Chapter one
I have told you many stories of the wolf, of the pack that gives it its strength… but have I told you of the horse? Ages ago, there were many ancient cultures that believed that the horse was aspect to many things; nobility, strength, wisdom, speed… and even courage. While some saw the horse as a way to travel quickly, or even as a beast of burden, others saw in it a faithful companion and a proud soul that could not be tamed; one that would face any darkness without fear in defense of its loved ones. The horse bore mighty legs that would carry it swiftly over the wild, untamed lands, going wherever it saw fit to run without fear, for the noble horse knew no bounds; it knew only freedom.

Twilight Sparkle sat on a cushion at the other end of a telescope, placed on a balcony outside the highest room in the tallest tower in the new castle that had been created in Ponyville. She’d personally had this particular chamber converted into an observatory so that she could look at the stars high in the night sky. Contrary to popular belief in Equestria, Princess Luna did not raise the stars in the sky as she did the moon. According to her; every star in the sky was actually a colossal orb of fire with a system of planets surrounding them, some of which were similar to Equus in nature. She knew of these other “star systems” because she had traveled to them through the dreamscape and observed these alien worlds through the memories of those who occupied them.

There was one in particular that she insisted was her favorite and was far closer than the others. She called it “Sol” because that was what the inhabitants thought of it as. Princess Luna loved it so because at one time, many centuries past, the system had been blessed with a time of great prosperity invoked by a being known only as “The Traveler”. However, the inhabitants had been decimated by some unknown enemy that was referred to as “The Darkness”. This great foe, one that had hunted this “Traveler” for eons before it had created the time of prosperity, had almost completed wiped out the inhabitant race of this star system. However, the alien race had not been so easily defeated.
Their world ravaged and their cities in ruin, the inhabitants had retreated to what seemed to be the only safe haven left to them; a singular city protected by their Traveler. From there, Luna had told her, they had reformed and begun to strike back at the adversary that had laid them low in a desperate attempt to survive. This was why, Luna said, that the Sol System was her favorite. They had been beaten and broken by a great foe, but they had not lost hope and continued to struggle for their survival against many enemies.

Twilight Sparkle put down her quill and set her notes on the Sol System aside. She had to admit, this system’s story made for an incredible read and, with a little creativity, could probably become a great book; maybe one of the best ever written! She gazed into the telescope; angled toward the star Princess Luna had said was the one where the Sol System was situated around. Unfortunately, even with her mighty telescope, the star appeared as nothing more than a slighter bigger pinprick of light to her eyes. She gave an audible sigh.

“I wonder what they look like…” she murmured quietly, and then leaned back from the viewing lens and yawned. “What time is it?” She glanced at a clock and chuckled to herself; it read half past three in the morning. “I should go to bed; it’s probably going to be a busy day tomorrow.”

With that she stood, stretched the stiffness out of her withers and wing muscles, and strode out of the observatory.

_

Easily a dozen bright blue projectiles whizzed over her head from behind as she raced down the hall, with several of the bolts seeming to alter trajectory to track her as she moved. The cloaked figure ran into a large room, leapt nimbly over a stack of crates and promptly threw herself against them for cover. She quickly popped the magazine out of her rifle, slapped a fresh one home, pulled the action to chamber a round and rose from cover to return fire to the lanky aliens that had been pursuing her.

“You’re just brilliant, y’know that, Aveline?!” An electronic voice chirped sarcastically in her comm. “I mean, who could have known that killing their Archon would drive the Fallen into a homicidal frenzy!”

“I doubt they needed the excuse to shoot at us, Lance.” Aveline replied as she ducked to avoid more blue projectiles. She heard a snarl, followed by furious shouting in an alien language. “Besides, we wanted them to chase us for a while; we’re the distraction, remember?”

“Well we certainly managed that one; I’m picking up tons of motion and there’s a lot more heading our way.” Lance replied, his electronic voice slightly worried. “Mind telling me what step two was again?” Aveline was about to reply when her comm crackled to life.

“This is Samson-12, I’ve secured the package. How’re things on your end?” A voice said.

“Gospel here. I’m doing just peachy, thanks for asking, Sam.” Another voice responded, the muffled sound of gunfire could just barely be heard. “I mean, what Guardian doesn’t want a couple dozen crazed Fallen shooting at them with everything and the kitchen sink?”

