I had been looking forward to this convention for a few years now. Most people wouldn't have thought of something that far out. But for me, I had been excited about this for a long time. I have been a fan of Destiny for a few years now, and after saving up the funds to do it. I had finally managed to put together a fantastic cosplay. Since I wasn't restricted by the game IRL, I had managed to assemble quite the arsenal. Every single piece was an Exotic replica. From my Crown of Tempests down to my Lunafaction Boots. In Total, I was rocking quite the set.
I ended up painting them with a similar shader color so that they matched just a bit, but it was kind of hopeless to get them to mesh well, but hey, I was doing this for bragging rights, not for looks. The 3d Printing involved took over 300+ hrs of work alone, not to mention the custom tailoring I did for the chest and the boots. But it was complete.
My full set contained, Crown of Tempests, Ophidian Aspect, Chromatic Fire, Lunafaction boots, and the Iron Symmachy Bond. To accompany it, I had built three weapons as well. The 1:1 replicas of Lumina on my right hip, Riskrunner on my left, and Whisper of the Worm on my back drew a lot of looks. It seemed like every five minutes, I had been asked to take a photo with someone. As I walked around, I ended up in the Artists Alley. While looking around at various booths and answering questions about my setup, I noticed someone familiar.
The shadowy merchant Xur stood in the corner of the alley, his booth covered with merch from a few different shows and games. I approached the booth and looked over the various merchandise. Xur looked at me, and in an imitation that was almost spooky at how close it was, he asked, "Hello Guardian, the Nine send their greetings. I have acquired goods for trade if you have need."
Smirking at the roleplay, I answered back, "Greetings Xur, I last saw you on Io, let me see what wares you are offering this day?" Looking down at his booth, I took note of a few things, one item was a white pendant that had what seemed to be a crest on it. Looking closely at it, I realized that it was a representation of the Elements of Harmony, smirking to myself, I set it down and looked at a few more things. Items that came from various shows took my interest at first, Ichigo's sword from Bleach, Luffy's hat from One Piece, a stuffed Happy from Fairy Tale. But the items that drew my attention the most were the Data Pad that had the three Guardian symbols on it, as well as a model Ghost. I had realized only two days ago that I had completely forgotten to make a Ghost for this cosplay to be complete, and the one that he was offering was an exotic shell as well.
The Future Perfect Shell. It was one of my Favorites, and I regularly ran with it equipped. Looking at the price tag, I chuckled at first when I noticed that the Dollar sign had been replaced with Legendary shards. It read 75 Shards. Hissing at the price, I stepped back from it. Xur must have noticed my reaction when he spoke again. Mayhaps we could make a deal for the item. I can tell you you genuinely want the piece. What if I throw in the Datapad as well as that pendant for a total of 80? What do you say to that then?"
Looking over at the other two items that had drawn my eye, I realized that the pendant was listed at 20, and the Datapad was at 15. I could save 30 bucks and get three unique items. Making my decision, I nodded, That's a deal. Are Dollars acceptable, I left my shards on my drop ship." I chuckled as I took out my wallet.
The Xur chuckled and nodded saying, "That will work wonderfully Guardian. May the Nine smile on you." After giving him the money and taking my items, I turned away and walked towards the entrance of the alley, but just behind me, I just barely heard, "Don't worry, Guardian, the first time is the worst." Whipping my head around, I looked back only to find that Xur was gone, along with his boot. A shiver ran down my back as I quickly left the venue, intent on getting away quickly and getting something to eat to calm my stomach. I should have noticed the car coming, but I was distracted with getting away, I imagine that I made quite the news story. Cosplayer in full Destiny 2 costume mowed down by a car. I could just see it now; I'm going to be a meme. Just imagine it Guardian gets Splatter killed. Halo wins.
