Dark Revelations

A legion of large cocoons surrounded the mane six from all sides, hanging down from the high ceiling above. They all looked to crack at any second. More hive? More corrupted guardians? Only the traveler knows what's hidden inside.

A colony of skulls and bones gathered on the bottom of both walls, exacerbating the already morbid atmosphere. To the distance were three wizards, whose unmistakable tattered robes encircled a heart shaped artifact, which levitated above a lone pedestal. The artifact was submerged in an aura of darkness, its light being sucked out, transferring to the wizards' bony hands.

"What in tarnation is all this?" Applejack asked.

"See, I told you...death," The introverted hunter responded.

"They look like pinatas!" Pinkie Pie noticed the cocoons. "Are the Hive having some sort of party? I want in!"

"Better yet Pinkie Pie, lets crash their party," Rainbow Dash stated as she started charging towards the Hive humanoids.

Twilight became irritated by Rainbow Dash's habits. "She really has to stop doing that."

"Darling, her impulsiveness going to get us all killed," Rarity remarked.

The wizards payed no mind as they were too entrenched the absorption of the artifact's power.

Rainbow Dash ran at such a great speed that a slipstream became visible around her. When she reached one of the wizards, Rainbow Dash elbowed it in the chest, creating a thunderous noise as the malevolent being reeled back to the other side of the room. Before it could recover, Rainbow Dash glided towards the wizard, and a shotgun blast put an end to the Wizard's short life, as it dissolved in an orange light, screaming its last shriek.

In response to Rainbow Dash's strike, the other wizards raised their left hand, screeching very loudly. The strident sharpness of the screech caused everyone to stagger back. All of the cocoons were now trembling, cracking, yearning to release their monstrosities upon the six guardians. They all cracked open, an army of thralls, knights, Fallen, and even Vex alike dropping to the ground, causing the remaining five guardians to raise their weapons.

A lone Fallen captain was in front, surrounded by what used to be his vandals and dregs. Despite having their minds twisted, their sense of honor nearly broken, the Hive still kept the idea of a captain with his crew. They even let their puppets keep their shrapnel and arc weapons, their humanoid form, even the way the Fallen operated in the battlefield; such benevolence at the hands of indoctrination. However, a few of the dregs among the captain's ranks weren't so lucky. Some of the them only had one arm, probably cut of by the captain himself for the failure to comply. The left side of the dregs' bodies were somewhat melted compared with the right side, others had large right arms while their left arm was minuscule. Why did the dregs always get the worst of anything and everything? There was one part of them however that startled Twilight.

The same black veins covered most of their bodies, their bright green eyes staring their prey down, ravenous for blood and light.

However, the true deformities were the horrible integration of synthetics and organics. In spite of having the worst among the Fallen, the dregs appreciated not becoming like the Vex behind them. Only goblins, hobgoblins and harpies were in the battle, the Hive failed to figure out how to corrupt a minotaur, it would automatically shut itself down with it sensed a disturbance within its subconscious. The Hive needed their victim to be alive, to still control their own mind, despite the effectiveness of Hive corruption, it was still flawed.

The majority of the goblins didn't even have their own head, all they could do was charge their opponent while firing, like they always did. The Hive would've scrapped them if they didn't provide a critical distraction. The goblins would be bait for their contorted snipers, the hobgoblins. The Vex never prioritized mobility, but the giant pulsating sacks on the backs of the hobgoblins prevented them from moving at all. In turn, their line rifle snipers and slap grenades would be a lot more powerful, with this extra strength deriving from their giant sacks. Their snipers would now penetrate any surface, while their slap grenades would cause shockwaves across the ground. The minimal mobility hobgoblins had was traded for power.

Just looking at the victims of corruption disgusted Rarity.

"Oh god, I'm probably going to throw up." The aesthetic warlock didn't even get to experience the smell of blood and guts blocked by her helmet.

The lone corrupted captain pointed towards the six, signaling their army of monstrosities to attack. Hoards of thrall started charging with blood lust, the headless goblins following. Some of the vandals moved to the outskirts of the battle to snipe, while the sword bearing vandals and the knife bearing dregs charged at the mane six. The dregs and thrall were easy pickings for Twilight, every headshot she landed with her Fatebringer caused a dreg to explode, killing a few more dregs who were close enough to the blast. Applejack killed the charging vandals with her Universal Remote long before they reached her. Pinkie Pie mowed down waves of thrall with her Thunderlord, charging was obviously not the best strategy to take out the six guardians. However, the Hive didn't make their puppets charge to kill.

