Destiny: Guardians of Harmony

Samson sat at the cockpit of the Mischief Maker with Gauge hovering over his shoulder and Wedge in the seat next to him, monitoring the flight.

“Is the ship controlling in a satisfactory manner, Titan Samson – 12?” The Frame asked and Samson nodded.

“Yes. She feels heavier than a standard jumpship, but otherwise flies beautifully.” Samson replied as the blue sky slowly darkened, giving way to the darkness of space. “Amanda really knows her stuff. She’ll probably be getting started on tons of new ships after this.”

“Indeed, Shipwright Holliday is quite proud of her ‘baby’.” Wedge said, and then pressed a few buttons. “Minimum orbit achieved, deploying satellite array.”

Samson watched as pods began ejecting from somewhere within the ship and accelerate to several locations marked on his display. Once they were in position, he moved his hand over a command prompt on his console.

“Initiating satellite uplink in three… two… one.” He pressed the prompt and saw blue lines race across the icons representing the satellites, with each connection turning green. That done, the Exo turned to Gauge. “We have satellite link. Tell Aveline and Gospel that they can summon their sparrows whenever.”

“You got it, boss!” Gauge replied, and then a sphere of energy surrounded her core and expanded, pushing the spines away from her. “Alright, satellites are orbital and functioning, and sparrow links have been established. Feel free to catch a ride!”

“’Catch a ride’? Did you just make that up, Gauge?” Samson asked, cocking an eyeplate.

“Yep! Pretty catchy huh?” The Ghost replied cheerfully.

“Yeah! I could totally see that being the slogan of some futuristic carriage service run by some country stallion covered in grease!” Came a peppy voice from behind them and Gauge vanished while Samson quickly rose from his seat, spun and leveled his handcannon…

On Pinkie Pie, who looked straight down the barrel with delighted curiosity.

“Oh hey! That’s one of those fancy-shmancy future things you kept waving around last night isn’t it?” Pinkie asked, closing an eye to get a better look down the barrel of the gun. “It looks a little like my party cannon, but smaller! Does it fire tiny parties too?”

Samson practically fell over in disbelief; Pinkie not only willingly looked down the barrel of a gun, but did so with the most cheerful smile on her muzzle. After a moment’s hesitation, he holstered the weapon.

“Pinkie? What are you doing?” Came a voice from behind Pinkie Pie and Samson saw Rainbow Dash enter the flight deck. She saw Samson and she flashed a cocky grin. “Oh, hey Samson. What are you doing… in… here…”

The pegasus’ eyes had traveled past the Exo toward the viewport, where the planet of Equus was plainly visible against the star-studded blackness of space. Her eyes had widened and she approached the viewport slowly, awestruck.

“How did you two get onboard the ship?” Samson asked, but Rainbow Dash was too stunned to speak. Pinkie, however, gave a giggle.

“Duh! We snuck aboard, Silly Billy!” Pinkie replied, jumping into the seat next to Wedge and causing it to swivel as she cheered with excitement, clearly having the time of her life.

“Hey, Samson? Do not be alarmed if you run across Pinkie Pie on the ship.” Aveline said over the comm.

“I’ll keep an eye out for her.” Samson replied flatly.

“You do that, big guy.” Lance said. “And if you see her, try not to shoot her, okay? The last thing we need is to worry about getting rinsed by a super-powered alien princess.”

“Noted, Samson-12 out.” Samson told him and cut the connection. The Titan walked over to Rainbow Dash and looked out at the view of Equus. “You are impressed by the view?”

“I don’t… is that…?” The pegasus stammered. “Is that what our home really looks like?”

“Yes.” Samson replied. “Have you never seen a globe before?”

“Of course I’ve seen a globe before! Twilight keeps...” Rainbow Dash paused slightly. “I mean, Twilight used to keep one at her place but this is…”

“Different?” Pinkie chirped from her still spinning seat. “It sure is! We’re on a space ship, everything is different in here!”

Rainbow Dash was silent for a moment, before looking at Samson again.

“Was it like this for you the first time you saw your planet?” She asked and Samson looked at her quizzically.

