Long Far Gone

Chapters

Prologue: Different planet, same sand
Chapter 1: The Long Far Gone
Chapter 2: The way the world ends
Chapter 3: The loon on the moon
Chapter 4: Fit for a princess
Chapter 6: Purple pony procedure
Chapter 7: An act of pure folly
Chapter 8: Within the minds eye
Chapter 9: A touch of malice
Chapter 10: Curiosity killed the unicorn
Interlude: A causal loop...
Chapter 11: Sleep, eat, fight, repeat
Chapter 12: From whence you came
Chapter 13: An icebreaker
Chapter 14: Whispers in the shadows
Chapter 15: Prometheus
Interlude: A place to call home
Chapter 16: Vulpine interloper
Chapter 17: A long way to fall
Chapter 18: Exclusion zone
Chapter 5: It's the first impressions that count
Interlude: The garden at the end of infinity...

Prologue: Different planet, same sand

Canterlot, Equestria. 4:30pm 21/06/1000 AN

Canterlot. Normally the crown jewel of Equestria, the beautiful city lies dormant. The activity in the streets has all but ceased, what little motion there is can be described as lazy. Shopkeepers closing up their stalls and ponies returning from a hard days work. The magic powered streetlamps begin to softly glow, like fireflies in the night. The same can be said for the castle, servants move slowly about the halls, delivering orders to various places and the guards patrol with the pace you would expect from somepony that had just been rudely awoken from the best dream they'd ever had.

Just as the sun began to droop below the horizon, a spark of green light could be seen moving across the space between the mountainside city and its closest neighbouring town, Ponyville. The spark travelled up the side of the castle and through a convenient open window. The light, now visible as a small green flame, made a popping noise and fizzled out. In its place a small scroll materialised. It floated in place for a moment before dropping into the large pile of identical scrolls. Each scroll contained an apology, each phrased slightly differently from the last, each using a new format or font, each completely unnoticed by the supposed receiver of said apology.

Princess Celestia had stopped reading these apology letters quite some time ago. She knew her student wasn't to blame for what happened, nopony was. Nopony even knew who Nightmare moon used to be, little Luna. Celestia had waited a thousand years for her return, only for the elements to banish her away again, back to the moon. Where she would be stuck for a thousand years more. Celestia let out a long heavy sigh and shifted across from one side of the bed to the other. In truth she wasn't angry, she wasn't even that sad. She was just...lonely. A thousand years of solitude doesn't do much good for the mind. She can only imagine what Luna must be feeling right now, at least she had something to take her mind off the gaping hole that her sisters banishment had left in her heart. Luna's stuck on the moon, all alone, by herself. Tears began to well in the corners of her eyes, why couldn't her life just be BUCKING EASY FOR ONCE. Her vengeful thoughts were intrupted by the arrival of yet another letter. *Fiiiiiiizz* *POP* Another scroll added to the pile. Another wasted apology. Celestia pulled herself out of bed, as lonely as she was she still had a duty to her kingdom.

Celestia stepped out on to her chamber balcony and looked out towards the horizon, she rememberes when she used to do this with her sister, how they would laugh and flick each others ears while trying to perform spells, how afterwards she and Luna would sit by the fire and discuss the various nobles and highlife stuck ups that had visited day court that morning. How Celestia would often fall asleep by the fire and Luna would have to place her in bed, all the while with a smile on her face.

"Oh Lu-lu I miss you so much" she mumbled, barely above a whisper.

With that she began the final lowering of the sun, it disappeared over the Vinicius of the planet and from behind her rose the moon, in all its pristine white glory. The crators that made up the shape of a mares head where especially visible tonight, it's a shame she would never be able to appreciate just how beautiful they really were. As Celestia turned to leave the balcony she failed to see the one out of place object in the intirety of the night sky, a small flash of light near the moon, to most it would have gone completely unnoticed, yet it signified the beginning of something much, much bigger.

Meridian bay, Mars. Roughly 1000 years prior.

The sands of Mars are famous for being one of the most inhospitable places known to mankind, not because of the lack of water or the sweltering heat. Not even because of the constant Cabal patrols that make going absolutely anywhere a gamble for your life. No, the sands of Mars are known this way because they are SO DAMN ANNOYING!

"I swear to the Traveler if I have to pick ONE more fucking grain of sand out of my boots, I'm going to find the nearest legionary, and ram my foot so far up his.."

"QUIET! You'll get us spotted" responded a synthetic voice, more within his head than anything else.

Mathew Ausland and his ghost had been stalking the perimeter of a small Cabal outpost for nearly two hours now and to say that the sand was getting under his skin would be an understatement both literally and figuratively.

"Alright guardian what's the plan, because the sun will be setting soon and I've heard that Mars is less than pleasant at night" the crackling voice of Cayde-6, the hunter vanguard, came through his helmet's transceiver.

"I don't know Cayde, their defences are weaker than usual but they're really dug in" responded Mathew in a slightly wary tone.

It really didn't help that the briefing for this mission had consisted mostly of Cayde-6 and commander Zavala throwing shade at one another while Ikora Rey rolled her eyes and tried, with little success, to explain the importance of the recovery of golden age artefacts to Mathew, who quite frankly, didn't really care. When the ramshackle meeting was over, he had been sent away so the vanguard could continue doing whatever it is that they normally do. There was just one problem, he hadn't any idea what the mission would entail, other than 'break into place and steal thing', so preparing was less than enjoyable. Luckily he had substituted for the lack of Intel by bringing a rather large amount of kit with him.

Although apparently the one thing he forgot was the thing that he was needing most right now, his sniper rifle.

"Mathew, I'm detecting activity in the defences" chirped his ghost.

Mathew grunted in response and aimed down the sights of his SUROS DIS-43 scout rifle, it had been a gift from one of his close friends at the tower, Banshee-44, after he returned from putting down a particularly rowdy Fallan archon. It had gotten him out of many a stiff situation. Although it didn't quite have the power to crack a centurions shield in one go. Which would have helped rather a lot right now.

It looked like the Cabal were changing up their guard, this could be the moment he had been waiting for.

"The Cabal are changing up their legion, this could be my chance, should I take it?"

"If you think you have a chance of getting in there you take it guardian" responded Cayde.

With that Mathew checked his surroundings one more time and then leaped over the sand dune and down towards the Cabal fortifications, they were to busy changing that they didn't notice him slide in to one of the side doors on the stucture. Mathew entered a dark passage, the only light was coming from a small lantern placed near the entrance, which snapped shut behind him.

His ghost instinctively activated his light function to help him see.

"Can't see a damn thing" said Mathew, grasping a nearby wall for support. "Ghost can you take a scan of the room and upload it to my hud"

"Already done, the next door appears to be sealed though. Let me get that for you"

Ghost hovered over to a panel on the wall and began to tamper with the lock, now that his eyes where adjusting he could see more of the room around him, it didn't have the standard Cabal military décor, it seemed kind of bare. Just an entrance on one side and an exit on the other.

"I got it!" chirped ghost."The Cabal really need to work on better security software."

"I'd agree with you but I really don't hack them myself that often." Mathew and his ghost shared a laugh as they made their way through the slowly opening door.

They exited into a court yard bordered by high stone walls, the setting sun glistened off their surface, making them seem redder that the actually were. That's not what got Mathews attention though.

"Cayde, you seeing this?" Asked Mathew

"Seeing is one thing, believing is another, guardian."

In the centre of the court was a large circular platform, it's surface was a deep purple colour and shimmered in the twilight glow. At four points in the ring, adjacent to one another, stood four curved pillars, facing inwards, as if pointing towards the middle of the circle.

"Ghost, any idea what this thing is." Asked Mathew

"I've got nothing." There was a pause. "The Travelers data banks have nothing either."

"From the looks of it the Cabal have been trying to access it" Mathew gestured towards the Cabal terminals set up around the structure.

Ghost whistled in response and went to access one of the terminals.

"Looks like the Cabal haven't had much luck getting access either" mumbled ghost, as if talking to himself. "Every time the Cabal have tried to gain access they've been met with this symbol."

Ghost flashed a strange symbol on Mathews hud, it was circular and split in two, with a smaller circle domination the top half of the odd shape.

"Any idea what it means" asked Mathew.

"I am uncertain, it doesn't look like Cabal scripture, or any other races scripture for that matter"

"Could be the Vex, they have a habit of leaving strange symbols around" said Cayde, with his serious vanguard voice on.

"I don't think so, the terminal itself matches no common Vex systems, although the soft-ware, if you can even call it that, seems to slightly resemble some of the ancient Vex systems in the vault of glass" replied ghost. "I could try to hack it myself, although I'm not sure to what end."

"Well I don't see any other options" said Cayde.

Mathew sighed. "Try not to get yourself killed please."

Ghost chirped in response and began work on the device, after a moment he stopped.

"That's odd, I'm reading multiple new systems opening u..."

Ghost was intrupted by a low whining sound as the pad started to glow, particles of energy began to rise from the circle as it activated.

"That's bizarre, I received the same symbol, but it was green. It's almost as if it was waiting for us" said ghost, still slightly stunned. "This device has some similarity to Fallen warp pad technology, although I can't pinpoint the exact location it leads too."

"Cayde, what should we do now" asked Mathew.

Cayde sighed, "I'm sending reinforcements to your position, although they aren't going to arrive until morning, I suggest you explore the spooky space portal and see what you can find."

"Got it."

Mathew stepped up towards the plate, he stood on the edge of the circle. "Do I just, like, step onto it?"

"I think so" replied ghost

Mathew stepped onto the plate and was met with an immediate feeling of weightlessness, He began to hover, and then rise. Almost as if there was no gravity holding him down in the first place. He began to accelerate.

"Are you sure this is safe!" He yelled above the rushing wind

Mathew heard Cayde through his helmet."Stop yelling, I can hear you just fine, you shouldn't even be worried about that guardian, but ghost. Stand by for uh... Resurrection.

Mathew groaned, he hated dying. Some guardians didn't mind it at all, but Mathew made sure to treat every life like it was his last.

That's why he actively avoided the crucible, his fireteam member Maria was a big participant and was constantly trying to get Mathew involved in Iron banner and what not. He never liked it, just sent shivers down his spine.

As he observed the increasingly smaller and smaller landscape below him, he saw just how beautiful Mars really was, he saw the massive city of Freehold in the distance and imagined what it must have looked like during the golden age. Countless ships coming in from places afar, delivering goods and dropping off passengers. He smiled, must have really been a site to see. Doesn't change his opinion of sand though, fuck sand.

Chapter 1: The Long Far Gone

Meridian bay, Mars. 1000 years prior to contact.

Mathew had been floating upwards for what seemed like an eternity, he couldn't see anything above him, and it was to dark to see anything below him. Nervousness began to creep in, Cayde had been insistent that the device had to be connected to something, but the amount of time spent ascending was beginning to get worrying.

"Ghost, how long have we been on this thing."

"About five minutes Mathew" ghost deadpanned.

Maybe an eternity was a bit of a stretch.

"Relax guardian, everything's fine. Stop being so par*static*iod*static*uardian, your brea*static*up on m*static*" Cayde's 'good natured' mentality speech was broken up by radio static.

