Carriages were scattered here and there. Most of them rusted and strewn with bullet holes. The rest were either burned to ash or disintegrated entirely. The bones of many different species littered the street, charred or bleached by the sunlight.
Among all of the destruction and death was a small metallic object scanning through the ruins, and every so often it would shake as if not liking its find. It would then float over to a new spot and scan again.
In the distance, alien creatures watched it through the scopes of their rifles. The leader of the three looked back to it's squad members and motioned to go after the metallic being and let out a mighty roar for blood.
The orb rather ignored the distant howl for the moment. Too intent on finding what it was looking for. It scanned one last place and spoke, "Could it be? ....It is!" It then dispersed into a larger orb of baby blue light with all its diamond shaped components surrounding it. Enveloping one of the skeletons. The center eye seemed focused and determined, and watched as the bones stuck together and muscles formed around them. Tissue wrapped everything as blood flowed into the body and the organs began to reform. Finally the brain was molded back to how it was before death and fur enveloped skin to create the finality of the creature, with one extra appendage in its forehead to create the horn.
The metal object then looked around and found some materials for armor and clothing. Once the metal body was satisfied with its work it spoke up with a metallic voice, "Guardian? Guardian!" the newly revived pony began to stir, "Wake up Guardian. ......Oh good, you're conscience." The rebirthed being looked at it confused, "I'm a Ghost. Well technically I'm your Ghost now." Another roar came from the alien creatures from afar. "We're not safe here. This is Fallen territory." It floated off a little as if to leave, then turned and came towards the body, "Hold still."
It disappeared and the bipedal looked around to see where it had gone until it heard a voice in its head, "Don't worry I'm still here. But we have to move. Head for that structure over there." An icon appeared in the vision of the pony.
"How did you do that," she asked, "Where am I, and what are you talking about? What are Fallen? How am I alive?" it spat out question after question only having more on the way.
"Look, I know you're confused, but we have to get to safety. I can answer all your questions later, okay?"
"Fine, but what do I call you? You said you were a... Ghost?"
"Yes, but names can come later. Let's move!" With that the Guardian moved a bit disoriented towards the factory building.
The building they were in was crumbling at the seems: wires dangled from holes in the ceiling, some parts of the floors above were crumbled at different angles to allow access to higher level, and the windows were either cracked or broken entirely. But at least they were safe... for now.
The guardian was gasping for breath, worn out from running and not getting any exercise for the past couple centuries.
"Alright then," the Ghost had stated, "now let's see about finding you a weapon. You're not gonna survive for long unless you're armed."
Finally catching her breath the guardian proclaimed, "Oh no! Not before I get some answers. Where are we? What happened? How am I alive?"
The Ghost floated for a second and then over to the females face. "We are on Earth in Equestia. The Darkness has returned and has wiped out almost every living thing that can't fight back. And you're alive because I brought you back with the power given to me by the Traveler. Are you satisfied for right now? Because we still have a lot of ground to cover."
"Fine. Lead the way." the Ghost began scanning again and with an 'aha', found a fire arm.
"Here, I've repaired it.... somewhat. It can still shoot, and there's enough ammo here to last you a while." it floated over a six-shot hand-cannon, fully loaded with the safety removed. Letting the guardian take the gun it said "By the way, I don't have a name. If you want, you're going to have to give me one."
The unicorn brought her hand to their chin as if thinking, "Hmmmmm, how about.... Specter. Since you did that weird phase-through-or-into-me thing."
"Specter.... I like it. Thank you Guardian." even though it didn't have a face, the Ghost's voice sounded happy.
"You're welcome. My name is Gemini Constel by the way. But you can shorten it if you want." Gemini smiled.
"Okay then. You ready then, Gem?"
"Alright Specter, let's get out of here." Gemini held out a hand and Specter floated above it happily.
"One last question. What are the Fallen?"
Gemini peered around a corner where a group of Fallen were searching about. She came back around bringing Specter into view. "Okay so those are Fallen?"
"Yes. Well, a certain type anyway. Those are Dregs, the lowest non-machine Fallen. They mostly use pistol-like firearms and arc blades for weapons. But they also have shock grenades so watch out for those." Specter explained. "I recommend aiming for the head. They tend to explode somewhat."
"Good advice. Thanks." Gemini put specter away and took a breath. Putting on her helmet as to not die again from a headshot. 'That would be embarrassing, dying only a few minutes of living again.' Gem thought.
