Prologue

Far above the planet, a battle raged. From afar all that could be seen were flashes of light as a massive starship powered through the exosphere. Ships spilled from the planet, little larger than fighter craft, but with a deadly purpose. The grey chitin that wrapped the colossal vessel cracked and splintered as the mismatched craft fired, leaving glowing trails in their wake. The ships were dissimilar; a riot of colours and shapes that put even the brightest rainbow to shame. But for all their cutesy charm, one thing was very, very obvious: from their colourful cannons and gun-barrels, death erupted, boiling the empty void with a thunderous roar. The reason for their aggression became clear only seconds after. Small black objects began to fall from the ship’s rear decks, tumbling downward. The colourful vessels immediately turned their attention to those, blasting them apart with extreme prejudice before returning their attention to the mothership. The enormous ship groaned like a wounded beast as more of its chitinous armour was torn away and thrust into the void. Return fire from the vessel’s underbelly flashed alternating in shades of dull green and black, and the colourful fighter craft scattered. But always they returned.

With one final volley, it was done. Explosions ripped at the starship’s length as it began to break apart and the attacking ships zoomed away on a multihued trail, their mission complete. As the wreckage burned with celestial fire, the planet’s atmosphere hungrily stripping matter from its bones, consuming it in a blaze, a small red light rather like a flare zipped outwards from the rear decks. The attacking ships never saw it, so elated with their victory that they didn’t even bother to look back as this light flew far from the system, leaving it to whatever fate awaited it in the cold, black emptiness.

***

Ten Years Later

Projectiles flared crimson overhead, illuminating a young mare clad in black armour struggling to reload a smoking rifle. The red beams were hammering into the stone pillar she was taking cover behind and chipping away at the time-worn stone. The air smelled of burning as the moss around the pillar shrivelled and died, the mare’s sensitive nostrils twitching in disgust as the smoke from the continued barrage washed over her. Her hooves groped thin air desperately as she instinctively reached for a clip that she knew wasn’t there. A few seconds later her voice, cracked and made hoarse by the smoke, rang out across the moss-covered ruins.

“Quick! Throw me a clip, I’m all out!”

The pegasus mare to her right nodded. She was taking cover high above the battle, behind the top of one of the still-standing pillars, blasting away at the aliens. As the request came through she pulled back and began rummaging in her own saddlebags.

“Here! Catch!” The mare in black’s head snapped upwards as the pegasus gently tossed a glimmering white package down to her before returning to the firefight. The white ammunition pack glinted in the light, before the mare’s hoof intercepted its arc.

With a flash the package’s pale cover disintegrated, revealing three new clips. The mare’s horn sparked with an indigo aura which enveloped the new ammunition, allowing her to quickly place them in her webbing. With practised movements the unicorn mare slid one of the new clips into her rifle.

A robotic bleat from her assailants reminded her of her current situation, and the barrage upon her cover intensified. Turning to her left, she called out to the ironclad stallion who shared her cover. “Cover me,” she yelled, “I’m gonna try and get new cover. This one isn’t gonna last for much longer!”

He nodded stoically, returning his attention to the mechanised aliens at the far end of the cavern. Bringing his rifle to bear he began to release precise bursts of fire, his marksmanship taking its toll upon their enemies.

The mare levitated her rifle and quickly dove to her right, rolling beneath the intensifying barrage of prismatic bullets. Her back hit the bottom of the pillar her pegasus friend was currently occupying and she sighed with relief. As the stallion returned to his cover, magazine spent, the aliens returned their focus to their original target and she was forced to hastily yank her head back as a near miss flashed past her vision and smacked into the opposite wall. A shout from above grabbed her attention.

“Hey!” The pegasus grinned, making a shooing motion with a forehoof. “Go get your own cover, I was here first.”

“Sharing is caring!” The mare replied, mirroring the grin. The pegasus scoffed and shook her head before holstering her weapons and winding a foreleg back.

“Grenade out!”