"Cayde..CAYDE!" Shouted Mathew

"Something nearby is blocking the signal, I'll try and pinpoint the location" ghost opened up into a ball of swirling light and began to scan for the location of the jammer. He pulsed every few seconds, sending out another barrage of radio waves.

Suddenly everything when dark, ghost stopped scanning and turned to Mathew.

"I found out what's jamming us" he said ominously

"Is it Fallen"

"No none of the signals match, it's radio disruption technology beyond the likes of any I've ever seen." Ghost turned on his light and began to examine interior of the chamber they were flying through.

The walls were of the same purple quality as the pad below, shimmering blue lights could be seen behind them, like tiny stars.

"What is this place" whispered Mathew

"I am uncertain, it may be some sort of Vex structure, though the design of these walls are like no Vex architecture ever recorded"

There was a moment of quiet, just the sound the air rushing past them. All of a sudden Mathew felt their ascent slow, a large hatch slid open above them to reveal a huge chamber, they floated up through the hatch and hovered in place, the large door slid over beneath them, locking them in. The humming stopped and Mathew fell to the floor, just managing to stick the landing. He stood up and looked around.

The chamber they were in was enormous, countless blue and pink lights blinked and danced over the shiny purple surface of the walls, it had an almost hypnotic effect. A large holographic display activated on a wall nearby, as if begging to be touched. Mathew stared at it for a few seconds before turning to his ghost.

"I suppose I should probably take a look at that." Quipped ghost as he glided over to the holo display and began to poke at the computer systems. Mathew played with the hilt of the sword strapped to his thigh, it had been a nightmare to collect all that hadium just to forge the blade. The relic void crystals were no easier, but the end result was worth every second of work. His friends at the tower often asked why he named it 'Dark-drinker', if they had ever seen the blade in action they wouldn't have had to ask. A whistle from his ghost snapped him out of his stasis.

"Find anything yet?" Asked Mathew

"Yes but I can't make sense of it, all I can find are more of those peculiar symbols and a lot of mentions to some sort of...flood, I'm not sure, but this structure certainly wasn't built by any known party." There was a short moment of silence as ghost dug deeper into the terminals memory banks. "This information is older than anything I've ever encountered, it's PRE golden age, this place must be over a thousand years old. I'll keep searching."

Mathew nodded to his synthetic partner and took another look around the large room they were in, upon closer inspection he noticed that there was a large blue object sitting off to one side of the entrance passage. He pulled out his fusion rifle and made his way slowly across the room, as he approached he began to get a better view of the thing in front of him. It was rather dusty but from what he could see it appeared to be some sort of vehicle.

It had a curved front end, almost like a claw, while the rear rose up to a flat... Roof? No, it was almost like a gun position. Now that he looked closer he could definitely see what looked like a retractable cannon. Around where he presumed the pilots seat would be was what looked like a turret swivel, although the weapon had been disconnected. The back of the craft was a similar story, a pair of small rudder like fins were visible on each side of a slowly rotating circular device, a reactor maybe? Whoever designed this thing probably should have put more effort into protecting it. It seemed as though creators of the vehicle had only really one intent with most of the design, and the more he looked at them the more things seemed to add up.

"Is this some sort of... Tank?" He whispered to no one in particular.

"Mathew, You might want to come and take a look at this."

He dragged himself away from inspecting the armoured craft and back across the room to his ghost, who was floating next to the now bright red console.

"What is it?" Asked Mathew

His ghost blinked for a moment, as if processing something, then continued.

"This terminal makes reference to a number of things regarding the Vex and the Traveler. It also helped me find out where we're located in regards to the Cabal outpost."

There was a brief hum before a large holographic image of an object appeared, floating in the center of the room. It was long and shaped almost like a large squid, although without the tentacles. There was a blinking light near the base of the wider 'head' part, he could only assume that was where they were located.

"What, is that." Mathew was to stunned to even react, this thing was huge, larger than any single structure in the city, or anywhere else for that matter. Even the Vex citadels on Venus were nothing compared to this.

"That, is a Covenant CSO-Supercarrier, the largest starship ever recorded, and we are currently in the gravity lift bay, about three kilometres off the ground."

"Exactly how large are we talking, because I don't think we could have missed something that big if it was that close to the grou..."

"The ship is exactly 28.96 kilometres long, that's over fifteen miles! It's huge." Ghost interrupted

"But how didn't we notice it when we were on the ground, it would have taken up a huge portion of the sky."

"The reason the ship has gone unnoticed for so long is because it is currently imploying a cloaking technology not unlike the one we used to get aboard Oryx's Dreadnought. Although this one seems far more reliable..."

Mathew shuddered at the memory, he's glad he's never going back to that god forsaken grime pool of a ship, after he and his fireteam killed the Taken King the place really fell apart, the Cabal sky burners retreated and the hive were left to try and cut their losses, it didn't help that the Taken themselves lost most of their power when Oryx was destroyed, they decomposed over time and eventually faded back to the realm which they had crawled from in the first place. Now the ship drifts among the rings of Saturn in a decaying orbit, eventually it'll fall into the planets atmosphere and will be lost forever. Mathew snorted, all the better in his opinion.

"So your telling me that there was a fifteen mile long starship, just floating above Mars for god knows how long and not a single one of our warsats or even the Cabal fleet could detect it." Mathew was extremely confused, how could something so large go completely unnoticed.

"According to the flight patterns I accesed it's been in the system for longer than the Cabal themselves, although it spent a large amount of time in orbit around Europa. The ship's systems are like nothing I've ever seen, so advanced, yet so primitive at the same time. Its like a huge time capsule."

"You said that the ships computers mentioned something to do with the Vex, and the Traveler for that matter. Mind sharing? Or is it above my pay grade?" Mathew raised both his eyebrows under his helmet, not that his partner needed to see of course.

His ghost chuckled. "Well, fine. Since you asked so nicely. The system talks an awful lot about the Vex, not so much of their existence and current intentions, but of their creation.

Mathew felt himself lean in. Now this is interesting.

"From what I could gather the Vex are closely related to a group of ancient machines known as 'Sentinels'. I believe the Vex may have either spawned from them or were created by them originally. To what end I have no clue, but I can say that it means that if the Vex were created, then there must be a way to 'uncreate' them. As for the Traveler, when I was browsing the various symbols in the ships database I came across many images of the Traveler and objects like it, one that particularly caught my attention was of something called 'The Ark', I'm not sure what it means, I'll have to look into that later. On the subject of interesting symbols, I also found this..."

Ghost flashed an image of a shield like design on his hud. In the center there was an image of a star with two equine looking beings swirling around it. They appeared to have both a horn and wings, Mathew remembered from the various history and culture classes he had taken as part of his training that a horse with a horn was named a 'unicorn' while one with wings would be called a 'Pegasus'. What was even more interesting was that neither of these creatures were suppose to be real, just myths and legends. Little is known about what they originally signified, but very little study is put in to find out. Mathew thought for a moment, if these creatures had both wings and a horn then what would they be called. 'Pegacorn'? 'Unisus'? It didn't really matter, the question was, what were they doing in a place like this?

"That's... Odd" remarked Mathew "I seems in stark contrast to the rest of the symbols I've seen."

"That's what confused me as well, none of the other symbols even closely match this one, it's like it was created by a different party entirely. Anyway..."

The Image vanished. "I found a lot more links to this 'flood', I'm still unsure of what it is or whether it's something we should be concerned about." Ghost stopped for a moment. "I'll see what else there...CONTACT!"

Ghosts sudden volume change startled Mathew, but not enough to stop I'm from noticing his tracker going crazy with movement, he whipped around and drew his fusion rifle, directly facing his attacker. He wasn't ready for what he saw.

A huge behemoth of a machine was facing him, larger than a truck, and to make matters worse, it was airborne. It let out a huge metallic roar and charged a previously hidden weapon, Mathew barely had enough time to shade step out of its path before hundreds of razor sharp pink projectiles showered the adjacent wall.

"What the fuck is this thing!" Yelled Mathew, while dodging another volley of spikes.

"I don't know, I've never seen a Vex model like this before, it must be new!" Ghost was yelling now as well, more out of panic than anything else.

Just as Mathew went to fire a fusion burst into the metal monstrosity, a transparent bubble shield sprung up, effectively immunising one half of its body.

"Oh come on that's just CHEATING!" Yelled Mathew.

"Looks like you're going to have to hit it from behind, if you can tether it in place with your bow you could attack its rear without it rotating."

"Why the hell didn't I think of that earlier, great job sparky!"

"Have I ever told you just how much I hate that nickname."

"More times than I can remember bud."

Mathew made one last shade step, before leaping five metres into the air and readying his void bow. Just as he was about to lose an arrow, a high pitched screech took him well of guard.

"STOOOOOOOP"

In his suprise Mathew launched the void projectile off target, it soared across the machines shield before impacting the wall behind it. The void energy danced for a few seconds then fizzled out. The machine froze in place. Before speeding down a previously unseen corridor, round a bend and out of sight. Mathew landed in a heap of arms, legs and armour. His head was spinning. He groaned and sat up, taking in the peculiar site before him.

A small object floated just a few feet away from him, it's single pink eye glowing in the darkness. It spoke in a voice so soft that a mere breeze wold have rendered it unheard.

"Lights, on."

Instantly, the intire chamber was illuminated, Mathew stumbled backwards and landed against something solid. During the fight he had managed to make his way round the large machine and was now lying slumped against the menacing form of the alien 'tank' from earlier. His ghost was equally stunned. Mathew looked up at the small orb that was floating nearby. It seemed to be watching him with almost eerie fascination, as if he was the single strangest thing it had ever seen.

It began to move towards him, and he instinctively flinched away, it spoke again, it's voice like silk.

"There is no need to be afraid reclaimer, I mean you no harm."

Reclaimer? What did she mean by that, Mathew struggled to control his ragged breathing, it took some time for him to formulate a coherent response.

"Who. *breath* Are you?"

The orb brightened in colour for a moment, before fading back to its regular purple.

"My name is 031 Exuberant-Witness, I am... *sigh* I was the monitor of the Genesis installation."

She paused again, if only for a moment.

"Welcome reclaimer, welcome aboard the Long Far Gone."

Chapter 2: The way the world ends

Ponyville, Equestria. 1:43am 22/06/1000 AN

Twilight Sparkle is confused, there are plenty of other emotions swirling round her head, like worry, anger, fatigue. But right now she's confused. When she and her new friends confronted Nightmare Moon at the old castle out in the Everfree she thought she would be doing Equestria a great service, but when the Princess arrived all she saw in her eyes was hate. What had she done wrong? She had found the elements of harmony and defeated a great foe, she and her friends had saved Equestria. Why was the Princess so upset.

Twilight had sent countless apology letters, all perfectly formatted, zero spelling mistakes; and yet not a single one was answered.

She was trying to write them from the heart, but that becomes rather tedious when you have no idea what your apologising for.

She sighed and looked down at the now sleeping form of Spike, all those letters must have really tired him out. Twilight put down her quill and parchment and picked up the astronomy book that was sitting on the desk next to her. She may have been confused as to why the Princess was angry with her but she was still thankful for her foresight, this library had books on almost everything she could imagine. Right now she was looking into astronomy, star patterns and the like. When she had been writing on the balcony earlier Twilight had noticed something odd. A small flash of light near the moon. She didn't know what it was or if something like it had been seen before, so she was studying the night sky to try and find out.