She looked around the corner again and prepared. Then looked down the sights of the hand-cannon and pulled the trigger, *BANG* shooting off the head of one of the Dreg, watching as its gray matter and blood flowed and spewed everywhere. But the shot was loud and notified the rest of the group of her location. No turning back.
Gem shot at the other three Dreg. *BANG**BANG* Two shots in the chest of one, killing it. *BANG* *BANG* Another with a headshot watching it fall after missing once. *BANG* And the third took the last bullet to the chest, but didn't go down. Gem reloaded, trying to be quick with it, but the Dreg was already too close.
"Melee! Melee!! Thrust your arm forward, open handed." Specter shouted in Void's head.
"What!?"
"Just do it!"
She did so. Thrusting her right arm forward Gemini watched as a wave of blue blasted from her open palm. The Dreg was sent flying back, its bones shattered audibly, signifying it dead. A crystal like orb fell from its body.
"Look, an engram." Specter said looking at the green crystal. "Go pick it up."
Gemini walked forward and picked up the engram, "How did I do that?" she asked. She watched as Specter took the orb and it disappeared. Received an inventory update. Item Acquired: Coded Engram, Primary Weapon.
"How do I access my inventory?" Gem asked the Ghost
"All you have to do is ask." Specter came in front of her, bringing forth a screen that displayed the unicorn's body, armor, and weapons, along with the subclass in use. Currently it was the 'Voidwalker' subclass.
Gemini changed it to the Sunsinger subclass instead. "Let's see what kinda damage we can do with that." she said out loud. "Could you close that for now please?"
"Alright" Specter did so, and disappeared back into her armor. "Let's keep moving."
Gem walked ahead, reloaded the hand-cannon, and was ready to fight.
*BLAM*
Gemini struck down another Dreg, its head exploding while the body fell to its knees and plopped to the floor. *BLAM* *BLAM* Two more shots penetrated the chest of another before she had to reload again. But before Gem could grab another cylinder full of rounds she slapped away the Dreg that was about to lash out with its blade.
Inserting the bullets for the gun Gem was shocked when the Dreg shot back but didn't penetrate her armor. Aiming down the sight she took off the Dreg's head with one shot.
"Specter? You want to explain why I'm not full of holes right now?" Gemini asked the Ghost with confusion.
"Oh, well, your armor has a shield that absorbs damage. If it takes too much it will drop, leaving you exposed to enemy fire. Once we get to where we're going we can fly off to get you some new armor with a higher defense level."
"Alright then. How much further then?" she asked the floating machine.
"Not much farther." responded Specter as he floated about. "Hey look. A chest!" Spector floated over to the mechanized chest and observed it. Gem walked up beside her Ghost, "Open it."
She looked at it with concern, "Are you sure it's not trapped?"
The Ghost scanned the chest, "Positive."
"Okay." Gem bent her knees and opened the chest to see a Sniper Rifle and a new Helmet. "Hey cool! I can use this!" Gemini peered down the sight. "And it looks like I can get more kills if I'm far away."
Gemini took off her old helmet and put the on the new one, placing the sniper on the back of her armor where it magnetically attached.
Looking around with the helmet Gemini was distraught and took it back off.
"What's wrong?" Specter asked gently.
"It's got a higher defense rating, but I like the feel and HUD on my old helmet better." she explained a bit saddened.
"Why not have me infuse it then? I can take some of the better components of the newer helmet and replace them on your old one. It'll keep the feel and comfort the same while making it more defendable."
"You can do that?", the Ghost nodded, "Go ahead then! Please."
Gem stepped outside where the sun beat down with it's immense heat and ultraviolet rays. She had to bring a hand up to shield her eyes from the harsh light. Gemini looked over to the horizon where more Fallen Dreg were out searching along with a taller, better equipped version.
"Specter? What kinda Fallen is that?" she asked the small machine.
The Ghost materialized and registered the enemy. "That there is a Fallen Vandal. An enemy with much more fire power and better equipment then the Dreg's you've been fighting. There are three different types of Vandals. One that uses only arc blades in all four of its arms. The second type can use an invisibility device, so you have to have pretty good sight to see the waves that the light pass through, they use either guns or blades. And the third, which is the one you're looking at, uses both guns and arc knives."
"Alright. So what's the best way to kill them?"
"Either pick 'em off from far away, or keep doing what you've been doing. It doesn't matter as long as they end up dead. We've lost too many guardians to the Fallen army, so every loss to them is a small benefit to our side."