“This is Aveline, it is a real party down here, and I think they like me.” Aveline stated into her comm as she carefully shot her foes in the head, causing some kind of bright smoke to come out of them. “A few of them are getting pretty ‘friendly’ if you know what I mean.”

“You’re not giving them the wrong impression, are you Aveline?” Gospel replied, teasing. “It’s not nice to lead someone on, y’know.”

Aveline smiled. “It is not my fault they think I would look better with a few extra holes in me.” She popped out of cover and expertly snapped her sight between several low – ranking Dregs and a mid – ranked, four – armed Vandal, her Vanguard – issue scout rifle reporting four shots and four puffs of light confirming kills.

“I need a sitrep, Aveline.” Samson-12 said over the comm.

“The situation is that it sucks, Samson.” Lance responded instead as Aveline continued to pepper the Fallen with riflefire. “I think we took a wrong turn at Albuquerque; we’re at a dead-end and the Fallen have us trapped like rats in a cage.”

“Sounds like you made it to Pismo Beach to me.” Gospel stated nonchalantly. “Could you wait up for us? I hear the Mimosas are otherworldly down there.”

“Oh haha, I see what you did there.” Lance drawled. “It was so funny I forgot to laugh.”

“I can’t guarantee Lance won’t drink them all before you get here, Gospel.” Aveline teased as she reached for a new magazine and discovered that her reserve was empty. “That… is not good.”

“Trouble?” Samson asked.

“Oh nothing much, aside from the fact that we’re under heavy fire and Aveline just ran out of ammo.” Lance dead-panned and Aveline rolled her eyes. “Well, it was nice knowing all of you, but it appears that this is the end of the line for us.”

Aveline peeked out from cover, but ducked back when a blue streak slammed into the crate.

“I have been in worse situations.” She said as she pressed her back against the crates, the sound of the Fallen projectiles bursting against the boxes on the other side. “Maybe they will run out of ammo too, you never know.”

The sounds of the shock weapons discharging stopped and there was a series of barking in the same alien language, followed by the sound of feet scuffling against the dirt and Aveline knew that the Fallen had figured out that she’d run out of ammo. She closed her eyes, pulled her knife from it’s sheathe and readied herself, drawing upon the light granted to her by the Traveler. She started counting; measuring the last known positions of the Fallen, the amount of footsteps made by the approaching assailants, and prepared to strike. On “six” she charged her blade, filling it with electricity, and on “ten” she sprang quickly around the box and slashed with her combat knife, severing the surprised Dreg’s carotid arteries in one motion. The Fallen’s lifeless corpse had barely started to fall as she rushed the nearest Vandal and flipped her grip on her knife, stabbing up and into the Vandal’s heart. Without missing a beat she turned toward the last two approaching Dregs and used the light-charged knife to create a deadly wave of electricity that fell over them, causing the Fallen to fly backwards as their bodies were consumed by the hungering energy. She turned to face the rest of the Fallen and saw dozens of their shock weapons pointed at her, with the shielded Captain standing at the front, holding a menacing gun that she recognized as a shrapnel launcher. The hulking Fallen grinned and laughed at her.

“Not many of your kind display such technique with the blade; it is commendable.” He aimed the shrapnel launcher at her. “However, you are still less than unworthy of my own. Make peace with your Traveler, vermin, for not even it can save you now.”

Aveline stared at the Fallen Captain and grinned roguishly, though the alien could not see it. A new detail had turned up on her motion sensor; two blue arrows almost on top of each other.

“I could be wrong, scavenger, but I think you may have forgotten one minor detail.”

The Fallen Captain growled angrily, having taken offense at being called “scavenger”.

“And what ‘detail’ am I missing, ‘Guardian’?”

She stood up and looked him straight in the eyes.

“Guardians rarely work alone.”

The Fallen Captain growled, louder this time, and readied his gun to fire, but he never got the chance because at that precise moment the ceiling directly over his head crashed downward with a sound like thunder and the Captain was replaced by a bulky suit of red and blue armor, the air around it arcing with angry tendrils of electricity. The other Fallen were stunned for a moment before they began to unload their shock weapons at the new opponent. It was in vain, however, as the newcomer completely disregarded the projectiles ricocheting off his heavy armor as he stood and tossed Aveline an ammo synthesizer, a special device that was used to replenish ammunition reserves in an instant.