Maybe the Princess would answer some of her letters tomorrow. At least Nightmare Moon was gone, for good this time she hoped...

The Long Far Gone, Meridian bay, Mars. 1000 years prior.

Mathew and his ghost were currently having a small chat with 031 Exuberant-Witness, as she called herself. After everyone had calmed down and it was identified that no one was a Vex construct or trying to get the jump on anyone else, Mathew had lowered his guard significantly. The monitor apologised profoundly for the actions of what she called 'an enforcer unit', and said that it wasn't meant to attack them them way it did. A simple situational error, it had obviously thought they were some kind of intruders. Well technically they were intruders, but not the hostile kind. Just the lost kind.

"So why exactly are you calling me 'reclaimer'." Asked Mathew, a stern look on under his helmet.

"Well your human aren't you?" Replied the monitor seemingly unaware of the guardians lack of knowledge.

Ghost huffed, this monitor wasn't making things easier. "Yes we are aware of that, but how does that relate to why your calling him a reclaimer."

The monitor blinked as she accessed a memory which hadn't been activated in a very long time.

"A reclaimer is a being that is capable of accessing Forerunner technology, in this case humans. It also applies to a being or a group of beings that will be the next inheritors of the mantle of responsibility. That is you reclaimer."

This was a lot to take in, what was the mantle of responsibility? Who were the Forerunners? So many questions. Mathew was about to ask when his ghost cut in front of him.

"Who were the Forerunners?"

The monitor recoiled as though she had been struck.

"Surely you remember them, your species had quite the connection with them before. Could it have vanished back when..."

The monitors voice trailed off into ineligible mumbles.

"So are you going to tell us or what?" Asked Mathew, quite frankly at the end of his tether.

"Um yes, of course reclaimer. The Forerunners were my creators as well as the architects of many large scale structures throughout the galaxy. Things like the Halo array and the Wandering star. Your species has always had a profound fascination with Forerunner artefacts, despite the knowledge you gained of many of their functions. I wish the same could be said about the previous owners of this vessel..."

Ghost thought about this, if the humans had a connection to these Forerunner beings then why hadn't he heard about them before. Just to make sure he wasn't missing anything, he accessed the Travelers massive databank. Nothing. He tried searching for the Halo array. Still nothing. What was the last one she had mentioned.

"I've seen reference to the Halo array in the ships files, but nothing on this 'Wandering star' you mentioned, what was it?" Asked ghost.

Exuberant-Witness looked extremely confused.

"What do you mean, I assumed you would know more about that one than any of the others. It's the one you formed the greatest bond with after all. You came up with a quirky little name as well... What was it? Oh yes, the Traveler."

Mathew sat up in suprise, these beings created the Traveler, one of the biggest mysteries of their time. The vanguard will most definitely want to hear about this.

"Wh-WHAT!" Stammered ghost.

"Yes, quite perplexing. It seems that humanity has lost quite a bit of knowledge regarding its previous exploits. You were lucky retain the same prowess for discovery the first time, unlike your four-legged allies. But I guess luck has to run out eventually."

Four-legged allies? How strange, it didn't matter though. There were bigger fish to fry.

"This must have all been lost in the collapse, I can't find any relevant data anywhere. There is however a large gap in the Travelers memory due to sustained damage. Maybe that's the reason." Said ghost.

"I imagine that may be something to do with it." Responded Exuberant. "Your foes down there seem like the type that could cause such damage. I've seen worse though."

Ghost sighed, he doesn't remember the great battle that eventually brought about his existence. No one does.

Mathew spoke up. "What about this ship, did the Forerunners create this to."

Exuberant shifted her eye away from ghost and towards Mathew.

"No actually, while this ship contains many reverse engineered Forerunner designs it wasn't originally created by them. The ship was built by the Covenant empire." She glanced at the confused looks both Mathew and his ghost were giving her. "It was a unified conglomerate of many races that viewed the Forerunners as some sort of... Deities. They were an old enemy of humanity. This ship was one of only three ever constructed. The 'Long Far Gone', the 'Long Night of Solace' and the 'Long Trial by Fire'. The Long Night of Solace was destroyed during the human-Covenant war. While the location of the Long Trail by Fire is currently unknown."

Ghost searched the Traveler for information regarding the Covenant, and, much to his surprise, actually found a file. It was linked to the legend of Sanghelios, which was an old tail told to children about alien warriors that would descend from the sky to save them. Odd.

Mathew was pondering the information received, more so how it would need to be delivered to the vanguard as soon as possible, he tried to access his transceiver, only to remember the radio silence this ship brought about. He turned to Exuberant. There was just one more thing he wanted no know.

"What do you guys call yourselves, like, do you have a name."

The monitor flickered for a second.

"Ah yes, we are the protecters of the various Forerunner Facilities that span the galaxy, more commonly known as 'Sentinels'."

Mathew inhaled, so these machines created the Vex. He didn't want to ask the next question, but it had to be asked.

"What do you know about the the... Vex."

It happened in an instant, the normal pink glow of the monitors eye flickered red and she began to shake, what was even more disturbing was what she said.

"How easy it is to stay up late, when you don't know what's real and don't know what's fake..."

Then it was over, her eye returned to pink and the flickering stopped, she floated still for a moment before speaking.

"I'm sorry reclaimer, we know much about the Vex, but I won't share their history with you. That is..." She paused, processing her next words. "...to painful to recite."

Could machines even feel pain. It didn't matter, he obviously wasn't getting any information out of her. So he decided not to push.

Mathew turned to his ghost. "We need to get in contact with Cayde, have you found the source of the interference."

"No not yet, I think it might be something to do with..."

"Perhaps I could offer some insight." Interjected Exuberant. "The disruption of your radio is most likely due to the gravity lifts activity, many of my Sentinels reported errors in communication systems while they were maintaining the antigravity generators that allow it to function, if your intent is to contact your superiors, then relocating to another part of the ship is most likely the best course of action. The ships bridge perhaps?"

Mathew thought this over. If the monitor was right and the disruption was coming from the lift then moving seemed like a perfectly acceptable solution.

"Alright then, uh, lead the way." He said.

Ghost just grumbled to himself. He could have thought of that.

Exuberant turned to leave. "This way." She sang, in an oddly melodic voice.

They moved across the lift bay and towards a small door in the wall, it's blue lights shimmering as they approached. Exuberant closed the distance towards the door, the center began to rotate before the door split into thirds, two disappearing into the top of the frame while the other slid into the floor, revealing what looked like a slightly more mechanical lift. They entered and Mathew immediately slouched against the support bars.

The inside of the lift was a similar story, thousands of sparkling blue dots covered the walls, blinking from behind access panels and grates. One wall was dominated by a large sheet of reinforced glass, giving them a view into the elevator shaft. Exuberant hovered over to a holopanel and shot out a beam to punch in a floor. The elevator began to ascend at an alarming rate.

"So how long have you been around here exactly, and why show yourself now." Questioned Mathew.

"This ship, as well as the remaining Sentinel force, has been present in the Sol system for approximately five hundred years. Though we couldn't risk revealing ourselves to you in fear of how you may react."

That... Actually made more sense than Mathew wanted it too. Just one more reason to trust the floating purple eyeball. Though he couldn't shake the odd feeling of uncertainty she gave off, almost like that strange character he had met on Venus all that time ago. She never did show up again, probably never intended to. Mathew still had the rifle she gave him, it was in the vault at the tower, next to his old Khvostov 7G. Man that thing needed an upgrade, maybe with a few extra firing modes...

He was snapped off his tangent by the sound of the elevator slowing down, it came to a gentle stop if front of a door much similar to the one downstairs. The door opened up into a dark passageway with shining silver walls, the blue sparks of light reflecting off their surface. What was most fascinating was the texture of the floor, which shimmered beautifully. Waves of energy pulsed along its surface, almost forming the shapes of arrows. Exuberant spoke up.

"This plasma based propulsion system is a common feature throughout the ships interior, it must have served to allow the Covenant quicker passage around the various sections of the carrier. Of course it doesn't get much use now, none of us have feet." She let out a small giggle. Mathew stepped onto the floor and began to move forwards, at least there wasn't going to be much walking involved.

"So it's a kind of futuristic travelator, seems kinda lazy if you ask me." Quipped ghost.

"Well I guess even the Covenant had their little desires." Laughed Exuberant.

"Hang on a minute, bud. I don't see you trudging around a twenty mile starship, in fact I'm pretty sure it was me that walked through the fucking desert just to get to that outpost in the first place,"

"It's not my fault you didn't link to the transmat array in time."

"That's because you were too busy doing fucking loopty-loops with the jump ship for me to lock a signal, you know how much the Cabal love to block those things."

They all shared a laugh at ghosts antics, he did love a good prank. The thought of his jump ship reminded him of something he had been meaning to ask.

"Exuberant, would it be possible for us to land our ship anywhere on board, the Cabal tend to ambush jump ships while they're in orbit."

Exuberant let out a small squee. "Of course reclaimer, it would be my pleasure. Here's a set of coordinates for one of the hangers."

"Got it." Said ghost "Directing the ship now."

Mathew could see a door coming into view in the distance, that must be the bridge.

"It appears we have arrived at our destination reclaimer, prepare to disembark."

They slowed to a crawl before Mathew stepped off the ride and onto a stationary platform. Exuberant flew over his shoulder and began to zap the controls next to the door.

"Now I must warn you, the bridge can sometimes get a little...busy. Not that your in any danger of course, but just a forewarning."

There was a ping before the entrance slipped open, Mathew entered after Exuberant. Astounding doesn't even describe what he saw.

The bridge was huge, hundreds of panels and screens covering the walls, flashing different colours while rows of text and symbols raced across them. Many Sentinels, of all different varieties, flew about. All performing different and probably confusing tasks. The ceiling was dominated by a large holographic projection of Mars, many red and yellow dots blinked around it, most likely identifying Cabal or Fallen fleet movements. The wall adjacent to the entrance was a tall window, lined with flight consoles. The now empty chairs glistened, the ambiant light from the hologram bouncing off their surface. Through the window, dark stretches of Martian sand could be seen as well as a single Cabal battle cruiser, slinking across the night sky. Ghost was the first to comment.

"Wow, this place is incredible, it's like a palace."

"Yes the Covenant certainly were extravagant when it came to interior decorating, even if practicality was occasionally lost."

Over in the far corner of the room, something purple caught Mathews attention, that couldn't be what he thought it was, could it..?

"Is that a servitor." He gestured to the dark sphere, resting within a stand.

"Is that what that device is called, we found it buried in the rubble on Phobos, it seemed undamaged though dormant, almost in a sleep state. We had some of its more... Malicious, programming removed, though it seemed to display a knack for managing some of the flight controls. We hooked it up there a while ago. It hasn't woken up yet."

"It's a Fallen machine, designed to channel ether to their troops or aid with the hacking of computer systems in the field. They're also used as pilots on board Fallen ketches." Said Mathew.