“What do you mean?”

“I mean, did you just stare at your world from space the first time you flew a spaceship?” She repeated and Samson’s expression turned to surprise.

“Nobody’s actually ever asked me that question before.” He told Rainbow Dash and thought for a moment. “I… I don’t know, to be honest. I can’t even remember the first time I flew in a jumpship, or even a larger spaceship such as this one.”

“You don’t know? You don’t remember?! How could you forget this?!” Rainbow demanded in disbelief, gesturing toward the view with her hoof. “This is so amazing… how can you look at something like this and not think that this is the most awesome thing you’ve ever seen?”

Samson was taken aback and he looked out at Equus, brilliantly lit against the backdrop of space and he found himself speechless, at a loss as to why he couldn’t answer Rainbow Dash’s question. Pinkie’s chair slowly stopped spinning and she was gazing at Rainbow and Samson, confused and slightly worried. Wedge, for his part, merely looked expectantly from Rainbow Dash to Samson.

‘She’s right, Sam. This view is truly breathtaking and yet… we were going to just do what we needed to do and go back.’ Gauge said to Samson. ‘A part of me wants to blame the Darkness for even this but… how can I? Maybe this whole time we were out there trying to reclaim what we’d lost, we’d forgotten about what we still had… we’d forgotten about our world.’

“Sammy… you okay?” Pinkie asked and the Exo looked at her.

“I’ll be fine.” He said, his facial plates shifting into a smile and he sat in the co-pilot’s seat. “Would you two like to go to another place that you can only see with a spaceship?”

Rainbow Dash’s ears perked up and she looked at Samson, vividly interested.

“Where did you have in mind?” She asked, taking a vacant seat.

“Whee, we’re going on a road trip!” Pinkie exclaimed, flinging her forelegs into the air and causing the chair to spin again. Suddenly her eyes grew wide with surprise. “Wait, we’re in space, so wouldn’t that make it a space trip?”

“Does it matter?” Rainbow asked Pinkie and the pink pony giggled.

“Nope!” She replied. “Come on, Sammy, adventure awaits over… uh, where are we going again?”

Samson took the controls, angled the ship towards Equus’ moon and he pointed at it.

“There.” He said. “Engage warp drive, Wedge.”

“Affirmative.” Wedge said, and he pressed a few buttons on his console. After a moment, the ship lurched into a wormhole and began speeding off toward the moon.

Gospel sped out of the town until he reached a distant hill. Once there, he dismounted and strode toward the top and looked around.

He could see Ponyville on his right, toward the southeast. When he looked at the mountain to the northeast, he saw what appeared to be a majestic castle attached precariously to its side. After a moment, he sighed, plopped down on the grass and stared into the distance.

For the last year he had been fighting almost nonstop for what seemed to him to be just a shell of the world he once knew, ideals he’d died for lost to the dust. Sometimes he wished he’d been left dead; wished that instead of getting shot, he’d been blown up or otherwise completely obliterated. That way he’d still be gone and not have to worry about fighting alien monsters on alien worlds. One time, when he’d been on shore leave at the Tower, he’d asked Scripture why the Ghost had chosen him and not someone else.

“Because you felt like the right choice and I stand by that.” The machine had replied. “Maybe everything’s strange right now, but I know you and I can make a difference in this struggle.”

Gospel gazed out over the expanse of rolling hills and he felt so tired. No matter how he looked at things, there was no denying that he was a man out of time with no clue as to what he should do next.

“Nobody understands.” Gospel said to himself, despite knowing that Scripture was always there. “How could they?”

“Understand what, Gospel?” Came a smooth voice and Gospel rose quickly, his hand shooting to his gun. Before him, approaching from beside his sparrow, was Princess Luna.

She stopped when he rose and, after a moment, turned her head toward the vehicle and lifted a hoof toward it.

“Your riding machine is quite swift, Guardian.” She inquired, her hoof mere inches from the sparrow. “Pray tell, what do you call it?”

“Don’t touch it, Moonie.” Gospel growled and the moon princess merely glanced at him quizzically.

