Guardian Down

A pink crystalline ceiling was the first thing that greeted Mordecai's eyes. Memory of what happened before he lost consciousness made him spring up out of the soft, white bed he was in. An attempt to get on his feet resulted in him falling to the floor, his body sore and weak.

Clutching his side and chest, Mordecai turned over on his back and the room was silent. No worried voice telling him to get back in bed, giving him input on how he could've handled the fight better, or a hypothesis on how Changeling Magic was amplified through love. Nothing from his Ghost. Rain, dead or alive, was absent from their mental link.

For the first time since his first death, Mordecai was alone in his head.

Princess Luna and Celestia stared at the near-dead Changeling, restrained to her hospital bed. Her hooves were shackled and a nullification ring was placed on her horn. Her entire body was heavily wrapped with bandages, the doctors not knowing what else to do with the cracked chitin shell. Scans of her mental state revealed that her mind was in a state of extreme disarray, causing her to be in a coma.

"Why?" Luna asked indirectly, deep in thought.

"Why what?"

"Why try to kill one of their own?" Luna questioned. "Her wound was caused by a heated Magical blast, and scans show her body was held by a levitation spell."

"As much as I would like to entertain that question Luna, there is the more pressing matter of Rain's abduction." Celestia said, her brows furrowing together in a worried expression.

"I beli-" Celestia was cut short by Mordecai, nearly staggering into the room. Doctors and nurses were behind him, trying to take the human back to his bed.

"We gotta get to my ship, right now." Mordecai said to the Princesses, struggling to get the doctors and nurses from dragging him back. "It might be my only way of getting Rain back, before it's too late."

Both sisters looked at each before dismissing the hospital staff. Luna's horn became alight with her Magic and she washed the room with a blue glow. "Now that we won't have any eavesdroppers, explain."

"Rain has a tracker on his shell, and I can use my ship to find his location." Mordecai's serious face turned into one of pleading. "Please let me get my friend back."

"Mordecai, this is the Hive we are talking about. There could well be a million Changelings there, and I do not want to risk the lives of my Ponies if that is the case." Celestia's face softened. "I suggest we wait until this Changeling awakens and we get information from it."

"Sister, I will go with him to get back those who have been taken from us." Luna declared.

Celestia reacted as if she had been slapped. "Absolutely not! I just got you back Luna, and I will not lose you again."

"This will be a stealth mission sister. We will sneak in, rescue those who have been trapped, and escape through long distance teleportation."

"For extra assurance, I will take one of my Shadows with us. Will that suffice Tia?" Celestia appeared to be deep in thought before sighing deeply.

"I will authorize this, just this once Luna." Celestia declared, before beckoning them close with her hoof. "In case things go bad, a Life-Line spell will be cast on the three of you."

"The three of us?" Mordecai asked, and his question was quickly answered when Luna's shadow rose from the ground. It materialized into the shape of pony, and took the form of a male thestral. Instead of the dark purple armor Mordecai seen the other Lunar guard wear, his was black with silver highlights, and was considerably more armored. His coat was silver, with a dark blue mane peeking underneath his helmet and cool blue eyes. What really caught Mordecai's interest however, was that instead of bat wings, the thestral had a curved horn on his head.

"Mordecai, meet Silent Strike, one of my Shadows." The thestral turned his attention to Mordecai and regarded him with a nod.

"What's a Shadow? Some kind of secret guard?"

"Yes, my Shadows are my most elite guard, compromised of ponies born with extraordinary magical abilities. Currently I have seven Shadows in service, with one always guarding me in secret." Luna said. Mordecai was reminded of Ikora's Hidden, powerful Guardians who operated in secret and reported only to her.

The three of them stepped directly in front of Celestia, whose powerful Magic washed over them as the spell was cast. "This spell will let me read your vital signs, and should they go critical, will allow me to teleport you directly back to Canterlot. I will have a medical team on standby.

"Thank you Luna, Celestia. Without full control of my Light, this would've been a near impossible task." Mordecai said.

Luna smiled at him and walked out the door, Silent melting into her shadow. As he was about to follow her, his body was suddenly held in place by a familiar powerful Magic.