Now the mane six would be easy targets for the snipers, who were being taken out one by one by Fluttershy, who used her stealth to sneak her way outside the chaos and snipe the snipers with her Patience and Time. Taking out the vandals wasn't challenging, the hobgoblins however, were another story. With power came sturdiness, Fluttershy had to waste a whole clip just to take out one. Another hobgoblin detected her and threw a slap grenade at her. Avoiding them were easy, they didn't stick to you and they took time to detonate, but they weren't designed to kill, those grenades were made to get the shooter out of their position, which worked perfectly on Fluttershy as her invisibility wore off. Being able to see Fluttershy stumbling from the impact of the grenade, the second hobgoblin shot her, Fluttershy narrowly avoided it.

Seeing how vulnerable Fluttershy was, the remaining captain charged at her with his swords. The corrupted Fallen slashed upwards at Fluttershy, sending her flying from the impact, rolling to the ground. Fluttershy was the luckiest guardian, her shields protected her from armor penetration. The Fallen captain walked towards the defenseless Fluttershy, her shields drained, her heart beat accelerating in immense fear. He raised his swords, preparing to finish off his prey, but in the same moment was consumed in a blast of void, his body dissolved, floating in the air until it disappeared from sight.

Standing behind what used to be the captain was Twilight Sparkle, holding her Plug One.1 fusion rifle, orange and black with the vanguard logo painted on it, which clarified where it came from.

"Are you okay Fluttershy?" Twilight asked as she extended her arm for Fluttershy.

"Uh...yeah," Fluttershy panted, she truly thought that she was going to die at the hands of that captain.

But Fluttershy was ambivalent whether getting stabbed here was better than being burned alive from the dragon.

The second wizard started firing towards Rainbow Dash with its arc projectiles. Rainbow Dash evaded the projectiles with ease as once again a slipstream formed around her. Rainbow Dash shoulder charged the second wizard, causing only its solar shield to get destroyed. Before Rainbow Dash could move in for the kill, the third wizard trapped her in a poisonous sphere of dark energy, diminishing Rainbow Dash's speed dramatically, while draining her shields. The other levitating beast recovered, her shields regenerating, and moved towards Rainbow Dash, preparing to usurp her light.

Rarity moved in with her Gjallarhorn and fired a shell at the two remaining wizards. The blast immediately killed one, but it was not done. After the blast, a group of smaller shells formed, they chased the other wizard as it tried to get away, until the projectiles caught their prey, leaving yet another explosion. No one could escape the mighty Gjallarhorn's wrath.

"I told you not to charge at these beasts and look what happened," Rarity said.

"I would've killed those wizards you know," The egotistical titan responded.

"Yes, with those two beasts looming over you while you were trapped. I'm sure that you could have held your own darling," Rarity said in a sarcastic tone.

"Wasn't that fun?!" Pinkie Pie butted in. "Did you have fun because I had fun. All those Hive things went ROOOOOAAAAARRRR! While we all went PEW PEW PEW PEW! And then Rainbow Dash went ZZZONNNCCCH! Then Rarity went PKCHOEWWWWOOOOO!" Pinkie Pie was her usual eccentric self.

Twilight was walking back towards the pedestal and picked up the heart shaped artifact. The aura of shadow consuming it started diminishing once the wizards died.

"It's the Crystal Heart," Twilight said. "Why didn't the Vanguards tell me that it was here? Did you all know about this?"

"We all thought you knew," Applejack said.

"They were obviously hiding something," Spike stated.

Twilight just came to an unsettling assertion. "Spike, what if they sent us down here, you know, to dispose of us?" She murmured.

"Why would they do that?" The ghost whispered.

"Perhaps they still think I'm corrupted, after what happened to Trixie. You know how Zavala has treated me with disdain ever since."

"Then why send us here, where the Hive can just corrupt you without their supervision?"

"That I don't know. I guess I shouldn't be surprised about the Crystal Heart being here, since the Crystal Empire was destroyed not too long ago."