“’Don’t touch it’? Tis an… odd name, Gospel.” She remarked, but lowered her hoof. “Have you not a better one for it?”

Gospel nearly fell over at the remark.

“N-No! It’s not- why would you even…?!” He stammered, but Luna merely laughed.

“Twas merely a jape, Gospel.” She told him, chuckling. “My sister tells me that humor is a good way to ‘break the ice’ as she would put it.”

Gospel was silent for a moment before turning away from the alicorn and sitting back down. Luna waited, and then joined him though he gave her an annoyed look.

“Leave me alone, princess. I’m not in the mood to play tea party right now.” He told her, but she ignored him. She pointed toward the forest that Twilight had called the Everfree.

“Did you know? One thousand years past, that crumbling castle you found in the Everfree Forest used to be my sister and I’s seat of power?” Luna asked and Gospel gave a grunt. She merely smiled and continued. “We had ruled all of Equestria together; she would raise the sun in the morn of day and I would raise the moon in the eve of night. Twas a good time, a time of peace and harmony for all Equestria.”

Her expression turned sad. “Twas not to last, though. When I raised the moon, our subjects would return to their homes and sleep through my night, missing its beauty. I grew jealous of Celestia and I despised how she would be praised, how our subjects would live and laugh during the day but hide and sleep during the night. In time… I even despised her, my own sister!”

Gospel looked away, trying to pretend he wasn’t listening.

“Eventually I went mad with my envy and became Nightmare Moon, intending to envelope all of Equestria in eternal night, but Celestia used the Elements of Harmony to banish me to the Moon. She stopped me, but the price for it was heavy; not only did she have to bear the burdens of my responsibility for one thousand years, but she lost the ability to utilize the Elements and, most importantly, she lost a sister.” Luna looked up towards Canterlot. “Several years ago, I returned again as Nightmare Moon, but this time it was Twilight Sparkle and her friends who utilized the Elements of Harmony. Thanks to them, I was released from my madness and became Luna, Princess of the Night once more. I cannot say the transition has been easy… I missed a thousand years of technological and cultural development and I frequently find myself-”

“-wondering if I will ever truly understand any of it.” Gospel finished, interrupting her and Luna looked at him, surprised.

“You… you understand how I feel?” Luna asked. “I did not think… not even in a thousand lifetimes! How do you…?”

“I died so long ago… I’m not even sure the Earth remembers when. I’m surprised Scripture found enough of me to put back together.” Gospel told her with a sigh. “I was scared shitless at first. My last memory was of being turned into the closest thing a living being could be to swiss cheese. Didn’t really help that the world I came back to barely looked like the one I’d left and was crawling with four-armed aliens that looked like cockroaches but fought like demons straight outta hell. And that was just the Fallen, don’t even get me started on the freakier aliens.”

“Suddenly, I am quite glad it was Twilight that I first encountered upon my return…” Luna remarked. “Were you always a soldier, Gospel?”

“Not really, I joined the United States Army when I was eighteen and served for two years before…” Gospel paused briefly before continuing. “Anyway, I was apparently pretty damn good at killing people. My old CO had recommended me for the Green Berets and I was supposed to join them after my last tour. I never made it, though; some militants caught us in an ambush just outside of a tiny village and the last thing I remember is getting hit a couple dozen times. Didn’t hurt one bit, either.”

He chuckled morosely. “Funny really, you’d think getting killed would hurt but no, you feel a few things smack your chest and then next thing you know you’re waking up to a robot hovering in front of your face telling you that you’re the last hope for mankind.”

“Did you have a choice about fighting?” Luna asked him.

“Of course I did.” Gospel replied. “I could help the City any number of ways, but I decided to go with what I knew and that was war.” He stopped, blinked, and then turned his head away indignantly. “And why am I telling you all this?!”

“Perhaps you needed someone to talk to?” Luna inquired and Gospel scoffed.

“If I wanted to talk to someone, I’d talk to my teammates.” He told her and Luna cocked an eyebrow.

“So why do you not?”

Gospel wanted to answer, but he couldn’t.

‘What is the matter, Ian? I am worried about you.’

