rarity never kept any tools other than what she uses to work, but I know where you can get something to cut through this.”

“Just tell me where I need to look.”

Sweetie left the room again, heading toward the front of the store. Sunset tailed her again and found the spectral filly outdoors pointing a hoof toward the concert hall across the bridge. “The stagehands at the concert hall always kept a toolbox near the catwalk in case one of the spotlights needed maintenance. Maybe you can find wire cutters there.”

“I have a question.”

“What is it?”

“If I get this item for you, does that mean you can finally rest?” Sweetie was surprised at her question, her eyes welling up with tears as she nodded. “Then you can count on me.”

“Please, just be careful. I don’t want to be responsible for someone else’s death at that maniac’s hooves.”

Stepping through the door of the concert hall building, Sunset found herself in the main reception area. She had made it from the tailor shop to the building itself without running into the psychotic stallion again, but she was sure that he was somewhere nearby.

The door slammed shut behind her and startled her, the sound echoing throughout the lobby. She listened carefully for the sound of heavy hoofsteps, but she didn’t hear anything other than her own short breaths.

“Good”, she whispered. “The last thing I need is that psycho tailing me.” She walked past the front desk toward one of the doors leading into the theater and pushed it open. The concert hall was unsurprisingly empty, but Sunset was grateful that no one was using it for shelter from the earlier air raids. She walked down the aisle toward the lit stage, a single grand piano at its center. Walking past the piano, she went backstage and searched for a way to get up onto the catwalk.

There was a lever at the opposite end of the backstage area. She trotted up to it, examining the lever and reading the sign above it, reading “catwalk elevator”.

“This will be easier than I thought”, she said to herself. Grabbing the lever with her magic, she pulled down and activated the machinery, smiling to herself. That smile faded when she noticed something dripping from where the elevator would arrive.

Directing her gaze above, she spotted the body of a pony wedged between the elevator and the rest of the catwalk above. Sunset screamed and jumped back as the body fell with a loud thud to the floor below, leaving a large spatter of red all over the backstage floor that flowed out onto the stage proper.

A second later, the distinct plink of metal was heard as a key dropped down after the body. Calming herself after her surprise, Sunset approached the body and picked up the key near it. She noticed that it had a tag on it as well, the number “103” printed on the plastic.

“A locker key?” Just as she put the item away, she heard someone approaching the piano on the other side of the curtain. She peeked out from her hiding place and noticed the young filly from the tailor shop sitting on the small bench in front of the instrument.

Sweetie Belle picked up her front hooves and began playing Fantasie-Impromptu. Sunset walked onto the stage and smiled warmly as the filly continued. Her hooves slowed to a halt as she reached the next verse, hitting incorrect notes one after another. She began to play it again, but came to a stop as she continued getting the next part wrong, tears starting to form in her eyes and eventually sobbing and ceasing her performance after a few tries.

“Don’t cry, Sweetie” Sunset said after a few silent seconds. “I still think it’s a beautiful song.”

“Thanks”, replied the filly, wiping her own tears. “But I have to get it right. Mom and Rarity were going to be there on the night of the performance, but I….I…..” The filly’s voice trailed off as she began sobbing again.

Sunset joined her on the bench and placed a hoof on Sweetie’s shoulder. “Hey, it’s going to be fine. You just keep practicing and you’ll get it right.”

The filly sniffled and smiled at Sunset, nodding to show her that she understood. “But…” she continued. “My dad had this old watch that played this tune every time he opened it. I was going to play it at the recital in honor of his memory.”

“The watch. Is it what’s locked behind the door at your sister’s shop?” The filly nodded. “In that case, all the more reason to get it back. I just need to find a way onto the--”

The doors at the end of the aisle burst open from a tremendous force, Sledgehammer galloping into the theater not a moment later. “I FOUND YOU!”

“AAAH!” screamed the filly. “HE’S BACK!”

Sledgehammer laughed maniacally as he galloped toward the stage, hammer at the ready. Sweetie Belle ran off and phased through the wall, leaving her companion behind. Sunset ducked under the grand piano just as the hammer came crashing down onto the bench, breaking it into tiny splinters. She darted out from under the instrument and toward the exit, the madman only a few feet behind her.

“Sunset, come back!” he yelled. “I just want to absolutely crush you under my hammer!”

