Celestia's Bad Friends

        “WHAT DO YOU MEAN THE SECOND DREAM IS ENDING?!” Proto-Excalibur’s voice echoed through the whole Tenno Mining Installation with equal amounts of rage and fear. “IT WAS THE ONLY WAY TO KEEP THE KIDS SAFE!”

        “I know that! But Hunhow and Stalker have left me no choice!” Lotus bemoaned worriedly. “Ember Prime has been doing her best, but in the end I can only hope, I’m just letting you know what is about to happen, and to prepare your clan to retrieve their True Selves as quickly as possible along with all other Tenno.”

        “Damn it. If we weren’t vulnerable already….”

        “I plan to tempt New Loka to colonise the moon when it returns to Earth orbit, hopefully they will be more than enough to help defend it once the system resets. As a side note, it will be interesting to see how the Earth grows with two moons instead of one.”

        “Heh, yeah, you getting the moon in the Void in the first place was an amazing feat, but then dropping a similar enough rock ball in it’s place? I just gave up on figuring that out.”

        “I have my ways...brace yourself Volt, I’m afraid the worse has come to pass.” Lotus hung up, and shortly, Proto heard several distressing screams.

        “Trinity! TRINITY! ANSWER US!” Artemis screamed in utter horror.

        “VALKITTY! NO! THE DREAM!” Nyx screamed in fear, bursting out of the barracks and frantically running towards Proto-Excalibur with blankets around her body. “Sir! V-Valkyr-the Dream!”

        “I know, calm your tits Nyx! Get her biomass in a canister and-.”

        “TRINITY~! MY LOVE! NOOOOOO~!” Artemis wailed as he galloped into the room, levitating a formless orb of black Tenno biomass as he wept. “Trinity~! Sh-she just, just melted~!”

        “... Everybody. Seriously. Just calm your tits and-”

        “WARLORD!” Yelled Celestia as she burst into the room at full gallop. “Please explain why I’m hearing reports of my citizens DYING!”

        “WHAT?!” Proto-Excalibur screamed. “WHAT DO YOU MEAN YOUR CITIZENS ARE DYING?!”

        “I mean just that!” Celestia yelled as she held up a bloody scroll.. “My soldiers are coming out from the outskirts of Canterlot finding dead bodies. Some of them are coming back with nearly FATAL wounds and reporting about how they saw a bipedal black figure carrying a huge sword. I KNOW there’s not a single being on our planet that would do such a thing, especially in cold blood!”

        “Stalker! That rat bastard! I’ll rip his dick off for this!” Nyx roared as she began levitating numerous materials from around and rushed off.

        “Stalker? You mean that shady one in the black armo- oh.” Celestia said, coming to a realization. “Ya know, that kind of makes sense… But wait! Why would he attack us?! Last time he was here, he was so polite and kind. Why would he be attacking us now, especially after how we got along?!”

        “... I don’t know, Celestia…” Proto-Excalibur said. “... I do know he has to be stopped, however.” Proto-Excalibur turned on his coms. “Everybody who’s not down, finish up helping the downed, then hurry up and get over here. We got a rampaging Stalker, and it’s getting bad… Like, innocents going down bad.”

        It was tense for a second, as almost nobody answered, until a single crackle came on. “Sir...I am...awake.” Rhino Prime came on the coms. “I lost consciousness, but my Warframe snapped me awake after a moment.”

        “Right...the Prime Frames were originally...okay, Rhino Prime, you get your best gear, and meet me planetside to stop a homicidal maniac from killing more innocent ponies...” Proto-Excalibur said, a slight hesitation in his voice. “And… and bring plan Romeo Romeo Papa.”

“... If the situation demands it si-”

“OF COURSE IT DEMANDS IT! THERE ARE INNOCENTS DYING!” Proto-Excalibur yelled over the coms. “There is nothing that would warrant that MORE than this!”

        “... I need your authorization code sir.”

        “Nine-er Charlie Echo Fife.” Proto-Excalibur said.

        “... It shall be done sir.” Rhino Prime said before hanging up.

        “What’s-” Celestia tried to ask before being interrupted by Proto-Excalibur.

        “Get in your frame Celestia.” The Warlord demanded. “And Nyx, get ready for battle. Gonna be needing you to at least stop our ‘friend’ from killing anyone else.”

        “Already on it sir!” Nyx replied as she entered, surprising the three in the room to see her already garbed in a pieced-together junk Warframe mostly made of Grineer ferrite, high-carbon alloy plates, some scraped-together plastids, and what seemed to be a hunk of argon crystal as the power source, more or less looking like a patchwork Nyx Warframe.

        “Alright. Jacques, I need a pick up, STAT.” Proto-Excalibur said over coms right before his ship appeared above him. “Already on that, I see. Good job Jaques.”

---]=======/

        “Stop.” Stalker said, seemingly to nobody as he walked towards a small hamlet, towards a beacon of energy that wasn’t present anywhere else on the planet. “They are innocent.”

        “They are in our way, Shadow.”

