Rest in Peace

by GjallarFox

Rating: mature
Tags: Science Fiction, Suicide / Self Harm, Adventure, Crossover, Sex, Profanity, Gore, Violence, Princess Celestia, Dark, Death, Human, Main 6, Princess Luna, Destiny, Original Character, My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic
Length: 82389

Destiny crossover. A Guardian is removed from their home universe by a glitch in the Infinite Forest.

Guardians have successfully purged the Undying Mind from the dark corners of time it hid in. With its final iteration's death, the Infinite Forest crashed in a fatal error.

Luna, a Hunter, has exiled herself after a failed raid in the Dreaming City took the lives of five of her fellow Guardians, and awakened a dangerous part of her. Seeking a place where no Guardian could find her, but where she could still do good, she decided to enter the Infinite Forest.

These two events were not unrelated.

Crossover with Bungie's Destiny. Set after Destiny 2's Season of the Undying and MLP's Season 3.

Published 2020-02-01 15:10:01 UTC
Last updated 2020-07-31 23:00:48 UTC

Prologue: Humanity

The Sol System was an improbable system in the Milky Way Galaxy. Life developed on a planet in that system, on a little planet, third from the star, that would come to be called "Earth." After a few billion years of formative events for the planet, it came to harbor life, which survived and grew and evolved, almost being wiped out a few times, but always hanging on by the efforts of a few species. Eventually, late in the planet's history, a species evolved in just the right way to acquire sentience, and began to spread across the planet. Those creatures eventually came to name themselves Homo Sapiens, or more commonly, Humans.

Humanity developed as a social species, defying the long standing, unspoken law of survival of the fittest, helping those who would otherwise die of defects or injury survive to reproduce and have happy, meaningful lives. They developed mastery over fire, and tools, language, agriculture, economics, and science. With these tools they set to tearing the universe apart to learn its inner workings, trying to piece together how the universe that created them came to be.

There were bumps along this road, however. War, famine, disease, bigotry, greed; all of these things sewed discord and destroyed progress, slowing down humanity's efforts to understand the universe. Wars were waged over resources to fuel the growth of a particular country, over misunderstandings and social blunders, over morality and the rights afforded to all humans. Through bloodshed and pain, humanity taught itself futility.

Mercury. The planet closest to the life-giving star of the Sol System. Once, it had been a barren, half-scorched, half-frozen rock. After the Traveler came, Mercury was transformed and made fertile, and it became a garden world. Once, Mercury had flowered with the life of photosynthesizing organisms. But no longer. A timeless evil borne of radiolaria and metal bodies, the Vex, emerged from the depths of space and poisoned the planet, transforming it into a computer to calculate reality. Now, in the present day, Mercury was once again a scorched desert, populated only with Vex and their strange, thinking architecture.

Venus. The second planet from Sol. Once a desolate husk with clouds of sulfuric acid, and a surface temperature far too hot for liquid water, and life by extension. The Traveler touched this planet too, breaking down the carbon dioxide atmosphere and rebuilding it, allowing the planet to cool and gain water. After that, flora emerged, making Venus a tropical jungle world ripe enough for fauna to follow. The Vex took interest in this world too, and seeded it with a subterranean complex for testing their prowess of ontology, in hopes of weaponizing it.

Mars. The fourth planet from the sun. Humanity looked at Mars with hope to one day walk upon its surface in hopes of finding life, perhaps intelligent life, to prove to themselves that Humanity was not alone in the universe. Unfortunately, Mars was just a little too small, its gravity not enough to keep its atmosphere from bleeding off in Sol's solar wind. With no atmosphere to maintain pressure, it too failed to harbor liquid water and life. When the Traveler came to Mars, humanity had launched its first manned mission to the Red Planet, the Aries 1, piloted by one Jacob Hardy. The crew expected to fly into thin, dusty atmosphere, but instead found themselves flying into a rising storm. After landing, the crew witnessed rain hit a several million year old desert. As with Mercury and Venus, the Vex took interest in Mars as well, and buried an entrance to the Black Garden, where they worship an unknown entity.

The Traveler, that being of Light and life, once it had brought life to the desolate locations of the Sol System, eventually settled on Earth, rejuvenating the planet and repairing the damage done by humans during their expansion across the planet. And like all things humans discovered, they set to work studying it.

Their successes in researching and studying the Traveler led to the proliferation of aerospace industries. With several worlds now habitable, humanity took to colonizing them, expanding into space. Mars became a bastion of science and engineering, a company known as Clovis Bray developing several key technologies and improving the lives of millions, and saving just as many. Venus became a scholar's haven, the Ishtar Academy and Collectives archiving all knowledge humanity had, and studying new fields with bleeding-edge technology. Humanity, with the Traveler and its Light, achieved a Golden Age. Lifespans increased dramatically. Several diseases and bigotries and outdated worldviews were eradicated forever.

But the Traveler had an enemy, a Darkness that had hunted it across the universe. Its armies, the Vex among them, soon encroached upon Humanity, forcing them back from their colonies and back to their home planet of Earth. In its final breath, the Traveler created Ghosts, living machines, to seek out those among the ancient dead who could wield the Traveler's Light as a weapon to fight back the Darkness.

Those first resurrected came to be called Risen. They were blessed with power, and the ability to come back from death, but not wisdom. The Risen came to acquire new names, each with their own contexts: Warlord, Lightbearer, Iron Lord, Guardian, Dredgen, just to name a few. But Guardian became the most popular. After Risen was Warlord. The Warlords ruled over the small villages and towns that survived the Collapse. They protected the villages from the Fallen, a race of space-faring pirates whose technology hinted at the Traveler's influence. In return, the Warlords had absolute authority. Often, Warlords would overstep on another's territory, and ended up causing petty squabbles that could level cities.

Eventually, those tired of those dark days founded a new faction, the Iron Lords, who would pave the way for the Lightbearers to unite in a single front against the Fallen and to protect humanity as Guardians. This led to the founding of the Last City, the City Beneath the Traveler, surrounded by the Titans' wall.

Now, a lone female Hunter, a Guardian, stood atop a stone cube above the sands of Mercury, overlooking a massive triangular Vex interplanetary gate. This particular gate led to the inner workings of the reality-calculating engine known as the Infinite Forest. The Hunter took a deep breath and leapt down, breaking into a sprint towards the gate. Though several Vex units tried to stop her, their shots didn't connect with their target. Her ship passed overhead, pulling her inside before thrusting forward into the gate.

On Earths moon, at the same time, a massive Vex unit dubbed the "Undying Mind" fell to a group of Guardians. This Undying Mind was the last of all realities calculated in the Infinite Forest, and with its destruction, the Infinite Forest hit an error never before seen by the Vex, nor anything else.

Deep in the heart of the Everfree Forest, a triangle of light opened up, and a tremor shook Equestria.

Author's Note

Hello yes, this is a Destiny crossover set just as Destiny 2's Season of Dawn releases. This prologue is to get those who are not familiar with Destiny up to speed on the absolute basics of the lore so that they can understand the story, or at least have a sense of what's going on. I'm going to try to keep things basic for those who don't play Destiny so I don't overwhelm them, but for those who do, I hope you enjoy what I'm going to be doing with these two universes.

1: Fallen on the Horizon

Princess Luna looked up at her night sky to inspect her work. At least, that's what she told other ponies she was doing. In reality, she was just staring off into space and thinking her own thoughts. Each star had a place in the tapestry of her night. Some fit into constellations, others off on their own, but all of them fit somewhere.

The clock struck twelve, and Luna returned to her her quarters, steeling herself for her nightly patrol through the Dreamscape. Though she was a Princess of Equestria, Luna's room would be considered fairly normal by the average pony. Themed in midnight blues and a contrasting bright silver, the room felt as though it were an extension of the pony to whom it belonged. The walls were adorned with a few paintings of important ponies she'd met over the years. One such was of herself and Celestia when they were much, much younger.

The Princess lay down in her bed, the soft linens and plush foam of the bed making her quite comfortable. After ensuring she was adequately prepared for her task, Luna stepped otherways into the Dreamscape.

Otherways was the best way she could sum up what it felt like to enter the realm of dreams. If pressed, she'd add that it was like stepping backwards while facing backwards. Words had never been her strongest method of communication. She tended to get meaning and thoughts across better through art and music, her night sky being her greatest canvas for conveying her feelings. Yes, the stars betrayed her thoughts, shining brightly when joyful or excited, and twinkling like tears when she cried.

She stepped into the Dreamscape, and looked out into the night, each dream a star shining through the cold dark. She trotted along, seeking out those dreams that seemed dimmer and darker, peering in to check on the ponies within. Several dreams seemed to call her attention, the scent of fear urging her to come snuff the source.

But one dream seemed unfamiliar, almost alien. The star she saw was blackened out near completely, blazing with etheric umbra. Black flames licked outwards, threatening to infect those nearby with whatever poison was in that pony's mind. Though this one did not have the same pull on her that the others did, she feared what might happen to her subjects if it was left to pollute the Dreamscape. With nary a second thought, Luna dove into the strange dream.

Six strange creatures stood in a room only barely illuminated by crystals on the ceiling. The creatures were not ponies, that much was clear. They stood about as tall as her, and on only two legs like minotaurs. All of them were well armored and carried strange items in their hands and on their backs, each different from the last, but with similarities between them. None of the colors on the creatures' armor matched each other, but they seemed to be a cohesive enough unit. Two of the creatures had particularly light-looking armor and bore capes that fell down to their knees. Another two with bulkier armor had cloths hanging from their hips. The final two wore robes similar to those common among the royal mages from long ago, with glowing bands around their arms. All of them spoke in a language Luna had never heard in all her life.

Luna watched as one jabbed a massive battle standard into the ground, a skull of some creature crossed with spikes and circled in chains adorning the top. Each one touched the standard, and began noisily messing with their carried items.

One of the bipeds took a step forward, calling out into the dark, likely a name, but Luna couldn't tell. Before she had time to think on it, something emerged from the darkness.

A massive dragon-like creature crawled out into the dim light. Its face was covered in four bony plates covering its eyes and jaw. Even in the dream, this creature exuded an intense aura of dark magic. Even on all fours, the dragonoid was at least three times taller than Twilight's library. By estimation, she figured it could be more massive than Canterlot Palace.

What kind of creature is that? And where is this dream's host? Luna wondered to herself.

Upon that thought, one of the caped creatures fell to its knees screaming in agony. A voice, almost familiar, spoke in a language she didn't understand. The biped that fell began to transform, its body growing bones from its skin and through its armor. The same bony plates on the dragonoid's face developed on the biped's, followed by four long tentacles with sharp stingers at the end from the back of its head like a mane. A moment later, the formerly caped figure now closely resembled the looming dragon. The bipeds began to panic, and the sound of firecrackers filled the room for a brief moment.

If she wasn't watching so closely, she would have missed it. As fire and explosions burst forth from the ends of the strange items in the bipeds' hands, the transformed one turned against all of them. One of its stingers lurched forwards, impaling one of the two with the bulky armor with absolutely no effort. The second stinger made a wide sweep, smacking the exploding things from the hands of its targets. One of the robed ones went to raise its hand to attack, but didn't get to finish the motion. The transformed biped turned and opened its maw, spewing black flames at the robed one, causing it to scream and panic and attempt to snuff the flames. The other caped figure drew a blade, quick as lightning and charged it with some kind of magic. It attempted to lunge forward, and to its credit, it was fast; just not fast enough to avoid a roar that crushed it into the ground as though it had been stomped by the dragon. The remaining two bipeds were each stabbed with the remaining two stingers. As the two fell to the ground in shock with blood spilling from their abdomens, Luna caught the scent of arousal.

The final biped returned to its original form, its armor in shambles, exposing pale blue skin from tears in the armor's under layer. Words were spoken once more by the dragon, and the biped fell to its knees crying.

And there's the host, Luna mused to herself as she attempted to dull the shock of the violence she'd just witnessed.

As the dream faded away, Luna felt compelled to step forwards and comfort the being. This, however, turned out to be a mistake, as the moment she took a step the sound of hoof on stone echoed in the darkness. Luna froze, and time followed suit. Never before had she felt her heart pound so hard against her ribs. Never before had her body just refused to continue moving. Her breath caught in her throat and she watched in slow motion as the biped turned, pulling one of the exploding things from a loop on its belt and pointing it directly at her. The figure loosed the explosion, and before she could process seeing the fire escape the end of the thing—

"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!!!" she screamed out as pain exploded from her horn, as though it had been shattered into fragments. Luckily, that pain faded just enough for her to become capable of speech, though it did remain at a significant degree.

The door burst open and a bat-winged pony entered, halberd raised as its owner scanned for whatever made the princess scream. That pony, a mare whose cutie mark was a shield with a crescent moon, called out to Luna, "Princess!"

"I'm okay!" Luna managed to gasp out as she clutched at her head, trying in vain to dull the pain. "Please send for my sister!"

Without question, the thestral stepped outside, and bolted down the hall towards the Solar wing of the palace, leaving Luna to her pain and memories of the dream that caused it.

What even was that dream? Was it a dream? Or a memory? What was with that scent?

"Luna."

And what even was that creature whose dream that was? I've never seen anything like it.

"Luna!"

Something dangerous has appeared... and it falls to me to find out—

"LUNA!" Celestia's voice approaching Royal Canterlot volume, breaking Luna from her thoughts. With her sister now aware of her company, Celestia tried again. "Dearest sister, you sent for me, and Captain Sabre tells me you were screaming. What happened?"

Luna huffed indignantly, "It was but one scream," causing Captain Sabre to roll her eyes with a fanged grin. "But yes, I was forcibly ejected from the Dreamscape."

"Has that ever happened before?" Celestia asked.

"Never in all my years in that place," Luna confirmed. Celestia gave her a worried expression, asking without words for her to continue. "Remember how I described the Dreaming as like floating amongst my stars, with each star a dream of a pony sleeping beneath my night?"

Celestia nodded. "Yes, I remember."

"When I went into the Dreaming tonight, I found one star a sickly black. Never have I seen such a thing," Luna said. "It looked like it was on fire and threatened to poison the dreams nearest to it."

"So you investigated," Celestia said, pushing the story towards the pertinent information. "What did you see in that pony's dream?"

"It was no pony's dream," Luna said gravely, earning a rare shocked raised-eyebrow from her sister. "Nor griffon, nor minotaur, nor anything else on this world. Something other has emerged in Equestria."

Luna paused, waiting for a moment to see if her sister or her Captain had anything to say. When they stayed silent, she continued, "The dream I saw was violent. There were six armored creatures. They stood on two legs like minotaurs, and they carried strange weapons. They had come to slay a dragon-like creature that could easily have been the size of this palace. One of them transformed into something much like the dragon they came for, and slaughtered all of the others before you could cast a barrier. When it finished, it returned to normal and cried at its dead comrades."

Celestia now had both of her eyebrows raised, and the Captain fell back onto her haunches as she imagined the sheer combat prowess she'd need to best five of her equals at once.

"When I went to comfort the creature, it raised its weapon and somehow, it forced me from the Dreamscape," Luna said, as she debated in her mind whether or not to bring up the scent of arousal she'd picked up.

"Sister, as I cannot enter the Dreaming, I must yield to your expertise," Celestia said carefully. "What action should we take, if any, regarding this matter?"

"I feel we must gather more information. The more we have, the better it will go when it comes time to confront it. But one thing is certain. We must not engage this being in combat. Its weapons are ranged and have immediate lethality. We would only invite a massacre if we challenged this being head-on," Luna said solemnly. "Tonight I shall consult the Archives, and tomorrow, I shall head to the old castle to see if any of my squirreled-away texts have anything on this creature."

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"Where the hell even are we?" a male-sounding voice said. Its owner, a Ghost, flitted around, looking at the plant life around their crash site. "I'm not picking up any signs of Vex, even though we should be in the Forest right now. How are we in an actual forest?"

"You're asking questions that are well above my pay grade," a feminine voice replied. Its owner, a humanoid clad in light armor and a cloak, stared at her burning shipwreck, sighing defeatedly as she checked her own equipment. "I'm just a Hunter. Can you check the constellations and cross reference the starmaps we got from the Academy?"

"Baaaah. Of course I—" the Ghost stopped abruptly, freezing for a moment before turning around and floating over to the Hunter. "Problem. I don't see any of the constellations I should. Not even Ursa Major or Orion."

The Hunter paused. "Shouldn't we see those even from Io?"

"That's the point. I don't see them!" the Ghost said, motioning with a piece of its shell upwards to the night sky. As the Hunter looked up, she froze, witnessing a brand new sky. Gone were all of the constellations of the Sol system. Gone was the pale glow of the Milky Way galaxy. Gone were the sickly shattered remains of the Moon. Instead, she saw a new moon, whole and glowing with a peaceful, pale light. "Luna, I think we're lost."

"Yeah, definitely," she replied. She pulled off her hood and helm, revealing her face for the first time in two years. Her skin was a pale blue, and her amber eyes glowed with their own light. Soft, short, darker blue hair fell back into its natural style, sticking up in places to make it look as though her head bore flames. Her armor was freshly repainted, but the scars of battle were still etched into it. Softer bits were sewn together by hasty field-stitches, and the dents and scratches were still there, unattended to after one particular incident she'd been trying to forget.

Awoken. That was what her people were called. A subspecies of human that emerged after the Collapse. Many of those who tried to flee Earth on the colony ships met their ends at the asteroid belt, but those who didn't die were transformed. Something happened out there at the edge of the deep black.

A rustle in the bushes. Luna crouched low and drew her hand cannon from the holster on her thigh. As she levied the weapon upon the source of the sound, a loud howl resounded from the woods just past the treeline. One by one, ten wolf-like predators emerged from the undergrowth, causing Luna to lower her weapon just a little. "Are those things made of wood?"

One of the wooden wolves leapt forth with its jaw wide open for a bite, earning a meal of blazing lead instead. The hand cannon kicked in her grip, a high-caliber bullet ripping through the creature's head and killing it instantly. Upon the creature's corpse hitting the ground, it exploded violently, searing two more of the creatures just enough to send them yipping back into the forest. When another two lunged, Luna put holes in both of them too, their bodies exploding after the bullet pierced their skulls.

The remaining five attacked all at once, making Luna jump up into the air, and then again in the air for just a little extra height. She then took aim, and drew her Void Bow. The arrow of Void Light hit one of the wolves and killed it instantly. Where the arrow made contact, a small purple sphere formed before lashing out with tethers and attaching to the four remaining enemies. The wolves yelped as they had their strength sapped, and the magic keeping their wooden bodies together failed. They crumbled to the ground without Luna having to fire another shot.

That was Luna's go-to weapon of Light: Shadowshot. Her connection with Void Light allowed her to wield the bow. Wherever the arrow hit, anything nearby became snared in draining tethers of Void Light that suppressed the abilities of anything caught in it and weakened their resistance to damage. Hunters who wielded the Void Bow were called Nightstalkers. They were those who made the monsters scared, and lit the way for others. Luna had taken up that role when she first resurrected, all those years ago.

"Well, now we have some firewood," Luna said, picking up the bundles of wood. "Saves me some effort. Keep scanning for anything useful. Radio frequencies, weather data, anything useful. If we're lost, then we should gather as much intel as we can before we accidentally piss off the locals. In the mean time, I'm gonna make a fire and then take a nap."

With that, Luna set to arranging the wood into a small pile surrounded by large stones. Making sure the area was clear, she plucked a small sphere from her belt and bouncing it off of a piece of wood before taking it in her hand again. "Standby for resurrection."

The sphere exploded in a blast of flames, killing Luna outright, but lighting the campfire perfectly well. The Ghost, having seen Luna do far dumber things, merely sighed in exasperation and expanded his shell, tapping into the Light and extending it to Luna's corpse. With a sharp gasp, Luna sat back up, perfectly fine, no worse for wear. With a satisfied smirk, she sat down against a particularly large tree, and let herself drift to sleep.

She stood in the final room with her fireteam at her back. Not her fireteam. Just a team she'd decided to work with this once. The mission was to enter the Dreaming City to kill the last known Ahamkara, Riven of One Thousand Voices. The Ahamkara, also known as the wish-dragons of Venus, had been hunted to near extinction in the early days of the City. Their ability to bend reality to grant wishes made them powerful, and during the founding days, the City needed power. But their ability to feed on the desires of those who sought them out and incite madness made them a threat, and so the City came to a consensus: the Ahamkara must be driven to extinction.

On paper the mission to kill Riven was simple, but unfortunately, it was at least a little more complicated than that. Riven had been Taken. Her will had been removed by some entity and replaced with something else. This complicated matters, as fighting the remnants of the Taken army would be difficult if Riven was acting as a new leader for them.

Her team consisted of six, including herself. Two Titans, with their heavy armor made for becoming a wall if needed. Two Warlocks, with their knowledge of the secrets of the universe in the notes hiding in their robes. And, counting herself, two Hunters, with lean frames for weaving through combat and getting into places no one else could. Each of them had roles to play, and up until now, they'd proven they understood their roles.

They'd fought through the watchtower towards the vaults, taking down several high-level Taken threats. Several times they'd come close to having their Light snuffed out forever and returned to death. But now they stood in the final room. Riven was here, waiting for them. Luna called out into the dark, and the voice of Commander Zavala answered. The Ahamkara stepped out from the dark, revealing itself to those who'd come to kill it.

Luna blinked.

All of the allies she'd come in with were now dead or beyond saving. Even with their Ghosts, with Riven so close, they couldn't resurrect. One of the Warlocks was burning away from black flames, her body no longer moving. A Titan had a hole punched through his armor and body alike, his blood pooling on the floor. Her fellow Hunter was crushed into a massive crater as though he'd been stomped to death. The only thing she could think of that could have killed everything so quickly was Riven.

Luna fell to her knees as tears broke loose and streamed down her face beneath her helm. Riven spoke a few more words, and everything went dark around her, leaving her alone. For a few moments, she just sat there and cried.

Something that sounded like wood on stone echoed in the darkness. Instinct drove her to act, and her hand snapped her hand cannon from its holster. As she turned to aim the revolver at whatever made the sound, she saw a creature she'd never seen before. It looked much like a horse, but smaller and a bit more stout in stature. Its body was coated in midnight-blue fur, and its mane flowed as though it were underwater, and Luna could see the stars through it. On its head was a long horn of the same color, likely made of either bone or keratin. Upon it seeing her, its wings clamped to its side as though startled.

The shot called out.

Luna shot awake, but managed to keep herself quiet. She'd had that dream nearly every night for two years now, but this was the first time that the horse-creature had shown up. She looked up, seeing that the moon had indeed traveled a significant distance through the sky, and was about halfway down to the horizon.

"That dream again?" her Ghost asked, already knowing the answer.

"Yeah, but this time a weird horse-thing showed up at the end," Luna recounted. "Panicked and shot it, and apparently killing it woke me up."

"That's new," the Ghost replied. "Think it means anything?"

Luna shook her head before picking herself up off the ground. "Nah, prolly not. Just a dream. Now, let's see what all survived our crash, shall we?"

Author's Note

A reference image for Guardian Luna's dragonoid form
Artist can be found here.

2: Into the Wilds

From her crashed ship, Luna was able to recover most of her weapons, though a particularly special rocket launcher didn't make it; enough crates of ammunition synthesizers to level a city; a few spare pieces of armor; all of her personal belongings, which included several journals, some of which were still blank; a few boxes of meal rations that she hoped would not prove to be her only food source; seven transmat beacons in case she needed to quickly move either her stuff or herself in a hurry; and the key parts of both her Glimmer mining drill and her fabricator. If she did it right, she could get started on setting up a shelter that could protect her should the locals, if there were any, come looking for her. She took a fusion rifle and a sword from her pile of weapons and returned the others to their hiding spot in a hollow tree.

"Well, here's what I can pick up from my scans," her Ghost said. "Local weather patterns suggest this forest sees just enough rainfall to not wash the soil of the important stuff, so vegetation will be thick. There's a low pressure front coming in from the west, and there might be a storm following it. Also, the terrain is pretty uneven, with some deep ravines. Watch your step."

"Well, good thing I happen to own a machete," Luna said, pulling one from the crate of her personal belongings. "Well, first thing I'm going to need to survive out here is water. Any water sources nearby that you can pick up?"

"Yeah, there's a bog a bit to the south of here, though I picked up some loud noises coming from that direction," her Ghost advised. "There's also a river that feeds into the bog a ways north, but I picked up some weird energy fluctuations from that direction. Might be the locals."

"I guess we should hit the bog then," Luna said, already beginning her trek south.

Luna found herself oddly at peace as the five-AM light began to illuminate the sky, staining the clouds overhead a brilliant pink. A dense fog clung to the ground, obscuring her footing just enough to be mildly annoying. Though the foliage was quite dense, she opted not to use her machete unless she had to, instead favoring using her triple jump to clear obstacles. Even when she'd fallen into a ravine that she'd been warned about, Luna just jumped right back out again, as having two jumps in midair was quite handy. She made her way for about four miles before she finally found the bog.

Mangrove trees lined the shallow waters, their twisted roots providing invaluable cover for small aquatic or amphibious animals, and the branches a place to roost for birds. A few aquatic grasses like cattail plants also sprung up from the water, refusing to be drowned. A few meters away, Luna saw a frog resting on a lily pad.

"Alright, let's get a few samples and test if this water is safe first," Luna said, grabbing a pair of bottles from the backpack hidden by her cloak. She filled both bottles quickly, screwing the caps back on and putting them away once more. When she turned to leave, however, a tremor shook the ground, causing her to stop in her tracks. A loud roar resounded in the air.

"That doesn't sound good," her Ghost said, floating back under her cloak to hide.

"No it does not," Luna said, drawing the fusion rifle from its place on the small of her back and flipping the safety. "That sounds less than friendly."

Another tremor, and then another, and another. The ground shook with what was presumably the footsteps of some giant creature approaching. Luna spun around to face where the sound seemed to be coming from, only to be met with the sight of a massive reptilian creature barreling through the bog straight towards her. Four heads glared at her, one breaking eye contact to roar at her.

"Is that a hydra‽" Luna yelled, mostly to herself in disbelief. Seeing as the creature was almost on her, Luna broke into a sprint towards it. Right as the heads were about to snap at her, Luna pulled back on her own chest, diving into a power slide through the water underneath the creature before pulling herself back up and resuming running before the hydra could turn back around.

But her strategy only bought her a pair of seconds, which she used to turn around and pull the trigger on her fusion rifle. The weapon hummed in response, pulling energy from its battery magazine and charging the liquid coils. Once the weapon had reached full charge, seven bolts of flaming solar plasma shot from the barrel in rapid succession, slamming into one of the hydra's heads. The burning weapons fire made the hydra head recoil in pain before another head lashed out to attack her. Fortunately, Luna managed to leap sideways into a dodge roll. In response to the simple attack, Luna grabbed a small sphere from her belt and tossed it up at one of the hydra's faces. As it made contact, the sphere exploded into a cloud of harsh smoke, blinding that head and making it gag and cough.

The head she'd originally hit with her fusion rifle then spat water at her with incredible force. Luna leapt up into the air to dodge the pressurized water, hearing a tree fall into the bog behind her when she landed. She glanced behind to the tree, seeing it cut clean through by the attack. She cursed under her breath and made a note to not get hit by that.

Then Luna felt the Light pulse within her. The Void Bow was ready, whispering to her to draw it and fell this enemy as she had countless others. She took aim, and then with the same practiced technique, she vaulted into the air, jumping again for the extra height. And then she drew the bow.

The arrow of Void Light hit the water at the hydra's feet, making the hydra stare down at the sphere of purple Light, curious what was happening. With a loud pop, the sphere lashed out and tethered all four heads, pulling them down into the water, and suppressing the hydra's strength and regenerative properties. Luna then drew her sword, holding it with both hands and approached. One by one, Luna sliced off the heads with four uppercut slashes, letting each head fall into the bog.

After the final head was cut, Luna bowed to her opponent. "Rest in peace," she murmured as she pulled her knife from its sheath on her chest. As blood stained the bog water red, Luna began to pull scales from the creature with the aid of her knife.

"Think those scales will be useful?" her Ghost asked.

"Possibly. That fusion rifle shot did piss damage," Luna replied as she pried another scale loose. "Figure they might have some solid Solar resistance."

This continued until the sun was high in the sky, until she finally finished her task of gathering materials from the hydra's corpse.

——————————

Fluttershy found herself heading towards the Everfree Bog to release a few frogs back into the wild. While she was certainly terrified of the place, in no small part due to the fact that hydras lived there, and were incredibly territorial, she couldn't help but want to put the frogs back where they belonged. Plus, Twilight had offered to come with her, and the alicorn's presence made her feel safer. So she steeled herself for the trip, even as the sound of a hydra roaring echoed from far away. As she carried the box of frogs, she kept watch of the tree line for movement.

Out of the corner of her eye she caught a glimpse of movement from just behind the tree line, making her freeze up. From what she saw, it was a very tall creature, just big enough to be a manticore.

"Did you see that?" Fluttershy asked, voice wavering just a little.

"I think so? I didn't catch a good look," Twilight said. She placed a comforting wing over her friend's back. "It's probably nothing."

A few minutes passed, but she didn't see any more movement, so she resumed, feeling ever so slightly more anxious. Manticores were supposed to be nocturnal, after all, so if one was moving around at this time of day, it was certainly out of the ordinary.

Eventually, the pair made it to the bog with all of the frogs. Fluttershy found a suitable spot and set down the box at the edge of the water and opened it up, allowing the frogs to hop out. She smiled softly to them, reassuring them that they were safe.

As the frogs hopped out onto the lily pads, a tendril of red moved through the water, followed by a slow fog of red. The scent of blood followed.

"T-Twilight...?" Fluttershy murmured softly, looking up and scanning the area.

Twilight was already moving towards the the river that fed the bog. "Come on, somepony might be hurt!" she called.

Fluttershy suppressed a scared squeak and scrambled to join her friend. The scent of blood only got thicker as they went upstream, and soon, they found the source.

Fluttershy froze at the sight. A hydra lay dead in the bog, all four heads cut off, and its body picked clean of scales. One of its legs was missing, as was its tail. Something had definitely killed this hydra, and judging by how much blood was still seeping from the body, this kill was fresh.

"These wounds are too clean to have been another hydra, or any other creature we know of," Twilight observed out loud. "And there's galvanization on the vertebrae. If a pony did this, they must be in the Royal Guard with a lightning enchantment of this grade."

"I-I don't think a pony could have done this..." Fluttershy said. "E-Except the Princesses... but they wouldn't..."

"I think you might be right, Shy," Twilight said. "We should head back and report this to the princesses."

Fluttershy nodded, eager to leave this place. Something more dangerous than a hydra was in those woods, and she wanted no part of whatever scarier monster had managed to kill something already so terrifying.

The trip back to her cottage was short, as both decided it would be best to hurry home to get away from any potential danger. Normally, Fluttershy would take her time with Twilight on the way back, using the opportunity to talk to her friend and enjoy her company. It wasn't often that they got to spend time together, and every moment was precious to her. But not this time.

They soon arrived back at Fluttershy's cottage, where Spike was arguing animatedly with a rabbit.

"Spike!" Twilight called as she approached at a brisk trot. She pulled a parchment and quill from her saddlebags. "Take a letter!"

Spike, relieved that he didn't have to get yelled at by a mute bunny, took the writing equipment and asked, "Who are we writing?"

"Princess Celestia."

——————————

Dear Princess Celestia,

While out in the Everfree Bog with Fluttershy, we encountered a hydra. We are safe and unharmed, as the hydra was already dead. While noteworthy in its own right, the details and manner of its death are what have me concerned enough to write to you.

The hydra had been killed by something or somepony. When we found it, it couldn't have been dead for more than eight hours. All four heads had been cut clean off in a single strike each. The vertebrae were galvanized, suggesting a weapon with a high-grade lightning enchantment. Additionally, the tail and right foreleg are missing, and the scales appear to have been stripped post-mortem.

The only ponies with the skill and access to the weapon necessary to kill a hydra like this would be among the elite of the Royal Guard, but I don't think any pony did so. There was evidence of an unknown magic type lingering on the hydra, but the effect was equal to that of an ultimate suppression spell.

Something dangerous has emerged in the Everfree Forest. I will keep you updated if anything else like this happens.

Your faithful student,
Twilight Sparkle

Celestia read the letter for the fifth time, taking in all of the information she'd been given. After court was adjourned for the day, she'd hoped she could relax and take a nice warm bath. But no such luck. That relaxing bath would have to wait just a little longer.

She turned down a corridor and rolled the parchment back up before tucking it under her wing. Upon witnessing her, the Lunar Guard snapped to a salute.

"Good evening Lieutenant Wind," the princess greeted. "I'm here to see my sister."

The guard stepped aside, and Celestia knocked at the door.

"Enter!" came the voice from within.

Celestia opened the door and stepped inside. Once the door was closed, she pulled Twilight's letter back out from its spot beneath her wing and levitated it over to Luna.

"It seems my student has a lead on our new threat," Celestia said as Luna eyed the letter curiously.

Luna opened the letter and read it carefully. As she read, her face took on graver expressions until the very end, leaving her with a dark scowl. "Sister, does this make you think what I'm thinking?"

"Depends on what you're thinking," Celestia replied.

"This being is a seasoned warrior with magics we may not be aware of. If that dream and this hydra are anything to go by, we may have a threat to not just Equestria, but the world, on our hooves," Luna said. She let the full gravity of those words sink in for a moment. "I believe we should contact the other nations."

"No, not yet," Celestia sighed. "I do believe you, dear sister, but I cannot imagine the other world leaders believing us as well. There are many who do not know of your dreamwalking ability, and the incident of one hydra's death is not significant enough to bring up."

Luna took in the words. It was true that her dreamwalking ability was largely unknown, especially outside of Equestria. Her influence only reached to the borders of the country. "I understand."

Celestia gave Luna an affectionate nuzzle. "So, did you find anything on our strange creature?"

Luna shook her head. "Nay, twas a fruitless venture. The only bipedal races in our records are the minotaurs of Labrinthia and some of the dragons."

"And you plan to go to the Everfree tonight to check your hidden cache?" Celestia asked, her expression belying her anxiety.

Luna nodded. "Information is key."

"Please, be careful Lulu," the solar princess said softly, pulling her sister into a close hug. "If the ultimate suppression is true..."

"I promise, I'll be okay," Luna said. "Thou shalt see us return this morning."

Celestia smiled weakly at her sister. "I will hold you to it. Good night, Lulu. Be safe."

With that, the solar princess got to her hooves and departed, leaving Luna to prepare herself for her mission. Luna entered a side room off of her bedroom where she kept things that were best not left in the hooves of mortals. Immediately, the scent of stale air mixed with the cooling night air from outside, giving the room a feeling of being stuck outside of time.

The room was lined wall-to-wall with weapons forged by masters of blades and enchanted by some of the greatest mages of their times. Rapiers, broadswords, longswords, cutlasses, even a few claymores were among her collection. Some had enchantments that summoned flames, others lightning, and still others ice. But with knowledge of her quarry, she decided it would be best to wield a humble shield. After all, she was not going looking for a fight. She knew full well what the strange creature was capable of.

She pulled a large shield from the bunch that seemed almost to have a crown of three prongs at the top and set it against her saddlebags. In addition, she opened a large jewelery box and retrieved a pair of rings and an amulet, which she promptly donned.

The first ring was a plain silver band, enchanted with a spell that would help conceal her magical potential and presence. Hopefully, it would work well enough to keep the being from noticing her too soon. The second was a golden band with an emerald, ruby, saphire, and topaz set within it. This one was enchanted to grant the bearer significant regenerative properties. If she was attacked and managed to escape, that ring would, again hopefully, keep her from succumbing to mortal wounds. Finally, the amulet bore the Royal Seal, and would act as a beacon for her sister to find her should something go wrong.

With her saddlebags packed with anything else she thought she might have need of, she donned them and took off into the rising night.

Luna had always loved flying. It was the ultimate activity of freedom, where gravity's influence was more a suggestion than an oppressive law, and there was always a straightaway to the point she saw. The wind in her mane and over her wings always made her smile. Even with the dire circumstances of this flight, Luna couldn't help but smile and enjoy the feeling of flight.

As she approached the Everfree, she noticed a small pillar of smoke, and the soft orange glow of a fire, likely from the creatures camp. Luna decided to dive down towards the fire. She landed about half a mile away for safety, and proceeded on hoof from there. She made her way through the dense overgrowth and ensured she was sufficiently loud so that the creature would hear her coming and not react in panic.

The treeline broke into a perfectly triangular clearing, with a massively deformed metal object lying in a small crater in the dirt, scorch marks lining the edges. A small campfire was going, and just off by a tree, the same creature she'd seen in the dream sat with its strange weapon in hand.

Luna stood still for a moment, watching it watch her. She cautiously moved a hoof forward, it raised the weapon just a little more. She pulled it back, and the weapon returned to its relaxed state. Luna took a step towards the fire, and was met with only the turning of the creature's head to follow her. She sat down and pulled off her shield and saddlebags.

She then slowly opened one and lit her horn to grasp an apple, to which the creature raised its weapon to her. She let go of the magic and performed the action manually, placing the apple on the ground and moving away from it, watching the creature carefully.

The creature looked at the apple, then at her. Perhaps understanding, it lowered the weapon and cautiously approached. It then reached down and picked up the apple, inspecting it closely before setting it down.

Luna gasped as the creature pulled back the hood and removed its helm, revealing its face to her. Pale blue skin and dark blue hair and glowing amber eyes, with a tiny triangular nose and soft cheeks, and rounded ears on either side of her head instead of on top. She was shocked at just how different, and yet similar they were. The creatures face caried an expression that looked very similar to a smile. It spoke a single word, and a small... shape appeared over her shoulder, peeking out from the cape.

It looked... if she remembered her geometry correctly, it looked like a small sphere in the center of a stellated octahedron. It floated without magic, and with its little blue eye, at least it seemed like an eye, looked at the apple before saying something.

