The last thing Mordecai remembered was entering the wormhole. Waking up, he felt immense pain, causing him to shut his eyes and grind his teeth to bear it. It was as if his body was being pulled in every direction and his head felt like he had taken several swan dives off the Tower only to land head first in the City. He could hear Rain speaking to him, but his ears were ringing. Forcing a eye open, Mordecai saw they were entering a planet's atmosphere. What really grabbed his attention, was that it looked like Earth.

"Guardian prepare for re-entry!" Rain said to the still disoriented Mordecai. His ghost then proceeded to pop into his backpack of Light, safe from the outside world.

His ship began to shake violently as they got closer to the planet's surface. His headache dulled down to a light pounding sensation and he was able to think clearly again. He grasped at the ship controls, attempting to slow the inevitable crash landing. A very large forest came into view, and they were going to crash right in it.

"Brace for impa-" Mordecai's head was slammed down into his ship's controls as they hit trees sailing towards the ground. He lifted his head, once again threatening to burst from the pain, when they hit the ground.

His head was whipped forward so violently it broke his neck and destroyed the visor of his helmet. The ship continued along the forest floor for a couple of feet before coming to a stop. The forest was nearly silent, with nothing but the sounds of disturbed wildlife scrambling to get away from the crash site plaguing it.

Rain popped back into existence, and looked at Mordecai's dead body. Blood was starting to seep from his helmet and covered the consoles with a bloody mess. He probed at his Light, and then connected it to Mordecai's. Bending it to his control, he removed Mordecai's damaged helmet and began to repair his neck and body. Satisfied with his work, he restarted Mordecai's corpse and the Light washed over him, releasing a small pulse as Mordecai breathed fresh air. He was back in the world of the living.

"Thanks for the revive." Mordecai said as he grabbed his helmet and inspected the damage. His visor had shattered, but besides that, it was intact and could be fixed. Getting out of the cockpit, he walked to the vault in his ship. He accessed the armor compartment and grabbed a spare visor. Slipping the visor into place and securing it, he put it back on along with his hood.

His Ghost appeared at his side and began his report. "Our ship badly is damaged and we currently have no means of repairing it. That is not the most troubling news however. This planet, while very similar to Earth, is not it. There were no space debris from satellites and communication systems are nothing but static." Rain said.

"Well maybe we were thrown back to an earlier time?" Mordecai asked him, hoping there was a way out of their predicament. He remembered the transmissions of Praedyth, a Warlock who was forever lost in time due to the Vault of Glass. He was beginning to feel despair claw at him.

"No Guardian, you don't understand. This planet... shouldn't even exist. The Sun and Moon seem to orbit the planet itself, which shouldn't be possible. The laws of physics is being utterly violated by this planet's existence. I would like to say it's the Vex doing, but now, I'm not too sure."

Mordecai pondered his words. Where in the Traveller are we then? Mordecai walked back to the ship's control console. He had damaged it when his head smacked into it, but it was somewhat useable. He activated a distress signal, wondering if it was vain. The Last City and it's guardians have never ventured outside of their Solar System, and star maps have never indicated such a planet. He was far away from his home, his friends and allies, and the Travell-

"Rain how do we still have Light?!" Mordecai asked very alarmed. There was no way the Traveller's Light could reach them here, but he felt his Nightstalker Tether waiting on him to draw it.

"I know this isn't going to make sense Guardian, but this planet is saturated with a kind of natural Light. It's not the Traveller's, but extremely similar. It's emanating from this planet's core." Rain answered. Mordecai took a deep breath and focused, feeling the Light all around him, the ship, and the planet itself. He had so many questions, but they weren't going help him in this situation.

"I'm done questioning this place for right now. Any helpful information?"

"I saw brief signs of a civilization, North of our current position. I suggest we head there to scout for information, but with extreme caution Guardian. We don't know what kind of monstrosities are on this planet."

Scootaloo had thought the meteor was coming straight for Ponyville until it fell below her expectations, literally. It had landed somewhere deep in the Everfree Forest. She had gotten a good view of it due to her home being along the outskirts of Ponyville, closer to the dark forest than the center of the town. She was practising scooter tricks in her backyard when she saw the bright light crash in the Everfree.

A bright idea suddenly popped up in her head. What if she could get a cutie-mark related to finding the meteor? Scootaloo clapped her hooves together as she got giddy thinking about it. She was sure to tell Applebloom and Sweetie about it in the morning.

It had been several hours after what the Vanguard dubbed "The Time Hole." Mordecai had gathered a lot of external information about the Vex cube before sending one last message. It read, "Time portal is powering on. Gotta go." Attempts at contacting him after resulted in only silence as he, the Dreadnaught, and Vex cube was sucked into a wormhole. The Vanguard immediately sent out their best Guardians to search for any signs of Mordecai, among them his fireteam. The only thing they managed to find, was the broken off left wing of his ship.