His mind wandered back to his old pal, the late Sepiks Prime. He had had to destroy that thing again after the SIVA outbreak, it was tougher than previously, but they were victorious regardless. If the monitor had wiped it's memory then it could serve as a rather useful tool, the vanguard often considered the acquisition of servitors more than a boon that anything else, in most cases.

Ghost spoke up. "We should probably try and contact the tower, they'll want to hear about all this."

"Yes, that is the reason we came up here after all." Chirped Exuberant

Mathew activated his helmets transponder and was relieved to find it functional. Why hadn't he been contacted already? He opened a secure channel.

"This is guardian Mathew Ausland, reporting in. Cayde, how's things back at the nest."

Silence.

"I repeat, this is guardian Mathew Ausland, please respond."

Nothing, there was faint background noise coming through, though Mathew had trouble hearing exactly what it was.

"Ghost, can you increase the volume on the speakers."

Ghost didn't say anything as the volume increased. Mathew could just about here it, the noises were high pitched, but not artificial, it was almost as if they were... Screams.

"Ghost, get me a direct line to Cayde's transceiver, we need to know what's going on." Said Mathew, the panic rising in his voice.

Ghost split into a ball of pure light as he began to search for Cayde's signal, after a short moment, he found it.

"I got it, patching you through."

Mathew nodded and began to listen intently, static filled his helmet, but the signal was there.

"*static*ardian, is th*static*you." The static began to clear. The noise was deafening now, it sounded like an entire stadium of people. Ghost immediately decreased the volume.

"Cayde can you hear me!" Shouted Mathew.

"Guardian, you have to listen to me very carefully. Something is draining the *cough* Travelers light."

Mathew gasped, this wasn't good. It's not the first time this has happened either. If the light from the Traveler was drained then the guardians that protected the city would fall, as they were only sustained through the light. Usually the hive were responsible for this kind of thing, so if he could find the ritual site then...

"What's draining it! Give me the coordinates!"

Cayde sounded raspy. "Kid you don't understand, this is a rate of drain we've never seen before. This is no *cough* Hive ritual, all of the light is being directed far out of the system. The only way to stop it would be to cut it off *cough* at the source."

"Ghost track the lights current trajectory."

Ghost began to to calculate when Exuberant cut him off.

"Here, I'm detecting a large amount of arcane energy leaving the system. Some of it has already arrived at the source."

The holograph of Mars was replaced my that of the Milky Way, a triangular vector showed the destination of the light. It was well outside the galactic rim, on the very edge of deep space. Even with the fastest of jump ship that journey would take hundreds of years. Mathew couldn't believe it. This couldn't be happening. There had to be a way, there was always a way...

Cayde's voice was extremely weak now, almost a whisper. "If it's any consolation Mathew, you were one of the finest guardians I've ever had the honour of working with. Maybe if we meet in the afterlife I'll buy you a drink, though I wouldn't count on it."

Mathew felt his heard drop. "Likewise Cayde. Likewise."

He slumped against a control panel. So this was it eh. This is the way the world ends. Not with a bang or a supernova, but with more of the noise of a vacuum cleaner sucking up a penny. As if on cue he felt the deck rumble, many of the Sentinels had stopped their functions and were gazing out at the night sky above. A huge plum of swirling colour, resembling a large interstellar rainbow was speeding out of the system. The checked his star map and was left unsurprised.

"That was earth, the Traveler it... The strain was too much." Whispered ghost.

Mathew felt his own light weaken, like a spent candle. He thought back to the tower, his friends and allies. His trusty fireteam:

Maria, the steadfast Titan, the one who would take anything as a challange, yet deep down only cared for her friends.

Lockjaw-11, his Hunter partner in crime, though he resented crime as much as he resented having to fight. Always wanting to show a little kindness.

Triss, the Warlock that spent more time trying to be creative, rather than ramming knowledge down her neck, she would give up hours of her time just to see the citizens of the city happy.

Kalie, the Titan who only really cared about making her friends smile, even if she had to break an archons neck to do it.

And finally Sam, the friendly neighbourhood bookworm Warlock, he spent more time in the library than Mathew did avoiding it. Always had a plan for every situation. Even if they occasionally failed.

He was going to miss them, all of them. As his light faded so did he, his body twinkled into dust. Leaving a faint residue. Ghost knew that his own light would soon follow, he had barely any power as is, but he wasn't giving up. Ghost turned to Exuberant.

"How long would it take to reach the location of the light, is it a trip this ship can make." He purred

"The travel time would be around a thousand years, give or take an hour. This ship is perfectly capable of making the trip as is."

"Will you take us there?"

Exuberant sighed.

"Your guardian is a reclaimer, the last reclaimer. It would go against everything I stand for not to."

Ghost just dimmed slightly. His voice trailing into static.

"T-thank y-you."

That was all he got out before he deactivated. The small shell hit the deck of the bridge and flickered off. Exuberant stared at him, the small frame looking like nothing more than a mismatched trinket. Someone was going to be held responsible for this, she would see to that.

Exuberant took control of the ships thrusters and propelled it away from the Martian surface, the ships cloak deactivated, revealing its massive white form, carving through space. They passed by a stunned Cabal battle group as the slip-space drives activated. A portal opened at the ships bow and it journeyed through. Leaving a sea of old memories in its wake.

Chapter 3: The loon on the moon

Graveyard of stars, Equis's moon. 4:27pm Equestria time 21/06/1000 AN

Luna just wanted to go home. She didn't know that vile creature would seize her yet again, she didn't know the elements of harmony had been found. She didn't know she would be banished, for another thousand years. She had stopped crying long ago. Crying solved nothing. It would only make her think about the past. Instead of... What? The future? Her thousand year banishment? No, but she couldn't stop these thoughts. She only wished to return home. Back to the castle, where her sister would be waiting. Celestia. Luna's heart ached for her. Not that her actions showed it. She resented herself for her foalish behaviour. How could she be so selfish, getting jealous over such petty things, she had a duty and she threw it away in the name of emotional persuits that benefited nopony, not even herself. Tia probably wouldn't even want to see her, after what she did.

Her lamenting was interrupted by a loud whoosh. Luna immediately took a defensive stance, years on the battlefield had taught her to expect anything. Almost anything. There's just some things that one couldn't ever expect to see. An enormous space faring whale exiting a portal is one of those things, yet here it was.

"By the sun."

Luna fell on her rump and took in the scene before her, it's white skin glistened in the evening sunlight, casting a great shadow over the lunar surface. Along grooves in its side countless shining stars could be seen, making it look one with the night sky itself. Luna could see lettering emblazoned on the side of its head, she could just about read what it said.

'Long Far Gone'

Long Far Gone, UNKNOWN, UNKNOWN. UNKNOWN/UNKNOWN/4367

The Long Far Gone's bridge was quiet, Exuberant-Witness had wanted it that way. It had been in a state much similar to this for the past thousand years, she didn't know why. She just felt that she should let them rest, let him rest. The reclaimers AI had woken up months ago, the moment they started getting traces of arcana. That's what it was called was it not. At least that's what the forerunners had named the energy that coursed through the Wandering star. She found it shameful, to be created by beings who had to steal to get what they wanted. That energy didn't belong to the forerunners, it didn't belong to the humans either. No it only truly belonged to one type of host. Pity they were all gone, she had always wanted to meet an alicorn.

"Exuberant." Said ghost, dragging her out of her thoughts.

"Yes sorry, I was just thinking."

"Anything I should be concerned about."

"No ghost, it's not relevant."

Not yet at least. They were floating in front of the spot where Mathew had vanished, all those years ago. The visible resedue had long since past, but ghost knew where to look. He began to pulse as light erupted from his frame. It danced in the air, swirling around him like like a cloud of mist. He channeled his light into a resurrection. Preparing to bring Mathew back. All of a sudden ghost snapped shut, and a white light blinded both of them.

There, in the position he was in a thousand years prior, lay Mathew. Ghost approached.

"Guardian, eyes up guardian."

Mathews raised his head to get a better look at what was making the sounds in front of him. To his surprise it was his ghost, did he make it to the afterlife as well, wait why was Exuberant with him. She didn't die, did she. How were they still on the bridge. Unless...

"MATHEW"

Ghosts volume started him.

"Ugh, nice wake up call dude. I think you may have overdone it."

"Yes well, answer the first time then so I don't have to yell." Replied ghost.

"Well excuse me for being dead for... How long was I out."

Exuberant spoke up. "You've been in stasis for exactly one thousand years, two days and sixteen and a half hours."

Mathew was instantly wide awake, one thousand years! That made home the oldest living human by a long shot. Then he remembered what had happened. He could very well be the last living human. Yet how was his ghost able to resurrect him. The Traveler was destroyed.

"Wait, how am I even alive. I thought the Traveler lost all its light."

"It did. Just before I shut down I had Exuberant lock the location of the light and follow it. We just arrived." Said ghost

Mathew stepped up and made his way over to the window on the bridge. He could see they were in floating over a moon of sorts, not unlike earth's actually. There was a lush green planet in the distance, the last of a star's rays were just disappearing over the horizon.

"There's a lot of things going on in this system I don't quite understand, instead of running a standard heliocentric model, like most star systems, it appears to have a geocentric one." Exuberant gestured towards the hologram that was now displayed over the bridge. It showed a planet at the center with both the local star and the planets moon rotating around it. The star was only slightly bigger than the moon. Ghost was tremendously puzzled.

"How can a star of that size even support a fusion reaction, it should have collapsed years ago."

"I can't define." Said Exuberant. "It could be due to Forerunner intervention, though this system is well outside of their known operating grounds. I'll look into it."

"If you guys are done talking about orbital patterns could someone please tell me where my weapons are."

While guardians were often placed on guard within the city, it was always advised to keep your firearms on you at all times. Just in case. Considering what had happened to earth Mathew wasn't looking forward to meeting the cause of such destruction, and his lack of weapons wasn't helping.

"Ah, your armaments. I placed them in hanger L2, next to your ship. I can retrieve them for you if you'd like, or we could journey down there ourselves. I'm sure the walk would do you some good reclaimer."

Mathew nodded, this room was getting stuffy anyway. He began to walk towards the door when Exuberant stopped him.

"There is no need, we can simply use the ships teleportation grid to get there." She said

"Wasn't I suppost to get a walk." Replied Mathew

Exuberant brightened. "I'm sure the hanger will be far enough."

With that she flicked a nearby switch and a small pad on the floor began to glow. It hummed and a swirling blue portal arose. Dancing in the air. Exuberant glided forwards until she was right in front of the rift, almost touching. Mathew looked hesitant.

"Come on reclaimer, surely you've been through a slip space portal before."

Mathew had been through portals before. Vex portals. It's not something to take lightly, one wrong move and you could be launched years forwards or backwards in time, maybe even into different realities entirely. Lord Shaxx had faced heavy criticism for his use of the Vex portals on a crucible arena out in the Martian oasis. Many believed that the risk of using these portals was way to great to be considered a sport. Shaxx had denied all claims, saying that the portals had been rigorously tested for 'fluctuations' and that none of the gateways ever had a chance of being volatile. Just another reason to avoid the crucible in Mathews opinion, not that it mattered now. Needless to say this was well out of his comfort zone.

"I don't know." He said sceptically. "Are you sure this is safe?"