The creature, seeming satisfied, took a bite. Its eyes widened as it looked at the apple in what could easily be wonder before taking another bite, and another. It ate the apple down to the core, and tossed the core into the fire to be burned away.

The creature then stood and went to the metal object in the crater, and produced a hydra's tail, cut cleanly and descaled. It brought as well a small metal grating that looked much like an oven's cooking rack. And with that, it set the rack over the flame and began carving the tail into slices with a large knife with a hooked blunt edge. Once one was cut, she sliced it in half and set both halves on the rack to cook.

The creature then spoke to her, but she couldn't understand, so she simply tilted her head in a gesture of confusion.

"Can you understand me?" Luna asked.

The creature tilted its head in response. Luna sighed, and lit her horn one more time, causing the creature to watch her with wide eyes while its hand tightly gripped its weapon. From her saddlebags, she produced some parchment and a quill and ink. She then set to writing out the alphabet, hoping that they could realize that quickly, before levitating the paper over to them.

Yes, it no longer felt an appropriate pronoun to use for this being, not when they had enough intelligence to cook food before eating. Cooking was indeed a distinguishing trait of all sentient races on this planet, and it only felt right that this creature, wherever it was from, be thought of as sentient.

They set about looking over the writing, the floating shape inspecting it as well. Once they finished, they looked up at her and tilted their head, pointing to her with a finger, then back at the parchment.

Luna plucked the parchment from the page and wrote her name under the alphabet before giving it back.

"Luna," she said.

A rustle in the leaves echoed in the night. The being raised its weapon towards the source of the noise, setting the parchment down away from the fire. For a moment, all was quiet save for the occasional crackle of the fire. Then, a pack of timberwolves began to reveal themselves, eyes glowing a haunted green as they began to surround the two of them. The being looked confident, calling out into the night, causing the wooden creatures to attack.

The sound was deafening. The being didn't even flinch as the weapon exploded in her hands, flames discharging from the hollowed end. The timberwolf fell to scrap wood instantly, its body violently exploding like a firework. Two more, this pair with scorch marks on their sides, lunged from opposite directions, attempting to pincer the being.

Their maneuver failed spectacularly as the being jumped up into the air, and then again in midair without a flap of wings or any recognizable magic. The weapon exploded again, and both timberwolves were consumed in a fiery explosion.

Then one more explosion from the weapon, and one explosion behind her. Luna whipped around to see a timberwolf be annihilated behind her. Three more attempted to attack her, but Luna brought her shield up in time for the wolves to smack their faces against hard metal. But before she could cast an offensive spell, a strange noise sounded from off to the left.

It sounded much like a modern vacuum cleaner spinning up for a brief moment, and then the sound of heavy rain on stone. A spray of glowing orange tore through all three timberwolves, piercing them with ease. As the beams of light faded, the timberwolves burned away within seconds, leaving not even ash behind, as though their very existence had been consumed by the fire. In the beings hand was another of its strange weapons, a little bigger than the first, enough to be carried with both hands in different places on it.

The being inspected the surroundings, and upon seeing that the threat was neutralized, set its weapon down and returned to the fire, flipping its slice of hydra tail over to cook the other side.

Luna hesitantly relaxed. In the span of five seconds, this being had eliminated seven timberwolves, four of which had been targeting her. "What harsh world requires warriors as skilled as you?" Luna asked softly as she sat back down, knowing the being wouldn't understand her.

After a few more minutes, the being plucked the meat from the rack, and skewered both pieces on knives, holding one out to her as an offering. Luna smiled and shook her head, pulling another apple from her saddlebag.

The being shrugged and began munching on the skewered meat, still reading over the parchment. After eating, the figure reached into a pouch on their belt, and removing some kind of stylus. With a small click, they began to write on the parchment.

Luna waited with bated breath. Did the creature know it was an alphabet? Was it inscribing some translation spell? Could it perform such magic? It had performed some kind of spell with ultimate suppression, so it stood to reason that a translation spell would be within this creatures repertoire. As the parchment was handed back, Luna saw the alien symbols, and looked them over closely.

She mimicked the creature's gesture, pointing to them and then at the page, floaking it back over. They wrote a couple of the previous symbols and handed it back, saying a word in their native tongue.

The excitement of interacting with this being made her heart race. The possibilities of what knowledge they could share, how pony society could change, the technology that could emerge, it all made her feel like she was flying. She retrieved another piece of parchment and began drawing a small picture. It showed herself and the creature leaving the forest, then getting on a train, arriving in canterlot, and meeting with herself and her sister, and one Twilight Sparkle.

She passed the page over to the being and looked at them hopefully. As they inspected the page, they began to speak to the floating shape over their shoulder. After a couple minutes of this, the being shook their head side to side, turning the page over and drawing something else.

The new image depicted Luna leaving back to Canterlot by train, then returning with her sister and Twilight to the forest, with the figure still being by the fire. It also added a diagram of the sun and moon both at the horizon.

Luna nodded to the being, accepting the terms of the next meeting. With that, Luna packed up her belongings, and pulled her saddlebags onto her back. With a bow, the princess spread her wings and took off into the waning night.

3: Contact Zero

Luna watched the strange equine take off into the night, blending into the night sky within seconds. Everything about her interaction with the creature left her with questions that she did not have answers to. How did it levitate the parchment? Why did it have a shield? Why did it come here? What did it want?

"I think that's the first interaction with an alien race we've had since the Spider that didn't end with a gunfight," her Ghost mused. "Are you sure it understood us?"

"You saw the drawing. It wants to talk to us, but we don't speak the same language. It wanted to bring us to someone who could maybe understand," Luna said, sitting back down and preparing to smoke the remainder of the hydra meat. It wasn't that bad. Definitely had a strong aftertaste, but it went down fine and it hadn't poisoned her yet.

"So why did you counter offer? If we were going to meet someone who could possibly understand, wouldn't we want to go meet them?" her Ghost asked.

"Simple. Negotiations. Proving my intelligence. If I accepted first thing, I'd be in unfamiliar territory and surrounded by potential hostiles. My offer let them keep the three-on-one number advantage, but I have the territory advantage. This forest is hostile, and that creature knows it. She accepted the counter offer because it's fair to both of us, rather than slanted in either party's favor," Luna explained.

"But it's always slanted in our favor," her Ghost said. "If you die I can just bring you back!"

"We're on a completely alien world with its own life and rules. What if that mountain city happens to be in a Darkness Zone and I can't come back? Or what if you're captured or, Traveler forbid, killed?" Luna said sternly. "This forest is the only area we can guarantee is not a Darkness Zone, and that's another reason for my counter offer. I can safely die here."

Her Ghost remained silent.

"We have to assume everything is a threat here," Luna murmured. "Just like in the Dreaming City... Everything, including me."

"Luna..."

Luna had already shifted her focus back to smoking the hydra meat to preserve it. It took until dawn, and after that, she let herself sleep.

——————————

Dear Princess Twilight Sparkle,

We write you in these young hours of the morning to inform you of the fruits of our investigation into the dead hydra you found. The contents of this letter and its subject matter are as of yet classified to the general public. We have found the creature responsible, and you were correct to believe it not be a pony. The creature we found is not of our world, but is indeed an intelligent, sentient life form.

We established contact with the being, and discovered evidence that it had indeed slain the hydra. When we attempted to communicate with language, we failed.

Celestia and I shall be arriving at your Golden Oaks Library at eighteen hundred hours. Upon our arrival, we wish you to accompany us to meet with the being and assist in possibly finding a translation spell, or, should such an endeavor fail, assist in exchanging language between us.

Enclosed is a copy of what we believe to be its alphabet and name, as compared to our own and my name; and a copy of the 'written' arrangements made for official first contact. We hope these items assist you in this mission, should you choose to accept it.

Signed,
~Princess Luna

Twilight read the letter with her coffee, eye twitching as she felt her brain start itching. First contact, was not a phrase she'd ever expected to read outside of fiction novels, and yet, it was right there in Luna's own writing. She'd dreamed about how exciting contact with an alien would be, having read hundreds if not thousands of sci-fi novels on that premise. But she'd also read just as many on how easily that could go horribly wrong. And now that it was happening, she found herself quite understandably anxious.

And so, Twilight began searching through the library for anything and everything that might help with her new task. She pulled every book on translation magic she could find and began sorting them by relevance. Then she remembered the possibility that every language would fail to be understandable, and began also gathering picture books for young foals just learning to read, sorting those by difficulty level.

"What are you doing this early in the morning?" came the sleepy voice of Spike. "The sun isn't even up yet."

Twilight yelped and jumped like a startled cat, somehow clinging to the ceiling for a moment before gravity caught on to her shenanigans and pulled her back to the floor with a dull thud.

"Spiiike! Don't do that!" Twilight groaned as she got back to her hooves.

"Sorry," he said quickly. "But seriously, what's with the books for foals? And also translation spells?"

"Can't tell you, Princess secret stuff," Twilight said, hoping he wouldn't push the issue.

"Alright," he said. "I don't need to know why you need these books. But I can still help. What do you need?"

Twilight turned and smiled to him. "I need the simplest possible books in Equestrian we have. Can you narrow it down to four?"

"Easy," the young dragon replied with a sharp salute. "Let me grab us some breakfast first."

The day went relatively quickly after that, with the both of them engrossed in their tasks. Interruptions rarely plagued Twilight when she was immersed in her studies, as Ponyville didn't have nearly as many avid readers as Canterlot did. Thus, the recently ascended alicorn was able to hyperfocus on whatever grabbed her attention without feeling guilty about having to be on duty. After a few hours, Twilight and Spike had managed to narrow down which books she needed, and packed them into her saddlebags. Once finished, and after a tasty lunch, they put back all of the unused books into their places on the shelves and cleaned the place up.

The pair of them finished by four in the afternoon. It was at this point that Twilight remembered that she wouldn't be home to put Spike to bed. With a soft curse under her breath, she informed Spike that she was headed out for a few minutes, and with that, she made her way towards her friend's home.

As usual, Ponyville was fairly mellow at this time of day. The market was slowing down in preparation for the five o'clock closing time, and most of the last minute shoppers were already there. The few ponies out in the main roads were either headed to the market or home from it. On her way she greeted the mailmare, who was finishing off the last of her deliveries for the day. As she turned the corner, she smelled the sweets from Sugarcube Corner fill the air, making her mouth water as it always did. Upon a light rumble from her stomach, she made a note to make a stop there on the way home.

She made it to Rarity's and entered with a knock.

"Rarity! Twilight's here!" Sweetie called as Twilight came in. "Hiya Twilight!"

"Hi Sweetie. Thanks for calling Rarity," Twilight replied.

The unicorn in question entered from a curtained off room. Judging by the tape measure around her neck and the red glassed on her friend's muzzle, Twilight figured she was either working on a new line, or was neck deep in an order. "Twilight, darling! What brings you in?" she asked. "No, don't tell me, you need a dress for a date?"

Twilight giggled at her friend's joke. "No, no dates for the foreseeable future. I actually need to ask a favor."

"I'd be delighted to have Spike over for the night," Rarity replied. "The Crusaders are actually having a sleepover here tonight, and having him around as the voice of reason would be a great help."

Twilight shot her friend a questioning look.

"Twilight, if you didn't come to me for assistance with romance, the only other thing you'd ask as a favor is to watch Spike," Rarity said, causing Twilight to blush a little from embarrassment.

"Thank you," Twilight said. "I'll send him over by six."

"Of course, darling!" she approached Twilight. In a low whisper, she added, "But if I find out you're getting him out of the house for a date or anything of the sort, I'm going to set you up with somepony."

Twilight nervously took a step back. "I can assure you it's not that," she said. "Anyway, I need to head back and get ready."

"I'm serious about setting you up, Twilight, darling," Rarity said with a wave and a smile. "Do take care!"

——————————

The princesses arrived perfectly on time, knocking on her door at precisely six in the evening. Twilight opened the door and invited them inside, glad she'd taken the time to clean the library earlier after her research. Both princesses made their way to a table in the middle of the library, where they sat down and waited for Twilight to join them. Once she did, Luna began.

"Good evening, young Twilight," the Lunar Princess started. "Before we venture into the Everfree to meet the Being, we must fill you in on the details we have."

"Of course," Twilight said as Luna set out some papers, including the two that she'd received in her initial letter.

"Let us start from the beginning. Before you contacted us, we encountered the Being in the Dreamscape. During its nightmare, we discovered that they are a warrior of some kind, and have killed others of its kind. When we sought to comfort the Being, it raised its weapon and ejected us from the Dreamscape. Such a thing has never happened before," Luna informed. "If its nightmare was more memory than dream, then we have reason to believe the Being is capable of transforming, and is extremely violent in its alternate form. For this reason, and due to your letter, I contacted the Being myself last night."

"We found the Being near a fresh crater where it had set up camp. The glow of its fire gave us its location, here." Luna punctuated her point by marking a point on a map of the area. "Only four miles from the bog. Not an easy trek, especially in that terrain, but doable. At first, the Being was quite cautious, keeping their weapon in hand when we first met, and they were especially frightened of magic. We offered them an apple as a peace offering, and a test of its dietary habits. At this point, we discovered a strange object in their possession. I have drawn it here." She set forth the drawing of the object, which Twilight looked over carefully.

"We are lucky that it responded positively. In exchange, it offered us cooked meat of the hydra you found. We believe it was also testing our dietary habits. We politely declined and ate an apple instead," Luna continued. "At this point, we were able to use magic for the first time, and they seemed quite surprised. We believe they may come from a culture where magic is incredibly rare, and they may have been surprised to find another magic-user. At this point, we wrote out the alphabet and our name, and we believe they have done the same with its own writing utensil."

"Since my banishment, many languages the world over have changed quite significantly. My translation spells are beyond outdated. This is where you come in, young Twilight Sparkle. From what Tia has told me, you are one of the most brilliant minds of this generation. What say you in response to our letter?" Luna finished.

"I accept. I'd be more than happy to help any way I can," Twilight replied.

Luna smiled. "Very well."

The three left the library and took to the air. Twilight, though not as strong a flier as the other princesses, was able to keep up. Luna then pointed out the small column of smoke that signaled the Being's camp, and tilted towards it. As Luna led the way, Celestia hung back with her beloved student.

"Are you nervous?" the Solar Princess asked.

"Yeah, I really am," Twilight said. "This is history in the making, and everything hinges on our interactions with this being..."

"It's okay to be nervous, Twilight," Celestia said, a dim, weak smile on her face. "I am too."

Twilight felt time around her freeze as she got a rare glimpse of her mentor beneath the mask of royalty.

"I'm sure things will turn out okay," Twilight said, offering her own weak smile to Celestia.

"I have full confidence in you, my faithful student," Celestia replied.

Together, they all descended towards the campsite, landing in the clearing, where the Being was waiting for them. Twilight's brain went into overdrive as she took in every detail she could, trying to make sense of the situation as quickly as possible. The clearing was a perfect triangle, and all of the stumps showed no evidence of being chopped or cut in any way. The crater in the center had a long furrow behind it, leading her to believe that the metal object in the crater had significant forward velocity when it hit the ground.

The Being waved a hand in the air, much the way a pony would to greet someone who had just entered their field of view. They beckoned the three of them over towards the fire, a few fresh logs placed around it as seating. As they approached, the Being took a seat on one of the logs. Over the fire was a metal grate that Twilight assumed was for cooking.

Luna sat down at the fire, setting her saddlebags down. From them, she produced an assortment of vegetables and a loaf of bread, setting them on one of the unnaturally flat stumps. Then, she retrieved some parchment and ink, setting most of it on the stump with the food. The calm with which Luna was approaching the situation reassured Twilight, settling her nerves a bit.

Luna proceeded to draw a series of pictures. First was of the four of them cooking and eating together around the fire. Next was Twilight using her magic next to a pair of letters, one Equestrian and one of the Being's. After that was a split in the series. On the left showing a frown on Twilight's face, then Twilight next to a chalkboard with the Being sitting on a log. On the right, Twilight smiling, and all four of them speaking.

"Are you sure they'll understand that?" Celestia asked softly.

"They understood the first enough to negotiate. We'll see if this gets through. If not, we'll try again," Luna said, floating the parchment over to the Being.

——————————

Luna looked over the paper that the local equines had given to her, deciphering the drawings and deducing the meaning they intended to convey. Her Ghost floated over her shoulder, looking it over as well.

"Alright, cool. Food first, then they're gonna do that weird thing with their horns. If they're successful then we'll be able to talk to each other, but if not they plan to teach me their language," Luna translated aloud.

"How did you get all of that?" her Ghost asked. "It's just pictures!"

"What do you think that rune over lost sectors means?" Luna quipped. "It means protected secret. If words are unreliable, pictures are communication's next best thing."

Her Ghost sighed, shaking his shell at her.

She handed the paper back to her guests and nodded, earning a relieved smile. Luna set to work cooking, pulling a few choice vegetables from the bunch and placing them on the rack to roast over the open flame. From there, she added a few thin slices of hydra meat to warm up. The equines then placed their own share of veggies over the fire.

"Nothing quite like a campfire dinner to bring people together," Luna mused.

For a moment, all way peaceful as all parties waited for their delicious goodies to finish cooking. Luna looked up at the sky, admiring the way the evening sun made the clouds turn bright pink and the sky a brilliant fiery orange. She waited for the moment that the sun set over the horizon, and left the world in the first stages of twilight. But that moment didn't seem to come. She shrugged and returned her attention to the equines.

The white one and the midnight one both lit their horns in an odd aura and within seconds, the world was envelopped in the cooling embrace of twilight. The pair's horns then faded back to normal, leaving Luna and her Ghost very confused.

"Those two have some incredible power at their disposal. I've never felt any energy quite like that, and we've seen some weird stuff," her Ghost said in a low voice. "Are you sure we're safe here?"

"No, but it's the safest place we have," Luna replied, also having felt an odd disturbance in the atmosphere around her. The energy felt like Light, Solar blazing from the white equine and Void whispering from the midnight one. "Do you think they have the ability to wield Light?"

"No, that was different on a fundamental level," the Ghost said.

"Well, let's just play along for now," Luna sighed.

A moment later, everyone began picking their food from the rack, piling their vegetables onto slices of bread. Luna, however, added her cut of hydra meat. As she bit into the sandwich, she smiled and hummed in satisfaction. Real bread was hard to come by in the city, as was meat. Hunters often could find meat by hunting local fauna, but in the interest of preserving some of the endangered species like deer, they would forego meat in favor of other sources of protein.

"Blesséd be bread," Luna hummed softly. "Every culture can be defined by food, art, and war. And what a wonderful first impression bread makes indeed."

The three equines seemed to watch her quite intently as they ate, remaining quiet, ears perked in her direction. It was at this point that Luna took a moment to take in the details of the situation.

Of the three creatures before her, all three had both wings and a horn, and could tap some unknown energy that felt quite similar to Light. The midnight one bore an onyx black tiara and neck-piece, and did not have the rings or amulet it had last time. Their mane and tail held the night sky, and seemed to flow in a breeze that didn't exist. On their flank was a darkened splotch with the image of a crescent moon. Of the three, they seemed the most confident with the current situation. Not having names to call them seemed a little annoying and confusing, so she opted to call this one Midnight.

The white one had a similar golden tiara and neck-piece as Midnight, along with the mark of a sun on their flank. As with midnight, their mane seemed to flow in an aetherial wind, holding the morning sky. They were the largest of the three by a small margin, with Midnight being a close second. Of the three of them, this one seemed the most guarded and cautious. They seemed tense and stiff, eyes constantly watching her every move. This one she decided to nickname Dawn.

The third bore a golden tiara with a six-pointed starburst shaped gemstone set in it, and had a similarly shaped mark on their flank. Their mane was straight midnight blue, with a single pink streak, and unlike the others, did not flow in the intangible breeze. This one seemed to hold only curiosity in their gaze. She could feel a strong desire to learn and understand from them, much like a Warlock. The sparkle in their eyes reminded her of Rose, from her own fireteam. She figured Sparkle would be an appropriate nickname.

After they finished their meal, a howl echoed through the forest, making the equines look around anxiously, save for Midnight. Luna, on the other hand, merely sighed in annoyance, standing up and raising the Ace from her hip and training it against the dark. One by one, more of the wooden wolves from the previous two nights filtered into the clearing. They snarled and growled in low, threatening tones, and the equines only grew more restless as their numbers were revealed. Ten, twenty, thirty, fifty, a hundred of the wooden creatures filtered out from the tangled underbrush, with even more remaining in the shadows beyond. Luna smiled a wicked smile and flicked the safety off on the Ace.

"I had a feeling I'd have to fight tonight," Luna mused to herself. "Ghost, standby for resurrection."

"As always," he replied.

One of the wolves charged forward, earning a swift shot from her hand cannon, ending its life with a single hit to the head. The explosion of its body taking down two more. Luna started stepping back and forth in a measured tempo she'd honed over the decades. Some steps were punctuated with shots, others the sound of the explosion, some with only the flutter of her cape as she dodged and weaved through the hordes.

During a dip in the fighting, she reached out for her Light and stretched it with both hands, setting the Ward of Dawn, a bubble of Void Light, around the equines. When one of the wolves tried to enter the bubble, it yelped and clamped its eyes shut, blinded by the Light. In a fluid motion, she tapped Sparkle to grab her attention, then kicked the wolf out of the bubble. Sparkle nodded in understanding.

With her guests now safely in the bubble, Luna turned her focus back to the wolves, the crowd having not seemed to dip in number at all.

"I wish I could clear them all at once," she growled as she began her dance of death once more.

Build up your Light, O kin mine!

Luna kept up her waltz, shooting down dozens of the wolves, her Ward protecting the equines well enough, but beginning to dim. She needed a way to end it all at once. The only person she could think of that could keep up with this kind of horde was Mae with her Arc Blades, but unfortunately she wasn't here to help.

Take the Shield, O kin mine!

She reached out for her Light once more, taking the Sentinel Shield in her hand and letting the Void Light strengthen her tiring muscles. Instinct took over, and she raised the disc of Light.

The voice of Riven spoke from her lips, "O pathetic hordes of the unworthy dark, I sentence you all to rest eternal in the black between stars and cast your screams into the abyss! May you learn this judgement to be merciful and just! Light Sacrifice!"

4: Darkness Zone: Resurrection Restricted

(Recommended Listening)

"Light Sacrifice!" Luna's body screamed. Silence filled the air as all movement stopped. The Void Light around her pulsed in magnified intensity, and then the Shield and the Ward faded. Luna held her arm steady, feeling the Shield still there.

And then there was pain. The most intense pain Luna had ever felt bit into her body as wounds opened across her flesh. Blood sprayed from her wounds, and the blood was Light. Luna held back her voice as her eyes widened in shock. The blood glowed a ghostly purple as it pooled and seeped into the dirt. The equines, too, gasped in horror, as the Being protecting them fell to her knees.

"Luna! Luna!" her Ghost screamed.

The wolves howled once more and charged forwards. Before any of them could make contact with their would-be prey, brilliant purple Light flooded the area from the sky, tearing the wolves assunder, atom by atom, quark by quark, until nothing was left of their very existence. After a few moments, the Light dissipated, and all was quiet. No howls, no screams, no gunshots or whispering Void Light.

Luna fell forwards as her body lost consciousness, the screams of her Ghost fading into the dark.

——————————

The princesses looked on as the Being collapsed to the ground, blood pooling in the dirt. For a moment, even Celestia and Luna couldn't fathom the sheer power of the magic the Being had used. But then, as they collapsed, they heard the Shape screaming at them. It turned and looked at them, it's eye a pinprick of blue light. Only then did the ponies realize what was happening.

"We need to get them medical attention!" Luna called, rushing forwards, reaching out with her magic to the Being and levitating them onto her back. "Tia, grab my things! Twilight Sparkle, guide us to Ponyville's hospital!"

Twilight snapped from the shock and rushed forwards to get a running start as she took off, Luna just behind her. Even as they flew, Luna could feel the Beings blood seeping out over her body, the sticky sensation only serving to urge her to go faster to save them. The whole flight, the Shape floated by her side, loosing beams of light at the wounds and speaking in a rushed, panicked voice.

Ponyville General Hospital was small when compared to other hospitals, like Canterlot's or Manehattan's. It was only three floors tall and had only four operating rooms, with their Intensive Care Unit occupying only thirty rooms. At this time of night, there were very few ponies on staff, including one surgeon, one doctor, two nurses, and the receptionist.

Said receptionist was named Clear Skies. She was a pegasus pony with a pale blue coat and white mane, who was still studying to become a nurse herself. The graveyard shifts were always mellow, which allowed her plenty of time to catch up on classwork.

To say Clear Skies was surprised to see three of the four princesses sprayed in blood and carrying a strange creature would be the understatement to end all understatements.

"We have an emergency, call the doctors," Luna said quickly.

Clear Skies yelped in surprise and paged the doctors with a Code Blue as instructed. Within seconds, the doctors arrived with a gurney, hiding their shock incredibly well as they took the Being from Luna and carted them off to operate.

"Do you think they will survive?" Celestia asked, her voice shaking only enough for Luna and Twilight to notice.

"We must hope. After what they did for us, we must hope," Luna replied.

"If they lost more than three liters... I don't think they can come back from that..." Twilight murmured. "I can't tell how much they lost..."

Back in the Operating Room, the entirety of the medical staff on call had entered and began cutting away the armor as best they could, until the Shape pulsed with light, making the armor disappear. The doctors wasted no time, one casting a simple healing spell in an attempt to close a gash across the Being's arm. The spell backfired, healthy cells attacking the newly regenerated tissue with extreme prejudice.

Meanwhile, a nurse began soaking up blood in a sterile cloth, trying her best to not panic. Though she'd seen some particularly nasty cases, this took the cake by a longshot. Never had she seen a patient in such a sorry state. The earth pony mare, after getting the patient cleaned up, retrieved the supplies for stitches.

The doctors thanked her and began sewing the Being's flesh back together, their magic put to use minimizing the risk of contracting any possible bloodborne illnesses. After that, the being was doused in several layers of antibacterial ointments and wrapped up like a mummy. As simple as the process was, it took well over two hours to get it all right. The whole time, the Shape watched.

——————————

"How are they?" Luna asked the doctor.

The room was silent, save for the sound of the heart monitor and the breathing machine. The Being was covered in enough bandages to wrap a small house, and was hooked up to several machines. The Shape watched the Being through it all, hovering over them.

"Your friend was in a very sorry state. She lost a lot of blood—"

"She?" Twilight asked.

"Indeed. Once her armor was off, we became about ninety-five percent sure she's female. Anyway, without knowing what she is, we can't risk transfusion. Her body also had an adverse reaction to Doctor Day's healing spell, putting us at risk of harming her more if we tried to help her body regenerate the lost blood. Unfortunately, we've done everything we safely can for her. How did she even come by those wounds?"

"Some kind of magical backfire," Luna said solemnly. "Although we aren't entirely sure if that's accurate."

"No, that sounds about right. She reeks of curse magic," the doctor replied. "Whatever your friend here did, it certainly, pardon my language, bucked her six ways to Sunday. We're lucky she's got a pulse."

"Thank you, doctor. Do you have any estimate on how long it will take for her to wake?" Celestia asked.

The doctor simply shook his head. "No ma'am. If we were able to base it on blood-loss alone, I'd say six days? But with curse magic as potent as what we could detect, it could be upwards of a year, if she wakes up at all."

"Thank you, doctor," Celestia said, peering into the room where the Being lay unconscious.

Days passed. Two. Three. The nurses dutifully checked up on her every hour. Four. Five. The Royal Sisters returned to Canterlot after the sixth. After seven, Twilight wasn't sure the Being would wake up. But still, the Shape waited, watching the Being intently, loyal as a dog. Eight. Nine. On the tenth day, there was a brief moment where the staff thought she'd wake up, but no such luck. Eleven. Twelve. Thirteen.

On the fourteenth day after that night, the Being awoke.

On duty that day was Nurse Redheart, who'd been there to help sew the Being back together. Of course, she found it difficult to care for a patient with no name, and with the help of the princesses, came up with the name Violet Light. Personally, she'd have named her Lapis Aurora, after her blue skin and mane and the subtle light that seemed to dance over her skin, but that was a debate to have with the patient herself. Now, Nurse Redheart was not immune to doubt. She'd seen cases where the odds were stacked heavily against patients, but with lower stakes. One colt she'd seen broke a leg bad enough that the doctors were certain beyond a reasonable doubt that he'd never run again, and even she was confident that he wouldn't. Just three months ago, she'd been invited to a cross-country meet where that same colt placed first for his team.

That in mind, Nurse Redheart was the most confident of everypony who knew about Violet that she'd wake up sooner rather than later. If the doctor said upwards of a year, she'd place her bets on a month at the latest. She couldn't place why, but she felt a strong desire to help nurture this particular patient more than any she'd cared for. She was different, in more than just her body, she could feel it.

So when strange voices came from Violet's room when there weren't supposed to be any visitors on this floor at all, she rushed to see who was talking. As she turned the corner, she saw Violet sitting up in bed, hands working furiously to tear off the gauze. She was talking to someone in a language she didn't know, and the only other thing was the Shape that had been floating by her the whole time. Setting that aside to process later, she rushed to Violet's side, placing a hoof on her arm and looking at her with pleading eyes as Violet looked at her with her own luminous amber ones.

"Please, lay back and rest," she said calmly.

The Shape said something to Violet, and she seemed to calm down a bit, lying back down and leaving her bandages alone. She smiled softly to Violet, and proceeded to push the page button on the side of the bed. From there, she removed a pair of blunt-tipped scissors to remove the gauze so she could check on the stitches. Violet seemed unsure, but a word from the Shape seemed to stay her fear.

She proceeded from one of Violet's arms first, removing the bandages and gauze, revealing stitched flesh beneath. Surprisingly, it was healing at a normal rate, and she estimated these wounds needed only two more days before the stitches could be removed. Violet watched carefully, frowning as she observed her own condition.

"You're lucky to be alive, you know," Nurse Redheart said. "By all accounts, you should be very, very dead."

It was at this point that the Doctor Sunny Day entered. "Oh my, she's awake!" he exclaimed.

Violet seemed to back up a little, moving as far from the door as she could. Even with the Shape talking to her, Violet seemed incredibly uneasy. "It's alright, Violet, he helped sew you back together," she said, trying to make sure her tone was reassuring and calm. Even with that, she did not seem to relax much.

She turned to the doctor. "Go send for Twilight and the Princesses. Tell them our patient is awake."

When she turned back seemed to be grabbing for something at her hip, which drew her curiosity. She slowly and carefully reached to pull the bedsheet up to check if perhaps they'd missed a cut. This, however, was a bit too much, and Violet reacted quite poorly, slapping her hoof away and staring at her with fearful eyes. As much as it pained her, she had to check and be sure. With a patient unconscious for so long, it was well within the realm of possibility to miss an injury simply because the patient couldn't tell them it was there. She tried once more, looking into Violet's eyes as she slowly reached up once more. "I promise I won't hurt you. I just need to make sure you're okay," she said softly.

The Shape said something to her, an Violet turned to look at her, shaking her head with a weak smile. She said something, but Redheart didn't understand. But judging by the look on her face, she could hazard a guess that she said something akin to "thank you."

With that, Nurse Redheart went to a cabinet across the room, fishing a few supplies from it, feeling Violet watching her the whole time. She returned with a stethoscope, approaching slowly. To her surprise, Violet took the end of the listening tool and placed it against her chest, allowing her to listen to her breathing. Shifting it a few times, she confirmed that her lungs were perfectly fine. Putting that away, she then returned with a fresh roll of bandages and some tape to secure it. Violet simply sighed at the prospect, allowing her to replace the bandages she'd removed.

"I hear our patient is awake," the voice of Princess Celestia said from the doorway.

"Yes ma'am. She's super nervous, but the Shape is doing a fantastic job keeping her calm," she said, reaching up and patting it. The Shape seemed pleased with itself, but Violet was unamused by this gesture.

At this point, Celestia, Luna, and Twilight all filed into the room, keeping a respectful distance for a moment. Well, Celestia and Luna kept their distance. Twilight, on the other hoof, could not hold herself back, and approached quickly, rearing up and hugging Violet tightly.

All three of them looked on in shock, watching Violet's face shift from nervous to surprised to solemn. After a moment, she tentatively returned the gesture, saying something in its native tongue. The room remained silent, allowing this moment between two near-strangers. Twilight didn't truly know Violet, nor did Violet truly know Twilight. But Violet had nearly sacrificed her own life to protect Twilight and the princesses, and Twilight had to show her gratitude somehow, and this tearful hug would have to do for now.

After Twilight pulled away, she lit her horn. For a moment, Violet seemed skeptical of the situation, but relaxed after a moment. After that, Twilight attempted to speak to the being in Griffish, Zebran, Minotauran, Yakanese, Dracish, and even Dogese. But each time, Violet shook her head, knowing what she was trying, but indicating each failure of language. Cursing her luck, Twilight released the translation spell and pulled out a piece of paper.

She proceeded to draw what happened that night that she was brought in. Nurse Redheart gasped in shock at what she saw. Dozens of timberwolves attacking from all sides, Violet with a shield in one hand. Twilight and the princesses stood in a bubble, but in the next panel, the bubble was gone, as was Violet's shield. In the next panel, Violet was covered in wounds and spraying blood. The next panel was left blank, and after that, Violet was on the ground bleeding out, no timberwolves in sight.

After that, the drawing showed Princess Luna carrying Violet to the hospital, and then the emergency room. After that was the image of a sun, fourteen times. When Violet looked over the paper, her eyes went wide, and the smell of fear immediately filled the room. She frantically spoke to the Shape. With a pulse of light from the Shape, a helmet appeared in her lap, and she donned it immediately. When she took it off, she seemed beyond shocked. Her eyes looked haunted, staring through the walls and into nothingness. She let the helm drop to the floor, where it rolled until it stopped at Twilight's hoof.

Twilight then placed a small book in her lap. "I know you can't understand me yet, but I promise you will. I'm going to teach you Equestrian, and I'm going to thank you properly for what you did," she said, looking up at Violet with determination sparkling in her eyes. "I Pinkie Promise. Cross my heart, hope to fly, stick a cupcake in my eye."

——————————

She couldn't die here. Well, she could, but she couldn't come back from it if she did. Everything hurt, and it felt the same as when the Red Legion took the Light just three years ago. She was without Light once more, and that made her feel naked.

Well, more naked than she was. She could tell that all she had covering herself was the bedsheet and a hospital gown. The mere fact she was in a hospital made her uneasy. Even without the Light, her Ghost was always able to heal her. Even during the Red war, before they made it to the Shard, she'd almost been mauled by the Cabal's Warbeasts, but her Ghost had healed her as he always had. She barely had a scar from the ordeal. But now...

Even with that look of determination from Sparkle, and the reassuring gazes of Dawn, Midnight and Redcross, Luna found herself unable to feel up to the challenge of recovering and learning the equine language.

Even so, she couldn't just fuck off back into the forest without her Light or her Ghost's ability to heal her. So really, she didn't have a choice.

"Hey Ghost? Can you still connect to the transmat beacon by the ship?" Luna asked curiously.

"Yeah, why?" he replied, sensing a shift in the Guardian's demeanor.

"I'm gonna have one of our friends place another beacon outside. Mind pulling one from storage?" she asked.

"Plan?"

"Learn their language, maybe teach them English. Notebooks would help," she said.

A moment later, a metal device, shaped like a pill with a spike on one end and a green light on the other, plopped into her lap, transmaterialized from its place in Luna's ship. The equines around her seemed quite surprised, but didn't react too badly. She then mimed writing towards Sparkle, earning her eager attention and the writing tools she needed.

With that, Luna drew a simple picture of the transmat beacon in her lap, then of the crash site and a similar beacon and an apple. Then, she drew Twilight placing the beacon outside her window, followed by the apple disappearing from the crash site and reappearing next to herself.

Sparkle looked over the drawings and her eyes went wide with the desire to learn. Immediately she grabbed the beacon in her magic and headed outside, jabbing it into the dirt in a planter outside. Once she returned, Ghost pulled the chest of her personal belongings to her, earning yet more surprised looks from her guests.

She proceeded to open the chest, quickly grabbing a notebook and a few pencils. Once she set the chest down, Luna opened the notebook and looked at Sparkle.

"Alright, Sparkle, bring on the storm. I'm not ready."

5: Binary Dawn

The next day, Redcross checked her stitches once more, wiping at them with a damp cloth that she presumed was soaked in an antibacterial from the way it stung her flesh whenever it touched one of her wounds. However, unlike yesterday, the nurse proceeded to do this to every wound, rather than just checking on the ones on her arm. In so doing, Luna found herself marveling at how she'd managed to live without Light or her Ghost's healing.

This only brought up a rather unfortunate observation: she smelled. Specifically, she smelled like sweat and gunpowder and rotten wood and blood, mixed with campfire soot and bog water and dirt. She felt bad every time Redcross came into the room. So, with a piece of paper, she drew her request and showed the nurse.

Redcross nodded happily, pulling the sheets down to help her get up. It was at this point that Luna realized just how fucked up she was. As she shifted her weight, pain exploded from her wounds, making her yelp in surprise and hold perfectly still until it passed. Redcross stared in concern, but Luna offered a weak smile of reassurance. She had dealt with similar pain before. Granted, she'd died or been healed very quickly afterwards, but she had indeed faced pain of this magnitude.

It took twenty minutes for her to get out of bed, at which point, Redheart began guiding her out of the room, step by step. Every time Luna stumbled or flinched from the pain, Redcross was there to keep her on her feet. Another ten minutes of this, and Luna made it to a room with a large shower. It was certainly lower than those in the Tower dorms, but she'd make do.

For a moment, she waited for the nurse to leave her to her devices. But after a moment of the pair of them just awkwardly standing there, the nurse seemed to realize something, and approached the shower, turning it on and warming the water for her. Once she was satisfied with it, she returned to Luna and guided her to the shower, allowing her to test the water herself.

