Orbit of Pluto
2718
Albert slowly punched the coordinates into his Javelin's new FTL navigation computer. The process of typing so many strange numbers to actually go somewhere was still a unfamiliar feeling to him.
"Get it yet, grandpa?" A voice commented from nowhere. The shell of a Ghost appeared in front of his face out of a shower of blue particles. It was immediately batted away by Albert.
"Shut your non-existent mouth, Sage," The Titan shot back, typing the last of the numbers in. The console flashed blue as he finished. "See? I can do it!"
"Yeah, only took you an hour," He shot back. Albert was about to retort when the COM light blinked on, the green light pulsing with each syllable said.
"Praetor, this is the ALV West Wing," The com said. Instinctively, Sage and Albert both looked to the large grey, triangular ship in front of them. It was one of Humanity's first real starships, ready to be fitted with jump drives as soon as they were made in its size. The 400 meter long Khan-class destroyer was hovering above Charon, Pluto's moon. "You done punching in the coordinates yet? Over.
"West Wing, this is Praetor," Sage answered for Albert, who really didn't want to answer out of embarrassment, "Just finished up, standby."
"Copy that, Praetor; May the Light show you the way." Sage clicked the COM off as Albert put one hand on the steering controls and the other on the Jump ignition.
"You ready to make history, my friend?" Albert asked, looking to his hovering pseudo-AI companion. The Ghost nodded, the back half of his faded blue reinforced shell twisting.
"Wouldn't be the first time," He answered. Albert smirked and looked forward to the stars.
"When Neil Armstrong first set on the Moon, he said it was a giant leap for Mankind." Sage looked away from the stars to stare in disbelief at his Guardian.
"When Jacob Hardy first set foot on Mars, he warned his comrades of a rising wind." Sage finally realized what he was doing.
"And as Albert Haugrud becomes the first Human to travel to a foreign star system, all I to say is-"
"You giant fucking nerd," Sage muttered, his recording equipment still on; Despite the complete ass he was making of himself, the next hundred or so generations had to see it.
"Prepare for lightspeed!" He pushed forward on the lever, and the Javelin instantly accelerated before blinking out of existence.
A few moments later, the jumpship reappeared one hundred and fifty light years away. Sage was slightly impressed at the speed, but not at all surprised. What was installed in the ship was a TRUE jump drive; instead of the warpspace thing that the old jump drives took people through (which were insanely slow; about .744 the speed of light), this was the true kind. It simply took ALL of the atoms of the ship, including the things inside its walls, and put it somewhere else. The Eliksni and Cabal scientists who helped design it-the only ones working on it with true FTL experience-reckoned its range was around 150 LY. Lucky for the duo, they were right on the money.
As Sage went through the Javelin's active indoor sensors that were in the cargo hold, checking to see if everything was brought back (it was), he deemed Humanity's first jump to be a success. He was about to tell Albert the good new when he saw that he wasn't in his seat. Looking down, he saw that his armored form was convulsing on the deck. Instead of helping him out like a friend would, he took the best friend way.
"Jumps leave Human Guardians in seizures," He said, writing what he was saying in the ship's logs, "Not sure if it is just for human, a first
time thing..." He looked to Albert, who was still suffering on the floor. "...or if they survive." After a minute, he finally stopped, sitting straight up, tearing off his helmet, and coughing. He BARELY held back the bile in this throat. "They DO survive," Sage said, bouncing up and down in the air akin to a sapient's nod as he closed the log. Anyone that would be watching this video clip would not only see Mankind's first steps out of Sol's cradle, but the unlikely bond that a Guardian and his Ghost shared, forged out of the horrors they have together.
After a minute, Albert snapped out of it, sitting straight up and, after tearing off his helmet, gasping for air. After regaining his breath, he snatched Sage out of the air, getting to his feet.