"Mordecai, I believe in my sister, and in Silent Strike. Your arrival here instead of oblivion was luck, surviving the fall from Canterlot was luck, and your triumph over Tirek was luck as well. Whatever happens at that Hive, please don't let it be luck as well. That will be cutting it to close, especially when it involves my little sister. Can I trust you with her safety?"

Mordecai turned towards her, surprising her with the resolute expression on his face. "I know what it's like to lose a little sister Princess, and I promise you won't go through the same thing I did." Celestia's face relaxed, and she nodded her head at him. Taking that as his time to leave, Mordecai opened the door and ran to catch up to Luna.

I'm coming for you Rain, please wait for me.

Queen Chrysalis hummed in delight, her plan for Rain already bearing fruits. It was hard to get the machine under her control, but she was a master at manipulation. It also helped that the machine experienced emotions like a sentient being, and with emotions came exploitation. In her sessions with Rain, she had convinced him that she was Mordecai.

At first, she had to actually transform into him to keep the illusion. Now however, the machine was so far under her control that she could walk undisguised around the Hive with it following like a love-sick puppy.

Her goal was simple. She was going to feed on the Light from Rain and use it, but not too extensively to damage the machine. She considered destroying Rain after she was done with him, but ultimately decided against. She knew Mordecai would ultimately come looking for him, so she had made arrangements from the moment she sent her Battle-Masters. She ordered the evacuation of the Alpha Hive to the Delta Hive. The last thing she needed was a vengeful alien with advanced weaponry after her and her children.

Ah, her children. The reason for abducting Rain was not meant for her, for she wasn't thirsting for power like Tirek. No, this was for her children. Using Light instead of love, she laid 1,798 eggs and had them sent to the Delta Hive. Now these Changelings will be stronger than the rest, more powerful, and hopefully capable of utilizing Light. They would be perfect protectors of the Hive, and will lead her armies once production of the weapons were finished.

Light wasn't the only thing she got from Rain. Posing as Mordecai, she managed to get highly detailed schematics of weaponry, as well as some personal information. She was curious about how long it would take for her children to acquire the materials and assemble the weapons, but it didn't matter to her. Compared to what the other races got, she would be ahead of them by a long run.

With her new Changelings, she will rule the world of Equis with no equal. Her mother would've been proud of her. Looking at Rain, she grabbed him with her Magic and lowered him unto a table next to her throne. She coughed up some gel and covered the small machine with it, ensuring that it wouldn't go anywhere after her control over it would falter. Chrysalis wasn't going to hoof Rain over easily. 500 Changelings soldiers, 10 Battle-Masters, and a Infiltrator disguised as her were left in the Alpha Hive. Upon Mordecai's arrival, they will engage the alien and whoever else was with him. In order to get the ponies off her back as well, she left half of the prisoners she had in the Alpha Hive.

Thanks to her Magic, victims who fall under her control lose all memories of the event. She also left a surprise spell on Rain, one that would stay dormant until she was ready to activate it. With nothing standing in her way, Queen Chrysalis took her leave.

It took a full day to reach Canterlot by train. Luna originally was going to use a long-distance teleportation rune, but Mordecai disagreed with any use of Magic until they reached the Hive. Stepping on-board his ship, Mordecai went to the controls.

His ship, for the most part, was still heavily damaged but was able to get off the ground. Flight would be slower than normal, but 575 miles per hour was be enough. Pulling up Rain's coordinates on the ship's console, Mordecai found his exact location and compared it to a map given to him by Luna.

He marked the map approximately where his ghost was, and then he checked the stealth drives functionality. They were above 75%, meaning his approach on how they would arrive at the Hive undetected would work.

Luna was in the castle still, prepping herself and said she would meet him by his ship when she was ready. Walking to his vault, Mordecai pondered what load-out would be most effective. Ultimately, for his primary he went with Hawkmoon, his secondary would be a Void fusion rifle called Ashraven's Flight, and his heavy would be Arc Zombie-Apocalypse WF47.