The ensuing explosion blew several of the aliens to scrap and the pegasus hovered downwards to share a celebratory high-hoof (1).The brief moment of euphoria didn’t last though. With no way out of the cavern and a constant stream of alien adversaries to face, their weapons were beginning to run dry, and nopony wanted to think about what would happen when they did. Then a deep voice from behind them broke through their morbid thoughts.

“If you would gather your belongings, I have procured for us an egress,” spoke the stallion.

“Egress?! We can’t go anywhere! If ya haven’t noticed, we’re kinda trapped!” the pegasus rolled her eyes.

“No way out you say? I am sorry to hear that you have such little faith in me,” the stallion gestured behind him, and his friends watched in shocked surprise as a part of the encompassing wall flickered before winking from existence, revealing an exit.

They cut a hasty retreat through the new-found exit as the horde of red-eyed robots behind them thickened. The robotic beasts roared in anger as they saw their prey escaping, but there was nothing they could do to stop the wall blinking back into existence, halting their advance.

On the other side of the wall the ponies were winding down after the fight. Removing her helmet the pegasus shook her messy orange mane out and stretched, joints popping.

“Thanks for the save back there. I don’t know what we’d do without ya.”

The stallion inclined his head in response. “Think nothing of it.”

As her friends began to relax and relieve their aching muscles, the mare in black took stock of their new surroundings. They were in a massive circular chamber, ringed with mossy stone blocks. In the centre of the room stood a massive block of reddish stone, depicting a much larger version of the creatures they had just faced. The stone was lined with alien runes and metal gleamed from its exposed edges.

She stepped closer, perplexed by this eldritch statue. The metal flooring rang beneath her hoofsteps, a repeating concentric ring splaying outwards from the block of stone. She spent several seconds scrutinising the stone, seeking whatever secrets it may have to reveal, but nothing. She shrugged and turned away, removing her helmet. A spiky red mane followed, poofing outwards into a gravity-defying hairstyle. She swept her damp mane away from her cream coloured horn and let it drop, framing her violet eyes before returning to her friends.

A deep grumbling roar echoed through the air. The mare paused mid-trot and twisted her neck a full one-hundred-eighty degrees to look back at the alien statue. A low rumble echoed through the weathered halls as another tremor shook the room, pieces of debris cascading from the walls. As the room shook for a third time the mare’s balance shifted, tipping her backwards with a surprised neigh. From her prone position on the stone she had an unparalleled view of the alien statue. Where it once stood, only Darkness remained. One single crimson eye glared down upon her with cold malevolence as the statue’s silvery body shook the remainder of its shrine from its limbs and it howled a string of inane syllables.

As the machine rose, its cannons zeroing in on her diminutive shape, she sighed. Rolling back onto all fours she levitated her rifle and as her friends rushed to back her up, she smiled. Just another typical day in the life of a Guardian.

1: An Equestrian high-five.

Author's Note

For those of you who don't know Destiny:

Guardian: A being raised from the dead in service to a celestial being known as the Traveller (see below) to serve in its defence, usually ponies (though gryphon, minotaur and zebra Guardians also exist, buffalo and yaks having been wiped out) These beings are able to channel the power of 'Light', a mysterious energy brought into being by the Traveller. These 'Guardians' protect the Traveller and the remainder of ponykind from an ancient evil, called simply 'The Darkness'.

Vex: Vex are the most inscrutable of the Traveller's foes. Mechanical robots with a single red eye, Vex systems are biological in nature, allowing for a kind of hive-mind mentality between them. Able to react to threats with impossible speed, as well as tough metallic bodies, Vex can quite easily become a Guardian's executioner, if they aren't careful. Vex are also rumoured to have the ability to control time. That is, if you believe those old mare's tales.

The Traveller: The Traveller is an immense being of incredible power. Wielding the power of 'Light' it can bring light and therefore life to the darkest places (Hence the Venusian Jungles). Though the Traveller resembles a simple sphere it continues to confound the best Equestrian scientists.

I want to thank my editors: The SideKick and enti0 for being the guys (or gals, I don't really know right now) who helped me get this story off the ground. Seriously, I couldn't have done it without you.

Stay tuned, guys. More surprises are just around the bend.