Chapters This is a story about a guardian. Now this guardian wasn't like the others, in fact she was much different. As soon as she was awoken by her Ghost she showed great skill and even killed a fallen leader. But this story isn't about that, no child this story is about how that guardian was thrust into something she could have never prepared for, and to tell you the truth...even I don't know the end to this story.
Let us begin with her returning to the tower after a long day. She fazed onto the balcony as her ship was automatically directed into the hangar. She took a deep breath and began walking to the Cryptarch.
Walking through the tower was always a good way to clear her mind after a long day of fighting. Going over to the Cryptarch she turned in some Fallen house banners to get some Glimmer. "Keep it up Hunter." He said to her. She nodded and continued walking around with no particular destination in mind, she just enjoyed the sights and sounds of her fellow guardians around the tower. Feeling the need to occupy herself though she decided to see what new bounties there were.
Xander the robot greeted her as she sifted through his bounties. "Guardian, Cayde-6 the hunter vanguard wishes to speak to you." He said. She stopped looking and nodded taking one bounty with her. Walking to the steps that led to the vanguard room she walked down quickly and went into the large hallway. She took a moment to look around and admire the decor and crucible banners everywhere.
Suddenly a cloaked figure jumped into her line of sight. "The nine wishes to speak to you, come." He said as he waved his hand over two boxes behind him. She looked at him and felt uncomfortable just like last time.
"Umm no thanks, maybe some other time." She said walking away.
"As you wish hunter." He said behind her in his low voice. The very sound sent a shiver down her spine. 'Out of all the things I deal with on a daily basis, he still creeps me out the most.' she thought to herself. After suppressing a shiver she entered the hall of the vanguards and made her way over to Cayde-6.
Hearing her approached he turned and greeted her with his usual carefree attitude. "Okay hunter this mission is important and it could benefit the entire city if you complete it. There's an old colonization ship called Sovereign that has been destroyed for some time. It orbits Saturn and we have reason to believe that the Fallen have found something very valuable there. Go to the wreck and find whatever that valuable something is before the Fallen do. We can't risk them potentially gaining something that will aid them in their conquest of the solar system." He finished and waved Xaya off in a shooing motion.
She looked at him in confusion. "Uh, that's it? No further Intel? How many fallen there are? What house? What this special something looks like? Schematics of the ship?" Cayde seemed to be lost in his own world, ignoring the literal lifesaver questioning him. "Don't you have anything interesting to tell me!?" She shouted. In response Cayde just stared at her, not saying a word. Xaya sighed in defeat. "You're right that is a dumb question." She made haste out of the room and into the hall.
As she ran through the hallway was stopped yet again by the cloaked figure this time with two long black rectangular boxes in his arms. "Please guardian let me help you. I am Xür agent of the nine and I wish to gift these to you." He said, dropping the boxes in front of her. She looked at him unsure of what to do until he bowed and walked back to his spot at the wall.
She picked them up in her hands and she noticed how they almost felt weightless. "Um...thanks? I guess?" She shook them around, and tried to open them, but they wouldn't budge. "What are these?" She asked him.
"When the time comes you will know." He replied cryptically. Xaya rolled her eyes at his vague response not realizing the true weight of his words. She continued running through the tower and arrived at the hanger. She got into her Aestral AV1 fighter class ship and powered up the lift off sequence. Getting off of the ground she flew straight into orbit and set course for Saturn.
"So lets hope that getting this rare item is as easy as finding spinmetal." Said her ghost. She pulled the throttle on the thrusters and the rockets burned brightly, propelling her ship so they could quickly reach their destination.
Flying past the other planets and moons Xaya slowed down near the shipwreck orbiting Saturn. She activated her fighters landing program and landed in the sovereign. She hoped the fractured ships integrity could hold her fighter in the docking bay. She grabbed her hand canon and fazed out of her ship.
She floated about in the wreck of the colonization ship known as sovereign. Realizing that floating around wildly in the ship wouldn't help she used her gravity correction boot function to stand correctly on the ground. Her Ghost turned on a light to brighten up the dark ship.
"Okay the house of wolves are searching for something in this ship. We have no idea what that thing is but I'm sure we'll find it before them." The Ghost ceased its rundown of the objective and continued to light the way for his guardian. Xaya walked to a door at the back of the docking section and blew it down with her grenade.
Walking through the shattered door she entered a hallway that was incredibly dark. She twisted and turned going through the many halls of the huge wreck wildly searching for anything. As far as she could tell there were no Fallen whatsoever in the ship.
Walking deeper into the halls she felt the silence eating at her ears. "It's too quiet, didn't you say there would be Fallen here?" Xaya waited for a response before she heard crawling echo through the ship. In the vacuum of space though it sounded only like muffled thuds. She heard cackling noises in the vents just above her. Taking out her hand canon she fired into the vents above her.
All noise stopped as she crouched down. After a minute she turned invisible and side stepped away from where she once stood. The sound of metal grinding invaded the vacuum, she looked up and saw that the metal of the roof was torn completely off. Two Fallen Dregs crawled out followed by a Reaver Vandal. Using her temporary stealth she walked around them as they searched for her.
Just before her she became visible again Xaya threw a lightning grenade on one of the dregs, and speed stabbed the Vandals' back. He fell to the ground as both of the dregs were killed by electrocution. The Vandal got up just in time to see her gun barrel point at his eye. Before he could react the bullet came and tore his head off. Two bright items fell from the Vandal one triangle shaped and the other round.
She noticed right away that the triangle shaped item was a log the Reaver vandal carried with him. "Let me analyze it." Ghost said as he shot a beam of light at it and read it. While he was doing this she went to pick up the second thing, a blue engram. "Nice." She said to herself while looking at it. She could make out that it was either a rare or legendary pair of boots. She needed new ones with light in them so she didn't complain.
As soon as she put it in her inventory her ghost exclaimed. "Amazing the fallen have found something very rare. A slip space drive for huge carriers. The sovereign had one as did most human carrier ships did. When the darkness came humanity lost all forms of those drives." He said to her as she continued through the halls to the checkpoint ghost put up. "But not just any slip space drive this one was made of the travelers light. The house of wolves seek to reverse engineer it for their ships. Their Archon is here overseeing the process since they didn't want to move it."
Brushing past floating debris she neared her destination when a large rumbling noise erupted through the ship. Soon the lights started coming on above her and the gravity was stabilized. Xaya didn't want to test if the life support was working though and decided to keep her helmet on.
She reached a coded door blocking her path and she prepared herself. "It's just past this door. I hope your ready." Ghost said. She teleported through the door and stabbed a vandal on her left in the eye killing him instantly. The room had about eight fallen and a captain in it. Immediately they raised their guns and fired. She ran across the room past all the bullets trying to hit her. Taking cover behind a pillar she fired off shots from her hand cannon counting the shots as she went.
"One,two,three,four,five,six,seven,eight." She whispered to herself before reloading. Looking at the room almost all of the Fallen in the room were dead by head shots. She noticed the captain starting to get closer to her so she reached around for her sniper rifle. She fired three shots and two hit him breaking his shield and hurting him a bit, as for the third it missed when he teleported.
Appearing two feet away from where he was originally he charged with a sword. she fired the last bullet in her mag at his unshielded forehead staggering him. She lunged at him with a speed boost and stabbed him in the chest killing him. She took a breather and looked around the room for the drive. Behind her on a pedestal she saw the slip space drive made entirely of light. The sight of it left her speechless and she stared as a single beam of energy was being blasted at it.
Her trance was cut short as a large door behind her opened and revealed the towering form of the Wolf Archon accompanied by three captains, and four vandals two of them being stealth. "They really don't want us here." Ghost said as Xaya ran for cover. The stealth Vandals cut her off in the middle of the room and attacked with their swords.
She shot at their heads but missed both shots. One of them lunged cutting off his invisibility while the other went around her. The first one slashed but missed his attack. Xaya took her chance and stabbed him in the bottom left arm. She jumped above him and grabbed his back pushing him forward. He was impaled by his friend who was trying to perform a sneak attack.
Quickly Xaya jumped over them avoiding the blades jutting out of the vandals back and kicked the other one in the face. He staggered backwards pulling the blades out of his friends limp form. He slashed wildly at her but she got her gun out and fired five bullets into his abdomen. Afterwards she barely had enough time to dodge a wall of bullets fired by the Archons shrapnel gun. She ran behind a pillar but a captain knew she would go there and he teleported to the pillar. He appeared in front of her and punched her.
She lifted up her arm to block the oncoming attack and was successful in blocking most of it. She was sent flying backwards into a wall and that force broke her shield. The Vandals realized that she was Completely vulnerable without her shield and powered up their guns. One fired off a bullet that hit her arm, luckily the other one missed. She ran towards them and teleported as they fired again. They both looked through their scopes to look for her and soon a Captain came to join them.
She reappeared behind them with a purple blade in her hand. They looked at her as fear coursed through their bodies. In the blink of an we she stabbed the Vandals turning them into dust and slashed at the captain four times killing him. A purple box dropped where the captain once stood and she picked it up. The Archon walked towards her while his teal cape flapped behind him. He screeched as he fired at her.
Quickly dodging out of the way Xaya pulled out her sniper and emptied the entire mag into his face staggering him. Pulling out her heavy machine gun she reloaded as fast as possible but it wasn't fast enough since one of the other captains teleported right next to her and punched her. She dropped her machine gun and fell to the floor. He walked towards her and lifted his gun to her face.
However Xaya activated a lightning grenade in her hand and teleported through him sending the grenade straight into his face. Before it detonated she shot him in the head twice with her hand canon. As soon as the grenade detonated he died. Grabbing the gun she reloaded it and turned her attention to the Archon.
"Fallen ships are exiting slip space just outside of the sovereign. Some are house of wolves some aren't. If your going to kill the Archon you better do it now." Said ghost. Xaya knew she needed to hurry up so she threw another grenade towards the Archon. He teleported away and the grenade flew past him and landed right on the slip space drive.
"Well that's one way to wrap things up." Ghost commented. The grenade exploded and in a huge flash of light the drive exploded too leaving a big black mark where it once was. The Archon looked at her with fire in his eyes and raised his gun. Ready to pull the trigger he almost fired before another explosion behind him sent a huge chunk of metal right through the Fallens' upper right arm and chopped it off. It screeched in pain as its limb fell to the ground below it.
"I think we should go!" Shouted Xaya over the loud noise coming from the drive. It started sucking everything in the room into a large hole of light at an alarming speed. It pulled in the Archon that was now unconscious.
"We probably should." Ghost said after witnessing that happen. The Hunter ran as fast as she could towards her ship while feeling her cloak being pulled behind her. Along the way the lights in the halls shut off seeing as how the wormhole was ripping the ship completely apart. They got to her fighter and got in. Bringing the thrusters to life she flew out of the sovereign docking bay. Upon going into Saturns' orbit they saw almost all of the fallen ship leaving and only two got caught in the hole.
Xaya kicked the ship into a speed that was almost ludicrous by the ships standards. But without warning the ship teared at the back of her fighter ripping off the brand new yellow top wings and crushing the thrusters. "We are dead in the water ghost...no hope now." Xaya said solemnly as the ship was being pulled back.
"I just want you to know that it's been an honor serving with you guardian." Ghost replied as they felt the hole consume them.
On a planet much like ours yet different in so many ways a small town resides in the country of Equestria. There the mayor is gathering the town for the beginning of a special day known as Appreciation Day. Everyone is gathering here for the towns tradition. Or should I say everypony.
"Okay everypony settle down. As you know today marks the seventeenth annual appreciation day." The crowd of ponies stomped and cheered before then quieting down. "So now we officially start it by appreciating six mares that have saved this town and Equestria many times. The Elements Of Harmony!" The crowd cheered even louder than before as a curtain on the stage lifted up revealing six mares wearing necklaces and one wearing a crown.
Their names were Rainbow Dash, Applejack, Pinkie Pie, Rarity, Twilight Sparkle, and Fluttershy. They were the elements that stood for all things good. After the crowd died down the purple mare Twilight stepped forward and spoke. "Thank you very much for doing this everypony, but please don't treat us any differently. We're normal just like any one of you. Anyway happy appreciation day everypony!"
They cheered one last time before dispersing into the town wide fair. The fair was set up by pinkie pie who as you might have guessed was pink. The fair was jam packed with rides games shows, and It was fun for all ages. "Aww yeah! Wasn't that sweet guys? Everypony cheering for us and the things we did." The cyan mare Rainbow Dash said while flying through the air.
"Well of course it was sweet I've never been so appreciated in my life. The only thing that would be more sweet is a super cupcake with triple layered frosting!" Pinkie pie said in return before getting lost in thought. She started drooling then shook it off and giggled. "I know what I'm doing next party."
"Well ah didn't mind it at all. Though the cheering did make me kinda uncomfortable." Applejack said while walking slightly faster.
"Well Applejack we at least deserve a little appreciation for what we've done. What better day for that to happen then appreciation day." Rarity said and gestured to the fair they had just walked into.
"Ah guess you're right we kinda do deserve some. Well I gotta go and get Applebloom see ya later." Applejack walked off to find her sister.
"I'll come with if your cool with me tagging along." Rainbow said. Applejack nodded her head to Rainbow and let her follow. The rest of the ponies went off to have fun the entire day, and appreciate those around them. Little did they know that a great evil was about to emerge on the planets atmosphere.
Xaya woke up to a blaring noise echoing through the ship. She couldn't move though, she couldn't feel anything. Then she felt the burning sensation of the light waking her up. She jumped up and heard Ghost screaming at her. "Right now Xaya! We are going to blow up with this ship if you don't do something now!" He yelled.
Xaya without a word went to work trying to stabilize the spinning ship. It didn't make it any easier with the thrusters being crushed. Xaya got the familiar sensation of fear when she realized this. Grabbing the ships inner walls she focused her mind and strained herself trying to project her blink ability unto the ship. With a loud yell she shifted the fighter through space and reappeared with it floating lazily in the Vacuum.
"Movement stabilized. Good work Xaya." Ghost said with relief eminent in his voice."Now that we have that problem solved let me check on the ships condition. Stand by." He said before appearing outside of the ship and going around to the back. Xaya sighed and took off her helmet letting her silver hair breath.
Looking up she saw a planet that looked a lot like earth but it was different. The water looked the same and a lot of the geography was similar but it wasn't earth. She couldn't see the Traveler anywhere and that would have been a dead giveaway. Ghost returned to the ship and floated right in front of her face.
"Good news I managed to save the main thrusters. But without the back wings, and with the redirecting thrusters destroyed we either fly forward or not at all." He said to her. He noticed her orange eyes were looking past him and at the planet behind. "How did I miss this? Do you think we might be able to find something there?" He asked.
"We can try." Xaya replied simply. She was just about to kick the remaining thrusters into gear until she saw two flaming Fallen ships heading for the planet. They didn't even look like Fallen drop ships anymore with their mangled hulls and flaming thrusters. "I have a feeling this will be harder then we thought." She said as she quickly followed after them.