"I don't care if the next thousand generations witness this, you plastic-encased electric sperm cell," He spat out. Sage had turned off the recorder as soon as he was grabbed. "I am coming to tear you apart, atom by-atom..." He trailed off as he stared slack jawed out of the window, his hair appearing more golden than it was. The bright starlight from the system shining on his pale complexation made him appear to be the Second Coming of Jesus Christ.
Sage slipped out of his grip, floating back to Albert's eye level.
"I would love to see you try, you fucking boy-scout..." Sage too was rendered speechless at the sight, which seemed to define all of astronomy by simply existing.
In the center of the system was a blue and green terrestrial planet, with a diameter slightly bigger than Earth. Orbiting it, quite literally right across from each other and most likely in the same orbit path, was an extremely bright star and a moon eerily similar to Earth's. In orbit of the star, however, were obscenely large terrestrial planets, the largest slightly bigger than Saturn.
"...Sage," Albert said after a few moments, "Check the tachyon sensors." The use of tachyon particles in machinery was still a relatively new branch of science, especially since the scientists of the Golden Age considered it a very dangerous technology. In summary, it took trillions upon trillions of FTL particles known as tachyons and shot them out into the star system every five or so seconds. If the particles hit something equal or larger than a preprogrammed mass, it flew back to the sensor. But they not only said how big it was, it also took a small bit of the thing's particles and takes it back to the sensor, also telling the user what the thing was made of. Unfortunately, the tachyons couldn't penetrate any hard surface. In an even briefer summary, it was the starship equivalent of sonar, plus a few extra features.
Sage looked up above their heads and began scanning the console, activating the sensors.
"By the Traveler..." He said after a few moments.
"What is it?" Albert asked as Sage stopped scanning. Sage turned to look into Albert's amber eyes.
"The center planet's Light readings are off the charts."
"How off are we talking?"
"Enough to rival the Traveler in Its dormant state." Albert's eyes widened as he leaned back in his seat.
"What were the mission parameters given to us?" Sage paused, his front half spinning.
"Survive the jump, get a reading of the system, and explore any planet that has signs of life." Albert gestured to the planet.
"What do you see?" The Ghost turned back to the planet in question and really studied it. He could see the blue of oceans, the lush green of grasslands, and on the dark side he could even make out-
"Light pollution," He muttered, turning around to face his Guardian. "Intelligent life!" Albert smirked and picked off his helmet off the ground, placing it on the console.
"How are our First Contact protocols?" He asked.
"We don't really have any," Sage answered. Albert leaned forward, gripping the steering controls.
"Well, we were always adept to working on the fly." He gunned the engines, and the two were on a direct course to the planet.
The Javelin broke through the planet's atmosphere with a sonic boom, the clouds they were going through dispersing in milliseconds.
"What's the reading of the atmosphere?" Albert asked as he maneuvered the Javelin jumpship to a good position to cruise in the foreign sky. They decided to go to the side of the planet that was still in the day, and were somewhat regretting it; They had already flown over many settlements, one of which eerily similar to New York in the early 20th century. Too many of the natives had seen, and had the potential for mass panic.
"Roughly 69% Nitrogen, 30% Oxygen, the rest is assorted. Pretty close to Earth, good enough to breathe without getting poisoned." Albert nodded.
"Good, I don't want to intimidate the locals," Albert said. Sage looked his friend over. Even without the helmet, he was still intimidating; He wore grey and black battle armor with the Vanguard insignia painted on a red stripe on his chest, a fur scarf around his neck, a mean-looking spike over his shoulder where he put weapons he wasn't using, a long blood red and bullet-torn Mark around his waist, and a height of 7'1".
"Yeah, you'll be fine without your helmet," Sage commented, his back half twisting. Albert looked over to him.
"The hell's that supposed to mean?" He asked.
"It means that you'll look worse." Neither of them noticed the bolt of bright yellow energy coming at them at a rather slow pace.
"You saying I'm that ugly?"