Stocking up on ammo synthesizes, Mordecai put on his armor and went outside. While he didn't have Rain, his control over his Light was greatly diminished, but not completely gone. Once a Guardian's Ghost is lost or destroyed, the standard period of time before they completely lost their abilities was about a day and a half, maybe 2 if they were lucky.

Channeling the Void, Mordecai materialized his Nightstalker Bow and shot a Black Hole Tether at his feet. As expected, it disappeared in 4 seconds instead of its usual 8 second duration. Mordecai sighed at this. This was going to be hard, but not impossible.

The sound of approaching hooves alerted Mordecai to his makeshift fireteam. Princess Luna and Silent Strike had arrived. Luna wore shiny metal armor, its silver gleam reflecting light from the full moon.

"Alright Luna, take this." Picking up Thunderlord, Mordecai watched the princess hold the Exotic heavy machine gun with her magic, looking in awe as electricity flowed from the weapon.

While Mordecai knew that the Princess would be packing powerful magic, he wanted to go the extra measure and provide her with a weapon he thought she would like. "Hold the sight to your eye Luna. Take deep breaths and when you're ready to pull the trigger, hold your breath and take your shot." Mordecai said as he showed her how to aim.

"Now I know you have some strong magic, but this thing is going to kick like crazy once you pull the trigger. Good luck."

Luna slowed her breathing as she pointed this marvel of technology at a stray tree. Heeding Mordecai's warning Luna tightened her magical grip and braced herself.

Holding her breath, Luna pulled the trigger and was rewarded by the sound cracking thunder as lightning poured from the gun. The tree was completely obliterated the moment it was hit, reduced to tinder by the arc rounds. Luna breathed in as she looked at the destruction. "Wuzzah! Thine instrument is delightful dear Mordecai!" The hunter smirked as he watched the princess hug the gun.

Using one of the heavy ammo synthesizes Mordecai gave her, she watched in amazement as the purple brick was materialized into a drum magazine full of electrified rounds. Using what she had been taught, she reloaded the magazine of her weapon. She levitated Thunderlord onto her armor and used a Magnetism spell to attach it to her back, between her wings.

"Silent, this is your weapon." Mordecai pulled out a exotic sniper and fusion rifle hybrid, called the Queenbreaker's Bow. Handing the gun to the stallion, Mordecai went over the difference between the two scopes and charge times, and he pointed at another tree.

Following what his princess had did, Silent tested out the short zoom scope and charged up the rifle. The gun rocked back and a blue streak whizzed straight into the tree, leaving a large, burning blue hole in the tree trunk. He nodded his head at Mordecai, thanking him for the upgrade. He strapped the weapon he was given and he attached it to the side of some small sandle-bags he had.

They all stepped aboard Mordecai's ship through the back entrance, and the guardian had them stand in front of a scanner in the ship. "In case we ever need a quick getaway, my ship will need a scan of your bio-signatures, so stand still for a minute." Once the ship had finished, Mordecai pulled out two passenger chairs that were folded into his ship. After showing the ponies how to strap themselves in, Mordecai got into his chair and turned on his ship. He let his ship warm up for a minute before strapping himself in.

Activating the stealth drive, the Hebridean Thoughtcrime cloaked itself completely, turning invisible in the night sky. Adjusting a route to Rain's location, Mordecai looked back to check on his fireteam. While Luna looked cool inside the ship, Silent seemed a little bit more nervous, as he was really tensed up in his chair. Mordecai suppressed a laugh as he accelerated his ship to their location, Silent's screams ringing throughout the ship.

It took them a good 30 mintues to get to a desert canyon with a large, cone-like structure littered with holes located there. Landing near a large group of rocks, Mordecai unstrapped himself and got up. He went over to Luna, who cast her magic on the three of them. Their bodies vanished, having been turned invisible. Exiting the Thoughtcrime, the trio walked toward the structure.

Their plan was to discover where the prisoners were, who Luna would teleport to Canterlot by using a rune. They would then look for Rain. Once they found him, they would make a hasty retreat. They would only engage if they had to.