"Applebloom! Applebloom where are ya?" Applejack yelled loudly for her sister to hear her. The fair's loud noises almost drowned out her voice. She groaned in frustration realizing that the filly wouldn't be found that easily. "Why does she do this to me every time?" Rainbow Dash flew towards her and landed.
"Well Applejack I just don't think she's here anymore. Do you think that Applebloom might be in the clubhouse with the other crusaders?" She asked. Applejack realized that the clubhouse was probably the first place they should have looked.
"Of course the clubhouse. Why didn't I think to search there first?" Rainbow gestured to the clock meaning that it was getting late. "Right we should go." Said Applejack as she trotted back to the orchard. Walking in silence they passed by other ponies enjoying the fairs attractions. The sun was starting to go down turning the day into evening.
After quite sometime they reached the cutie mark crusaders clubhouse. From inside Applejack and Rainbow could hear them talking with each other. "I'm telling you girls it's going to be a success. With the new telescope I saw weird meteors coming to ponyville. And when they land bam! Astronomy cutie mark here I come." Said Scootaloo with confidence in her voice.
"IF they land Scootaloo. We still can't be sure if what you saw was real." Said Sweetiebelle. Applejack walked up the ramp to the door of the clubhouse and entered. The crusaders looked up at her and smiled. Applejack looked right at her sister with a mad glare. Appleblooms smile faded and she realized she was in trouble.
"Applebloom. Why didn't ya stay at the fair like ah told you to?" She asked her. Applebloom had a realization of what she forgot to do before Scootaloo came and got her and Sweetiebelle.
"I'm so sorry. I forgot when Scootaloo told me about the meteors coming to ponyville." She said throwing her friend under the bridge.
"Hey don't pin this on me." Scootaloo defended. Applejack sighed and her scowl fell as her anger started vanishing.
"Applebloom ah ain't mad. I'm just frustrated that after countless times of you doin this you still couldn't think of at least asking me first." She said calmly. Applebloom hung her head at the thought of making her sister so worried. "Listen, are ya sorry?" After She asked Applebloom slowly nodded her head. "Alright then I forgive you. I'm just glad Rainbow Dash and I were able to find you."
Applebloom raised an eyebrow in confusion. "Rainbow Dash? She's here?" Applebloom asked.
"Well yeah. She's right here." Applejack turned around but Rainbow wasn't there. "Huh?" Applejack walked out of the door and onto the ramp again. "Rainbow Dash!" She shouted out loud.
"Applejack I'm up here." She replied above the clubhouse. She was flying in the air looking at the sky not breaking eye contact with the stars. "Hey I have a question, was there supposed to be a meteor shower tonight?" She pointed to the sky as large balls of fire drew closer to the ground.
"What in tarnation?" Two of the biggest meteors she'd ever seen were getting closer to the clubhouse and now the crusaders were watching too. Dash sprung into action and flew towards the girls yelling for them to get out of the way. "Jump!" She yelled as she grabbed Applebloom and flew her off of the ramp. Applejack grabbed Scootaloo and Sweetiebelle and jumped onto the ground too.
Using their bodies as shields they covered the foals from any flying debris. They heard a loud crash and the splintering of wood as the meteors crashed through crusader clubhouse. As soon as the noise stopped they all looked up at the tree they had occupied not one minute ago. It was completely destroyed with wood, papers, and memories being completely shattered in an instant.
The crusaders felt tears well up in their eyes as they watched their very childhoods be ripped to shreds. Applejack and Rainbow were completely speechless at the sight in front of them. Two loud explosions were heard deep in the orchard as smoke rose from the crashes. "Girls we need to go. We need to get back to town now and get somepony to help." She said while slightly shivering.
"I knew the meteors were coming. I just didn't know they'd destroy the clubhouse." Scootaloo said a little shaken up.
"I don't know about you Applejack but I'm going to check it out." Rainbow Dash said with a hint of excitement. Her need for adventure started overwhelming her fear like usual.
"Are you crazy Rainbow? Let somepony else who's more qualified take care of it. If not at least wait for Twi and the others." She said trying to convince her to come with them.
"I'll just be a minute don't worry." Rainbow started flying towards it completely ignoring the requests of Applejack and the crusaders. As she drew closer to the fallen space objects her heart raced faster. She hovered closer and soon her sense of smell was filled with ash and smoke. She hovered over a bunch of crushed trees and smashed apples.
Soon she found a large trail in the ground leading to the meteor. Looking down into the trail she saw large strips of metal with blue markings on it. Picking it up she examined it closely looking over every inch of the mysterious and cool object. Suddenly she heard rustling coming from the flames. Sounds of moving metal and large crashes were filling the air. She noticed a large mound of rubble lodged in the middle of the fire as it start moving.
She flew into some trees that were still standing and watched the pile. A large white arm popped out of it and grasped the outer most part of the pile with strange talons. It pulled itself out of the rubble and stood there in pain. RD had never seen anything like it. It was at least seven feet tall, it had four arms, in one of its arms it carried a club looking object that had fire on the end, his head was large and covered in armor like skin as was the rest of his body, and his back was draped in a light blue cape.
The behemoth gripped its abdomen with one of its arms and garbled some gibberish which must have been its language. "Keed av fal yan winter." Winter was the only thing Rainbow understood out of its sentence. She heard rustling from the beneath her and soon she heard cackling noises like of an overgrown insect.
Five smaller creatures appeared before the bigger one. They only had two arms and were much shorter. In addition they had teal colored scarfs around their necks. The creatures each had a small object in one of their hands with a small handle, and in their other was a knife with electricity surrounding it.
They pointed the smaller objects at the much bigger alien and the lead one started yelling at him. All Rainbow could make out of it the entire time was the word "Wolves". The large alien tried lifting up its big weapon but he couldn't and he fell to his knees. The five smaller ones ran up to him and started stabbing him and tearing him limb from limb. Large amounts of blood was sprayed across the grass and he screamed in agony as he was torn apart. Rainbow had to hold back the urge to barf at the sight.
The small aliens screeched as one of them took the now dead larger ones weapon. He placed it on his back and cackled. Rainbow exhaled silently trying not to get the deranged creatures attention. However they all stopped and remained silent hearing the faintest noise coming from the tree she was in.
Rainbows heart nearly stopped as they all looked into the trees leaves with their dead black eyes. She prepared herself to fly until a loud scream was heard from the other wreck. They all glanced at the tree one more Time then ran off. Rainbow released a breath she hadn't realized she was holding. After waiting there for a few minutes she took to the sky as fast as she could back to ponyville to tell the others of what she saw.
Earlier
Twilight walked in to her library and yawned. It had been an exhausting day and she was eager to get some rest. She walked up the stairs to her room and opened the door. Looking to the ground she saw spike sleeping soundly and she smiled. Walking to her bed she got in and tried to get comfortable.
Feeling the embrace of sleep draw closer she sighed in content. Suddenly a large explosion echoed throughout the town waking her and spike from their sleep. "Huh Twilight what happened?" Spike asked groggily while rubbing his eyes. Twilight got out of bed with a yawn and an aggravated sigh.
Walking to the window she saw something off in the distance. Two large clouds of smoke grew above Applejacks apple orchard. Looking to the sky she saw several fiery objects plummeting to the ground. There was one that stuck out however. It was faster than all the rest and left a bright trail in the sky behind it. The small dot hovered over the Everfree Forest and landed.
As soon it was under the thick trees of the dark forest Twilight felt a burst of strange magic travel through the ground. It was foreign and extremely tame, but immensely powerful at the same time. It almost seemed perfect, and perfect was not an accurate way to describe magic in Equestria.
Her magic analysis was cut short when piles of debris fell into the Everfree. When these things crashed she sensed something dark and evil. It felt like a sinister darkness had just landed in the peaceful country. This power made her heart stop and her fear was escalated at only feeling this. She dared not imagine what vile creatures carried this dark power on their shoulders.
"TWILIGHT!" Spike shouted at her. Twilight shook her head releasing her from her trance. Just then she realized spike had been trying to get her to respond, but she wouldn't listen. "Twilight tell me what you felt. You're starting to scare me." He said concerned.
Twilight looked at him saying nothing and knew what she had to do. "Spike we have to make sure everypony in town is safe but we can't do that without some help, take a letter."
Xaya flew through the planets atmosphere without much resistance. She sped up to catch the free falling ships in front of her. "Their trajectory has them landing somewhere down there." Ghost said marking a waypoint on her screen. Soon enough the fallen ships crashed in a large orchard of trees. She flew closer to the crash sites and spotted a town close to them.
"Could be a possible settlement. We have to make sure the natives aren't harmed by the fallen." He said. Xaya nodded and hovered over a forrest at the edge of the town. She landed and got out of her ship. "I suggest we move quickly. There's no telling what the fallen could have already done."
Xaya ran through thick low hanging leaves and passed strange flowers. "So many different objects and life forms. If we get the chance later we should analyze them." Ghost said full of curiosity. Eventually Xaya broke through the forest and came into the edge of town. With her hand canon gripped she ran forth to find the fallen.
Suddenly large crashes were heard behind her. Turning around she saw the last of the broken ship sovereign land in the Forrest just behind her. Complete silence fell upon the area as the guardian listened closely. She heard a twig snap to her left so she turned quickly and shot. Standing there was a terrified bunny that had barely dodged her bullet.
Xaya lowered her gun with a sigh when suddenly she was slashed across the back with blades. She stumbled forward from the strike and a foot kicked her to the ground. Not giving her attacker a moment to think she teleported backwards just behind him and in the air. Seeing the fallen vandal holding swords she stuck out her knees and landed on his back.
He hit the ground hard and dropped his swords. She took out her hand canon and shot the back of his head. It popped off and Xaya watched as an unknown force ripped the soul out the vandals neck. She heard a loud roar come from the directions of the crashed fallen ships. "No doubt about it. That was the wolf archon and he's weak. If we get him now we can put an end to this before it starts." Ghost said.
"Well we better move quickly." She said before running as fast as she could to the archon. "Ghost will I be able to get my sparrow here?" She asked
"Well since your ship is on the planet I think you can but remember that we are disconnected from the tower if it gets destroyed there's no repairs." He said. Xaya reached out to her ship and summoned her red sparrow V-30 given to her by the vanguard. She sped past the town not going into it at all. She reached a white fence and bashed through it.
Bobbing and weaving around the trees she drew closer to the crash sites. Jumping off her sparrow she jumped into the air and rolled when she hit the ground. There was nothing in her line of sight but she could feel them. Walking over to the pile of burning metal she moved some of it. Within a fist popped up and punched her far from the pile. Out of it the archon emerged unarmed, but he roared at her and teleported away.
She recovered and went to go find him but four dregs popped up out of nowhere to slow her down. She stabbed the one in front of her and fired to the ones on either side of her. The fourth dreg grabbed her and threw her against a tree. She fell to the ground landing on her side. While there he ran up to her and kicked her in the stomach. She got up and tried to attack him but he was around her in an instant.
Driving his knife into her shoulder he twisted it and ran. She took out the knife stuck in her shoulder and threw it in the direction he ran. The wound quickly healed and she ran after him. After some time he was gone so she decided to look for other fallen.
"What's the chatter on the comms?" She asked while getting her sparrow.
"Scanning. Hmm..got it! The Archon teleported deep into the forest. They're trying to hunt down the fallen from the house of winter." Xaya sped straight back to forest she emerged from. In order to save time and avoid damage from the speeder she got out of the orchard and blasted across the flat land. Little did she know all of the natives in the town could fully see her.
Bursting through the thick brush that led into the forest she looked at her waypoint again. "If we lose this opportunity our jobs will get a lot harder." Ghost said. The waypoint was right in front of her so she got off of her sparrow. What she saw however wasn't a towering behemoth ready to kill. It was just his teal cloak sporting the colors of the house of wolves.
"I don't understand, he should be right here." Ghost said before scanning the cloak. "Wow. They pulled a fast one Xaya. His genetic code is in this cloak, so when we were tracking him we were only tracking his cloak." Ghost explained to her.
"That doesn't make sense. Couldn't we still track him if his genetic code is in him as well as the cloak?" She asked him. He shook himself in a no motion and lifted up the banner cloak.
"Thats not an option. He's teleported far from here. He left the banner as a decoy." He said dropping the banner into her hand. "We should at least take this. It's not often a guardian comes across an archon banner. There's no telling what kind of history it holds for the house of wolves."
Xaya decided to walk back to her ship since there were no leads on where the fallen were. She walked slowly so she could get a good look at the forest. Inside it was really dark, so dark that ghost had to light her way. She had the feeling of being watched no matter where she was in the forest, and looking around she saw eyes glowing in the darkness of the night.
There was however a set of footsteps following her wherever she went. She could hear walking on the floor while trying to remain silent. Over time more footsteps joined in and failed to evade her hearing. "On my mark ghost we'll let them know we see them." She said to him.
Ghost disappeared and darkness soon retook the forest. "I was wondering when you'd let them know." She crouched down and then disappeared from view. She heard them whispering to each other in hushed tones. 'Where'd it go?' One of them said as she crept behind them. She coughed loudly and all of them turned around.
She got one good look at them and saw four ponies with gold armor and spears. One of them had a horn and another had wings. Quickly shrugging off the weirdness of their appearance she let out a burst of light from her hand as if she was activating golden gun. They screamed as their sight was impaired. As they rubbed their eyes she ran back to her ship as fast as she could.
Hearing wing beats above her she looked up and saw Pegasus flying after her in a group of three. Getting back to the open field she saw more ponies tampering with her ship. Next to them was a taller pony with a dark blue coat and flowing blue mane with stars in it.
Xaya ran past them and fazed into her ship without them noticing. Powering it up she lifted off of the ground quickly and took off before the ponies had time to react. With the night quickly coming to an end she didn't have much time to hide the ship. Flying over the town to give herself some room she tilted the ship on its side and pulled up to turn it. Flying back over the forest she looked for any place to hide it as the sun slowly rose.
"There an old structure in the back of the forest." Ghost said spotting a castle deep in the forest. Wasting no time she flew to it and landed her ship behind the structure. Getting out she looked around for any pegasi that may have followed her. Seeing none she let her guard down and walked over to the castle. a large hole was in the back of it and she looked through it. Just then fatigue struck her like a sniper bullet.
"This seems good enough for now. We can turn this into a makeshift HQ." Ghost said. Xaya looked at the castle again as sunlight filled in through the crack. She turned around and got into her ship planning to get some rest.
"Wake me up in an hour or two." She said before immediately falling asleep. Ghost watched her sleep in her armor, snoring loudly.
"I might as well explore the castle, make it more guardian friendly." He said to himself. He flew around to the back of the ship and opened up the hidden cargo section. He pulled out lights and materials to make a fully operational guardian outpost.
Twilight and the princesses had been sitting in the library discussing what to do about the aliens. "I think the best course of action is to find them and ask what they want. They may be hostile considering what Rainbow saw but we can at least try diplomacy." Twilight pitched. The princesses considered it but knew it would be a waste of time.
"We couldn't even if we wanted to. The aliens are long gone by now especially the one that flew away in the ship." Luna said to her. Celestia nodded and thought of something else.
"If we can't find them then let's wait for them to make the first move. For now we'll station guards here in ponyville just in case they come back to the crash sites." She said.