All I remember at first is darkness, all-encompassing darkness. I felt the weight of the universe compress my soul as it pressed against me, threatening to snuff me out. When seemingly from nowhere, I was surrounded by light. So bright was this light that my vision was filled, but it was not harsh, it did not sting my eyes, but it felt warm. Like the embrace of a friend, a lover, a family member. I could swear I could hear a voice calling a name out. But that was strange, it wasn't my name. My name was…
"GriffinStorm! Wake up! I have a reading on a platoon of Fallen two clicks north of here. We need to figure out what it is that they are doing on this planet!"
Looking up at the little ball of light floating in front of my face, My eyes went wide. The Shell that I had just purchased was floating in front of me. With it's Light lit and his voice clear. A voice that I had come to know quite well. A voice that came from a video game. Shooting up, I looked around and noticed that my armor felt heavier on my body, but beyond that, I felt terrific. Like no pain at all. Like there wasn't even the memory of pain. I think that everyone has that lingering bit of pain of some kind. Either you have a bad back or stiff knees or arthritic hands, something usually hurts on the human body just from use. But now, there was nothing. Getting to my feet, I looked around the area that I was in and noticed how vibrantly green everything was. I hadn't seen this level of green since I had gone out east and seen the forests on the banks of the Mississippi.
I quickly tried to come up with an answer that would explain what was going on. Thinking to myself, okay, first off, I remember being hit by that car, Don't think I would have been able to survive that, and even if I did, I would likely be in a coma or brain dead. Body shattered and probably a vegetable for the rest of my life. Which would mean that this is all happening in my head, and I'm imagining this? The only issue is that no voice line exists that says my on-screen name, so there would be no way for my mind to invent a way for my Ghost to say it. Maybe something close, but not exact. Also, the lack of body pain in any form is weird. Like I have never felt this good in my life before. Not that I can remember. So I'm ruling out this being in my head. Possible that I died, and for some reason, this is my version of heaven? Reasonable, but I don't imagine that my personal heaven would consist solely of me transcending to be my Guardian for the rest of eternity, and I wasn't a good enough person to have earned something like that anyway.
Thinking for a moment more, I came to another theory, one that might just have merit in the concept of the Multiverse theory, I met Xur before this happened and purchased items from him. I am no stranger to Isekai and Displaced stories, I have read quite a number of them in my time. And as a wise man once said, once you've ruled out all other options, the remainder, however unlikely, must be the truth. I think I may have been Isekaied. Realizing that, I looked back at my GhostGhost, not sure what to call him.
I must have transmitted my confusion on what to call him when he sighed and answered "It's Peter, you think after all the time that we have spent together you would bother to get my name down. After all, I am your Ghost."
Smirking under my visor and scratching the back of my head out of habit, I responded, "S-sorry about that Peter. I promise that I won't forget it again. You have my word. But uh… Could I ask some questions first before we go? Or is it urgent?"
Peter made a few sounds that I had always associated with him thinking about something before responding "It's not super urgent, from what I can tell on the scans, they aren't doing much, just milling around really, looks like they might be scouting the area for a drop. So we don't need to leave right now, but we shouldn't be too long."
I nodded, "alright, um… First off, do you know where we are or how we got here?"
Peter shook his eye back and forth to signify that he did not and added, "I have no idea how we ended up here. We were making a jump drive, too fast I might add, when we hit some kind of turbulence. I'm not sure what happened after that, I came too on this planet and had to resurrect you. We must have hit the ground quite hard."
Looking down at the area beneath me, I noticed that there was an impressive dent in the stone that was the outline of my body. "Hehe," I chuckled to myself, "Just like a cartoon." Looking back up at my Ghost, I continued with my next most significant concern, after all, I spent thousands of hours grinding for loot and Light, I needed to make sure that my investment was still available. "Hey Peter, how Is my collection doing, do I still have access?"