Rushing past the remains of the door, she found herself in the lobby again. Sunset attempted to open the doors leading out onto the courtyard, but found them to be locked. Sledgehammer came to a halt just behind her, hammer already raised in the air.

Sunset grabbed the bottle in her saddlebag without thinking, uncorking it and splashing the murderer with a dose of holy water. “AAARGH!” Sledgehammer yelled in pain as the water made contact, temporarily blinding the stallion and making him lower his hammer. Sunset quickly jumped behind the reception desk, spotting a set of small lockers with numbers written on plaques.

While her pursuer was incapacitated, she hastily grabbed the key from her saddlebag and inserted it into the locker labeled “103”. Inside she found another key labeled “Master”. As Sledgehammer wiped the burning holy water off himself, Sunset ran through another door, finding herself in a hallway lined with offices.

Once his sight returned, the stallion found himself alone in the main lobby. Sniffing the air again, he began searching for the filly. “Sunset, where are you?” he asked over and over as he continued looking. A few minutes of fruitless searching later, he chuckled to himself. “Slippery little mare.” Slamming the hammer down onto the tile, he made his way back to the stage, the opposite direction of where she headed.

Sunset, relieved that the assailant was gone, quietly cantered toward the end of the hallway past the empty rooms toward a staircase. Following the stairs upward for several flights, she came to a locked door. She slid the key into the lock and turned it, the tumblers inside giving way and unlocking the door.

Sunset found herself on the catwalk overlooking the stage where she had just been. She slowly walked onto the metal grating, attempting to stay silent lest Sledgehammer notices where she is.

“Oh, I’m going to find you, Sunset…” said Sledgehammer, looking through the rows of seats below. “And when I do, I’ll find that little ghost filly and make her watch as I crush you underneath my hammer…”

“How does he know my name?” the student asked herself.

There was a loud crash that came from the lobby, causing Sledgehammer to snap his head toward it and galloped off. Sunset, now alone in the stage area, looked around for the toolbox Sweetie mentioned earlier. At the end of the catwalk on the other side of a large gap, she spotted a red metallic container, the latch undone.

“There it is.” Sunset took notice of the gap and looked down, the elevator still settled on the floor below. “Oh horsefeathers. I forgot to raise the platform again.” As she returned her gaze to the catwalk, she noticed a small switch on the railing. Flicking it, the machinery sputtered to life once more, bringing the platform up to the second level. Sunset made her way across, minding the blood in the grating, then walked up to the toolbox and opened it up. Inside was a single pair of wire cutters, which she quickly snatched up and stuffed into her saddlebag. “Alright, time to help a poor little filly find some rest.”

“HA HA HA HA!!” Sledgehammer, back from his wild goose chase, found himself back in the concert hall and spotted Sunset above the stage. “That’s where you’ve been, I see! Come down here so I can give you a well-deserved bludgeoning!”

“You’re going to have to come up here first!” she yelled at him in return. “Come up through the other door in the main lobby! I want to take you on hoof-to-hoof!” The madman complied with her request and ran back out into the lobby. Once he was gone, she hopped onto the moving platform and flicked the switch again. The platform lowered onto the stage below, Sunset jumping off once it was low enough just as Sledgehammer burst through the door up on the catwalk.

“You cheating filly!”

“Sorry hammerhead, not tonight!” Sunset returned mockingly. Running out of the stage area and out to the lobby yet again, she tried the master key on the door and ran out into the cold. Galloping as fast as her hooves could carry her, she made it to the tailor shop once again. Rushing past the counter and into the workshop, she found herself in front of the door with the razor wire.

She pulled the tool out of her saddlebag and snipped the wires blocking the door. After cutting through the last one, she pushed the door open and found herself in a small den. Sweetie Belle’s ghost walked into the room behind her, then floated to a box resting on the mantle of the fireplace.

“It’s in here. I want to grab it and take it with me, but I’m afraid of dropping it or losing it somehow.” She faced Sunset with a weary look on her face. “Could you please bring it to the concert hall?”

“Of course”, she replied. Opening the box, there was a photo of a mustached stallion sitting with a big smile on his face while holding a foal. The pocket watch rested right next to the photo.

“He always carried it with him, even after he was called to the front lines.” Sweetie stared at the photo in the box, her weary look showing a hint of sadness. “The recital was also a contest to see who was the best piano player in the city. The winner was allowed to play a song of their choosing and have it broadcast over the radio.”