Rainbow Dash became suspicious over their little discussion. "What are you two going on about?"

"What should we do with this, considering there's no Crystal Empire to return it to?" Twilight asked.

"Something as divine as that would be most safe in my hands," Rarity coaxed.

"I don't know," Twilight pondered. "You have a tendency to run out in the open with your rocket launcher, you might break it." This made Rarity's scolding of Rainbow Dash's charging hypocritical.

"What?!" The fashionably robed warlock was surprised by that comment. "Darling, I'm very careful when it comes to such shiny pieces of art such as this. I'm not as careless as some people!" She gestured in Rainbow Dash's direction.

"I was gonna kill those wizards if it weren't for your stupid rocket launcher," Rainbow Dash said, catching the insult.

"That wizard came from the moon," Pinkie Pie randomly butted in. The purple and green ghost wanted to slap her across the face for saying that, if he had arms that is.

"Sir Gjallarhorn doesn't like to be spoken to in that manner." Rarity ignored Pinkie Pie's extraneous comment. "I'd suggest you apologize this instant,"

"Sir Gjallarhorn?" Rainbow Dash said with irritation.

"Yes, this launcher has more grace and elegance than you ever will," Rarity boasted. "It can wreak havoc in a more exquisite manner than your barbaric shoulder charge."

"It steals my kills in an exquisite manner," The blue titan muttered.

"I'll give it to Fluttershy, since she always stays back," The purple robed warlock stated. "Also, she is mature enough to handle something as prominent as the Crystal Heart."

Twilight handed Fluttershy the artifact. She looked upon the crystalline surface, which glistened in the little light the cave had. She gradually became nervous about handling such a responsibility. Fluttershy did her best not to show her fear.

"Really Twilight, her out of all people?" The egotistical titan said with contempt. "The girl is scared of her own shadow. She's probably going to get scared enough to drop it."

"I trust her enough to not do that," Twilight responded. Besides, whenever there's a problem, she could just say so. Right Fluttershy? Fluttershy?" Twilight could have sworn that she just saw her.

"She's probably crouching down and hiding from her own shadow," Rainbow Dash still continues to patronize the elusive hunter.

"I'm right here," Fluttershy remarked tentatively, who was behind Twilight the whole time.

"Oh, there you are. Make sure to keep the Crystal Heart safe okay?"

"Yeah, I...I will," Fluttershy wished that she just stayed home. At this point, Angel was probably stirring up trouble in her cottage. However, the saving grace was her wolf Witherfang, who probably kept the little bastard in line(he didn't even need his daunting growl, as the quick-witted wolf eventually adapted the stare perfectly).

"Don't come crying Twilight when Fluttershy breaks it," Rainbow Dash sighed.

The pit below the bridge was huge and seemed bottomless, the hole at the end of the bridge would force the six to descend upon it. That wasn't the worst part. The bridge was already formed. In every hive bridge, whether it be on the Hellmouth or their even in their own world, a bridge of the same type would have to be built, usually by stepping on one of the plates before it. Here, there was a plate, with two demonic looking totems on each of the mane six's sides. This can only mean one thing.

The hive are leading them into a trap. But with this being the only path available, where else could they go?

"Well, this is awfully convenient," Twilight said.

"Too convenient," Applejack noted.

"This is obviously some kind of trap," Rarity stated.

"Um, I'd suggest to not j..jump down into that b...b..bottomless pit, if any of you mind that is?" Looking down was the bane of Fluttershy's confidence.

"There's no other way Fluttershy," Twilight said.

"So you're saying we're gonna have to jump down into that trap?" Rainbow Dash thought this plan was stupid. "What if they have an ambush waiting for us?"

"Do you have any other way that can lead us to that Ahamkara?"

"What's an Ahamkara?" Rainbow Dash wasn't around for the great Ahamkara hunt.

"They're basically dragons that contain magical properties originating from their bones. They're your everyday dragons, but they contain both void and solar energy. One can say the traveler created them, but I don't believe that. I'm interested in finding..."

"Okay, Twilight, I don't need to know all that," Rainbow Dash responded.

"Going down that bridge is the only way that I see that will lead to that dragon," Spike said. "After that though, only the Traveler knows what's down there."