"Of course reclaimer. My units and I have been using this system since we implimented it nearly two thousand years ago, it's never had any errors, why should it now."

She made a good point, it was highly unlikely that there would be any danger, even if the portal did look quite ominous. Mathew looked to his ghost.

"After you..."

Ghost made a short snark and flew through the portal, disappearing from sight. Mathew stepped forwards, facing the portals rim.

"Here goes nothing." He said, to no one in particular.

He stepped though and instantly felt a large force, like he was being pushed from behind, and then it was over. Mathew was standing in a dark room, alone. He could see a light round a bend. His ghost had probably gone that way. He walked along the dimly lit hall and round the corner. The bridge was big but, this. This was on a whole new level.

Before him stood hanger L2, in all its glory. This place was massive. You could easily fit the intire city cathedral in here and still have room to fly a Zeppelin around. The hangar was filled with Sentinels milling about, performing a variety of tasks. Some were cleaning the plethora of different aircraft and vehicles. Shining and polishing, replacing parts, you name it. Others were transporting crates or mechanisms around the large space. He spotted an enforcer unit amid the rabble. Shifting a long slender craft with its large rear claws. Several more sizeable ships were suspended from locks on the ceiling, their curved purple forms reflecting the light of the bustle below. Mathew scanned the room for his jump ship, after a moment he spotted the familiar orange sight of his vanguard class ship, rather conspicuously named 'Fatal vision'.

Another one of his older possessions, the ship had been with him ever since he returned from the black garden after destroying the Vex heart. He had been offered many things: weapons, glimmer, rare materials. He'd only really asked for a ship because his old Arcadia was falling apart, otherwise he would have turned down most of the stuff. He'd only asked for something simple, a ship to get him here and there, and that was good at fending off Fallen pirates. What he got instead was a state of the art assault fighter that was equipped with pretty much every system available, as well as more cup holders than he could shake a stick at. He had tried to turn down the most certainly outrageously pricy jumper, but Amanda, the tower shipwright, had said that almost everyone in the city had donated a bit of what little they had to have it build for him. He could see that they really wanted to show there appreciation, and it would be ungrateful to turn it down. So he took it, and here it is a thousand years in the future. Looking just as fine as the day it was constructed. He ran across the hanger to get there, brushing close with a few Sentinels. They didn't seem to mind. He spotted his ghost up ahead, tampering with a panel on the ships side.

"Took you long enough." He said on Mathews approach. "I thought you'd gotten lost."

"Wouldn't be the first time" he replied. "Where's my stuff."

"It's over there, in that crate."

Mathew nodded, he headed round the back of the ship and unlocked the purple weapons case that had been placed there. Inside, laid neatly, was his scout rifle and his fusion rifle. His sword was placed inside a smaller capsule sitting next to one of the strange energy batteries he had been seeing around. He strapped it to his belt before picking up his other weapons and heading back round the front of the ship, where his ghost was just finishing up his inspection.

"Well it certainly seems like they've been taking good care of her." Said Mathew

"Yes well, they have been keeping the Long Far Gone running for an extremely long time, I imagine their rather good at repairs by this point."

Their conversation was interrupted by the arrival of Exuberant-Witness, who was humming a rather merry number as she flew down from a shipping crate above them.

"Ah there you are reclaimer, I was just looking for you."

"Yeah, where were you. You were behind me, but you never came through the portal." Asked Mathew

"I became sidetracked. The ship was picking up some rather perplexing energy readings on the lunar surface, similar to the markings that you give off actually. I was wondering if you would be able to investigate."

"It could be a base of sorts, you never know. Maybe another guardian made it." Proposed ghost.

That was unlikely, but it was worth a look none the less.

"A couple of interesting things you may want to know about the planets moon. It does in fact have an atmosphere, extremely similar to your home planet might I add. You should be able to breath down there just fine reclaimer. The gravity also fluctuates heavily. Meaning that your weight won't remain constant. I recommend observing caution."

Huh, the more you know.

"You know you can call me Mathew right, that is my name. It's a hell of a lot easier to say than reclaimer."

"Yes of course, apologies reclaim... Um. Apologies Mathew. It's just my programming, the forerunners were often strange about that sort of thing. I didn't mean to cause offence."

"It's fine." Mathew stuck a thumb at his ghost. "It took him ages to stop calling me 'guardian'."

Ghost huffed, it wasn't that long.

Mathew climbed up on top of his ship and popped open the pilots seat, as he slipped down inside he waved to Exuberant.

"Shouldn't be long." He said

The engines started up. Mathew pulled his hand through the hatch and it sealed above him, good to be back. He put his hand on the throttle and pulled, the ship began to slowly rise before rotating and blasting forwards out of the shielded bay doors. Exuberant just watched in awe. What an interesting character.

Graveyard of stars, Equis's moon. 5:17 Equestria time, 21/06/1000 AN

Princess Luna had been gazing at the large object dominating the skyline for quite some time now. She had long since come to the conclusion that it wasn't alive, multiple life seeking spells held testimony to that. So that meant it had to be artificial, other than that she had made little progress in identifiying it's nature. It could be a city of sorts, maybe a project of her sisters, though that seemed unlikely. While she hadn't been in Equestria for an exceedingly long time she had been there long enough to know that the technology of pony kind hadn't advanced anywhere near this level. That meant that it had had to be somepony else's work. The Griffins? No, they would have used this to start a war the minute it was ready, yet it had remained peaceful for nearly an hour now. Most of the evidence pointed to one thing. Aliens.

Luna didn't want to believe it, but it all made perfect sense. Maybe there were nice, she hoped so. She couldn't imagine the equestrian army squaring off to something as large as this, at least not without the elements. Her thoughts were interrupted by a huge crack as the sound barrier was broken. She instantly hid behind the closest cover, which just so happened to be the large moon rock she had been resting on, the only outstanding object for miles.

Mathew's P.O.V

Mathew loved breaking the sound barrier, the rush of air, the adrenaline flowing through his veins. It was almost addictive. As much as he wanted to fly his ship around for hours, Mathew had a signal to find. He surveyed the landscape below him, and was surprised by the lack of... Well, anything. It was bare as far as the eye could see.

"The signals down there." Said his ghost, who was hovering over his shoulder in the cockpit.

A flight plan appeared on the ships hud, it lead to a small hill with a stand alone rock resting perfectly on top. He could have sworn he saw a flash of blue move for cover behind it, it was probably just his eyes playing tricks on him. Mathew brought the ship into a bank and flew down to the base of incline. It's twin engines roared, kicking up dust and sediment as the landing gear extended. He shut down the thrusters and unlocked the pressure seal on the hatch. Mathew pulled himself out of the pilots seat and jumped onto he surface. Dust burst up as he landed, making it look a lot more dramatic than it actually was. There was nothing here.

"The signature's coming from behind that boulder, there's also a heat source." Said ghost. Almost warning him.

Mathew took a few strides and began to ascend the small hill. Small stones crumbled beneath him as he climbed. As he reached to top he noticed the lack of anything significant, just a flat hill a rock and a blue tuft of fur sticking out from behind it... Wait, that's not really a moon thing. A light blue appendage shot out and pulled it back in. Mathew began to approach when a small stone sitting nearby was surrounded by a light blue glow. It launched off the ground and towards his head. He caught it with an outstretched arm. There wasn't anything unique about it, just a moon rock in a sea of other moon rocks. He dropped it and moved again towards his target. He could make out muffled whispering from behind it.

"Please don't see me, please don't see me..."

Mathew peered round the back of the rock and saw something that made his heart melt. A small blue equine was huddled at the stones base, obvious tear streaks could be seen running down its fur. It's Aqua mane was visibly matted. It instantly looked up at him, it's large blue eyes meeting his, although his visor covered them.

"Are you going to kill me..." She said in a weak voice, her voice was way to soft to be male.

Mathew convulsed, why on earth would she think that. Then it all made sense. She must have seen the Long Far Gone jump in, it was huge in the sky. She must have heard the sonic boom of his ship breaking the atmosphere, and the way he jumped out of his ship. She was probably terrified.

"It's okay little one, I won't hurt you... Are you lost." Asked Mathew

She hid behind her mane, blocking her face. Mathew was getting no where. So he did something he hadn't done for over a thousand years. He took off his helmet. He placed it on the ground next to her causing her to look up in surprise. Their eyes met once again, though this time she could see could see Mathews own brown eyes staring back. He pushed his hand through his short brown hair and smiled, trying to look as non threatening as possible.

"See, I'm not that scary. Do you have a home?"

Slowly, she lifted a hoof and gestured off towards the horizon. She was pointing towards the planet. She was lost on the moon.

"Do you have a name?" He asked

"It's Prin-... Luna, just Luna. She stammered.

"It's nice to meet you Luna, my name's Mathew Ausland." He stuck out his hand, she hesitantly shook it. "How did you get stuck on the moon?"

"I was banished here by my sister, I attempted to overthrow her, I didn't realise what I had until it was to late." Came a weak response

"How long have you been up here?"

"A thousand years..."

Mathew was shocked. How could one being stay on the moon for a thousand years. Without food, or anyone to talk to. He thought for a moment, he couldn't just fly her home couldn't he. It would probably brake several vanguard policies (not that it mattered anyway), as well, no doubt, many of the laws of this world. Mathew looked down at the snivelling mess of a creature slumped at his feet, and instantly, didn't give a damn.

"Would you like a lift back." He asked casually.

Her eyes lit up immediately.

"You would do that for me? Even after I tried to hurt you?"

She had tried to hurt him? Ah, the stone. I wouldn't have done much damage anyway.

"No harm done, you were just scared. I couldn't possibly judge you for that."

Mathew felt a force plow him in the stomach, knocking the wind out him. He traveled backwards before landing in a heap, a pair of azure hooves wrapped around his chest.

"Thankyouthankyouthankyou!"

Mathew propped himself up with his elbow and smiled at the small equine embracing his midsection.

"I think we should probably wait until dawn, I don't want to wake anyone up down there. We could go back aboard the Long Far Gone, I'm sure Exuberant would love to meet you." He said

"Who's Exuberant?"

"A friend."

With that, Mathew pulled himself up, shaking his new companion off. She stood roughly at chest height, gazing up at him. He picked up his helmet and brushed the dust of it, before slipping it back on his head. They journeyed down the slope and towards the jump ship. Whatever happened tomorrow, it was sure as hell gonna be interesting.

Chapter 4: Fit for a princess

Canterlot, Equestria. 5:14am 22/06/1000 AN

On the west wing balcony of Canterlot castle sat Princess Celestia. She had just finished raising the sun, starting a new day for all her little ponies in the land below. They would all be waking up to a calm morning, little responsibility, smiles on their faces. This was, however, not the case for Celestia. She wore a neutral expression, not unlike the one she uses at day court. Only it lacked the motherly smile she had practiced for so long. Celestia didn't feel like smiling, she didn't feel like raising the sun. She didn't feel like doing anything, but these things had to be done. She was a princess, and she had to act like one.

Twilight had stopped sending apology letters somewhere around midnight. Celestia had presumed she had fallen asleep, but then the letters had started up again, this time they were about a strange star near the moon. Maybe Luna was coming ho... No! Don't think these thoughts. You'll only be disappointed when nothing comes of it. Her internal war was intrupted by the arrival of one of her guards.