After turning the water up some, she gingerly removed her gown and stepped in. A sigh of relief escaped her lips as she felt the grime and dirt wash away in the hot water. Her muscles relaxed in the heat, pain dissolving away like salt in the ocean.

Then began the struggle of actually scrubbing the stubborn bits and getting the stink of near-death off her. The nurse offered her a washcloth and a bottle of soap, which she gladly took. From there, she washed her arms and chest first before trying to wash her legs. When she tried to bend to get at her lower legs and feet, however, she discovered quite painfully that she was nowhere near healed enough to be able to do that. The pain lashed out at her, tripping her face-first onto the wet tiles.

The nurse helped her get back up, much to Luna's embarrassment at needing so much. This time, she sat down before trying again to greater success. After that, she used a bottle of what was presumably shampoo to wash her hair.

Once finished, Redcross gave her a towel to dry off with and a fresh hospital gown. With her aching muscles relaxed from the hot water, and the simple euphoria of being clean, the trip back to her room was significantly shorter and less painful.

No sooner did she lie back down in bed did Sparkle appear with another pony. The stranger was an incredibly feminine white unicorn, with a well-maintained curly purple mane. Around her neck was a measuring tape, and on her muzzle was a set of reading glasses with red frames. The mark on her flank was a trio of diamonds, which prompted her new nickname: Diamond.

Sparkle proceeded to draw on a piece of parchment, taking a moment as though trying to recall something. She showed Diamond the image, and upon her approval, passed it to Luna.

The image showed what she figured was her armor in a state of incredible disrepair, followed by the simple picture of a needle and thread, and a set of clothes similar to them, but as far as she could tell, not armored.

She nodded in understanding, moving to step out of bed. Immediately she was reminded that she should definitely be resting, or at least have some painkillers. As she stood, the unicorn smiled and her eyes gleamed with a strangely warm calculation. Luna raised her arms as Diamond took her measurements.

Another few ponies entered just as she laid back down, all unfamiliar. Two pegasus ponies, and two normal ponies. She sighed, waving away her hopes of a chance to relax before attempting once more to learn the local language.

The first normal pony was just pink. There was no other way to describe her that felt as accurate. Sure, she literally bounced like a fresh Guardian into the room rather than walked in, and sure, she was talking faster than some auto rifles she'd used, but the truly defining factor for this pony was just Pink. And so, Pink became her nickname.

The second normal pony seemed far more grounded, judging solely by the way she carried herself. She had orange fur with a blonde mane, tied loosely with a red hairband near the ends of her hair. On her head sat a comfortably-worn Stetson. The mark on her flank was a trio of apples, leading to her nickname: Apple.

Above Apple, the first pegasus she noticed seemed to be whining at Sparkle, which was met with a bemused frown. She was blue in color, with a rainbow mane. Before she could observe further details, said pegasus rapidly approached from the air. Instinct took over, making Luna yelp, grab the pegasus by the neck and fling her across the room where she was luckily caught by Sparkle. The winged-unicorn scolded Rainbow, before letting go.

Then she noticed the second butter yellow pegasus, who was hiding behind Sparkle and peeking out from behind her luxuriously long pink mane. Upon realizing Luna could see her, she yelped and hid once more. While Luna didn't think she was too scary without her armor, she did have to remember she was an alien to them. She dubbed this final pegasus Shy.

The day only got weirder from there.

Pink bounced over to her with a manic smile, a nervous smile on Sparkle's face warning her that something she might not like might be coming. However, Sparkle breathed a sigh of relief when from absolutely nowhere, Pink produced a perfect cupcake, topped in blue frosting. Luna looked at the cupcake, then at Pink, then back to the cupcake.

"She pulled that from absolutely nowhere, right?" Luna asked hesitantly.

"Yeah, she did. I checked," Ghost chirped.

Luna cautiously took the cupcake and inspected it closely before taking a bite. The effect was immediate. Her eyes widened as beautiful sugary sweetness filled her mouth. Sweets were often rare in the City, and most Guardians had sweets only during holidays like Festival of the Lost, or the Dawning. And even then, the sweetness of this treat was beyond all of them.

"Holy shit is this real sugar‽" Luna asked as she looked back at the cupcake. Before waiting for an answer, she finished the confectionery in one additional bite.

Pink, satisfied with this reaction, skipped back into the small crowd. Next to approach was Apple, who offered her a small picnic basket, which she found to be full of apples and apple-based treats, including a glass bottle of what looked to be apple juice, and a freshly baked apple pie.

In reply, Luna plucked a fritter from the basket and gave it a bite. A smile crawled over her lips and she had to resist the urge to let her eyes roll back in pleasure. She reached out and patted the pony, making her blush and bashfully kick the ground.

At this point, Shy had managed to steel herself enough to cautiously approach, her head low and looking up at her to gauge her reaction. Luna offered her a gentle smile, reaching slowly with her hand, offering it palm up as though greeting a cat. Seeming to understand, Shy smiled and approached a little more readily, inspecting her bandages.

"Fun as this is, I was hoping to learn your language before the meet-and-greet?" Luna said, picking up her notebook and starting to draw.

The picture showed Sparkle and Luna talking to each other, with Luna's speech repeated a few times, first in the English alphabet, then in the ponies'. She passed the picture to Sparkle, showing mild confusion to pose the image as a question.

——————————

"Alright girls, I know you all wanted to meet Violet, but she still needs to learn Equestrian," Twilight said, looking up to the alien in question and nodding to her. "You can visit later. I promise she's not going anywhere anytime soon."

Thankfully, protest was minimal as Applejack rounded everyone up and pulled them along. Now finally alone, Twilight pulled out a small foal's book about the alphabet. Violet sighed in what seemed like defeat before shaking her head and opening it to the first page. She spoke carefully, "A."

Violet paused for a moment, calculating quietly in her mind before she attempted it for herself, "...eigh?"

Twilight suppressed a giggle. "A."

"Eh!"

"A."

Finally, Violet got it right. "A?"

"Yes!" Twilight exclaimed. "A!"

And that was when Violet tilted her head, looking at her with curiosity. Twilight tilted her head back at Violet, expressing her own confusion. Frustrated, she tried to draw a picture.

The image showed Twilight's face in close-up, on one side nodding, then on the other shaking her head. Beneath each were a few of Violet's letters. Then it clicked.

Yes... No...? Yes and no? Wait, yes and no! That's actually a way better approach! Teach the most practical words first!

Twilight nodded her head, "Yes."

"EE-ess?" Violet attempted. "EE... E... Ye-yes... Yes?"

"Yes!" Twilight smiled and nodded again. "Yes!"

Violet smiled, miming writing and saying, "Yes?"

Twilight took the pencil and wrote the word beneath its proper image. "Yes."

Shifting gears, Twilight pointed to the second image. "No." She shook her head to confirm. "No."

"Nho? No... No?" Violet seemed to be rolling with the momentum now that she had a single word to work with.

"Yes!" Twilight said, confirming the pronunciation. "No!"

Immediately, Violet smiled, offering the pencil and image once more. Twilight wrote the word beneath its proper image.

From there, Violet began to draw quite rapidly, dozens of smaller images, accompanied by words spelled in her own alphabet. For each image, Twilight deciphered what Violet was asking the word of, and taught it. When it came to verbs, she didn't bother with conjugations in the interest of simplicity. Instead, she gave the infinitive form, vowing to teach the conjugations later, when conversation was a far less daunting task.

And such began a binary dawn. Yes and No began the first steps towards understanding. With positive and negative, Twilight watched with a mix of pride, wonder, and glee as Violet began to peel away at the language barrier. Violet kept intricate notes in her language on everything she was learning, going over each drawing and the written language with ink to ensure the graphite from the pencil didn't smudge and become illegible.

Eventually, their studies came to a close as Violet's stomach growled in protest. She blushed and removed a pair of apples from the basket and offered one to her. "Apple?" she asked.

"No. You apple," Twilight said, putting her hoof up to push the apple back to her. "Your apple."

"You-uor?" Violet played with the syllables on her tongue for a moment, trying to calculate the movements of her mouth. "Yo-re? Your?"

"Yes, your," Twilight smiled. Violet smiled and wrote that down. "See you tomorrow!"

"See you tomorrow," she said before crunching into the apple.

Twilight finally left the room, heading back through the hall towards the stairwell. She was still taken aback by Violet's approach to the problem of the language barrier. Thinking back, her own thoughts of what classified as the basics weren't really all that basic. The alphabet, while indeed consisted of the most basic bits of the Equestrian language, was nowhere near practical for a being that needed to learn how to talk to ponies and understand and be understood. The alphabet was way more complicated, with twenty-nine1 things to learn, rather than just the two Violet had suggested. Had Violet had to quickly learn another language before?

She was roused from her thoughts by Nurse Redheart just before she reached the stairwell. "Twilight! How are things going with teaching Violet Equestrian?"

"She's a quick study, and her approach to it is nothing short of genius," Twilight replied. "I was going to start with the alphabet, but she got frustrated before we even made it to B."

Redheart giggled, "I probably would too! But what was her alternative?"

Twilight pulled out a piece of parchment and drew the Yes and No that Violet had drawn, showing it to her.

"Yes and no?" she asked softly.

"The alphabet is twenty-nine letters," Twilight explained, "but 'yes' and 'no' are just two words. It's a much simpler jumping off point!"

"But isn't the alphabet the most basic thing to learn in Equestrian?" Redheart asked.

"If you want to learn to write in Equestrian, then the alphabet is the most basic you can get," Twilight answered, shaking her head. "But Violet doesn't need to write Equestrian, she needs to speak it! 'Yes' and 'no' opens up a huge portion of the language super quickly, with the added benefit of allowing her to understand when I'm trying to correct or confirm her pronunciation."

Nurse Redheart's eyes widened slightly as she put the pieces together. "Asking and answering questions...!"

"Yes and no answers," Twilight said, nodding to her. "If we ask in the yes-no binary, we can figure out everything from how she got here, to what kind of magic she used that messed her up so bad, to if she's injured and where."

"And Violet's the one who suggested this approach?" Redheart asked.

"Yeah," Twilight nodded. "Nothing short of genius."

Nurse Redheart smiled. "Well, I'm going to check on her and try to talk to her myself. I'll see you tomorrow, Twilight!"

"See you tomorrow!"

And with that, Twilight finally headed home, composing a letter to the princesses in her mind about the breakthrough today.

——————————

That night, Princess Luna sat at her balcony, staring up at the night sky. It was something of a nightly ritual to now that she'd returned from her banishment. To her, looking at the moon was no different than looking at one's own scars and remembering the pain of them. Up there was trauma. Pain, grief, sorrow, hatred, left behind in the deep black.

Satisfied that the scars were only just, she returned to her chambers, preparing to enter the Dreamscape for the first time since the night she was forced out. To say she wasn't nervous about entering once more would be a lie. For all of the breathing techniques, for all of her self-assurances, she knew that Violet had the power to forcefully eject her, and she knew it'd be painful if it happened again. But all she could do for now was prepare.

The clock struck twelve. With almost mechanical precision of movement, Luna settled down on her bed, reaching out into the aether with her magic. She closed her eyes and stepped otherways.

Once in the Dreamscape, she found herself relaxed. After all, this place was her domain. The realm of dreams was where she was strongest. She could perform magics of unprecedented precision or power with no more effort than raising a hoof. Changing the very laws of magic was foalsplay to her here.

Once more she saw the burning black star of Violet's dream. Once more, the black flames threatened to pour into nearby dreams. She closed her eyes and took a deep breath. She needed to remain calm. Rushing in like last time would only serve her ill. With another breath, she dove into the dream of the alien.

Metal surrounded her on all sides. Up, down, and all around her, metal walls, metal doors, metal ceilings, metal floors. From where she was on one side of the room, she could see metal doors lining the walls of each floor of the strange complex. In the center, suspended by massive cables, was an important-looking hub room. Up on that hub-room's roof was a single cloaked figure. Its armor was similar in style to Violet's, but the figure in question had a horn upon its head. The sounds of Violet's weapons echoed in the complex from somewhere further down this walkway. As she turned to look, she saw only a trail of corpses of alien creatures that bore no resemblance to her.

There was a loud snap, followed by five more in rapid succession. She turned and saw the cloaked figure holding onto a cable attached to the hub room with one hand, and the same weapon Violet used in the other. The figure's face and horn were entirely made of metal. Down they went, speeding with gravity to the bottom of the complex. She heard Violet's weapon again, snapping her back to attention. She rushed forwards, gliding along the path of death, catching up with Violet, finding her slaying even more of the creatures, their own weapons firing projectiles at her.

A wave of light and magic pulsed through the complex, through the walls as though they weren't there. Violet froze in place before screaming and abandoning precision and finesse in favor of raw destructive power. She swapped weapons to a massive tube on her back, which she figured was likely a shoulder-mounted cannon. She was almost correct. Violet blasted doors apart with what was essentially fireworks made for war, shredding anything in her path with her strange purple magic if it got close.

She blasted the last door open and ran with anger at another of her kind, a male with black hair, wielding the weapon of the horned figure in a taunting manner. Around him was an entourage of four-armed creatures much larger than himself. She could have taken him down easily. Luna knew Violet's capacity for destruction, even without weapons.

But Violet stayed, kneeling before the horned one, holding him in his dying moments. Tears filled Violet's eyes, and the dream around her faded once more, leaving her to cry in the dark.

Luna took a step forward. Her hoofstep echoed in the darkness. Violet looked up with grief staining her face. And in that moment, Luna wrapped her wings around Violet, pulling her into a warm, comforting embrace. She cried for a long time.

Luna lit her horn once more, and they were in Violet's hospital room. Violet was no longer in armor, and Twilight was there. Notes on the Equestrian language were sprawled out over her bedsheets.

"You are safe here," Luna said. "I will protect you."

Violet smiled and hugged her again.

Luna stepped out of the Dreamscape feeling exhausted. She didn't normally have to use so much magic to enter a dream, but Violet was quite full of surprises, pleasant or otherwise. Perhaps these were repressed memories, relived in her sleep when she was at her most vulnerable. Both events she'd witnessed were certainly traumatic, and would be the type of memory one would not want to think about much.

But for all of Violet's violence, one detail of the first dream didn't make sense.

What was with that scent?

Author's Note

1: In this story, the Equestrian language has separate characters for the phonetic sounds sh, ch, and zh.

Dialogue in Equestrian while in Guardian Luna's POV will have ~squiglies~ around it.

6: The Void

Daylight filtered into the room through the window, and Luna was not a fan of that. She opened her eyes with great reluctance, silently praying for an opportunity for more sleep. With luck, she wouldn't start that sleep off with the memory of Cayde's death.

Out of the corner of her eye, she saw a massive cloud moving speedily along in the sky. She thought nothing of it until she witnessed a team of six pegasus ponies pushing the cloud. Her brain, while very good at adapting to changes in high-stress situations very quickly, was nowhere near ready to handle this, and gave up trying to process it. So for the next hour, she stared out the window, watching as pegasi moved clouds into position.

Eventually, a full-fledged rainstorm was created, and a smile curled up on her lips. She rarely got to just enjoy rainy weather. But with her current status being fucked up beyond her Ghost's capacity to unfuck her, she didn't have to worry about weapons jamming in the rain or if her blades would rust. She didn't have to strain her ears to listen for enemies. She didn't have to wipe the rain from her rifle's scope. She could just listen to the pitter-patter for raindrops on the glass, and smell the petrichor wafting in from outside.

Redcross entered her room with a soft knock. Luna softly acknowledged her presence, "~Yes?~"

"~Morning!~" the nurse said, trotting over and placing a warm blanket on her bed. She, too, looked out at the rain for a moment, smiling softly to Luna before she headed to the cabinet.

She retrieved the bandage-cutting scissors and began the arduous process of removing them from Luna's body. She hummed softly as she worked. A moment later, the doctor entered, offering a timid smile, as though asking permission to enter and assist the nurse.

"~Yes,~" she said, motioning him to come in.

Immediately he began to assist in removing the bandages. Once they were gone, he switched to a sharper, more precise, but much smaller pair, and began to cut away the stitches. As each one was snipped away, the wound was doused in that stinging antisceptic although it did hurt less now. In total, she counted two hundred and fifteen stitches. Upon finishing, the doctor doused her wounds one last time, then smiled up at her.

Luna searched her deeply limited vocabulary for the words to ask what she wanted to know, but failed. So, as had become tradition, she drew a picture. First was a picture of herself leaving the hospital.

"~No,~" Redcross said. "~You stay two more days.~"

Luna frowned slightly, then drew a second image, this one of her standing in the rain. At this, Redcross and the doctor looked to each other for a moment. No words were passed between the two, but they came to a consensus anyway. "~Yes.~"

Luna smiled. "Ghost? Can you transmat my old prototype armor?"

"Uh, sure? I'm not sure if it'll still fit," he said.

"Are you calling me fat?" Luna teased.

"No, I'm saying you might not have enough Light to even put it on," he replied.

"That's what I want to test," Luna said.

Without further argument, a set of armor transmaterialized onto the bed, once again surprising the ponies in the room. As she went to put the armor on, she remembered her present company. "I know y'all saw me naked when you sewed me up, but damn if you're seeing my tits again for free," she sighed. "~No look.~"

Luckily, her point got through. The ponies pulled the curtain around the bed and left her to change into her armor.

"Goddamn I wish I brought painkillers," she grumbled as she slowly donned her armor. "Fucking... pants...!"

After a few minutes of struggling, she managed to fully equip the armor she'd woken up in all those decades ago. Compared to the armor she came here with, the set she was wearing now was like paper. Enemy weapons fire would easily shred it to pieces. It lacked the heatsinks and arc-conduction that other sets had. But she felt less naked with it on. It would at least let her feel decent.

She pulled the curtain away and revealed herself once more, earning subtle disapproval from the doctor, but a soft and inquizitive smile from Redcross, as though she were asking, does it make you feel better?

Luna smiled to her and nodded. "~Yes. Safe.~"

"~Good,~" she replied.

From there, Luna began the long walk out of the hospital, the nurse offering her support when necessary. Being that they were on the third floor, when they got to the stairwell, Luna's first thought was to save the trouble and pain of trying to walk down the stairs. And so, she did just that. By the time her second thought of oh wait, I'm Lightless, that will hurt entered her mind, she'd already vaulted over the railing and hit the floor at the bottom hard enough for her to feel incredible pain shoot through her legs, making her collapse to the ground.

Her Ghost merely sighed and shook his shell at her. The nurse, however, never having seen Luna capable of her double-jump, immediately screamed and rushed down the stairs to pick her up. Luna groaned in pain as she leaned on the nurse and pulled herself to her feet. Upon doing so, Redcross looked up at her sternly, scolding her silently for her apparent deathwish.

The rest of the trip out was about as normal as could be expected. The six-foot-tall bipedal alien that Luna was made her way with Redcross to the door, patients and visitors to the hospital staring in shock and confusion, some having just the faintest glint of panic in their eyes. She did her best to act like she belonged.

"How long before we get mobbed?" Luna asked her Ghost.

Through her helmet's communication system, he replied, "Three, four. Maybe five."

"Sounds about right," she sighed.

Upon reaching the door, Luna paused. She had no idea where she was relative to her ship, and without her Light, she couldn't put on any of her more protective armor, nor could she wield any of her weapons, except one. The first weapon she'd ever made. Deciding to put that thought aside for now, she took a deep breath and opened the door and stepped outside.

The rain began to pelt her armor. With most of it being skintight rubberized field-weave, she could feel most of it. She pulled off her helmet and let her Ghost transmat it back to her room. Immediately the scent of petrichor filled her nose, and she let a small peaceful smile curl up on her lips. The nurse held an umbrella and smiled up at her. No words were spoken. Nothing needed to be said. Luna lifted her head and let the rain fall upon her face for a little while, just enough for her hair to nearly soak through. When she turned back down to face the world, she heard a faint whisper, and the familiar emptiness of the Void.

She looked around for the source, but found nothing. The whispers and that fleeting feeling were gone before she could confirm they were there. She looked within herself and did not find Light. The nurse's hoof on her hip broke her from her thoughts.

"~You okay?~" she asked.

"~Yes... and no...~" Luna said solemnly, knowing the nurse would never understand, but willing to at least make the attempt to explain. She turned to enter the hospital once more. "~Inside... I draw...~"

The nurse followed, concern never wavering from her features.

——————————

(Recommended Listening)

She toweled off her patient, making sure to dry her hair of rain before allowing her to lie back down and rest. Upon finishing, she smiled up at Violet and motioned her to the bed.

The alien being sat back down on the bed and pulled up a notebook, beginning to draw. She drew, and she drew, her pencil never stopping, but never finishing. She looked frustrated as she continued, then outright angry, then finally, sad. Whatever she was trying to draw had real weight to her. When she handed over the drawing, she understood why it had taken so long. Multiple drawings lined the page, most scribbled out. The page was split into two fields by a crease down the middle. On the left, an empty glass, crossed out. A circle with no contents, crossed out. A hole in the ground, crossed out. A night sky, with the space between the stars circled like a madpony. Beneath each, a set of Violet's letters, the same four for each. On the right, a candle, crossed out. The sun. A lightbulb. All with the same five of Violet's letters.

She racked her brain, trying to think of the words Violet was trying to find. She knew there was a pattern. There had to be. The right side was easy enough. "Light..."

Something to do with light... Violet, what are you trying to say? Redheart thought to herself as she stared at Violet's drawings. "I wish I—"

Without warning, Violet placed her hand over her muzzle, silencing her. She stared at Violet in fear, but she looked just as afraid.

"No wish... Bad... Hurt me..." she pleaded carefully. "No wish..."

She shuffled through her notes, scrambling to find something. After a moment of searching, she pulled out the page Twilight had drawn of what happened that put her in this hospital. In the panel just before where her shield disappeared, she wrote in the word 'wish.'

She looked up at Violet in horror. A wish did that...‽ Is that what you're saying, Violet? Did you wish to protect Twilight and the Princesses and the wish hurt you? Is that why you learned the word 'wish' during your first day with Twilight?

A knock startled both of them, Violet reaching to her hip before relaxing a little bit. Redheart turned to see Twilight entering. She let go of the breath caught in her chest. "Twilight, you nearly gave me a heart attack!"

"Sorry!" Twilight apologized. "I just wasn't sure what was going on and didn't want to interrupt."

With a quick glance to Violet, she handed the drawing to Twilight. "Twilight, I need your help interpreting this. I took Violet out to enjoy the rain at her request, but she seemed to space out and started looking around like she heard something. When I asked if she was okay, she said 'Yes, and no,' and that she wanted to try to draw it. She drew that, and I'm trying my best to understand..."

"Something about light...?" Twilight murmured to herself as she looked it over.

"But there's more!" Redheart continued. "I wanted to understand her, and no sooner did I say the word 'wish'—" Violet looked at her with pleading, fearful eyes, "—did she put her hand over my face to stop me from finishing my sentence! Her exact words were 'No wish. Bad. Hurt me. No wish.' Then she wrote 'wish' on the drawing you made to explain how she got here."

Twilight looked over the drawing, noticing the addition. "Empty light... No light... space light..." Twilight continued to throw her mind at the puzzle before her. "Violet, what is it you're trying to say?"

"If anyone can figure it out, it's you," Redheart said. "As much as I'd love to stay and help, I have other patients. I'll try to slip by when I can."

"We'll be here," Twilight replied, offering her a smile.

With that, Twilight was alone with Violet and her mysteries. For a while, neither of them spoke. Twilight struggled against Violet's drawing, and Violet seemed to be drawing a few things, chattering with the Shape as she did. After a few moments, Twilight sighed, and set the drawings down. She'd find the answer.

Today, Twilight planned to go over the question words, 'who,' 'what,' 'where,' 'when,' 'why,' and 'how.' With these six words, Violet would be able to ask and understand questions, and with that would come answers. But before she could start, Violet handed her a drawing, depicting herself pointing to a bird with a confused expression. Of course you're way ahead of me! the alicorn mentally groaned. Externally, she smiled excitedly.

"What," she said. At least I think that one's 'what'.

Violet once again began calculating how to move her mouth to achieve the sounds she wanted. Tentatively, she made an attempt. "Uat? Woo... whoo... whaaa–t...?"

Twilight smiled and repeated, "What."

"Wha...t...? What..." she tried again.

"Yes! What!" Twilight replied with enthusiasm.

Their lesson continued, beginning with the question words as planned. It took a while, and Violet seemed a little frustrated as the lesson went on, even though she was picking up words with minimal issue. Her eyes would check that the door was closed every few minutes, and she'd look out the window as though expecting someone or something to be there.

Twilight placed her hoof on Violet's leg, catching her attention. "You okay?"

Violet shook her head. "No... Hear light..."

This only added to the confusion. Hear light...? Violet, what's going on?

Violet handed her the drawing of the stars with the space between circled. "Learn word," she said, her face desperately pleasing. "Want tell."

So that word is the key, huh? Twilight stared at the drawing. She was looking for the word for the space between stars. 'Space' was an obvious candidate, but she couldn't be sure that was what Violet was looking for.

Twilight lit her horn with magic, remembering a spell that would let her see the unseen magic of the world. She'd only ever used it once before, back when she was just a unicorn, and the spell nearly blinded her. But she was an alicorn now, and her mana pool was much greater now than it once was.

Her horn let out a pulse of magic in all directions, flowing through walls and ponies and through the ground and sky. A moment later, Twilight's vision began to swim with colors she couldn't begin to describe. Threads of white light seemed to emanate from every pony she sensed, connecting from pony to pony like a tangled web. Within each pony was a small aura that acted as the anchor to which the threads were tied. From herself, she could see the threads outstretch to her friends in Ponyville, and to Canterlot with the overwhelmingly massive auras of the Princesses, and two going all the way to the Frozen North, well beyond her vision.

Violet's lines of light were tinted a faint purple, but what struck her the most was that they hung at her sides, not reaching out to connect to anything. She just sat like a broken marionette. Violet's aura was beyond tiny. It was only a spark, the threads barely able to hang on to it.

Twilight reached out with her magic, the image of the black between stars flashing through her mind. It was important to Violet. Some single word was enough to make the difference between understanding who she was and how she'd done what she did, and not. She touched Violet's aura with her magic, and two words from Violet's tongue filled her mind. She understood these words: 'Void Light.'

The spell dropped and Twilight took a sharp breath as though she'd been underwater. The lines were gone, and she was back in the hospital with Violet. Her body was covered in a cold sweat, and Violet was looking at her with worry.

"You okay?" Violet asked.

"Void Light..." Twilight panted, trying to catch her breath. "That's what you were trying to tell us... Void Light..."

Violet's eyes went wide with understanding. She nodded, tears coming to her eyes. "Void Light..."

With that, Twilight lost consciousness.

——————————

The moment Sparkle's horn lit up, Luna felt something happen deep within her. The whispers of the Void came back, and she could feel the familiar cooling presence of her Light... She stared at the winged-unicorn as the color seemed to drain from her a little bit. She woke up only a few seconds later.

"~You okay?~" Luna asked.

"~Void Light,~" Sparkle said with a weak smirk. She said something else she didn't understand before repeating, "~Void Light...~"

After that, Sparkle passed out on her lap, leaving Luna deeply confused. She could feel her Light starting to return. It would be incredibly slow, but she had all the time in the world.

From there, Nurse Redcross and Diamond had entered the room, casually talking amongst themselves. Diamond was carrying a brown paper bag on her back, but quickly dropped it as she noticed Sparkle unconscious and rushed to her side. The nurse looked similarly concerned, turning her gaze up to her with a questioning look.

"~No understand?~" she said calmly.

The nurse turned her attention back to Sparkle, placing a hoof on her neck to take a pulse. With a sigh of relief, she shook her head, saying something to Diamond before trotting out of the room, saying something about food.

And in a brilliant moment of word association, Luna reached down to the picnic basket Apple had given her, plucking a few apple-based baked goods from it. Diamond looked up at her with confusion, but upon seeing the baked goods, she smiled softly.

Sparkle awoke a moment later, groaning in pain, asking something that Luna guessed was 'What happened?' and looked around. Diamond gave her a gentle hug before pointing up to her and the baked goods. When Sparkle turned, Luna offered her a fritter.

She gladly accepted, wincing in pain and clutching her horn before taking the fritter in a hoof and starting to munch on it. Luna bit into her own miniature apple pie and hummed in delight as the sweet flavors filled her mouth. Finding herself in need of a drink as well, she retrieved the bottle of apple juice from the basket and flicked it open with the knuckle of her glove. The moment she took a sip, the tingle of light carbonation hit her tongue, as well as a few choice spices along with the crisp taste of apple. "Oh! Cider! Oh that's good!"

Though they were confused by her words, the ponies in the room understood the smile on her face, and smiled in return. Diamond then realized her bag was missing, and went to pick it back up. Upon doing so, she brought it over to her and set it on her bed. Luna looked at the bag, then at Diamond. She gave a wink and nudged it closer with a hoof.

"~What is?~" she asked the unicorn.

"~Gift,~" she said. At least, Luna could infer that was what she said by its similarity to the word ~give~. "~Open!~"

Luna carefully opened the bag and removed the contents, revealing a set of civilian clothes. A royal purple t-shirt and black yoga pants, each emblazoned with a small image of a violet set in a crescent moon. At the bottom was a simple bra and panties, also featuring the same mark. At first, she thought perhaps the items were made by a local clothing brand and that Diamond had went shopping for them. But why would they have clothes that fit her when the local population was entirely equine and none of them really seemed to wear clothes?

Did she make these for me? she thought. Quickly, she asked, "~You... make this?~"

Diamond nodded. "~Yes. Put on!~"

Luna smiled and reached to the curtain, pulling it around her bed, gently removing the unicorn and her winged friend. Her Ghost transmatted the armor off of her, allowing her to put on the clothes. Even with the slight mistakes in shape, the clothes were masterfully crafted. The fabric was soft and comfortable, and she could tell that the unicorn was no amateur. She couldn't not feel happy to have civilian clothes.

She pulled the curtain away once more, revealing herself to the ponies. Both gasped, and stars twinkled in Diamond's eyes. Immediately she approached from every angle, checking how the clothes fit. The whole time, she was talking to herself. Sparkle, meanwhile simply offered a wide grin. Luna smiled back, both because she was happy with her new clothes, and because the winged-unicorn was regaining some of her lost color.

Everything was going well in this world. Well, as well as it really could with all things considered. The Light Sacrifice threw a wrench in her plans of isolating herself in the forest and not being a bother to any of the locals, but at least the ones she knew and trusted weren't dead. That had to count for something.

Redcross returned with a tray of food, with a delicious-looking salad with fresh vegetables and crisp-looking lettuce, and a small package of cheese and crackers. If all of it was for Sparkle, she was going to be very jealous. Fortunately, Sparkle offered the cheese and crackers to her first, which she gladly accepted. Only then did the winged-unicorn take the salad and begin eating for herself.

In that moment, she was happy, and the Void was once more within her.

7: Violet

(Recommended Listening)

Luna stood in that familiar room, where Violet had transformed and slaughtered five of her kind. Violet was not here, but Luna could feel that the dragon was, just beyond the darkness. She lit her horn and cast a spark of light forwards towards the dragon.

But the dragon was Violet.

She was transformed once more into the murderous form. The stingers at the nape of her neck rose as Violet's eyes locked with her own. Luna could feel the full magical potential of the dragon Violet and her allies had gone to slay within her, and even with her own heightened power as a true alicorn, it was stifling to her like the heat of a thousand-year old desert. Violet gazed coldly at her, eyes hidden behind the bony plates. Briefly, the magic holding her within Violet's dream flickered. For a tenuous second, the room was colored in grayscale, and Violet's dead comrades could be seen on the floor, their blood still weeping from their bodies into the stone.

For a moment, Luna didn't dare move, waiting to see if Violet was still somewhere in that monster. She had to remain calm first and foremost. Challenging this being was certain to end in failure. Attacking without provocation would be the end of her. Trying to bring back Violet was a matter of time and putting her in a state of mind that had enough significance to bring her the strength to return to her normal self. Briefly, she considered summoning a facsimile of the Elements to purify her. But without Violet's knowledge of them, they had no power here. Luna had to rely on Violet's own power to take down the dragon. She had to be in there, struggling to wrest control again, as she had against Nightmare Moon...

Right?

The dragon-Violet crouched down, bracing itself to leap forth and attack. The dream seemed to groan like a steel beam bending under stress. Shapes distorted, splotches of the room fell away, becoming windows back into the Dreamscape, the other stars visible through the holes. Black flames poured inwards from the splotches, making the light in the room dim even further. A few pillars had shifted sideways as though the top half and bottom half of the dream weren't lined up properly.

Violet lunged forth at Luna. Another brief flicker of magic, and the dream flashed the original dragon, roaring loud enough to send tremors through Canterlot Mountain. Luna was forced to back away and cast defensive magics, putting up several barriers and hoping they'd be enough. Violet's stingers lashed out in an attempt to inject her with whatever vile venom was in them, but the barriers held. Luna then switched to offense, firing a blast of fire towards Violet.

The dream flickered, and the flames went right through her, like she wasn't even there. Behind her, she heard a barrier crack. She turned just in time to see a stinger pierce the first barrier, colliding with the second with incredible force. Luna backed off with a powerful beat of her wings and charged her horn once more, static electricity in the air building up.

Violet froze just in time for several strikes of black lightning to pierce the bony armor of her dragonoid form. She could tell that that spell had done serious damage, but not enough to neutralize Violet. The dragonoid lunged forward again with renewed vigor. Black flames spewed forth from her mouth, and her stingers followed closely behind. Luna leapt up to avoid the attack, but one stinger slammed against her, shattering the second barrier and sending her crashing into a wall. The dream glitched, and she was suddenly against the other wall, and Violet was lunging at her again.

Luna cast the black lightning once more as Violet rapidly approached. The lightning struck Violet and broke the approach, forcing her back as Luna recovered. The dream faltered, cracks fractalizing against the walls, purple light pouring in from the outside Dreamscape. A voice screamed for help, resounding as though from within her own mind, and Luna recognized the voice as Violet's. A single word: "Help!" Luna would bring her friend back from whatever corruption this was, just as Twilight had done for her. Her desire to help Violet would ensure her victory.

She cast a quick spell on her final barrier, then refocused on Violet. The dragonoid was taking a slow, deep breath, and magic seemed to be building at an alarming rate. The purple light flowing in from the outside intensified, approaching blinding brightness. The dream began to fade, and the stress fractures grew larger and deeper. Color slowly began to drain from the room, starting from Violet herself. The black flames from the holes in the dream grew larger and the light in the room dimmed. In a desperate bid to stop her, Luna cast black lightning once more.

The dream glitched. Violet shifted over just slightly to the left, the bolts missing their target entirely. The dragon-Violet built up the flame in her mouth before blasting it down at the floor, sending her flying up into the air. The stingers then grouped up in pairs and swung in wide arcs, turning Violet's body as she sent another blast from her maw, hurdling backwards towards Luna. As she dodged, one stinger scraped against her final barrier, leaving a tiny crack in it. However, in focusing on her reckless attack, she failed to stick the landing, leaving her primed for a counterattack. With that opportunity, Luna cast black lightning once more, seven bolts piercing her from odd angles.

Violet fell to her knees, and then flat forwards, unconscious. Luna approached, and placed a hoof over Violet's shoulder, charging her horn to attempt a reversal spell on her transformation.

A stinger pierced her final barrier and her belly. As the barrier shattered, the shards of magic flew at Violet, only to bounce off harmlessly.

H-How...? she thought as she felt a burning heat emanating from the wound. What's... happening...‽

The venom quickly paralyzed her muscles, making her collapse to the ground. As much as she tried, she couldn't move or even cast her magic. Soon, the burning heat overwhelmed her entire body, making her acutely aware of her nethers and how aroused she was becoming.

An aphrodisiac...? she wondered as her vision began to swim. Sounds and colors seemed to mix together in the strangest ways, only serving to make the heat in her nethers more pronounced. Violet returned to her normal form, stark naked and seemingly in heat as well. She could feel her nethers dripping against the floor.

The paralysis faded, and she felt compelled to approach her. She was beautiful in a strangely primal way. Despite the difference in species, Violet was deeply attractive to her. Her luminous amber eyes were alluring as a flame, and Luna was a moth. Her slender, furless body looked soft, and she reached out to touch it. She was right.

Luna's body moved on instinct, kissing Violet's neck, earning a satisfied moan that only encouraged her. She kissed down over Violet's breasts, finding them to be just as sensitive as she moaned again. She continued down, over Violet's firmly toned belly, and down further still—

Luna shot back awake with a sharp gasp of air. Her sheets were soaked in a cold sweat and sunlight still leaked in past the curtains yet. Her eyes darted around the room, confirming everything was still where it was supposed to be. She'd never had such a dream feel so real, and the details only left her with more questions. The first, and most important of which was—

What are you, Violet?

She then pulled a notebook from her nightstand and began to write down all of the details she could remember. She noted that when in the dragonoid form, Violet's stingers were her primary weapon, but that she could spew fire and could use magic, although she didn't know what that magic would do. The venom of the stingers didn't seem to be lethal, but were instead laced with a paralyzing agent, an aphrodisiac, and a hallucinogen.

While this information was valuable, it posed a whole new question: Why? Why would a venom include an aphrodisiac? A hallucinogen was understandable, as was a paralyzing agent. But an aphrodisiac was strange and unheard of. But that made it the keystone of the whole puzzle.

Could those dragons feed on the lust and desires of other beings like Changelings feed on love? Luna thought.

The thought would explain why an aphrodisiac was incorporated into the venom. But Violet very clearly ate physical matter as well, herself having witnessed such a thing. Why would she need both a physical and non-physical food source?

Perhaps, if it's not food, it may be fuel for their magic? her mind continued. Side note, she is pretty. Can't deny that.

