Mordecai saw nothing but Magic. He was walking through the Everfree forest, but he did not know how he knew this. He could see every individual strand of Magic flowing from the ground beneath him, to the tall trees that stood over him.

He saw a dark cave in front of him, and inside of it was the brightest spot of Magic he could see, in the form of a chest. He could see the tendrils of Magic extending from it into the ground, its roots leading to the very core of the planet. Magic was everywhere. A bright flash enveloped his vision and he was no more.

Mordecai's awakening was met with a magnitude of pain. Usually Rain would've eased his pain by now, but the memory of his fall was fresh in Mordecai's mind. If his Ghost survived the fall, he would need to find him. Mordecai tried lifting himself off the muddy ground he was on, but grinded his teeth when he realized his left arm was broken. He took the glove off his left hand and starting unraveling the cloth armor that covered the limb.

Looking around, he noticed he was close to river, which would explain the mud. He saw what he was looking for lying a few feet away from him. He almost tripped getting up, the result of twisted ankle. He made sure not to put a lot of weight on it and limped over to what he saw. Getting to them, he put a length of the cloth armor in his mouth and bit down hard when he set his broken arm. Lying his arm on the ground, he lined up the two sturdy branches and began wrapping the cloth armor around them.

Now with a makeshift splint, Mordecai unwound the cloth armor wrapping his abdomen and rewound them less tight, lessening the pain of what he guessed to be two broken ribs. Looking around for a weapon, Mordecai found none besides the knives he had on him. He couldn't access his backpack without his Light, and his sniper that was on his back had been lost when he was knocked around by Tirek.

Mordecai's only option was to find Twilight, but he didn't know where he was. He knew the direction the Everfree Forest was in the opposite direction of Canterlot, and that was all he had to go off of.

He had started to head into forest when the sound of flapping leathery wings caught his attention. Looking up, a smile was brought to his face as he recognized who was above him.

Vedalia had orders from her Queen to stay away from the Magic-hungry Centaur, for if he were to take her Magic, her disguise would dissipate and she would have been revealed. In order for her departure from everypony including Mordecai to seem normal, she used the guise of a family emergency to leave. Her Queen had suspected Mordecai would fight Tirek and had Vedalia watch the fight from a distance. Once the fight had ended with Mordecai falling off of Canterlot, her Queen gave her new orders.

First, to retrieve the contraption that Mordecai had lost falling off. Second, if he died, she was to bring his body back to the Hive for study. If he survived the fall, she was to give back to him the contraption so that she could use that to gain his trust better. The third order, was to assist him indirectly with taking down Tirek. Queen Chrysalis knew Twilight Sparkle would be no match for Tirek if they fought, even with her having all of the Alicorn Magic.

Following her orders, she had found the green and white contraption in the dirt, the only visible damage was the round center glass piece being cracked and various scratches and scuffs covered it. Putting it in her saddlebags, she took off high into the air to find where Mordecai landed.

It took her about an hour to find the alien, but once she did she saw him wearing a splint on of his left arm, his armor was bloody, and he walked with a limp. He must've heard her because he turned around and looked up at, a surge of hope swelling up inside of him.

"Dawn!"She flew down and landed in front of him.

"How badly hurt are you?" She asked him worriedly, surprised that he actually survived the fall. Ponies were resilient creatures, but Mordecai was no pony.

"Broken arm and ribs, internal bleeding, twisted ankle and a killer headache." He responded tiredly. "The only thing that could kill me is the internal bleeding."

"We need to get you to the nearest hospital, if you don't have a means of healing yourself." Reaching into her saddlebags, she grabbed his machine gently with her mouth and held it out to him. "I fwound twis by the way."

She heard him gasp and he took the machine from her. "What is it?"

"This is my Ghost, Rain. He's my partner and my means of healing." She tilted her head in confusion. How could that small machine be alive? A lot of questions started going through Vedalia's mind. She had learned that Mordecai was a protector of sorts on his world, and when he said he had a Ghost, she had thought his kind had learned to use a Soul to revive themselves from the dead. She didn't want to seem annoying, so she didn't ask him further questions about it. Perhaps that machine contained a Soul?

He tinkered around the machine until its body exploded in a flash, various parts floating around its core, a blue glowing light peering out through the cracked lens. Sparks would occasionally shoot out of the damaged floating components, making Vedalia think it was somewhat broken. It floated there for a couple of seconds before bringing its floating parts back to its core, focusing its eye on Mordecai.

"G-g-guardian, you're alive!" The machine's voice sounded warped, as if it had two voices speaking at the same time but was slightly off, sending chills down Vedalia's back. She really did think this was a spirit now.

"H-here, let m-me heal you." The Ghost expanded its parts once again and shot a blast of white light at Mordecai. She watched in amazement as he stood up straight, putting his weight on his healed ankle and stretching as his ribs were mended. "I-i can h-heal you, but I c-can't resurrect you, not since T-tirek took our L-l-light."

Vedalia eyes widened at this. She found out he could be resurrected by his Ghost, but now she knew exactly what his Ghost is.

"I can't access my backpack without it either. When Tirek took our Light, he must've stopped us from being able to absorb Equis's Magic. Rain, by any chance, did you have a vision when you shut down?" Mordecai asked his floating Ghost.