"No, it means to look like fucking Thor, especially with that damn pelt you wear around your neck." Albert seemed offended.
"This has a functioning purpo-" The energy slammed into the Javelin's side, leaving a large scorch mark. The jumpship jerked to the side considerably. It didn't too much aesthetically, but it did more than enough inside. The engines began to smoke, most of their inner components either overheating, melted, or in the process of melting.
"A big ass guided ball of...Solar Light?" Sage answered Albert's question before he could answer.
"Is that a question or an explanation?" Albert asked as he fought the controls to keep the Javelin in the air.
"A little of both," Sage answered, "That's what it was, but I don't know what could've shot it." He checked the sensor suite, and instantly became more alarmed. "Shit! Another one coming in!" Albert could see it in the viewport.
"The engines are fucked," He shot back, "I can't maneuver!" They both watched as it slowly got closer to their Javelin. Neither of them told the other to brace for impact as it slammed into the belly of the jumpship. The ship's engines sputtered one more time, then shut off.
"Shit, shit, shit..." Albert chanted as he tired to turn the engines on and off. The rational part of his mind knew it was useless. The ship began fall to the ground like a lead weight.
"We're going to hit that mountain!" Sage pointed out as he disappeared back in Albert's mind. 'We're fucked.'
'We still have a glimmer of hope, my friend,' Albert shot back as he tapped a few commands into the console. Immediately, the lights shut off.
'75% power in shields, 24% in inertial dampeners, 1% into gravitational floor plating overload,' Sage reported as Albert put his helmet on, then cast a Ward of Dawn around his body. This way, it would be much more powerful around his body than the usual domed shield meant for an entire Fireteam. He also strapped into his crash webbing, just to be safe.
As the Javelin dropped closer and closer to the mountain, he could see a small village. It was right outside the forest that the mountain was in.
'Sage,' Albert said, 'If we make it out of this, try and run a scan of everything within a hundred mile radius.' He didn't even bother to listen to Sage's response, simply closing his eyes, and thinking of his old home that was on the edge of the Nordic Province of the Commonwealth of Man. A small village on a fjord near the Artic Circle. It was one of the few things he could remember about his past life, before the Collapse.
Albert lived by his own code, and in his code was something he was told by an old man in the ruins of his village after he slayed the Taken King.
A Nord's last thoughts should be of home.
Albert woke up from his position slumped over his flight controls to the sight of a few rocks on top of his viewport. He coughed some, his ribs hurting from the impact. He discovered after a few more moments of existing that his body was aching.
But he survived.
"Ah, about time you woke up," Sage said, Albert shielding his eyes from his flashlight with his hand. His helmet must've been knocked off during the crash.
"How long was I out?" He asked, trying to shrug out of his crash webbing before he realized it broke.
"Half an hour," Sage said. He paused as he looked around. "It's a miracle nothing was majorly damaged. That call to transfer power to shields probably saved the ship."
"It did," He said cheekily, groaning as flares of pain shot through his body. "How's the damage?" He shakenly got to his feet.
"It's mostly in the engines," Sage said, as Albert picked his helmet off of the deck and inspected it for physical damage, "Most of the components are just overheated from the insane amount of heat from the Solar blasts, but there's a few pieces that simply melted."
"Communica-"
"Are completely fine. After our job here is done, we can call for a care package or a ride. Or get your hands dirty and fix it with the spare parts that managed to survive." Albert nodded, and put his helmet back on. Having been situations similar to this before, they enjoyed the thrill of being stranded and the need to fight like hell to survive. Their solution was to do the job, wait a week or two, then fix the ship.
He nodded again to his Ghost, who fizzled out of existence. The next moment, Albert found himself standing in a large cave. He looked back to his Javelin, and was surprised to see it relatively intact, just sitting on the cave's floor partially covered in rock. He looked to the hole he made in the 'roof'. He and Sage-who reappeared to assess the damage as well-both looked to each other at the same moment.