“What happened to your father, if you don’t mind me asking?”

“An artillery shell struck near his platoon’s location. The explosion launched him onto a barrier of razor wire. He didn’t make it.” She pointed to the wire hanging from the doorframe of the entrance. “That’s probably why that murderer used it to block the door. Not just to keep the living away, but to scare me as well.”

“I’m so sorry to hear that, Sweetie Belle.” She comforted the spectral filly as she placed the watch in her saddlebag. “I’ll get it over to the concert hall as quickly as possible.”

“Thank you”, Sweetie said. “And be careful.” The filly disappeared as before, leaving Sunset in the room by herself. She turned and made her way out the door and out of the shop, galloping at full speed toward the concert hall.

After a minute or so of running, she found herself in the empty courtyard, making a beeline toward the door. Just as she was about to reach it…

“Ow!” She was knocked back by a formidable force but managed to stay on her hooves. Shaking her head, she looked at the door of the concert hall. The door, no, the entire building was blocked by the same magical barrier that she saw in that strange hallway before she was left on the streets of Manehattan. “No, no, NO! Let me through!”

“The only way you’ll be getting through is as a ghost!” Sunset snapped her head upwards. Waiting for her on top of the building was none other than Sledgehammer. The murderer jumped, causing Sunset to run away from his landing point. The stallion slammed onto the pavement with impressive force, breaking the concrete under his feet.

“Leave me alone already! Isn’t taking the life of a filly enough for you!?”

The stallion shook his head, all the while muttering what seemed to be nonsense. “Not enough, not enough. Must feed, feed, feed, FEED! The Entity hungers for more!”

At the stallion’s words, the bottle in Sunset’s bag started to shine brightly, the light powerful enough to attract the attention of both ponies. The filly levitated the bottle out of her bag, the glow only becoming more intense. Holding it out in front of her, the bottle shone with a blinding light for a second before being completely extinguished.

What she held within her magic was no longer a bottle, but more of a handle. Pulling it closer to her to examine it, a bright shaft of light emerged from both the top and bottom of the handle, turning the handle into a bow.

Sunset heard a familiar voice in her mind. It was that of her mother, Sunshine.

“Sunset, listen to me very carefully. As I’ve said before, this bottle should never fall into the wrong hands, for without it, you shall become completely defenseless. However, before you help the poor filly find her place in the afterlife, you must confront her murderer. The bottle has become a weapon used by Rudellas for centuries, and now that weapon is yours. Listen to my words carefully and repeat them to this monstrosity, for you are the only one able to defeat him for good.”

Sunset closed her eyes as she listened to her mother’s voice. Once she opened them again, the fire of determination raged in her pupils. She was ready to complete the task that had befallen her.

“Sledgehammer!” Sunset yelled. “Or should I call you Quarry Edge? You have committed the crime of murdering 26 innocents including a young filly. By order of the Rudellas, I sentence you to 486 years in the deepest pits of Tartarus!” She pointed the bow at Sledgehammer, an arrow of pure light drawn on a string of the same material. “It’s time to face judgment!”

“RAAAHH!!!” Sledgehammer rushed Sunset in an attempt to knock her down, but the young mare was too quick for the hulking maniac. She jumped out of the path of his rampage, causing him to crash right into the fountain in the middle of the courtyard.

Sunset let out a large breath, feeling more confident with each passing second. “I can do this.” As Sledgehammer stood on his hooves once more shaking the debris off his coat, Sunset aimed straight at him. The longer she held the arrow, the more it shone with the light of good. Just as the stallion spotted her and raised his hammer, she let the arrow loose and landed a direct hit.

The arrow pierced him, leaving a scorching wound where it struck. It shot out from the opposite side of the hit, turning the shaft into a tether that stuck to the fountain with a large ZAP! The stallion tried to tackle Sunset again, but the tether of light wouldn’t let him get far. Just as he put some distance between himself and the fountain, he was suddenly yanked back as the line became rigid, keeping him in place.

“What...what is this!?” yelled Sledgehammer. The stallion struggled to move, all the while showing fear for the first time. “Let go, LET GO!”

Sunset took the opportunity to set up another shot, Sledgehammer too distracted with his new shackle to notice. After charging it sufficiently, the young mare shot at him again, adding another tether to his existing one.