"Y'all can't jump that, the Crystal Heart is gonna break on the fall," Applejack addressed.

"You're not going to make me j..jump that are y..you?" Fluttershy asked.

"Well then Fluttershy is just going to have to hang on tight," Twilight said.

Fluttershy squealed in immense fear.

"You don't have to, you can just find your way back, through all those tight spaces, and even climbing back down that mountain." Reverse psychology was not exactly Spike's forte, but it worked against someone as timid as Fluttershy.

"I should've stayed home," She faintly responded.

"Don't worry about it Fluttershy," Pinkie Pie said. "Pitfalls are lots of fun, see? Look." She started running across the bridge and jumped inside the hole. The eccentric titan yelled, "WEEEEEEEEEEeeeeeeeeeee" the whole time, her voice fainted as she went farther down.

"Well, lets get this over with," Rainbow Dash sighed as she went next, showcasing no fear as she jumped down.

After Rarity and Twilight went, Applejack assisted Fluttershy in gathering the courage to jump. Applejack was behind her as she jumped. At first, they both fell at a great speed, nearly giving Fluttershy motion sickness as she held the crystal heart as tightly as she possibly could. As they neared the bottom, both of their speeds dragged down dramatically, and surprisingly, both came to a soft landing. The crystal heart didn't suffer a single crack, to the hunter's astonishment.

It went all well and good, except that the room the six landed was pitch black, no one could see anything. Silence hang in the air, well maybe except Fluttershy's panting from that huge fall. Twilight broke the silence.

"Spike, do you know where we are?"

"No, I never saw this part of the map, but the cursor was leading to it, so I guess we're supposed to be here," The purple and green ghost noted.

"Do you know a way out of here?"

"Only the traveler knows if there's any."

Twilight couldn't help but think about her previous assertion about the vanguards disposing of her.

"Wasn't that fun?!" The pink energetic titan yelled. "Lets do that again!"

"No! Let's not," Fluttershy was fed up with this cave. "Um, if...that's okay with you."

Whatever beings inside the pit with them seemed to detect the noise as pairs of bright green eyes popped up in front of them. In the center was a pair of giant green eyes.

"Thanks a lot Pinkie Pie," Rainbow Dash said.

"What?" Pinkie Pie became perplexed.

Spike illuminated the room to get a better look of the denizens of this god forsaken pit.

A silhouette of a dragon appeared.

"Twilight?" Spike said, now intimidated.

"Yeah?" She asked.

"I think we've found that Ahamkara."

A thunderous roar was all that was heard.

Celestia was very displeased about recent events. Her long white fabric robe, flaming warlock bond and the long, multiple shades of green, sky blue, pink and purple of her hair displayed her standing, grabbing the attention of nearly every guardian and vendor in the proximity. The white robe was accompanied with bright yellow designs of ponies in the bottom, in a similar style to the Iron Regalia Vestments. The pony designs were in tribute to the ponies that resided in Equestria during the golden age.

She intended to talk to the warlock vanguard Ikora Rey, she was the only vanguard that she trusted. Zavala has no decency or respect for the people that she ruled over, and Cayde at times tried to pull off shady tactics. Besides, Ikora offered Twilight a spot in the Hidden, which were a group of guardians who would go behind enemy lines to serve as her eyes and ears. Some of them contained guardians who were exiled, turned away by everyone else, but Ikora still saw the light within them, and they are given a second chance. For Twilight, this was what kept her in the tower. Both Ikora and Celestia are the remaining two that still sense the benevolent light and believed that it ultimately fought off the temptations of the darkness within her.

But now, it seemed like their beliefs were being disregarded.

Celestia called Ikora to the Traveler's Walk, where there wouldn't be anyone. Whenever you wanted to appreciate the true beauty of the tower and the city, this would be the perfect place. There was no one to disturb you, except the occasional Lord Saladin hosting his monthly Iron Banner event. Whenever Celestia visited the tower, she would go here. It was her last bastion for stress relief, no place in Equestria provided this anymore, either the Fallen or the Hive inhabited every piece of land she owned. When she would make her first steps, the two emerging trees on each side would signal to her that human architecture and nature can intertwine to create something beautiful.