"Weapons check?" Sage asked. Albert nodded again. Sage dematerialized and began going through Albert's Transmat inventory.
'Excalibur,' Albert said. A moment later, a grey auto rifle with a collapsible stock appeared in his hands.
'Check,' Sage said cheekily. After inspecting the weapon for a few moments, he nodded and put it on the ground beside his feet.
'Shieldcracker.' A sleek white rocket launcher appeared. Albert checked its sights and ammo capacity before it disappeared with a mental command.
'Check.'
'Lead.' A red digitally camouflaged machine gun appeared. He checked the drum for any damage before it disappeared.
'Check.'
'Kyle.' A tan sniper rifle appeared. He pulled out the magazine and checked the massive caliber slugs before slapping it back in and putting on the angular weapon carrier on his back. The weapon magnetically attached itself to it, with the barrel over his shoulder.
'Check.'
'Darth.' A sword appeared in his hands, it's jagged blade a blood red. The handle was obsidian black, with dark leather strips as a grip. It disappeared after a few test swings.
'Check.'
'Stranger.' The strange pulse rifle he had received from the Exo that used to follow him around appeared in his hands. He checked the literal holographic sights, then made it disappear.
'Check.' Albert patted the holster on the side of his leg, and Hawkmoon appeared in it.
'Remington.' A shiny grey shotgun appeared in his hands, appearing to be a modern remake of the ancient weapon system. He loaded it with a few shells before pumping it.
'Check.' He put it on his back, beside Kyle on his back's weapon carrier. He picked up Excalibur and, after pulling back on the receiver and letting go, began to walk to the cave's opening.
His helmet automatically polarized as he walked into the open air and onto the cliff. Apparently the immediate area was going through their version of winter. The flakes of snow stuck in his fur scarf, but it seemed to further nod to his being a Neo-Nordic warrior. He placed his foot on a rock on the edge of the cliff and looked out to his new surroundings. His long red Mark billowed in the wind.
This mountain was in the middle of a mean-looking forest, whose trees looked ready to kill. On its edge was a village that, from his distance, looked similar to medieval fiefs. And, as if reinforcing this observation, there was a castle or city of some kind literally hanging off the edge of a mountain hundreds of miles away. if his Javelin was still operational for flight, he would've flown there in under an hour.
"That's where the blasts came," Sage said, reappearing beside his head. He flew a little and used his holoprojector to depict the Javelin in the sky. From the holographic mountain city, the first blast appeared. Its trajectory matched what the sensors had scanned, and the second blast matched with what the duo had seen their own eyes.
"And assuming that Mountain City is controlling the small village down there," Albert said, pointing to it while one hand stayed on the hand grip of his rifle, "Then it's hostile territory. This ALL could be hostile territory." Sage twisted his front half after turning off the holoprojector, in deep thought over what to do next.
"We to find the leadership," He said after a few seconds, "We need to explain that we are not a threat. Then possibly..." He looked to Albert, who had a look of curiosity on his face, "...convince them to join the Alliance." Albert smirked.
"That would be something," He answered, "Assuming we can get past the incredible Xenophobia and-" An arrow flew right in front of his face, narrowly missing his faceplate. He jerked out of the way, and impulsively caught the next. He dropped the now identified crossbow bolt and aimed at its shooter. He slowly backed up as Sage dematerialized.
'Contact, three o'clock high,' Sage head. Albert looked to the direction he was told, and saw a flying chariot guided by armored and winged equine humanoids of some sort landed on the stretch of land he just left. A squad of armored winged humanoids came from the edge of cliff, with medieval weaponry in their hands. Out of the chariot walked out two more humanoids, both processing wings and a horn. The taller one had a true white coat and armor with a translucent rainbow mane and tail, with a yellow tiara on its head, along with other jewelry of the same color. The shorter one had a dark blue coat and armor, with a translucent starry mane and tail. It wore a black tiara on its head, and openly brandished a nasty-looking scythe with a black blade. Both seemed to be quite angry at him, further reinforcing Albert's theory of Xenophobia.