He sighs with exasperation again. "Yes, Griffin, you have full access to your arsenal, all weapons and armors are available as always, including your fleet of sparrows and drop ships. I know how important your loot is to you. You will be happy to know that my display bug has worked itself out, as well. You glimmer reserves are properly showing now at 14 trillion, with your Legendary shard reserves at 100k+. All of your Masterwork cores are stored safely as well as additional weapon parts. If there is anything I have learned about dealing with you, is that you love your loot."
I smirked at the information "Sweet well then, let's get this show on the road, Quick refresher How do I summon my sparrow again?"
Peter must have been getting annoyed with me again because he retorted in a short burst, "Focus on it with your light and call to it. You have done this literally millions of times by now."
Rolling my eyes, I focused on the Image of the Sparrow that I wanted, Figuring I would go with the Burnout model. The fiery beast warped into existence as it always did in the game. Mounting it like I would a Motorcycle, I found my balance quickly. The thing felt smooth as it floated in the air. Figuring that If I died that Peter would always bring me back, I slammed the gas and took off. The wine of the engine brought me back to racing through the ruined roads of the EDZ. As I flew over the ground, dodging trees as I moved, I noticed that the foliage was beginning to thin out.
Bursting from the tree line, my vision was filled with something that I never thought I would see IRL. The Massive mountain of the Catterhorn from MLP FIM, complete with the city of Canterlot hanging off of it, stood. But what made it even more surprising, was that at the tip of the Catterhorn, sat a completely healed Traveler. Its once scared outer shell, damaged from the invasion of Gaul, now sat whole. Peter Commented on as much, "Griffin!! It's the Traveler! I can feel it's light. What is it doing here? What happened to the last city?!"
Shrugging as I continued on, I responded: "I have no idea what is going on, Peter." Looking forward, I saw a contingent of Pony guards defending against a platoon of Fallen. Looking at the fight before me, I noticed one set of armor that was different from the rest. Purple with Golden highlights. His white coat and Blue mane were eye-catching among the sea of Silver and fallen. They were being pushed back. As I looked down at the fight as we moved ever closer to help, I took note of the House of Devils emblems that the Fallen combatants wore.
As I made it to the outskirts of the fight, I leaped from my sparrow, letting my body move on autopilot. I ran with a fluidity that I have never held before. This body knew what to do in a fight, and how to move, the best thing I could do right now it let myself be taken away by muscle memory and go with the flow and my instincts. After rolling to my feet, I pulled Lumina from my hip and fired off a few rounds aiming down sights as I would In the game. Each one aimed at a Fallen combatant's head. I didn't see any numbers pop up but with the burst of their heads, a mote of light held in the air. As I moved forward, the motes few to me, each one filling me with its light. After collecting a few motes, I hip fired a round aimed at Shining Armor. The sudden burst of light from my gun made the Fallen around me jump back.
Shining who had just taken a shot to his left foreleg was about to be bested when the round hit him. Filled with its healing light, he rolled out of the way of the shock blade that was about to take his life. Not taking a chance to let it happen again. He swung his spear and stabbed the Fallen in the chest, killing it instantly. After taking a moment to take a breath from his near-death experience, he looked at me with confusion and distrust in his eyes. Just as he was about to open his mouth, I fired an aimed shot at the Marauder that had been sneaking up on him, intent on ending the Captain.
Seeing that the Fallen in the immediate area had been taken care of, I placed my Lumina on my hip and turned to face the Captain of the guard. Rather than thank him for the assistance, Shining Armor took an aggressive stance, holding his spear in his magic, ready to attack if needed. "I am Shining Armor!, Prince Consort to Princess Mi Amore Cadenza, Brother to Princess Twilight of Equestria. Throwdown your weapons and state your name!"
I had raised my hands as he started to shout at me. But just as I was about to answer him, A massive Fallen Vandal fell from a drop-ship that had snuck up on us as I was getting yelled at. His Massive Molten Welder held on his shoulder, I could barely believe it as my GhostGhost spoke "Yalsis, the Igniter! We Killed you on Nessus ages ago! How are you here?!"