Her thoughts ground to a halt. Wait. What?

Luna shook the thought away and pulled herself from her bed, removing her bedsheets to be cleaned. From a drawer she pulled a fresh set and remade the bed to perfection.

Before she decided to ruin her perfectly made bed, she felt a bath was in order to clean her coat, especially towards her backside. It may have all been a dream, but her body's reaction was very real. The scent of her own musk was thick in the air, and anyone with a nose would be able to tell what kind of dream she'd had. She plucked a few scented candles from a drawer and set them out at various points in the room, lighting each one with magic. She opened her balcony door some to allow fresh air in, and with that, she retreated to her bathroom.

The bathroom was the most luxurious part of her room. The entire room was decorated to emulate the natural hot springs of Noc'tren, deep in the thestral homelands. Glowing crystals illuminated the room with a soft light, not enough to ruin night vision completely, but enough for normal ponies to see with. The masonry of the walls and ceiling gave the feel that she was indeed inside the mountain, and the small glass mushrooms only added to the simulation. With a flick of her hoof, the bath began to fill.

What are you, Violet?

The question buzzed through her mind like a hornet. The Violet she'd met was calm and cautious, with the mannerisms of a trained soldier but the attitude of a diplomat. She kept her weapon firmly by her side and raised it to the unknown, but did not use it as the first option. She understood when Luna had offered her a token of friendship and offered her own in kind. She was hardened, but still just innocent enough to maintain a sense of trust. She didn't think twice about protecting her, regardless of how long they'd known of each other, or even without being able to understand each other. She didn't hesitate to nearly sacrifice herself for her. She was strong and agile and sharp as a knife and mysterious and beautiful in her own way.

Stop it, brain, she thought, shaking her head once more. She looked down to the bath to find it nearly full, steam rising from the surface of the water and filling the bathroom quite nicely. She quickly poured in a little soap, watching as it mixed in without bubbling. Much as bubbles would be fun, she didn't want to deal with the suds when she tried to get out.

After turning the water off, she stepped into the bath and sighed in pleasure as the warmth surrounded her. She sat down against a water jet and allowed it to massage the muscles in her back. With a quick spell, she took a bath pouf in her magic and pulled it beneath the water to begin scrubbing her body, starting from her hooves. Bit by bit, the pouf scrubbed every inch of her, and the bath's filtration system removed the grime from the water.

Once more, her thoughts drifted back to Violet. Though the Violet she'd met was by no means a threat, the Violet within her own dreams was vastly different. There, she was unprotected, and her inner thoughts and feelings were rampant. She was traumatized quite severely, likely more than just the two times she'd seen. Her transformed state, if it didn't exist outside of her dreams, could represent her true feelings of anger and pain over the loss of those dearest to her, even if she knew it was the dragon that killed them. If she didn't actually kill those five of her kind, she at least felt responsible for their deaths. It broke her heart to think about how much Violet had suffered.

But here in Equestria, where magic could catalyze buried emotions into very real monsters, that transformed state was a threat. If that pain and trauma were to react with the aetheric field of this world, it was likely that Equestria, or even the world, would be in grave danger. If the dream she'd just had was anything to base judgment upon, even high-tier combat magic like black lightning would only barely cut it. Anything lesser would be useless.

But Violet was in Ponyville, with the Elements nearby. Should that dragon form be realized, the key to purify it was readily available. Young as she was, young Twilight Sparkle was a powerful mage, and would only gain more power over time. Luna expected her to surpass her own magical prowess within the decade.

Luna dredged herself from the bath, letting the majority of the water drip from her coat before toweling off the rest. When she reentered her room, the scent of apples and cinnamon had forced all of the unwanted smells out the balcony door. She snuffed the candles with a small gust of wind magic and returned them to their drawer.

It was then that she noticed a letter on her bed, sealed with Twilight's mark, likely containing news on Violet. She took a deep breath and plucked the letter from the sheets.

Dear Princesses Celestia and Luna,

With Violet's release from the hospital approaching quickly, I thought it would be a good idea to ask about plans for her moving forward. Specifically, I'd like to ask where you plan for her to stay until we can ask her about her origins and plans.

That said, I'd like to also pass along Violet's progress learning Equestrian. Her capacity to learn even at what seems to be a mature age is nothing short of incredible. Her own system of learning suggests she's had to learn under dire circumstances before. With only two days of study, she started from two words, and now has close on fifty, and is beginning to pick some up from passing conversation. Under normal circumstances, the only way one becomes fluent is by repetition of the words and the grammatical structures that govern them. The way she seems to master everything, even if she doubts her comprehension when our lesson is over, is beyond brilliant. It's like she's experiencing far more time than us, and she's using it to practice Equestrian.

Sincerely,
~Princess Twilight Sparkle

She set down the letter as a gentle knock came from her door. If the light tingle in her horn was anything to go by, Celestia was here to lower the sun, and afterwards discuss the letter's contents.

"Enter," Luna commanded.

Her guess was proven correct as the pale form of her sister opened the door and slipped inside. In her magic, she held a similar letter sealed in Twilight's mark. She set hers down on a drawer and immediately offered her Luna a tight hug, which Luna returned with equal force.

"Oh dear sister," Celestia said, "we have much to discuss. But first, the night must come."

The two stepped out onto the balcony, overlooking the palace gardens, and in the distance, Ponyville. The root cause of the recent stresses on both of them were down there, in that small town. That visitor from another world, in all of her beauty and terror. Violet Light, the Being, wielder of unknown magics, was down there.

Celestia cast her radiant golden magic, reaching out through the aether. Finding her target as she had for millennia, Celestia gently pulled the sun down towards the horizon.

Luna cast her cooling blue magic, reaching out through the aether. Reaching out as she always had, the brought fourth the moon from beyond the horizon.

The sun and moon peeked over the horizons at each other, their lights mixing into dusky twilight for but one moment. Soon, the sun fell beyond the horizon, and the moon rose to its rightful place, and Luna flared her magic to paint the night sky once more. The constellations found their way back to where they belonged, and Luna brushed the darkness with the light of local nebulae, soft blues and purples and alluring amber staining the deep black with color and beauty. Upon looking up, she marveled at her own work for the first time since her banishment.

"You truly have outdone yourself this time, Lulu," Celestia giggled in her motherly tone. "I don't think I've seen you use such a color scheme before."

Luna blushed ever so subtly at that. "Thank you, Tia. It just... came to me," she said softly, knowing all too well what came next.

Celestia's soft smile curled into a much more mischievous one. "I must ask, from whence did you acquire the inspiration to use these colors? They are quite familiar..."

"T-Tia, let's not do this now," Luna stammered, knowing that her sister would not stop until she'd had her fun.

"Oh, the colors are just so familiar... It reminds me of someone..." she continued, her wicked smirk only widening, and Luna's blush only deepening.

"T-Tia please," Luna begged. "We have important matters to discuss! Young Twilight Sparkle hath sent us a letter!"

"Twilight's colors...?" Celestia tauntingly mused, knowing full well where she was going with this. "The purple most certainly reminds me of her, but that amber clashes with her eyes and mane."

"Tiiiiaaaa!" Luna groaned in frustration, hiding her face in her hooves. "Just get it over with already!"

Celestia's hoof knocked the floor, and her smile became devilish. "Aha! Those are Violet's colors, aren't they!"

Luna felt that her blush was likely far too harsh for her hooves to contain, and merely sighed in exasperation. "Aye..."

"Oh, my poor Lulu, you're becoming less fun!" Celestia giggled. "You don't deny my allegations?"

"Anyone who's seen Violet awake will know these are her colors," Luna sighed in defeat. "The allegations are true. Honesty did accept me readily, you know."

"As did Loyalty and Laughter," Celestia mused. "But that's memory lane. Now, let us attend to our royal business, shall we?"

"You're going to ask for my reasons, aren't you?" Luna asked.

"Oh Lulu, come now," Celestia tsked. "I've known you since the moment you were born." She leaned in close to Luna's ear and added softly, "I already know your reasons."

If anything could have ripped her soul directly from her body, it was those exact words. Luna felt the wind leave her lungs as though she'd been suckerpunched directly in the gut. Her face instantly reached a low simmer, causing the air around her to steam. Her balance failed immediately after that, causing her to trip on her own hooves and fall unceremoniously into a small pile on the balcony floor.

And for all of that, Celestia laughed, only making the air around Luna dangerously close to spontaneously combusting. "My dear sister, you are quite obvious! The smell of apples and cinnamon? You've used that scent for the same thing for millennia!" Celestia wiped a tear of laughter from her eyes.

Luna righted herself and placed a hoof over her sister's mouth. "We have business to attend to before I decide to teach you about my banishment," Luna growled. Unfortunately, this did nothing to remove the shit-eating grin from her sister's face, and her eyes gleamed with the intelligence of rats.

"When I remove my hoof, thou shalt be in business mode, aye?" she said.

Celestia nodded.

Luna plucked the letters in her magic and dragged her sister inside by the mouth, closing the balcony doors behind them. She unfurled the letters and removed her hoof from Celestia's face.

"So how long di—"

WHACK!

Celestia's face whipped around hard enough to snap a mortal's neck instantly, Luna's hoof having smacked her cheek to make it do so. Luna's face was bright red with a dark scowl. "Business, Tia," she growled darkly.

"Yes, yes, business," Celestia sighed with a satisfied smirk. "Something something plans on where she'll stay."

"Indeed," Luna said.

To other ponies, Celestia in business mode was graceful and level-headed. Her temper was impossible to flare, and her foresight was unmatched. Immediately upon looking at the appeals that came through the courts, she could discern the truth of the matter, and the honesty of those bringing it forth.

But being her sister, Luna was privy to the quite silly inner workings of Celestia's mind. 'Something something business at hand' was her shorthand for 'I didn't read the whole thing, please fill me in.'

"Quite. It seems Violet will be released from the hospital on the morrow, and young Twilight is asking if we have plans on where she'll stay until we can communicate with her in a meaningful way," Luna explained. "Honestly, Tia, she's your faithful student. You could at least read her letters all the way through."

"My mind has been on keeping nobles from inciting a mob to descend on our newest friend from another world," Celestia sighed.

"Fair," Luna said dryly. "Nobles are the worst."

"They're trying," Celestia said. "They just don't have the foresight to know that their ideas are often bad."

"Yes, but back to Violet. As far as I see, there are two options. Allow her to stay in Ponyville, or bring her here to Canterlot."

"I'd wager you think bringing her to Canterlot would be the better option?" Celestia asked with a teasing tone slipping into her voice once more.

"Thou wouldst be incorrect," Luna replied. "Ponyville is the best and safest option."

"How so?" Celestia asked. "We are the most powerful magic users in Equestria. If Violet becomes a threat for some reason, would it not be best for us to contain her?"

Luna shook her head. "Sister, I do not think containment is an option. Remember when I first encountered Violet's dream how she'd transformed?"

"Vaguely?"

"And do you remember the nightmares I told you about before I left and found the thestrals?" Luna added.

"Yes."

"Equis' aetheric field has a tendency to generate monsters from the dreams of ponies. It happens especially more often in those attuned to the night," Luna said, reaching out with her magic. A dusty tome glided from a shelf. "Starswirl did a study on the incidence of Nightmares arising by attunement to day or night. In solar-attuned individuals, Nightmare occurence was observed at an average rate of one-hundred fifty per million per year. In lunar-attuned individuals, that rate averages one-thousand per million per year. As far as I'm aware, his is the only study, but we must consider his findings. Violet has a significant risk to become a Nightmare."

"And keeping her in Ponyville puts her close to the Elements should that Nightmare be realized," Celestia finished for her.

"Yes," Luna confirmed.

"I must yield to your expertise on the Dreamscape," Celestia said. "We will ask Twilight to host her and continue her lessons."

Luna felt the inkling feeling that Celestia was about to shift back into teasing-sister mode.

"In the mean time..."

She was right.

8: Wish

The drawings were becoming more abstract and more specific, but Twilight relished in the challenge and how much Violet was learning. Now that she had most of the high-frequency words, she was sharpening her vocabulary, expanding it as much as she could and getting as many specific words as possible. One such word was 'weapon', and she had been quite insistent on learning it. Also among those words were 'monster', 'death', 'kill', 'ghost', 'ally', and 'resurrection'. While this certainly gave Twilight a dull feeling of dread, she hypothesized that Violet would need those words for something. Perhaps she knew that she'd have to talk to the princesses about her origins and intentions. With as sharp as Violet was, that was quite possible.

After today's studies, she was to settle Violet into the library, which would be where she'd stay for the foreseeable future. Princess Luna had replied to her earlier letter with one of her own, informing her that Ponyville was to host Violet following an address to the public. Said public address had Twilight in a panicked mess as usual. From the details in her letter, the princesses planned a simultaneous address, with Celestia in Canterlot dealing with the nobility, and Luna coming to Ponyville. Considering how Nightmare Night went when Luna first came to Ponyville, Twilight was not confident that things would go well.

But, the plans were already in motion. Fliers had been posted on her library's door, as well as on Town Hall and, for some reason, Sugarcube Corner. Odd perhaps, but definitely a strategic place to put it, as the bakery was frequented by almost everypony in town.

It was approaching time to leave the hospital and make their way to the town square, and with each passing minute, Twilight's nerves were intensifying. Even with a simple itinerary of 'show up at three PM,' Twilight could see the worst case scenario of Violet being mobbed before either she or Luna had the chance to act.

"You okay?" Violet asked softly, breaking Twilight from her thoughts.

"Yeah. I have a warning for you," Twilight said.

"Warning?" she asked. "Danger?"

"Yes," Twilight said. "Princess Luna wants to introduce you to Ponyville. I'm afraid ponies will panic and hurt you."

Violet thought carefully for a moment. "All okay," she said. "I ally, not enemy. I prove to all ponies."

Twilight smiled for a moment. "I'm going to teach you something."

"What teach?"

"I'm going to teach you the word 'name'," Twilight said. "Word for you, 'name'."

"Name?" she asked. "My name is {Luna}."

Twilight was only surprised for a moment before she shook it off and nodded. "It's nice to meet you, {Luna}, my name is Twilight Sparkle. Please call me Twilight."

"It's nice to meet you, Twilight," Violet said. "You call me something not {Luna}. What is?"

"We called you Violet Light," Twilight answered. "We didn't know your name, so we gave you one."

Violet smiled. "I like. Please, call me Violet."

The clock struck two, the bells in Ponyville chiming the time for all to hear. Not long after, Nurse Redheart entered the room with a vial of holy water she'd been using to treat the curse Violet had inflicted on herself when defending her and the princesses. She and Violet greeted each other before Redheart took the gauze-scissors and began cutting away the bandages for final inspection. From what Twilight could see, Violet's wounds had healed rather well, all things considered. Only a few stubborn lacerations remained, but those were almost fully healed anyway. As the nurse doused the wounds, they hissed like angry serpents, and Twilight could feel the curse magic dispelling into the air. After that, only those stubborn wounds were wrapped, which thankfully didn't take nearly as long as the previous few days.

"You are free to go, Violet," Redheart said. "Please be more careful."

"Yes, Nurse Redheart," Violet said. "I be careful."

"Keep those on for one more day, okay?" she said. With that, Nurse Redheart left the room, leaving Violet to gather her things. In keeping with the incredible magic she had at her disposal, as soon as everything was packed in her chest, she snapped her fingers, and the chest dissolved into light and disappeared.

From there, Violet pulled the curtain around her and changed into a set of armor, complete with cloak. Though it looked much like the armor Twilight met her in, there were a few key differences. The previous set of armor had seemed battle-worn, and was in desperate tatters long before her curse magic shredded it into scrap. This set, on the other hand, seemed pristine. The lines of the plating were crisp, and even to Twilight's untrained eye, the stitchwork on the more clothlike bits were the work of masterful artisans. The metal gleamed a vivid purple that mimicked the light of Violet's strange magic. If she had to guess, this armor was ceremonial, befitting one like a royal guard.

At least, the top half was like that. Violet's leg armor seemed far more like something she'd crafted herself. The stitchwork clashed harshly against the masterful example above it, and the plating was scrapped in favor of the bones of some creature, fastened to the knee and shins. If she looked closely, she could she swear she saw the bones move. The leather of the boots and leggings were dyed to match the purple of the ceremonial armor above, to at least give the illusion that this armor was a complete and coherent set. If Violet was allowed to wear armor like that with the ceremonial set, she must have been in great favor with the leaders of her homeland, perhaps a champion of some kind.

Twilight smiled up to Violet and led the way out of the hospital. Ponies stared at Violet the whole way, even with Twilight escorting her, and she could feel it. Eyes turned, and faces stared in fear of the alien creature. Nurse Redheart stopped them at the door, giving Violet a quick hug and a reassuring smile, and then returned to her duties.

The walk down the hill to Ponyville was dead silent, and Twilight couldn't see movement in town. From her position, she saw the Ponyville Clocktower, hands at two fifty-one. At this pace, they'd be right on time. But that made Twilight feel more anxious. The townsponies were terrible at organizing on their own, except out of fear. The incident with Zecora replayed in her mind. Either this would be a repeat of that, or worse, there'd be a mob.

Upon looking up, it seemed Violet was keenly aware of the tension in the air. Her face was resting in a neutral scowl, and her right hand seemed to twitch, subconsciously reaching for the weapon on her hip before she'd pull it away. She spoke softly to the Shape, its words earning a relieved sigh from Violet before it hid in her cloak once more.

"This... feels wrong..." Violet said. "Danger forward..."

"I hope you're wrong," Twilight replied softly.

The two of them entered town, and still there was no one. Everything was dead silent, with no wind and no birds to even provide ambient white-noise. Violet only seemed a bit twitchier, her left hand physically holding her right away from her weapon. Her eyes scanned the surroundings in set increments, and she began to slowly crouch as she walked, as though trying to minimize her profile.

As they reached the square, they saw Princess Luna arrive, stepping up on a makeshift stage if front of Town Hall.

"Citizens of Ponyville, we come bearing news that will affect the lives of all ponies in this nation. I, Princess Luna, request your attention for this announcement!" the voice of Luna rang out over the crowd of ponies. All eyes were on her. With her eyes, Luna motioned to Twilight and Violet to come around to the back of the stage.

"Before I begin, I must ask that this announcement not be interrupted until its conclusion. Please hold all questions until the end!"

Twilight guided Violet down a few side streets around the square, taking care to stay out of sight.

"As of three weeks ago, the Crown has become aware that we are not alone in the universe. We have been visited by a being from another world beyond our own. Had events surrounding this being's arrival gone differently, this announcement would have been made far sooner."

Twilight arrived backstage with Violet, who was still incredibly fidgety. "It's okay. Breathe," Twilight said calmly, despite her own anxiety running on overdrive.

Violet took a breath, and pulled herself to her full upright posture.

"During our first contact with the being, we discovered three key things. One: this being is as intelligent as any pony! Two: this being does not speak Equestrian! And three: this being is friendly!" Luna continued, the crowd listening to her words. From the looks on their faces, Twilight felt the faintest twinkle of hope that this would go better than expected.

"With these facts in mind, I would like to introduce this visitor from beyond the stars," Luna said, turning back and waving for Violet to join her on stage. Violet took one more deep breath and climbed the stairs up onto the stage, earning shocked gasps from the crowd. Cameras flashed, and a hushed, whispering roar fell over the crowd as newsponies began furiously writing details to publish.

(Recommended Listening)

"Would you like to introduce yourself?" Luna asked softly, away from the microphone. "It's okay if you don't want to."

Violet shook her head and leaned into the microphone. "Hello. My name is {Luna}. Please call me Violet. It's nice to meet you."

The crowd only grew louder as the reporters lost their composure, screaming questions up to the princess and Violet.

"SILENCE!" Princess Luna called out, the Royal Canterlot Voice instantly earning the desired effect.

"Violet here is our visitor from beyond the stars. During her time here, she has been working diligently with Princess Twilight Sparkle to learn Equestrian that we may communicate. Towards that end, the Crown has come to the decision that while she learns our language, she shall stay here in Ponyville with Princess Twilight. During her stay here, Violet is to be treated with respect, as one would treat any ambassador to our nation. We shall now take questions!" Luna finished.

The crowd once more devolved into a screaming mess of reporters blurting out their questions.

"SILENCE!" Luna yelled once more, the newsponies clamping their mouths shut. "One at a time. You, with the purple mane!"

"How do you know this alien is friendly?" the reporter called.

"During our first contact with Violet," Luna began, emphasizing the name with a dark scowl, "we met in the Everfree Forest. During that meeting, we were attacked by a pack of more than three-hundred timberwolves, and Violet defended myself, Princess Celestia, and Princess Twilight without hesitation. Such a gesture is unaffected by language barriers. I have great trust in Violet as a friendly being! Next, you, griffon!"

"You say three-hundred timberwolves? How was she able to protect you and survive for herself against such a threat?" the griffon asked.

"The specifics are as of now unknown, and until we crack the language barrier, we are unable to answer with specifics. However, Violet has a type of magic that she was able to use to defend us. Next! You!"

"I don't trust your story! This all seems too convenient! Why did it take three weeks to announce this? How can we be certain this 'Violet' won't bring the rest of her kind down from the sky and destroy us all?"

One by one, fearful comments such as that began to bubble up from the crowd, scared ponies' fear reacting in the confusion into anger. Violet, though she couldn't understand much of the language, could tell that the ponies of the crowd was becoming more and more restless and hostile. Her hands began to fidget, and she pulled her right hand away from her hip.

From her position behind the stage, Twilight could tell that even if Luna used the Royal Canterlot Voice, the crowd was beyond control. "I wish there was a way for Violet to prove she's friendly..." she muttered under her breath.

The effect was immediate. Before Twilight had a chance to realize what she'd said, Violet fell to her knees, clutching her heart as she screamed in pain. The sky pulsed black, and the feeling of dark magic permeated the area. The crowd only got louder as they reacted in fear to Violet's sudden outburst. Meanwhile, Luna looked on in concern as Violet seemed to claw at her armor, the Shape looking in horror, the same way it had when she'd used her curse magic.

"No... no wish...! Why...?" Violet choked out between labored breaths and screams.

The crowd ignited into its more dangerous counterpart, ponies screaming for violence against Violet. Luna tried to bring order to the mob, but it was far too late. Ponies began to rush forwards, trying to climb the stage. Luna cast a barrier on the stage after a rock had been thrown and hit Violet.

Blood dripped from Violet's forehead, the rock having cut the skin with a sharp edge. Immediately, Violet returned to sense, that single hit just enough to break whatever magic had pulsed from her. The Shape shot a beam of light at the wound, and it closed in an instant.

A deafening roar resounded through the town. Silence befell the mob, and they waited, wondering if what they'd heard was real. Even Violet turned to look where the sound had come from. When the roar sounded again, Violet turned to Luna.

"Danger coming! I go!" she said.

"No! I can't let you!" Luna said. "We can't lose you!"

"I go! No time for words!" she insisted, drawing her weapon from her hip. "I kill monster!"

Without waiting for a reply, her weapon exploded, and Luna's barrier shattered like glass. Luna's expression immediately shifted from concern to shocked horror as Violet ran directly towards the source of the sound.

——————————

Prove yourself to these ~ponies~, O kin mine!

The voice in her head screamed, and Luna felt her Light flare. Every part of her body felt as though gravity had increased, squeezing her with the pull of gas giants. Her voice tore against the mob's and she fell to her knees once more. Someone had made a wish. Someone she trusted made a wish, and her Light was trying to grant it.

Her brain worked furiously through the pain to grasp the words she needed.

"~No... no wish...! Why...?~"

She struggled against the pain, trying desperately to move, to get up and run to the danger. If the wish was coming true, something was coming soon. But try as she might, with her Light running rampant, she couldn't move or even ask her Ghost for help.

A rock hit her forehead, and her Light stopped. A simple switch, and the pain of the overflow was gone. Her Ghost healed her, and she looked up, feeling an all-too-familiar chill in the air.

A loud roar, tainted by that very same chill, tore through the town and silenced the mob. A second followed a moment later, closer.

Taken...! How‽ she thought.

She turned to Midnight, the words for what she wanted to say not yet available, but something close enough came to mind. "~Danger coming! I go!~"

Midnight protested, but Luna shook her head.

"~I go! No time for words!~" she insisted, drawing the Ace of Spades from its holster. "~I kill monster!~"

Without waiting for a reply, she levied the weapon against the barrier, a single shot enough to take it down. As she ran, her Ghost put her helmet on, and the familiar warning popped up on the display, accompanied by the Bloodstained Skull:

[Darkness Zone: Resurrection Restricted]

"How did the Taken get here?" her Ghost chirped. "They couldn't have followed us, right?"

"No, Ghost," Luna replied. "Someone made a wish."

"What do you mean?" the Ghost asked.

"Ghost, remember the raid in the Dreaming City?" Luna inquired. "Remember anything about that?"

"Not really, I lost consciousness somehow, like when you let Sagira into my shell," he said, huffing at the second bit. "Still not forgiving you for that."

"Ghost, I'm cursed by the Ahamkara," Luna said gravely.

Before her Ghost could ask what she meant, another roar of whatever creature was approaching tore through the atmosphere, the few clouds in the area shattering like glass and dissipating, leaving the sky clear. A dull rumble could be heard as trees were torn from the ground and the creature moved from within the forest.

Eventually, the ground shifted, and a few meters away from Luna, a large flower sprouted. At first, it looked almost normal: three pink petals with a V-shaped indent at the tip of each petal.

But then the flower washed over in black and ignited in the umbral flames of the Taken. The ground quaked and cracked like dried clay, swelling as the beast pushed against it from underneath. Massive roots thick as tree trunks and writhing with the white glow of Taken hellfire pierced the earth and pulled the creature up. With a mighty push, the creature erupted from the earth. For a moment, dust and falling clods of dirt and tangled roots obscured her vision, but once it settled, Luna could only look on in fear.

A gigantic bulbous plant stood before her on a mass of roots. Five leaves provided a base upon which the bulb, the main body of the plant-monster, stood. And at the very top, she saw that almost-innocent flower, blazing with darkfire at an intensity she'd never seen before. This thing felt like it could rival the power of enemies like Crota or even Oryx himself. She could not afford to underestimate this thing. Her display brought up its name as her Ghost analyzed it: "Taken Mutae, Wished For."

"Ghost, I'm gonna need to swap weapons. I need the Remedy, my solar Ether Nova, and Raze Lighter," Luna said as she put the Ace back in its holster.

"Got it, transmatting," Ghost said.

The Ace faded away, and in its place a new hand cannon was placed. There were holes in the frame, which were filled by strange black octahedrons. Wires connected from the octahedrons to elsewhere on the weapon. On the small of her back, a bare-looking fusion rifle appeared, with similar wires running across its frame. And running diagonal across her back, a two-handed sword formed. The back of the blade was serrated, but the edge was crisp and sharp. An orange crystal at the crossguard shone with fiery solar energy, ready to ignite its target.

"Ghost, stay in my backpack," Luna said.

Author's Note

While in a pony's POV, {brackets} will indicate Guardian Luna's native language.

9: Taken Mutae

Luna had followed Violet, and the Element Bearers followed close behind. At first, there was only a gasp when they first saw a flower as tall as Violet sprout from the ground. It was only when the monster had fully emerged from the earth that she felt fear grip her once more.

"Wh-What in Tartarus...‽" Luna asked as even she subconsciously backed away.

"I-I know th-that profile anywhere," Fluttershy spoke up, her voice barely stable. "C-Carnivorous Mutae... The Pony-Eating Flower... If they feed well, they'll get big enough to eat even hydras... Normally it just waits for prey to get close... They don't move like this!"

The ponies all looked on in horror at the plant-monster, all of them feeling something wrong emanating from it. The way it moved, roots twitching as though in pain; the distorted and hollow sound of its roars; the black of its body and the umbral flames; all of it just felt wrong. This thing didn't belong here. Not even the Everfree could produce something as incomprehensibly inharmonious as this.

"Twilight, that thing is burning with the same magic as Violet's dreams. I fear she will fall to this monster if we do not assist," Luna said, even though her hooves refused to move. "We have to help!"

"Princess, I don't think we should..." Twilight murmured as she watched Violet draw new weapons, clearly strategizing with the Shape on how to take the plant-beast down. "We have to let her prove to Ponyville that she's friendly."

"Are... are you sure she can handle that?" Fluttershy asked. "She just got out of the hospital..."

"All we can do is hope..." Luna sighed.

Twilight remembered the feeling of Violet's magic, and looking at the monster before her, she understood its purpose. "She's got this."

——————————

(Recommended Listening)

Luna drew her hand cannon, raising it against the Taken Mutae. With another deafening roar, the plant-beast swiped at her with a root with a low sweep. She jumped up into the air with her double jump, allowing the root to pass underneath her. As soon as she landed, she took off running, firing a few testing shots at the Mutae's main body. To no surprise, her shots did next to no damage at all. The same sinking fear that she'd experienced with heavier Taken foes made her mind start forging a strategy that would work.

Another root lashed out, the pointed tip aiming straight for her to skewer her. With a prompt dodge to the left, Luna gripped the Raze Lighter from her back and brought it around in a flaming uppercut, severing the root. Another three whipped forward from the tangled mass beneath the Mutae, one coming down in a vertical axe-chop, with the second two attempting to clap and crush her in the middle. Luna called upon her Light as she leapt up and to the side, only to be swatted out of the air as the roots flicked upwards before curling back towards the main body. She yelped in pain and tumbled a bit in the air, but regained her balance upon triple jumping. The moment she landed, she burst forward again, putting the sword away and reaching for her fusion rifle.

She reached onto her belt and plucked a sphere, tossing it out at the Mutae before immediately dodging right. A root slammed down where she just was, and swept towards her. The sphere landed just under the Mutae, bursting on contact and spewing purple fire in a line under the plant-beast. Luna leapt up once more, reaching out for her Light and hoping it would be enough to at least make it vulnerable.

In the palm of her hand, she gathered Void Light, condensing it as much as she could. Bit by bit she smashed and crushed it down into a package the size of a baseball. She added more, and the gravity crushed it down. She added more. The Light built into her hand, and she looked down at her target.

The Mutae lashed out with several of its roots, all swinging at random in an attempt to force her out of the air. From the top of the main body, spores burning with umbral flame erupted. Luna gripped her Light in her hand, pulling it back within her before pushing it back out from her palm. A dozen spheres of Void Light compressed to the density of black holes shot forth at the speed of sound, tearing through the spores like they were nothing, pulling them with their gravity. Each one slammed into the main body of the Mutae, exploding on impact and ripping holes in the plant-monster's flesh. As the final one hit, the Mutae roared again.

Not a roar of pain, but of anger. One by one, seven roots shot down into the dirt, and the wounds began to regenerate, burning into existence with Taken darkfire. Luna felt the atmosphere freeze over, and she pulled the trigger on her fusion rifle. By the time the shot had charged and fired, the Mutae had already regenerated, and the roots rose from the earth to block the bolts of fiery plasma.

The roots once more started lashing out, and Luna decided it best to return to using her sword. Each time a root got too close, she'd sever it with a flaming uppercut, leaving it to flail uselessly until it stopped moving.

"The roots aren't regenerating!" her Ghost pointed out. "Keep cutting them!"

"I'm gonna need you to synthesize some ammo for this thing," Luna replied. "The fire's getting weaker."

"No problem. Try to make it last though. Use Spectral Blades if you have to keep cutting," her Ghost said, getting to work, plucking an ammo synthesis crate from her ship. "We need to get rid of the roots before anything."

"Let's hope it doesn't come to that," Luna growled.

Before she had a chance to collect herself, a root shot up from the ground, piercing her abdomen. Blood sprayed from both ends of the wound, and Luna's eyes went wide with shock. In the distance, she could hear the voices of Midnight and Sparkle, along with a few more screaming to her. As the root withdrew, she looked over to the voices.

All of them were there. Midnight, Sparkle, Shy, Apple, Rainbow, Diamond, and Pink. Rainbow looked on in anger, her friends struggling to hold her back from rushing at the beast. Pink's face was stained with horror. Shy fared no better.

Her Ghost healed the wound, the lost blood and flesh regenerating in seconds, the armor soon following. A root swung at her from her left, and she lashed out with her sword, expending the last of its ammo in a final uppercut, severing it. Unfortunately, another root was swinging from the right, and slammed into her back, sending her flying away and crashing into a tree. The Mutae roared and began to move towards the town. By the time she picked herself up and saw it moving, it had already trampled a small cottage, and it would be no time at all before the rest of town suffered the same fate. The ponies watched, frozen with fear as the Mutae tore past them towards the town.

If she couldn't stop the Mutae now, the town would be destroyed and its occupants would surely die. At its current speed, without a Sparrow, she couldn't catch up. But a bullet, or a rocket, could. Her mind tore through the images of what weapons she had on hand to pull from. A rocket launcher with a gilded tube and a white frame came to mind, as did a rifle with similar geometry to her current loadout. With the explosive power of the rocket and its cluster bombs, she could stop the Mutae and trigger its recovery. And with the rifle, the nanites hidden in the bullets would slowly start eating away at the Mutae enough to keep it from getting back up before she could call upon her Light again.

"Ghost, change of plans," Luna said. "Put Raze Lighter and the Remedy back. Pull Sins and Outbreak."

"Got it," he said, the weapons transmatting before her. "Ammo's generated for the Sins. You've got six shots, and it'll be five minutes until I can make more. Make them count."

Luna pulled up the rocket launcher, taking aim at the Mutae. She leapt up once, then again, then again with her triple jump. From her momentary vantage point, Luna pulled the trigger, sending the rocket screaming forth at her target. Seconds later, the Mutae was hit with the explosive payload, searing its flesh and dropping a few smaller explosives into the wound, opening it further when they too exploded. With that, the Mutae was forced to stop, sending down three roots into the ground.

The Hunter wasted no time, sprinting towards the enemy, rifle blazing as burst after burst of the weapon's fire plinked against the Mutae's body. Every few bursts, enough primed nanites would be close enough together to activate their single directive: consume.

Before the wound from the rocket could close, Outbreak Prime's nanites began to buzz like wasps. A red cloud of the tiny machines formed around the wound, eating away any of the new flesh the Mutae tried to regenerate. Unfortunately, the Mutae was regenerating slightly faster than the nanites could devour it. But that was enough. Luna slung the rifle pulling the rocket launcher over her shoulder again and loading a new shell into the tube. Without bothering to aim precisely, she pulled the trigger and sent the rocket on express delivery directly to the Mutae.

The second rocket hit close enough to the first to enlarge the original wound. Before the Mutae had a chance to regenerate, the cluster bombs that fell off from the blast went off, opening the wound even further. In that time, Luna had gotten close enough to now be just barely out of reach of its roots, and close enough to interfere should the Mutae abandon its recovery to go attack the town. Little by little, she could feel her Light building up. In only a few more seconds, she'd have enough to summon the Spectral Blades and slice the remaining roots fueling its recovery.

For now, though, Luna loosed burst after burst of nanite-laden bullets into the wound, the red cloud of buzzing machines chittering and getting to work eating the Mutae little by little. With the wound as big as it was, and with the available nanites, the wound would still be open when she could call upon her Light. She'd only have a few seconds after that to hit the roots responsible for recovery with any guarantee, so she'd have to close in the moment she felt it ready.

The Mutae screamed, and its body swelled up, slowing its attempt to recover in favor of getting the annoying pest away from it. The flower pulsed with dark, and spores shot up into the air once more. Each one burned with Taken darkfire, hanging in the air for a moment before slowly drifting down. Upon the first one hitting the ground, a new flower sprouted its petals twisting into the shape of a cannon, and aiming at Luna. One by one, the flower turrets grew, and began firing seeds charged with arc lightning. Each one of the rare few that hit her drained her armor's shielding.

"Ghost, it's time to do something stupid," Luna warned as she felt her Light hit the threshold. Her shielding shattered just afterwards.

She rushed forwards, spraying burst after burst from Outbreak Prime, just trying to keep enough nanites on the wound to maximize her window of opportunity and not die before she got there. As she approached, what few offensive roots remained attempted to swing at her, but Luna seemed to dodge straight through them, her body blurring like a shadow each time she rolled. The bullet-seeds too, began missing entirely, and her shields started to recover. She slung her rifle and reached out for her Light.

Two blades of Void Light formed in her hands, and shadows cloaked her immediately. In that moment, she could see the Mutae's weak point hiding within the main body, the wound just barely not deep enough to expose it. A root blindly slapped at her, and she sliced it with both blades, severing it without effort. She lunged from flower to flower, cutting them down on her mad dash towards the plant-monster. She then turned to the three roots in the ground and lunged for them. Upon slicing the first, the Mutae screamed in pain and anger, the flower writhing and twitching. As the second was cut, the Mutae tried to swat at her with everything it had, but it was too late already.

The third was severed, and the recovery ground to a halt. The shadows around her dissipated, and as her blades faded away, Luna became visible. The Mutae screamed and the roots began recklessly attacking, swatting and stabbing in her general direction, not really trying to hit but to force her away. Luna gave it the space it wanted so badly, and shouldered the Sins of the Past, loading one more rocket into the tube, pulling the trigger the moment it was aimed.

The effect was immediate, and the flesh of the Mutae splattered away in a fiery explosion, cluster bombs detonating shortly thereafter, exposing the heart of the Taken monstrosity. She loaded another rocket, and fired again, the explosives decimating the core of the Mutae and stopping it in its tracks. As the cluster bombs of that final rocket detonated, the Mutae ignited, and it burned away with one resounding roar. Luna slung the rocket launcher, and watched as the plant-beast burned, waiting for the adrenaline to be filtered out of her system. She stayed and made sure it was completely incinerated.

When the Mutae was gone, the ponies she had names for approached her. When she finally tore her eyes away from where the plant-beast had been, she noticed that dozens of ponies, some she recognized from the mob just a little while ago, were staring at her. She couldn't tell what kind of expressions they wore. Perhaps they only feared her more. That Taken creature would never have shown up were Luna not here. Their town would be in less danger if she was just gone. They could live in peace if she just left.