This situation had quickly turned into a stare down.
'Al,' Sage said, 'I'm getting small Light readings in each of the soldiers. Seven in total.'
'That mean they're all this world's version of Guardians?' Albert asked.
'No, it's too low to tap into for a combat role. Those two from the chariot, on the other hand...' A diagram of the two appeared on his HUD, listing their heartbeat, height, and weight among other things. Most specifically, it listed their Light level. 'The taller one was the one that fired the Solar energy, I don't know what short stuff can do though.' Albert internally nodded, but did nothing else. It was him pointing his one weapon at them, and them pointing their many weapons at him. After a few moments, Albert decided to speak.
"Why did you do this?" He asked. The equines flinched as he spoke.
"Such a barbaric tongue," The smaller of the two apparent royalty said, speaking with a woman's voice. Albert paused. His helmet's could translate what it was saying; they were speaking in English, a dead tongue from Pre-Collapse times.
'Tune my helmet's microphone to speak English,' Albert ordered. Sage didn't say anything, but a click that went off told him all he needed to know.
"I said, why did you shoot my ship down?" He asked. Most of the equines backed up in fright, while Albert simply drummed his fingers on the barrel of his rifle.
"It was a combat ship," The tall one said, stepping forward with a hand on the hilt of a sword in its scabbard. It too had a feminine voice. "It was too menacing to be anything but." Albert slightly lowered his gun.
"How would you know what a combat jumpship looks like?" He asked, nodding to the chariot behind them. It was solid gold, with a sleek wing pattern on the sides. "If my greatest mode of transportation was a flying slave chariot, I wouldn't be talking." While the tall one took the insult in stride, but the shorter one seemed to have a temper.
"Thou shalt pay for thou insult!" She shouted, lunging forward and swinging her scythe. While Sage turned on a special suit feature he had installed into the armor (with Albert's permission), the Guardian quickly pressed a button beside the trigger of his rifle.
In the span of a moment, the auto rifle's rounds became harmless. The rounds loaded in were actually programmable mass, propelled by rails inside. The rounds went from tungsten to a special polymer that could pierce armor, but only bruise the skin and cause enough pain to render unconsciousness. At the same time, Sage activated what he had called 'Maximum Armor', taking the toughness of the armor plating and multiplied it by 5 for a short amount of time. There was another one, but it wasn't needed at the moment.
As the blade of the scythe made contact with his shoulder pad, the blade broke like a piece of glass. She looked down at the handle, then to the man she had just tried to kill. Before she could do anything he grabbed the collar of her armor and threw her into the mountain behind him. She cracked the stone she hit, and slumped down to the ground. He raised his rifle, ready to fight.
It was on.
He quickly down two guards with two bursts, knocking them down with bruises on their chest and face. One tried to rush him with a sword, but Albert merely dropped his shoulder, making the guard forcefully roll over him. He pulled out Hawkmoon and, after doing the same thing he did to his rifle, fired once. The polymer mass went straight through the chestplate and broke two of his ribs, thanks to the ungodly amount of stopping power the gun possessed at such close range.
He'd live.
He holstered the hand cannon and took down another guard with a single shot from Excalibur. The bullet went through its helmet with an audible 'ping'. He dropped his crossbow as he fell backwards, almost off the edge of the cliff. The last two, armed with two swords each, gave a combined war cry and charged. He ducked under both of their swings, grabbed their heads and, comically, brought them together. They were both out cold before they hit the ground.
He quickly turned around, aiming his rifle at the last enemy standing, the taller royal. She growled. In answer, Albert threw his weapon on the ground. It dematerialized a second later. He pulled Hawkmoon out of its holster, and raised his open right hand. A moment later, Darth appeared. He got into a stance that was made for his unique fighting style; He held the sword horizontally, with his hand cannon right under it. The royal, in return, drew her sword. Instead of the standard steel sword like he assumed it was, it was a orange flaming sword.