"That's a good idea, but do you know why the aliens ran though?" Twilight asked.
"I think that maybe they're going to regroup before doing something. Also I think it would be safe to assume that the smaller alien we saw fly away is allied with the others." Luna said to them.
"I agree. Until we find out otherwise we are to assume that. We must take every precaution as well and try to hide this from the media. We don't want the rest of the nation panicking too." Celestia said before standing up and walking to the door. Luna followed suit and walked to the door. "We will go tell the mayor about the guards staying. If they come back don't hesitate to call us." She said to Twilight before leaving and closing the door.
Twilight got up and stretched. A loud yawn erupted from her mouth and she took it as a sign to get some sleep. Walking up the stairs she started to drag her hooves a bit. When she opened her door she heard the chirps of the morning birds and saw the light of the sun shining through the window. She got into her bed and let the fatigue of the long night before set in. She laid there in silence and thought about how it was actually more exciting that the aliens were here than frightening.
Finally Twilight fell asleep and got some much needed rest.
"Guardian. Wake up guardian." Ghost said. Xaya turned over and sat up to stretch. She hit her head on the emergency brake above her and remembered that she slept sitting slightly higher to get comfortable. "You've had two hours of sleep that's plenty. Now come on there's something I have to show you." He said to her. She fazed out of her ship and landed on her feet. She walked to the castle from before but remembered there was something she needed to do.
Moving to the back of her ship she found the hatch to open the cargo area of the small ship. She reached in and pulled out the large crates Xür had given to her. 'Why is it that he lifted them with one hand but every time I pick it up it gets heavier?' She thought to herself as Ghost called out for her.
"Hey come on. I didn't do all of this work for nothing." His voice echoed through the hole indicating he was pretty far in. She activated the camouflage on the ship that thankfully was salvaged and it soon disappeared from sight.
"So I think you'll be glad to know that while you were asleep I explored the castle and found good places to set up an outpost. If only we had more supplies I could do more." He said. She walked through the hole in the castle and saw a large room that from the looks of it was a rundown study room with cobwebs. Surprisingly the books seemed for the most part untouched. There was a couch in the middle of the room and a door that was wide open.
"Go on there's more." He said to her. She walked through the door and saw a hallway that was lit by spirit bloom above her head. She walked through it as her ghost followed her. She walked into another room and it was a full on library with bookshelves towering several stories high.
There were stairs leading up to the other levels of the library to put the size into perspective. There was a long red carpet that trailed along the ground and led to a large table. On the table was the Archons cloak and on either side were light stands to illuminate the large room. She whistled at the impressive work of her ghost.
"These are the only rooms I could renovate at the moment. Hopefully we don't have to stay longer than we need to." He said to her. She walked over to the table and set down the two crates on either side of the cloak. Letting out a sigh of relief she stretched her arms.
"I suppose we should scan this and hunt the fallen now?" She asked.
"Well we could do that but then there are also the options of repairing the ship and scanning information on this new planet. Your call really." He answered. She clicked her tongue and thought about her options. She could hunt the fallen because for every second she didn't they would get stronger.
She also needed to repair her ship if she wanted to find out just how far from home she really was. On the other hand scanning the planets fauna, inhabitants, and air could prove beneficial to her extended stay. Suddenly a tiny voice in the back of her head spoke to her. It spoke in such a silent manner that she could just barely make it out.
"Hunt them. Hurt them. Kill them."
She quickly shook off the strange voice and turned to ghost and spoke. "We need to find any trace of the fallen we can, its our top priority." She grabbed the Archons cloak and looked it over.
"Well let me see what I can dig up," He said before scanning it thoroughly. "This Archon, Axis, is no joke. The only thing keeping him from being a Kell is the fact that the wolves already have one...and he's completely insane. He ripped his brothers arm off and killed him with it apparently."Ghost stopped scanning and flew to eye level with Xaya. "And he eats Guardians for breakfast."
"Why don't we ever face an easy opponent for a change? Cant we ever take a vacation either?" She said. Ghost rolled his eyes at her complaints. "Hasn't the speaker ever heard of a siesta?" Her complaining ceased when she walked down the large stairs out into the sun again.
"Well the Darkness never rests, so we don't either." He replied sadly. "Anyway this cloak has a specific Glimmer lining that is associated with many fallen house cloaks. The residue left an impromptu breadcrumb trail for us to follow." He disappeared and set up a way point deep in the forest. "This was his last known location. We should get moving."
She walked around the front of the castle and took notice of the particular area. During the day the small area in front of the castle was very bright, like the sun purposefully shone on where the castle stood. The castle seemed to be on some sort of island that was surrounded by huge trenches and only one bridge at the front. 'This set up is pretty good when it comes to castle warfare. Funnel them through a rickety bridge while you fire.' She thought to herself.
"I took the liberty of scanning the air before you woke up. It's....breathable, But I suggest that you just keep your helmet on for safety purposes. Don't worry about it too much lets just find the fallen."
"You always knew how to calm me down Ghost." The way she talked had sarcasm written all over it. This fact did not escape Ghost whatsoever as the conversation drifted into silence.
Xaya cleared the bridge in a quick jump as it wasn't that long. Once on the other side she summoned her sparrow and glided across the forest towards the waypoint.
As soon as they were out of sight however the unguarded castle was approached by a creature who had been hiding in the shadows for hours.
Xaya's sparrow came to a fast halt as she reached the destination. "Let me out to scan, I may be able to find a trail." Ghost suggested. Xaya obliged and released him to do his work, while she searched around.
Out of the corner of her eye she noticed a strange blue flower in the middle of a clearing through the trees to her left. She walked up close and reached her glove covered hand to it. The plant seemingly moved into her palm as if it was rubbing itself on her. As soon as it touched her gloves receptors she could feel that it was warm to the touch.
Something felt off about the flower to her yet she couldn't put her finger on it. "Ghost, you may want to see this." She called out. Seeing his blue light in the distance she heard him speak.
"In a minute, these Fallen know how to cover their tracks really well." He said before going back to his scrubbing of the area. Xaya looked back to the flower and took notice of how beautiful it looked up close. Suddenly an entrancing aroma burst through her helmets breathing regulators. It smelt simply divine and only the blue flower could have been producing it.
With a shrug and a smile the guardian took of her helmet, plucked the flower from the ground and dug her nose into the petals taking a big whiff as she did. She heard the familiar whiz of ghost flying to her and she quickly put her helmet back on. "Okay so what have you got for me?" He asked.
"What do you think this strange plant is?" She asked presenting him the blue flower in the palm of her hand. With a thoughtful hum ghost scanned it for quite some time. After he was done he lifted it up and threw it away.
"Yeah it's best if you stay away from that plant in particular." He said. Underneath her helmet Xaya's eyes widened. "Well anyway I think I've got a lead on the archon." Ghost started to say before Xaya stepped in front of him.
"Why should I stay away from that flower?" She asked him.
"Well the scans show that this strange plant has some kind of offensive type of effect. Any animal it sees as a threat it lures in with lovely aromas and if the animal touches it they get poisoned. Not entirely sure what it does though. Why do you ask?" He said while squinting his eye and moving closer to Xaya.
Xaya was faced with a personal dilemma. There was a large possibility that she could be dying that very moment. And the only way to stop it was to admit to Ghost that she was an idiot. The answer became clear after her small thought process.
"No reason, So where is this lead going to take us?" She answered calmly.
"Okay." He said slowly and with suspicion. "Well do you remember that town we passed last night?" Xaya thought back to the previous night.
"I think so, why do you ask?" She said.
"Well sovereigns solar core should still be intact. If we infuse the cloak with a piece of the core we'll have our very own Archon tracking device." He said.
"What does that have to do with the town?" She asked.
"Well I know for a fact that the locals have taken custody of the core and are tampering with it. Not to unsettle you but if they nick one wrong wire the whole planet will turn into a sun within seven milliseconds." He said seriously.
"Well that's just peachy." Xaya said. Standing up she summoned her sparrow and traveled to the edge of the forest on a hill that overlooked the town. Taking out her sniper rifle she surveyed the area. "There are a lot of guards everywhere." She said.
"What I want to know is what kind of evolutionary fluke made ponies the dominant species. Not only that but give them ridiculous colors, horns, and wings that shouldn't even be able to lift them up." Ghost said irritatedly at the lack of logic in the species.
Xaya's eyes grew wide beneath her helmet and her breath was caught in her throat as she felt the surge of power that could've only come from the solar core. "Tell me you felt that." Ghost said worriedly.
Immediately following the first surge a barrage of energy waves started emanating from a large tree near the back of the town. "Okay screw discretion, if we don't get that core in the next hour we'll be turned into fried guardian with a side of roasted Ghost. My shell can only withstand heat going to 40,000 Degrees Kelvin." He stated with concern.
Without a word Xaya jumped down the hill and towards the town. Within seconds she was at the town outskirts. Creeping near an alley she crouched down and soon became invisible. Seeing as the alley was far from any other cover she sped her way across the streets teeming with ponies as fast as possible. She passed by a large market for trade and large stores selling plenty of wares ranging from quills to custom armor.
"The more I observe these ponies the stranger they become. The colors seem unnaturally bright up close, and the marks adorning their flanks range from mysterious to borderline ridiculous." Ghost commented within Xaya's helmet. Halfway through her trip she realized just how large the town actually was. Reaching into yet another alley she caught her breath as the invisibility wore off.
"This is way harder than I thought it would be, and the streets are swarming with guards." She said. Something in her chest warmed her and she realized her stored energy had reached its peak. Reaching within herself she took the energy and enhanced her invisibility.
"Since when could you do that?" Ghost asked.
"I have no idea." Xaya replied with a bit of fear in her voice. Remembering her mission she shook off the strange occurrence and ran across the open area completely unseeable. Taking more time to observe her surroundings, she noticed the way the houses were designed. They seemed to be very primitive compared to the enhanced lifestyle of the people in the city.
With more time to think Xaya could notice that up close all of the ponies resonated a form of energy that reminded her of the light. However the energy seemed impure to her, like someone had taken a ball of darkness and anger then put a thin layer of light atop it. Continuing her walk she overheard some talking about a princess as well as an orchard being closed off for investigation. So far that was the extent of her knowledge from last night.
Out of the corner of her eye she spotted three young foals sitting at a table discussing the events of the previous night in detail. The thing that set them apart from other ponies was that none of them had pictures on their flanks.
"Why do you think the princess left all of those guards here?" The white foal said while rubbing a hoof against her head.
"Ah just want to know why they won't let me into half of mah family's orchard. What do you guess was in them meteors?" The second pony said While fixing a bow in her mane.
Xaya stopped and listened to their conversation since it provided even more information than anything else she had heard beforehand. Just as the other two were about to change subject the third one spoke up.
"My guess, they were alien spaceships." The third pony theorized before planting her orange hooves on the table with a smile. The other two looked to each other and then back to the third one with raised eyebrows.
"Um Scootaloo, You should probably think about what you just said." The white pony said to Scootaloo. There was a pause as Scootaloo thought about it.
"Well, what about it I said there were aliens." She said to her friends. The white one shook her head and said what she meant in the first place.
"No, I meant that you should realize how ludicrous it sounds. I mean really? Aliens?" She told Scootaloo with a matter of fact tone.
Xaya tuned them out because she knew there were no more answers for her there. Continuing her walk she thought about their perspective on the situation. To them several aliens that are most likely alive crash on the planet and flee. Then they find crazy technology aboard the alien ships. Of course they would be frightened for everyone in the town, and would want to keep everything they found secret as well.
"CITIZENS OF PONYVILLE!" Out of nowhere a loud voice shouted across the entire town garnering everyone's attention. A deafening silence broke out in the town as all of the ponies listened for another voice. Again it spoke but not as loud as the first time.
"We urge you all to go to your homes immediately, and stay within the safety of their walls until we permit you to leave." Said one of the guards as he marched around the town itself. The beating of wings could be heard above everyone as carriages full of soldiers flew down. A lot of ponies then started running to their houses for safety after seeing that these many guards were needed.
"Um Xaya I really don't feel like rushing you but you should probably get the core before the entire town is overrun with guards!" He said with urgency. Xaya turned around towards the building she needed to break into.
It was a huge tree that held a sign saying Golden Oaks Library. At the very least it was two stories tall and had dozens of guards protecting it outside and in. "No unguarded way in from what I can see." She said to ghost.
"Then lets take the distraction approach." He appeared and scanned the structure from afar. "Okay here's the plan, I'm going to go stir up trouble. When they come towards me we'll have a small window of opportunity to get in and incapacitate everyone in our way. We get the core and slip our way out of here, sound like a plan?" He finished up and waited for Xaya's reply.
"It's go time." She said simply. Ghost smiled as best he could and then teleported. A loud crash was heard and all of the guards tensed up. Another loud crash and they got into battle positions, but still they were glued to their spots. "Ghost it isn't working." She said eying them closely.
"Let me take care of it." He said over the comms. After a few seconds Xaya heard nothing then it happened. "Hello." Ghost said calmly and non threateningly. Then several loud screams were heard piercing through the air. The guards all started to run towards the noise.
Xaya heard the noise that meant Ghost was back. Without wasting any time she bolted for the library in a dead sprint. "Go through the balcony, the door is being watched." He said. She jumped to the balcony and tried opening the doors but they were locked. Pulling out ghost the doors opened automatically for her and she rushed inside.
Once inside she crouched down due to her invisibility fading long before she entered. Inside she heard a child humming to himself while the sound of a broom brushed away. Soon the boy started talking to himself. "I wonder why princess Luna is here? What if Scootaloo was right about the aliens?" He wondered.
With a look Xaya saw he was a type of large lizard with green and purple scales. She was going to sneak past him but with her leg she knocked down a book 'Your slipping Xaya' she thought to herself.
He turned his head and when he saw her his face was frozen in sheer horror. Dropping his broom he started trembling in his place, then he took in a deep breath. Knowing that he was going to scream she lunged at him and pinned him against the wall with her hands over his mouth. She had made the right decision since her hand vibrated from his muffled screaming.
"I don't want to hurt you, but I do need you to go to sleep." She said to him. As soon as she did he closed his eyes and started crying. She chopped the side of his neck with her hand and he passed out on the floor. Checking his vitals she placed his unconscious form on top of the starred bed and continued down the stairs.
"Did you hear him? We might have royalty to deal with." Ghost said not expecting an answer. Xaya didn't want to speak but since no one could hear Ghost he could talk all he wanted.
When she walked down the stairs she could hear voices speaking to each other. "Don't worry miss sparkle this is the safest place in the entire town." Someone said presumably a guard.
"Well do you think that my friends could stay here until it's safe?" She asked. As they talked Xaya observed her and the two guards from the shadows at the top of the stairs. The room they were in was the main room and it was filled with books from top to bottom.
"What happened to all of he guards the house was filled with them?" Ghost wondered. Ignoring the question Xaya pulled out Ghost and nodded to him before letting him fly.
"Well we could try but I don't think It's safe." Replied one of the guards. Ghost appeared below next to them and coughed. They all looked at him and jumped in surprise.