I noticed that black wisps were coming from his body. Almost as if he were one of the Taken, but that was impossible. He wasn't entirely taken, It wasn't like you could be half taken, right? Not wanting to see what would happen if Yalsis managed to fire off that Welder, I slammed my fist into the ground to open my empowering rift before summoning forth all of my light. I felt that same warmth that had embraced me before, that all-consuming, all-loving light. And from that light, I drew the storm.
Lightning began to ripple from my body as a shock wave burst from my feet, wiping out some of the dregs that had dropped along with Yalsis. Calling forth my lightly, I took a very familiar pose as I shouted, "Unlimited! Power!" My lighting spurting forth to rip through his shield. But I was distracted, As I managed to cut through his shield and was beginning to damage him directly, a shot rang out. The kind of shot that I had grown all too familiar with, the sound of a vandal sniping.
Shining Armor watched at this insane creature that had just suddenly jumped off of some kind of weird, fiery log thing, roll to its feet, rip through all of these monsters, and then burst into lighting. All the while, it had been sending these weird orbs of light that had been healing them and making them stronger for a short time. But now, he watched as this seemingly invisible warrior was shot down. Its body dropped to the ground and ceased to move. The giant monster began to laugh as I picked itself up and walked over to crush the head of their savior. The sickening crunch left no doubt that the hero was dead.
It then turned to the soldiers and spoke in a chittering voice that made Shining Armors skin crawl. It reminded him of something he would rather have forgotten. "Puny Guardian, I have no idea why we don't just wipe you all out. It seems easy enough. We will take this world and have the Great Machine returned to us." Looking down at the ponies that had huddled together, "And there is no one to stop us this time."
Shining put himself in front of his stallions, "We will stop you. You monster! And if not us, there somepony else, but you will be stopped!"
The Kell laughed derisively, "You and what army, the only reason you survived was because of that corpse, this world is ours."
At that moment, there was a flash of Light behind the Kell, followed by a loud retort of a massive rifle. Lowering the scope from my eye, the smokey body of the rifle giving off the feeling that it was connected to the darkness, yet harnessed in light. Muttering to myself, "Goddamn stupid fucking Vandal bullshit. Always get me when I tunnel the boss." Turning around and putting Whisper on my back, I spoke up. "That is where you are wrong, Kell! I will always stop you! For I live, I die, I live again!" Dropping my arc grenade at my feet, I pulled out my Riskrunner as it shocked me. I kept back ready to go when the Kell spoke again.
"You crazy Guardian, what kind of warrior hurts themselves just to take out one enemy!?"
I smirked under my visor, "The kind that needs to activate a perk! GG Bitch!" squeezing the trigger, the hail of Arch Charged bullets ripped through the Fallen Vandal. Tearing him to shreds before he fell to his knees. As he fell forward, his body beginning to dissipate into the light I heard a whisper "Oryx lives" My blood ran cold as that name was felt more than heard. As it evaporated into nothingness, a fallen chest spawned on the spot where his body dropped. Mildly amused in my horror, I chucked and muttered, "Self-cleaning and comes with loot. Cool, I guess."
But my shock was short-lived as I was set upon by questions from the crowd of Stallions. Interestingly enough, Shining's head stood at about my waist level, so while I did have to look down to speak to them, it wasn't too terrible. Shining shouted at the troops to quiet them down as he looked at me, clearing his throat, he spoke, "I guess Thanks are for all that you have done for us… Um, Stanger. That…Monster called you a Guardian? What is that? And who are you? If you don't mind me asking?"
Thinking for a moment, I decided that I was best if I just go with GriffinStorm; after all, that is what Peter called me. Clearing my throat in return, I pointed up at the Traveler. "I am GriffinStom, Guardian, and servant of The Traveler."
“I am GriffinStorm, Guardian, and servant of The Traveler.” as I stood there, my arm raised in the air pointing at the Traveler. The pendant that I had purchased fell from my armor to the ground in front of Shining Armor. He watched as it fell before quickly lighting his horn and catching it right before I hit the ground.