He remembered the way Aveline looked when she had said that and he felt angry with himself that he had chosen to leave instead of talk to her. He knew Aveline cared and both she and Samson were among the few people he trusted. He wanted to talk to them but… somehow he knew they wouldn’t understand, even Samson. He trusted both of them with his life and he’d lay it down for either of them in return, which was why it bothered him that he felt like he couldn’t talk to them about what was really bothering him, the things he’d kept bottled up ever since he’d been revived. He looked at the moon princess sitting next to him and sighed.

“I don’t… I don’t know.” He admitted, feeling ashamed. “Maybe because… they’d never understand just how different things are to me.”

“And you think I do?” Luna asked and Gospel shrugged.

“I… I guess.” He replied solemnly. “When you said you missed a thousand years of change and you were having a tough time coping… It was like you weren’t talking about yourself, but me.”

Luna smiled softly.

“Perhaps we both needed someone to talk to.” She told him. “I love my sister and my new friends, but that doesn’t mean they know how difficult the last few moons have been for me. They would truly mean any encouragement they’d give, but in the end t’would still ring hollow with ignorance.”

“Yeah, I suppose-”

Gospel was interrupted by a crashing sound similar to thunder. Luna’s ears perked up as a look that was equal parts confusion and suspicion crossed her muzzle, though Gospel immediately stood up, his heart gripped in dread with recognition.

“Thunder? Odd, there is nary a cloud in the sky…” Luna remarked.

“That wasn’t thunder…” Gospel said, and then he ran to his sparrow and jumped onto it, starting the engine.

‘Not good, not good!’ Scripture shouted despite Gospel being the only one who could hear him. ‘Scans are picking up hostile tags not far from our position!’

“What is the matter?” Luna asked, alarmed. “What was that sound if not thunder?!”

Gospel looked at the moon princess stoically.

“Something followed us here.”

Rainbow Dash and Pinkie Pie marveled as Samson brought the Mischief Maker close to the moon’s surface.

“Wowwie!” Pinkie exclaimed excitedly. “That doesn’t look much like cheese to me!”

“Scans do not indicate the presence of any edible material on the surface, Miss Pie.” Wedge stated.

“Hey, think we could land so that I could look around?” Rainbow Dash asked, but Samson shook his head.

“No, there’s no atmosphere and this ship doesn’t have any life-support suits onboard.” He replied. “Even if we did, they wouldn’t have been designed to fit ponies.”

“Bummer!” Pinkie remarked without seeming to be particularly disturbed. “Guess we’ll just have to fly around some more, right Wedgie?”

“’Wedgie’?” Wedge inquired, puzzled, and then his optics flashed briefly before turning to Samson. “This unit has registered the designation ‘Wedgie’.”

Everyone in the cockpit save Wedge started laughing.

“I bet Amanda’s gonna love that.” Samson remarked, but then Pinkie suddenly leapt onto the Titan’s shoulders and pointed at a monitor.

“Ooh, what’s with the pretty red light over there?” She asked. Samson took one look at the monitor and abruptly stopped laughing. Pinkie Pie and Rainbow Dash stopped laughing and looked at Samson, puzzled.

“What’s wrong, big- whoa!” Rainbow asked, but had to hold awkwardly onto the seat as the ship suddenly lurched away from the moon. “Hey, what’s the big idea, Samson?! Why are you flying like a bat outta Tartarus?”

“Unknown energy signature detected.” Wedge reported. “Unable to identify; potentially hostile jamming technology is rendering scanners ineffective.”

“Hostile?!” Rainbow exclaimed, slightly scared. “What’s going on?!”

“Whoa… that thing is big!” Pinkie remarked and they all looked out the window as a ship began to appear over the horizon of the dark side of the moon. “Is that another alien spaceship? Maybe they want to be friends too!”

‘A ketch!’ Gauge observed. ‘Bet they followed us here from Sol.’

“I… don’t think you understand what the word ‘hostile’ means, Pinkie.” Rainbow stated flatly.

“Set course for Equus, Wedge.” Samson commanded. “We have to warn the others that the Fallen are here.”