"I didn't want to fight!" He exclaimed as they began to pace, "If you drop your weapon now, I will let you take your wounded away. I will help give them care if need be. Just stop this Xenophobic nonsense!" The royal snorted.
"Before I kill you, I would like to know your name," She said, pointing her sword at him. He didn't do the same, suspecting a trap.
"My people simply call the Praetor," He said, "And that is all you will know." She growled again. Her sword began lighting up, until it launched a bolt of Solar Light. Acting on quick, adrenaline-filled reflexes, he raised Darth so that the bolt would hit its blade instead of his chest. The bolt ricocheted off of the blade and flew in the mountain's rock face, luckily not causing an avalanche. He quickly got his mind off of the insane stroke of luck and got back into his stance.
He lunged forward, swinging his sword. The royal managed to get it into a sword lock, but forgot that it wasn't the only weapon he had. Albert put his hand cannon a few inches form her gut and fired twice, sending her to the ground. Luckily for her, a hastily made magical barrier blocked the first shot and negated about half of the kinetic energy of the second, though it still sent her to the ground and dented her armor. As he aimed Hawkmoon to her head, she held up her hand, the other on the ground propping her up.
"Wait!" She cried, "Don't do this." He lowered his gun, giving a moment of hesitation. That moment was enough time for the shorter royal to attack.
"RAAUGHHH!" She screamed as she lunged forward, looking to stab him with a sword taken from one of the unconscious guards.
Unfortunately for Albert, he didn't have time to react, and the sword went straight through his back and his heart. The blood spray got on the royal that was pinned, staining her fur. Sage popped out of his Guardian's fallen body a moment after his life ended. As the royal pulled her sword out of his body, Sage flew as fast as he could and hit the hilt of the sword. His improvised plan worked, and the sword flew out of her hand and into the air. He flew in behind it, and pulsed in Light once.
The particles of Albert's body began to dematerialize, while at the same time it began to reappear in front of the flying sword. Within a few slowed down moments, he was alive and flying through the air, Darth in a reverse grip. Time seemed to go back to normal as he grabbed the other sword in the same fashion. He put his foot on the back of the shorter-and more surprised-royal. She slammed into the ground, the two swords embedded into the ground in a crossed position within an inch of her neck. Crouched over her body, he pulled Hawkmoon out and leveled it at the taller royal's head.
"Surrender," He demanded, "And all will be forgiven." The royal, however, was in partial denial over the magic she had just witnessed.
"But you died!" She stated in disbelief, "You died..." Her pupils shrunk and she gasped. "That means you're the-"
"Princess!" Another feminine voice, this one a lot younger. They both turned and saw six young equine humanoids of varying coat and mane colors on the path leading to the cliff. They began to pulse with light and rise from the ground. As the princess realized what they were doing, she raised her hand.
"Twilight!" She shouted, "Wait!" That was when the rainbow began to fly at them, specifically Albert. She sighed. "I am sorry."
"Don't be," He replied. He began to pool Void Light into his hands, and pushed them outwards quickly and violently. A purple-colored domed shield appeared and surrounded them. The rainbow beam made contact, and was instantly deflected and shot into the sky. As the equines expressed heir shock, he his above average Light reserve and began to pool Arc energy into his hands.
He took a few steps and leaped forward, covering an astonishing 30 yards in a few short seconds. Arc energy coursing through his body, he landed a few feet from them and slammed his fists into the ground. A wave of Arc energy went through the air and ground, throwing the equines through the air. Luckily for them, the amulets each of them was wearing produced a barrier of some kind that shielded them from the atomizing power of the Fist of Havoc. They all-comically-landed in a large pile a few yards away. As they hastily got up, they stopped at the sight of Albert.