One by one, the ponies began to clap, tears falling from faces. A thunderous applause arose from the crowd, and cheering bloomed from it. Luna looked on over the crowd, and for a moment, she felt... appreciated. Even if the Taken Mutae would never had arisen if not for her, she'd successfully defended the town and the ponies from it. Just this once, she was able to prevent tragedy, instead of avenging it. Just this once, victory meant something.

She turned to Sparkle and Midnight and the ponies who'd visited her in the hospital. All of them were clapping as well, smiling up at her with what looked to be pride.

"~We go now?~" Luna asked.

Sparkle nodded. "~Yeah, we go now.~"

She turned to Shy, asking her to join them, blushing as she did. The others rolled their eyes and knowing smiles turned up on their lips. Shy blushed and hid her face, starting to stammer and stumble over her words. In a way, it reminded her of the poor shy Guardians who'd ask each other to be partners for Crimson Days. It was cute, and Luna felt as though there was chemistry there. Due to her inability to speak to the pegasus or to the winged-unicorn about said chemistry, she decided to play the seemingly-oblivious winglady who got her targets together through sheer ignorance. So, she approached Shy and picked her up, softly saying, "~You come too.~"

10: Violet - Revealed

Luna stepped inside the tree and found herself in an impressive library. The smell of books permeated the air, and she immediately felt herself relax after the stress of fighting the Taken Mutae. Sparkle, or ~Twilight~ as she'd asked to be called, also visibly relaxed, though she kept moving forwards as the other ponies seemed to make themselves at home. Feeling a little out of place, she sat down on the wood floor, finding it to be far more comfortable than many of the things she'd sat upon. Apple and Diamond sat together on a sofa, and Rainbow and Pink took up seats on their own, leaving Shy on a sofa unaccompanied.

For now, Luna thought with a mental smirk.

She looked around, the colorful book-covers catching her eyes, but not much of the text meaning anything to her yet. One day, she'd be able to read these books and learn more about this new world she was in. But for now, her daily lessons with ~Twilight~ would be her sole means towards that end.

Rainbow tapped her shoulder. Luna looked up from the knot in the wood she'd been staring at. The others were watching carefully, including ~Twilight~.

"~Are you okay?~" Rainbow asked.

"~Yes,~" Luna replied with a soft smile. "~You all safe.~"

Shy spoke up, if only just enough to be heard, "~Thank you, Violet. Thank you.~"

Luna smiled up to her. "~I am~ Guardian. ~Means... I protect-er. I kill monsters.~"

They seemed to understand a little bit, though they all certainly began retreating back into themselves, likely to meditate on that answer.

"~What is your names?~" Luna asked, pulling all of them back.

"~My name is Rarity,~" Diamond replied.

"~My name is Pinkie Pie! But you can call me Pinkie!~" Pink said, bouncing in her seat.

"~I'm Applejack,~" Apple answered with a smile.

"~I'm Rainbow Dash! You can call me Rainbow or Dash,~" Rainbow seemed to boast.

"~My name is Fluttershy,~" Shy murmured. "~It's nice to meet you.~"

Luna smiled and nodded to each one as they introduced themselves. From there, words began to fail her. She had just enough words to warn others of danger, where that danger was, and give the short version of what she did. But things like general chatting? She had no clue about the words she was missing, not to mention any etiquette.

"~When you fought that thing...~" ~Fluttershy~ asked softly, "~were you scared...?~"

"~Yes,~" Luna answered. "~I never seen.~"

"~Why did you learn to fight?~" ~Rainbow~ asked.

"~I am monster... so you... do not need to be,~" Luna said, doing her best to convey her message with her limited vocabulary. "~I hurt... kill... die... so you do not need to.~"

"~Die?~" asked ~Rarity~. All of the ponies were looking at her.

"~Yes... Die. I die,~" Luna said. "~Many times, I die.~"

The ponies stared at her with a mix of disbelief and shock. To Luna, dying and resurrecting were just normal. She died twice on this planet just to light fires for her first nights. She'd died dozens of times during the Scorn Crisis, and perhaps thousands of times over the course of her life. But this planet was not Earth, nor was it any of the worlds in the Sol System. That was not normal here. Of course they would look at her like that.

"Ghost? Do you have combat footage from home? Something where I die?" Luna asked, her Ghost floating out from behind her cloak.

"Yeah, I do. But are you sure you want to show it? You might scar them," the Ghost said, looking over the ponies.

"I have to. I need them to understand," she said. She motioned to a blank wall. "~Watch.~"

——————————

Fluttershy watched as the Shape that Violet often talked to projected a video onto the wall of the library.

Violet walked through a dense pine forest, a light mist hanging in the air and reducing visibility to only a couple hundred meters. Everything was quiet save for the soft crunch of Violet's boots on the dead pine needles on the forest floor. In her hands was another one of her weapons, this one longer than the ones she'd seen and with what looked like a small telescope on the top. As she walked, she neared a small cave, sloppily marked with some white paint. The mark looked almost like a wolf's face from the front, at least to Fluttershy.

Violet entered the cave, finding it lit by luminescent rods attached to the wall or sticking out of the floor. The cave proceeded downwards, twisting around in odd directions until she reached a metal door. Upon Violet approaching, it opened by itself to reveal several creatures. All of them were armed with swords, and armored, colored in a vibrant blue. Each had four arms, with four eyes gleaming in the dim light of the cave, lightning arcing around their weapons. Their helmets obscured the rest of their faces, with tubes connecting from the masks to their chestplates. The creatures roared at her presence and one cut her down before she had a chance to leap back.

Fluttershy and her friends gasped in shock as Violet fell to the ground, blood pooling around her sliced neck. Rarity covered her mouth with a hoof, and Applejack did the same with her hat. Rainbow hid behind her own wing, peeking out from between feathers.

A pulse of light flashed, and Violet rose to her feet once more, the explosive report of her weapon sounding off that she was alive and kicking. The four-armed creatures roared again, but this time, it was they who were killed. Violet felled them all, and proceeded through the caves, more of the four-armed creatures rushing to attack and kill her. Some succeeded, but Violet was never down for long. Every time she fell, she'd get right back up in a pulse of light and keep fighting.

The projection stopped, and she turned her attention back to Violet, who now had a solemn expression on her face.

"I kill many things. I die many times. I fight," she said softly. "I fight long time."

Violet hung her head down, hiding her face from view. Fluttershy couldn't tell exactly what was going through Violet's head. She had no idea what words Violet wanted to say but didn't know. But she could feel that Violet was incredibly sad. She stood up from the sofa and slowly approached Violet, placing a hoof on her knee, making her look up at her. As soon as she had Violet's attention, she leaned in and wrapped her wings around her in a comforting embrace.

Violet returned the hug, and Fluttershy soon felt the familiar feeling of tears dripping onto her back. Violet had just opened up to her and her friends about her past, traumatic as it was. Even if to her it was normal, Fluttershy knew that all of the violence she'd endured must have left some deep and twisted scars. Healing them would be next to impossible, but as long as she was able, she vowed to help relieve the burden from this poor being; her newest friend. The others joined her embrace of Violet, all coming in close and showing their support. Without words to tell her they were there for her, actions were the only means of conveying that message. All of them were here for her.

Eventually, they released Violet from their group hug, allowing her to talk to the Shape for a few words. In a flash of light, the chest of her belongings appeared once more, and she pulled a notebook and pencil from it. She drew slowly and carefully, as though the tiniest missed detail would drastically alter the meaning. She kept drawing for several minutes, filling page after page with meaning she couldn't express elsehow.

"Not all... but done," Violet said.

The first image was that of wreckage surrounded by stars. A single skeleton floated among scraps of metal, frayed wires, and blown pipes. The next showed the Shape, and Violet where the skeleton once rested. She made a bow from a shard of metal and wires, and used pipes as arrows.

Next she was overlooking a city beneath a massive sphere from a high vantage point, her bow replaced by weapons more similar to those she wielded now. There were others of her kind there. One wore much heavier armor, and her smile was confident like Rainbow's. She held a fist against her palm, and lightning arced around her hands. The other wore no armor, instead revealing much of her skin, with airy-looking fabrics covering only her pelvis and breasts, with a flaming circlet clamped around her upper arm. Above each of them was a symbol and something written in Violet's language. Above the armored one, a simple hexagon, with a corner facing up, an X crossing through the middle from the side-facing corners. Above the other, a symbol that looked like three mountains. The next page the three of them were in combat together, then relaxing and enjoying each other's company. Dying together, eating and drinking together, smiling together, living together. All three of them had Shapes over their shoulders.

Then there was another of her kind, notably different in the way their face was drawn. They seemed made of metal, the mechanical components visible in that portrait, and a proud horn protruded from their face. A Shape was drawn at this one's shoulder as well. The page was made to look like an ace of spades card. After that was Violet once more in combat, but this time the creatures she fought against were drawn in sharp, jagged lines, with dark shadows bigger than her. The mechanical being from before, too, was in combat, and in the next panel, their Shape was drawn shattered, and the image of a skull and a bloodstain. On the next page, Violet held him in her arms just above the ground, and some other of her kind in the background, their shadow in the shape of something akin to a dragon looming large over both of them. On the next page, the mechanical one was laid down on a stone plinth, with some kind of cloth over the rest of their body. Fluttershy felt tears falling from her cheeks when she saw that page.

Nine pages, each with Violet killing some creature whose shadow was emphasized. Eight were reminiscent of the creatures they'd seen in the video just a few minutes earlier. But the ninth was much like her, and male, judging by the way they were drawn. His shadow was shaped as a dragon.

Violet and five others stood with weapons raised, with a massive tower of some kind in the background, with the same dragon-like shadow as the male of her kind. In the next panel, they stood in a room, with the dragon to whom the shadow belonged. On the next page, all but Violet and the dragon were slaughtered, bodies broken and bloodied on the ground, and Violet was on her knees weeping. The shadow of the dragon was drawn as her own.

On the next page, was a massive triangular structure, and Violet standing in front of it.

On the final page, Violet was surrounded by trees.

Page by page, drawing by drawing, the ponies looked at the story they'd been handed. All of them could feel Violet withdraw after that, curling up with her cloak's hood over her face. The— no, her Shape talked to her some, but she didn't talk back.

Twilight proceeded to draw a simple picture of a bed on a piece of her own parchment, floating it over to Violet. She looked it over for a moment before silently nodding. Twilight smiled and motioned for Violet to follow, leading her down to the basement, which would be serving as her room for the foreseeable future. Since her cottage was destroyed in the fight, Fluttershy would be staying in a study room that Twilight had converted into a guest room. It wasn't much, but Twilight had insisted, as her library was closest to the cottage, which would allow her to oversee the reconstruction of her home.

When Twilight returned, everyone was quiet, waiting for her to say something.

Fluttershy broke the silence, "Do you think she's okay?"

"I... I don't know," Twilight replied, shaking her head. "From what she's shown us, she's led a hard life."

"She's got the kinda strength nopony should ever need," Applejack added.

All of them nodded.

"Do... do you guys think she had to fight?" Rainbow asked, considering the weight of the question. "Were the creatures she killed... just monsters? Or were they just another people, like griffons or minotaurs?"

Twilight answered, "There's no way we can know until we can talk to her about it."

"I think... I think those meanie monsters might have been controlled by something," Pinkie said, holding up the page where the shadows of the creatures she fought were emphasized. "I don't think any of them want to fight, but don't see any other way."

"But what about that dragon, then?" Rarity asked.

"What about a dragon?" came the raspy voice of Spike. The young drake entered the library, a few flat boxes stacked in his claws. He kicked the door shut, and the scent of pizza soon filled the room. "I bring dinner, by the way."

"Thanks, Spike," Twilight said, giving him a warm smile and a soft nuzzle. "We're just talking about what Violet drew, and what it all means."

"Oh! Spike, you're a pretty avid comic-book reader, yeah?" Rainbow asked.

The young drake perked up. "Yeah, why?"

"Take a look at this, maybe you have some perspective that can make some sense of this," Rainbow said, putting the pages back in order and pushing it over to him.

Immediately after flipping to the second page, Spike looked up at the ponies watching him. "This is an origin story," he said definitively. "I've seen this format in so many comics it's universal."

He kept reading, his eyes carefully scanning each page. All of Twilight's friends could see the Twilight in Spike as he read the wordless story. When he got about halfway through, he paused and took a breath. He rifled through the rest of the pages, his concentration rivaling that of the pony who'd raised him. When he got to the final page, he set the stack back down, thinking over what he'd just seen.

"She's running from her past," he said simply as he reached for a slice of pizza.

"How can you tell?" Twilight asked.

"Three key bits. The first is the ace of spades. I'm going to call them Ace for simplicity. That character got their own full-page portrait," he observed, turning to the page with the claw that hadn't handled pizza. "Whoever Ace was, they were important to her. My guess is a mentor figure. The next nine pages after his death are her trying to get revenge, only to learn that the villains who killed Ace were just the henchponies of the real villain."

"The dragon..." Rainbow whispered to herself, connecting the dots.

"Yeah, the dragon," Spike confirmed. "The second key bit is that the dragon's shadow is symbolizing control over those with it. The ninth henchpony was under direct control of the dragon, and killing him revealed the big bad. When she goes to confront the dragon, he takes control of her, and uses her to kill her friends."

The ponies gasped.

"The third bit is when she gets the dragon's shadow. That was the deciding moment. Revenge always stains a hero, and leaves them open to manipulation," Spike continued, pausing for a quick bite. "She blames herself for their deaths. Her quest to avenge Ace was the first domino in the line, leading to her finding and confronting the big bad, and subsequently, playing right into their claws. She was used as the perfect bait to kill five more heroes."

"But what about those two of her kind earlier, from before the ace of spades?" Applejack asked. "They weren't involved with the dragon at all."

"Those were her best friends," he said simply after swallowing his bite of pizza. "Her first friends. They're introduced to show that these Shapes belong to the heroes, and are the source of their powers. Without them, they become mortal, as we see when Ace's is destroyed."

The ponies fell silent as they tried to process Spike's analysis of the images. Everything he said made sense. They'd seen Violet's video of her in the caves, fighting and dying and resurrecting and fighting through death as though it were nothing more than a minor inconvenience.

This, combined with what Twilight had seen Violet do when they'd first met, only raised more questions. What kind of magic was in those Shapes? Was Violet ever really in danger of dying when she'd activated that curse? Could that curse have killed her in a way that the Shape couldn't undo?

What was death like?

"Anyway, that's just what I'm seeing with my comic book perspective," Spike said, finishing off his slice of pizza and taking another. "You guys should have some pizza. Oregano really outdid himself on this one."

The night proceeded almost normally, but everyone was deeply shaken by the events of the day, as well as what Violet had shown them and Spike's interpretation of it. Even Pinkie, as bouncy and manic as ever, seemed to occasionally get lost in her own head that night. Even though Applejack had brought a couple bottles of Apple Family Reserve hard-cider, none of them touched it, including Rainbow. None of them wanted the alcohol to open the door for the hard questions that they had buzzing at the back of their minds. None of them wanted the alcohol to lessen their control of their thoughts.

Eventually, about an hour after Spike had gone to bed, everyone went home, save for Fluttershy and Twilight. The latter of the two brought down fresh blankets for the pegasus, making sure she had everything she'd need to get a good night's rest. After Twilight had gone to bed, Fluttershy found herself lying wide awake. Rest refused to come to her, no matter how many sheep she counted. She stared out the window at the moon, praying that her friends were able to sleep, even if she couldn't.

She heard footsteps outside her room. They passed by her door, eventually stopping in the bathroom just next to her makeshift room, and she heard the bathroom door close as the light switch was flicked. Fluttershy listened carefully as Violet turned on the water, perhaps brushing her teeth or washing her face. A moment later, the water was shut off, the lights were flicked back off, and Violet's footsteps returned to the basement.

For a moment, all returned to silence.

(Recommended Listening)

The haunting voice of a ghost echoed from below. The sound of Violet singing made the air feel still and cold, and she could swear that she could see her breath. She could feel her heart beating in her chest with every word, even if she couldn't understand anything being sung. She didn't need to understand. The feeling was enough. Violet was singing of the ghosts of her past, of regrets from her home, about pain she'd suffered and trauma endured. She sang of exhaustion, in more than just her body. She sang of every time she'd died, only to be brought back again to keep fighting. She sang of the death of hope.

She'd fought for a long time, how long she wouldn't know until asking was possible. She sang in a way that made her voice crack, and as the song continued, she couldn't tell where the singing stopped and the crying began.

Every note made her feel weak. Every word drew a tear from her eyes.

Fluttershy had experienced a moment like what Violet was experiencing now. Twilight had too. The phenomenon was by no means common, but they happened reliably under the right circumstances. When ponies' emotions hit fever pitches, it became impossible to hold them within any longer. The magic of the world would drive that pony to break into song, regardless of where they were or what emotion triggered the reaction. Harmony moments, they were called, and Violet's sadness had brought about her own.

When the song ended, and all that remained was Violet's soft sobbing, Fluttershy pulled herself out of bed. She couldn't bear to let her friend suffer alone. No one deserved that, but Violet especially didn't deserve that. After the hardships she'd faced, she deserved a chance to rest in peace, untormented by her past and the demons therein. She opened her door, and made her way to the basement. She knocked softly and waited.

When the answer didn't come, she knocked one more time before opening the door on her own. In the darkness, Fluttershy could only see the base shape of Violet in her bed, curled up in a tight ball. Her sobbing had gotten softer, but had yet to stop, driving Fluttershy to softly close the door and make her way down the steps and towards Violet's bed.

She pulled herself into Violet's bed without second thought. She pulled herself closer to the being and wrapping her hooves and wings around her, pressing her chin against Violet's back. The effect was subtle, but slowly, Violet's sobs diminished, and her muscles relaxed. It took what felt like hours, but Violet's breathing slowed and evened out, and she drifted off to sleep.

Only when Violet was at peace did Fluttershy dare close her eyes and allow herself to rest.

11: Symptoms

Violet was gone before Fluttershy or Twilight woke up that morning, the only trace being a simple picture of her crash site, and the image of the sun setting stuck to the door with a small smear of wax. Twilight had awoken first, rising with the sun as she had for years. She noticed the note first, and then decided to wake Fluttershy so they could perhaps get breakfast together. When her pegasus friend didn't answer, Twilight cautiously entered. Upon finding Fluttershy not in her room she began to panic, talking to herself about what the worst-case scenario would look like, gradually getting louder until even Spike woke up because of her. This, in turn, woke Fluttershy, who quickly came up from the basement to assure Twilight of her safety. And as soon as Twilight was calmed down, the questions began to flow.

"Fluttershy?" Twilight asked softly. "Why were you in the basement?"

Meekly, the pegasus answered, "I heard Violet crying, and I just... went to comfort her."

Twilight stared in stunned silence, urging Fluttershy to explain.

"I couldn't sleep last night," she began. "It was probably around midnight when I heard Violet come up from her room and use the bathroom. When she went back down, it was quiet for a bit..."

The echo of Violet's song echoed in her mind for a moment. The haunting melody she could only understand the emotions of replayed once more, and a shiver ran down her spine, making her feathers puff outwards. "Twilight, Violet had a harmony moment last night..."

"What‽" Twilight blurted, nearly leaping out of her seat. "What was it like? What language did she sing in?"

Fluttershy frowned. "I-it... It was very sad... I couldn't understand the words... but it was definitely sad and lonely. I-I had to comfort her..."

A knock at the door interrupted their moment. Twilight opened the door with her magic, allowing Applejack and Rainbow to enter.

"Twilight, Violet had a harmony moment last night," Rainbow announced as the door closed behind them.

"I know," the alicorn replied. "Fluttershy was just telling me about it. But how did you know?"

"Couldn't sleep, so I took a midnight flight around town. When I heard singing coming from your place I stopped to listen," Rainbow answered casually.

"More to the point of why we're here, I think she's plannin' on runnin' away from us," Applejack said.

——————————

Luna stood once more in the forest where she arrived. Sunrise was yet a little ways off, but would inevitably come. In the dirt, she saw the bloodstain she'd left in the dirt from the Light Sacrifice. The shape it made in the dirt reminded her of the face of Riven, as though marking this place as hers. She turned away when she thought she saw it blink at her.

"So, what brings us all the way back out here?" her Ghost asked.

"First thing's first, I'm checking to see if the ship's long-range scanner is still usable," Luna said as she slid down the side of the crater and broke into a jog at the bottom. "Trying to scan for Glimmer deposits would be rough with your effective range of only one mile, and our current lack of a Sparrow."

"And what do we do if it's shot?" the Ghost followed.

"We improvise and break apart a weapon to make the bits we need for one," Luna said.

She couldn't help but see the ship that once was when she hopped up onto its mangled hull. The nose was impacted so far back that there was essentially no cockpit anymore, and she was certain there was a bloodstain in there. The engines' turbine caps were shattered and they too were crushed at the front end. The only thing that had survived was the cargo bay, and she was lucky for that much. But just in front of the cargo bay was a panel with the long-range scanner hiding within.

She sighed, "Ghost? I need the plasma cutter and my welding mask. In the mean time, could you set up the fabricator?"

A wicked looking tool with three prongs converging from the sides of a cylinder to the middle at a point materialized with the requested mask. Silently, she began her work. The hiss of the plasma cutter and a sound like tearing paper filled the clearing as the sun peeked over the horizon. Bit by bit, Luna cut away small pieces of the hull, eventually making a hole in the hull large enough for her to fit through. She tore away the panel of hull with her knife, then started cutting her way through the more complicated internal bits of the ship.

The process took a few hours, but nothing interrupted her work. Bits of piping and thick cables were cut away in the slow process of melting through the tungsten-alloy bits of the ship. Once she finally broke through to the hull, Luna hopped down into the cramped space. Her Ghost followed, projecting light at her goal. She opened the panel, finding its condition to be one of heavy damage. Several key components were either corroded or broken.

"Yeah, sounds about right," Luna sighed, yanking the device from the panel. A few of the broken bits fell off, clattering noisily on the metal floor. "Welp. We're gonna need to tear a weapon apart for the repair."

With that, she gathered the broken bits and jumped back out of the wreckage. From there, she stepped over to a large, boxy device. The glass sides allowed one to see its inner workings: a circuitboard platform with a few robotic arms ending in needle-like points. She unfolded the built-in table of the device, and laid out a few of her weapons on it. One sniper rifle, Raze Lighter, and the broken rocket launcher.

"Which one are we going to scrap?" her Ghost asked solemnly.

"I basically never use sniper rifles, but if I scrap Raze Lighter, I'll get the material needed to both make the scanner and repair Gjallarhorn. But it would also reduce my effectiveness should I come across another situation where I need it, like with the Taken Mutae," Luna thought out loud. "I could scrap Gjallarhorn and not reduce my combat effectiveness, but that was a gift from Saladin."

"I think Raze Lighter is the play. Gjallarhorn has reduced many of our enemies into cinders and bloodstains," her Ghost suggested. "If we can repair it, I think we should."

"Fair reasoning," Luna said. "Let's do it."

The other two weapons were transmatted away, leaving only the sword on the table. From there, Luna began disassembling the weapon, starting from the battery in the pommel, then to the crystal in the cross guard, and finally the blade. Her Ghost then began firing a beam of light at the components, converting them into small, luminous blue cubes.

Luna smiled as she thought about ~Twilight's~ possible reaction to seeing Glimmer for the first time. The pony would no doubt be floored by the transmutable matter, and would demand to learn everything about it. But to Luna, it was mundane. It was the main currency of the City, and a valuable material for making armor, weapons, and munitions. It was important, but it wasn't really special either.

Luna then opened the door into the fabricator's main chamber, placing the small pile of Glimmer on the circuit board before closing it again. She then began carefully disassembling the scanner down to the core, and finding a microchip hiding within. She smiled and inserted the chip into a small slot on the fabricator's controls. The display showed a small pop-up asking if she wanted to make the item listed in the chip's data, prompting her to hit the 'yes' button. The machine whirred to life, the mechanical arms moving about and poking the cubes of Glimmer and zapping them with electricity. Slowly, the new scanner began to take shape.

"So," her Ghost murmured, as though unsure what he wanted to say.

"Sew buttons," Luna said in reply. "What's on your mind?"

"Ahamkara, huh?" he asked.

Luna frowned a little. "Yeah... Ahamkara..."

"So that... what did you call it...?" Her Ghost paused to think. "That 'Light Sacrifice'... was that...?"

"I made a wish," Luna said curtly. "The Ahamkara granted it."

"And the Taken Mutae was also caused by a wish?" he inquired.

"Yeah," she said.

"Then what happened with Riven?" he asked.

"I don't remember," she growled harshly. "I don't want to remember."

Her Ghost looked at her sternly. "Guardian, you know I'm always here for you, right? No matter what happens, now or then. The Dreaming City wasn't your fault. It won't happen again here!"

"Yes, it was, and yes it will!" Luna snapped, glaring daggers at her Ghost. "I just need to find somewhere that no one will look for me. I can't hurt anyone else if there's no one around to hurt. That's why I'm getting the scanner. I need enough Glimmer to build a new ship, and I have the means to acquire it. The longer I'm here, the more danger these ponies are in. You saw that Taken thing!"

"Luna, that's not—"

"Not gonna work? I'll make it work!" Luna hissed. "These ponies have been nothing but kind to me. They healed me and fed me and gave my Light back after the Ahamkara took it from me. I want to protect them from me. I will protect them from me."

Her Ghost remained silent. No, Guardian... That's not it...

Luna checked the fabricator and found the scanner finished and ready to go. Upon picking the device from the fabrication chamber, she remembered a key detail about most pieces of technology: batteries. Unfortunately for her, the scanner's battery would need to be charged before it was any use to her. Normally, she'd just ask Mae to charge it, since her attunement with Arc Light made her essentially a giant walking battery herself. Alas, her Titan friend was not here, so she'd have to figure out how to charge the scanner on her own.

"I'd kill to have even a little bit of Arc Light right now," she grumbled to herself as she stared at the broken fragments of the old scanner.

——————————

(Recommended Listening)

Luna sat upon her balcony once more, watching the moon. The air was beginning to chill, the last remnants of the winter's cold relegated to the later nights of mid-spring before summer thawed it all away. Her thoughts were once again back in the Everfree, on the Being who'd arrived there just shy of a month ago. Yes, once again Violet was on her mind. Each new night brought Luna an unusual anxiety because of her. Would she be able to see Violet's dreams? If she did, what would she see? Would she see more of her trauma? Would she finally see a happy memory?

The clock in her room struck twelve. Like clockwork, she stood and turned back into her room. She hopped up onto her bed, settling in for her nightly duty as she stepped otherways.

Immediately she could feel that everything was wrong. The dark of the Dreamscape seemed darker than normal, the light of the dreams seemed to be drowning in it, suffocating in it, like a candle approaching the end of its wick. She could feel each and every dream pulling at her, calling out for help, the ponies within begging for safety. The blackened star of Violet's dreams had begun affecting the entire Dreamscape, just as Luna had feared.

Black tendrils of umbral flame began to darken a particular set of dreams, as though Violet were reaching out in her sleep for them. Luna glided over to the dreams, taking care to not touch the darkfire. With the power of Violet's magic, combined with her ability to kick her from the Dreamscape, Luna didn't want to find out what touching it would do. As she approached, she felt the familiar sensation of the Elements.

"Luna!" called the un-panicked voice of Twilight.

That was enough to convince Luna to enter the dream.

Within the dream, she found Twilight's library ablaze. The entire tree was up in black flames, and Twilight was standing by with surprising calm. A dream copy of Fluttershy, Spike, and her owl were outside with her. But perhaps most curiously, so was a crate that looked to belong to Violet. Upon noticing Luna enter, Twilight turned to her with an expression with gravity to rival her sister's.

"Luna, I would have written you, but things are a bit hectic," the younger alicorn said. "With how much magic is around us, I don't know how long I can stay asleep."

"What information do you have for us, young Twilight?" Luna asked quickly.

Twilight winced as she lit her horn, levitating a small stack of papers up to Luna. "Yesterday after Violet's battle with the Carnivorous Mutae, she showed us these, in addition to a recorded video of her in combat. I still find it hard to believe, but Violet can return from death, and has done so many times."

Luna looked over the stacks of images, seeing for the first time what Violet was willing to say but couldn't. She recognized the metal being with the horn, drawn as an Ace of Spades, and the black-haired male, and the dragon. She looked the stack over multiple times, just to make sure she remembered the details.

"We're out of time," Twilight grunted as she clutched her horn in pain. "Go to Fluttershy's dream... She has more to say..."

With that, Luna felt the dream collapse in on itself, fading away like the afterimage of the sun on the back of one's eyelids. For the briefest moment, the sound of Twilight screaming echoed in the Dreamscape, and the darkness thickened. Immediately following was a rush of cold dread that made the feathers on her wings puff up. Luna felt her heart pounding at her chest and her breath catch in her throat. The magic of the dragonoid Violet was running unfettered through the Dreamscape.

Knowing there was no time to waste, Luna hopped into the dream that radiated with Kindness.

She found herself in the Everfree Bog, where the young pegasus Fluttershy stood crying. The water of the bog ran black with the umbral flames of Violet's curse magic, and the bodies of scores of animals were left to bleed in the blight. The corpses were all coated in holes that looked out into the Dreamscape, and the world of the dream was already close to collapse. She could see a dream copy of Twilight comforting her, but the pegasus was beside herself with grief.

"Young Fluttershy, fret not! This is but a malicious dream!" Luna called as she touched down in the grass.

Fluttershy spun around, wiping the tears from her eyes. "I know, but we're out of time. Listen!"

The dream twitched as the sound of Violet's song began to play through the dreamscape. Luna looked up as she listened, seeing a shower of flaming debris coming down from the sky over Ponyville. In the distance, the entirety of Canterlot was enveloped in a sphere of black, and more like it were forming everywhere she looked. The world began to scream in pain, and the dream cut out before the song could finish.

Once more, the Dreamscape echoed with the sound of Fluttershy's scream as the dream imploded. As she turned to hop into another dream, she saw all four remaining dreams of the Elements engulfed in the black flames of Violet's curse. Before she could hop in and try to salvage at least one, all four burnt to cinders, the screams of the four Element Bearers filling the Dreamscape. Luna cursed as Violet's curse magic only grew stronger and thrashed out into the dark, reaching for more dreams.

"Help!"

There was no mistaking that voice. Violet was calling out into the dark, praying for a miracle to save her. Her nightmare was beyond her ability to control, but she could still offer that final piece of defiance. Luna flared her magic and dove headlong into the blighted dream.

The world was different. She could see the city from Violet's drawings in Twilight's dream. A pale sphere hung low over the city, as though protecting it from some ancient evil beyond the walls. Around her, she could see she was in a courtyard of some kind. The sun was just beginning to set here, and the shadow of the sphere enveloped everything around her. Off to her right, she saw Violet with two others of her kind. Both she'd seen in Violet's drawings.

All three were out of their armor. One of them was barely wearing clothing, much of her pale peach skin was left exposed. Only her bust, groin, and lower face were covered by anything, and the cloth there seemed especially thin. Her eyes weren't luminous as Violet's, but they still seemed to shine like arcane fire. A black mark much like a Cutie Mark was etched into her skin just between her breasts: a simple rose. On her arm, just below her shoulder, was a similar black mark, this one a fox.

The other had pale blue skin much like Violet, but radiated a completely different vibe. Her purple hair, despite being in the same style as Violet's, seemed almost stuck there by static electricity. The being seemed to have the same aura as a lightning storm. She wore what was likely a designer dress, judging by how luxurious the wine-red fabric was and how it accentuated her natural curves. On her arm, in the same place as her comrades, was a black fox mark.

And then there was Violet, who looked drop-dead gorgeous in her own right. She wore a stunning midnight-blue dress of her own that hugged her curves in a way that would make Generosity green with envy, and sparkled as though it contained the stars. Though the dress covered her entire body, some of the fabric was translucent, allowing her to see the natural shimmer of the auroras on her skin. The sleeves of the dress also played into the illusion, making it appear as though Violet were wearing elbow-length gloves when the whole thing was a single article of clothing.

Luna found herself completely stunned, unable to form words, or even thoughts. This being, even though she didn't know her species' name, had her utterly captivated. She found herself tempted to call Violet a siren because of her impossible beauty, but that would give sirens far more credit than they deserved.

Only after a few moments of staring star-struck did she manage to shake herself free. Only then did Luna see that beneath the dress, and even through the dress, Violet was developing scales. Violet looked up to her comrades, pleading for help, but both of them were growing scales too, and neither seemed bothered. Instead, both simply smiled unnaturally wide, sinister smiles as they began to transform into the same dragonoid form Violet took. Violet screamed in horror and backed away, looking up to Luna as she finally noticed her.

Luna reached out and pulled Violet into her embrace, lighting her horn to dispel the dream...

Only the dream refused.

The dragonoid without the rose mark lunged forwards, lashing out with its stingers. Luna cast a barrier, on both herself and Violet. Violet, in turn, called upon her magic and placed the sphere of blinding purple light around them. The dragonoid bounced off the bubble as an arrow would a stone wall. In response it growled and charged itself with lightning and launched itself at the bubble again. The bubble deflected the creature again.

The rose-marked dragonoid caught fire and rained down tiny sparks that turned into miniature suns. Though they were stopped by the bubble, the heat seemed to be enough to damage it, and small cracks began to form in the sphere. In response, both of the dragonoids charged forwards to attack and tear down the sphere.

Luna charged her horn and cast black lightning on the two of them, but found that they were both immune. The lightning channeled through them, doing no harm to either one. Fear began to cloud Luna's mind as she tried to search her memory for a spell that could defeat them, or at least do something.

Violet stood once more, shedding the protection of her wings. Her body began to rapidly transform, scales growing in and tearing through the fabric of her dress. Her magic was flaring to a level akin to when she'd used her curse. She spoke in Equestrian: "You are safe here. I will protect you."

The dream glitched onto a harsh desert planet, where the sand-dunes had been melted into glass by intense heat. The dragonoid with the rose mark shot forwards, shattering the bubble with a flaming hammer and stabbed her with a stinger. Though the venom began to work immediately, Luna cast a spell on herself to slow her heart to slow the venom. She had to remain here in this nightmare to help Violet. If she could help Violet overcome the dragon, the Dreamscape would heal; Violet would heal.

The last thing she saw before the hallucinogen began to take effect was Violet with the shield, screaming in her language in a voice not her own, the same as the first time. The curse immediately took its tribute, the shield disappearing, and dozens of wounds opening up and spraying blood everywhere on the glass. A moment later, everything was enveloped in blinding purple light.

Then the venom truly kicked in. Her nethers heated up, and her vision began to swim as it had in the previous dream. Another sting from the other dragonoid only quickened the process. She could feel herself dripping against the glass, unable to feel anything but the growing heat between her legs. Immediately her mind conjured images of Violet beginning to massage her wings, ruffling her feathers in a way that made her moan. She tried to spread her legs, to signal that she was ready to be taken, but Violet's own legs kept her clamped painfully shut.

Luna woke once more, covered in sweat and painfully aware of what just happened. Again she found herself reaching for her notebook, writing down the details of what she saw, from the descriptions of her friends to the fact that they, too, transformed into the murderous dragonoids. But one detail stuck in her mind: when the other two stung her, she still saw Violet. She didn't see the other two in their original forms as she had when she fought Violet's corrupted form. No, she only saw Violet.

It seems the venom of these dragonoids cannot induce desire, and can instead only inflame that which is already present, she wrote. After this exploration of Violet's dreams, I can be fairly certain that my feelings for her are my own, and have merely been roused by my experiences within those dreams. There is yet room for doubt, but that possibility can only be explored with Violet by my side.

She set the notebook down and got up from her bed. She set out candles again, and began the process of drawing up a bath. The whole time, one question remained at the forefront of her mind:

What are you, Violet?

Author's Note

A reference image for the dragonoid forms of Luna and her fireteam
Artist can be found here.

12: Truth in Halves

A week had passed since her fight against the Taken Mutae, and things were just barely beginning to normalize. Every day, Luna would go out to the forest before dawn and check on the Glimmer mining drill she'd set up. There was enough in just the forest to make a ship, but with it being scattered in smaller pockets, Luna ended up having to set it up in a new spot each day. This was fine by her, as the closer she remained to her allies in the town, the less likely she was to get mobbed by those who didn't know of her existence. That, and the locals didn't enter the forest for any reason, so as long as she stayed in there, she didn't have to worry about prying eyes or ponies messing with her stuff.

In conjunction with her clandestine mission to build her means back to the stars, Luna redoubled her efforts to learn ~Equestrian~. Even with her lack of sleep over the past week, with each and every dream ending in a nightmare, she found herself speaking in the pony tongue more frequently, and with greater confidence.

But there were more symptoms than just the frequent nightmares. Her skin at first began to itch, and over this week, scales had grown in. Most were easily concealable by the clothing ~Rarity~ had given her, but the most recent to come in were on her hands. As soon as she noticed the sign of those scales growing in, Luna switched back to wearing only her armor. She was lucky that none were growing on her face yet.

Today she would go to ~Canterlot~, as scheduled by ~Twilight~ and the princesses. While she was definitely uncomfortable with the idea of having to leave the safety of ~Ponyville~, the fact remained that she was in no position to demand that royalty come to her. Memories of a particular Queen came to mind upon that line of thought. In preparation for shit going wrong, as it tended to do when she was around, she'd decided to wear her Orpheus Rigs instead of the Bones. Having less time between Shadowshots would be far more useful than an extra jump, she reasoned. In addition, she carried the Ace of Spades in its usual holster.

"~Are you ready?~" ~Twilight~ asked. Upon her own back was ~Spike~, a young dragon she'd been deeply startled upon meeting, but had eventually warmed up to, as well a set of saddlebags, stuffed to the brim with various notes, spare quills, and ink.