“Oops, almost lost that. Here you g…” Shining paused as he looked at the pendant, its lustrous glow and seven gems sparkling in the light. Whispering to himself as he gazed at the pendent, “the mark of Harmony will save us.” It was something silly that his sister had started to say for some reason. After Twilight ascended and was left to rule Equestria, she has begun to pick up some of Celestia’s playfulness. He was likely crazy, but this stranger, GriffinStorm, the Guardian had just saved them, and more than that, he had died and come back. He knew what needed to happen, they needed to get to Canterlot, and fast.
Looking up at Griffin, Shining spoke, “Hey, I know that this sounds crazy, but would you be able to come with me? There is somepony that I think you need to meet. As soon as possible.”
Griffin looked at the captain and lowered his arm. Feeling silly for having left it up for so long. “Uh… Sure I guess. Who is it that I need to meet?” I expected that I was going to meet Princess Celestia or Luna, so his answer was surprising.
“My little sister, in fact, Princess Twilight Sparkle ruler of Equestria. If we leave now, we should be able to get back to the city by nightfall.” I looked over at the city and shrugged.
“Neat, you mind if I drive. We should get there quite a bit faster.” Not giving Shining a chance to speak, I grabbed him by the scruff of his neck as I activated the transmat to my dropship. It was a bit crowded in the cockpit, But after shifting Shining around in my lap, I dropped the accelerator and shot forward at full speed. Shining’s head pressed into my chest as we rocketed through the sky.
Peter called from the back, where he was pressed against the back wall of the ship “If I have told you once I have told you a thousand times, you fly too fast!”
I laughed like a maniac as we tore through the sky. I knew for a fact that had I done this before, there is no way that I would have stayed conscious at these speeds. I wasn’t terribly out of shape previously, but I was never in peak condition. Here and now, I could run a marathon and not feel winded. I imagine that Shiny would have been screaming if he managed to catch his breath, the trip that likely would have taken the rest of the day took only a few moments.
As we pulled up over the palace, I scrolled through the options for landing. I found that the only landing option available for transmat was in the center of the courtyard. Shrugging, I hit the confirm button as we were transmitted to the surface. The patrolling soldiers all jumped to attention as an orb appeared from nowhere. It quickly split as a Large bipedal creature with horns appeared from thin air, carrying the Prince Consort of the Crystal Empire under his arm. In an instant, they were surrounded as guards demanded that he release the Prince.
Mildly impressed with their quick response times, I leaned down and gently placed Shining on the ground, patting his back. “Now that wasn’t so bad, now was it. Heck of a lot faster than walking right!” Realizing that I hadn’t removed my helmet once since getting here. Grabbing it quickly, I pulled it off of my head. Shining was a little confused as he looked at my face. Given that his eyes were massive, I was able to catch a glimpse of myself in my reflection.
My once pasty skin and bushy beard were gone. Now I had dark skin and short black hair. I looked almost like a native American. My left eye was milky, even though I could see just fine. I had taken on the looks of my Guardian from the game. For all intents and purposes, I was now my Guardian, in ability and body. Knowing that I was going to have to deal with that soon, I pressed the rising panic down. I just needed to focus on the now, I can leave the freakout and screaming for later.
Shining vomited on the courtyard floor in response to my statement. After coughing and blowing some residual out of his nose, he looked up at me with not quite hate in his eyes, “Do not do that again without warning. EVER! I thought I was going to die up there in that thing. I’m surprised that we didn’t create a sonic rainboom!.”
Smirking at the idea, I responded, “Nope, no rainboom, but I know we were going past Mach 2 in that thing. So if not for the dampeners and some kind of golden age tech, I would have caused a massive sonic boom.” Grinning at my own explanation that I had just pulled out of my ass, I continued, “So shall we meet the princess then!”