Approaching the Changeling Hive, Mordecai saw the holes were opening and closing all over the Hive. After scouting outside, Mordecai concluded there were no outside guards, meaning the Changelings were all inside. Luna cast a sonar spell in all the holes she saw, and tugged on them when she found the right passageway.

Walking through the cave-like passage, Mordecai kept straight as they went through the Hive. It was strangely quiet, and Mordecai hasn't seen any sign of the Changelings anywhere, including the motion on his tracker. That all changed when Luna stopped them with her wings as she sent her sonar spell down into a new entrance. Going inside, motion flashed up on Mordecai's radar and he tensed up as he heard something. Getting closer to a doorway, Mordecai tensed up when he saw two Changelings flying through one of the holes that had just opened up.

Even after the Changelings were gone, Mordecai was still getting on motion on his tracker. It was coming from one of the holes, so he tapped on Silent and Luna to follow him. Stepping through the hole, Mordecai heard the sound of crying and rushed to it. Inside of the hole was large cells, filled with sickly and gaunt ponies of all races and genders.

Mordecai tapped on Luna and Silent's shoulder to indicate that he was going to guard the entrance hole. Luna quickly went to the locked cell doors and used a powerful locksmith spell to open the doors, confusing those inside the cells. Silent cast a noise dampening spell inside the cells and around them. After breaking her invisibility spell on her self, Luna was greeted by the shocked faces of her ponies.

"All of thou who can walk, come outside your cells and wait for our directions. I will assist those who need help." She said with her Royal Canterlot voice. Ponies rushed outside of the cell, some thanking the her with their gratitude. After she helped the ponies who were too weak to move, she performed a Changeling Detection spell on all of the prisoners. They were all confirmed to be ponies, so Luna turned to one of the mares that she had recognized.

The real Dawn Light stood before her, and Luna caught the weak mare in a hug. "All will be fine, Dawn Light. Thou will suffer no more." Luna got to work making the Long Distance Teleportation rune, and after she had charged it with enough magic, the prisoners got on top of it. The spell fully activated and within seconds, they were gone.

Luna closed the cell door and cast a powerful illusion spell, making it appear as if the prisoners were still inside of their cells. "Our spell will grant us more time, lead the way Mordecai.

Mordecai grabbed Luna after she cloaked herself again and Silent, leading them to where Rain's position was at. Following the marker on his helmet's HUD, Mordecai lead his team to a large hole that revealed a large empty throne room. On table in front of him was Rain, covered in a sticky goo.

Mordecai knew this was a trap. As he looked around the room, Mordecai heard a sinister two-tone voice laughing. The source of the voice, came from above.

Aiming his Hawkmoon at the ceiling, Mordecai's eyes nearly bugged out his head at what he saw. What he thought was jagged rocks on the ceiling started moving and bright blue eyes glared back at him. He immediately holstered his hand cannon and pulled out the Zombie Apocalypse. Firing the machine gun broke the spell on him, but that didn't matter to Mordecai anymore.

Luna knew their enemy had detected them so she dropped the invisibility spell and pulled Thunderlord from her back. Following the guardian's lead, she opened fire upon her enemy, bodies falling to the ground from their assault. Silent drew Queenbreaker's Bow and started picking off the Changelings.

Emptying the entirety of his clip, Mordecai made a rush towards Rain. Readying a smoke grenade, Mordecai got close to his ghost when a large, slender Changeling with teleported in front of him, laughing.

Assuming this was the Queen, Mordecai was starting to see a theme with Equis. Mordecai ran faster towards the Changeling and stuck the grenade to its body, which detonated and consumed the Changeling in a cloud of toxic gas. The Queen started coughing and retching violently, having breathed in the toxins.

Mordecai unsheathed one of his knives and began to cut away at the hardened gel surrounding Rain. Yanking his ghost free, the Guardian noticed Rain was still functioning, but was unresponsive. His eye, which was usually blue in color, was a sickly green instead.

Cursing, the guardian put the ghost away in his subspace. Without Rain to resynchronize their connection, Mordecai was still handicapped in terms of Light. Having heard the retching stop, Mordecai turned his attention on the Queen, who was wiping away green blood from her mouth. He drew Hawkmoon and readied himself.