"I did, it was about a Chest in a cave in the Everfree. Why?"

"I think it was some kind of sign for us to go there. I know we're supposed to go find Twilight and have her unlock the Chest, but what if it wants us to open it? Mordecai pulled the knife that had its handle shaped like a cobra out its sheath on his right arm. Checking its sharpness, he looked back to his Ghost for an answer.

"You could be right, but how is a Chest, an inanimate object, calling out to us?"

"Rain, the Traveller is literary a giant floating ball, a mini moon to our moon if we're comparing sizes." Vedalia was once again confused by what Mordecai said. She had thought the Traveller was something like Mordecai was, not a giant sphere. The Ghost didn't reply and simply vanished.

"Where did he go?"

"A dimensional subspace. It's how he stays out of trouble." He turned to her." Dawn, is there anyway we can get to the Everfree Forest quickly?" Vedalia thought about what Mordecai was asking her. She reasoned that she pick Mordecai up, take him to a cloud, and propel them using her wings. She could fly for a very long time, but the only problem was that Mordecai didn't have the Pegasi Magic that would allow him to be able to walk or sit on a cloud. She had a risky idea, but she had no other choice.

"Hold on a minute." She flapped her Thestral wings and took off to the sky. She gathered a bunch of clouds together and formed a chariot with a back to it. She flew back down to Mordecai and picked him up from behind by the armpits. While he was really heavy, she managed to bring him up to the cloud-chariot. With his back to her, she undisguised her horn and touched it to the back of his hood. She cast a cloud-walking spell on Mordecai just as she dropped him on the chariot.

"What was that?" He asked, looking down at what he stood on. He was certainly surprised to be standing on a cloud.

"Pegasus Magic." She lied to him, and he just seemed to accept it. Getting behind the cloud-chariot, she started flapping her wings.

Mordecai and Dawn were approaching the Everfree when they saw and heard explosions outside of the forest. Landing the chariot, Mordecai got out in time to see Tirek grow humongously, absorbing what he assumed to be Twilight's Magic. He sees the lavender Alicorn in a field surrounded by her friends. He and Dawn ran towards the group.

Mordecai slowed down when they got closer and pulled a knife out. The Elements greeted him and asked him why they were here but he ignored them as he walked past them. His gaze was on Discord, who put up his claws defensively. Mordecai was about to attack him when he was suddenly yanked back. Turning around, he noticed that Fluttershy had pulled on his cloak with her mouth. She met his visor with a hard glare that seemed to pierce into Mordecai's being.

"Mordecai what are you doing!?"

"He betrayed us Fluttershy! Everything that has happened today is because of him!" Mordecai said back to her, but she didn't back down from his raised voice.

"Discord helped Tirek because Tirek said him he could act like himself if he helped him. Discord's true nature is to make Chaos, and denying him that is like saying a carnivore cannot eat meat because it is wrong. Do you understand?" Mordecai put his knife away and nodded. Fluttershy did a complete one-eighty and hid her face behind her mane. "Um, plus he gave us the last key to the Chest and apologized to us."

"Well then, let's get to it." He said, and they all left in the direction of the cave.

They had arrived at the cave where Twilight approached with the final key. Putting the necklace up to the Chest, it glowed with Magic as it was ripped out of her hoof and transformed into a key, plunging into its slot. Twilight turned to her friends.

"Together, I think we have to do this do this, together." The Elements went to their individual keys, and turned them. The Chest glowed with powerful Magic, and shot out towards Mordecai. He glowed bright white before being turning into Magic that retreated back into the Chest

Shocked and curious, the mares surrounded the glowing Chest and tried to look inside of it, but all they could see was Magic.

Mordecai opened his eyes and looked around. He was some kind of area that was a variety of different colors, reminding him of a rainbow. Next to him, was his Ghost Rain.

"Hello you two, I am Faust, or as others would like to call me, Harmony." Both of them turned around to see a tall white Alicorn mare, with a red mane and blue eyes. Her Cutie-Mark was a quill in a bottle of ink.

"I am the creator of Equis, and made the Elements for the Ponies to use as an equalizer. Normally, I would've given them my Magic to combat Tirek, but because he took your Magic, he has become more dangerous for them to face. While I have faith in them, they are not ready to fight him. You have more combat experience and know what to expect when fighting powerful enemies if your memories are anything to go by."

"I'm sorry but this is all little too much for both of us to take in." Rain said back to Harmony. Mordecai understood what she was saying, but felt blind-sided and violated because she could see his memories.

"I am going to undo what Tirek did that blocked you from absorbing the ambient Magic on Equis, and instead overcharge you with it. You will be powerful enough to stop him, save Equestria and I will reward you with something that has been forgotten."

"What is that?" He asked her.

"Your memories. You would've had them if it weren't for the Traveller's last ditch effort to stop the Darkness. If it had created the Ghosts at a different time, they would've been able to recover them. Will you become Equestria's Guardian?"

Mordecai's mind froze at what she said. His memories of his life before he was a Guardian wasn't that big of a deal to him, and that was because he had no way of recovering them. Exos had an easier time remembering glimpses of their past lives because they were mechanical and had their memories as data.

Mordecai already knew his answer. "I will."

Author's Note

The next chapter will be the last for my first Arc of this story.