“Thanks Samson. Where’s Gospel?” She asked as she pressed a button on the cartridge. It disappeared in her hands and she retrieved a new magazine from her freshly restocked ammo reserve.

As if to answer her question, a ball of purple light roared through the hole in the ceiling toward the Fallen that were howling and throwing alien curses at them for slaying yet another one of their authority figures. They were drowned out by the following explosion and then there was silence as the few surviving aliens decided that they would be better off living to fight another day. After a moment a figure wearing a long white coat dropped from the ceiling next to Samson.

“Doing what I do best, darling; spreading the Word of God unto the heathen masses.” Gospel stated as he strode confidently down the rubble, making a conscious effort to avoid the bluish liquid pooling from underneath it. “Besides, I’d never let one of my favorite ladies out to dry without dinner first.”

“I think you would have better luck with one of the Cabal, player.” Samson said matter-of-factly and Gospel slumped comically while Aveline giggled.

“Thanks Sam, you really know how to kill a mood.”

“Alright you two, I think we should leave this place.” Aveline said. “We got what we came for, so there is no more reason to stay is there?”

The other two Guardians nodded in agreement and they took turns jumping through the hole in the ceiling to leave the facility. Once they exited the decrepit building, three small porcupine-like machine known to the Guardians as Ghosts appeared. The one over Aveline’s shoulder made a sound as if taking a deep breath.

“Ah, if only I had olfactory senses, I could actually know what ‘fresh air’ smells like.” Lance said, glancing around at the overgrown ruins of Venus.

“Well, let me see what I can do about that one, Lance.” Samson’s Ghost replied in a feminine voice, floating over to Aveline’s and Lance immediately flew away from it.

“Oh no, Gauge, I am not letting you anywhere near me!” He told the other Ghost, causing it to giggle. “Traveler only knows what else you’d do to me!”

“I don’t know Lance, it might be an improvement.” Piped Gospel’s Ghost and Lance turned to it, his spines angling in a way that suggested an unamused glare.

“Okay then, how about we let Gauge mess with your systems, Scripture?” Lance snapped and Gauge turned to Scripture, bobbing excitedly.

“Oh can I?” She asked and Scripture’s fins spread suddenly in a way suggesting panic and he looked around quickly, looking up in a way reminiscent of relief when they heard the sounds of engines indicating the arrival of their jumpships.

“Oh, uh… I think it’s time we left!” He said quickly, turning to Gospel. “Preparing transmat!”

And Gospel disappeared, his Ghost having transported his physical body into the cockpit of his jumpship. The others looked at each other briefly before doing the same. Once aboard, they each put in the coordinates for Earth and initiated their ship’s warp drives. Upon reaching their destination they angled toward a large orb, visible from space, and headed toward the Last City on Earth. As they approached, their comms crackled to life.

“Jumpship registrations and identifications acknowledged: Welcome home, Guardians.”

Their ships hovered briefly over a large open area and the Ghosts transmatted the fireteam onto the landing that served as the common grounds for all Guardians inhabiting the Tower, where they were greeted by a robed representative of the Crypto-archeologists. Samson walked over to him and held out a small object that had a pale, prismatic glow to it.

“I believe you asked for this?” He inquired and the cryptarch gingerly took the object from his gauntleted hand.

“Wonderful, I knew you would pull through for us!” He exclaimed as he looked into the depths of the engram. “So unusual… very different from the other encrypted engrams that Guardians usually secure for us.”

“What do you think it is, some kind of weapon or ship?” Aveline asked quizzically and the cryptarch furrowed his brow.

“I… do not believe so, no.” He replied carefully. “I shall gather my decryption team and we will get to work on this engram, though I am unsure how long it will take to decode; I have never seen such elaborate encryption before.”

“Whatever’s inside must be valuable then.” Samson stated.

Aveline nodded. “Obviously. Why else would the Fallen want it so bad?”

“I don’t care why the Fallen wanted it.” Gospel said, drawing one of his handcannon and examining it. “They wanted it, which meant I wanted it more.”

“Good enough reason for me.” Samson agreed with a nod of his head and then turned to leave. “I’ll go file the mission report with the Commander.”

“Yeah, you go do that, big guy.” Gospel said, holstering his hand cannon with a flourish. “I’m going to get changed and head down to the bar, maybe I’ll find some pretty ladies to talk to.”

