Subterranean Freedom

Chapter 2

The Mysterious Siren

(Flashback)
(Trinity HQ)

“Sonata Dusk and Aria Blaze, I called you both here for a mission that I need you to do.” The male stallion said from behind the table that was between them. “Your target is a lift leaving the Canterlot BioCrop’s Labs in the low sector.”

“A retrieval mission? What is it?” Aria asked.

“Oh! Are we getting another shipment of food? I do hope it has tacos in it like last time.” Sonata said as she was smacked upside her head by Aria.

“No it’s not that.” The stallion said with a slight chuckle. “Your target is a female siren. About the same age as you two.”

“Wait...a siren? But I thought that-” Aria paused as she notice the stallion shaking his head as a melancholy expression appeared on his.

“It should shed some light on how dirty this world has become. I wouldn’t get your hopes up to think that it’s her. Retrieve the target at all cost. Understand?” The stallion asked as Aria and Sonata both nodded and gave off a salute. “Good, now go.”

“Oh man.” Aria said, wincing at the fact that the lift fell into the abyss of darkness. “I didn’t expect for that to happen.” Looking down at the wreckage, the mare jumped off of the war genic and faced it. “Go down there and get the cargo. If you see any of the rangers down there, kill them so they don’t get whatever it is that was in that thing.” The genic climbed onto the wooden part of the track shimming it’s way down lower until it disappeared into the darkness below.

“Dammit, the boss is so going to be disappointed with us if the cargo is damaged or worse.”

Darkness. Nothing but an endless sea of darkness as Sunset Shimmer pushed herself to keep moving forward through it. Limping with each step as she tried to ignore the pain from her right arm and left leg. As she continues to limp for a bit, visions of a the dead dragon, a glyph, and a live dragon flowed through her mind as she pauses and looks up.

“I’ve chosen you.”

Looking up Sunset could see the glyph that went through her mind as mist of light flew from out of it and enveloped around. As the light enveloped around herself, flames begins to appear on her body while she was covering her eyes from the blinding light. As she lowered her arms, she saw a shadowy figure standing in front of her.

“It is the power given to you…The Dragon’s power...You are the chosen one.”The figure said as it vanish for a split second before appearing in front of Sunset, causing her to jump back a bit and fall onto her bottom. “The one-thousand year world destroyer…find your fate…before it finds you!” The figure said as it slowly turned around. “What you do will change...everything.”

(Old Waste Shaft)

“Hey, She’s waking up.” said a youthful voice as Sunset’s eyes shot open. As she pulled herself up, she notice that she was resting inside a house made of a mix of scrap metal and cardboard.

“W-Where am I?”

“You’re in the old waste shaft kid.” said a rugged male voice. Sunset turned her head to the left to see a old stallion entering the room with a cane to help support his weight. “Glad to see you’re still alive after that fall you just had.”

“W-Who are you two?”

“Oh, where are my manners.” The Stallion said as he took a seat next to Sunset. “My name’s Iron Head, and the girl beside you is my niece Lily Flower.”

“Hi!’ The filly said as she waved at the ranger pony.

“Care to tell us who you are kid?”

“Sunset Shimmer 1/8192. How long have I been out?”

“A few hours maybe.” Iron Head answered. “We found you falling from above along with the wreckage from the lift you were on. I’m actually impressed that you survived the fall.”

“I-I fell…?” Sunset’s eyes widen as memories of what happened moments ago suddenly rushed into her head. “Oh no, the cargo!” She yelled as she tried to get up, only to wince as she felt pain coursing through her body.

“Easy there kid, your body hasn’t recovered from the fall. I recommend you wait for a while before trying anything else.” He said as the stallion leaned back in his chair. “No sense in trying to push yourself if you’re still hurt.”

“B-But, I gotta get the-”

“No buts kid. You need to rest up before you could do anything else. Celestia knows if you went outside right now, you’ll be prey to the monsters outside of this place.” Sunset was about to argue with the stallion, only for her to notice the room starting to spin.

“I guess maybe a few minutes of sleep wouldn't hurt anypony.” She said before laying back onto the bed. “This is just not my day.”

“Could be worse. You could’ve been dead or eaten by the monsters outside.” Iron Head said before walking over to the window and sat beside it to keep watch. “Get some sleep kid. You’ll need it if you want to get out of here.”

(Ranger HQ)

“And that's what happened to us ma’am.” Trixie said, finishing up her report of the incident that happened on her mission.

“I see, and the cargo? What happen to it?” Vector said, pressing her fingers together while looking at Trixie.

“Excuse me?”

“What happen to the cargo? Were you able to secure it?”

“Trinity was still there within the area. Trixie barely got out of there alive, but she believes that the cargo was destroyed when it fell into the abyss.”

“As likely as that sounds, we can’t take any chance. Find the cargo, and secure it. Failing to do that, make sure it is destroyed. No matter what it looks like.”

“Y-Yes ma’am.”

“You sure you don’t want to rest for a bit more before leaving? I mean you did pretty much fell from all the way up there, so I wouldn’t be surprised if you needed it.” Iron Head said as Sunset flex her arm muscles.

“I appreciate your concern sir, but I really need to get going. HQ will be wondering where I am and what happened to the cargo.”

“Do you even know what that cargo thing you keep talking about?”

“No, but whatever is inside it I need to secure it.” The mare said as she placed her weapon on her hip.

“Well I hope you find whatever it is you’re looking for Sunset. If you can’t make it back to HQ, feel free to stop here at anytime when you’re not busy.”

“I’ll take that into consideration.” Sunset said as she waved good-bye to Iron Head and Lily Flower, and began to walk off to where the old colt found her at.

“You think that mare will be okay?” Lily Flower asked.