Luna nodded, holding up a transmat beacon, "~As ready as possible. Is it just us?~"

"~Fluttershy will be joining us. Everypony else is busy today,~" the lavender pony replied. "~She'll meet us at the train station.~"

With that, she and ~Twilight~ began their walk to the train station, with ~Spike~ riding on her back. They filed through town at a comfortable, unhurried pace. Ponies would wave and say hello, mostly to ~Twilight~, but occasionally to her as well. After the attack of the Taken Mutae, it was understandable that the ponies would be wary of her. Being an alien made her almost feel bad for the Fallen back in her home universe. Almost being the key operative. The Fallen had made far fewer attempts to be friendly.

Upon reaching the train station, Luna saw a small squad of four ponies in golden armor, all of them white and wielding halberds. Though sub-species varied, she found herself wondering why only white ponies would be allowed to be guards. But the thought was put aside as ~Fluttershy~ approached, offering a friendly nuzzle to both ~Twilight~ and herself. The train let out a bellowing whistle, and the party made their way into the train, along with the guards.

She sat down on one of the benches and let her mind wander. It was curious that her Light still worked in a completely different dimension from the Traveler. She'd read transmissions from Ghosts that ventured beyond the heliopause, out into the black between stars, and all of them felt as though their Light was failing from being so far from the Traveler. She couldn't help but wonder why she could still feel it all around her, and how similar the ponies' magic felt to Light. Did the Traveler exist in this universe too? Did it visit these ponies as it had the Eliksni or humanity? Would the Darkness be here too?

A hoof gently nudged her shoulder, rousing her from her thoughts. One of the guards looked up at her curiously. He gently nudged at her Rigs, staring at the three glowing Void Arrows in the built-in quiver. "~What are those?~" he asked tentatively.

"~Void Arrows,~" she answered simply.

This only caused all of the ponies in the car to look at her curiously.

"~I have a bad feeling about today. I have these to be prepared,~" she explained, trying her best to keep her grammar in mind. "~I do not want anyone to be hurt because I was not prepared.~"

"~Are you a—?~" the guard used a word she did not know.

Luna looked to Twilight. The ~alicorn~ offered a synonym she knew, "~Warrior?~"

Luna turned back to the guard and offered her response, "~Yes... and no. Yes, I fight and kill monsters. No, I fight to protect. I am not a warrior. In my tongue, I am a~ Guardian. ~I am a protector.~"

The guards all nodded solemnly. Another guard offered his own question, "~You say arrows, which would mean your weapon is a bow?~"

"~Again, yes and no,~" Luna answered. "~I am the weapon. I cannot explain more with the words I know.~"

The guards looked at her with a special curiosity, as though begging her to try to explain. ~Twilight~ and ~Fluttershy~ simply nodded in understanding.

"~Twilight, can you explain your understand to them?~" Luna asked, fumbling with a word.

Luna took the opportunity to zone out as the pony explained with plenty of words she didn't yet know. With barely over a week of language lessons, there was only so much she could say or understand. That only played into her anxiety about this meeting with the princesses. She didn't know if she'd be able to answer the questions they wanted to ask. And even if she could, there's no way she could guarantee they'd like the answers she could give. From what little she'd seen of this place, the equine kind seemed to be incredibly peaceful, enough to the point that she'd yet to see any firearm that wasn't one of hers. She continued with this train of thought until the actual train she was on pulled into the station. The ponies around her stood up, and she absently followed them off the train.

Once she was out of the station, she took notice of her surroundings. The entire city was truly beautiful, its architecture carved directly from the mountain with nary a seam in sight. Dazzling white marble was everywhere, with flagstone roads providing both color and a contrasting design philosophy. Towers with opulent domes and spires, painted in royal colors and metallic and jeweled tones were visible beyond the rooftops, and the palace loomed large over them all. The ponies here also seemed to be of much higher class, as she could see several actually wearing clothes, though they still kept their ~Cutie Marks~ exposed.

And judging by their reactions to seeing her, they hadn't been informed of her presence. When the first civilian pony saw her, they screamed '~monster~' and bolted down the road, setting off a chain reaction. Those who witnessed that first pony first stared at them, then turned to see what they were screaming about. Since the idea that there was a monster had already been suggested, those who saw Luna immediately slapped that label to her, and began freaking out accordingly, only bringing more of this negative attention her way. Luna sighed, her face deadpan as usual.

"~Remember, do not make a wish,~" she said sternly.

The guards seemed confused, but she wasn't really worried about them. ~Twilight~ and ~Fluttershy~ nodded, confirming that they understood.

With that, they continued on towards the palace. The whole way had been cleared by the panicked cries of that first pony. This only made the atmosphere more tense. The dull hum of the city's inhabitants going about their lives, the merchants in the markets, and ponies in the streets, was dead quiet. Café and restaurant doors were closed, the patios abandoned, with fearful eyes peeking out from behind wooden blinds. Nothing stirred.

Once they reached the castle gates, everything seemed to return to normal. The guards there allowed them entry, and they proceeded through the front door of the castle.

(Recommended Listening)

Inside, the true scope of the palace became apparent. Luxurious red carpet was laid in a direct path forwards to a pair of thrones a hundred meters away at least, upon which the princesses sat, watching as she approached. Immense marble pillars lined the path, adorned with glowing crystals that shone with radiant golden light. Beyond those pillars, high up in the wall, were stained glass windows, each different from the last. Upon closer inspection, they seemed to tell a story, the same way her drawings did.

But before she could truly dig into what she saw, she reached the thrones, and the ponies among her bowed. Off to the sides, several ponies were filed into a seating arrangement much like the juror's box in a court of law. Luna remained standing, immediately earning angry shouts from the seated ponies in the box.

Midnight yelled over the crowd in a voice that was most definitely impossible for a being of her size, much as she had back in ~Ponyville~. Once the crowd was silenced, Dawn bade the ponies stand. With that, the guards turned and took up posts on either side of the carpet.

"~Welcome, Violet,~" Dawn greeted calmly and warmly. "~We hope you are well?~"

"~Better than when you last saw me,~" Luna answered, daring not lie by saying she was 'okay' or even 'well'. Both princesses gave off an aura that she had only ever felt from Shaxx, Zavala, and Cayde. The sheer force of their personalities was on full-blast within these walls, and much like Shaxx and Zavala's, theirs was unsettling to be around.

"~That is most welcome news,~" Midnight said, the look in her eyes betraying her knowledge.

"~We understand that we have not yet been able to introduce ourselves,~" Dawn said as she and Midnight stood from her thrones. "~As princesses of Equestria, we humbly apologize.~"

The princesses bowed, and the ponies in the box gasped in blatant shock.

"~There is no need to apologize,~" Luna said, feeling the glares of the ponies in the box boring holes in her. "~Please, continue.~"

"~I am Princess Celestia,~" Dawn said.

"~And I am Princess Luna,~" Midnight added.

"~I am~ Luna Noctis, ~but you may call me Violet,~" Luna replied in turn. "~It is nice to meet you.~"

"~It is nice to meet you, Violet,~" ~Celestia~ said. "~Has Twilight explained why you're here?~"

"~No,~" Luna answered, "~but I think because you have questions to ask me?~"

"~Yes,~" ~Luna~ nodded. "~We have questions for you.~"

"~My words are limited,~" Luna warned. "~I cannot promise answers to all of your questions. But I will answer those I can.~"

"~That is all we ask,~" ~Celestia said with a smile. "~Let us begin. What are you?~"

"~I am~ Awoken, ~a kind of~ human," Luna replied. "~I am missing some words for this answer.~"

"~That answer is enough,~" ~Luna~ smiled. "~Next, where are you from?~"

"~I am from a planet called~ Venus," Luna said. "~My kind comes from a planet called~ Earth."

"~Your kind comes from two planets?~" ~Celestia~ asked, a most curious expression on her face.

"~Yes. My kind began on~ Earth, ~but learned how to fly to the stars. We settled on many planets and moons in our system,~" Luna answered.

"~How did you get here?~" ~Celestia~ inquired.

"~I am missing words for a complete answer,~" Luna said. "~I passed through a gate, and crashed here. I expected somewhere else.~"

"~Would others of your kind seek you?~" ~Luna~ asked, her face becoming cold and grave.

"~I... am unsure of your meaning?~" Luna said.

"~Would your kind seek to rescue you by force?~" ~Luna~ clarified.

"~No,~" she answered. "~I cannot be found here, and none would seek me.~"

This answer seemed to allow the princesses to release a held breath. From there, the tension in the room tangibly lowered, but was still quite present.

"~What were you to your people?~" ~Celestia~ asked softly.

"~I have been called a warrior, but that is not the whole truth,~" Luna said. "~I am both warrior and protector. I fight and kill to protect others.~"

"~Have you come with weapons?~" ~Celestia asked, even though she knew the answer.

"~Yes. I do not travel without them,~" Luna replied dryly, patting the hand cannon on her hip to show she was armed. "~I will not allow you to take them.~"

Several ponies in the box lost their cool with that reply, shouting out at her with words she didn't yet know, and a few key words she did. Immediately, ~Luna~ out-yelled them all, silencing all of them with the sheer volume her voice.

"~We understand,~" ~Luna~ said calmly. "~We do not want to take your weapons. We feel they are safest with you.~"

"~Thank you,~" Luna replied, bowing slightly in respect.

"~Violet, do you wish to return home?~" ~Celestia~ said.

The moment the word '~wish~' was used, Luna visibly winced, and her two companions from ~Ponyville~ looked up to her with clear worry. "~Please do not use that word... For your safety...~" she warned solemnly.

"~Which word?~" ~Celestia~ asked.

"~Wish,~" Luna said softly, hoping the angry ponies in the box wouldn't hear.

"~Do you want to return home?~" the alabaster princess rephrased.

"~No,~" Luna replied simply.

"~Would you like to stay here, in Equestria?~" ~Luna~ asked.

"~I do not think I should,~" Luna said. "~I fear staying will bring monsters to you, or worse.~"

The princesses nodded in painful understanding, and ~Luna~ seemed to be especially disheartened by that answer. An angry pony from the box opened his mouth to speak, but was pre-emptively silenced with an icy glare from ~Celestia~.

"~I will not answer more questions until these ponies are gone,~" Luna said, gesturing to the box. "~What more I can say, I will only say to those I trust.~"

——————————

Luna guided the group to a private meeting room, where she and Celestia would often come with local officials to discuss policy proposals and other such business and politics. It was a boring room, but it served its boring purpose with all the boring bells and whistles one could expect of it. But the gravity in this one room was far more intense than anything she'd felt. Her heart was hammering away in her chest, and her mouth felt dry. The cold feeling of dread ran through her entire body. Something felt very wrong.

As all of them seated themselves, Violet remained standing. "I am sorry. I did not answer one question fully," she said. "You asked what I am to my kind. I said I am a warrior and protector. That is true. I said I fight and kill to protect. That is also true, but not complete."

"What do you mean?" Luna asked, feeling her breath catch in her throat.

"I also die to protect," Violet said. "I have died many times. Please, allow me to show you."

Before anypony knew what was happening, Violet had said a quick word to the Shape, who floated just over the table. With a quick and fluid motion, Violet had pulled her weapon from its place on her hip, twirled it on her finger, and pointed the explosive end directly up and into her chin from below.

A muffled explosion, a splatter of blood on the ceiling, the tumble of a body hitting the floor. Luna screamed in horror as Violet's body collapsed with a hole clean through her head. There was no way she could survive that! There was no way that anything could survive that! Luna's mind clouded with panic, and she scrambled out of her chair to go to Violet, even though she was very definitely dead. She reached out and placed her hoof against Violet's neck, and found no pulse. She strained her ears to listen for even the faintest breath, but could hear nothing.

Fluttershy and Twilight both yelped, but both seemed far more calm about it than anypony should be about someone committing suicide in front of them. Celestia froze still, her wings clamped to her body through sheer terror. Her eyes were wide, and her pupils were mere pinpricks.

The Shape pulsed with Light, and Violet rose again with a sharp gasp. Her head had no hole in it, and only the bloodsplatter remained. Luna looked up at her with a profound mix of fear, anger, and confusion. Celestia fared no better, her jaw nearly hitting the floor as she witnessed the resurrection. Twilight and Fluttershy sighed in relief.

Violet reached out her hands to Celestia and Luna. "You saw that correctly. I did die, and I am now alive. You may touch me and confirm your senses."

Both princesses tentatively reached out with a hoof, allowing themselves a moment to verify that they were experiencing reality. Violet had just died in front of them. The blood on the ceiling and floor was very much real. The being they were touching was alive and well. Luna took Violet's pulse, and found it immediately.

"I apologize for showing you this way," Violet murmured. "This was the best way to make no doubt."

The room remained dead silent.

"I came to this planet by accident. I seek exile, for the safety of my kind, and now yours as well," Violet continued. "I am a monster to my allies, and I have killed them. I must not be allowed to remain here longer than I need."

"We may have a way to help you," Luna said, almost pleadingly. "Will you let us try to help you?"

"I do not think that is good," Violet replied. "To stay is to decay. This planet is making things worse."

Twilight piped up, "What is the problem?"

"It is what you call a curse," Violet said. "A curse and wish of blood and magic. I am because of a wish. Now to wish is to curse. I do not have words to explain more."

All parties fell silent once more after that. Luna's mind, however, only grew busier, buzzing like a beehive with activity. She had clearly prepared for this line of questioning.

"Please... try to explain," Luna murmured, tears forming in her eyes.

Violet looked as though she was about to protest, but simply nodded. "There were creatures, much like your planet's dragons. We call them {Ahamkara}. Wish-dragons. My kind hunted them until none remained, but one escaped. I was told to kill the last {Ahamkara}, and had five allies with me. When we found it, it cursed me, and my allies were killed. Now it grants wishes through me. To wish is to pull on that curse."

"Is it possible to use the curse against itself?" Twilight asked tentatively.

"No... I have tried. The {Ahamkara} grants the wishes, not me," Violet said, shaking her head. "If it were so simple, I would not be here."

The room fell quiet again, only for Violet to yawn. "I need to rest soon," she said. "I have not slept well..."

Luna stood, and opened the door. "Come, I will bring you somewhere to rest."

The princess guided Violet through the palace halls, taking the routes least frequented. The whole time, she kept close to Violet, allowing the biped to lean on her for support. She blushed each time Violet actually did lean on her. Her touch made her feel a pleasant, subtle dizziness.

All too soon, they made it to Luna's chambers, where a particular Captain Sabre stood guard. Without a word, she opened the door, allowing the princess and her company to enter swiftly, and closed the door behind them.

"You may rest here," Luna said. "But I must ask you to remove your armor."

Without hesitation, Violet stripped down to her bare skin, falling onto the bed completely unconscious before she hit the sheets. Luna blushed like absolutely mad, the sight of Violet's naked body short-circuiting her brain and causing her to faint for a brief moment. When she woke back up and assessed her situation, she noticed the scales in Violet's skin. Alarm bells began ringing in her mind.

She dared approach the sleeping being to inspect the scales, only to be grabbed by the unconscious Violet and pulled into a cuddle too tight to escape from, her face being smooshed between Violet's breasts. Luna's brain began to short-circuit and spark once again as blood rushed to her face and her nethers. She tried to cast magic to teleport out of Violet's grip, but a light kiss from Violet directly on her horn instantly made the magic fizzle into nothing and almost made her moan out loud.

With that, she admitted defeat, and allowed herself to be held in this extremely compromising position. After a few moments, she managed to get her brain to cooperate just enough to begin digesting the information she'd learned from Violet today.

"I wish I could help Violet somehow..."

13: Nightmare

Luna awoke in the most comfortable bed she'd ever felt in her life, with something warm and soft in her arms. Up above her was the inky black of the night sky, painted over with violet and amber. Beneath the silky blankets, Luna could feel whatever was in her arms breathing, and with each exhale, she felt that breath on her bare chest. Upon looking down, she saw Midnight looking up at her with a confused, but pleased expression.

"Um. Hi?" Luna said to herself, waiting for her brain to do its job putting together why she was currently cuddling one of the pony princesses.

"Hello..." ~Luna~ said. "Wait what."

"UM?" Luna let go of the ~alicorn~ and backed up, pulling the sheets up over her chest to stay covered.

"Wait... am I speaking your tongue?" ~Luna~ asked, her ears pointing forwards as she listened carefully to herself.

"WHAT THE FUCK!" Luna reached out to her Light, and a small purple sphere formed in her hand. Without hesitation, she threw the smoke bomb at the bed, making it burst into a cloud of smoke. Upon the smoke bomb's detonation, Luna's body became wrapped in glossy stealth, hiding her from sight for just long enough to don her armor. Once the effect wore off and she became visible again, she stood in full armor with the Ace pointed at the princess. "What did you do!?"

"I don't know!" the pony cried as tears began to well up in her eyes. "Please put that down..."

Luna kept her weapon aimed squarely at ~Luna~. Her instinct to pull the trigger was screaming in her head, but she held it back. She couldn't afford to lose the support of the ponies, and killing royalty was certain to make getting off this planet much more of a hassle than it already was.

"Did you make a wish...?" the Guardian asked softly, lowering her weapon.

The pony didn't answer for a while as she thought of the best answer.

"I promise I won't be mad... I just need to know what you wished for..." Luna added. "I need to know if I need to fight..."

"I wished I could help you," ~Luna~ murmured.

The feeling of betrayal pierced her chest. Even after she'd warned them of the danger, no, even after opening up to them about her past, that icy dagger through her heart was the reward.

"Why?" Luna asked, her eyes narrowing behind her helm. "Why do you want to help me?"

"Because you've suffered enough," ~Luna~ said, looking up at the Guardian.

"How can you be sure?" Luna asked. "Plenty of my comrades have suffered far more than I have, and are still fighting now."

"Do any of them have this power to grant wishes?" the princess countered. "Do they have magic as powerful as yours that using it would render them comatose? Your comrades are nowhere near your equals."

Luna felt her Light flare as a pang of anger shot through her. "You know nothing of my comrades! You hardly know me! And it certainly seems you still can't understand me when I clearly told you not to make a fucking wish!"

~Luna~ winced, and hung her head in shame.

"What I've been trying to say is that I don't want help. I'm here because I need to isolate myself before anyone else gets killed because they tried to help me," Luna said coldly. "I was trying to disappear, and I couldn't even get that right. So please forgive my bluntness when I say I don't believe that your wish was just to help me. What did you wish for?"

"I have spoken only the truth to you, Violet," ~Luna~ said. "I only wished I could help you somehow."

"If you won't tell me what you truly wished for, then I need to ready my weapons and prepare for the next apocalypse," Luna said, bowing with a cold and mechanical stiffness, as though she were trying to infuse sarcasm into the gesture. "Thank you for your hospitality, your majesty. May the Light be with you."

With that, Luna transmatted back to Ponyville, her mind racing to put together what loadout she'd need for her next fight.

——————————

At first, Luna could only stare at where Violet had just been as shock set in. She had done exactly what Violet had told her not to do. She'd done it intentionally. It wasn't a slip of the tongue on a common phrase. It wasn't an accident. She had explicitly made a wish. And in so doing, she'd destroyed Violet's trust. Upon that realization, Luna felt a pair of tears running down her cheeks.

Luna wiped away her tears and began to draw like a madpony. She didn't know how long she'd be able to speak to Violet in her native tongue. She didn't know if Violet would even want to talk to her if she could. But if she could express herself, express her feelings in a way Violet could understand, maybe she would believe her. Maybe Violet could believe that all she wanted was to help if her feelings were laid bare.

But this time, she couldn't even get the first line correct. She tried and she tried but she couldn't get the image from her mind out onto a page. There were too many words buzzing around in her brain, and her magic refused to hold her quill steady. Her feathers started to itch, and her mane was billowing with far more magic than usual. She could hear the stars whispering in her ears.

Her art failed her.

She growled in frustration and threw her balcony doors open, and with a powerful leap, she took off into the night. In the sky, she could see Violet's colors vividly, and the image of the {Awoken} would not leave her head. Even as she tried to focus on flying, on the sensation of the wind against her body and the feeling of freedom, she couldn't help but be distracted. Violet was right. She had killed her allies. She was a monster to them.

But she was still so wrong. Isolation would not bring safety to anyone. Running would not carry her away from herself. Her dream flashed in her mind, as did the voice of the {Ahamkara}. Your daughter, my heir, is born. The voice of Violet's mother followed. I wish to conceive a child with my wife!

Violet's mothers couldn't have her without wishing on the {Ahamkara}, which means she was born as a direct result of its magic, Luna reasoned as she subconsciously began to descend towards the Everfree. Violet's magic is the same purple as her mother acquired from the {Ahamkara}. And the {Ahamkara} called Violet her heir... Is one of her mothers an {Ahamkara}? Is Violet an {Ahamkara}?

She touched down in the Castle of the Pony Sisters, still lost in thought. No, if one of her mothers was {Ahamkara}, they would have granted their own wish. Even without knowledge of that power, if either of them made that wish, then it would have been granted. Her mothers are not {Ahamkara}, but Violet must be.

(Recommended Listening)

Luna snapped back to attention as she felt ancient magic pulse around her. Thousand-year old wards activated, and the familiar whispering chill of Violet's magic echoed like wind through the ruins. The icy fangs of dread bit down on her yet again as the memory of this spell came into her mind.

Nightmare Guards...! I forgot that spell was— Her mind stopped. VIOLET!

She charged her horn and teleported towards where she felt Violet's magic. Luna then found herself in the ancient throne room, witnessing the result of her own attempt to keep Nightmare Moon from surfacing. Dozens of faceless, markless alicorns surrounded Violet, charging and attacking her with ethereal weapons, and Violet was clearing all of them with her weapons. A projected alicorn leapt up for an overhead strike with a halberd, but was shot in the head by Violet's weapon with the familiar mark of the Ace of Spades. It exploded in a brilliant ball of flames, just as the Timberwolves had. How her physical weapons were affecting the magical constructs, Luna had no idea.

Violet seemed to dance through the battleground as her magic continued to build. She continued punctuating her steps with the explosive shots from her weapon, each one piercing one of the ethereal guards and destroying them, the explosions afterwards shredding the armor of any nearby. But for each one that fell to her, another would rise and take its place. Soon, Violet was forced to leap into the air to deal with a few projected guards flying in from the open roof.

Her magic spiked, and in her hand formed a dense sphere of empty magic. Luna recognized the feeling of this particular spell from her fight with the Carnivorous Mutae. The sheer destructive force of the spell could collapse what ceiling remained, killing both of them in the process. She tapped her magic and teleported to a spot with an open line to the sky.

Violet released her spell, bombarding the area with several explosions of her magic, culling the horde of ethereal guards, but not enough to end the fight. One by one, the projections returned, filling the ruined throne room once more. Violet put away her weapon, pulling a sword from her back. The blade crackled and chirped with lightning.

One of the projections charged a spell and fired a bolt of lightning at Violet. She raised her blade to block, only for the spell to shatter her blade and pierce her heart like an arrow. Blood splattered against the wall behind her, and she fell to the floor shortly afterwards. The guards charged forwards.

The Shape pulsed with light, and Violet rose to her feet once more. She threw a smoke bomb at the floor and rolled to the left, her body becoming invisible as the smoke bomb went off. Before she returned to visibility, a wall of purple flame erupted beneath a line of the ethereal guards, burning them away. Violet's invisibility wore off, and she was once again standing with the Ace of Spades in her hand. The scales Luna had seen earlier were now piercing her armor. Her body was glowing with a soft purple light, and her magic was flaring in intensity.

(Recommended Listening)

Reality around them was starting to creak.

The battle began anew, but the rhythm of the fight was different. Her steps didn't line up with any of her previous battles. Anxiety turned up to eleven and Luna's heart redoubled its efforts to escape its bony prison cell. The projections charged towards Violet, casting their own magic, seeking to overwhelm her by the endurance of the spell they were cast from. But Violet didn't seem to care. She switched weapons on off-beats, plucking the two-handed weapon from the small of her back every so often. That weapon's charged shot of blue lightning caused explosions upon the death of its victims as well, and electricity chained from those hit by it. A lucky guard pierced her armor with a halberd, killing her. But she just got back up again. She switched back to the sword, swinging the two-handed blade with only one, abandoning any formal technique in the interest of raw strength. She hacked and cleaved and shot through projections, tossing spheres that turned into walls of flame or smoke bombs to control the rhythm of the battle.

Airborne guards rained down lightning on Violet, killing her more than a few times, but never managing to keep her down. Each time, she'd just get back up and shoot them down with the Ace of Spades. Every time she went down, she got back up and kept fighting. She didn't tire. She didn't seem to even notice pain. Death was merely a rest in the melody of the battle.

The world glitched.

The roar of the dragon tore through the night. Violet's curse magic flared, and her body was now coated in scales, most of her armor covered by the new natural plating. From nothing, she drew a pair of purple blades made of her magic, and called out into the night in a voice not her own:

"Foolish specters! Your writhing masses are unworthy of witnessing our truth! You attack without mind a darkness that does not exist! There is only Light here! We feed upon desire, and shape reality with our claws! You will be consumed by our Nightmare Fangs!"

The blades in her hands grew longer and jagged. Moonlight refused to touch her, and she slipped out of view without a sound. The {Ahamkara} roared, and all of existence trembled at Violet's might. Luna could only watch as the projected guards were ripped apart by the unseen blades. One by one, they fell, and were replaced. But each time one fell, Violet grew faster. The specters kept coming, and Violet kept slicing them apart, tearing their magic from reality. Two fell, only one had time to reappear. Three fell, only one appeared.

Luna cast a spark of magic into the sky, hoping the tiny flare would be enough to signal her sister or the Elements.

The room was cleared of the specters, and the spell Luna had placed on this room over one thousand years ago dissipated. Violet roared, her blades fading out of her hands as she became visible again, revealing her dragonoid form.

No...!

Luna ducked behind a pillar as the spark of magic burst into a brilliant flash of light. She heard Violet blast the spark with black fire, snuffing it out only two seconds later. Unless Tia and the Elements were watching for that spark, there was no way that two seconds was enough to catch anypony's attention in the dead of night. Knowing her chances of defeating Violet were non-existent, she flared her magic and reached out to the moon. Slowly, as she poured every bit of magic she could muster into her celestial body, the moon lit the sky as bright as daylight.

Violet roared in response, and lunged towards her position. Luna ducked just in time for Violet to crash through her pillar, sending stone fragments and dust everywhere. Using the very last of her magic, she cast as many barriers as she could, ending up with a grand total of four. She could only pray that they'd allow her to buy enough time for the Elements to arrive.

"Violet! Be at peace!" Luna called as she pounded her wings to leap away.

Voilet did not respond with words. She lurched forth with impressive speed, though far slower than she'd been in her dreams. Luna found herself able to dodge the simple linear attack just enough to avoid damage to her barriers. As her momentum carried her forwards through where Luna had been standing, the alicorn caught the stench of curse magic and pain. When Violet attempted to stop and rebound, her legs gave at an odd angle, and a distinct snap met Luna's ears. Between her knee and hip, Violet's left leg was bent where there was no joint. And her momentum was still carrying her.

Violet crashed into a pillar at a full gallop, shattering it and her body at the same time. Numerous scales were fragmented, and the skin beneath was torn and bleeding. The stingers tried to push her back to her feet, but there was no strength left within her. She fell in a slump against the cold stone floor, blood beginning to pool around her wounds. But she wasn't returning to normal, and her magic was building.

A signal. Bright magenta magic in the shape of Twilight's Cutie Mark stained the sky. Help was on the way.

Luna cautiously approached Violet, staying just out of reach of her stingers. Even if she was down, her magic made both dreams and reality fracture. If her magic undid the damage she'd sustained from her use of the curse, she would be a vast threat that Luna would be unable to stop with how little magic she had left. Only she had knowledge of Violet's fighting style in this form and the danger it posed. Twilight, though certainly adept, was no match for Violet. Celestia was no match for Violet. Luna herself was no match for Violet.

Reality groaned in pain, and Violet's leg twisted back into place. A feral growl emanated from her maw. She tried to lift herself up, but still couldn't. She reached out with an arm, and grabbed hold of the ground, pulling herself an inch closer to Luna.

Luna took a step back, Violet pulled herself to follow. Luna's heart had migrated into her throat, its panicked pounding echoing in her ears. Luna took a step back, Violet pulled herself to follow, leaving a bloody smear on the ground beneath her.

"LUNA!"

Twilight's voice called out through the ruins. The sound of hooves resounded in the night. Luna took a step back, and Violet pulled herself to follow. A soft breeze carried the scent of blood towards the source of Twilight's voice.

"Twilight! Be cautious! Violet has lost control!" Luna called out in response.

The light of the moon dimmed, and soon, the night was once again dark. Twilight and her friends arrived through the main archway, the Elements around their necks. Luna took another step back, and Violet dragged herself forward, a stinger trying to reach for her.

"Twilight, this is Violet! Please, help her!" Luna said.

Violet roared, and her curse magic flared again, and the {Ahamkara's} voice echoed in the night once more, "Foolish wielders of ancient Light, there is no discord to harmonize. There is no darkness to snuff out. This is the nature of the universe: Nothing has ever lived that will not one day die! I sentence your kind to suffer your end! Extinction Event!"

The universe screamed in pain. The night sky fractured, and massive spheres of Violet's curse magic shot through. The atmosphere and aetheric field failed to push them back. Dozens, scores of the volatile meteors of condensed gravity began to rain down from the sky, the first striking just beyond the doorway, sending Twilight and her friends forwards into the throne room proper and shaking the ground. Luna fell to her haunches, and Violet dragged herself just a little closer.

The entire Everfree was immediately destroyed by the curse...

But none of the impacts killed them. Even direct hits did nothing to harm either herself of the Elements. Twilight stood on shaky legs, and her friends soon followed suit. The Elements of Harmony began to glow, and their bearers' hooves left the ground. All six ponies gently floated as magic saturated the area, building to levels that rivaled Violet's curse magic. With a deafening boom, the Elements' magic pulsed outwards, washing over Luna, Violet, the castle ruins, and the Everfree.

14: No Backup Plans

Violet now rested in the same bed in Ponyville General Hospital she'd been in after her first use of her curse magic. Even after being blasted with the Elements of Harmony, Violet still felt the same as she always had, as though the magical artifacts had done nothing to her except return her to her normal form. Nurse Redheart shook her head as she went over Violet's charts yet again. Overall, Violet was nowhere near as close to death as she was back then, but she was still plenty fucked up. X-rays revealed that nearly every bone in her body had several stress fractures in them; enough to make one accidental fall capable of shattering her femur. Her muscles were also torn nearly to shreds, and scans revealed some internal bleeding. The scales growing from her skin were definitely new, but seemed to be just another part of her. Her face now also had bone fragments growing from the skin.

The Shape that followed her everywhere seemed capable of actively healing her, up to a point. The tiny thing had been able to mend her broken femur back into a single piece, but was unable to mend the fractures. Some of the muscles could be woven back together by whatever magic it used, but not others. From her observations, she guessed that the Shape couldn't heal anything directly caused by the curse magic.

Unfortunately for Violet, that meant that her recovery would be slow and painful. Healing injuries was already a complicated process. Stopping bleeding and mending bones were tall orders when magic couldn't be used to accelerate the process. But lifting curses was far more complicated. In order to do so, holy water needed to be used, and not just the stuff used in minor religious services. No, one needed the purest holy water possible, and that had to be made by one of the princesses themselves. Celestia had graciously provided a vial for Violet's previous treatment, but that had only been enough to diminish the curse by about eighty percent. Writing a letter requesting more had been the single most stressful thing Nurse Redheart had ever done.

But acquiring the means to dispel curses was small potatoes compared to the actual process of doing so. For Violet's previous stay, simply pouring the holy water into the wounds was enough, since those wounds were easily accessible on the surface. However, it had been complicated in figuring out how much Violet could handle being dispelled at a time. The doctors could easily have killed her if they'd decided to try lifting the curse before she'd woken up.

Now, Violet's curse-laden wounds were internal. Trying to pour holy water directly onto the wounds would require dozens of surgical operations that would seriously jeopardize her life. The only way Violet was getting the curse lifted was by injecting the holy water in small doses over time. The nature of the cursed wounds demanded this treatment, as each wound was significantly larger than the surface lacerations she'd had before. While those cuts could have had surface areas of a few square inches, the muscle tears could easily have surface areas spanning a few square feet. Trying to lift the curse from even one of those wounds in its entirety could easily kill Violet.

The problem with holy water was that it destroyed cells, much the way hydrogen peroxide did, but only destroyed cursed cells. Using too much holy water at a time, or on too large an area at a time, left the body open to opportunistic infections or bleeding. Thus, if the doctors had used holy water on one of Violet's wounds before she'd woken up, she could have died from the blood loss they'd worked so hard to save her from, or from an infection that couldn't be kept at bay by her lack of white blood cells.

The world kept moving, but Violet remained unconscious, as she had the last time she'd used her curse magic. Redheart sighed as she administered the next shot of holy water. According to Princess Luna, Violet had used not just one, but two curses this time, and while she certainly looked better, Violet was still an absolute wreck.

"How long do you think it will take for her to wake up...?" Princess Luna asked.

The weirdest part of Violet coming back to the hospital was not the fact that she was an alien from another world. It wasn't that she'd sustained wounds that should be nearly impossible to heal and was recovering from them like they were normal. It wasn't even that she reeked of curse magic to the point that even entering the room made Redheart want to puke and then run away. No, the weirdest part was that Princess Luna herself was staying by Violet's side the whole time, much the same as the Shape.

"Well, it's difficult to say. Violet's recovery time is far faster than the average pony's, but she's sustained a lot of damage and a lot of curse magic. Considering that and that she hasn't lost nearly as much blood as last time, maybe a week? Two at most. But that's just me," Nurse Redheart replied, putting the syringe in the hazardous waste bin. "Doctor Day insists it should take a month with everything wrong with her."

(Recommended Listening)

Princess Luna stayed overnight, watching over her. The same went for the next night, and the night after. Four, five, six days. Occasionally, she'd sleep, but not nearly as often as was healthy, and when she did, it was a fitful, uneasy sleep. Violet, too, did not rest easy. She'd twitch in her sleep, and groan in pain, calling out in her native tongue in a voice broken by screaming. On the seventh day, Princess Luna slept in Violet's bed with her. If anyone asked, Nurse Redheart would deny seeing Princess Luna openly weep over Violet's unconscious body.

Violet awoke after eleven days asleep.

Princess Luna immediately was at her bedside the moment her eyes opened, but she remained silent, and her expression was somber. When Violet looked up at her, Luna only saw pain and sorrow in her eyes. She knew those eyes well. She'd seen those eyes many times in the mirror. Those were the eyes of one who'd fought their inner demons and lost, only to be saved by an outside force.

"I'm sorry..." Luna murmured.

"Why...?" Violet asked, her voice barely above a whisper. She turned to look at the princess with teary eyes. "Why will you not let me run? I want to protect you..."

This was what Luna had wanted to put into art: a response to this exact question. In the absence of her art, she had to settle for her words.

"Running will not work, Violet. I know this, because I have tried," she answered as tears ran down her own cheeks. "Monsters inside you cannot be killed, and their claws cannot be run from."

"I cannot keep fighting...!" Violet sobbed. "I am the monster! I am {Ahamkara}! How do I save you from me?"

Luna nodded slowly, and rested her head on Violet's shoulder, offering her own to cry on. "You live, Violet... You find peace where you can, and you hold onto it."

Violet broke down completely, her tears flowing freely and wetting Luna's fur. Her arms weakly wrapped around her withers and pulled her into the tightest hug her broken body could muster. She sobbed a century's worth of tears in that moment, and outside, rain began to fall.

"You are safe here. I will protect you," Luna murmured, wrapping her wings around Violet.

Time slowed down as Luna held Violet as she cried into her shoulder. The world Violet had come from was cruel and cold. War raged without end, and Violet had been the victim of it many thousands of times. She'd witnessed her allies die by her own hands because of factors beyond her control. She'd lost her mentor, the metal {human}, the Ace of Spades. She'd lost faith in herself, and by choosing to run, she'd lost her two closest friends. Trauma was the consolation prize of her heroic sacrifices.

But Luna would be Violet's first friend in this new world. She would reach out to Violet and pick her up when she was down. She would paint the night sky in Violet's colors to remind her of her beauty. She would be a shoulder for Violet to cry on on the bad days, and her most avid supporter. She would give Violet a warm, happy place to live in peace. Luna would express these fuzzy, complicated feelings she had for Violet, even if she couldn't draw them on paper. She'd find the words for these feelings one day.

"I'm here for you..."

Luna didn't understand how it happened exactly. Perhaps it was physical exhaustion. Perhaps emotional. But Violet fell asleep shortly after her tears finally stopped, still holding Luna. The princess wasn't sure how long she'd been asleep before she noticed. Now once again in the quite inescapable embrace of Violet's arms, she decided to just roll with it. If Violet wanted to hold her in her sleep, Luna wouldn't lift a feather to deny her that. Besides, Violet was warm and soft. She slowly brought both of them back down to a prone position, and curled up as Violet pulled her closer.

"I'm sorry..."

——————————

Once again, Luna woke up holding something warm and soft. She looked down and found ~Luna~ in her arms yet again, with a truly satisfied smile on her face as she slept on. As all seemed calm, she held out her hand, summoning her Ghost.

The small machine looked at her with concern in his eye. "So."

"I'm sorry," Luna murmured.

"You lied," he said.

"I know, and I'm sorry," she replied.

"Guardian, I just... I need you to know that I'm always here for you," her Ghost said. "I was made to be here for you, no matter what. You will always be my Guardian."

Luna smiled softly and pulled the little machine closer, gently scratching at his shell as she would a cat. "Thank you Ghost... I'll try to be better..."

"That's all I ask," he said, turning to look down at ~Luna~. "Cute."