"Princess, shall I inform the nobles that day court is cancelled." He said

"No need, I will be attending this morning." Came the reply.

"As you wish, your majesty."

Celestia hated that, why couldn't her ponies just call her by her real name. Why must they use these trivial titles. She knew why, but it hurt all the same. They were afraid. Her little ponies were afraid of her, and there was nothing she could do about it. She wasn't Celestia, general lazy mare and lover of baked goods. She was Princess Celestia, diarch of the sun. Ruler of Equestria. That's all she'd ever be to them. That's all she'd ever be to anypony. As Celestia dragged her golden plated hoof shoes to day court, along the maze of expertly painted hallways, she realised just how lonely she actually was.

Long Far Gone, Equestria. In orbit. 5:29am Equestria time, 22/06/1000 AN

Mathew was currently sitting in hangar L2, he was sitting on an odd bike looking thing, resting his eyes. He wasn't really resting though. He was waiting.

"57, 58,59,60! Alright here I come!"

How did Mathew's life come to this, playing hide and seek with a pony princess. It didn't help that the we bugger could teleport. Damn it, he's suppost to be a hunter, finding things was in the job title. How was she so damn good at hiding. He scanned the hanger for any sign of his temporary house guest.

She had settled in nicely actually, the expected 'who are you and where do you come from' conversation occurred hours ago. Mathew had told her about earth, about Venus and even a bit about Mars. He had told her stories of his work as a guardian, how he fought to keep his friends in the city safe. He had introduced her to his hearty crew of Sentinels, Exuberant was intrigued by the workings of her horn and wings, as was his ghost. They had conversed for nearly an hour. Then came the inevitable.

"Why are you here?"

The words had caught in Mathews throat, why was he here. He was here because he had nowhere left to go, because his home had been destroyed. His home, his friends. Now that the adrenaline of his new adventure had worn off, he came to the sudden and shocking realisation that he was, in fact, the last of his kind. Humanity, an endangered species of intelligent primates, a race that were responsible for some of the greatest achievements in the galaxy. Had finally met their end.

He had cried there. A guardian, a warrior who had killed thousands of foes in the name of his races survival, cried. He was brought into an embrace by the only other creature in the universe that could possibly understand his pain. Princess Luna knew what he was going through. She had been through it herself, knowing that she wouldn't see any of her friends ever again. Though never on this scale. They stayed like that for a long while, as Mathew cried away a lifetime of bottled up emotions. When he was done Luna had suggested that they do something different to take his mind off what had happened, and that leads to what he's currently doing... Badly.

"Where are you?" Mathew teased in an ominous tone.

He heard a childish giggle coming from a row of crates to his left. Rushing over, he looked behind he crates to see... Nothing. Did she get away? She didn't teleport, he would have heard, so where did she go? A snark from behind made Mathew whip around. Luna was standing there, a very smug expression plastered on her face.

"Fooled by a simple voice projection spell, one would almost call that sloppy."

Mathew laughed. "That's not the first time in my life I've been called that, I assure you."

"How old are you, exactly?"

Mathew thought for a moment, how old was he? He had been seventeen when he had died originally, but it's often said that a gurdians age is well beyond their physical appearance. He totalled up some numbers.

"I think I'm around 1500 years old by this point, could be more though. I'm not really sure how long I was dead the first time. What about you?" He asked.

"My sister and I are roughly 5000 years of age, though that too could fluctuate."

Wow, 5000 years old. He hadn't even existed for half of that time, and he'd been dead for the majority of it.

"As much as I'm enjoying our little escapade, I think it may be time for you to go home, not that I haven't liked your company." Said Mathew.

Luna nodded. "Yes this has been enjoyable, we should do it again sometime."

Mathew looked around, there was plenty of transport here, and his ghost had taken the few micro seconds to learn all the flight controls for every single one of them while they were having their little chat. He looked at Luna.

"I'm going to be quite frank with you, my ships not going to be able to take down both of us and all the equipment Exuberant wants to transport down there." He said

Luna returned his look with a questioning expression.

"Is there any ship in particular you'd like to try?"

Luna was ecstatic, she was getting to choose a spaceship. A spaceship! She scanned the room before her eyes fell on a vehicle near the rear wall. It was large, sleek and a deep purple colour. It's tail was forked and elegant, like a fish.

"Could we take that one?" She asked

Mathew followed her gaze before noticing the craft in question. He turned to his ghost, who had materialised by his side.

"That's a Type-56 Lich. According to the ships database, the Covenant used them to transport large amounts of troops and weapons to a desired location, extremely quickly. I have all of the necessary flight controls here." He said "I'll inform Exuberant of our departure."

Ghost blinked as he communicated with the monitor.

"She says she wants some of her Sentinels to come down with us, for research and security purposes. She also wants to stock the ship with some weapons and equipment to study the natural 'arcana' on the surface."

"What sort of Sentinals, because I don't want one of those enforcer things scaring off the local populace." Replied Mathew.

"Just some constructors and one or two aggressors, they'll be on safe mode so no one is hurt."

Mathew didn't see the problem with that, in fact they might make things slightly easier. As long as they weren't a harm to anyone.

"Okay princess, let's get you home." He said

"You can just call me Luna thanks." Said his pony companion.

Mathew lowered into a bow. "As you wish... Your majes... GAH!"

He was cut off by a swift punch to the gut, sending him reeling. Both Luna and his ghost burst into a fit of giggles.

"Haha very funny you two, let's get going." Mathew picked himself up and began to walk towards the Lich, his troupe close behind. The Sentinels were just finishing stocking the ship. Mathew stepped up the ramp and into the ground floor. There were weapon cases everywhere, scattered around the room. Some of them looked like they were designed to level buildings. There was a few ground based vehicles as well, including a small troop transport.

"Isn't this a bit excessive, its not like we're dropping into a war zone."

Mathew didn't really pay much attention to his ghost as he began to browse the selection of guns and launchers that were present. He pulled out a short purple weapon with a set of glowing crystals on top, their strange pink glow radiating across his visor.

"Ghost, have you got anything on this." He asked.

"That's a Type-33 Needler, a kinetic weapon created by the Covenant, those crystals are the projectiles." Ghost blinked as he read more of the information on the database. "The crystals are made of a substance called blamite, which is found on one of the massive neutral satellites of the the planet Sanghelios, named Suban. They seem to feature aggressive tracking behaviour, able to not only identify, but actively pursue soft targets. How they do this remains unknown. The crystals are violent, and will detonate when a critical mass is reached."

"I take it you just read all of that straight off of the computer then." Sneered Mathew.

"Well I... Um... Yes I kinda did. It answered the question though didn't it?"

"And then some bud."

Their banter was interrupted by Luna fiddling with a small object across the room from them.

"What is this device, is it some sort of doorstop." She held out the silver cylinder in her telekinesis. Ghost examined it closely.

"It says here that it's a variant of the Type-1 Energy sword, namely the 'Vorpal Talon'."

Luna snorted, what a pathetic weapon.

"This is no sword, it doesn't even have a blade. What are you suppose to do, hit ponies with it."

Ghost regarded the ships memory.

"It says to activate it, point the spiked end away from you an squeeze the duel triggers on the hilt."

Luna looked at the hilt in her magic, before doing as instructed. The handle glowed and a pair of brilliant gold blades burst to life, startling both Mathew and Luna, who nearly dropped it in her surprise. The golden blades ended in cyan tips that had a translucent quality. The heat was massive.

"What sorcery is this! How can a blade appear from nowhere!" She yelled.

"Ah! Luna, volume." Said Mathew. Luna blushed.

"Sorry."

Ghost shot a beam at the hilt, which was still sparking and emitting the blades excited energy.

"Interesting, it appears that the hilt contains a plasma powered battery and pair of magnetic field generators that give the sword it's shape. The unique colour comes from the inert gasses that the blade is made up from. It's like an energy based version of your sword Mathew."

Luna gave Mathew an interested gaze.

"You have a sword? May I see it?"

Mathew nodded and began to unclasped Dark-drinker from his belt, then he stopped for a moment. Could he trust her with it? It was a pretty devastating weapon, able to shred apart even the tickest of armour like it was tissue paper. He noticed how Luna was watching him with a hard stare. Did she know what he was thinking?

Mathew relinquished his blade to his indigo comrade, she looked at the short hilt in fascination.

"It works the same way, just press the button underneath the cross guard." Informed Mathew.

Luna deactivated the Covenant blade and placed it on a shelf nearby, before lifting Dark-drinker and pressing the switch with her magic. The wide hadium blade wafted into existence, it's spiralling design reflecting the light of the hanger outside. Luna's eyes widened. She held it at an angle, facing the textured floor. A long drip of void energy ran down the smooth surface, before falling off the swords edge and spiralling out of their dimension.

"Unreal, how can it contain such pure magic, such raw power. It shouldn't be possible." She said

Mathew pointed towards the crystal attached to the base of the blade.

"It's to do with that crystal, it creates and stores most of the void energy that powers the sword, kinda like me actually."

Mathew formed a ball of void light in his palm for emphasis. Luna just stared at it, completely silent, stunned. She floated the sword back to Mathew who flicked the switch, expunging the blade.

"That's an impressive weapon Mathew, I would fear to meet you on the battlefield with it in hand."

"Thanks, I made it myself." Said Mathew, with almost childhood innocence.

Luna lifted the energy sword off the shelf and offered it to Mathew, who just shook his head.

"Keep it, I'm sure Exuberant won't miss it. Besides, it'll remind you of us every time you see it."

Luna smiled before slipping the hilt into the makeshift saddle bag ghost had constructed for her.

"Right, let's get this show on the road."

Mathew walked up a ramp to the first floor, which was filled with scientific equipment. He spotted a pair of aggressors moving a box of test vials, they placed it down and looked at him expectantly. Mathew waved awkwardly at them, unsure of what to do. One of the Sentinels, plating golden in colour, tilted sideways in confusion, before slowly raising a manipulator and waving back. Mathew snorted with laughter and continued into the pilots area. Multiple purple holopanels adorned a large semicircular console with a pilots seat in the middle, two smaller seats were placed behind it in a delta pattern.

Mathew took a seat at the front and gazed out into the hanger beyond. Luna came in behind him.

"Do you know how to operate this craft?" She asked.

"No but there's a first time for everything, ghost... How do you start the engines?"

"The large red button to your left."

"Ah, of course it is."

The engines whirred to life and the ship began to rise. Mathew gripped the control rods and looked over his shoulder at Luna, who was trying to get her belt to work. She clipped it in and beamed at Mathew, who was suppressing a laugh.

"Alright your majesty may I suggest you hang on tight."

The ships rear thrusters roared and the Lich blitzed out of the hanger, embracing the cold vacuum of space with open arms. Luna was pinned back in her seat with the force of their acceleration.

"God damn this thing really shifts." Yelled Mathew in excitement.

The ship banked down towards the atmosphere over Equestria, flames erupted around the nose of the Lich as it passed into the cloud layer. That's when Luna felt it, the familiar cold grasp of Nightmare moon.

"You could take it, take it all. With his help the world could fall before our hooves."