“Possibly, she is one of those Rangers after all.” Iron Head said as he walked back inside. “Come along, we have work to do Lily.” The stallion said as he and the little filly walked back inside the poorly made house.

“I’m a little bit surprised that there would be ponies living down here then back up in Ponyville Borough. Then again, not everypony can afford to live up there what with not having any bits to do so.” Sunset said to herself as she begins to make her way through the old waste shaft. Moment after making her way through the trash and the door that leads to the next room, Sunset paused for a moment upon hearing the sounds of heavy footsteps. Look through the mountain of trash, Sunset could see the war genic from before when she was with Trixie transporting the cargo on the train. What got her attention the most was what the war genic was carrying. In its arm it was carrying what appears to be a pale yellow colored unicorn with a orange & yellow highlight colored mane, and was wearing a white colored dress, a fish like tail sticking out from it, and weird markings around her arms, feet, and neck.

“I-I gotta do something….b-but.” Sunset’s body begins to shake due to the fear of facing the war genic by herself. Most high level rangers wouldn’t have a problem dealing with a war genic solo, but given how low her rank is it would be crazy to fight one. Maybe suicidal. The mare closed her eyes as to try to calm herself down while thinking of a plan to rescue the pony. Upon doing so, she soon felt a surge of power flowing through her body as if she was driven to do something. Opening her eyes her eye color changed from aqua green to bloody red as a orange-red colored aura surrounded her body. Without thinking, Sunset began to rush over to the war genic as she jump over the mountain of trash, jumped into the air as she unsheathed her katana, and embedded it into the war genic’s back upon landing.

The war genic let out a loud roar upon being stabbed in the back by Sunset’s katana as it tries to shake the mare off of it. It was successful as Sunset was soon sent flying backwards into the mountain of trash. Shaking her head from getting thrown, she looked up to see the war genic in front of her as it was about to slam its fist into her face. In a blink of the war genic’s eye Sunset quickly vanish from its sight as she would appear a few steps away from the monster on its left. With her katana placed in her sheath, Sunset charged at the war genic as a mach cone appeared around her body. Once she was close, she quickly unsheath her blade as she cut off the genic’s arm that was holding the pegasus. Once the unicorn hybrid was freed, Sunset quickly grabbed her in her free arm and landed a few inches away from the war genic. The war genic let out a mighty roar as it grabbed its arm due to the pain from having its left arm cut off.

Without looking back at the war genic, Sunset placed the mare safely onto the ground as she looked over her body to make sure she wasn’t hurt or injured in anyway. After looking over her body, the ranger sigh with relief that the mare wasn’t hurt. A smile appeared on Sunset’s face for a moment before it disappeared upon hearing the war genic’s heavy footsteps coming over to her. Turning around, the war genic body began to glow as it tried to punch at Sunset again only for her to quickly dodge out of the way of the war genic’s fist. Sliding to the genic’s right, she quickly thrust her sword into the war genic’s rib cage. The war genic roared in pain as it slammed its fist into the ground, causing the ground to sake as it took Sunset off guard causing her to lose her footing a bit as she stumbles backwards.

This gave the war genic the opportunity to backhand Sunset in the face as she was sent flying into a pile of trash. The genic was about to charge after the ranger until it fell to one knee and began to cough a bit. Looking down it notice its own blood leaking out from the wounds that Sunset inflicted unto it. As it tries to pull itself up from the ground, Sunset burst from out of the trash pile and into the air. The war genic saw her coming as it tried to knock her out of the air by throwing a metal plate at her. Only for Sunset to cut it in two and slammed her katana into the war genic’s head. There was a moment of silence when her katana embedded into the genic’s head as it soon fell to the ground dead. As the war genic laid dead onto the ground, Sunset eyes changed back to normal as the aura quickly vanished from off her body. Blinking at what just happened, she pulled her katana out of it’s head as she placed it back into her sheath, she soon walked over to the knocked out mare on the ground. As Sunset kneeled down to lift the unconscious mare up a bit, she notice that the mare had weird markings on her body.

“What in the name of Equestria is this mare? I’ve never seen markings like this before. Not even in the Ranger’s records or archives.” She thought as she notice the mare slowly opening her eyes. Once the mare was fully awake, Sunset gave her a small smile as she chuckled a bit. “Thank Celestia you’re awake, I thought that war genic might’ve hurt you or some-.” Before Sunset could finish her sentence, the mare quickly hugged her which took the ranger off by surprise. “Thing?” Feeling the mare shaking in fear as to what happen to her, the ranger placed a hand on the pegasus head in a means to try to calm her down. “Hey, it’s okay. I got him.” She said as she jerks a thumb over at the dead body of the war genic. “Can you stand?” The mare nodded to Sunset’s question as she begins to pull herself up from the floor. Once fully standing she brushed away some of the dust covering herself a bit as Sunset pulled herself up from the floor as well.

“I’m Sunset Shimmer, what’s your name?”

“A-Adagio…Adagio...Dazzle.” The siren said as she tried to talk to Sunset, but it sounded like she was having trouble speaking.

“Adagio? Your voice? You can’t talk can you?” Sunset asked as Adagio waved her hand a bit as sign of maybe she can, but not right now. ‘Hm, maybe the medical ponies back at HQ can help her with her problem of talking.’ She thought before shaking her head and looking back at Adagio who was looking at her suspiciously. “Anyway, we need to get out of here Adagio. It’s not safe here and I prefer not to stay here any longer then we have to.” The ranger said as she begins to walk off for a moment before looking back at the scared siren. “Here, let’s go.” Sunset said as she offered Adagio her hand. The siren was hesitant at first, but looked up at Sunset as she noticed her nodding with a smile on her face. She nods back as she in turn walks over and takes her hand.