"Well hello to you." Ghost said as politely as possible. The guards aimed their weapons at him and slowly observed him. "Am I going to get a reply?" The guards eased up a bit and carefully thought about what to say. One of them heard something with his highly trained ears and turned around. When he saw nothing he looked back to Ghost unaware of the invisible guardian he had just stared at.
"What are you and what are you doing here?" Said the guard.
"Oh okay straight into the questions. I am Ghost a messenger of the Traveler, and I am here because you have something that belongs to us." He said.
"What's the Traveler?" Twilight asked him. Ghost fidgeted and saw that Xaya was almost in position to knock them out. He replied with a phrase that would dodge the question while also being simultaneously vague, and annoying.
"I...don't even have time to explain why I don't have time to explain." He looked back at Xaya and saw that she was ready. "But it doesn't matter anyway." He said. Right on time Xaya grabbed the guards and smashed their heads together. Immediately she grabbed Twilight in a sleeper hold and kept her from resisting.
She felt the pony starting to fade as her movements started slowing. "Good job as soon as we get that solar core we'll be unstoppable, and they won't stand a chance!" Ghost said before he disappeared. Twilight started to struggle even harder but eventually she passed out.
"Whew that was close huh?" Xaya said.
"Indeed it was very close alien." Just as soon as the reply came she was immediately surrounded by guards aiming their spears or horns at her. But one stood above all of them with her distinct color mane and height. She had both wings and a horn with a starry mane that flew in the wind.
There was no doubt about it she was Princess Luna and she had Xaya completely surrounded. She looked around and they all had smirks on their faces because of her predicament. "Well Shit."
Darkness filled the air and consumed everything it touched. His mind was consumed and he couldn't think straight. His brothers fell to the ground as their souls left their body's. The light blue cloaks flew away and were consumed with his fellow guards. He turned and ran through the halls of the Winter Ketch as fast as his feet could carry him but the shadows grew nearer. He abandoned his swords and got on all limbs to sprint faster. Entering the throne room he saw his Kell, Draksis sitting on his throne completely calm.
He Yelled for his Kell to move before the shadows came, but no matter how hard he begged his leader would not move. The darkness burst through the door and it took the form of three guardians. He tried even harder to move the Kell but it was futile. Unsheathing his swords he prepared to defend the Kell at all costs.
Before the Guardians moved however he felt a large hand on his shoulder and he looked above him. The Kell stood their with his gun and to him he spoke.
"I have done many unforgivable things, and I wish I could take it all back. I won't see our home world ever again, but you still have the chance to see it for the first time." The Kell lifted his hand and stepped in front of his guard. "Don't make the same mistakes as me. Gather your most trusted and leave Venus, and hopefully if you seek the help of the Traveler the house of winter will survive through you."
"What of you Draksis?" He asked solemnly.
"I will not die without an honorable battle, and these ones will gift me that which I seek. I am no longer the Kell, I am but only another Fallen. You Zaeed you are the new winter Kell." Zaeed's eyes widened as he was given the title most Fallen higher ups only dream about.
"Now go Zaeed wake up!" Yelled Draksis. The words confused Zaeed, but Draksis continued to chant it. "Wake up! Wake up! Wake up Zaeed!"
With a gasp he woke up in the forest with the winter baron Indra staring at him. "Thank the gods you awoke my lord. We believe we have found where the guardian is staying, shall we move in?" She asked. Zaeed looked around at all of the Fallen around him the small group was all that remained of the house.
He closed his eyes and sighed in sorrow. "Let us go." He said. Deep inside he felt determination to keep the House of Winter alive. He would do anything to see their home world reborn into the new age of winter.
Author's Note
Sorry for the long wait but I have a lot on my plate lately. However with my schooling on break I will be able to work on this more often.
Till next time Non-Existent viewers!
"Well what do you have to say for yourself alien?" Luna said to her. Xaya's mind was racing furiously to find a way to get the core. "We're waiting." Said Luna once more.
Xaya lifted her finger and shushed her. "Xaya I found the core. It's underneath her wing grab it and lets get the hell out of here! We don't have much time." Ghost said frantically. Xaya stood up straight and quickly threw a knife at princess Luna's head. It traveled to the left of her face as Luna's eyes followed the trail. As soon as it hit the wood of the tree house all of the guards' eyes were glued to the spot. Luna looked at it for a short moment before setting her rage filled eyes on to where Xaya was supposed to be.
Her horn flickered brightly with all of the pent up magic within ready to be unleashed, but only then had she noticed that Xaya had already fled. Her horn died down but the rage still brewed. Quickly she gave her orders of pursuit. "Go! Find it and don't let it escape." Her orders hit all of the guards and they left immediately. She herself flew into the air to find the guardian, not noticing the core was missing from her wings.
Xaya ran through the streets as fast as her feet could carry her. Suddenly a loud siren blew across the whole town alarming all of the guards within. "The temperature in the core is rising fast. Find someplace safe and give me a mote of light to infuse with it." Ghost said. Xaya looked around and found a dumpster in an ally. Quickly she jumped in and closed the lid, once inside she heard a loud squish noise.
"Damn It'll take hours to wash off my cloak." She said to herself while picking something off of the cloak.
"Xaya. Light. Now!" Ghost yelled as he materialized with the core. Immediately the dark dumpster was filled with blinding light resonating from the core. Xaya reached through her inventory and gave ghost a mote of light. He started working on it when suddenly the dumpster flipped over and everything spilled out.
The damp cloak slapped onto her helmet with a wet noise. She peeled her cloak from her eyes and saw dozens of angry guards glaring and pointing their weapons at her. "Xaya buy me some time, this core is gonna go if they stop me now." He said while he worked furiously. Xaya looked to all of the guards who were inching closer and closer to her.
"Not another step." She pulled out her hand cannon and aimed it at them. They stopped moving and looked at it confusedly. One guard in the front started snickering and then laughing.
"What are you going to do with that thing? It doesn't even look like a weapon, and its not long enough to outreach our spears." He looked at her with an asshole grin. The other guards smiled too before Xaya aimed at a cart to the right of them and fired a single shot. The cart practically exploded from the impact and left nothing but wood and dust.
"I'll warn you one more time. Not. Another. Step." Her expressionless helmet intimidated them even more than her threatening voice. When they saw the remnants of the cart they backed up cautiously as all of the smiles faded. Xaya felt a small tap on the back of her head and a little tiny piece of her shield took damage.
When she turned around she saw a young guard with a shattered spear handle and a face filled with fear. In one quick motion she roundhouse kicked him in the face, sending him flying into a wall of a nearby house. She looked back the the others as the siren stopped its call. The town was overcome with a deafening silence, she stared the guards down with her gun still trained on them.
"Ghost?" She said quickly. The silence was broken when she heard a large stampede of guards coming her way. "Ghost. Ghost!" She yelled as the guards in front of her charged with newfound vigor.
"Aaalmost...there I've got it. Lets go." The solar core showed on her HUD indicating that she had acquired it. She managed to dodge the group of guards with a roll to the left, then she summoned her sparrow for a quick escape. "The core's stable but not for long I have my limits." Ghost commented as Xaya sped through the town.
"Uh-Oh. Get us out of here their powering something up." He said. An explosion erupted above the town resulting in a large dome going over the entire town to lock everyone inside.With no time to spare Xaya made it into the Forrest and away from the barrier.
She turned her head behind her and saw the dome only a few yards away and she cheered in victory. Once she turned forward however a large rock knocked her off of the sparrow and set it on fire. She tumbled forwards and eventually hit her back on a tree. Her head was on the ground and everything was upside down but she righted herself and walked to the sparrow.
"Crap." She said while shaking the dizziness from her head. She started for her sparrow but then a loud ringing noise attacked her ears as the sparrow exploded sending her five feet back. In her head she could only hear ringing which made everything else hard to hear. Her vision started blurring and everything twisted and turned in stomach wrenching ways. Xaya tried to stand but she fell back down to her hands and knees while her senses were viciously attacked.
"Xaya are you okay? Can you hear me!?" Ghost yelled at her. Xaya couldn't hear though the only thing she could was the ringing noise in her ears. Taking off her helmet she threw up on the ground. She tried to stand up but immediately she became disoriented and fell on to her back, soon darkness filled her vision and unconsciousness took her. "Just hold on I'll figure something out!" Ghost said. His mind raced furiously as he searched for a way to get her out of the forest.
'Come on there has to be something.' He thought to himself. He scanned her and identified a toxin that was coursing through her veins. The same toxin as the flower she showed him earlier. "God dammit Xaya. You can be a real idiot sometimes."
Suddenly a large heat emission stirred in Xaya's inventory causing a major alert. "No no no not already." Ghost pulled the core from her inventory and focused all of his attention on its solar integrity.
He looked up at Xaya to make sure she wasn't convulsing but with his luck that's exactly what was happening to her. Ghost left the solar core and strung sapphire wire around Xaya's limbs and torso to keep her from thrashing around. Her skin became an even paler blue as foam rose from her mouth.
He tried to stop the poison by creating a remedy of spirit bloom and light but the core reheated itself at an alarming rate. Turning towards it he repeated the process of stabilizing the cores heating codes. Each time he reset it the process got more and more difficult. The core was only half of the problem however since he had to focus on keeping Xaya alive.
Ghost had himself caught in a race against time on both of his sides. He worked back and forth between the core and his guardian. Time seemed to go on forever as he repeated the process to make sure that neither of them died on him. He reworked the core for what seemed like the hundredth time when he realized that it finally stabilized itself. Feeling relieved he turned to Xaya ready to save her life.
Ghost stopped however and noticed that she was gone. She had just disappeared without a trace. The panic began to set in. 'No no no no no. Where is she? Where could she have gone?' "Xaya! Are you out there!?" He shouted. 'Wait I can track her through her helmet.' He activated the beacon but it only told him that the helmet was on the ground below him.
'How am I going to find her?' He thought. He went over to the solar core and picked it up. "Well at least this planet is safe." He said to himself while looking at the core.
"Not for long." Growled a creature from deep in the forest. Soon a large burst of electricity struck ghost and sent powerful surges through his small form. His synthetic pain sensors reacted violently causing him to scream out in pain. Soon after everything went black.
"This close. This close. And she still got away." Princess Luna paced back and forth in the library's main room ranting about how close they were to catching her. "How could she have gotten past my shield? I should've made it longer." Luna continued on before Twilight grabbed her shoulder and calmed her down.
"Listen there's no way we could've anticipated her power but at least we know that their up to something." Twilight turned around and sat down next to her shivering assistant.
"But we knew that they would strike. What was so important about that object she came for?" Luna questioned.
"The small one. Ghost. He said he was a messenger of the Traveler. Is that some sort of title?" Twilight wondered aloud. Luna thought to herself about all the small creature had said.
'Good job as soon as we get that solar core we'll be unstoppable, and they won't stand a chance!' Luna's eyes widened as she realized the full story. "Twilight they intend to attack us with that object. It must be some sort of weapon." She said.
"How do you know princess?" Asked spike as he huddled next to Twilight.
"Wait a minute you might be right! I remember what he said. They needed that thing to become more powerful." Twilight said.
"Exactly and if they have an object of such importance then there's no telling what they have planned. We must contact my sister." Luna said. Her horn lit up and she quickly contacted Celestia for help. "My sister is on her way. The time to act is now." Luna walked to the door but it swung open quickly letting in Twilights friends.
"Twilight darling we heard about the home invasion are you alright?" Asked Rarity as she checked Twilight for bruises or blemishes.
"I'm perfectly fine. It's spike who isn't doing too well." She pointed to spike who was still shivering from the encounter.
"Oh my poor Spikey wikey. It's okay that horrid creature can't hurt you anymore." She hugged him tightly and suddenly the dragons mood got a lot better.
"Thanks Rarity." He said dumbly. They embraced for a moment when suddenly Pinkie Pie jumped up with confetti blowing everywhere.
"Hey hey spike your friendly neighborhood Pinkie Pie knows just how to turn your frowny upside downy." She said with a huge smile.
Spike started to get worked up at the sight of Pinkie being Pinkie. "No it's okay. See my frown is already upside down." He said with the biggest smile he could muster. Pinkie eyed him closely as if she were staring down a pastry critic as he bit into one of her creations. She leaned in real close, scrunched her nose, and narrowed her eyes.
Spike started to feel beads of sweat roll down his face. What was even worse was that he wasn't aware he could sweat, Being a dragon and all. Pinkie eventually laid off and replaced her stern glare with her normal happy face. "Well alrighty then but just know that I'm ready to help." She said before taking a paddleball out of her hair and started playing with it.
"I shall remind you that we still have a task to fulfill." Luna reminded them. She walked outside and was followed by the group. Several moments later Celestia appeared and all save for Luna bowed before her.
"Sister we must discuss our plans. Let us go back inside time is of the essence." Luna said.
"Indeed it is. I had hoped that we wouldn't need a confrontation so soon. But I guess there's no stopping it now." Celestia agreed and followed Luna inside the library.
"Our tests on the materials we've found from the wreckages confirm that whatever these creatures are, they greatly surpass us in technology." Luna looked unsurprised at the discovery. "I believe the only way to put an end to this is to send a team into the Everfree to confront these creatures." Celestia proposed.
"We would agree to that proposal but there was the events that transpired earlier today that places doubt in our minds." Luna said.
"What happened?" Celestia asked. Luna did a short rundown of what had transpired only minutes before she contacted her. "So they may be much more powerful than we think." Celestia concluded.
"Wait can't you just send us?" Asked Rainbow Dash. "We can head in there and force them out of here like we did with that dragon." Rainbow puffed out her chest before shadow boxing in midair.
"Yeah if we can take down a dragon, then how can we not take down an alien or two?" Asked Applejack. The rest of the mane 6 nodded in agreement.
"The scenario with the dragon was entirely different. We may not have much knowledge of dragons but we at least have some degree of information." Celestia stood and walked towards her sister as she finished her point. "These creatures are completely unknown."
"Not only that but if you go and just one of you is captured, or in the worst case gets killed the elements shall be rendered useless." Luna added. All of the elements looked down and realized that they shouldn't go.
"The only way I can see this going smoothly is if I myself go forth and confront these aliens." Celestia said. Everyone else gasped at the very thought.
"Sister surely you can't think this to be the safest plan? There is always an alternative to your direct intervention." Luna said to her. "At the very least have thou accompany you." Her voice was getting even further into her old way of speech. Which would usually happen with stress.
"No I need you to stay here in case I don't return. I do not wish to put any of my subjects or my own sister in harms way." She hugged Luna and tipped her head to the Elements. "Stay safe until I return." She said before teleporting into the Everfree.
The Tower: Hub for new and existing guardians.
Among the many guardians in the tower there were two very important guardians. A Warlock and a Titan who were the former teammates of the guardian Xaya. However they had only discovered her disappearance moments before we join them.
Their names were Nala, and Rex-22. Nala was a human Titan who lived further in the past than most other Human guardians. Rex-22, the warlock, was an Exo that was reforged in light after his death in the faction wars prior to the current city age. Both of them were determined to find their lost friend.