Muttering to himself, Shining called for the guards to stand down and to let them through to see Princess Twilight. I was sure that I heard him mutter ‘The mark of harmony with save us all she says, better be right about this. Nearly kills me with some kind of flying machine, I hate flying.’
I smiled and held back a laugh as we walked through the marble halls. As we went deeper in, I began to notice the mosaics in the glass of the massive windows. Fantastic images of the history of their race. As we moved closer to the throne, looked up at the pieces that depicted Twilight meeting her friends and defeating Nightmare Moon. As well as all of their other achievements, however, not long after what I had seen as the last of the show, The Traveler made its appearance.
I didn’t have much time to take in the sights as I was addressed by the Mare of the hour. “I am Princess Twilight Sparkle. You seem to have been rather invested in the mosaics as My brother told me of your interaction with him. I must extend to you my gratitude that you came to his aid. I’ve grown to be rather attached to him and would be rather put out if I were to lose him. And I don’t think Flurry or Cadence would be too happy with his absence.”
I was taken aback by the way that she spoke. This was not a mare that was new to this position. The idea that she carries herself if very reminiscent of Princess Celestia, but Luna’s playfulness was more exposed as well. She was in perfect balance with what the prior rulers expressed in themselves. Shaking my head, I responded, “It was a pleasure to aid him. I have long fought the Fallen, and it would be a cold day on Mercury before I let them have their way with a world.” She looked somewhat confused with my analogy, not surprising since she didn’t know what Mercury was.
Clearing her throat, she continues, “Yes. Well then. From what my brother says, you addressed the enemy combatant as if you knew them. Would you be able to clarify as to what happened?”
Taking a moment to collect my thoughts, I gave my tale. “To tell you the truth, I have no idea how I ended up on this planet. I had been making a Jumpdrive through deep space when I hit some kind of cosmic turbulence. The next thing I knew, I was lying in some forest with my Ghost waking me up to tell me that he had discovered transmissions from a fallen platoon. After getting my bearings, I speed off to the location. That was when I met your brother. We fought together and won. Not much more to say than that.” I shrugged at the end.
Princess Twilight looked at me with a critical eye, “Really? Nothing more? Not even going to mention the part where you appeared to have been killed. Nore even the part where your head was crushed into pulp beneath the foot of your enemy. What about the magic that you used to defeat him. Or even the destructive weapons that you used.
Shrugging, I respond, “I live, I die, I live again. That is the life of a Guardian. We fight to protect, following the tradition of our forebears to protect mankind and the Traveler. This is a duty that we have held since Lord Salidin formed the Iron Lords all those centuries ago.”
Twilight looked interested when I mentioned the Traveler, and she proved her interest in her next question. “What is this Traveler that you speak of anyway.”
I smile as I point up, “The Traveler rests above your fair city this very moment. It has chosen this place as its next home. As such, you’re stuck with me. I go where the Traveler goes, and I protect what it deems worthy of protecting. If it’s here, then that means that you have been chosen. Tell me, how long has it been here?”
Twilight looks at me with curiosity before answering me “It appeared four hundred years ago. Approximately twenty years into my rein as the sole monarch of this nation.”
I nodded in agreeance, thinking back on the lore of Density. Looking around the halls of the palace, I began to notice little things here and there. Technology that had been incorporated here and there. Earbuds in the ears of the Guards, strange antenna in the corners of the room, electric lights even. It had begun. Technology was advancing at breakneck speeds. Still, four hundred years was too long for technology to have developed this slowly. I guess if they never discovered alien ruins to give them a jump start like humanity had. That would explain how it has only made it to this point. Besides, why focus on science at all if magic was more versatile.
Looking back at Shining, I noticed the light Greying in his mane for the first time. “Just as a question, before it landed here, what was the average life span of one of your citizens?”
Her eyes began to sparkle as she looked at him “They were around two hundred for somepony in good health.”