The Speaker called for every active guardian in the field, from the sandy dunes of Mars, to the Awoken's Reef to attend Mordecai's memorial. The Tower was full of guardians new and old, of every race and class. The Speaker stood before each and every one of them, his gaze falling on the Vanguard, Lord Shaxx, and Mordecai's fireteam directly below him. Whenever the Speaker would call for a speech, there would always be chatter before he began. Now however, there was only silence. News of what happened spread fast among them. Not a single word from anyone was heard, not even from the chatty Cayde, who tried to play off his deep mourning over the lost of the young Hunter he mentored and helped build into a fine Guardian.

"Mordecai started out just like every other Guardian here today," The Speaker began. "I can still remember the day he showed up in the Tower, curious about what he could do to help out the Traveller. He set out with the mission every Guardian has, to push back the Darkness and take back our Solar System. He completed mission after mission, strike after strike, defeating our enemies and bringing hope to us all. He died countless times, but rose up even stronger than the last, persevering towards a brighter future."

"We know of his accomplishments, for they are what made him earn a spot besides other Legends such as Saint-14 and the Iron Lords. He will not be the last, for he has inspired all of us, to become Legend. Let us remember him forever, as a bright beacon of hope, and his dogged determination to see Humanity prevail over the Darkness. May he rest well, in the Traveller's Light." The Tower roared with applause and shouting as the guardians rejoiced the Speaker's speech. They all talked among each other, recalling the amazing stories and events Mordecai played a part in, inspiring themselves with his grandeur.

Mordecai stealthily walked through the forest, his High Road Soldier scout rifle in his grip. The forest was extremely unsettling to him for some reason, but he couldn't put a finger on it. He had been walking in the forest for several miles now, and had to double jump over a wide river to get to his destination. He would see occasional signs of wildlife, woodland critters like squirrels and rabbits scurrying along the ground. Seeing the same kind of animals from Earth here only intrigued him more. He looked up at the Moon, and relished in it's beauty. Unlike the Moon he had known, this one had no shattered surface from a Hive God' blade.

His radar flared up with multiple red spots behind him, causing Mordecai to quickly turn around and hold up his weapon. Numerous pairs of green eyes met his silver visor. The Hive are here? He asked himself in disbelief. Upon further inspection however, he realized that while similar, this was not the case. Their bodies appeared wolf-like, made of what seemed like wood and branches, not chitin. They quickly surrounded him, and began to move closer towards their prey. Mordecai formed a ball of Void energy in his palm, and waited.

Just like he had anticipated, the wolves all lunged towards him at the same time. He double jumped in the air, well over the wolves who had crashed into each other. With his Void grenade ready, he threw it at them. The result was almost instantaneous. The Void Grenade landed on three wolves, killing them on contact. Two more wolves followed after the three as they were in the grenade's radius, and were consumed by the Void. Mordecai counted four wolves who had survived and aimed at their heads. Shooting at them, he hit two in head, collapsing them into timbers while the final two lunged at him. Shadestepping out of the way, he pulled his knife and drove it into the head of the wolf closest to him. It died after the knife was stabbed all the way through what he assumed to be the brain, leaving one wolf standing.

Mordecai put his knife back into his belt and looked at it, ready to end it as well. The wooden wolf growled at him, then retreated back deeper into the forest. Mordecai stayed on guard for about 10 minutes when he decided it was safe again.

"Scan these remains for me Rain. Are they related to the Hive at all?"

"These... tree wolves have large trace amounts of this planet's Light. It seems to have brought them to life. How it did that, I'm not too sure. Besides that, they're just a pile of twigs." Rain informed him after finishing his analysis.

"Hmm that's pretty scary, but considering what we've been against those wolves aren't that bad." Mordecai said, giving the remains one last look before proceeding forward.

Two hours later, he started seeing glimpses of town peeking out from behind the trees. Coming to the edge of the town, Mordecai knew if he was going to go undetected, then being a Night Stalker wasn't going to cut it. Focusing on his Light, he harnessed the Arc energy within him and switched his subclass to a Blade Dancer. Crouching low, he used his Arc energy to distort the air around his body, becoming invisible.

Double Jumping onto of the roof of the nearest house, he began his reconnaissance. The designs of the houses reminded him of the pictures he's seen of the early Last City, before the Titans had built the walls. Jumping from roof to roof, he stayed along the outskirts of the town, noting any peculiar buildings. He had saw a farmhouse and to the left of the town. Next to it was a large apple orchard. There was a shop that looked like it was made out cookies and candy, and he considered seeing if it was the real deal but decided not too. He didn't want to get caught by the townspeople with his hand in the cookie house. Another thing that caught his eye was a literal tree house standing near the town center. This place seemed to be something straight out of a kid's dream.