Gem nodded in understanding, and brought the sniper's scope to eye level. It was heavy, so the gun wobbled a bit and Gem had to wait for the right moment when the reticle was targeting the head of the Vandal just right. She breathed in and pulled the trigger. *BLAM* The rifle let out a resounding crack as the bullet traveled, whizzing through and breaking the wind around it. Striking home within the mask the Vandal wore and through the head, sending smoke and gore into the air.
The Vandal dropped, and the Dregs surrounding it turned and began to charge at the one who dared kill their squad leader. Firing shot after shot. Gemini switched to the hand-cannon, and let the sniper magnetically attach to the back of her armor.
She looked down the sight and began pulling the trigger.
The fight was on!
Author's Note
Next Time: The Cosmodrome Part One
Gemini Constel sat on the rooftop of building, having jumped around and climbed on various objects and broken vehicles to get there. Now she sat there, looking out at the ruins.
"Hey Specter." Gemini asked the small metal object to her right. "You never told me the specific location we're in."
The Ghost looked up at his guardian, "Oh. Well, currently we are in an old Cosmodrome somewhere between Fillydelfia and Manehatten."
She nodded, "Right then, now for a better question: Where are we going?"
Specter gave a series of beeps and boops, "There's a bunker not very far from here. Full of Fallen. That's where we need to go."
Again she nodded, "Alright, what's so special about the bunker?"
The Ghost made another series of beeps. "You'll see." was all he said before disappearing in a pixilated blue blur. Gemini magnetized the sniper to her back and reloaded her hand-cannon. Then hopped down from the building and landed, following the waypoint marker that flashed in her visor.
Gemini peered around a corner with the hand-cannon aimed at the head of a Dreg. *BLAM* It went down with a thud that alerted the rest of the group. *BLAM**BALM* Gem felled the other two before they could get too close, and reloaded again. Then began moving forward again. Around another corner was the hanger bay Specter was talking about.
The inside of the room was filled with Fallen. Dreg scurried about and Vandals guarded the interior. Then there was what looked like the leader in the area. Gemini went wide eyed and hid behind the corner before it could see her.
"Specter? What... the hell... is that?" She asked, shaken.
The Ghost peered around the corner ever so carefully and turned back to the frightened guardian, "That, is a Fallen Captain. One of the more higher ranked of their army. They're big, they're heavily armed, and they're deadly. They have been granted a sort of overshield that allows them to stay in battle longer. However, the shield can be broken with enough firepower and the Captain will be exposed. The downside is that the shield regenerates if he doesn't take damage for an allotted amount of time."
"Okay, anything else?"
"They can teleport short distances." under the visor Gemini's pupils had shrank. "Yeah... best to take them out from a distance. Lucky for you, you have a sniper rifle."
"Are there... other ways to kill them off?" Void asked skeptically.
The Ghost blinked, "If you had a shotgun you could take them down at close range. Or mid-range with a fusion rifle."
".......The fuck's a fusion rifle?!"
"You'll find out. In time. But for now, you should figure out a way to get me to that ship." Gemini peered back through the door.
The hanger was in ruins and pieces of the roof were only hanging by threads of wire and mesh. 'If I place a shot just right, I could hit that metal beam and have the bullet ricochet off into his head.' Gemini rose the barrel of the rifle, and tried very hard not to misplace the shot less the Fallen know of their position.
Specter took note of the struggle that she was showing. "Need some help?" Specter had asked his companion.
"..."
"..."
"..."
"..."
".......No." Gemini said defiantly, slinging the rifle across her right shoulder, barrel pointed towards the ground. Not bringing the hand-cannon out of its holster. Gemini Constel stepped out from behind the wall and into the room, the Fallen now aware of the presence of Light. Aiming their weapons and readying themselves for combat, until Gemini slowly sat on her knees and removed the sniper and hand-cannon to place them on the ground. "I am not your enemy." she had said with vigor and honesty.
The Fallen were hesitant and Specter shocked while still floating behind the doorway. The Captain had spoken in it's native tongue at a group of four, two being Dregs and the others Vandals. The Dregs commandeered the dropped weapons and the Vandals held Gem's arms behind her back. Specter, meanwhile, had already disappeared into the armor of his guardian.
The Captain pressed a few buttons on it's lower right arm and they all teleported onto a nearby Skiff. The Fallen piloted the vessel until it came to a landed Ketch.
Gemini Constel was now their prisoner.