Smirking, I responded, “That should be closer to Six hundred from this point on. The Traveler gives much, extended life, greater knowledge. The list goes on.” I smiled at the ponies that had gathered in the throne room, I only had knowledge of the Golden age of humanity though lore that could be found in the game and though speculation. To think that I might be able to see in person what could come from one was thrilling. “Congratulations, Princess, your Golden Age is just beginning. Things will continue to improve as time goes on, I imagine that even now, old anger between nations have begun to ebb away.”
She smiles as she nodded, “You are correct. Even during the Rule of my mentor Princess Celestia and her sister Princess Luna, we did not know such peace.”
Nodding in agreement, I began to frown as I thought back to what had happened and what Shing had said. “It makes one wonder why a Princess would suddenly begin to use a saying like ‘the mark of harmony will save us’ wouldn’t you agree?”
Twilight smiled at me in turn, “You don’t seem to miss much. Do you.”
Smirking, I responded, “It was kind of obvious, and I have learned to listen. Add in the fact that you seem to have a Fallen infestation, and I see a trend. So tell me, Princess, how can I help?”
Twilight seemed to be taken aback at the sudden offer, “Just like that? No request for something in return? Just tell you what to do and sit back?”
I nodded before Peter cut in for me, “That is kind of what he does. You should be impressed that he is speaking to you at all. It took him eight years to start talking to the Vanguard, and even then, that took the murder of one of their own to prompt it.”
Holding my hand up, I motioned to silence my Ghost. “That’s enough, Peter, They don’t care about my past right now.” Looking at the Princess, I continued, “I have always been a man of action. Tell me what needs to be done, and I will get it taken care of. One of the benefits of being a guardian is that I can try as many times as it takes to get it done.”
As we had been discussing this, I had missed that the room had grown quiet. Before this, there had been general whispering behind and around us, castle staff, guards, and even a few nobles that had been in attendance have been whispering to each other throughout the entire meeting so far. But something had happened that had prompted them to grow silent.
Twilight seemed to look over my shoulder before jumping up and rushing around me, “Celestia! Luna! You’re back from your trip!” practically throwing herself onto the other two mares in a hug, I was struck with how adorable it was to watch. As Princess Twilight seemed to get lost in the moment of seeing the other two mares, I took note that they had been accompanied by what appeared to be two animals.
Celestia was accompanied by her phoenix Philomina, and Luna appeared to have Tiberius the opossum with her as well. I had stood back to observe for a moment when I noticed that both Philomina and Tiberius had a distinct shimmer to them. I could imagine that to most, it would just appear to look like they were exceptionally well taken care of. But I noticed that it seemed too… Electrical for that.
Deciding to just say screw it and take a chance. I made my way around the ponies. I noticed that the guard’s eyes followed me the entire time, as did Princess Luna’s. I slowly and calmly walked up to Celestia’s side, right where her phoenix sat upon her back, leaning down, I spoke, “That is an interesting shell that you found there. Any chance you can tell me where you got it?”
The phoenix’s eyes widened and its beak opened with surprise as I continued, this time at full volume so that I could be heard “I must admit, I’ve never seen a ghost shell that takes the form of a phoenix,” then turning to look at Luna and Tiberius “or an opossum for that matter.”
At that moment, Philomina and Tiberius looked at each other and nodded before a shimmer took them over. Where the phoenix and opossum once sat, now floated two ghosts. Speaking up in a refined tone, Philomina spoke as Twilight had been rendered speechless after the reveal. “I guess there was no way that we were going to hide from the Guardian that took out Gaul, are we. Hello GriffinStorm, we’ve never met, but most ghosts that spent even a cursory amount of time in The Last City would know who you are. I guess we have some explaining to do, don’t we.”
Nodding to them, “I agree, when did you get here?”
Celestia spoke up in return “Before we continue, would it be alright if we were to go somewhere more private?” Looking at Twilight, “is the sitting room in the west wing still in use, Princess?”
