The air was thick in Ponyville, something was off and everypony knew it, an air of seriousness was everywhere. As the Elements of Harmony gathered in the Castle of Friendship, they discussed what was going to happen about the mood of the citizens of Ponyville.

"I think you all know why I called you here girls." Twilight said as she sat down in chair at the magic table.

"Ooh! Ooh! Is it because everypony is all super serious?!" Pinkie shouted as she bounced in her chair with a hoof raised in the air.

Twilight looked to Pinkie and replied. "Actually... yes. Something is bothering everypony and we need to get to the bottom of it."

"Pinkie dear, why don't you just throw one of your parties? That's sure to raise everypony's spirits." Rarity said before nodding her head.

Pinkie sat there staring at Rarity as if she had grown another horn. Everyone at the table raised an eyebrow at their friend. GASP "You're so right! One of my parties has to get everypony to cheer up!" After hearing their friend, everypony in the room sighed in relief.

"But why's everypony actin' like this in the first place?" Applejack spoke up.

"Yeah! Why is everypony all mopey in the first place?" Rainbow Dash said, agreeing with her farm-pony friend.

"That's something I want to find out too, everypony wouldn't act like this for no reason." Twilight concurred with a hoof to her chin and a look of thought on her face.

It was a dark night on the roads of New York. Even when the lights of the city lit the streets, they could not light the darkest corners and alleyways of the city.

"So... Get home, eat something, play a round or two of some games, go to sleep... Sounds like a plan to me!" Martin thought to himself as he walked the poorly lit streets of outer New York. Martin himself wasn't for walking out late at night, but when he needs to clear his head, a breath of fresh— or at least... as close to fresh air as you can get, he'd be out for the whole night.

Martin blended into his surroundings with a jet black hoodie, a pair of loose jeans, and a pair of steel-toed work boots. His choice of attire was something he kept with him his whole time in the city. Even when he was rummaging through his choice of clothing, there wasn't much of a difference between all of the articles of clothing he owned, from what he was wearing now.

BZZRT

Martin pulled his phone from the pocket of his hoodie and tapped the screen, he smiled as he saw who was texting him. It was his roommate Liz. Or Elizabeth, but they both proffered the nickname.

"Where are you? It's late..." A text from his roommate was something that rarely happened, while she wasn't one to care what he did, she did make the effort to worry.

"Out for some air, I'll be back later." Martin said as he typed away at the on-screen keyboard of his phone. He paused before he looked back down and started typing again. "Say hello to Anne for me."

Martin stuck the phone back into his pocket and kept making his way down the unlit sidewalks.

BZZRT

He pulled his phone back out and looked at the text. "Just get back here safe, the news said people are disappearing. She says hi back." Martin chuckled as he stuffed the phone back in his pocket.

"Okay, mom." He muttered to himself.

Liz was someone that had been his friend for a while, the moment he moved to New York, he had to look for a roommate to split the bills with, and Liz was the first one to reply to the ad. Martin got the couch in the living room and Liz got the actual room, something that they both agreed on and Martin actually proffered. Anne on the other hand, was the girlfriend of Liz. This led to complications between the three of them, but it left them with an agreement. No going bumper-to-bumper when somebody is in the room next to your own. And when they made that agreement, that 'someone' was him.

Hiss~

"Huh?" Martin's head turned to the alley he was passing, he looked in it to see if it was just a stray cat, when he squinted all he could see was a trio of green lights forming a triangle of sorts. It moved slowly towards him

"What the fuck is that?" He muttered to himself.

SCREECH Was all Martin heard before the lights shot towards him. The stomping of feet could be heard as the lights got closer and closer.

"Fuck!" He shouted as he tried to turn and run, only to be thrown to the ground as something smashed into his back. The breathe was forced from his lungs and his throat burned as it left. He turned over to see what attacked him, only to be met with something that would bring him nightmares. In front of him was a creature, thinner than him and it looked to be somewhat shorter. It had no eyes besides the three green lights. Its arms were long and they led down to a massive pair of claws, stretching bigger than his whole head.

The creature let out another inhuman screech from a maw of razor sharp teeth before raising a claw into the air and bringing it down onto Martin's head, slamming it into the concrete, making him black out.

"Eyes up Guardian."

Martin's eyes fluttered open, and the sight he was greeted with was something he was not expecting. A tiny floating... thing was in front of him, it seemed like some sort of robot. Its single digital eye flickering as it stared at him. Martin pushed himself away from the floating eye.

"I wasn't expecting you to wake up, but this is good." The tiny robot looked away.

"W—What are you talking about?" Martin asked, his new voice strange to him. It sounded... robotic. The eye looked back to him.

"You Guardian, I wasn't expecting you to wake up after what happened."

"What, happened... exactly?"

"After you and the other guardians defeated Atheon, something went wrong. The fabric of what made the vault seemed to fall apart."

After that was said, images burned their way through Martin's head, his allies, the Vault of Glass, Atheon, everything. The memories came back to him. He clutched his head in pain. The thing in front of him was his Ghost.

"Hurting? Don't worry, it'll pass, in the mean time, let's find out where we are." His Ghost said before disappearing.

"Where did you go?" Martin said as he looked around him. He was on a road, and in front of him was a bridge. The sound of running was faintly heard.

"Don't worry, I'm not gone, just... not here. Physically."

Martin got up from the ground and dusted himself off, a cape billowed behind him in the wind. He looked down at himself and saw that he was wearing armor.