"This doesn't make sense. Why would she just leave without a trace?" Rex asked aloud. They made their way to the table of the Vanguards. Once there all three of the Vanguards, Ikora Rey, Commander Zavala, And Cayde-6 looked to them somehow knowing why they were there.
"Where the hell did you send her Cayde?" Nala pointed accusingly at the hunter and expected a Damn good answer from him.
"Alright I admit it. I may have sent her on a three man mission. But I thought she could handle it, apparently I was wrong." He looked back to the map of old Chicago expecting it to be done with.
"Is that all you have to say? Our friend is gone and you were the one who sent her there!" Nala's fury had risen even greater at the words of the Vanguard.
"There's nothing else to say Guardian. We cannot bring her back. She is forever lost in the Darkness." Ikora stepped in to the argument before it got out of hand.
"That doesn't make sense though. I can still sense a sliver of her light. As a fellow Warlock can't you as well?" Rex asked her.
"This argument is done and over guardians. I'm sorry but we as Vanguards cannot give the form of consolation you desire. Whether you like it or not your friend is gone." Zavala said in an authoritative tone. Cayde stepped toward the two Guardians and stopped. His metallic eyes filled with sorrow.
"I know how it feels to lose a trusted friend. Xaya was a good guardian but you can't keep fighting for her when she's gone. The best you can do is remember her and to not let her die in your thoughts. Do that and she'll never truly be gone." Cayde finished his speech and silence fell onto the room.
The people working on the screens were all watching the commotion. Nala and Rex couldn't say a thing. They wanted to say that it didn't have to be that way, that they could still find her, but they couldn't say a word. Caydes words hit them to the core and they knew that he was right.
Without speaking another word they nodded and turned towards the hallway that led to the main tower. The walk seemed like an eternity to them as they remembered all they had done together. Discovering the worlds grave, rebooting Rex, Discovering the remains of Xaya's parents, and so much more.
Their thoughts were interrupted as a shadowy creature, Xūr Agent of the Nine, stepped in front of them. "I know where your friend is. I can send you there if you wish." He proposed. They looked to him and Nala scoffed.
"And how would you send us?" Rex asked.
"Like this." Xūr replied. He grabbed a black box that was longer than it was wide, and placed it in his arms. "Return to orbit with this in hand and you shall be taken to her. You as well take this." He grabbed another box of the same shape and placed it in Nala's hands. "My actions are the Nines not my own." He said before going back towards the wall.
The guardians looked at each other and pulled out their ghosts. Their destination Equestria.
Simiks prime: Dead
Aksor Archon priest: Dead
Kaliks Prime: Missing
Prexis Wolf Kell: Dead
Simiks-3 Ascendant Servitor: Alive
Zaeed Winter Kell Rising: Alive
Indra Winter Baron: Alive
Dreg pack wolves bane: Alive
Axis looked at his log book and closed it. Deep underground somewhere close to the edge of the humungous forest known as the Everfree the Wolf Archon Axis sat upon a makeshift throne built by pieces of the ship that were unsalvageable. Alone he sat thinking to himself as the dim light from above filtered in through the ground.
'Soon all of the creatures on this planet will fall. But without a servitor we will not survive. We must kill those winter fools.' A dreg burst into the throne room, And ran to him.
"Sir it's ready." The Archon stood and stretched his three arms. He placed them behind his back and walked out of the door.
"Now we are ready to commence." The door shut and all of the room went dark. Axis traveled through underground tunnels that only sometimes had metal supports. Every single dreg and Vandal he walked past bowed before him.
After five minutes of walking the Archon entered a room that was far larger than any other. It houses a damaged skiff that countless fallen were repairing. "My lord." A vandal jumped off of it and walked towards Axis. "It is almost ready. Shall we test it out before we commence?" He asked. Axis simply nodded.
The vandal laughed deviously and boarded the skiff along with ten other fallen. It roughly started up letting sparks out of the thrusters but flew upwards the surface. Axis laughed and watched as the skiff flew out to wreak havoc.
Author's Note
Hello Non-Existent Viewers sorry it took so long but here is a chapter to fully end my Hiatus.
Immediately after returning to orbit Rex couldn't see anything, which was normal at first. However he realized that he couldn't feel or hear anything either.
Then in an instant Rex heard his Ghost yelling at him. "WAKE UP JACKASS!" With a start Rex opened his eyes and saw nothing but clouds beneath him. "Ahhhhh!" He screamed as the wind rushed passed him.
"Rex? Rex can you hear me?" Nala asked over the comms. Rex gave no immediate response and just continued to yell. "Shut up and listen!" She yelled.
Rex turned on the fireteam communications and replied. "Yes I can hear you miss bossy and I am freaking out!" He yelled. He slammed into more clouds and they broke apart as he bashed through layer after layer. For some reason it caused damage to his shield but he merely chalked it up to their high density.
Soon all of the clouds dispersed and left behind a stunning image of a large city filled with tall buildings and lights. The sight stunned him as it was all very appealing to his keen warlock eye.
"Brace yourself!" Nala yelled at him through his speakers. Without a thought Rex clicked open the comms and asked.
"For what!" But by then it was too late. His side was violently assaulted by a fully armored Titan doing a direct nose dive towards one of the buildings. "Are you crazy! We're gonna die!" He yelled.
Nala gave no response and only braced herself for the rough landing. Her death from above technique chewed through the middle of a large skyscraper like it was tissue paper and caused an explosion. Their descent hadn't slowed down though and all she could do was wait.
Quick buck was a pony who lived for the sale, or more accurately lived for the profit. You see he was a pony of finer tastes yet he couldn't get those finer things without the bits. So he became a decorated sales pony with a knack for...stretching the truth a bit. Though some incorrectly referred to him as a con-artist.
Sure he quote unquote stole money from ponies who made an "Honest Living" but in Manehatten what were they really going to use it for. There were so many things to buy that it was like a public service removing those tough decisions from their lives.
And of course there were the obligatory scrapes with the law but he always got out with a bribed officer and a whole lotta bits in his pocket. Most recently he had set up a Jewelry store that sold the "Rarest Gems in Equestria", and he intended to take full advantage of the New Years inevitable gullible broad or tool of a husband ready to put their money where their muzzle was.
In the back of his store he stored his horde of money in the wall with an enchantment casted by himself. He was so close to his retirement that he could taste it. Walking behind the counter he took a deep breath then smiled. "Today is gonna be a good day." He would later come to regret that jinxed phrase.
A large explosion rocked the city and sent his wares shaking. He stepped outside of the store to see the commotion, then that's when he saw the nearby building that was under construction with a massive burning hole in the middle. His jaw dropped, but soon did his whole body as a loud whistling noise cut through the air.
Then his store was hit with some sort of bomb as the entire place exploded in a huge blast of lightning. When the only thing he could hear was the calm of flames he looked back to his store where all his money was housed, and saw one small bit rolling towards him before melting. Then a single tear came to his eye as he weeped on the ground for his life's work that was destroyed in an instant.
"I sure hope we didn't land on anything important." Nala said as she stood up and cracked her back. "Hey how you feeling down there?" She asked Rex. His reply was a pained wheezing as he laid on the ground in shock. "Oh don't be a baby." She proceeded to help him up from the debris and dust him off.
"You are one of the most reckless Titans I have ever had the displeasure of following!" Yelled her ghost. All Nala did was chuckle at the sight of her floating companion.
"Why thank you spirit I always try my best." Nala smiled towards him which only made him angrier. With a growl her Ghost chewed down is frustration and calmed down.
"Guys we have a situation. " Rex's Ghost said with urgency. Before any of them could react however they were caught in a suppression field and suspended in
"It's no use, that field is high grade suppression magic. No getting out." A pony dressed in a blue police uniform walked towards the Guardians floating above him. He had a grayish coat and a black and white mane and tail. Though his coat seemed to be thick Nala could still see that he was a bit older than the other officers. It almost seemed as if his wrinkles were drawn on, but it still looked convincing.
With a quick glance around she noticed that a lot of the city was brightly colored in a cartoony way. Furthermore everyone in the city was a pony. Some were walking, some calling for a taxi, they acted exactly as humans would in the city. The pony who had captured them hadn't shut up yet and was still rambling on despite not having her attention.
"What in the hell is this place?" She asked him. All of the ponies watching them just stared in confusion and disbelief. The one directly below them only chuckled at her question.
"Man you are really funny. Hit em!" Nala felt an electrical surge overload her shield and shock her violently. Afterwards she fell unconscious. "Get them to the precinct and make sure you take good care of their things. We can't make a profit on broken equipment." He smiled as he walked away letting his boys finish the work.
Deep in the Everfree forest Princess Celestia searched for the aliens and had been largely unsuccessful. She had spent quite some time looking yet not a single soul could be found. Even the natural wildlife had seemingly vanished. Her horn lit up once again for a reveal life spell, the large light lit up the forest for a split second before succumbing to darkness just as fast.
"Nothing." She whispered to herself. With a deep breath she continued her search. She walked further before finding herself in front of her old castle. 'Perhaps I might find something here.' Flying over the gap she moved on to the castle.
From the outside it looked as rundown as it always had. Once inside though she noticed a significant change from its previous state. The tapestries at the back of the room where gone, as well as the fallen pillars in the middle. The entire throne room was dimly lit up with floating green orbs at the very top of the room.
All of the debris had been cleared, leaving an almost spotless throne room. The only remaining flaws were the broken stone railings on the stairs. Once she ascended them she found more of the green orbs lighting the way. She followed them all the way to the library and when she entered her breath was taken away.
Every single book looked to be back in its original place. All of the shelves somehow retained their shine despite the centuries of neglect. All of the small details stirred up long forgotten memories inside of her. With a wave of nostalgia she found herself lost in a memory of her and Luna.
The moon floated high in the sky, and shone even brighter than the sun in comparison to the darkness. All around were bright stars floating in a timeless fashion with a veil of beauty that felt like it would last for an eternity. The light from the shimmering objects in the sky filtered in through the large window at the end of the library.
The entire library was filled to the brim with elegantly designed books that held a lifetimes worth of knowledge and wisdom from the worlds greatest minds. The torches within the extensive archive dimly lit everything in a soft brilliant light. Alone a dark Alicorn laid down in front of a multitude of books and scrolls. She furiously wrote down profound words with her quill.
She was so engrossed in the study that she had not taken notice of the hoof steps slowly approaching her. She then used her magic to lift hundreds of books and replace the ones in her current pile. Her older sister had finally stopped behind her. She was not wearing her royal regalia, exposing a side of vulnerability that could only be shared between them.
"Luna you must stop. Being up for this long is not healthy, even for you." The princess of the sun looked at her sibling with sad eyes.
"Why Tia? Why should I stop now when another creature of pure evil and..Darkness lies in wait to destroy us all. We were powerless to stop Tirek, even though our subjects hail us for being the most powerful beings in the world." Luna had not once lifted her head from her books and continued to write. However she felt Celestia's gaze behind her and took a deep breath. She stood up and then faced her older sister.
"So many lives...lost. If it weren't for Scorpans spell we would have had our magic stripped from us. And all of Equestria, no the world, would have fallen then. We must ensure that this never happens again, at all costs." Luna looked down and closed her tired eyes. She then looked up showing deep bags underneath them. Celestia only shook her head, before closing the distance and hugging her sister.
"You cannot help them if you are too exhausted to even think properly. Please Luna, trust me, get some rest." Celestia broke the hug and gave Luna a look of reassurance and the warmest smile she could muster.
Luna looked at her older sister and sighed. "Okay sister. Wouldst thou take care of the moon tonight?" Luna asked.
"Of course." Celestia replied. Luna smiled and gave one last hug before departing. Celestia closed all of the books and tomes, then returned them to their respective shelves. Looking up to the moon she simply basked in its light and sighed.
Celestia opened her eyes as her memory ended. A soft smile graced her lips leaving her happy. Without realizing Celestia stood in the exact spot as her memory. Celestia turned around but froze up as she saw a small creature standing in the middle of the room. It inspected her gauging her threat level, Celestia returned the gesture. It was a black creature with four eyes and two arms, it had a small tuft of blue hair on his head and a light blue scarf around its neck.
Celestia cleared her throat and attempted to speak with the alien. "Hello there. I am princess Celestia, do you have a name?" She gestured to him and he only stared blankly at her, but then he squinted his eyes into a glare and let out a large screech. Celestia looked all around her and saw creatures just like him crawling down the walls and jumping into a circle surrounding her.
There were nine in total, and all of them held electric knives and small blunt objects all aimed at her. She got into a lowered stance and flowed magic into her horn, ready for a fight. Strange cutting sounds flowed through the air as more creatures appeared out of thin air. They all looked similar except for three of them with four arms, and one that was even bigger than her.
A single alien stepped forward and held his swords firmly within his hands. "I am lord Zaeed. Last of royal blood for house winter. What is your business here?" He pointed one of his swords at her in question. Celestia took notice that his voice gurgled a language that sounded like falling rocks, yet she could understand it perfectly.
She took a close look around at all of them and noticed that Xaya was not there. "I came here to speak with you actually. Where is your tall friend with the cloak?" She asked. Zaeed chuckled and shook his head until it grew into a full blown laugh. The other Fallen joined in the laughter until he abruptly cut it off.
"I may need that Guardians help. But we are far from friends." He yelled at her. He motioned for the large baron Indra to go and get something. "What is your name? What is your business here?"He repeated irritably. Indra had returned and handed him a data pad that he read through.
"My name is princess Celestia." Celestia introduced herself but also took notice that Zaeed seemed to be ignoring her. Zaeed gave no answer and only continued to read his data pad before shutting it off and putting it away. He glared at Celestia and garbled something to Indra who nodded in response.
"Well? What do you want!?" He repeated for the final time with a shout. Celestia's horn cackled to life as she prepared a teleportation spell just in case things turned for the worst. The other fallen looked to each other and shifted in fear at his outburst.
"I've come to speak with you. To ask questions." She shifted her eyes and noticed the dregs had inched closer towards her, waiting for an order. Zaeed looked at her and then back to his fallen. He knew that giving her some answers could lead to a common understanding. He sheathed his swords and walked past them, sitting at a table near the window. He motioned for Celestia to join him and she obliged.
She sat at the opposite end of him but never let the magic fade from her horn. "Well? Ask away." He said. Celestia looked to the armed fallen and cleared her throat while gesturing with her head to the fallen.
Zaeed chuckled, looked at them and cackled at the guards. They all turned and walked out of the room to leave the royals in private discussion. "So." Celestia thought hard about how she should word her question. "What..are you?" She said in the most polite way possible.
"I am a Fallen Vandal. Of the House Winter." He replied swiftly. "What is your quarrel with the Guardian." He asked while leaning forward.
"She has broken several laws as well as cause harm to my subjects, But this..Guardian. What do you want with her?" Zaeed though hard about what to say and what not to say next.
"You see I've been put into a situation, and this situation requires the assistance of the guardian." he stopped and leaned back. "In fact, any type of assistance would be welcomed." He hinted not so subtly.
Celestia raised an eyebrow at him and smiled. She leaned forward and asked. "If I were to help you. Would you be willing to help me?"
Zaeed crossed his four arms and gestured for her to continue.