What claimed the peaceful nature was the stone walkway surrounded by a light stream. Flower pedals would float among the liquid surface without a care for the world. Even the smallest details made the Traveler's Walk a haven for those that wanted peace or to just get away from the hectic lifestyle of the city or their fight against the darkness.

Celestia wanted to get away from everything.

"I thought Twilight would be protected by the Hidden," Celestia said as she walked on the stone pathway.

"I thought so too, but Zavala and even the Speaker are still convinced that she has been seduced by the shadows," Ikora said.

"And you did nothing to stop them?"

"I told them as long as she remains in the Hidden, there was nothing they can do about her staying in the tower. It seemed like they heeded my words for a while."

"What did they eventually do?"

"They brought the matter to the consensus. They both share the same ideas unfortunately."

"Did they order that Twilight to be thrown into death like this?"

"No, but the majority voted for her to be removed from the tower," Ikora said. "They still see Twilight as a threat to the light, especially after what happened with the likes with Trixie Lulamoon. The resurgence of the Ahamkara was only convenient for them. They were originally going to force me to order her to infiltrate the dragon's lair alone, but they got greedy."

"So they ordered five more guardians from under my wing?" Celestia now had even more reason to hate Zavala.

"Whenever a guardian is without their ghost, they are more susceptible to the darkness," Celestia wanted to slap Ikora across the face for trying to justify their actions all of a sudden, but decided against it.

"These ghostless guardians are under my jurisdiction," Celestia stated. "They have no right to send them out into missions without my consent. Did Cayde pull off his underhanded shit again?" It took a lot for someone as calm and collected as Celestia to curse like that.

"I think he used someone from your ranks to spread the message." Celestia was having a miserable day. It it weren't for the peaceful atmosphere of the Traveler's walk, she would've snapped. She placed her hand on her face in frustration.

"Ikora, I don't know what to do," Celestia couldn't help but vent.

"What do you mean?"

"Canterlot is in shambles with constant threats of Fallen invasion. Both them and the Hive are taking Equestria piece by piece. Lots of people have died in my hands trying to defend them all. Then, when the House of Devils struck Canterlot for the first time, Luna took a sword to the chest, I...I don't even know how she's still alive," Celestia could sense tears forming within her.

"This Ahamkara everybody is afraid of is in my territory and if every guardian in the Crystal Empire didn't lay a single scratch on it, then how am I to defend all of Equestria when the beast makes its next move?" Sadness combined with anger dominated her voice.

"And now, my ghostless guardians are being targeted. I shouldn't be surprised, they're always treated like minorities." Tears threatened to escape Celestia's eyes and slip down onto her face, but she managed to fight them off.

"I'm sorry, I didn't know," Ikora said.

"I don't want your pity, I want your help."

"What do you need?"

"I need guardians Ikora. Guardians to defend Canterlot from the Fallen."

"I don't know if I can spare any of my guardians. I barely have any as it is, also, a few more of my guardians disappeared gathering information on that Ahamkara. I always have to keep a few just in case the city is attacked."

Celestia sighed in disappointment.

Ikora noticed the wrinkles under Celestia's eyes. "When was the last time you've slept?"

"I...I don't know."

Nobody knew.

"Perhaps you should get some rest."

"Then who's going to defend Equestria from the darkness? I wish I could rest, but I can't. Not when that dragon is still out there, looming over the land that I try so desperately to protect. Besides, there's no one that can take my place, Luna is still recovering from her injury, while Cadence is still coping with the destruction of her Empire. Speaking of which, how is she?"

"Cadence is getting better. She actually managed to get out of bed today, but that was all the progress she made."

"Does she still allow no one to talk to her?"

"She managed to grow more comfortable talking with me," Ikora said. "Cadence is worried about you Celestia, she recalls the last time she saw you, you seemed very stressed. She suggested that she would take your place when she feels ready to do so."

"No, that's ridiculous, she needs to recover."

"You too, we all need our rest, we're merely mortals." Ikora suggested.

"I can't while Equestria is still threatened, while that dragon is still alive."

"What if Twilight manages to kill the beast?" Ikora asked.

"As much as I believe in my most faithful student, I must be provident for the worst case scenario."

"If you don't have any idea how to fight this supposed Ahamkara, how are you going to prepare?"

"Not even the Traveler knows."