That seemed to knock her from her shock as she answered, “Y-yes! Um, let’s get moving, then shall we.” With a burst of light, we found ourselves now standing in a cozy sitting room. The overstuffed chairs sat around a table that was already set with refreshments. Twilight motioned to the chairs as we all chose somewhere to sit.
Choosing to just get to the meat and potatoes of the matter, I spoke: “How long has it been since your first resurrection?”
Celestia grimaced as she looked at her one time pupil, “It has been more than two thousand years since that day.” Looking at her sister as they placed their hooves in each other reach. “We don’t remember what happened before then. All we remember is waking up to our ghosts. They told us that we had been chosen to be guardians of this world. Given new life to help all we could.”
Nodding “That is normal. In the history of the Guardians, it has become taboo to look into who you were before. I know of only two that looked into the past, but I am glad that they did.” Waiving off the rest of my thoughts, I continued. “In any event, the issue that I see here is that with The Traveler choosing this place, you have both been given an amazing gift and a potential curse. As you have seen, the Fallen can be quite a headache.” The Princess, her brother, and her old mentor all nodded in agreeance. “The issue isn’t them, I can deal with them, and with a full fireteam, we can push them back quite fully. The real issue is that if they found this world…” I got a faraway look in my eyes, thinking about it.
The Traveler had been awoken by myself through my actions in Sol. And with its awakening, the Hive grew bolder and came at us with greater force. This world seemed to be suffused with its light. It was a glowing beacon drawing the darkness closer. “The Fallen finding this place reveals that It can be found. And there are much worse things out there than the Fallen.”
Shaking my head in a futile effort to clear my mind, I decided to change the subject to the two new/not new guardians. “So Celestia, Luna, what disciplines have you studied? Sentinel, Striker, Dawnblade, Voidwalker, Arstrider? Maybe the Gunslinger?”
The two of them looked at me in confusion before Tiberius spoke up. Surprisingly he sounded quite a bit like Dany Devito, and I found myself instantly liking the Ghost. “Sorry to disappoint, but neither of them has ever learned the disciplines. From personal observation, I would say that Celestia fits the Sunbreaker archetype, and I would think that Luna fits the Nightstalker. But without teachers, I don’t know how we will be able to help.”
I had to admit that this could be a problem. I had both Titan and Hunter characters, and I was reasonably good at both of those subclasses. Still, without being able to use them, I didn’t know how we were going to deal with this. That was right up to the point that Peter chose to speak, “Don’t worry about that, my Guardian has studied all of the disciplines, they can help us out with this, no problem.
I looked at my Ghost and asked: “What do you mean I have studied all of the Disciplines?”
I didn’t know a ball of light could roll its eye. Still, Peter managed to do it when he responds, “Listen, Griffin, I realize that we never discuss it, but when you do that whole, change of body thing and morph into a different guardian. You really think I wouldn’t notice you turning into an Awoken or an Exo. Those are such mighty drastic changes.”
I looked at him with amazement in my eyes, “You mean you were aware of that happening, and you never once choose to speak up or call me out on it? How many others knew about that?!”
The ponies in the room were all confused as I spoke to Peter, not sure what was going on. Peter responded, “Even the Vanguard knew. A random new guardian shows up with all of your equipment and with your Ghost treating them as if they were you. After a while, it was just written off as something unique to you. You were still loyal to the Tower, and you fought three times as hard and anyone else to bring peace and protect. If you didn’t want to talk about it, we weren’t going to question it. Although the thing that threw off the rest of the Vanguard was that you kept changing genders when you did that.”
The entire room when silent when Peter said that, and it was at that moment that I realized that my other two characters were an Awoken female and an Exo female. For me to teach Celestia and Luna the disciplines, I was going to have to switch to them, which means that I was going to have to turn into a woman. At least twice. Looking around at the gathered ponies and ghosts, “Well… shit.”