The sun had barely started to rise past the buildings of the Ishtar colony. The cars below had not stopped moving and clambering to get their drivers to their jobs at the collective. The pent houses at the top of the buildings were the first to receive the brilliant rays of the sun. Inside the house was a bedroom filled with pictures of idols and stars from the times biggest names.
The sun reached the bed at the far side of the room where a small blue girl lay. She wore a small night gown for someone her age and she held a small teddy bear in her hand. The sun shone on her eyes causing her to crack them open. Her orange eyes opened groggily as she rubbed the sleep from them with a yawn. Getting off of her bed she stood up to her full height of four feet, one inch.
She walked sleepily through the hallway of her house, passing photos along the way. There was one of a human woman with red hair and blue eyes wearing snow gear and standing atop a large snowy mountain with a triumphant smile. There was another photo that showed the same woman standing next to a pale blue man with slicked back hair and bright green eyes.
They both looked very happy with large goofy smiles adorning their faces. The final picture on the wall was of a small new born child with pale blue skin, and orange eyes. Underneath the photo was the name "Xaya". The little girl walked into the living room where her father sat, in front of the TV.
The news had been playing, and at the bottom of the screen it read 'The faction wars rage on.' A pretty human girl stood in front of a green flag with a halo and a robotic arm as its symbol. "In the latest news, the Fhirmi Prohibition may seek to expand its territories to the Ishtar sink. How the New Monarchy wishes to counteract these invasive maneuvers remains to be seen." She stated.
The camera changed to an overhead view of the Ishtar collective academy. "As the Fhirmi forces grow closer it is clear that the academy, and the collective, may be their first targets. New Monarchy urges all civilians within their jurisdiction to remain cautious and avoid contact with the mysterious cave systems known as the Cinders." She finished. Xaya continued to watch the news even though she didn't understand what most of it meant.
"In other news, the hunt for the elusive Ahamkara still-." She was cut off as the television went black. The awoken on the couch stood up and walked over to Xaya as he wiped tears from his eyes. His face was that of the Awoken in the photos but he clearly had slight wrinkles, showing his age.
"Hey sweetie. What are you doing up this early?" He said as he picked her up. Xaya yawned and looked at him in his puffed eyes.
"Where's Mommy? And why are you crying?" She asked oh so innocently. He looked away as he walked her over to her bed. Entering her room, he flipped a switch that closed the automated blinders to cut off the rooms lighting. He laid her down on her lavender sheets and put her blanket over her.
He took a deep breath and said. "Mommy will be back..soon. Don't you worry Xaya." He gave a reassuring smile, but Xaya still looked anxious. "What's wrong?" He asked. She looked to him and tears started rolling down her face. She grabbed his neck and hugged him tightly as she sobbed into his collar.
"Promise me you won't ever leave me." She cried into his neck. He hugged her back and started shushing her.
"It's okay sweetie. Shh shhh. It's okay." They broke the embrace and he asked. "Why are you crying like this? You know I would never leave you." He felt like crying right alongside her. Xaya sniffled and caught her breath before wiping her tears away.
"I just miss you so much." She said in a high squeaky voice on the verge of tears. He ran his hand through her blue hair and gave her a sad smile.
"I know you miss me. But you're going to be fine." His eyes seemed to get brighter with every word he spoke. "Because you are the strongest little hunter I have ever had the pleasure of raising." She started crying again as her emotions took over.
"I love you dad." She said. He didn't respond as he only stood up and walked to the door. However before he left he asked her some more questions.
"Do you want the night light on?" Xaya nodded swiftly. He knelt down and turned on a blue night light that lit up the room. "Do you want to listen to Mommies songs while you sleep." Again Xaya nodded and he pressed a button caused slow music to play. "I love you. Good night." He closed the door as the soft melodies of Louie Armstrong lulled her to sleep.
I see trees of green, red roses, too,
Xaya thought of a moment where her and her parents laid underneath a tree looking at clouds.
I see skies of blue, and clouds of white,
She then saw flashing lights full of red and a dark sky that she hid from under her covers.
The colors of the rainbow, so pretty in the sky,
She then thought of her parents comforting her in the dark and helping others in the Ishtar sink.
I hear babies cryin'. I watch them grow.
Xaya finally drifted to sleep even though she didn't want to leave her cushy bed, in her beautiful room, and her loving father.
Yes, I think to myself
But despite all she felt, she fell asleep with a smile and a single tear running down her cheek. For the first time in ages, she felt at peace, she felt...happy. With a final close of her eyes the soothing melodies carried her off to sleep. What awaited her however was something she wouldn't want to face in her lifetime. But for now she had a moment of pure bliss.
Author's Note
I'm sorry I'm sorry non-existent viewers. I know what I said but I just have had the least amount of time ever to write for this. I know what I said but I just want to say I'm sorry.
"Okay so after the windows are wet with the soapy water all you girls gotta do is drag the smooth rubbery part over it and then.." The mare then finished her window washing demonstration by dragging the washing stick over the window. "Viola! Easy as pie, think you two can handle that?"
Two small fillies, one with an orange coat and purple mane and another with a white coat and white lavender swirl mane, stood below her nodded in unison. The mare gave them an uneasy look in return.
"It's okay Aunt Squeegee we can take care of it." Scootaloo said with a quick salute.
"Alright then I'll leave you to it. Just handle the bottom windows and stay off of the gondola you're too young for that."
"Okay." They replied with little smiles.
The grey mare sighed in relief "Aren't you two the sweetest things, helping me with my work. Well I'm on break."
She walked away from the building until she was out of sight. The fillies watched her leave then began to work.
"Scootaloo, no offense but I don't think window washing would be a very fun job." She dragged the stick across the window drenching it in soapy water.
"Oh come on, imagine how cool it would be to have a window washing cutie mark. Or any cutie mark at all we've tried everything but maybe window washing will be it."
"Alright but after this we should do something fun."
They continued washing the windows until they were all spotless aside from the windows at the top of the building.
"See that wasn't too bad huh Sweetiebelle?" They turned to their flanks but saw no new cutie mark.
"Well so much for that." Sweetiebelle turned and started walking away. Scootaloo felt disappointed and looked at the windows they had cleaned. The windows were spotless with not a single mark on them. She started thinking that there must be more to it. She then looked toward the gondola attached to the building and got a big smile.
Sweetiebelle heard the clang of metal and turned to see Scootaloo clambering on top of the gondola. She ran back to her friend with a worried expression. "Scootaloo what are you doing?"
"What does it look like I'm doing? I'm going to use this to finish the windows. Could you help me please?" She reached out a hoof but Sweetiebelle had not taken it.
"We can't do that. I'm not going to be a part of this." She began to walk away until Scootaloo crossed the line.
"What are you? A scaredy cat?" Sweetiebelle stopped in place then looked back at her friend.
"I-I-I am not a scaredy cat."
"Oh really? Because it seems like you are. Besides didn't you say you wanted to have fun?" Scootaloo offered Sweetiebelle a hoof again but with a coy smile. Sweetie took it and hopped onto the gondola while glaring at Scootaloo.
They worked the controls and shakily lifted themselves up to the windows of the second story. "See now this is cool!" Scootaloo picked up the stick with her mouth and began washing the windows.
Some time had passed and about half of he windows had been washed. The girls had the most fun messing around with the Gondola. "Okay I admit it, you were right." Sweetiebelle finished the last set of windows for the side hey were on until a spot at the top of it was all that remained.
"Hey Sweetiebelle, can you help me reach that part up there?" Scootaloo pointed to the top corner and Sweetie nodded. Scootaloo began to shakily get on top of Sweetiebelle when the gondola started to creak and shake. She reached out with the washer when the creaks started growing louder. Then as soon as she reached it they heard a loud snap.
"Uh oh." Was the last thing she said before one of the wires snapped. The gondola swung downwards sending the two fillies tumbling with it. The wires on the other side were all that was keeping it from falling. Scootaloo was hanging from the edge of it with her upper legs wrapped around the handles. Sweetiebelle was shakily standing on her hind legs above Scootaloo.
The gondola swung gently until it came to a full stop. The girls stopped hyperventilating and slowly opened their eyes. "Okay okay. We can get out of this." Scootaloo said as she tried to get up to where Sweetie was. Sweetiebelle leaned herself down to offer a hoof to her friend before the gondola groaned again.
They both yelped and shut their eyes once more. At that moment Scootaloo had just begun to regret her decision.
Applebloom walked down the street towards the empty building that her friends were supposed to be at. She had an extra spring in her step and an extra large smile on because of what she had found earlier. She knew that it would blow her friends away.
She passed by a grey mare with a black mane done up in a bun that was very much asleep and snoring very loud. She continued towards the front of the building, Until she saw her friends up on a swinging gondola holding on for dear life and immediately sprang into action.
"What are you guys doing up there?" She yelled with urgency. Sweetiebelle looked down and smiled as if she had seen the grace of faust herself.
"Applebloom! Thank goodness, we need your heeelp!" The second to last wire that held it up gave way as the gondola swung once more. Sweetiebelle clung to the handle as Scootaloo was losing her grip.
"Alright now Scoots all you gotta do is let go and I'll catch ya. Can you do that?" Applebloom said as she prepared to catch her friend.
"No no I can't just let go I-." The Gondola groaned again under the weight of the girls. "Okay letting go." Scootaloo looked down and saw a four foot drop but despite her reservations about dropping from heights she took a deep breath before letting go.
Applebloom was stood just beneath ready to catch her friend until an unseen force shrouded her in blue light and teleported her two feet to the left. Scootaloo fell down with a thud and groaned.
"I thought you were going to catch me."
"I was ah swear, its just that um." She stopped talking and just turned to Sweetiebelle. "Alright now its your turn Sweetiebelle." She shouted.
Scootaloo then stood up and cracked her joints before looking up as well. "Come on that things gonna break!" She shouted.
"O-o-okay I'm going to jump!"
"Hurry up!"
"Three-" She was cut off as the final wire broke and sent the gondola crashing down. As it hit the ground all noise stopped as the crusaders stared at the hunk of metal with horrified expressions.
"Oh no...Sweetiebelle." Scootaloo fell to her haunches and looked down at her own hooves, feeling guilty as the one responsible. "It's all my fault." The silence was deafening, But then the metal creaked as Sweetiebelle leaped out of the fallen gondola and kissed the ground.
Her friends, feeling relieved, ran to her and hugged her as hard as they could. They all sighed and sat there in each others embraces. "Thank goodness we got out of that alright." She said as they hugged in the dust that had been kicked up by the crash.
"Oh my Celestia, What HAPPENED!" The crusaders then immediately got down and hid in the cover of the fading dust as Scootaloo's aunt flipped out.
"Girls! Where are you?! Oh no I am so fired." She started pacing back and forth as her mind slowly crumbled away. The crusaders knew the dust wouldn't hide them for much longer but they couldn't move for fear of being spotted.
"Girls grab hold of me." Applebloom whispered to them as she reached out her hooves.
"What for?"
"Just do it!" They complied and Applebloom closed her eyes as they all were immediately taken to the side other side of the building in a flash of blue light. The others were completely baffled as to how it had happened.
"What just happened? How did you do that?"
"I'll explain later scoots. Now wheres the Scooter, lets get out of here." The crusaders left in a flash as the wreck they had caused was quite literally left in the dust.
A buzzing sound filled the air as the crusaders blazed along the trail in the orchard. They had been traveling deep within for quite some time, and Eventually they came across an abandoned barn with broken door handles and faded red paint.
"Here it is" Said Applebloom as she dismounted the wagon.
"So let me get this straight. You snuck in to the highly secured crash site filled with royal guards, found a piece of purple alien metal that you have no knowledge of where it came from or how it was even made, and waltzed out to then learn how to use it in one morning?" Sweetiebelle questioned.
"Yep though ah wouldn't say that place is secure."
Corporal Shield was stood next to his friend Corporal Nav at their east watch position of the crash sight with nothing to do. Suffice to say he was bored and needed pony interaction.
"Hey Nav do you ever think that maybe we aren't good guards?"
"Why? We're awesome at our job and we would never let anypony get past us. Why do you ask?"
"Well-" As they continued with their conversation a small filly with a red bow fell from a tree and looked at them. She then walked over to the rubble and smiled widely.
"And thats how the self loathing interpretation has seeped into your brain Shield. Remember we're always our most harsh critic. Now lets get back to work."
"Yeah your right we are awesome." With wide smiles they continued being awesome at their job.
"And besides ah grew up here I know this orchard like the back of my hoof." She went to a switch in the barn and flipped it to turn on a light hanging above them. Showing off her purple armor chest piece that had changed color. "But wait until you see this." She ran over to the very back and reached behind some hay bales.
Both Scootaloo and Sweetiebelle's eyes grew larger as Applebloom pulled out two more identical purple metal chest pieces with alien insignias on them.
"Y'all ready?"
Inside of the golden oaks library Spike the dragon was sorting out adventure books into the categories Science-fantasy fiction, Fantasy-Science fiction, and sorta sciency fantasy like fiction. He had no Idea why it was necessary but Twilight had explicitly said to sort them in said categories.
He had been mulling over where to put the adventures of the space fairing goblin trolls when there was a knock at the door. He walked to the door and opened it up to find not a single soul outside. "Hello?" He took a quick scan over the area but still found no one. With a shrug he went back inside.
Moving towards his pile of books he continued to sort them out until he heard a strange noise coming from the bookshelf. As soon as he looked he froze at the sight of a levitating book. It had no magical glow around it whatsoever, it was just hanging in the air. He snapped out of his trance when the book started to move up the stairs into the rooms. He followed it all the way up until it stopped at the top and fell to the ground. He stopped but then continued on cautiously towards the top.
His heart was racing as he pondered why the book had moved up here and who was responsible. On his final step he focused entirely on the book and had stepped right on top of a roller skate causing him to fall backwards all the way down the stairs and face plant. He lifted his head and witnessed the lights flickering on and off as the books were thrown across the room. He stood up and backed away from the scene only to hear faint moaning come from thin air.
His eyes darted all around the room until they finally rested on a sheet covered ghost moving slowly towards him. And that was the final straw.
"Ahhhhhh!" He ran from the library screaming his head off all the way. And still in the library were three little fillies laughing on the floor.
Diamond Tiara was sitting down outside of the milkshake shop. She had ordered a specially made deluxe chocolate shake with whip cream on top and chocolate shavings from the finest chocolate the store could offer, she was a bit of a chocolate nut. She waited there with a pouty face as she wondered why it was taking so long before it had finally arrived.
About one inch away from touching the straw she heard a clang in the alley behind her. She shrugged and turned back to her drink until a non existent breeze knocked her tiara off her head. She gasped and jumped from her chair to catch it. Luckily it had not touched the ground and landed in her hooves safe and sound.
With a sigh of relief she turned around and dawned her tiara again. When she looked at her table her world had stopped. The drink she had been waiting for, craving, the drink that her father said she could only have once a week or she'd get a "sugar rush" was gone. Today had become one of those days.
She vigorously searched for the drink but to no avail. Her butler then walked up to her and tapped her shoulder.