        “They’ve done nothing.” Stalker said as he continued onwards anyway, his altered armor and flowing dark cape shimmering in the light like a living mass of shadow trying to displace light itself, a complete inverse of the natural order.

        “They exist, and so, they die.”

        “No.” Stalker growled, continuing his trek through Canterlot, several noble and foolish guards bleeding out in the formerly pristine streets behind him.

        “STALKER, YOU MOTHER FUCKER!” Came an enraged scream from the sky, before Stalker looked up to see a massive Tenno rapidly descending with an Archwing, which she detached from at low altitude and dove at him with a Dragon Nikana ready for an iaito slice. “DIE!”

“Nyx.”

“A fool, to the last.” Hunhow drawled. “When was the last time you heartless fools even knew yourselves, besides the rare few who even now remain purposeless?”

        “”FUCK OFF YOU DAMN-!” Nyx sliced, only for her intensely sharp Dragon Nikana blade to be blocked effortlessly by Stalker’s War greatsword. “CHEAP, JACKASS!”

        “Run.”

        “You will die, like all the rest.” Hunhow stated calmly, and Stalker used an unforeseen amount of strength to end the clash their Warframes had allowed to sustain, and launch Nyx down the cobblestone street, causing a racket as her rickety and unrefined Warframe rolled and tumbled along the road before she quickly sprang back to her feet, preparing to strike again. “End her Shadow.”

        “So it’s like Lotus said then, Hunhow, back from the dead. Thought we’d seen the last of you when I heard of the battle on Uranus.” Nyx hissed.

        “Interesting, this one speaks so familiarly. Is that you Excalibur Prime? It has been a while. How is that missing kidney doing?” Hunhow mocked of their last encounter.

        “Fine, since I don’t need it anymore!” Nyx used her telekinesis to fire several impact missiles at Stalker, who dodged, and she and him clashed swords again, this time with her standing over him, her strength, size and leverage superior even to his enhanced strength and heavier sword thanks to her Decisive Judgement Stance discipline.

        “Please. Leave.”

        “Don’t worry buddy, I’ll get you free from this dick.”

        “So weak.” Suddenly, a blade of energy launched point-blank from the greatsword, sending Nyx sliding back as she held the attack at bay, and shouted as she sliced through it with her nearly supernaturally sharp sword, dissipating the attack. “You mortals, hopeless fools to the very end.”

        “So stupid.” Nyx commented, mere seconds before Stalker vanished just before an enormous orb of fire impacted where he’d been in an explosion. “That you think I’d come face you alone.”

        “HUNHOW!” Stalker appeared, hovering in mid-air as he looked up to see the flying Plot Prime with her horn aimed at him, a mane and tail of pure fire being generated entirely from Celestia’s unbridled fury as she hovered above. “You have slain My Little Ponies in cold blood, and for this, not even Tartarus is afforded you! The sentence is death!”

        “Shadow, end her.”

        “World creator.”

        “Her?”

        “Yes.”

        “All the more reason then!” Stalker sent an endless barrage of pink energy blades at Celestia, who expertly wove through them in a dive as she closed in on Stalker, but while she was doing this, Hunhow had neglected the real threat.

        “Kidney!” Stalker barely avoided a stab from Nyx, and a follow-up slash, along with a stream of sun-hot fire lancing from Celestia with a potency no Ignis could ever hope to match, only to nearly lose his head from the nearly floating dance of Nyx’s blade that followed, her great stature and bulky frame not at all lessening the grace of her sword style.

        “ENOUGH!” Hunhow roared, sending a shockwave out that launched Nyx and Celestia away at terminal velocities, smashing through the nearby storefronts like wrecking balls. “Shadow, erase the world-builder!”

        “Not on my watch, Hunhow!” Bellowed Rhino Prime as he slammed into the ground, creating a not-as-potent shockwave that jostled Stalker.

        “Leave.”

        “Shadow, destroy the world-builder and her protectors now.”

        “You act like I’m not even here-.”

        “What point is there, when your Heart isn’t here to be ripped out?”

        “I’m not sure what you’re talking about, but I’m going to be shutting you up now.” Rhino Prime growled as he took a Boltor Prime while his unobtrusive Ankyros Prime gauntlets flared, ready to use a combination of gunplay and his Seismic Fist style on the genocidal monster.

        Not waiting for him to attack, Stalker bolted at Rhino Prime, who sprayed his assault rifle’s armor-piercing bolts at his approaching opponent. Stalker used a combination of his speed and deflecting the bolts with his War sword on final rush, but when Stalker got close enough, suddenly, Hunhow learned why charging a Rhino is a dumb idea.

        Rhino Prime’s left fist left his gun, launching at Stalker like a bullet, and the blade of his Ankyros Prime easily deflected the strike, but that wasn’t all. Rhino’s strike didn’t stop at that, it kept going, stabbing into Stalker’s chest, and effectively launched the Orokin like a slingshot into the second story of the boutique across the street from Celestia and Rhino Prime. “Are you alright Princess?”