Queen Chrysalis stared daggers at the human, and enveloped her magic around her horn. Her wings opened and in a instant, she was upon him.

Princess Luna stopped firing Thunderlord and returned it to her back. Most of the Changelings that had been on the ceiling were either dead or had been grounded. More Changelings were pouring in through various entrances being opened up to the throne room.

A large group of Changelings quickly surrounded her and pounced. Luna frowned and teleported, leaving behind a glowing trap rune. The insects triggered it when they landed on each other, causing the rune to glow brightly before lighting ignited from it, brutally electrocuting them to death.

Coming out of her teleport Luna materialised her scythe, Crescent Arc, and unfurled her wings. Looking toward her Shadow, she saw him multitasking with his Magic.

To the normal eye, it would appear as if the Changelings around him that were not getting vaporized by his bow, were instead getting sliced in half or beheaded by an invisible source. They pushed and shot Magic at him, but their attacks would fall short by a invisible barrier, protecting him.

That was what made Silent Strike special. His horn does not show visible magic use, making everything he does a mystery. His horn also acted as a motion detector when his magic was cast, making him very skilled in combat.

Luna used her wings to jump up high in the air, where she began slicing through Changelings with her weapon. Bolts of magic hit her armor, but had no effect due to the rune enchantments she placed on it. Mordecai had recovered Rain it seemed, and was currently engaging the Queen.

Luna considered giving him assistance when she was hit by a powerful gravity spell. The spell pulled her back down to ground, restricting her from moving freely. Locating the source, she saw 10 Changelings putting their magic into the spell, strengthening its effects. These Changelings were different from the fodder. Their shells resembled the ones that were at the Crystal Empire, meaning these were the warrior class of Changelings.

If she was not an Alicorn, Luna would have been splattered across the ground from how much the spell was strengthened. The other Changelings saw this opportunity and began pelting her with blasts. Luna's enchantments were starting to weaken, and she was very annoyed at this.

Gathering a large amount of Magic in her horn, she cast a self-singularity spell. The warriors and standard Changelings alike were all ripped from where they were and pulled towards her, stopping inches from her body. Once her spell had reached the apex of its power, it collapsed violently and released a shock wave.

Those closest to her were instantly killed as the force of the shock wave destroyed their organs. Those who were fortunate to survive the initial attack found themselves being thrown away from the Alicorn. They hit the ground hard enough to crack their shells and break their limbs. Most of the Changelings that had attacked her, did not get back up.

Seeing that Silent was starting to get overwhelmed, Luna went to him.

Mordecai ducked as the Queen flew over him. Turning around, he fired several shots at her but they stopped by a shield spell. Switching to Ashraven's, he charged the fusion rifle up and was rewarded when the bolts shattered the shield. She teleported away and reappeared on his right, delivering a charged blast to Mordecai's chest.

Mordecai was knocked back but he got to his feet quickly, ignoring the pain in his chest. He double-jumped into the air and he fired a Shadow Shot from his Nightstalker bow. The Void arrow surged towards the Queen only to dissipate before hitting her. A strong sickness hit Mordecai and he knew he was out of Light to use for the fight.

Chrysalis smiled and flashed her fangs at him. Mordecai raised his fusion rifle to shoot but was knocked down from behind. Having neglected his radar, Mordecai struggled against the two Changelings pinning him down. One of them bit down on his left hand, ripping apart his fingers making him cry out in pain. Grabbing a knife with his right, he stabbed the bug that destroyed his hand in the head.

He managed to throw the other one off him, only to get hit in the back by lightning. He collapsed to his knees as his body spasm-med. Trying to stand back up, Mordecai wasn't given the chance as the Queen fired more magic at him. Diving out of the way, Mordecai saw more Changelings flying straight towards him.

Drawing Hawkmoon, Mordecai shot down three of them and the last one became acquainted with Hawkmoon's handle, the talon at the end being driven into its chest. That didn't kill the bug, so Mordecai grabbed it and slammed it down on the ground. Before it could make its next move Mordecai slammed his boot down on its neck, snapping it.