"My dear I am afraid that is all the time we can spare for the detour we must continue to the manor."
Diamond Tiara looked up at him with pinpricks as one of her eyes twitched.
"Man this shake is delicious." Scootaloo sipped the heavenly drink out of one of the three straws inside.
"You can say that again. Hey Applebloom you want some." Sweetiebelle offered her some but Applebloom turned it down.
"Uh no thanks. I'm good." The others shrugged and removed one of the straws.
"You know teleporting is a given for sci-fi stuff but I would've never guessed it could make us invisible too. This thing just keeps on giving!" Scootaloo happily patted her chest piece twice causing it to start blinking. This in turn caused the other pieces to start blinking as well. The crusaders stared in astonishment as they had never seen it before.
They blinked in unison until they stopped and changed colors to blue. "Lar ba sakul makazie!" A loud phrase erupted from the plates in a foreign language. Before the fillies could make sense of it all three of them were engulfed in a white light.
After the light faded their senses were cut off. They could barely hear anything and their vision was a blurry mess. After some time the crusaders gained their bearings and could hear and see again. They found themselves inside a prison cell of some sort with metal bars coursing with electricity holding them in.
All over the walls were alien markings yet for some reason the three fillies understood what the markings said. They were various things such as help, forgive me, And a tally that counted the days a prisoner spent inside. With each second the girls grew more scared.
"Where are we?" Scootaloo asked not really expecting a location.
"I don't know but I don't like it."
"How can we understand these markings? Why?" Applebloom had then stepped on something on the floor. Upon closer inspection it was a type of pad that lit up with the words wolves flashing by. It then began to playback a video recording.
"Girls check this out." She said before the others joined her. Then the video began to play.
An alien with a football shaped head and four arms backed up as a larger alien that looked like he had white crown for a head smacked the other across the room. As the smaller one struggled the larger one stepped on his back and then proceeded to rip off the smaller aliens blue cloak leaving the ripped piece behind as a type of scarf. The larger one had a matching blue cloak that was longer and more regal looking.
"Please no!" The smaller creature yelled in a female voice that the crusaders could fully comprehend.
"Please let me explain Baron Darr! I was simply-" The larger alien grabbed her neck and slammed her to the ground as the sound of of a bone within her body cracked loudly. She screamed bloody murder, and the crusaders were in shock of what they were seeing.
"ENOUGH!" He yelled as he kicked her. "You bring shame and dishonor to the entire house of wolves. It fills me with disgust to acknowledge you as Eliksni." He stepped back and yelled, then two other aliens that looked very similar to her appeared bearing large axes. They grabbed her and placed her on a table with her top arms behind her back and her bottom arms stretched out on either side of the table.
The two servants then gave their axes to the larger one who took them with two arms each. They used their arms to hold her bottom arms out as she begged for mercy.
"Please no don't do it! I'll do anything please don't dock them! Please!" She cried out loud, but no matter how hard she tried her pleas fell on deaf ears. Not the Baron nor her fellow Vandals moved an inch.
"For the crimes of conspiracy against the House and theft of Ether sups. I hereby demote you, the Vandal Shīe to Dreg!" He positioned his Axes above her lower arms and lifted them as high as he could, ignoring her cries. Then in one swift motion he brought hem down. However before they made contact with her skin the tablet was filled with static and ended in a black screen.
Utterly shocked the crusaders could say nothing of the recording they had so torturously watched. Until Applebloom broke from her stunned trance.
"We have to get out of here." The others merely nodded in agreement. Applebloom put a hoof on her chest plate but then the tab lit up once more. They gathered around it again and saw the new recording. This time it started with it looking at the same wall with the same markings as the one they were standing in that very moment. Out of screen they heard something open.
"Looks like becoming a Dreg wasn't enough. So now you get to spend the rest of your worthless life in here." He threw a Dreg into the cameras view and laughed.
"I will escape. Just see." The voice was the same as the Vandal from the previous recording but it was more raspy.
"Yeah lets see you try." Then the sound of footsteps drifted away.
The pad filled with static and shifted to another recording. The wall in the cell had started being filled with tallies showing she had been there for two weeks.
"Here's your food. Hows that escape coming along?"
Shīe did nothing but growl at him as he dropped a tray on the ground.
"See you around Dreg." He spat as he walked away. The pad continued to follow his patter until the tallies were too many to count. Until the final entry started.
The Dreg was kneeling down over something on the ground. The only noises she made were low grunts and growls. Then a booming voice erupted through the speakers. "Worthy scavengers arise!" She then ran and hid in the darkness and climbed up the wall. Just after that a white light appeared in the middle of the cell.
Out of it came the crusaders who had looked around the cell and talked amongst themselves.
"Where are we?" Scootaloo said
"I don't know but I don't like it." Then the recording cut off once more. With their jaws dropped they looked up and were met with an angry looking Dreg hanging from the ceiling. The room grew so quiet that the sound of a pin dropping could be heard.
The realization that they were trapped in a small cell with an angry alien hit the three fillies hard as a tear rolled down Sweetiebelle's cheek. Then in the blink of an eye the Dreg lunged at them.
Nala had been sitting silently inside of the cell just thinking to herself. Now that they were no longer in free fall she asked herself why Xaya had been sent to such a place. What that tentacle face Xür had to do with it, and when Rex's super would be ready.
"Okay it's finished." Rex said before standing up and pulling out a knife. "You ready?" He asked.
Nala only replied by pulling out a knife of her own. They stared at each other then attacked, and before long only their Ghosts remained. Then in a burst of flame Rex self resurrected and revived her. Both had all of their gear.
"See Rex. I told you it would get us our gear." She holstered her auto rifle and looked to the cell door. "Now let's find our friend." She cracked her knuckles then punched the door down in a burst of electricity. They ran up to the door and listened for any noise.
They heard footsteps coming their way and crouched on either side of the door readying their weapons. As the door opened they sprung into action and hit the two guards on the backs of their heads with the butts of their rifles. Motionlessly the guards fell to the ground and the guardians continued through the building.
They entered a hallway that was dimly lit, in a corridor to their left they heard what seemed to be cell phones ringing left and right. At the end of the hallway was another turn that had a sign reading emergency exit. Nala motioned for Rex to take point as they continued to the exit.
When they got to the door Rex tried opening it but it wouldn't budge. "Ghost could you get this door?" He pulled out his Ghost and placed him on the door to unlock it.
"Buy me some time. They may come for us."
"Really? How hard could that possibly be?"
"Hey! Who's there?" A voice called out from the hallway. Footsteps approached them as Ghost tinkered with he door.
"I got it. And I suggest we move." His Ghost disappeared and they bolted through the door and out of the alleyway. Their helmets materialized around their heads as they stopped on the sidewalk of the street. They ran down it until they were sure they weren't being followed. As they pushed past the ponies walking below each one just ignored them as walked by.
They had clearly seen weirder things or just didn't care enough to glance at the two guardians that towered above them. "Fascinating." Said Nala's Ghost that she called Spirit.
"These creatures greatly resemble equines from earth. Yet these ones have horns or even wings. If I ever get the chance I have to study them." His observations caught the attention of the Titan looked down and saw that Spirit was right. Though the wings seemed too small to actually work she noticed that some were hovering in the air as well.
"Nala." Nala's train of thought was interrupted as Rex called for her attention. "I can sense her Ghost. Shade is setting a marker, come on!" The two of them raced through the street in between carriages that had stopped at a red light. The waypoint led them north of town but eventually had stopped at a train station.
"Where is it?" Rex asked while looking around.
"It is very far and if we want to find him we need to use the inter-city transport. So lets find a time and find the settlement that is closest to his location." The guardians looked to each other and sighed. They went to the train schedule and saw that the closest settlement was a town called Hayseed.
There was a mare inside of the ticket booth who looked at them and cleared her throat. They both looked to her and she spoke. "Next train'll be here in an hour or two." She informed them lazily.
Nala reached into her back pouch and pulled out 250 Glimmer shards. She places them on the counter and as the light hit them they glowed a magnificent blue. The ticket mare's eyes popped out at the sight of such stunning gems.
"Will this be enough for two tickets to Hayseed?" Nala asked. The mare just nodded her head slowly and got two tickets out, not once taking her eyes off of the pile of Glimmer.
The Guardians accepted the tickets hesitantly and went to sit down at the waiting area. "Hopefully we find her soon." Nala said. Rex agreed with her then they both sat there and waited for the train to come.
Author's Note
Here is the long awaited chapterthat I had been trying so hard to churn out for you guys. And it the end I still feel awkward about posting it. But I digress, If any of you were wondering what types of guns they have I can tell you.
Xaya usually goes with a hand cannon and sniper rifle as well as machine gun with a Gunslinger subclass. She switches to a shotgun in dire situations but mainly stays with a sniper. She refers to her ghost as simply Ghost.
Nala uses an auto rifle with fusion rifles and rockets, she sticks with a striker subclass. She switches to defender if necessary but usually prefers striker. She calls ghost Spirit.
And finally Rex. He uses scout rifles with shotguns and rockets as well. He uses sunsinger more but he switches between his two classes frequently. He calls ghost Shade.
The small one cart train was as silent as a cemetery on a rainy day, and the only noise to be heard was the rattling of the wheels on the tracks. Oh sure there was the occasional whisper directed towards the robot and his strange helmeted friend, but other than that complete silence. Rex looked out of the window and just admired the bright vibrant colors of the world.
Nala had been staring back at all of the passengers staring at her. She inspected them closely and took note of the various pictures on their flanks. Their coats and manes had rather extreme colorations that were completely absurd. What was even stranger was that some had on clothes while most just sat around completely naked, she wondered why ponies would even need to wear clothes.
As the guardians continued with their actions a small filly with no wings or horn, a pink coat, and gold mane done in a braid, had tapped Rex's shoulder grabbing his attention. He looked down to his left and spotted the earth pony sitting next to him. She was the very definition of cute as she stared up at Rex with big inquisitive eyes. Rex stared for a bit until she smiled brightly. If he had a heart it would've melted right there. "Well hello little one. What can I do for you?" He asked in his metallic voice.
She shook off her smile and focused herself. "Are you a robot?" She asked rather boldly.
Rex let out a slight chuckle and replied. "Why yes I am. I'm an Exo to be exact." He reached out his gloved hand to her and she moved back. "My names Rex-22." He said softly. She hesitated for a moment before putting her hoof in his hand and shaking it. She noted how cold his hand was, he really must've been a robot.
"My names Fighter Swan, but all my friends call me fighter." She introduced herself with a smile.
"How'd you get a name like that?"
"Well I guess that's just what my mom and dad named me. It's strange how that fits with my special talent." She answered. Rex cocked his head to the side in question and Fighter picked up on it. "You see my cutie mark here represents my special talent. I learn martial arts easily. And when I fight I fight gracefully, like a swan."
He looked to where she pointed on her flank and saw a picture of a white feather. "Enough about me. I want to know how you got your name."
"Fair enough." He cleared his non-existent throat and began. "I used to just be Rex but the 22 comes from all the times I've been rebooted. So yeah." She nodded her head even though she didn't entirely know what reboot meant.
In time the train had fallen silent of the hushed whispers and soon a lot of the passengers simply ignored the unusual guardians. The little filly continued her conversation with a robot. Fighter had already considered this to be the best Tuesday ever. "What are those things on your back?" She asked pointing at his weapons.
Rex looked to her and simply said it was confidential. She nodded even though she yet again didn't know what that meant. "So what's your friends name?" She said while pointing at Nala.
"Well her name is Nala. She is very old if you can believe that. And she doesn't talk like you and me so she needs her helmet to translate her words." He said. The little girl was just looking at both of them with wide eyes.
'Jeez give her the launch codes while your at it.' Shade said inside of his head.
'Hey what's the worst that could happen? She's just a kid what could she do? She probably doesn't even know half of what I'm saying.' Rex replied.
"Hello? Mister Rex?" Rex looked back to the filly that broke him from his conversation.
"What did you say?"
"I asked where you're going to?"
"Aren't you full of questions." He said to her. She gave him a smirk that caused him to chuckle. "Well if you must know officer, me and my partner are going to Hayseed just south of Ponyville." Just then the back of the cart door opened up revealing a mare with a newborn foal in her grasp. Then she spotted Rex and rushed over to him and Fighter.
"Umm excuse me but what are you doing talking to my little girl?" She asked while putting a protective hoof over Fighter.
Rex held his hands up. "She just asked me some questions. No harm in that." He said.
"Mom! Mom! He really is a robot! Ask him!" Fighter shouted causing the ponies who stopped paying attention to stare some more. The mare hushed her child and glared at Rex.
"I would appreciate it if you leave us alone." She then sat down and talked to her daughter about stranger danger.
Rex shook his head and looked at the ground. After a few more minutes of train the conductor's voice filled the room and announced their arrival in one minute. Nala patted Rex on the shoulder and told him to get ready. The train screeched to a halt and a few ponies got up including the mare from before. She turned to her daughter and handed her the baby. "Okay Fighter hold your brother close. I changed him so don't worry. Just remember, at the next stop Auntie will pick you up. And never talk to strangers." Rex caught a quick glance from her as she said that.
She walked to the exit and the guardians followed suit. "Hey! Rex!" A small voice whispered loudly. Rex turned around to see the little filly waving. Rex gave a two fingered salute and exited the train. When outside he realized something was very wrong and he knew Nala could feel it as well. The entire town of hayseed was empty. There were buildings standing but not a single soul was there.
The other ponies, about six, who had gotten off of the train realized as well. They walked around some more and saw that the loading station was deserted. When they had walked further from the train they took out their weapons and put their guard up, and Rex equipped his helmet. The train doors closed and just as the engine roared to life the guardians heard a familiar whiz noise cutting through the air behind them. They turned around and saw a dreg spike grenade fly up and land on the pink train. Then five more joined it atop the train as they all charged up. Vala tackled two ponies to the ground as the others ducked. But Rex...all Rex could do was watch.
With a ding the grenades exploded taking the train, as well as the passengers within, into a giant fireball. Rex was thrown back from the explosion. He picked himself up and looked at the smoldering wreckage of what was once a train full of ponies. Not one single voice came out. Not a cry for help, not a scream, and not a single word. A familiar mare from before walked towards the train slowly and with a wobble.
Rex got up and ran to her. Just as he got close she ran for the door crying out for her children. Before she got inside he grabbed her and held her back. He watched as the broken mother squirmed. "MY BABIES! NO!" She yelled at the top of her lungs and flailed madly to brake out of the Exo's iron grip.
She eventually stopped yelling and instead buried her face into Rex's warlock coat and cried. He placed his hand on the back of her head and stroked her mane to calm her down. He couldn't lie, if he had eyes he would be crying too. Suddenly his sensor sprang to life indicating a hostile vehicle nearby. He looked back to the others that had horrified expressions while Nala primed her rifle.
"Nala, she isn't moving anytime soon." He said while dragging the mare away from the wreck and into cover.
"Everyone move back! Go!" After saying that a loud sound rang out and a fallen skiff with a sputtering engine came into view above the town. The front of the ship was devoid of turrets and it's right side grenade dispenser was busted but not the left. Five shock grenades erupted and jumped towards the group. The ponies ran behind a building with Nala following close behind.