His chestplate had a large bloodstain in the middle, courtesy of a sword going through it. His fur scarf was speckled with the increasing amount of snow that was falling. In one hand was Excalibur, barrel pointed to the sky, and the other was balled into a fist with Arc energy pulsing around it. To most of them, he looked like he had walked out of the stories they were all told when they were young. He leveled his weapon at them, opening his hand to reveal lightning shooting in between his fingers.
"Guardian!" The voice of the taller royal shouted behind him. His Arc Light fizzled out in his hand and he sharply turned to the princess, both hands on Excalibur.
"Do you know what that word truly means?" He asked, "What it stands for?" The princess stared back at his faceplate.
"I only know what the Visitor told us," She replied, taking a few steps forward. Sage materialized in front of Albert, surprising the princess. He did a full orbit around her body, stopping and twisting his back half. He was in thought.
"Ah!" He said after a moment, "Now I remember! Why didn't I see this sooner?"
"See what, Sage?" Albert asked. Sage turned around to his Guardian.
"An old story that was implanted into every Ghosts' mind by the Traveler," He answered. "Long ago, before the Traveler had arrived in the System, he passed by a...strange star system." He looked back to the princess. "This system, this world." He looked down. "This isn't the time nor place for this. Al, time to start fixing this mess." Albert nodded, and his weapon left his hands, dematerializing.
"By your word, I will assist who I can," Albert said.
"Do what you must," She replied. He made to go back to the cliff, and she to the newcomers. "And my name is Celestia." Albert turned his head to look at her, nodded, and kept on his way.
He stopped to help the shorter princess. He grabbed the hilts of the swords, looking down on the struggling equine.
"Before I set you free, I think it is good for you to know that our two parties are in a temporary truce," He informed her, "Do I have reassurance that you will not do anything rash?" She grumbled.
"Let me go and find out, alien." He chuckled.
"Fair enough." He tightened his grip on the swords, and they dematerialized. She quickly got to her feet, staring down the Titan. She looked him over, her eyes lingering on the blood stain.
"It seems that the stories I was told as a foal reflect on you, Guardian," She said.
"So we've been told," Sage commented as he appeared beside Albert's helmeted head, "I'm gonna get some scans and revive a few of your men, your majesty. Is that gonna be a problem?" Luna was taken aback by the sudden arrival of the Ghost.
"There's your construct," She observed with a small smile. She blinked, smile gone, and shook her head. "It will be no issue, little Light." He nodded once, and flew off, grumbling about hating when people called him that. An awkward moment began to form in-between the beings, both simply staring at the other.
"Guardian!" Celestia called from behind them. Albert turned and saw her running up to him and the other princess. "We'll be gone as soon as our guards are awoken. I appreciate the help you've given us, but our stallions most likely won't." He waved Sage over as he finished a full body scan on one of the guards shot.
"I understand, your highness," He said, "We will be attempting to fix our jumpship while we wait." She nodded.
"I will fire a flare in the sky from our castle in Canterlot-" She pointed to the Mountain City."-When we are ready for your arrival." The Guardian nodded, then bowed.
"Until then, your highnesses." Celestia nodded once more and turned to leave, beckoning to her fellow princess.
"Come, Luna," She said, "There is much to be done in preparation." Albert and Luna exchanged one last one before turning around and going back into the cave.
'Crush,' Sage commented. Albert scowled.
'In your dreams, little Light.'
As he walked in, he pulled Hawkmoon and, after switching back lethal ammo, fired once right above the top of the entrance. A multitude of rocks fell from the inside, blocking the entrance so the guards wouldn't try to enact vengeance.
On a nearby mountain, a figure had watched the whole event. Its hand clutched at the strange-looking hand cannon in the holster strapped to its leg as Albert closed the cave. After a few moments, it let go. It looked to the clouds close to it, as if they had an answer to its questions.
A cloud passed over the figure. By the time it went away, the peak the figure had sat on was deserted.