Aveline nodded and they each said their farewells as they went their separate directions. Once Aveline had gotten to her chambers, she shed her grimy leathers and cloak and put them inside of a device specially designed to clean clothing and armor. That done, the Awoken put on a simple t-shirt bearing the logo of the Crucible and pair of slacks she’d made herself and looked around at her living quarters.

Every Guardian received a personal living space in the Tower, though they were often sparsely furnished; consisting mainly of a bed, a small table and two chairs, with a few personal effects here or there depending on the Guardian. The reason for this was not that Guardians weren’t allowed to decorate their living quarters, but because most Guardians were not in them long enough to do more than sleep and put on fresh clothing. However, the Guardians that stayed in the Tower for extended periods of time did, in fact, furnish their apartments much more elaborately.

Aveline fiddled with a small device on the wall of her living unit, causing some music to start playing. It was a song created by a band of Old Earth, long before The Traveler had been discovered and the Golden Age had begun. She’d found the song, along with countless other tracks with some made by the same artist and the others by many more, in an old data storage device she’d discovered on the Moon. There had been other storage devices there as well, containing other data such as vids and pictures of people she didn’t recognize and was sure had long been dead; whether killed by The Darkness that ended the Golden Age or by the slow hand of time, she was unsure, though she had saved all the information on a newer storage device that she had then given to the Speaker so that the memories enclosed would be given proper care.

Once the music had started playing, she laid a mat on the floor and sat on it to meditate. Her Ghost, Lance, floated near the music player on the wall, probably making sure that her music selection remained accurate and rotating out some songs for other ones in the vast library of albums she owned; she was often surprised by his decisions and had yet to find a song she didn’t like. She had decided that she preferred Old Earth music to the music that tended to play in the bars and dance halls of the current time. She sat, loosening her muscles and allowing the melody to flow through her; the percussion of the drums, the chords of a stringed instrument long lost to history, and a deep, almost inaudible rhythmic thrumming that somehow added substance to the song and pulled it together into something almost magical.
Her reverie was broken by the sudden and abrupt sound of someone knocking on her door and she sighed and stood up. She touched a button on the same panel currently playing music.

“Yes, who is it?”

“Oh you know who it is, sweetheart. Can I come in please?”

She rolled her eyes and pressed another button, causing her door to open with a slight hiss. Gospel was on the other side wearing an outfit not unlike his combat garb, though lacking in armor plating and a helmet. It was also clean and free of the marks of combat. He walked in casually, his Ghost Scripture floating beside him, and grimaced slightly.

“I don’t get how you can enjoy this stuff, Aveline.” He said and Aveline shrugged. “Why do you insist on listening to this when there is so much better available?”

“It is history, Gospel; it is something to be remembered and respected, not to mention I find it to be much more tasteful.” She replied, walking back to her mat and sitting. Gospel decided to sit on the bed while Scripture floated over to Lance and started scanning the music player too. Lance looked at him and Aveline got the impression the Ghost was slightly irritated. “Besides, I don’t think we’ve found a song you will like just yet; the amount of musical data is simply huge and it barely took up a fraction of the unit that held it.”

“It was approximately seven-hundred and fifty gigabytes of data. The storage unit in question could hold several score of terabytes worth of data.” Lance stated matter-of-factly. “Your average Ghost could handle the entire contents of the library duplicated several times over and still have room to spare, but I’m sure you knew that already.”

“Right…” Gospel said hesitantly. “Anyway, I was wondering if you wanted to head down to the club or something to wind down.”

Aveline thought for a moment before giving a shrug of her shoulders.

“Alright, but you shall have to leave so I may change.” She replied as she turned Gospel around and gave him a gentle shove towards the door.

“Come on, Aveline.” He said in a mock – serious tone. “It’s not like you’ve got anything I haven’t already seen.”

“That is not the point, Gospel.” She replied, smirking. “We may kill the armies of darkness together, but that doesn’t mean I am not a lady, and ladies need privacy, so out.”

Once he was outside, Aveline pressed the button on her panel to make the door hiss closed, leaving Gospel outside with Scripture, who turned in the air to look at him.

“Maybe next time, Boss.” He said, reassuringly.

Author's Note

Grimoire acquired: Twilight Sparkle, Aveline Mara L’Freille, Samson – 12, Ian “Gospel” McKenzie.