Luna sighed as her Ghost settled down in the hollow of her helm on a nearby chair. Her mind replayed the incident in ~Canterlot~, and began imagining the possible repercussions of her actions. The noble ponies were likely furious that they'd been snubbed, and she wasn't sure what happened after she lost control of her Ahamkara side. She'd been lucky that the only ponies who witnessed that were ~Luna~ and ~Twilight~ and her friends. If anyone else saw that, the news would spread faster than any virus could ever hope to. But that was a problem to tackle when she was able to move without pain. With a vague mental note to make some ibuprofen at the very least, Luna settled back down and closed her eyes, letting sleep take her.

——————————

Everything was on fire. Luna stood in the courtyard of the tower overlooking the city beneath the massive white sphere, looking on in shock as bulky, blocky airships flew towards the sphere. A massive device, shaped as a raptor's talons, opened to grip the sphere as it slowly approached. The airships launched massive cannonballs as they went, peppering the city and the courtyard around her with them. As each cannonball landed, they opened up to reveal hulking figures in ultra-heavy armor, painted in a brilliant and bloody red. The eyes of their helms were shaped in angry semicircles, and backlit with white light, giving them a murderous visage. Their arms were covered in bright red scale-mail and equipped with devices that looked to carry a heated retractable blade. And in their hands were weapons akin to Violet's but clearly of alien design by comparison.

The creatures roared a war cry, and the courtyard around her erupted into the chaos of battle. Violet's kind loosed magics that felt similar to hers, but distinctly different, while others did indeed have the same purple magic. Explosive purple spheres, flaming hammers, lightning staves. The invading brutes did their best to down the {humans}, but their victories were always short-lived as they returned to life after a pulse of light from their own Shapes. One of Violet's kin in bulky, almost regal armor barked out orders to the rest of them, and with scattered replies, they began leaping from the tower, down to the city below.

Violet arrived shortly thereafter, reinforcing the commander who'd stayed behind. As the invaders tried to charge him, Violet leapt into the air, drawing a purple bow of magic and firing a single shot in the middle of the crowd. The brutes were instantly ensnared by the magic, slowed and weakened by its threads. Violet put a single shot from the Ace of Spades into one of the brutes' helm, and all nine of them exploded in brilliant purple light.

The commander barked and pulsed with purple magic, forming the same bubble that had kept her and her sister safe upon their first contact with Violet around himself. Violet leapt in without hesitation as explosions began bombarding the courtyard. The storm of hellfire lasted nearly twenty seconds, but the dome held.

Once the attack was over, Violet surged forwards, leaping up into the air and disappearing in a flash of light as a familiar arrowhead shape flew towards the sphere.

The dream shivered.

Luna was now on one of the airships, and found Violet facing off against one of the brutes, this one easily twice Violet's height and triple her thickness. But its armor was what stood out the most. The creature had foregone its helm, opting to expose its pale, scarred face, obscured only by a small triangular mask. And instead of the bold red of the rest of the invaders, its armor was a pristine white, untouched by paint or the war raging around it.

Violet reached out to her magic and drew the bow, but the shot never fired. A pulse of light washed over Violet, and Luna watched in horror as her magic faltered and was torn from her body. Violet drew her weapon, but was slammed in the gut with a devastating punch from the creature, sending her flying nearly off the edge. She barely held on, managing to hold a one-handed grip on the ledge, a lethal fall below her. The creature seemed to mock her as it approached, and kicked her in the head, knocking her down to fall to her death.

——————————

Luna awoke to sunlight directly in her face, much to her chagrin. The worst part about her hospital room was that it faced east, towards the rising sun. She tried her best to block out the light, screwing her eyes shut while she tried to let them adjust, but found no reprieve. It was then that she heard the welcome sound of the blinds being shut.

~Luna~ yawned softly, a subtle smile on her face for some reason.

"~Morning,~" Luna said.

"~Good morning,~" ~Luna~ replied.

"Ghost, pass me my helmet?" Luna asked.

The helm disappeared from its spot on the chair and reappeared in her hands. Upon putting it on, she noticed three key details about her heads-up display. First, all four ability meters were disabled. Second, the display was flashing a warning across the top, near her health display: [Light overtaxed. All abilities disabled. 03d 18h 13m 21s.] And finally, the fact that the Darkness Zone warning was not there. From there, she navigated her helm's displays to check on the status of her ship. It was here that she received the most unpleasant news.

[Transmat Beacon GF.PLN.01...Offline]

Immediately, her breath caught in her throat. Anxiety began to take hold as flashbacks of the Taken War resurfaced. Memories of being stranded on the Dreadnaught all the way out in orbit around Saturn with no way off flickered in her mind.

"~Violet?~" ~Luna~ asked.

Luna pulled the helm from her head, revealing the princess looking up at her with concern in her eyes. She gently placed a hoof on her chest. "~Are you okay?~"

"~What happened... after I left Canterlot...?~" the Guardian inquired softly. "~Can you draw it?~"

With a word to her Ghost, a notebook appeared in her lap, pencil at the ready. ~Luna~ shook her head, and charged her horn, gently tapping it to Luna's forehead. In an instant, Luna witnessed everything she'd done from ~Luna's~ perspective. She witnessed the frantic flight back to ~Ponyville~, her unconscious body draped over ~Luna~ like a tacky cape. She saw the forest below, pockmarked with craters where amplified Nova Bombs had struck and devoured everything. And one of those craters was dead center in the triangular clearing she'd arrived in.

Light Sacrifice. Nightmare Fangs. Extinction Event. These three abilities of overwhelming power, tainted with Ahamkara magic, had destroyed her plan to quarantine herself away from anyone she could harm. It didn't matter how she'd ended up on this world instead of being in the Infinite Forest. That never changed the plan. No, these three Cursed Supers had ended her chances of isolation.

Everything had hinged on her building a new ship to leave this planet in. If this world didn't have Glimmer, she'd have gone mining for the materials she needed and machined the parts herself. She'd teach herself aerospace engineering if she had to. Her Ghost would definitely have at least the basics for her.

Running was all she had. Running was all she could think of. Running was all she was strong enough for. Run, hide, bide strength. She wasn't a Titan, who could carry the weight of the City's hopes and dreams on their shoulders and break enemies with their fists. She wasn't a brilliant Warlock who could find the answers through meditation and thought-experiments. She was just a Hunter. She lived on sly tricks and quick moves, and a lot of running. She got by on repositioning fights into favorable terrain, where she had the cover and the enemy didn't, where she had the open sight-lines and the enemy didn't. She survived by running until she had the advantage.

She had no backup plans.

This was it. The chips were down. This world was balanced on a knife's edge, and she was the blade. If she lost control, there was no guarantee that these ponies, her friends, would be safe. Not ~Luna~, not ~Twilight~. None of them were safe if she lost control.

You live, Violet. You find peace where you can, and you hold onto it.

~Luna's~ words echoed in her mind, pushing back her darker thoughts.

You are safe here. I will protect you.

15: Weapons

Ace of Spades. Exotic-class hand cannon. Ten rounds per cylinder. Equipped with smart-weapon programs codenamed 'Firefly', causing rounds to detonate a target on a precision kill, and 'Maverick', transmatting spent shells out of the cylinder and fresh bullets in upon a precision kill. This weapon was a signature of the late Hunter Vanguard, Cayde-6. The Tower's master gunsmith, Banshee-44, had repaired the weapon, but Luna had to reprogram the smart-weapon core with 'Maverick' after the Scorn Crisis. The 'Maverick' program only worked for Hunters like Luna.

No Turning Back. Legendary-class combat bow. Equipped with explosive arrowheads. Her close ally and dare-she-say friend, Petra Venj, had given this bow to her when they began hunting Cayde's murderers together. With hindsight, the bow's name tasted of bitter irony on her tongue.

Loaded Question. Legendary-class fusion rifle. Deals Arc damage. Five rounds per battery. Equipped with smart-weapon program 'Reservoir Burst', overcharging the first shot of a fresh battery and causing an explosion on a kill with that shot. Luna had used code fragments from exotic-class auto rifle Zhalo Supercell to add a chain-lightning effect to the explosion.

Apollo XI. Exotic-class fusion rifle. Deals Void damage. Equipped with smart-weapon programs 'Small Step', greatly increasing stability, range, and handling speed while airborne; and 'Giant Leap', reducing the charge time of the weapon without sacrificing damage, based on how high off the ground the wielder was. Luna had forged this weapon herself with the help of her Titan teammate, Mae.

Abide the Return. Legendary-class sword. Deals Solar damage. A ceremonial blade, but still quite functional. Luna had been given this weapon for her efforts eliminating the Scorn and Taken from the Dreaming City. Petra Venj had given this blade to her, and Luna had treasured it ever since.

Cover of Thunder. Legendary-class linear fusion rifle. Deals Arc damage. Equipped with smart-weapon programs 'Box Breathing', increasing the damage after aiming for a few seconds, and 'Covered Thunder', causing the shot to deal Arc damage in a large area around a target on hit when 'Box Breathing' was active. Luna had made this weapon with Cayde himself a few years before Morgan Yu's2 successful attack on the Black Garden. It was as much a memento as the Ace of Spades.

Along with these weapons, Luna also had her hull-scrap bow, the broken Gjallarhorn rocket launcher, four ammunition synthesis packages for each ammunition type, and her personal belongings. Everything else had been lost. The manufacture plans for the ship were destroyed. The copy she'd set to be made when she returned from ~Canterlot~ was also destroyed. The transmat beacon and long-range scanner were destroyed. Her plans to leave were destroyed.

But in the week after her second stay at the hospital, Luna was starting to feel okay with this. Was she terrified of losing control again and killing her friends? Absolutely. Was there a possibility of this actually happening? Absolutely. Did she know what the hell to do about it? Fuck no. But when did she ever know what to do?

A hundred thirty-two years, and I finally get to stop fighting? Luna thought to herself as she began breaking down Loaded Question for maintenance. Mae and Rose are probably pissed that I got the lucky ticket to peace, rough as this transition is...

"~Violet?~" Twilight called down into the basement from the stairs. "~Princess Luna is here and wants to talk to you.~"

"~She is welcome down here,~" Luna called back, not looking up from her work. One habit that would likely be the last to break to peace was her obsession with weapon maintenance. Whenever she would hang out with Mae and Rose, she'd clean everyone's weapons, regardless if they'd been used since the last time she'd cleaned them. Memories of her friends welled up from there as her eyes glossed over and her hands began to move on autopilot, applying her cleaning rag to the internal components of the fusion rifle Cayde had given her.

She'd met them upon arriving at the Tower for the first time, one-hundred twenty-seven years ago. The moment she made eye contact with them, all three of them had flashbacks from Before. Ever since then, they'd been inseparable. They'd performed in thousands of strike operations for the Vanguard, taking out high-value targets across the inner Sol System. They'd honed each other's skills in Lord Shaxx's Crucible. They all had matching tattoos of their fireteam's emblem, her own underneath her left arm. They were closer than Cayde was with his team.

But more than just being teammates, they were friends. Her best friends. Luna soon discovered that her friends were like her. All three of them had one elemental affinity, and one element they couldn't use at all. Luna was attuned to Void Light, and could wield every Void ability there was, including those that Hunters like her couldn't normally use. That was why she was able to use the Ward of Dawn and Sentinel Shield, both Titan Super abilities, back when she first arrived on this planet. As a trade-off for this affinity, Luna had less than a spark of Arc Light, and was unable to use any Arc abilities. She retained a small amount of Solar Light, but was much less proficient than average with it.

Mae, the Titan of their team, was a fellow Awoken, and was the oldest of the party at nearly seven-hundred years. The best and worst part about her being the oldest was that she acted like an older sister to both Luna and Rose. She was often restless, unable to sit still for long periods without something to do, and had a hobby of forging her own armor. Mae was attuned to Arc Light, with no Solar Light whatsoever. As a result, she was capable of wielding the Arc Super abilities that Luna could never use, but taught her what she could anyway. Mae used Arc Blade, a Hunter Super ability, almost as often as the Titan Super, Fist of Havoc. It was actually with Arc Blade that Mae set the Vanguard record for 'most kills in a single Super activation' at fouteen-hundred and nine. With Mae's teaching, Luna was able to discover a Void equivalent to Arc Blade: Spectral Blades.

Rose was the Warlock on their team, the 'middle-child' at five centuries old, and the only human among them. She was aggressive in every aspect of her personality. She was quick-tempered, often shooting Mae dead for her puns and throwing hot-coffee on Luna on more than one occasion. Her fighting style reminded her of the way flames danced, and Luna was never able to figure out its rhythm. And of course, Rose was a flaming lesbian and was absolutely what kids in the City would call horny on main, flirting at almost every woman who caught her eye. She was attuned to Solar Light, with no capacity for Void abilities. In terms of raw skill, Rose had everyone out-classed. She'd managed to not only use Super abilities from other classes, provided they were Solar, but had managed to fuse those abilities together to strengthen them.

Those affinities were also reflected in their own personalities and behavior patterns. For instance, Rose's attunement to Solar Light meant that her resting body temperature was a normally dangerous one-hundred and four degrees Fahrenheit. But after being examined by Tower infirmary staff, it was determined that she had no negative physical or mental effects stemming from her elevated temperature. However, wearing armor often led to her overheating due to the materials not being able to wick away excess body heat fast enough, so she just didn't bother wearing armor.

Mae, having no Solar Light, was often quite cold, and would frequently cuddle up with Rose for warmth like a lizard. Such cuddle sessions were the only times that the Titan could sit still for any appreciable length of time. Her affinity to Arc Light made her somewhat more hyperactive than anyone else Luna knew. After all, lightning was never calm, according to those who could wield it. Luna was only ever able to shrug at that.

Luna was pulled away from her thoughts by a particular pony princess plopping herself onto her lap. The Hunter looked down to see the flowing astral mane of ~Luna~, who had decided that her body was prime real estate for lying on. She sighed and shook her head, setting down her reassembled weapon on the table.

"~Hello,~" Luna said.

~Luna~ looked up at her with a soft smile. "~Hello.~"

"~You wanted to talk to me?~" Luna asked, plucking the pony from her lap and moving her so she could get back to cleaning her weapons.

"~Yes. We need you to come to Canterlot tomorrow,~" ~Luna said.

Luna picked up Apollo XI, starting the process of field-stripping the weapon for maintenance. Her tone became cold. "~Why?~"

"~The leaders of the world want to meet you,~" Luna said, frowning slightly. "~Word has traveled of you and your strength in battle, and your technology. They are likely afraid of you becoming a weapon for Equestria.~"

Luna set down the last piece of her fusion rifle. She turned to ~Luna~ with a grave expression. "~I am a weapon, but I belong to no one.~"

"~You are no weapon,~" the alicorn objected softly. "~You are Violet.~"

Luna sighed. "~I do not want to go, but I will. I understand my position and the power I have.~"

The princess wrapped her wing around Luna and offered a reassuring smile. "~Thank you.~"

Luna shrugged off the wing and gave the princess a hard glare. "~No making wishes.~"

——————————

All was quiet in the board room. A massive horseshoe-shaped table made of a dark hardwood took up half the room, with the leader of every nation in the world seated on the outside edge. Against the front wall was a massive whiteboard that looked brand new. Never before had a summit of this caliber been held, where all nations had managed to put aside any strained relationships with others they had and met anyway. Even King Leo of Aquastria had come, having arranged transport that would allow him the water he needed to attend.

Celestia gathered everyone's attention and waited for the dull roar of their voices to die down. Only when she had the full, undivided attention of everyone present did she speak. "Welcome, everyone. Today is quite a day, isn't it?"

"Indeed it is, Princess," Prince Rutherford of Yakyakistan replied. "Although I must ask why you've kept this from us for so long."

"I second that question," King Roc of Griffonstone added. "You must have a reason for a three week delay between first-contact and the announcement to the public."

Grand Chief Yule of the Deer spoke next, "Fellow leaders, I do hope you will give the Princess the opportunity to explain."

Celestia merely chuckled softly, raising a hoof and waving away the the mildly aggressive posturing of the other leaders. "I am not the one to ask. The discovery of our visitor belongs to my sister."

The room fell silent as they looked to seat of Princess Luna in shock, and Celestia's smile only grew as she watched their expressions intensify when they saw her seat empty. Celestia knocked her hoof on the table, the sound reverberating in the room. She called out, "Luna? Will you bring in Violet?"

The door opened, and in stepped Violet and Luna, side by side. Violet had chosen to wear her ceremonial armor, its purple sheen much brighter than the last time she'd seen it. The sticks of violet light sticking out of the quiver on her leg immediately drew the attention of everyone in the room. On her hip was the very same Ace of Spades as she always had, but this time she had another weapon slung across the small of her back. Celestia could only wonder why Violet felt the need for two weapons when the Ace of Spades and her magic were enough to take out more than three-hundred timberwolves in less than a minute.

"Hello. My name is {Luna}, but you may call me Violet. It is nice to meet you," Violet said, nodding her head towards the leaders around her as Luna took her place at the table.

To say that the room was dead silent would be an understatement. Everyone, save for Celestia and Luna, was floored by the simple greeting, their jaws hitting the table (except King Leo's, which hit the floor of his tank instead) simultaneously.

"I am not here because I want to. I am here because I was told to answer questions you may have," Violet said, yawning and rubbing her eyes. "Please ask your questions so I can go back to sleep."

"How did you arrive here?" King Roc asked quickly, taking the lead with a swift talon.

"I came through a gate," Violet replied. "Before you ask, going back is impossible."

"Are you a warrior of your kind?" Prince Dûne of Saddle Arabia asked.

"A better word would be 'Guardian'," Violet replied. "I do fight and kill, but in defense of my kind."

"Are you armed?" King Leo inquired.

Violet patted the Ace of Spades. "Always."

The chamber grew quiet as the leaders of the world turned to Luna and Celestia with shock and fear in their eyes.

"You have nothing to fear from them," Violet called, dragging their attention back to her. "I am not their weapon."

Grand Chief Yule calmly spoke up, "What were your first days on our world like?"

"Harsh. I crashed in a forest filled with hostile wildlife, and was attacked by what you call timberwolves and a hydra," Violet said, sitting down on the floor. "The hydra was tasty." The world leaders fell into a clamor, Celestia chuckling softly to herself. The princess knocked on the table, bringing everyone back to the present. "I am a Guardian. I am a weapon unlike any other."

"Celestia! What is the meaning of this‽ You allow such a dangerous monster in here?" King Roc squawked in terror. "If this thing tells the truth, then it's a monster among monsters!"

Luna stood from her seat to protest, but Violet spoke first, "You are correct. I am a monster, made to hunt and kill monsters. Please calm yourself."

"What was your first meeting with the Princesses like?" King Hulk of the Minotaurs asked, trying to defuse the tension.

"I first met Princess Luna on my second night," Luna recounted. "She found me faster than I wanted, and I was scared of her. We did not speak the same language. I had not seen magic before. But she offered me an apple, and asked me to come here to Canterlot by drawing."

Violet continued, "The next night, she brought Princess Celestia and Twilight Sparkle, and we were attacked by timberwolves. I did my best to defend them, but was gravely injured in the process. I spent fourteen days unconscious from my injuries. I am thankful I was able to save them."

"Surely you jest?" King Hulk asked incredulously. "The Princesses have incredible power at their disposal! A few timberwolves can't possibly be a threat to them!"

"There were more than three-hundred," Violet clarified, silencing King Hulk and the other leaders. Luna nodded to confirm the story. "I used my weapons until I couldn't anymore, and that alone was not enough."

"You say you were unable to take down this supposed horde of timberwolves with only your weapons, and yet you claim to have saved the Princesses!" King Hulk declared in frustration. "And before that you claim you'd never seen magic before! How could you repel such a large number of timberwolves, then?"

"My kind knows it as 'Light' in this tongue," Violet said. "Allow me to demonstrate."

Violet's magic flared as she brought herself to her feet. With a sharp breath, she stomped the ground, thrusting her hands out on either side of her body. The purple bubble of her Light formed around her in an instant, and a bright layer of blue light coated her form just over the surface of her skin and armor. The leaders gasped at what they were seeing.

Violet stepped out of the bubble, and the layer of blue light stuck to her. "My kind call this {Ward of Dawn}. It is a shield made of Light. Anything I consider an enemy will become blinded upon stepping inside it. Those I consider friend will be protected." Violet stepped back inside the bubble. "I used my Light to make this on that night, centered around the Princesses. Only when they were safe in this did I use any Light to attack."

"What is this 'Light?' How can you use it to attack?" Prince Rutherford asked.

"I do not have the words to answer that completely. My kind had a saying: The Light lives in all places; in all things. Guardians are just those who can use Light as a weapon." Violet stepped out of the bubble again, turning to the whiteboard, picking up a marker and beginning to draw what her words couldn't answer. The first drawings depicted Violet above the ground holding a small ball in the palm of her hand, with a few timberwolves on the ground, and an arrow arcing to a point in the middle of the timberwolves. The next panel showed a massive explosion centered on the previous point marked by the arrow, the timberwolves all caught in it. "We call this {Nova Bomb}."

Next she drew herself with the circular shield she'd wielded that night bashing a timberwolf, then throwing the shield and depicting it bouncing from enemy to enemy. "{Sentinel Shield}."

Next was the bow she'd used the very first night, when she'd met Violet alone. "{Shadowshot}."

Next was herself with two blades in hand, shown in ultra-thin lines. "{Spectral Blades}."

She stopped drawing and turned back to the world leaders, staring all of them down.

"How does one acquire—" King Roc started.

"You don't," Violet interrupted sharply, with a grave expression in her eyes. "It is impossible. You will die if you try."

The room fell silent.

"Next question," Violet said, her voice betraying her irritation.

Nervously, Queen Orinoco of Zebrica spoke, "I think I speak for all of us when I ask you not to make fuss. All of this is just as new to all of us as it is to you. If I may, I ask of thee, how did you come about your injuries? Were they given in your fight, or could it be a cost of Light?"

Violet froze at the question, and Luna could feel the tension that suddenly plagued her. Subtly, Violet clenched her fist for a brief moment. "There are some techniques of Light that can harm the user. I will not answer further than that."

"Can all of your kind use this Light?" King Leo asked.

"No. No living of my kind can use Light," Violet answered.

"You said going back to your world was impossible," Grand Chief Yule said. "Are you certain?"

"I destroyed my only means off this planet in an accident a few days ago. Even if I wanted to go home, I cannot," Violet sighed, sitting back down on the floor. "You want to know what my plan is for the future?"

The world leaders nodded.

"I do not have a plan," Violet stated flatly. "My only plan was to get off this planet and leave for the stars. I have no backup plan."

Violet stared up at the ceiling of the room. "I have not known peace in my entire life. I am a dangerous weapon, and I am fragile. I may explode at any moment. I left my home because I hurt those close to me. But if I can, I would like to learn to live in peace."

Author's Note

2: Morgan Yu is the name of the Player's character in the Destiny games in this story. Yu is the one who has done all of the games' main story missions with the exceptions of Destiny 1's Rise of Iron expansion, and Destiny 2's base campaign and Forsaken expansion.

16: Lost in Thoughts

Luna sighed and rubbed her forehead with a hoof. She was once again in her chambers, thinking over things Violet had said. Once again she was confronted by the fact that their worlds were vastly different, and their backgrounds painted very different pictures of each other. Luna hadn't seen war in over a thousand years, while Violet had never seen peace. Luna had been punished with banishment, while Violet had sought it to protect her friends from the monster dwelling within her. While both of them had vast power at their disposal, Luna had far more control than Violet did at this point in time.

I know you consider me to be a monster. I am a threat to you, and you are afraid of me. You are right to be afraid. But make no mistake: Any attack on Equestria is an attack on me. I will bring death to all who bring war to me. I am both weapon and monster.

"Why, Violet?" Luna groaned in frustration, plopping down on her bed.

The summit after that was damage control, trying to assure the other nations that they had no hoof in Violet's actions, and that they were not the source of the threat. But the damage was done, and now every nation in the world would have its spears raised at Equestria. World peace was now balanced on a knife's edge.

A knock rang from her door. "Lulu?"

"Enter," Luna called back.

Celestia entered her chambers, closing the door behind her and approaching with a grave expression. "Quite the summit we just held."

"I should not have brought Violet to the summit," Luna sighed. "Our politics are fragile, and she has never encountered its subtleties before."

"While I agree with that second point," Celestia said softly, settling on her sister's bed, "there may be some... unexpected benefits to her blunt approach."

"You mean threatening every single nation in the world?" Luna huffed.

"Indeed. By bringing her in, we have established that she has her own mind and agenda, entirely divorced from our own," Celestia explained. "No nation wishes to test her threat when the only intelligence they have on her is that she can slay a hydra and fight a horde of three-hundred on her own."

Luna took a deep breath, staring out into the night sky.

"Have you gleaned any new information from Violet's dreams?" Celestia asked softly.

"I have, but it is fragmented and incomplete. I can only make guesses in my interpretations of what I see," Luna replied.

"Would you like to bounce your theories off me?" Celestia asked.

"If you're willing to listen to the ramblings of a madmare," Luna giggled.

Celestia turned onto her side, staring up at her sister. "By all means."

Luna smiled softly and charged her horn with magic before tapping it against Celestia's forehead. In an instant, she let her sister see all of the dreams pertaining to Violet that she had seen. From the very first to the most recent. Celestia's expression faltered.

"That dragon is what Violet calls {Ahamkara}. When Violet said she was cursed by the {Ahamkara}, she did not tell the whole truth," Luna said somberly. "I believe she is {Ahamkara}."

Celestia looked up at the ceiling. "I see the pieces, but not the puzzle."

"Violet's parents were both female, and thus could not conceive a child," Luna began. "In order to have Violet, her mothers had to wish on an {Ahamkara}. Are you aware of the research being done on magic's effects on pregnancies?"

"Something something there's a link somewhere?" Celestia answered in her usual code.

"There's a spell in development that allows female-female couples to conceive," Luna continued. "Current research suggests that the magic used influences the genetics of the foal. In couples that already have a unicorn, that difference is negligible. But in couples that don't, the foals that result from the spell have a genetic makeup that includes about two-percent unicorn blood."

"Which would mean if the {Ahamkara} used that spell to grant her mother's wish, then Violet would be two-percent {Ahamkara}..." Upon Celestia putting those pieces together, she bolted upright. "Wait, how would the {Ahamkara} be able to use magic from our world? I didn't feel magic at all!"

"That's the part I'm trying to figure out. I have no proof, but it's possible that these {Ahamkara} are capable of bending universes. If they did so to tap our world's magic, it would be possible to use that spell, thus making her the 'heir'. The only way to prove it possible would be to check if the universe around Violet is intertwined with her own."

"And how do we do that?" Celestia asked.

"We don't," Luna sighed. "It's not possible."

"What else could it be?" Celestia prodded.

"It could be as simple as that her world is merely an unfathomably large distance away," Luna answered. "It's not likely though because of the lack of aetheric field on all three worlds of hers I've seen. An entire system without an aetheric field would collapse before life could take hold."

"Much like ours would if we didn't exert pressure on our system to keep it moving properly," Celestia nodded.

"We ponies were lucky we figured out how to do that," Luna hummed softly. "But those are the two possibilities, and neither can be proven..."

Celestia turned to look her sister in the eye. "I'm sensing a 'but' in there somewhere."

"But, if what Violet said when casting one of her curses can be believed, these {Ahamkara} can bend reality," Luna groaned, letting her face fall into the soft mattress. "We feed upon desire and shape reality with our claws..."

"And you're not sure if we can believe an incantation like that," Celestia surmised.

"Indeed. Especially when it wasn't Violet's voice saying it," Luna nodded.

——————————

Ponyville was quite a town as of the past few years, ever since Twilight Sparkle had moved in and stopped the return of Nightmare Moon. Everyone knew the story of the local librarian who awakened the Elements of Harmony and saved Equestria. The tales attracted more attention to Ponyville, making it the target of plenty of further shenanigans.

But then, just two months prior, the strangest thing happened. Now, the changelings didn't usually follow the news, but they did keep their ears open, and it seemed that an actual alien had landed on Equus, and had since saved the town and the Princesses, including Twilight! This had to be propaganda put out by the Equestrians to hide their weakness against some other threat, and would require the immediate investigation of one particular changeling. That changeling, operating under the alias Quick Quill, was tasked with conducting that investigation under the guise of a unicorn journalist. Of course, being disguised as a journalist often made ponies less willing to talk, but came with the benefit of not attracting suspicion for asking questions in the first place.

Upon entering Ponyville, Quick discovered quite plainly that there was indeed an alien among them. And the ponies were all just... totally fine with it! None of them were freaking out and screaming in the streets! None of them were avoiding the alien at all! She could even sense that the ponies trusted this alien! It was blasphemy!

And so began the investigation. Quick followed the alien as it walked around town, making notes of its ultra shiny purple chitin and the cloak it wore. She wrote down that upon casting a magic-detection spell, she felt a vast, empty power that rivaled the Princesses of Equestria, and that each time she tried to investigate further, that power only seemed to grow. This wasn't an uncommon observation to make about changelings that were passively feeding in the field, but it definitely raised some interesting questions that the Queen would want answers to.

What was this alien's food source? Was it a new competitor for the love of the ponies?

Her train of thought was immediately derailed when she accidentally bumped muzzle-first into the alien she'd been casually tailing.

"Oh! Sorry!" Quick yelped, trying to play off her blunder.

"You have been following me," the alien spoke in a cold, detached voice that reminded her of the Queen. Its face was hidden by a mask that seemed to be part of its chitin. "Do you have questions for me?"

Quick instinctively took a step back, cowering away as she felt the full force of the alien's presence bearing down on her like the weight of her entire hive on her back. She could instinctively feel just how powerful this being was, how her magic made her feel as insignificant as a single grain of sand. "N-no...! I-I just..."

The alien crouched down, pulling the hood off its head and pulling its head off in front of her...‽ She nearly fainted on the spot, but she then saw that the creature did not have chitin, and was more like the soft and squishy ponies around town. Her face was strangely beautiful, a soft light dancing over her pale blue skin, and her luminous amber eyes disarmed her. "Are you hurt?"

"N-no! I'm okay!" Quick blurted quickly as she tried to back up again.

The alien picked up her notebook and offered it to her with a kind smile. "If you want answers to your questions, asking directly will get you the best answers. Eyes can be deceived."

Quick felt a shudder run down her back, making her wings feel jittery under the disguise. Was the alien capable of seeing through changeling magic? Would she be in danger if she stayed? Should she abort the mission? Instinct took over, compelling her to speak. "My name is Quick Quill. I'm a reporter with the Daily Sun. May I ask you some questions for my story about you?"

The alien nodded at her, pointing over to the building it was heading towards, "Only if you buy me coffee."

Quick nodded and followed closely, a cold anxiety making her feel much smaller than normal. She and the alien entered a small coffee shop, wherein the barista waved to the alien with a warm smile. Even the normal patrons seemed to be perfectly comfortable with the alien, either offering polite smiles or friendly waves. How they weren't freaking out was beyond the disguised changeling.

The alien ordered its coffee and proceeded to sit down at a small table near the back of the shop, away from the front windows. Quick joined it at the table after paying for the beverage, and opened her notebook and readied her quill and ink.

"It's nice to meet you, Quick Quill. My name is Violet," the alien said, offering a soft smile. "I will answer only four questions, and I will leave the moment I finish my coffee. Please avoid questions that need detailed answers. I do not know many words in your language yet."

Quick Quill nodded as her mind began to drum up what questions to ask to get the most out of each. Violet took a sip of her coffee, instantly putting Quick on the clock. "Is it true that you have saved Ponyville and the Princesses alone?"

"Yes," Violet said, taking another sip.

"What was it you saved them from?" Quick asked quickly, interrupting Violet from another sip.

"Once, I saved the Princesses and Twilight Sparkle from a pack of three-hundred timberwolves," Violet answered, pausing for a sip. "Once, I saved Ponyville from a plant-monster. I do not know the name of it in your language."

Quick took a moment to think, trying to piece together what she'd just heard. With her hive being from the badlands, she was unfamiliar with what kind of 'plant-monsters' may or may not exist in Equestria. But of course, fighting three-hundred of anything was no small feat, regardless of what was being fought.

"Why did you warn the Princesses not use the word 'wish' during your visit to Canterlot?" Quick asked.

Immediately she felt the pressure of Violet's power around her, pushing down on her as though she were buried beneath a mountain.

"I will not answer this question," Violet said coldly, taking a long sip of her coffee, draining most of the remainder. "You have one question left."

"Do you feed on love?" the changeling asked quickly, before the opportunity was lost.

Violet squinted at her, and the pressure around her only grew more intense, almost making her disguise flicker. The ponies around them, too, seemed to notice the pressure, and were now all staring at the two with hard gazes.

"No," Violet said curtly, knocking back the last of her coffee and standing from the table. "Thank you for the coffee. Good luck with your paper."

With that, Quick was left to figure out what could be gleaned from the short interview.

——————————

(Recommended Listening)

Luna sat in the rain in the Everfree Forest. Her helm was still off from the interview, and she held her face up to the sky, savoring how each droplet made her feel real in this world. Her cloak was soaked through, and water was leaking into her armor from her face and down her neck.

She knew exactly why she was here, instead of taking refuge inside or even just enjoying the rain in the park. Her Ghost knew why she was here. The small machine floated over her shoulder, perhaps enjoying the feeling of rain as well.

There was a distant rumble of thunder, and a soft, melancholy smile turned up on Luna's lips. Her mind replayed memories of Mae honing her Arc Light during thunderstorms. Titans weren't usually described as 'graceful', but Mae was an exception. That had been the key distinction between her team and others. Mae's movements resembled dancing more than whatever she was actually doing. When she fought, she would always be moving. Her feet would count time as she flowed through the melody of battle. When Rose was resurrected, Mae taught her to do the same. When Luna joined them, Mae taught her as well.

Mae stood at the edge of a cliff, with a storm raging around her. Lightning flashed in the distance, and the clap of thunder followed shortly thereafter. Her foot tapped the dirt like a metronome, and her breathing matched the tempo. She crouched into an awkward stance, and Arc Light snapped, coating her in electricity and forming seven blades: One in her mouth, one in each hand, and one in the crook of each elbow and knee. Her Ghost floated above her, projecting holographic enemies moving around her, on the attack. A Hive Knight ran towards her with a sword as long as the Titan was tall, bringing it up for an overhead chop.

Thunderclap and flash. The Titan sprung into action, twirling a blade from her elbow around her arm to swat the sword away before a blade from her knee rose to slice the Knight in half. As the hologram faded, the Titan continued moving, her steps measured and steady. She danced around the cliffs, juggling the blades of Arc Light as projected enemies accosted her to no avail. The simulations were never able to get as much as a graze on her.

Her Ghost transmatted back into her backpack, leaving her lost in thoughts all alone. Not that she minded. Memories of her friends resurfaced once more.

Rose stood in the sands of a vast desert. The dunes of the Martian desert rolled long and low, only ever rising a couple of meters, leaving the spot exposed in wide-open sight-lines in every direction. The Warlock smiled as she looked around, and reached out to her Light. Butterfly wings of Solar Light sprouted from her back, and her body became coated in blinding fire. She gripped the Light in her hand and tossed a sphere of flames, which expanded into a miniature sun upon hitting the ground. She threw another, only slightly overlapping with the first. She threw another. Within seconds, the sand began to melt down and congeal together into glass, and she kept throwing the miniature suns for several seconds.

When all of the suns faded away, a small area had been turned to glass. She took a step onto the plate of glass and began to dance the way Mae had taught her.

There was a howl through the rain, breaking Luna from her thoughts and prompting her to put her helm back on. While the wolves didn't sound close, they certainly weren't far enough away to dismiss outright. Another howl, this one closer, made her draw the Ace of Spades.

A pony, that same reporter from earlier, busted through the tree line, a pack of twenty timberwolves hot on her tail. Her head was turned to keep the plant-monsters within her peripheral vision at the very least.

"I had a feeling there was more at play here," Luna sighed. She stood up from the stump she was sitting on and leapt into the air, taking aim. She jumped a second time and reached out to her Light, drawing the Void Bow and loosing the arrow just behind the incoming pony. Instantly, the purple tethers lashed out, snaring the wolves and making them fall apart.

But the Shadowshot had also tethered the pony, draining her magic and causing her to transform into a pony-bug hybrid of some sort. The bug-pony's black chitin, particularly that near its legs, seemed shot full of holes wider than the tubes of some rocket launchers she'd used, though it didn't seem to be from any injury. The word for these ponies was ~changeling~ if she remembered correctly, and supposedly, they were a hostile race.

The ~changeling~ stared with its buggy blue eyes in terror at the anchor and tether that had ripped off its disguise and nullified its magic. It then looked up at Luna with that same fear plastered on its face. "~P-please!"

In response, Luna put away her weapon and sat down on a stump, letting the tether fade away on its own. The ~changeling~ simply stared at her, fear fading into the awkward 'I thought you were going to kill me, why didn't you?' curiosity.

Luna removed her helm, revealing her face to the ~changeling~ so it could see her eyes boring a new hole into its head. She smiled, knowing that the ~changeling~ knew exactly who was in control of the situation. "~Now it is your turn to answer my questions, yes?~"

Intermission: Meanwhile

A Warlock paced in one of the Tower's dormitories devoted to the Guardians. She was human, and the only thing that signaled that she was a Warlock was the bond around her upper left arm: a simple flaming golden circlet that seemed to burn without end. She lacked the traditional Warlock robe-armor, instead wearing clothing one might wear as a belly-dancer. Her attire was light and airy, designed to let out as much heat as possible and help her maintain her body temperature.

Off on a couch an Awoken woman with relatively short silver hair sat watching the Warlock pace. The Awoken in question was absolutely built like a tank, her muscles well-defined beneath her pale blue skin. Unlike her Warlock friend, she wore clothes significantly more acceptable to appear in public in, if only by the fact that loose-fitting sweatpants and a hoodie would always beat glorified lingerie in that department. Her leg bounced up and down as she sat leaning slightly forward, watching her friend do her usual thinking routine.