        “Ow...yes, Rhino Prime, your interference is quite appreciated.” Celestia groaned as she climbed out of the wreckage of the cake store she’d been launched into. ‘I will avenge thee, Delicate Creme’s Delicatessen.’

        “LIVER!” Nyx shouted, and shortly Stalker vacated the boutique he’d been punched into, followed by Nyx who was trading sword-swings with Stalker. “Croup-dock-haunch, shoulders, hips! ART OF THE DRESS MOTHERFUCKER!”

        “Princess, Nyx, herd him towards me! I will pound the life out of his body!” Rhino Prime commanded calmly, his companions moving to do so as he reloaded his Boltor Prime and charged towards Stalker, who instantly disengaged from Nyx to try and kill Celestia. Perfect. “CHARGE!” Rhino Prime used his Rhino Charge straight at Stalker, Nyx rushed Stalker too with several telekinetic bolts following, Celestia stood her ground with fire erupting all around her as Stalker neared.

        “Fall.” Hunhow said, quite simply.

        Everything went dark.

        Strength left them, the sounds of metal falling to the ground clattered.

        “You are strong, I will admit. But I am beyond strength. I have slain hundreds of worlds. This city will be just the beginning. Soon, I will cleanse this rock as I have so many others. But first, you, little sunspot. Must be snuffed out.” Hunhow monologues, Celestia gasped for air, choking, Nyx and Rhino Prime tried to move in the oppressive Dark, but couldn’t muster the strength to even pick themselves up. “Soon, this sky will be as beautiful as all things must be. Once no life pollutes it.”

        Celestia watched in horror as the spirit of Hunhow emerged from the Darkness and loomed over her as Stalker’s hands crushed her Warframe’s throat. “And it all starts with your end.” Celestia flinched as he reached for her. “Do not worry, I shall be-”

        “It’s not nice to treat a lady that way.” Came a deep, almost sensual, voice before the darkness faded and Stalker was sent flying backwards.

        “About damn time!” Nyx growled as she struggled to her feet, and the figure between Stalker and Celestia crossed his arms.

“Rubedo Rhino Prime, RRP, reporting for duty!” The Warlord hammed, so excited to be using his most powerful and experimental Warframe in battle. Even though the heavy Rubedo infused into the Warframe drastically enhanced all of it’s capabilities, it more or less nullified the preserving functions of the Prime frame it was done to, not to mention the amount of energy it pulled from the Tenno inside being a ludicrously large amount compared to even the Prime version.

“The Coward.”

“Is that so Shadow? How odd it is then that he’s here.” Hunhow grit out angrily. “So many not hiding their hearts, not sleeping in safety. How is it that you’re all here in this one place, while the rest of your kind are all still sleeping?”

“Because they jammed me directly into the suit.” The Warlord said. “I was the last of my type, more powerful than even the Primes in Transference. This was the frame they stuck me into originally. When they realized it was a danger to them and to me they moved me to a different frame. Recovered this relic recently, to be honest.”

        “No matter, Shadow, end-.” Hunhow was silenced by the Rhino Charge from RRP being so sudden, and so FAST that he closed the distance within a split second. Not even Stalker blocking with War was enough to prevent the impact ragdolling him.

        “GRAKATA~!” RRP screamed rapturously as he quickly drew the Twin Prisma-plated Grakata at his sides, flipping them around unnecessarily before unloading into Stalker.

        “CLEM! GRAKATA!” Clem suddenly appeared, as if from nowhere, multiple times, and all began unloading their own Twin Grakatas as well.

        “Taste Clem’s Clones you bitch!”

        “Shadow, disengage! You’re taking-!” Stalker was then suddenly knocked out of the endless juggle from all the Grakata bullets holding him aloft from a cube-shaped laser bubble, followed by two Glaives smacking him around, and Stalker was too stunned in the fall to do anything as he neared RRP, who was rearing back a Fragor, all of the energy lines in it glowing blindingly bright.

        “FORE~!” RRP gleefully screamed, and Stalker raised War in a vain attempt to stop what was coming, only for the weapon to snap in 3 at the guard before he took the full blunt of the attack and was sent flying. “HAVE FUN ON THE MOON!”

        “HIS FUN SHALT NOT DOUBLE!” Artemis’s voice echoed from everywhere, because it’s a known fact evoking a god gets you heard by them anywhere.

        Everything then became eerily silent, everyone calming down from the sudden put-down of an enemy that nearly killed them, only for two blades to fall from the air and stab into the cobblestone near Nyx and Celestia, the two broken halves of Stalker’s War sword still coursing with power. “No...this cannot...be….”

        “It can, and it has, Hunhow.” RRP stated simply, watching the Sentient’s life leave his bones, the sword still retaining power even so.

        The silence returned for about five seconds after they stopped glowing, only to be interrupted by RRP screaming, “NOW SOMEBODY GET ME OUT OF THIS DAMN THING! DEAR GOD IT BURNS IN HERE!”