Twilight Sparkle:

Twilight Sparkle is a unicorn – turned – alicorn through a special ascension rite bestowed upon a very select few ponies who have distinguished themselves in the eyes of the Diarchy of Equestria. As the Princess of Friendship, she bears the innate power of one of the Elements of Harmony, Magic. Her I.Q. is unknown, but needless to say; it is staggering. However, don’t be mislead by her intellect and bookish nature; she is known just as much for her courage and tendency towards swift, decisive action as she is her habit of staying up too late studying unnecessarily. Many issues in Equestria, large and small, serious and banal, have been confronted and solved thanks to her innate leadership ability; whether by convincing a stubborn friend to ask for help, or by assaulting a terrible foe with a wave of pure, weaponized friendship.

Aveline Mara L’Freille:

Originally a “Reefborn” Awoken, Aveline L'Freille used to be a member of the Reef military, part of an elite scouting regiment, but was felled in battle by the Fallen House of Wolves almost sixty – five years before the current Queen of the Reef assumed control of them. She was chosen, and subsequently raised, by her Ghost three years before the Hero of the City assaulted and seized the Black Garden of Mars, destroying the Heart of Darkness. She is unfailingly loyal to the City and has been known to walk the streets from time – to – time between missions, often lending a helping hand to those who are struggling, much to their appreciation. Curious of Old Earth, she is quite fond of music and videos produced before the Golden Age, as it makes her feel as though she is observing her heritage from an ancient, almost forgotten time. Aveline is unlike other Guardians in that she will avoid unnecessary conflict despite being more than capable of defeating her foes, although she despises both the Vex and the Hive and will not hesitate to attack them. The Hunter Vanguard, Cayde – 6, often remarks jokingly that she is a “Warlock in a Hunter’s cloak.”

Samson – 12:

Samson – 12 is an enigma, even to other Exo. Having been chosen by his Ghost ten years before the attack on the Black Garden, Samson is one of the longest serving Guardians and has seen more firefights with the Fallen than any other, as well as being a notorious Crucible veteran before his sudden joining of Fireteam Wisp. Such are his achievements that he has earned the respect of even the mighty Lord Saladin of the Iron Lords. Commander Zavala often remarks that Samson is “exactly what every Titan should aspire to being” and grouses that there aren’t enough Guardians like the Exo warrior. Nobody knows exactly when Samson – 12 had been “killed”, if such could be said about the Exo, and he certainly refuses to answer questions about his previous life, going so far as to command his Ghost companion from revealing those details. However, there are rumors amongst his fellow Exo that Samson – 12 may be what they refer to as a “progenitor”, one of the first Exo to have gained self – awareness, and that he may have been active before, and during, the Collapse of the Golden Age, perhaps having fallen in battle against the Darkness once before. Bring these rumors to his attention, however, and Samson merely glares at you and ignores whatever you said, and subsequently, whatever you will say from that point onward. Samson appears to fight any and all foes, whether they be a hostile alien race or his fellow Guardians in the Crucible, with equal elan, though he appears to bear significant ill - will for Vex targets, and will strike at them with extreme prejudice.

Ian “Gospel” McKenzie:

Ian “Gospel” McKenzie, insisting people just call him “Gospel”, was originally a soldier in the old United States Army, supposedly in line for introduction into what he referred to as the “Green Berets”, and had served several tours in long–forgotten conflicts that he insists are better off remaining that way. According to him, he fell to gunfire in the year 2016 in what used to be known as Afghanistan and was resurrected by his Ghost only a scant year before the fall of the Black Garden, thus making him both the oldest living human, and one of the Guardians with the shortest active tenure. While Gospel may insist that he “spreads the Word of God”, his skill with a gun - with a particular preference to hand cannons - is certainly undeniable. Some would think he might enjoy the finding of Old Earth artifacts, but he has seemingly embraced the advancements in entertainment brought upon by the Golden Age before its fall, though he insists on reading and maintaining any physical books that are found intact on the field and has been noted to be very attached to an old King James Bible he found, thus earning him the moniker, “Gospel”. Gospel is also known for his antagonism towards extraterrestrials, in particular ones with strong religious orthodoxies. Despite the many religious themes surrounding Gospel, he is not particularly inclined religiously himself, making him an oddity among the often strictly orthodox Warlocks; even the Warlock Vanguard, Ikora Rey, is quoted as once referring to Gospel as a “disturbingly fascinating individual, with a penchant for iconoclasm.”