Mordecai snapped his head to the right when he heard voices. He dropped from his crouch to lay prone on the roof of the building to avoid being seen. His invisibility wore off and he was out of sight. Peeking his head out, he saw two animals walking together on the road. Confused, he looked for the source of the voices but still couldn't see anyone. The animals had gotten closer to where he was at, and he could make out their features.

They both looked like really short horses, but the resemblances had stopped there. Their muzzles significantly shorter, their legs were boxy, and hooves were less pronounced. Their eyes were front facing instead of being on the sides of their faces and were very large. The last thing that stood out was their colorful fur and manes. One was light blue with a pink mane and blue eyes, while the other shared the same eye color and reverse colors. Their manes were both swept back by a white hair band.

Twins, Mordecai realized. Their owners had to be close around since he could hear them talking. Looking back at the horses, Mordecai's jaw dropped. Their mouths were opening and closing, the voices he hared was coming from them. The closer they got, the clearer it was to him that these horses were having an actual conversation. What dropped his jaw even further, was that he could understand what they were saying. They were speaking English! A million questions ran through his head but once again now wasn't the time to answer them.

They had heavy accents, but Mordecai could make out words like Spa, busy day, and closing up. They must've just closed up their business. Mordecai put his head back down and waited for them pass. Once he could no longer hear them, he turned invisible again. It was time to go back to the ship and think about the shocking realization he had just witnessed.

He luckily didn't run into any more wolves on his back to the ship. Rain had been silent ever since he left, likely mulling over everything Mordecai saw. "Thoughts?"

"It's no surprise there's sentient life on this planet due to it's remarkable similarities to Earth. However, them being able to speak English shouldn't be possible. There's only two answers that I can come up with, one making some sense and the other... not so much." Rain said. Mordecai gazed at him with a worried look.

"I theorize either humans are on this planet and taught the horses our language, or we're in an alternate universe. I really want to say the second theory isn't true, but we did enter some kind of wormhole. We're not in the past or future due to this being a geocentric system, which in itself breaks physics. If we are, then the laws that govern the universe could be completely different than the ones we had. It's troubling, but it does make sense."

Mordecai put his head down in his hands. Everything Rain said made sense no matter how much he didn't want it to. Raising his head back up, he decided to ask the one question that had been eating at him ever since they crashed.

"Is there a chance we could get back to Earth?" He knew the answer deep down inside of his head.

"If we could theoretically open another wormhole, then we might be able to. However, the circumstances on how we got here would need to be duplicated and sadly, I didn't see any signs of the Dreadnaught nor Vex. Judging this civilization by their houses, there is no way we will be able to repair our ship because they probably will not have the materials we need, plus neither of us is Amanda Holiday. Mordecai, as much as I would hate to admit it, we're stuck." Rain said.

Mordecai felt sick as despair and hopelessness wrapped him in their embrace. What if the Last City needed him? What if something bad happened because he wasn't there to stop it? What if every guardian he had ever met died and the was Traveller destroyed? What would happen to the remnants of Humanity? There wasn't a damn thing he could do to stop it. It felt like he didn't have a purpose anymore. He may have become a Legend to others, but that didn't mean he had his own weaknesses and doubt. He had just been at the right place, at the right time. His head once again found purchase in his hands.

"Eyes up Guardian." Mordecai looked at Rain, remembering those were among the words he first heard from his mechanical companion. "We may be stuck here, but that doesn't mean we can't try. Maybe something on this weird planet can help us. Don't lose hope just yet."

"Thank you Rain. You always know how to cheer me up." Mordecai said, a new goal forming in his head. Sitting up, he began to manually pull off his armor, starting with his cloak. After he had gotten it all off, he walked down to the lower sleeping compartment of his ship. In there was a small bed, a table and a mirror. He took a look at himself in the mirror. Bright blue eyes looked back at him in the reflection. He had dark skin and curly hair, with stubble starting to grow his face. Guardians who were revived for the first time would sometimes have features they didn't have in their past life, before the Collapse. This included eye color and facial marking. This was due to the Light reacting to their bodies, changing or adding things that were overall trivial. Mordecai was sure his blue eyes used to be brown, but that didn't matter to him. Who he was before the Collapse, before the time he was a guardian, he simply didn't remember.

Grabbing a knife off the table by his bed, he began to get rid of the stubble to the best of his ability. Satisfied he didn't cut himself, he laid down on his bed. "Rain, turn off all the lights... and goodnight pal."

"Good night to you as well, Mordecai."

Author's Note

Next chapter is going to be really fun to write.