When turned to where he saw her last, he realized Chrysalis had disappeared. Looking at how his team was doing, Mordecai saw Luna and Silent were surrounded by dead Changelings. They were doing fine without him, but that didn't stop him from emptying the rest of his rounds into ones they were fighting.

Mordecai started to reload with one hand before his radar warned him of movement behind him. He whipped around with his gun aimed, but what he saw made his blood run cold and time froze. Standing in front of him, was his little sister Roselite.

He started aggressively shaking, dropping Hawkmoon out of his hand. "R-rose?"

Roselite took a small step forward, making him take a huge one back. She kept walking towards him, making him retreat from her. His foot hit something and he fell down to the ground. He had tripped over a dead Changeling. Mordecai started hyperventilating, making him remove his hood and take off his helmet. His heart started beating very fast, and his mind felt like it was falling apart.

She looked scared, but that didn't stop her from reaching out with her hand. His shaky hand reached out as well, taking her small one into his. He felt warmth when he squeezed her hand, confirming he wasn't losing his mind. He fully embraced her, tears running down his eyes.

"I'm sorry Rose, I'm so sorry I couldn't protect you when you needed me, or Mom and Dad. But that doesn't matter, because you're here now." Mordecai said, still tightly embracing her. "You're here now."

Unbeknownst to him, the sound of combat had become mute to his ears, and the pain in his left hand went away completely. All that mattered to him at that moment, was Roselite. A voice in the back of his head had started yelling at him, but he drowned it out.

Roselite suddenly broke out of his grip and hid behind him. Confused Mordecai saw Luna and Silent standing in front of him. All of the Changelings in the room were dead. This was the first time he saw Silent look troubled, and Luna had a sad look on her face. Realizing they never met Rose, he stood up to introduce them.

"Hey guys, this is Roselite, my little sister. Now that we got Rain and the Changelings have been dealt with, let's go."

They didn't say anything at first, until Luna stepped forward. "Mordecai, I need you to listen me very carefully. That is not your sister, it is Chrysalis impersonating her."

Mordecai stared for a second before laughing at them. "That was a good one Luna, but seriously lets get out of here." He expected Luna to laugh with him, but she didn't. "Luna?"

"She has you under her control Mordecai. I know you want to believe that it is, indeed her, but that is a monster wearing her skin." She said in disgust. "Get away from her, please."

Luna took a step forward, making Roselite cling closer to her brother. He took a step forward, drawing a knife defensively. Silent drew Queenbreaker's Bow, aiming it at him. Luna saw this and lowered the barrel with her wing. "Do not do this Mordecai. Your aggression is being pointed in the wrong direction."

"I will protect my sister Luna, even if it means fighting you." Mordecai said, unwavering. Luna started to say something when a flash of light caught their attention.

"Mordecai, they're right. As your Ghost, I cannot and will not lie to you." Rain said to his guardian. "Besides, from you shown me from our mental link, I don't remember her having green eyes."

Mordecai froze, and turned to look at Roselite. Instead of seeing her warm, dark-brown colored eyes, cold green ones stared back. He closed his own eyes, and took a shaky breath.

Before anyone could react, Mordecai drove his knife straight into his sister's chest. With his eyes still closed, all he could feel was warm blood running down his hands. It made him feel very sick inside of his stomach, but he reminded himself it was not her. Feeling her body shift confirmed this.

Opening his eyes, the smiling face of Chrysalis met his. Pulling the knife out, he watched as the Queen fell to ground. She raised her head at them, and laughed. Her body was engulfed in green flames, leaving behind a slender Changeling who kept laughing until it grew weaker and weaker. Soon, the room was dead silent.

For a moment, Mordecai had experienced true happiness, but now it was gone. Rain floated over to Hawkmoon, putting the weapon away into Mordecai's backpack.

Luna wrapped her wing around Mordecai's back, trying to comfort him. Wiping away a tear, Mordecai grabbed Luna and brought her in for a hug. Seeing Rain float by him, he grabbed his formerly abducted partner and brought him into the hug as well. Silent just stood there, doing his own thing.

"Let's go home."