Noticing the two ropes of light keeping him in place, he turned his burning gaze toward Sunset. “YOU!” Sledgehammer raised his weapon in the air and slammed it on the ground with tremendous force, knocking Sunset off her feet with the resulting shockwave. Sledgehammer pulled against the tethers with all he had, breaking them both before glaring at the young mare.

Raising his hammer again, he charged toward her and brought it down on her. Sunset managed to push herself away in time with a small burst of magical energy, propelling her a few feet away. She quickly stood and put some distance between herself and her assailant, nocking another arrow before he could pull his weapon from the ground.

“Your little arrows might’ve worked before, but they won’t this time, Sunset!” The murderer tossed his hammer at her, which she ducked to avoid. Letting another tether loose, Sledgehammer found himself pinned again, this time completely defenseless. Sunset struck him with two more shots, keeping Sledgehammer completely immobile.

“Just like mom said. Three shots, and then…” Sunset held an arrow in the bow for as long as possible, the light radiating brightly as it reached its full charge. She aimed the arrow to the skies above Sledgehammer and let it fly.

The smoke gathered in the sky broke apart, a shaft of light shone upon Sledgehammer. For a brief moment, the seal of the Rudellas was seen before the light faded and condensed itself into a large bolt aimed straight at the madman. The bolt crackled as it made contact with Sledgehammer, exploding and incinerating the now-helpless psychopath.

He screamed in pain as the searing light purified his soul, stripping it of the darkness that fueled his murderous tendencies. After the light dissipated, all that was left was his hammer laying where he tossed it.

Sunset entered the concert hall one last time, trotting past the ruined door and walked toward the stage. Standing in front of the grand piano was Sweetie Belle, silent as she stared at the keys. The young mare walked up to the stage and stood next to Sweetie, opening the pocket watch and laying it on the instrument.

The song that played when she did so put a little smile on the filly’s face. She walked up to the piano and began playing the song along with the watch. As the next part in the piece came, she played it flawlessly, her father’s watch guiding her as she hit the correct notes. The filly, now confident in her own ability, closed the watch and continued playing.

As Sweetie Belle concluded the song, she stood there and held her hands behind her back, humming the same tune. Sunset giggled at the spectral filly’s joy, which was returned with another smile from Sweetie.

“Thank you for helping me, Sunset. I don’t think I could ever repay you for everything you’ve done.”

“What are you going to do now?” asked the young mare. “I don’t think you’ll want to stay here.”

“That’s just it. I find the whole “passing on” thing scary. What if I don’t like it on the other side?”

“Oh, I don’t think you’ll have to worry about that, pumpkin.”

Sunset and Sweetie looked out to the seats. In the front row sat a familiar stallion, dressed in a soldier’s uniform. He began stomping his hooves in applause for Sweetie Belle. “That was beautiful, Sweetie Belle. I always knew you had a knack for the piano.”

“Dad!” The filly jumped off the stage and into her father’s hooves, both father and daughter embracing each other with tears in their eyes. “Dad, you came! I didn’t think you’d be here!”

“How could I miss my daughter’s recital? You’ve worked so hard to get this far. It’s only fair I should be here to see it.” The stallion turned toward the stage, Sunset still standing there with tears of her own. “Thank you, young miss. I think we’ll be able to move on now.”

“Take care, Sunset! I’ll never forget you!” The filly and her father walked toward the exit, a bright light at the end of the aisle.

Sunset waved goodbye as she watched them go, leaving her alone on the stage. After they were gone, she started feeling drowsy, her eyes and body growing heavy as she fell to the floor unconscious. Before she blacked out, she heard a familiar voice.

“Well done, my daughter.”

Sunset awoke in her bedroom to the sound of chirping birds. As she lifted her head and rubbed her eyes, she tried to make sense of what happened to her in the last few hours.

“Was it just a dream?” she asked herself. Leaving the bed and checking her saddlebags, she found the stone handle by itself. As soon as she touched it, however, the handle shone and reverted to the form of a bottle, holy water and all. “Guess it wasn’t.”

As she stowed the bottle, a sharp tap was heard from her bedroom window. Sunset snapped her head in the direction of the sound just in time to see a small pebble strike her window. A voice from outside called to her. “Sunset!”

The young mare rushed to the window and opened it, the cool breeze of winter hitting her face. Looking down, she spotted a pony that she hasn’t seen since leaving for boarding school. “It’s you!”