"Why hold back, you could rule. You would be better than her, beyond her. THIS IS YOUR CHANCE. TAKE IT!

"ENOUGH!" Screamed Luna, and instantly she felt a huge weight lifted from her. She was gone.

Mathew looked back. "Too fast?"

Luna couldn't believe it, Nightmare moon was gone. She was free! "No, go faster! I want to see what this things got!"

Mathew pulled of his helmet and grinned. "I thought you'd never ask!"

He punched the throttle, propelling the ship to blinding speeds. The sound barrier shattered instantly, the crack ringing out across the land below. Mathew pulled the Lich into a huge arc, before shutting down the engines and letting the ship complete its ascent. It reached the crest and slowly flipped over, beginning to dive. He engaged the thrusters to push it to its maximum velocity. The Lich rocketed though the air at two thousand miles per hour, boiling any clouds it passed though immediately. A strange energy began to build up at the nose, shimmering in the morning glow.

"What is that?" Yelled Mathew

Luna couldn't believe what she was seeing, she thought the rainboom was just a myth.

"Just keep going! You'll see!"

Mathew kept the ship on course, the lower cloud layer was getting scarily close.

"Are you sure this is safe!" Shouted ghost.

"Hell (Tarterous) no!" Screamed Mathew and Luna simultaneously.

The ship broke cloud cover and they could see an expansive forest below them, stretching for miles.

"WOOOOOOOOOHOOOOOOO!" Screamed Luna as the Lich sped towards the ground.

The energy reached a critical level and exploded passed the back of the ship. Mathew pulled up hard, just scraping the tree line. The noise was deafening, like a gunshot down a megaphone. A rear view camera displayed a large expanding ring of multicoloured light, flowing across the sky like ripples in a pond. The crew of the cockpit let out a breath they didn't know they were holding, before bursting into a fit of uncontrolled laughter. Even ghost laughed a bit.

"That was the most fun I've had in a millennia! Said Luna, still wheezing from the exertion.

"I'll second that." Panted Mathew "Where do we head now."

"I believe that my sister has taken up residence in the mountain city of canterlot, which is over there." Said Luna, pointing to the massive structure built into the side of a cliff face to their right.

"Alright, one mountain city coming up."

With that, the ship accelerated off again, to the city that was most certainly, fit for a princess.

Chapter 6: Purple pony procedure

Chapter 6: Purple pony procedure (Part 1)

Ponyville, Equestria. 7:37 am 22/06/1000 AN

Twilight Sparkle sat in silence, she had been worried about her mentor. Ever since she and her new friends banished Nightmare moon the princess hadn't replied to a single one of her letters, be it an apology or otherwise. It wouldn't have been as bad if it weren't for the fact that Celestia never missed a report, let alone the nearly two hundred she had sent last night. At first Twilight had presumed she was sleeping. Then she had presumed she was angry with her for something, but as the hours dragged on she began to worry about her safety.

Twilight had almost convinced herself that she was just being paranoid, that she was merely tired. Then that, thing, came tearing through the sky. It had created a sonic rainboom, something she had only seen once before, performed by Rainbow Dash herself. Not that Twilight knew at the time. She had been with the rainbow maned pegasus when it arrived. She had observed the way it burst through the clouds, leaving a blue trail of fire and a massive magical fluctuation behind it. The speeds were so phenomenal that even Rainbow was speechless, something that doesn't happen very often.

Then it flew off towards Canterlot. That's why she is currently sitting at Ponyville train station, waiting for the rest of her friends to arrive. She had a feeling the elements would be needed for this one.

"...Have a feeling that, whatever that big ugly monster was, I'm gonna kick it in the flank! Right Twi." Rainbow Dash had been talking while she was stuck in thought.

"I'm sorry Rainbow, I didn't quite catch that."

"I was just saying that I'll be able to kick that big beast right in the flank." Boasted Dash.

"While, I'm sure you could, I think we should take this one more tactically. We have no idea what our foe is capable of, which could be disastrous." She replied.

Rainbow just laughed.

"I'll leave it to you Twilight, I'm not really into that egghead stuff."

Twilight was about to make a point about health and safety when she was interrupted by a group of silhouettes wandering over the horizon. As they grew closer she recognised the somewhat bedraggled look on their faces, she had seen it on Spike many times before. It's not even that early...

"Hi girls!" Shouted Twilight.

Her friends grew closer until they were within speaking distance.

"Howdy."

"Hi!"

"Hello darling."

"Um... Hello."

Her friends, excluding Pinky, looked extremely displeased with the fact that they were awake at the current moment, not that it mattered, they had a job to do.

"Look Twi, I know we got a big responsibility, being the elements an all. I know we need to take care of anything that crops up, but why does it have to be today? It's the beginning of harvest season and Big Mac an I have a lot of work to to."

Twilight understood, Applejack worked harder than anypony she knew, and this harvest was the culmination of an entire years work. Who knows what could happen if it wasn't a success.

"I know Applejack, but the princess could be in danger. Then where would we be?"

Applejack sighed, kicking a loose stone on the platform with her hoof.

"Yer right Twi, I'm sure we'll be back by noon anyways."

"Yeah!" Interjected Pinky, who had just ingested most of the contents of the cakes baking cabinet. "Whatever nasty monster it is this time, I'm sure it'll be no match for us!"

Fluttershy whimpered.

"That sounds awful, I hope we don't have to fight..."

"Quite so darling." Said Rarity. "I can't imagine what fighting would do to ones mane."

Twilight smiled, those were her friends all right, she wouldn't trade them for the world. Her train of thought was interrupted by another, slightly more physical train pulling into Ponyville station. It's steam powered engine puffed out a great plume of smoke as it came to a stop. A cabin door opened and a young stallion in a blue conductors outfit strolled out, and was extremely surprised to see the six ponies standing in front of him.

"Oh hello, I wasn't expecting to see anyone up this early. Shouldn't you all be sleeping?"

Rarity rolled her eyes. "Yes."

"It's a matter of great importance actually, how quickly can you get us to Canterlot?" Said Twilight, in an authoritative tone.

The conducter thought for a second.

"There's no other passengers on board, and if I tell the driver to speed us up we could get there within an hour."

"Excellent, six tickets to Canterlot please."

The conductor began to unfurl his long roll of blank tickets, the coil hit the ground and rolled towards Twilight, who stopped it with a hoof. He began to print a ticket before stopping abruptly.

"You know what, its alright. We need to go to the station in Canterlot anyway. You girls can just ride along for free." Replied the conducter.

Twilight thanked him and boarded the train, her friends in tow.

"So Twilight, why d'ya call us up here. What's the danger this time." Asked Applejack.

They sat down in one of the green booths, the soft material threatening to put them to sleep. Everyone except Pinky, who was jumping up and down without rest.

"Oh! Oh! Is it a monster from the Everfree. No a dragon! No wai..."

Rainbow cut her off by shoving a hoof inside her mouth. Twilight nodded.

"Thank you Rainbow. As for your question Applejack, I'm not entirely sure what it was. It was large, and purple, and it was moving at speeds that shouldn't be possible. It broke both the sound barrier and the latent magic barrier like they were nothing."

Applejack blinked in confusion. "Latent what now?"

"Is that what that horrendous noise was, it woke me up an hour before my alarm! Whatever it is I'll be giving it a sharp talk about manners when we find it."

Rainbow dash just rolled her eyes, the only thing that creature was getting if it touched the princess was a sharp kick to the face. There was a whistle from outside and the train began to move.

"I keep running the calculations in my head, nothing that big should be able to go that fast." Said Twilight. "I'll need Spikes help to study it when we get back."

"Speaking of Spiky-wiky, where is he? He usually comes along on our escapades."

"He was up late last night helping me send a few letters, I may have worked him a little to hard."

That was a tremendous understatement and Twilight knew it, the poor guy could hardly walk after she was done with him. :facehoof:

"I think he was planning to spend the day with the crusaders anyway."

The train began to pick up pace as it weaved through the base tunnels of Canterlot mountain, the wind whistling through a gap in the window's seal. Rainbow settled into a cushion in the opposite booth and began to snore heavily. Twilight felt her own eyes droop, she had been up into the wee hours of the morning, maybe a small nap wouldn't hurt...

"Next stop, Canterlot castle!"

The crackling voice of the conducter over the intercom filled the cabin, Twilight jumped awake. The train was drifting through a very peculiar scene. There was a large amount of iron carriages being pulled around, presumably full of cargo. They coasted up to the platform and the train screeched as its brakes engaged. Rainbows eyes snapped open in surprise.

"Wha-zzum awake, what's appnin."

"I believe we just arrived, although this isn't the usual place." Replied Rarity.

As they were talking the conductor entered the cabin, all eyes turned to him.

"Sorry about the location, we had to make a delivery to the castle. You can get to the city through the gates at the end of the platform."

Rainbow gazed out of the window. There was a lot of solar guards standing about, weapons at the ready.

"What's with all the guards?" She said, still looking outside.

"I'm not entirely sure, someone said something about a disturbance up at the castle. Something to do with the big rainbow earlier. I think they might be here as a result."

Now that got Twilights attention.

"That doesn't sound good."

"I hear ya, we should probably get going."

With that the elements rose and exited the cabin through the door they had entered. The platform was in chaos. Loading crews rushed about, carrying boxes and equipment to various places. Battalions of guards stood at their posts, their faces locked in the trademark stoic expression. Twilight approached one who was standing next to the gate that lead to the castle gardens.

"What's going on here, why are there so many guards."

He shifted slightly in his golden plating, thinking about what to say next.

"We have been ordered by the princess to guard the object that arrived earlier today, the castle is on lockdown until further notice"

The object? Was he talking about the monster?

"Can we get inside please? It's urgent." She gave a sheepish smile.

The guard shook his head,

"The castle is on lockdown, nopony may enter unless authorised."

"But we are authorised, we're the elements of harmony!" Replied Twilight, getting impatient.

"I'm sorry, but I cannot allow you to enter unless I have authorisation from the princess herself."

Twilight groaned, at least it meant that the princess was safe. Though this object had peaked her curiosity, and she wasn't leaving until she had the opportunity to document it.

"M-maybe we should just go." Fluttershy whispered. "I-I don't think we're allowed in."

Twilight looked back at the guard, who stared straight ahead.

"Is there any way you can talk to the princess, to inform her that the elements of harmony are here."

The guard sighed. "Give me a moment."

He opened the gate and walked inside, past the two other guards who were on the other side of the fence. He strided through an arched passage and disappeared from view. Rainbow flexed her wings in boredom.

"Well at least we know the princess isn't in danger, can we go home yet Twilight, I've got a jar of zap apple jam with my name written all over it."

"No we can't go home yet, not until we find out what caused the rainboom this morning." Replied Twilight.

Faint voices could be heard coming from inside the tunnel, barely above the commotion on the platform. Applejack shook her head in their direction.

"Look Twi, ah know you curious an all, but ah've got work to do. I'm sure the guards have it under control."

"It's not about that, if they're keeping ponies out then they've got to be trying to keep something contained." Twilight pointed at the doorway. "They could need our help, and what if we're not there, what then. Better safe than sorry in my opinion."

There was a creek and the gate slid open. The guard from earlier strolled out and stood at the ready, though he seemed to keep a tighter grip on his spear than before.