"Uh hey, Ghost?"

"Yes Guardian?"

"Do you have anything that shows what I've got on me?"

A moment later a screen appeared in front of him. In the middle of the whole thing was what he could assume was him. His helmet had bronze-yellowish colored plating with a single eye in the middle of it, the chin of the helmet was pointed. The chest plate was the same color, a single neon orange wire running from underneath it it into a hole just above where it stuck out of. A black weave like material made up the fabric that covered his gut and below. All the way until one of his thighs, which was covered by the same material as his chest. And finally, knee-guards. Like the rest, was a bronze-yellowish color. Martin slid his fingers across the screen and the image spun around. That's when he noticed the cape and hood. The whole thing was comprised of two pieces but the cape had been stitched together. The design of golden wolf heads on either side of a golden tree that had made up a circle that encompassed the whole design. The whole thing led up to two plates that held up a jet black cowl and equally black hood that shrouded most of his helmet.

Martin looked to the right of the screen to see boxes that held pictures of what he was wearing. He looked to the left and saw what looked like weapons. He tapped the top one of the three, it was a purple box with the picture in the middle. Fatebringer. It was a revolver with a ammo capacity of twelve shots, the damage was through the roof and an added ability called Arc Damage. He looked to the next one, this one was yellow. Martin stared at it before he tapped it with his finger. Ice Breaker. A sniper rifle with six shots, damage was even higher than the Fatebringer, this one had Solar Damage and the ability to recharge ammo over time. Martin looked to the last one and tapped the screen. Corrective Measure. An LMG that had Void Damage as a perk and a hundred shots as the capacity. Martin noticed an arrow that had pointed downward, just as he was about to tap it. He was interrupted.

"Guardian, I suggest we begin moving, don't want to stay our here all day."

Martin looked back down at the screen in front of him and nodded. He moved away from it and the screen shrank down into nonexistence. He looked to the trail ahead of him with the bridge and buildings in the distance. Martin reached for his back and the ghost produced the Ice Breaker. He held in front of him and began to march forward.

"I have no clue what the hell is going on..."

"Is everypony enjoying the party?!" Pinkie shouted with a smile on her face as she bounced around the main room of the castle. She was met with cheers. This made her smile even wider. Music and the chatting and cheering of ponies filled the air.

"Pinkie! The party was just what Ponyville needed!" Twilight yelled over the noise.

"But not the one it deserved." Pinkie said with a completely straight face before smiling again.

Twilight was taken aback by the sudden attitude, but shrugged and trotted off the enjoy the party. Pinkie watched Twilight walk away. When she was about to go and grab a cupcake or two from the snack table, her whole body began to vibrate.

"Wowie! Zowie! That was a doozy!" Pinkie said she stopped shaking.

"What's goin' on Pinkie?" Applejack asked as she stopped in front of her pink friend.

"I don't know Applejack, I just had the biggest doozy ever!" Pinkie said.

"What do ya mean?"

"My Pinkie sense told me somepony new came to Ponyville and that them coming here was going to be a doozy!"

The music and chatting was silenced as the sound of somepony banging on the castle door filled he air.

BANG BANG BANG

"Don't worry Twilight! It's somepony new! I'll get it!"

Martin arrived in town found the whole place to be a ghost town. Nobody was seen anywhere. He made his way to the tall shiny tree and as he got closer the sound of music and people chatting and cheering filled the air. Once he got the doors, he raised a fist and brought it down three times and waited. The music cut out and the people inside stopped chatting.

The door opened with a large creak. Martin was greeted by nobody.

"Hi! You must be new to Ponyville! Come on in! We've already got a party goin'." Martin looked down to see who was speaking, it was a bright pink pony with an afro. His mind skipped as he stared at the waist high pony. The pink pony opened her eyes and looked up at the tall bipedal creature.

Fear filled her eyes and she began to stutter. Martin tilted his head. "M-M-MONSTER!" She screamed.

"Shit! What the fuck did I do?!" Martin thought to himself as the pink pony ran back into the building. Some shouting was heard behind the doors and they were enveloped in a violet aura. They swung open and a number of ponies were seen inside. The most noticeable though were the six that were right behind the door as it opened.

He looked at two of them to see looks of anger. He turned and ran with rifle in hand. His agility powered up by his abilities.

"Yo Ghost! Is there anything special I can do?!"

A moment went by before. "Oh no you don't, you're not getting away from me!" Rainbow Dash said as she took flight

"You have your weapons of light! Reach forth to the heavens and let light fill your mind and take its shape!"

Martin stowed the Ice Breaker away and jumped into the air, raising a hand and grasping at nothing, his mind cleared and he felt a surge of power rush through him. The sound of crackling lightning was all he heard as a knife made of pure energy made its way into his hand. He landed back on the ground and spun in place. The rainbow pony was right on top of him before he tossed his knife into the air. Martin dropped to his hands and spun his legs around and brought a foot up into the bottom jaw of the rainbow pony. Lightning arced from his boot and into the pony, sending it flying off and its fur slightly singed. He pushed himself off the ground and back onto his feet. He looked up and reached a hand to the falling knife and caught it.

The five others caught up and watched with wide eyes at what he had done. "Let the light bend around you like it bends to your will, let it cloak you and leave them blind." Martin grabbed his cloak and spun, leaving him invisible the the five ponies in front of him.

"What the fuck did I do to deserve this?!" Was all he thought before he decided to try and sneak away.

Author's Note

This was the cloak I was gong for.