Rex held the sobbing mare and tried calming her down but every word he spoke fell on deaf ears. He resorted to picking her up and running her over to the building with the others. As he ran he saw the skiff underbelly release waves of fallen. Two waves making 25 fallen in all, he would have considered them easy as pie to take down but with civilians nearby it only made it more of a chore to keep everyone safe.
He placed the mare next to the rest of the terrified ponies and turned to Nala who was watching the fallen very closely. The fallen were moving slowly and staying in a pack the skiff took off without cloaking, it had to have been severely damaged. "Stay here and keep out of sight we'll take care of it." Rex told them.
Rex looked to Nala and saw that she had a faint yellow glow around her that flashed for a brief moment. He knew exactly what it meant. "Follow my lead." She said through her helmet. Then rounding the corner she charged at the fallen group. They immediately spotted her and opened fire. A large shield materialized in front of her and their rounds simply bounced off. As soon as she was close enough she leaped and threw her arms behind her. She leaped about ten feet from where she started and hit the ground with a large explosion killing at least six fallen.
A Dreg slashed at her arm then backed away as he fired at her with his pistol. She punched him, killing him, and causing a blast of electricity to erupt from his body shocking the vandals near him. A Vandal recovered fairly quickly and rushed the Titan with twin blades. However before he could land a hit a trio of bullets shredded into his skull and sent his soul flying out of his body. More and more bullets followed sending more of the fallen to a similar fate.
The Fallen pack, seeing their numbers dwindling fast, retreated. Nala gave chase and followed them. "Nala make sure you capture at least one of them. We need to know what they did here." Rex said through the comms.
Rex ran back to the ponies behind the shop and turned the corner to find them there. Some of them jumped back and two stallions got in front of the others getting low like they were ready to fight. Rex put his pulse rifle on his back and raised his hands in the air. "I'm not going to hurt you I just want to help." None of the ponies responded.
"Listen the Fallen are gone. My friend is chasing after the rest. We need to move now before any more show up, so unless you want to die today then we need to go!" The ponies looked to each other and stood themselves up. "Okay now come on we need to find a way to contact someone that can send help."
"I..I uh l-l-live here." The grey mare from before had stopped crying and all eyes were on her. She stood up and wiped the tears from her face. "I remember t-that the post office had an automatic letter messenger. If we get there we can contact the guard at the nearest town and get help."
"Are you sure you're alright to do this?" Rex asked. The mare nodded and started into the town with a slow pace. Everyone followed behind her while she led them to the building. "Nala are you there?"
Through the comms he heard a scream and then a very graphic crack. "Yeah I'm alright, I just caught a Vandal and broke his arm." She said
"Okay well we're heading to the post office to send a message for help. Meet us there." Without waiting for an answer he shut off the comms. After some time wandering through the town they made it to the office. The ponies filed in with Rex coming in last.
"Let's see if we can get it to work." Said one of the stallions there. Rex was about to offer his help until his comms came online.
"Rex..." Nala had said his name but she was quite for a moment. "You uh, you need to see this. Come alone." She said before shutting it off. Rex pulled out his ghost and told him to help get the machine to work. The ponies seemed a bit wary but accepted the help. Slipping out of the office he went to see what Nala was talking about. He walked to the east side of town, not too far from the office, and found Nala with an unconscious Vandal lying on the ground next to her. She was pacing back and forth and was rubbing the back of her head.
That is what caught Rex's attention, the fact that her helmet was off. She picked it up and proceeded to breath into it at a fairly fast pace. Not many investors could make Nala the Titan get flustered like this. Her exposed head showed black skin, with a shaved black head, and an intricate skull war paint pattern over her young face. "Nala what happened." Nala tried to respond but just rambled in a dead African language from the past.
"Where is spirit?" Rex said putting his hands over her to calm her down. She pointed down towards a hill side and continued breathing into her helmet. Rex hesitantly made his way towards the downward hill. When he reached the end he found a large trench filled with something he couldn't describe. Spirit was analyzing it but stopped as soon as Rex showed up.
"Oh my god. What is this?"
"I don't know for sure. But I guess we do know what happened to the inhabitants of this town." Spirit flew towards Nala. "I think it's for the best that we don't let the others see this." Once again Rex had a thought creep into his mind. If he had a stomach he would hurl at the horrific site in front of him.
Xaya felt like she had been there for eternity. A world filled with torturous dreams that never seemed to stop. Every single important person in her life before her death showed up. Each one made her more depressed than the last. She eventually realized that none of it was real, but it didn't matter. It felt real enough and Xaya couldn't escape the hell in which she watched all of her friends and family die.
Until after what seemed like several lifetimes she wasn't in a bed. She wasn't viewing a car crash, she wasn't in a Venus overtaken by vex. She was just floating in an endless sea of white nothingness, she looked around wondering why she was there and thankful for her respite. Nothing filled the vast emptiness whatsoever. There was no ground to stand on nor a roof above her, only a white void that she was floating in.
Her time in the Void grew boring as she wished to finally wake up from her horrible dreams. Then she felt a very strong and menacing dark force behind her. Something far darker than anything she had encountered before. She spun around quickly and froze. She was expecting a black cloud, a dark blob, a Vex, Cabal, Fallen, Hive, anything that she could pin an evil deed to, but what she saw was none other than the smiling face of her mother, who she had not once seen in a dream prior.
Tears streamed down her face, she knew this wasn't her mother, but what if it was? There was no possible way her mother disappeared when she was a child, but it was her mother the one women she desperately needed to see. As her mind fought over whether to punch her or hug her she moved closer to the frozen Xaya.
As she moved closer at a slow pace Xaya's mind continued to freak out, changing from fighting itself to trying desperately to activate her fight sequence. When she was only one meter away Xaya's fight response failed, so her body tried to activate a flight response. She was so close Xaya could see the features of her face, her beautiful azure eyes and chestnut hair flowed gracefully. She hasn't aged a day since then, since she was just gone.
Another look to her face and Xaya's body collapsed. Because her mothers face had sorrow filled tears streaming down it. They were now face to face and all Xaya could do was watch as her mother placed the back of her hand on her face and gently caress it. With a great force her mother hugged her and cried into her shoulder. Xaya collapsed into her own mind as a full onslaught of emotions overtook her. Relief that her mother was here, sadness that this was a horrible way to meet her again, anger that this must be an illusion of an impersonator toying with her. All of this and more flooded her thoughts for hours.
She fell to her knees and her mother, no the imposter, fell with her in a bone crushing hug. Xaya had not made a single move towards it because she was too busy dealing with her own emotions. In all of her years as a guardian, and even before, she wished for one more moment with her mother. But not like this.
Finally regaining control of her senses Xaya pushed the imposter off of her and stood up, putting her hands up in a fighting stance. The figure disguised as her mother showed a look of great pain at the guardians rejection. Xaya wiped away her tears and kept her arms up. The imposter moved closer to the hunter but Xaya shouted. "Stay away from me!"
"Xaya?" Xaya cringed at the abomination standing before her, as it called her by the very name given to her by her mother. "I know this is hard but you have to believe me when I say that I'm really here." She pleaded with the distraught hunter but her words fell on deaf ears.
"I won't believe anything you have to say to me! Do you honestly think I'm stupid enough to accept this!?" The woman clenched her heart as if the hunter had mortally wounded her. Xaya only felt more disgusted at the monsters horrible display. Xaya wanted to believe it was her mother but she knew that it was impossible; it had to be an imposter it just had to.
The imposter moved to speak but Xaya interrupted it. "I will not accept this! I get sent to my own hell where I watch everyone I knew and loved die?! And now my mother just randomly shows up after hours of grueling memories and visions claiming to be oh so sad? That she wasn't dead all this time? That this is finally the way I see her again after so long!? Yeah right." Xaya spat. The imposter had looks of great sadness written all over her and actually stepped back in anguish with each sentence Xaya spat out. Whoever this beast was Xaya had to give them credit for nailing the distraught mother expressions. But alas her anger had only just begun. "Don't you dare lie to me either! I know you're a fake You're covered in a veil of darkness! I can see it clear as day!" Xaya shouted at it. The only thing keeping her from tackling the imposter was it's resemblance to her beloved mother.
Silence overtook the white void as Xaya stared down the tear riddled face of her fake mother. "I know that you probably don't believe me. But if you gave me but a moment I could explain everything to you." She reached out for Xaya but she just stepped back. Pulling her hand away it cleared it's throat.
"Well let's see how your going to try and lie your way out of this." Xaya said angrily. Knowing full well that whatever came from her mouth was a bold faced lie.
"It all started on that fateful day while you and your father were at your friend Naomi's party, and I was at work in the collective."
A young Hungarian scientist by the name of Mara Szikszai was sitting in a chair while monitoring the progress of the archeology team within excavation site 14. The day had been boring and it was almost time to call them back up and head home. They continued to extract glimmer as she typed down their progress in the log.
"Um Dr. Szikszai?" One of the team members said through the comma.
"Yes mister Mathers?" She responded.
"We found some structure within the excavation site. Switch to my camera feed to get a look." Mara switched to his helmet's live feed and saw a large stone and brown metal structure. It was lodged into the ground and had strange tunes on them. "The scans show that this thing is ancient. Probably dating back to before humanity existed."
"What else is there?" Mara asked intrigued. Before he could reply a sharp noise cut into the air as the spire began to rise. A bright white conflict began to form beneath it.
A sharp noise sounded out as black smoke filled his vision. The video feed cut off but the audio could still be heard.
"What is that!? Run!!" Mathers yelled. He only took a few steps before a laser noise could be heard tearing into his suit and body. He fell to the ground and blood gurgled from his mouth. Maya sat shocked as a metallic screech roared into the mic before it was cut off.
Mara switched to the feed of one of the other team members and attempted to hail him. "Thomas! Thomas can you hear me?" She waited for a response but no noise came except for his footsteps. Then another metallic screech fed into the audio.
"Ian! Oh god! No!" Mara could only listen to the horrible fate her co workers were suffering. "Dr. Szikszai. Dr.Szikszai can you hear me?"
"Yes yes I'm here." She replied.
"If you can hear me then listen." He panted heavily as his running continued. "Seal the doors. We're dead men walking." Mara couldn't bear to hear his words but didn't have to any longer as a laser cut through him as well. The lifelines of all three went flat on her monitor.
Mara wasted no time in shutting down the doors and closing off the excavation site. After all exits were cut off she sighed and pushed her swivel chair away from the computer screens. She stood and paced within the viewing station. A ping came from her computer and she turned to it. She had received a message from a secured channel. She rushed to it and hoped it was the lead scientist for the archive, she had to let him know what was going on.
Instead the username was blank and only had two words in the message. 'Open Up'. Mara felt a rush of chilling air pass her and goosebumps appeared on her arm. Immediately her screen became distorted and warped before a message prompt said that the excavation doors were opened.
Mara took immediate action and tried to shut down the opening sequence. She had succeeded but the other user had beat her yet again. The back and forth of the entrance process continued until Mara could no longer keep up with the user. She cursed to herself and tried to contact the rest of the archive to let them know that there was something in the sub levels trying to escape. All of her messages were intercepted and destroyed negating all efforts.
She then tried to contact the Warmind on Venus known as Voltare through the emergency radio wave frequencies but again all hails were cut off. Sensors within the monitoring room burst to life stating that dangerous materials had escaped the excavation site. Maya again cursed to herself and ran out of the viewing room and towards the fifty inch thick failsafe doors at the excavation elevator that led to the top levels of the archive.
Mara ran as fast as her legs could carry her and already she heard the familiar sound of whatever the creatures in the site were as they fazed in. Running past the generator room and into the hardware room/exit she reached the door and activated the automatic seals for the door on the timer for one minute. Allowing her enough time to get out. However the noises of the approaching creatures grew closer.
Mara thought to herself and questioned, if they were smart enough to hack the level four security passage lock at the excavation, then what would stop them here? "For fucks sake." She said. She pulled out her data pad and threw it across the exit door to the other side. Then she slammed the immediate lock button and the doors closed immediately, sealing her inside. She then grabbed an excavation hand held plasma cutter and fired it at the panel until it was nothing but blackened wires and shattered glass.
The door groaned as the locks forced themselves into an immovable position. Mara backed up against the cold metal door and slid down. She placed her head into her hands and started laughing. Her laughing grew louder until she fell to her side on the ground laughing. One of the creatures walked up to her on the ground placing it's brown metallic foot near her head. Mara looked up into its singular red eye as it scanned her.
Mara continued to laugh as tears streamed down her face. Closing her eyes she waited for the pain of her death to take her, but nothing came. She waited for what seemed like hours yet still nothing came. Slowly she opened her eyes and saw something she could've never imagined. Instead of the floor of the academy sub levels there was a stone like substance with runes, much like that of the one in the excavation site, except this one had moss covering it.
Standing up she flinched at the sight of other strange robots like the one that had stared at her. They had the same half circle heads and markings, except these ones had moss covering them. They were all on a one knee stance with stretched arms and heads pointing upwards as if they were worshiping something. Then she saw it. Her breath caught in her throat at the sight of the horrible thing that can only be described as a demented heart pulsating with horrible black energy around it.
Pieces of the dark energy pulsated frantically around the heart and burst from it. Mara's eyes grew wide just before the energy hit her and she saw her whole life flash in front of her. All of her achievements, the great moments she spent visiting earth, meeting the love of her life, and spending time with her precious daughter.
The energy hit her and she felt...strange. She felt powerful, angry, sad, and in pain all at the same time. All of her senses faded as she felt more and more powerful but in a matter of seconds It consumed her and she was no more. Her mind body and soul were now forever bonded to this strange energy.
"After that I couldn't hear or see anything for what felt like years, though it was only for a few minutes. In time I learned so much, too much, about the universe and the Vex." Mara continued to explain as Xaya held her stance. "The black heart..it tried to assimilate my mind into the Vex network, for whatever reason I can't say. I don't even know how I was able to escape it's grasp."
"The darkness changed me to a point where I almost forgot who I was originally, but there was one thing the darkness could not force me to do. Forget about the love I felt for you and your father." At the mention of her dad Xaya's eyes flashed with anger. Mara caught it and tried changing the topic again.
"I'm so sorry I just spent so long searching for you. So many worlds, so many guardians, until I found you here. I wanted to see you so bad, and I never meant for this to happen. The darkness has just such a negative effect on my powers." Looking back to Xaya she saw the guardian glaring at her, jaw dropped.
"What?" Xaya asked suppressed anger seeping through her closed teeth as she walked closer. Mara stuttered trying to find some way to calm her down. "You did this? You put me here? Wasted my time with this..this hell?!" Xaya had had enough and was going to take action. Sprinting towards Mara she tried tackling her only for her to disappear. Standing up she looked behind her and saw the figure of the imposter.
Again she rushed Mara but this time she stopped mid run. Not of her own free will, she just simply froze in mid run. Mara walked up to her and placed a cold hand atop her forehead. "Maybe another time you'll realize just how much I truly love you." With a deep breath she imposed her will on the guardian who then woke up.