"It appears I was mistaken, you may enter. Stay close to me at all times, and please, for the love of Celestia. Don't touch anything."

Twilight could almost feel the neurones in her head firing, ready to absorb absolutely any information she could get her hooves on.

"Alright, lead the way!" She chirped.

The guard turned and made his way back down the dimly lit tunnel, the elements close behind him. The passage twisted and turned, the only illumination coming from the torches fixed to the walls at regular intervals. Fluttershy huddled closer to the center of the group, afraid to get near the stony surface. Twilight caught up with their escort.

"So what's got everypony in such a state of panic, is there something dangerous up here."

He looked down at her with a straight face.

"Dangerous is most likely the wrong term, it's not dangerous in its current state... But it may have the potential to be devastating. We don't know, so we're locking down the castle as a precaution."

"What is it? Is it some kind of dragon?"

The guard just shook his head.

"That's what we all thought at first, but then it... It opened up, and out came, well... Whatever it was."

"What was it? Asked Twilight, hanging on his every word.

"It kind of looked like a minotar, but with less hair. I dunno, I didn't get a good view before I was bumped off with rest of the guards. Somepony else arrived with him... It was another alicorn, though not one I've seen before... Her cutie mark was a crescent moon."

Twilight felt herself pulled from her dream state at his words. There was only one mare she knew with a crescent moon as a cutie mark.

"OH NO! The princess!"

Twilight charged a teleportation spell and directed herself towards the throne room, she let her consciousness flow over the hall before selecting a location near the back entrance. The spell finished charging and the guard barely had enough time to yell before she disappeared in a flash of purple light.

What is teleportation? Teleportation is often described as simply vanishing and reappearing in another location, instantly. This is not the case. Teleportation is more like being pulled through a plug hole with the destination on the other side. While it may, from an outside perspective, look instant, there is lot more going on than that. The user experiences period of time where they are in a state of indeterminate existence, a moment of mind separated from matter. While their consciousness exists there is no physical mass for it to bind with, so the user often feels themselves being pulled towards the nearest host to their desired location. This can often result in the sharing of memories, or the passage of thought processes, from one mind to another.

As Twilight teleported to the throne room she connected, and was instantly bombarded with feelings of pain, loss and regret. She saw a mighty wall, hot metal being carved and bent along its surface. She saw an army of monstrosities, clawing at the door of a huge temple, their sharp talons leaving streaks of blue energy through the air. She saw a huge winged beast gargle and yell it exploded into a furious hurricane of light.

Then it all stopped.

Moments later, Twilight reappeared near the door of the throne room, glaring down the long stretch of hall for any sign of trouble. All she saw was a very stunned looking princess Celestia, a bipedal creature clutching its head and a blue alicorn with a crescent moon for a cutie mark. There wasn't a threat, the princess wasn't in any danger, but she didn't know that...

Fuelled by the fear and confusion of what she had just witnessed, Twilight wasn't in the right mindset to be thinking straight. All she saw was her mentor, and two beings attacking her. Clear of any rational thought, the first thing Twilight did after entering the room was charge a lethal offensive spell and aim it directly at the closest target. Who happened to be facing away from her.

The spell soared across the room towards the turned back of princess Luna, who would never see it coming. Celestia was in to much shock to react in time and couldn't put up a protective spell to shield her sister from the attack, but the creature reacted instantly.

A bow of pure magic formed between its claws and it let loose an arrow. The projectile flew towards the incoming spell before making contact and neutralising it instantly. The arrow then continued and impacted the floor to Twilights left, where it stopped. She suddenly felt her magic suppressed, unable to form even the most basic of constructs. The arrow had a tether of anti magic connected right to her horn, and was sucking her dry of the little energy she had left.

The last thing she saw before she blacked out was the shocked face of the princess, who had tears in her eyes.

What had she done...

Chapter 7: An act of pure folly

Chapter 6: An act of pure folly (Part 2)

There are very few things that make a guardian fear for their life. There is no weapon that can kill them, not truly. No foe that can best them, never entirely. A guardian is, in most cases, invincible, but that doesn't mean they are without fear.

Everyone fears something. Some fear insects, others heights, tight spaces, large crowds. Fear is the great unifier of life, for without fear, you are vulnerable. The mouse is scared of the cat because the cat poses a threat to the mouses survival. Fear and survival are intrinsic to one another. Survival is impossible without fear, so fear should be impossible without the need to survive. Oh how wrong we were.

Fear never goes away, it, like energy, can only be transferred. If a being can't die then the only thing it has left to fear is life itself. A guardian doesn't fear dying, they fear living in conditions they can't escape. They fear their own heads becoming a prison, where they can only sit and wait for the end of time itself.

So when Mathew sensed an unknown entity apperceive his mind, the one place he fears most, horrified doesn't even cover what he felt.

He and his new friends were in the middle of discussing the political architecture of Equestria when strange sensation took hold within his subconscious, it felt like someone leafing through pages of a book in his head, browsing for something. It only lasted for a second before the odd feeling was replaced with one of extreme pain. His brain felt like it was being ripped apart from the inside. Memories flashed before his eyes, none of them pleasant. After what felt like an eternity the feelings passed, and he was left shaking, clutching his head in his hands. Luna was in front of him, yelling something incomprehendable. He could hear his ghost talking over the transponder, his voice floating in the baseless wind. Who was he? Where was he? What was he doing? Simple questions felt like complex mathematical equations, he struggled to form words out of a vocabulary that he didn't know. The only thing he did know, however, was that the dynamic of the room had changed.

Mathew saw the projectile of light launch from across the room, to fast for any normal person to clock. He felt his bow form within his grasp, he felt himself release an arrow and the world slowed down around him. The projectile was intercepted and the arrow flew on to hit the floor near the assailant. It was then that his mind caught up with his actions. The purple unicorns eyes widened as the tether made contact with her horn, and she instantly sank to her knees, before collapsing onto her side, out cold.

"TWILIGHT!" Yelled Celestia, her words a mixture of anger and grief.

Mathew keeled over, clutching his head. He could hear whispers, voices from the beyond, a chattering symphony of various emotions. Some he swore he recognised, others were beyond even his understanding.

"Where is the great machine?!"

"What fun is there in making sense?!"

"The night, will last, FOREVER!"

"You are a dead thing made from a dead power..."

"This ring, is MINE!"

Then there was silence, and only echos remained. He swore, in the final moments, he could hear a child's cries, a slow drawn out scream of pure agony. His eyes fluttered open and closed as his ghost hovered just out of view. Luna was up close, tears running down her cheeks, she spoke to him, but he didn't understand. There was a ring in his ears as his hearing began recover. Slowly he sat up, still clutching his head.

"Mathew..."

"Can you hear us Mathew?"

Mathew could just about make out what they were saying, but he couldn't quite form the words for an answer. It was then that he heard one final whisper, so quiet that it was on the verg of not being comprehensible at all.

"I am a monument, to all your sins..."

What?

"Mathew, please, please answer us..."

Mathews head snapped up right, facing the sobbing mare in front of him.

"It's okay I'm here, I'm here."

Luna hugged him tightly, the warm sensation of feathers and fur spread around his body.

"Mathew, what happened? Asked his ghost. "Your neurological activity was off the charts, you haven't had anything like this before..."

"I heard voices, whispers. They were talking about stuff I didn't understand..."

Luna looked into his eyes. "What 'stuff' Mathew?"

Mathew scrunched up his face as he tried to fight the pain.

"I don't know, I... I think I heard Exuberant, and there were others as well. One said something about a night 'lasting forever', does that mean anything."

Luna's caring smile was replaced by a look of shock, his ghost turned to her.

"Impossible, she's supposed to be gone, I... Did she say anything else Mathew, I implore you, I must know!"

"I'm sorry, I don't know... I promise I'll... Uh, tell you if I remember." Said Mathew. He would have asked about the significance of the voice but he was to tired to care. He could see Celestia of in the far corner of the room, casting some sort of spell on the unicorn from earlier. Why did she just attack like that? What did Luna ever do to her?

Celestia finished her ritual and carried the unicorn back towards the throne, where she lay it's sleeping purple body. Tears formed in the sun princesses eye's as she looked at Mathew, who was still sprawled on the floor.

"Is she going to be alright, I'm not sure what affects the light will have on your bodies."

Celestia sighed. "She'll be fine, it's only light magic fatigue."

Luna stared at her sister, a small frown etched apon her muzzle. "Then why are you crying?"

"I'm crying because my own prize student just tried to murder my sister, and for that, there must be consequences."

Mathew stared at her in disbelief, there's no way that tiny blast could have been fatal. It wasn't even a fraction of what he had responded with, if that arrow had been slightly more accurate said 'prize student' would be splattered all over the opposite wall. Then again these ponies abilities where rather different from his, and he didn't know enough about this 'magic' to make a tactical judgement, but there was just something about the way she launched the attack. The mad look in her eyes, the utter lack of any hesitation or forethought. The way her pupils contracted in fear as she realised what she was doing.

"Celestia if I might say, I'm not entirely sure it was deliberate, it seemed as though she was acting in self defence."

Celestia looked at her student, silently weighing up the odds in her head. Twilight was always odd, but never aggressive. She may have been over enthusiastic in the past, but it was always innocent things, like stealing samples from the Canterlot archives or trying to create dangerous chemicals from basic household goods. Assassination wasn't one of her many known hobbies, sadly that list was exhaustive at studying and pillaging the castle desert cabinet. Twilight was no murderer.

"That may be so, but I will need to conduct an investigation into why she lashed out like that. I can't have her hurting anypony."

Mathew nodded, though his neck strongly objected to the notion. He moved to stand but his legs crumpled beneath him, planting him firmly on the smooth marble of the throne room floor. He looked at the worried expressions displayed on his companions faces, like he was going to explode any second. His ghost narrowed his single eye at Mathew, as if raising a brow.

His next attempt was remarkably more successful, and he was able to stand straight again, though running was still out of the question. The small pony before him stirred in her sleep, her head squirming on silk laden cushion in its center. It was quite remarkable that all this stuff seemed to be real, unicorns, pegasi and... What do you call them? He looked at the princesses behind him. Pegacorn? Unisi-

Suddenly a switch flipped in his brain, he had seen them before.

"Ghost, can you display the strange symbol we saw when we first boarded the Long Far Gone, the one we couldn't place."

His ghost blinked as the image of the shield emblem was projected onto the nearby wall, the swirling pattern clearly visible in the morning sun. His ghost gasped, as did the princesses. There before them was the same symbol that was plastered all over the castle, the symbol that he had completely overlooked in his excitement. What was going on here?

"That's the royal shield, the sun of the two sisters. It's the Equestrian flag..." Said Celestia, staring agape at the wall.

"What was it doing aboard the ship? I thought Exuberant said she had never seen an Equestrian before." His ghost flickered frantically, processing the various information that was being ladled out.

Mathew thought back to something Exuberant had said to him right after she met them, all those hundreds of years ago.

"You were lucky to retain the same prowess for discovery the first time, unlike your four legged allies..."

He picked up his helmet and sealed it back on his head, the locks clamped shut around his neck.

"I guess the plot just keeps on thickening."

Chapter 8: Within the minds eye