"Luna's last known location was at the gate of the Infinite Forest," the Warlock currently pacing like an anxious cat mumbled mostly to herself. "I know she's been trying to isolate recently, but Osiris hasn't seen her in the Forest."

"The Infinite Forest is pretty fucking big, Rose," the Awoken woman said. "It's not called the Infinite Forest for nothing."

"That may be true, but reports of the Undying Mind's death line up near exactly with Luna's last ping," Rose sighed in frustration. "Now that it's dead the Forest is all kinds of fucked up, and Osiris said something about 'time being broken' or some other fuckery. I don't like the sound of that, Mae."

"Thinking there's a connection?" Mae asked.

"I have a sneaking suspicion there might be," the Warlock said. "Much as I think the Old Bird Man is off his rocker, he's the person to go to to ask about any kind of Vex time-space bullshit."

"Was Osiris in the Forest when the Undying Mind was killed?" Mae asked, leaning back into the sofa.

"No. He was outside for once tending to one of his attempts to play Cayde," Rose said.

"Why does everyone we know mess with Vex tech?" Mae sighed in exasperation. "Just fucking leave them alone unless you're shooting their stupid milk-filled bellies in!"

"While I agree, let's get back to the issue at hand," Rose said, snapping her fingers. "Luna was probably inside the Infinite Forest when the Undying Mind was killed. Based on what it looks like in there now, I'd hazard a guess that Luna's now lost in there, but even Osiris can't help us figure out where she could be."

"So how do we unfuck this?" Mae asked.

"Simple. We crash the Forest," Rose said.

17: Journey

Luna headed southeast, her pace comfortable considering her current loadout. As always, the Ace of Spades was strapped to her hip, with Loaded Question on the small of her back, and Cover of Thunder slung diagonal across her shoulder. If she had her Sparrow, she'd be able to make it to the Badlands and back before daybreak, but she had no such luck. From what she'd managed to gather, the Badlands were about a three-days' walk from Ponyville. And since she still had the transmat beacons she'd set up in Ponyville, return travel time would be effectively zero.

"Why didn't you tell them where we were going?" her Ghost asked as Luna continued her brisk jog through the forest.

"Because they consider these ~changelings~ to be a hostile race," Luna answered as she followed the river. "I don't need their approval to go ask some questions."

"Won't they freak out when you're not back in the evening?" the Ghost inquired. "Or in the morning?"

"I left a note for them that I'll be in the forest for a few days. They won't worry," the Guardian said.

She slowed down to a walk, beginning to inspect the trees around her. Just off the riverbank, twisting roots wove between being above and below ground. Dense underbrush disguised the forest floor, concealing the presence of perhaps dozens of wild critters. The canopy above, too, was thick enough to block much of the sunlight from reaching down to even the bushes. Even with her natural low-light vision, she couldn't see more than fifty or so meters into the forest.

A fox stepped out from the forest a few meters away, pausing as it saw her. Its eyes gleamed with curiosity and fear. Luna stopped and sat down on the river bank, plucking her backpack from beneath her cloak. The fox watched as she pulled a wrapped sandwich from her bag.

(Recommended Listening)

It cautiously approached her, keeping its head low and its ears pointed forwards. Luna smiled softly, plucking a piece of meat from the sandwich and placing it on a rock near her. The fox's gaze shifted between her and the small offering, calculating the risk of taking the meat.

It quickly dashed forward, snapping up the meat and bouncing back to its original position. Luna simply smiled a little wider, acknowledging the fox's presence but turning her gaze to the other side of the river to show she was not a threat, and went back to eating her sandwich. After a few quiet moments, the fox approached her.

It approached from the side, seeming to recognize her display of non-aggression, just within peripheral vision. The fox sniffed her armor, its eyes watching Luna's face carefully should she suddenly move. Then it moved up, cautiously lifting its nose to the hood of her cloak, taking in the scent trapped within the cloth. After a moment, it decided to sniff Luna's face.

The Guardian in question had to hold in a giggle as the fox's nose and breath tickled her face. Her smile widened.

The fox stepped around to be directly in front of her, still sniffing her face.

"Curious, aren't you?" Luna murmured, absolutely floored by the interaction that was happening.

The fox finally pulled its nose away, looking up at her with curiosity. Tentatively, she reached out with a hand with her palm up. The fox sniffed it. Luna gently petted the fox's neck. The fox stepped closer, laying down in front of her, seeming to smile at her. Its tail swished back and forth slowly.

For a few beautiful moments Luna just pet the wild fox, smiling so much her face hurt. The gentle sounds of the river flowing and the cool breeze in the trees gave the moment a sense of serenity. Though she was sure the fox could smell far more than she could, the earthy scent of fresh forest air only added to the peaceful atmosphere.

The fox stood. Luna pulled her hand away as it approached her face again. But instead of sniffing her face some more, it instead licked her cheek before turning and trotting away, leaving Luna to herself once more.

"Fare thee well, friend," she murmured, her dopey smile refusing to fade.

After she finished off her sandwich, she continued onwards, following the river.

She was still, somehow, hungry.

The sound of the river mixed with the rhythmic crunches of her boots on the pebbles. At her comfortable jog, the tempo of her footfalls was perfect for a simple melody to play in her mind. Using a technique she'd honed over the decades, she began to whistle the song to the forest, both while inhaling and exhaling.

And the forest sang back. Birds hiding in the trees began mimicking her melody after hearing it only twice repeated.

This continued until she stopped for the night.

She stopped at the edge of the forest, just off the riverbank. Her camp was nothing more than a small fire and a large, slightly concave rock to nestle into. As usual, she tapped her limited Solar Light to bounce an incendiary grenade off the ground. The blast killed her instantly, but lit the fire perfectly well, and with a pulse of light, she was resurrected no worse for wear.

She took a moment in the dying light of sunset to wade into the river, watching the clear waters as fish swam against the current. Slowly, she pulled her knife from its place on the small of her back, just under Loaded Question. She watched carefully, anticipating the movements of the fish, and with a swift strike, Luna had caught herself a meal.

The night passed peacefully. Luna wavered between consciousness, dozing off in the dim light of the low fire. The insects chirped their own counter-melody in rebellious harmony with the birds, dozens of individual symphonies mixing in the forest air. No monsters attacked her. None of the wooden wolves howled. All but the insects were at rest in the calm of night.

(Recommended Listening)

In the morning, she stamped out the ashes of her fire and resumed her journey southeast, leaving the forest behind to an empty plains untouched by the ponies. Hills rolled slowly over the horizon, covered in a sea of grass that reached up to her hip. On a few hills, she could see ancient oak trees that were large enough to have been there longer than even Mae had been alive. In the early light of dawn, rose-stained clouds hung lazily in the air, barely moving with the light breeze that made waves on the ocean of grass. As the sun continued its ascent, she could see the lines of the cloud shadows stretching out into empty sky, yet to make contact with the ground.

She did not jog this time. Her steps were still measured, still keeping time, just slower. Her hands stretched out ever-so-slightly, passing through the grass for a moment before returning to her sides as she continued on in silence.

I hope Mae and Rose are doing okay without me... she thought softly. I almost hope they manage to find a way here and get stuck with me...

She crested a hill and took a moment to stand beneath an oak and look out over the vast expanse of plains.

I would't want them to suffer being stuck and unable to go home though...

She heard a rustle behind her, and a tiny squeak before silence. Luna turned around, hand twitching in anticipation. She saw a small void in the grass where it was parted by something. Carefully, she stepped closer, pulling her knife from its sheath.

A fox looked up at her, a freshly killed mouse in its mouth. It seemed quite pleased with itself. Upon seeing her, the fox's tail swished back and forth, and it trotted over and gave her leg a nuzzle.

"Hey buddy," Luna cooed softly. "You sure you should be following me?"

The fox did not answer. Instead, it plopped down at her feet and ate its mouse. The sun was high in the sky and would begin its descent soon. And a meal would be nice after the hours of walking. So she sat down, as she had before, pulling a wrapped sandwich from her backpack and biting into it.

Blesséd be bread...

With that thought, she plucked a small piece of meat from her sandwich and offered it to the fox, who gladly accepted it. It carefully but eagerly snapped up the meat, its tail swishing back and forth behind it.

"Why are you here, my furry friend?" she asked softly, mostly to herself.

The fox did not answer. Instead, it simply looked into her, its eyes gleaming with intelligence and curiosity. Perhaps that was enough to satisfy her question.

"I do enjoy your company, however," she mused as she continued munching on her sandwich.

The fox stood and got closer, curling up next to her, resting its head in her lap.

"You know, I used to fight time-hopping alien murder-robots in outer space. I've seen four cats and a chicken in my whole life," Luna said. "I've seen a whole lotta weird, and not a lot of normal. Somehow, you are the most normal weird thing I've ever seen."

The fox simply looked up at her with its intelligent eyes.

"You're weird, and I love you," Luna giggled.

The fox's tail swished a little faster.

Luna finished her sandwich, but found herself still hungry.

She did not rise to continue her journey immediately. She instead took a moment to sit and pet the fox that had decided to follow her. Its fur was soft against her hand, and wasn't nearly as dirty as one might expect. She scratched the fox's head just behind the ears.

After a few minutes, she stood, and the fox stood with her, looking up at her as if to say, I will follow.

"I'm heading into a desert, you know," Luna said, looking down at the fox as she began walking again. "I didn't bring enough food for the both of us."

The fox yipped at her with a sly smile.

Luna sighed, shaking her head as an exasperated smile turned up her lips.

She continued on. The fox followed close at her side, occasionally pausing to sniff at spots in the tall grass, but always returning quickly. On occasion, when she crested a hill, she'd pull her linear-fusion rifle from her back and take a peek at the horizon through its scope. Eventually, she saw the barrier foothills that separated the ~Badlands~ from the plains, and train tracks directly south. As she followed the tracks through the scope, her gaze fell upon a small town, whose rails were the end of the line. ~Dodge City~ was its name, according to the ~changeling~. It was the first town in her path, the second being called ~Canter Creek~.

She slung her weapon over her shoulder and began directly south, giving the town a wide berth. She'd head to the foothills and follow them to the pass further east. Much as she'd love to stop and barter supplies to feed the fox with when she entered the ~Badlands~, she didn't want to cause any panic like when her presence was revealed in ~Ponyville~. She'd have to make do with what she could hunt at the foothills.

It took the rest of the day to make it to the pass. A well-worn road stretched from the rail town out into the ~Badlands~, which she was careful to make camp away from. It would be bad if ponies from the road saw her. Once she found a suitable spot, she began collecting firewood and searching for any signs of critters she could catch. She transmatted the Ace away, swapping it for her combat bow. After messing with its smart-weapons programs, the explosive arrowheads were exchanged for normal ones. And with that, she hunted.

She managed to kill four decently sized rabbits before it became too dark to hunt effectively. As the moon began its ascent, Luna reached for her limited Solar Light, trying her best to tap into it. A smoldering knife formed in her hand as she threw it down at the firewood. Luckily, it ignited the wood.

After skinning and gutting the rabbits, she set the meat over the fire as she began piling stones around it to limit the glow of the flame. The fox simply lay curled up on the ground, watching her as she worked, eyes occasionally flicking back to the cooking meat. Once Luna finished her work, she turned the rabbits.

It took a while, but the first two rabbits were done. Both she and the fox began munching on their meals at the same time, and considering the lack of ingredients, Luna was quite satisfied with how it all turned out. Burning mountain sage with the firewood gave the meat a unique flavor that she rarely got to taste back in her home universe. From her backpack she removed a canteen of water, which she shared with the fox. But she had a bit more work to do before she could sleep for the night.

A tarp transmatted in, and she set to work building a small dome over the fire, with a small vent at the top. The smoke and heat was soon trapped inside, only escaping through the vent, and the fire burned low and slow. In another hour, she let the fire burn down to cinders and let the remaining smoke do its work. An hour after that, she put away the tarp, put the now smoked rabbits in containers, and reignited the fire, keeping it small. Just enough for a little bit of warmth against the chilly breeze passing through the hills from the desert. Satisfied with her work, she allowed herself to sit back against a boulder and doze off just a little bit.

She was still hungry.

In the morning, Luna walked out to a tiny pond she'd seen the previous evening, and filled a small metal pot with some water. From there she set the fire up once more, breathing life back into the near-dead embers. She burned the fire hot, and set the pot over the flame to boil. The whole time, the fox watched her.

"You know, I didn't plan on having company for this trip," Luna murmured as she sat back down cross-legged to wait. "Didn't bring enough food or water for you to come through the desert."

The fox yawned and stretched before stepping into the space in her lap and curling up once more. Internally, Luna squee'd in delight.

"You're dead set on following me, aren't you?" Luna asked.

The fox made a slightly forceful exhale, as though indignant that she'd even ask such a question.

"You're lucky you're cute and fluffy," Luna sighed. Her hands began petting the fox, occasionally scratching behind its ears. "It helps that you're the mascot of my team..."

Once the water was boiling, she pulled the pot off the fire before snuffing it with a smoke bomb. Once the smoke cleared, she transmatted a spare from her chest of personal belongings back in ~Ponyville~, as she waited for the boiling water to cool back to ambient temperature.

Satisfied that she'd put the fire out properly and ensured there were no embers, she scattered the ashes and stones and refilled her canteens.

She stood back up, leaving the hood of her cloak up to keep the sun from baking her when she got into the desert. Of course, her armor was climate controlled, so she'd be fine, but the stubborn fox was another story entirely. "Once the temperature hits triple-digits, I'm carrying you in the backpack," she said, looking down at her tag-along.

"It's already pretty cramped in here," her Ghost said.

"The fox isn't leaving, and I'm not just gonna let it bake in the desert," Luna said. "You won't have to share for long."

With that, Luna set out, fox in tow, her steps falling into measured time as the sun finally rose all the way over the horizon. She kept her helmet on as she moved through the pass, her eyes scanning the horizon and checking her motion-tracker for possible ponies. She replaced her bow with the Ace, its weight on her hip providing a sense of security for her.

(Recommended Listening)

The rough dirt patched with hardy shrubs soon gave way to a sea of sand, stretching out further than Luna could see. The occasional massive cactus stood the same way as the oaks of the plains behind her. From so far away, they seemed quite small, but Luna knew that they were at least twice as tall as her, even with her boots on.

She pulled up Cover of Thunder and looked into the distance with its scope once more, surveying the final leg of the journey before she reached her destination. She looked out over the desert, shifting her gaze from mesa to mesa, looking for the one that housed her goal.

Upon spotting it, she slung the weapon back to its original position over her shoulder and resumed walking, keeping her eyes on the temperature. The sun continued its journey up, and Luna and the fox continued their journey forwards. As the steps counted ever higher, the sand only became harder to trudge through.

The temperature reached one-hundred degrees, and the fox was beginning to show signs of overheating. They stopped in the shade of a cactus. Luna opened one of her canteens and began pouring water for the fox, who eagerly lapped it up between pants. She then opened her backpack as wide as she could. The fox seemed to understand, and sat down in the backpack, leaving only its head sticking out to look around.

After taking a few swigs of water for herself, Luna closed her canteen and warned her fluffy companion, "This sand is a bitch and a half to walk through, so I'm gonna be Hunter-hopping. Please don't squirm."

The fox simply licked her face-plate in response.

Her Rigs transmatted off her legs at the same time that her Bones transmatted on. With such wide sight-lines, an extra jump would be far more useful here.

She dug her feet out of the sand and began moving forwards, trying her best to break into a run through the sand. Once she reached top speed, she jumped, and jumped again, and jumped again, all before touching the ground. And the moment she felt sand under her boots, she pushed down and jumped again, starting the three-jump pattern. Each midair jump added forward momentum, and the desert soon began to speed by as she Hunter-hopped over the slowing sand.

This went on for the rest of the day. When they reached the particular mesa they needed to reach, Luna could instantly make out the cave entrance leading down into the ~changeling~ hive. But she did not descend into the depths immediately.

As the sunset dyed the sky in brilliant hues and the sand glowed in the dying light, Luna pulled out the smoked rabbits and the fox. The two of them ate their meal in silence, savoring the flavor of the meat and the cooling air. Soon, they'd be underground, and Luna's previous interactions with any kind of hive underground usually involved a lot of dying and killing. She hoped desperately that it wouldn't come to that.

After their meal and a quick drink of water, Luna pulled the Ace from its holster. Its familiar weight in her hand helped her keep her anxiety in check.

"Well. Time to get some answers."

She was still hungry.

Author's Note

This chapter is the single most fun and most difficult chapter I've written in this story because of the fox. Didn't plan on the fox showing up. Or staying.

18: Hive and Hunger

The cave was humid and held a comfortable temperature. Her Ghost floated just over her shoulder, shining a light down the path. Every so often, her Ghost would emit an ultra-low pitched ping of sonar, before adjusting the light to indicate which branch of the cave to continue down. The cave seemed to twist in chaotic patterns, and Luna couldn't begin to understand the logic behind them. But as she went deeper, her grip on her weapon tightened.

She soon arrived in a wide open section of the cave illuminated by green crystals, and gooey biomass clung to the walls and corners. Even with her Ghost's light, she couldn't tell the color.

She was on Earth's moon, in that pit known fittingly as the Hellmouth. Sickly green crystals sharp as knives grew from the walls. A Hive Acolyte plucked one that had been shot off, wielding the makeshift weapon as it charged her, using the screaming Thrall as cover. Luna had already used her Shadowshot, and was low on ammunition. She leapt back and tossed a smoke and a grenade at the mass of shrieking hell-spawn. The Acolyte managed to get through the smoke before the grenade's wall of voidfire erupted. Luna tried to run for a doorway, but was thrown off her feet by a stray boomer shot from a Knight hiding in the back lines. By the time she picked herself up, she'd been stabbed in the kidney with the crystal, piercing her all the way through.

Her abdomen itched as she returned to reality. All around her, she could see the faint glint of blue eyes in the dark of the connecting tunnels. Some seemed threatening, some scared, some curious. She continued forwards, and as she went, she could hear the ~changelings~ beginning to follow her. One glance at her motion-tracker revealed the entire back-half was red with unidentified movement.

She was running. She was the last of the team sent in to stop a Hive summoning ritual on the moon, but it was too late. The Ogre had already been summoned, its wicked eye mowing down her allies. Thralls were chasing her in a writhing wave of rotting flesh and screams. Every chance she got she'd drop a voidwall grenade or a smoke bomb to slow the Thralls, but it only barely kept them off her. She didn't dare turn back to face them. Behind the Thralls were lines of Wizards ready to rip out her Light and feast on it.

Her breathing was slow and deliberate, falling in tempo with her footsteps measuring time. She felt itchy all over, like the scales were growing back in as she approached her target. The fox watched in silence from her backpack, its head poking out from beneath her cloak. The ~changelings~ behind her fell in line, but not in step. None could find the rhythm of her gait.

She reached the final chamber, lined with sharp green crystals that illuminated the space, allowing her Ghost to return to its hiding spot. Unlike the halls and previous chambers, this one was devoid of the strange biomass. Before her were five ~changelings~, each of which seemed quite important. The most obvious one was seated on a throne of crystal, its chitin polished and shiny. Atop its head was both a long, jagged horn, and a small crown. She identified this one as the Queen, and her target.

The second was the ~changeling~ she'd initially met back in ~Ponyville~. Officially, the ~changeling~ didn't have its own name, so she'd continue to call it ~Quick Quill~ until otherwise asked.

The remaining three were armed guards, based on their crystal-tipped spears. All three stood in her direct path to the Queen.

Luna checked her HUD, smiling to herself as she saw she wasn't in a Darkness Zone. She paid no mind to the guards or the Queen as she approached at her normal pace, the ~changelings~ behind her stopping at the entrance to the chamber. The guards raised their spears at her as she approached. She did not stop.

One of the guards thrusted its spear at her, but was far too slow. Luna dodged forwards, dropping a smoke bomb directly beneath her as she rolled over the attack and past the guards. The smoke caught all three, making them cough and wheeze as the Queen watched with interest.

Once she was exactly ten meters from the Queen, Luna tapped her Light, stamping the ground and thrusting out her hands in opposite directions. The Ward of Dawn formed around her, coating her in its protection. Behind her, she could hear distressed chittering from the ~changelings~ watching from the halls. The guards stared at her with an odd expression of equal parts confusion and annoyance.

"~You are here,~" the ~changeling~ Queen said.

"~My name is {Luna}. Please call me Violet. It is nice to meet you,~" Luna greeted from her bubble.

"~So I've heard,~" said the Queen. "~I am Queen Chrysalis. My — has told quite a tale about you.~"

"~Before we speak more, I must apologize,~" Luna said. "~I am still learning your language, and am missing many words. I may have to ask you to explain words I do not know.~"

"~Very well,~" ~Queen Chrysalis~ hummed. "~That said, you come seeking information, yes?~"

"~Yes. I am seeking to understand a part of myself, and it seems your kind are similar,~" Luna began carefully. "~Do you know the origin of your kind's ability to feed on love?~"

"~We do not have any surviving tales on our origins,~" ~Chrysalis~ said. "~Normally, those memories are passed through the generations with our kind's hivemind. The — we face now dulls our memories over time.~"

"~What is that word, —?~" Luna asked.

"~—. It means a long time of hunger,~" the Queen clarified. "~We have not had enough food to sustain the hive in —, and those memories may be lost forever.~"

"~Do any changelings still live who may know the origin story?~" Luna asked. "~Would ending your... famine... restore those memories?~"

"~Impossible,~" the Queen spat. "~Ponies naturally hate and distrust us. We have to feed by disguising ourselves as the loved ones of our targets.~"

"~I did not ask of your kind's status in pony society,~" Luna said as the bubble finally faded. "~Would ending the famine restore the memories of your origins?~"

The Queen squinted at Luna as though she'd been insulted. "~It is possible, but I cannot guarantee it.~"

"~Then I will speak to the Princesses—~" ~Chrysalis'~ eyes widened in shock and the chittering behind her became a dull roar of frantic buzzing, "~—about your kind's famine on your behalf.~"

"~YOU WHAT?!~" the Queen shouted indignantly.

"~I know only the story from the ponies' side,~" Luna said. "~I can gather that your kind was driven to extreme action by famine. I will reason with the Princesses on your behalf. I will not reveal your location, and I will bring you the best possible outcome for your hive.~"

"~All in exchange for our memories?~" ~Chrysalis~ asked suspiciously. "~What do you stand to gain from those memories?~"

"~I have a similar hunger, but I do not know how to eat,~" Luna said.

The Queen's face was at first shocked, but faltered into one of regretful sadness. The Queen mulled over the offer in her head for a moment before replying. "~Inform me of everything the Princesses know of you. I know the ponies' public knowledge, but I know you've held private conversations with them. Put me on equal hoofing as the Princesses, and I will accept your offer.~"

"Standby for resurrection," she said.

——————————

Violet unslung a backpack from beneath her cloak, which curiously had a living fox from above the surface in it. With a single fluid motion, she pulled her knife from its place on her back, twirling it by the loop in its handle and catching it and slicing her own head clean off.

To say her hive was shocked would be an understatement. Chrysalis shot upright in her throne, staring with wide eyes as she witnessed the decapitation. Her wings buzzed frantically as she struggled to keep even a shred of her composure. The scent of blood immediately filled the room as it poured out of the corpse of the alien being. After a few moments, there was a pulse of light, and the alien reappeared, head still on its shoulders. Its corpse was just... gone, though the blood was still there.

"What you have seen was real," Violet said plainly. "You did see me cut my head off. You did see me die. I was dead. I have died thousands of times in my life. To me, death is not the end."

Chrysalis could feel a wave of fear washing over her for the first time in perhaps centuries. What have we allowed in our hive...?

"The second thing you must know is why I come here," the undead alien said. "There are creatures from my home. We call them {Ahamkara}. Wish-dragons. They feed on desire, and grant wishes. My kind hunted the wish-dragons to extinction. I am part {Ahamkara}, but I cannot control that part of me. To make a wish near me is dangerous beyond measure. I seek your kind's knowledge so I might learn control."

Chrysalis simply stared at Violet, the panic of all of her subjects making it difficult to absorb the information she was given.

"I have killed armies. I do not wish to continue killing, but I will if necessary," Violet said. "I come from a world of constant war. My kind has not known peace for thousands of years. Understand that I am a weapon and monster. I was made to fight and kill and die and get back up. I am a weapon, but I am in no one's hooves."

Chrysalis blinked.

"With that all said, you now have all the same information as the Princesses," Violet said, sitting down next to the backpack, beginning to pet the fox. The presence of love was immediately recognizable, making Chrysalis' wings buzz softly. "Now, your kind feeds on love, yes? Come, Queen Chrysalis. I offer some of my love of this fox as a show of goodwill."

The Queen tentatively stepped forwards from her throne, approaching the alien and her fox. As she got closer, she could taste the love, and immediately began to nibble on it, chewing on it in her mouth, even though she hadn't opened it in the first place. Her wings buzzed with energy as she felt the hunger pangs subside just a little.

"Very well. We accept your offer to broker peace between us and Equestria. On behalf of my hive, I wish you luck in your endeavors," she said.

"Before I go, I must ask about your attack on Canterlot," Violet said, turning her luminous amber eyes up to Chrysalis. "I know the ponies' story of it, but I need your side too."

Chrysalis returned to her throne, sitting back down and trying to relax under the alien's gaze. "We were starving, as we had been for generations. Our strength was waning. If we waited any longer, we wouldn't have had the strength to attack. I couldn't be the Queen who didn't do everything to save her hive... To attack would reveal us and make gathering food harder in the long term. To wait any longer would doom us to starve. I had no choice."

"Thank you. This will help me." Violet slung the backpack beneath her cloak, standing once more. "I will return to this place in three days," she said, turning and walking back down the hallway she came in from.

As she left, Chrysalis found herself floating in an odd mix of emotions. Fear of the power of the alien, yet hope in what she might be able to do.

You are quite an interesting creature, Violet.

——————————

The night was cool. Fluttershy had laid down with a good book and some calming lavender tea. Soft candlelight illuminated her new room with a warm orange glow. Her cottage had just recently been rebuilt after its destruction by the strange Carnivorous Mutae, complete with updated plumbing and lighting. But even with the electric lights, she still much preferred reading by candlelight before bed. A glance at the clock told her it was almost ten at night.

After everything that had happened in the past two months, the pegasus was delighted to be able to just go home and be alone. As much as she enjoyed the company of her friends, especially Twilight, she just didn't have the social energy to keep up. She needed some time to herself to be busy with her animal friends and recharge.

A knock echoed from downstairs. Fluttershy's ears perked up. No one really ever knocked at her door unless they had an animal emergency.

"Oh dear," she murmured, setting the book down and putting out her candle.

The pegasus made her way downstairs, flicking on the light to the main room as she went. When she opened the door, she found Violet standing there, with a fox sleeping peacefully in her backpack.

"Hello, Fluttershy," Violet said. "Sorry if I killed your sleep."

Fluttershy tilted her head for a moment before she realized what Violet was trying to say.

"Oh, no, I was already awake," she replied, opening the door for Violet. "Please, come in."

"I found this... friend... in the forest," Violet said. She stepped inside and sat down cross-legged, setting the backpack in the space between her legs. "I don't know your word for it. My kind calls this a {fox}."

"Oh! Our word is 'fox'," Fluttershy answered as Violet gently woke the fluffy critter from its sleep. The fox stepped out of the backpack, yawning and stretching, but staying close to Violet. "Oh, she really likes you!"

"This... fox...? Yes, this fox followed me," the {Awoken} replied. "All I did was give her some food. I am... I do not know the word... I have bad but not bad feeling about this fox?"

Fluttershy tilted her head, not quite understanding what Violet was getting at.

"I do not think this fox is only a fox," Violet said. "It is too strange to be only a fox."

Fluttershy took a look into the fox's eyes, seeing the glint of intelligence within them. She'd seen that light in many of her animal friends' eyes. But this fox seemed to know something. This animal was well beyond just intelligent. But even as she ran her wings across the fox's fur, she couldn't feel anything particularly strange about her. She could only see it in her eyes.

"I... believe you," Fluttershy murmured, looking up at Violet. "She's different, but I don't know how."

"Do you think Twilight might know?" she asked.

Fluttershy could only shrug. "I don't know."

Silence.

"Does she have a name?" Fluttershy asked.

"No," Violet said, shaking her head.

Silence returned.

"Could you watch her for me? I need to speak to the Princesses," Violet asked softly.

"Of course! When are you leaving?" the pegasus asked.

"Now," she said. "I'll be back in the morning."

With that, Violet disappeared in a pulse of light.

——————————

The clock struck ten. Luna was out on her balcony, staring at the moon. She always forgot to look at the moon in Violet's dreams. Did her home world have a moon? Did it perhaps have more than one? What were the constellations in her world, and what stories did they hold?

She heard a faint sound similar to the flapping of wings, but not quite. She heard it again a second later, closer. She turned to look, and was greeted by the face of Violet, her luminous amber eyes locking with her own instantly.

A startled yelp escaped the lips of the Lunar Princess, and she leapt up into the air some twenty meters from the surprise alone.

"How did you get here?!" Luna asked after landing and catching her breath. Her hoof was placed over her chest in a vain attempt to calm her heart.

"{Transmat beacon,}" she said in her native tongue, the meaning of which flew over Luna's head.

The alicorn sighed. "To what do we owe the pleasure of your visit?"

"I need to speak to you and Celestia," Violet said, perched on the balcony railing.

"Now?" Luna asked, lowering her hoof.

"About changelings," the {Awoken} said.

Luna's expression became grave.

There was a brief silence. Luna lit her horn, reaching out with her magic to Celestia's chambers and prodding her awake. Seconds later, there was a flash of golden light, and an unprincesslike yawn.

"Lulu... it's past my bedtime..." The Solar Alicorn in question stepped out onto the balcony, shaking the sleep from her eyes. "What is—"

Her eyes shot open and her body froze in place upon seeing the eyes of Violet, perched like an owl on the balcony railing.

In her mind, Celestia's thoughts went through a very particular sequence. One. Check memory if Violet was supposed to be in the castle for anything. Answer, no. Two. Violet has been the primary source of stress over the past two months. Three. Violet was here unsummoned and unaccompanied. Four. Luna's expression was one of grave concern. Conclusion: This is a dream.

"Something something changeings," Luna said in Celestia's code.

"Something something changelings," Celestia nodded sagely.

"I am here to speak for the changelings," Violet said. "They need your help."

Yup. Definitely a dream.

19: The Third Horseman

"This is what I know," Violet said, stepping down from her perch on the balcony railing. She sat down on the floor, leaning back against the railing. "Some time ago, your city was attacked by the changelings, and you defended your ponies. I am unsure of the words for more details. This attack was violent, and killed ponies. Is this correct?"

Celestia nodded. "Yes, that's how it went."

"That is your side of the story." Violet turned to look at Celestia, her glowing eyes piercing her own. "The changelings are starving. They have been starving for a long time. I think the word was... 'generations'...? The only option was to attack for food. By doing so, they made themselves seen, and now, gathering food is harder. If they didn't attack, they would starve. The Queen saw no choice but to attack."

"Violet, understand that changelings lie—"

"I would have done the same," Violet interrupted the Solar Princess. "If you care for your ponies, you would have done the same."

At first, she stared at Violet, surprised by her tone. But as she thought about it, she knew Violet was right. She would have done the same. Her eyes fell to the floor of the balcony, conceding Violet's point.

"Starving is a horrible way to die," Violet murmured softly. "I've done it once. I would not want even my greatest enemy to starve."

The Royal Sisters were confused by Violet's words until the memory of her dying in front of them and returning to life resurfaced. Both of them shuddered uncomfortably.

"The changelings want peace. They are starving. I understand that love is their food, and that this is a problem that cannot be solved easily," Violet said quietly. "But they are not monsters. If you can help them, I think you should."

Luna spoke up, "Why are you speaking on behalf of the changelings? How did you find them? Or did they find you?"

"A changeling disguised as a pony asked questions that it should not have known to ask," Violet answered. "Later, I rescued the changeling from timberwolves, and asked where I could seek answers to my own questions."

"What questions did you ask?" Luna asked.

(Recommended Listening)

"Changelings feed on love. {Ahamkara} feed on desire," Violet said, struggling against her limited vocabulary. "They are similar. I want to ask how they feed on love and how they came to do that."

"Why?" Celestia asked. "Why do you need to know?"

Violet's expression became grave as she turned to answer. "I am hungry, and I do not know how to eat."

The impact of her words was immediate. Celestia and Luna turned to each other with wide eyes. A chill ran down Celestia's spine, making her feathers puff out. Her wings itched fiercely. Her heart accelerated, quickening its pace and intensifying the force behind each beat. Flashbacks of the sheer magnitude of power one of Violet's curses held surfaced in her mind.

Luna, too, felt primal fear gripping her very soul. She had seen Violet eat, she was certain she could. Twilight had kept her updated on Violet's dietary habits and capabilities.

{Ahamkara} feed on desire... Luna's mind raced as it realized what was being said. So she has to feed both sides of herself...

"I cannot feed the {Ahamkara}," Violet said, breaking the silence. "I fear I may lose control if I cannot learn to feed it."

"And that's why you need the changelings to teach you," Luna concluded.

Violet nodded. "I do not mean to make fear, but I must ask that help be given to the changelings quickly. I do not know if I am only hungry, or already starving."

Luna stood and approached, offering a comforting nuzzle to the alien. "We will do what we can," she said.

Violet smiled softly, offering a soft stroke of her hand down Luna's neck to return the nuzzle. She stood up and turned her gaze between the two princesses. "I must sleep. Good night, Luna, Celestia. Light be with you."

And in a flash of light, Violet was gone.

——————————

There was no horizon. The void she stood in was colorless; no expanse of black or white. The taste of metal danced on her tongue, and the scent of rot filled her nose. But the void was silent, and she was hungry.

She stood against the backdrop of a mirror lake, the setting sun painting the sky equally above and below her. The stained clouds above lazily drifted in a breeze that wasn't present on the surface. She looked around, seeing only the sky in all directions. There was nothing around her.

She took a step and immediately fell into the ocean, yelping in surprise as she was dragged beneath the violent waves. The world became dark and cold, thrashing her around and twisting her body in painful ways as she struggled to right herself. She quickly became dizzy as she continued to sink. The armor on her body shattered under the stress, and the scraps that remained were shredded off her body as though the water was clawing it off with unseen talons.

She felt the pressure building on her from all sides, gripping her naked body in a vice of cold water. She tried to struggle, but no matter how she willed herself to move, she found herself immobilized.

Her feet touched the desert sand, scorching her skin as the freezing sea was replaced with blistering, dry air. Howling winds seared her dry, wicking away the water and leaving only a fine crust of salt on her skin. She looked around for any landmarks at all, but found nothing. Only endless dunes further than the horizon.

She stepped forwards, flinching as the sole of her foot was burned on contact with the sand. Blazing grains of sand flew as she tumbled down the dune, adding even more burns across her body. She bit her lip to keep herself from opening her mouth to scream in pain, and drew blood that tasted of sand.

Solid ground caught her at the bottom of the dune, somehow hotter than the sand. She forced her eyes open, seeing that she was now at least in familiar territory: Rose's Fields of Glass - Arcadia Planitia, Mars.

A shadow passed overhead, drawing her eye upwards. Immediately, the humanoid shadow became a second sun, burning her eyes and flesh. The sand and glass around her caught fire, coughing out plumes of choking black smoke, tainted with gaseous iron.

Lightning crashed around her, and warm summer rain fell in a turbulent monsoon. Thunder roared from the dark clouds above. All around her were swords stabbed into the ground like lightning rods. As another bolt of lightning came down, she could swear she saw a fist guiding its path. The current leapt from sword to sword in a web of electric death, catching her—

Luna screamed, shooting upright in her bed in a frigid sweat. As she tried to catch her breath, her Ghost woke up, looking at her with concern in its eye.

A gentle knock sounded from her door. Luna didn't respond. She felt like her stomach was growling, even though she'd eaten before bed. She knew what was happening, but that only made her more afraid.

A hoof was placed on her thigh, prompting her to look up at the pony to whom it belonged: ~Twilight~. The pony was watching her with a worried gaze. Purple eyes flitted across her facial features, trying to get a read on what was happening. But she didn't speak. She remained silent, waiting.

Luna shook her head. "~Just bad sleep...~"

Twilight didn't respond. Not with words, anyway. She simply placed her chin on Luna's leg, staring up at her with the same concerned look as before.

"~What happened in the forest...?~" the pony asked softly.

Luna sighed. So much for 'They won't worry.'

"~We...~" ~Twilight~ murmured, "~we know you're more than capable of defending yourself... But you went past the forest... didn't you?~"

Luna could only nod.

"~Where did you go? Why did you go?~"

Luna raised an open hand. "~I will explain to you and your friends in the morning. All of you need to know.~"

This only raised more questions in the pony's mind.

(Recommended Listening)

[Sol System: The Vault of Glass - Ishtar Sink, Venus]

Once a stronghold for Vex ontological weapons testing, the Vault of Glass had long since been cracked. Rose, Mae, and Luna had been through the Vault, learning its secrets. After Atheon, the Vex Mind in charge of the Vault, had been slain by the first team, led by Yu, more teams got together to explore in their wake. At least, that was the goal.

No one can open the Vault alone. I opened the Vault. There was no one with me, but I was not alone.

The Vault was outside of time, a fixed point beyond the grasp of reality: a simulation. Inside the Vault, the Vex could freely decide how everything worked. Gravity could pull up, time could flow backwards or sideways. But the Vex could also decide what was real. The first Guardians to enter the Vault learned this lesson the hard way, eventually succumbing to the endless Vex and dying their final deaths.

The stars will dance around you and mark you and sing to you. They will decide if you are real.

Kabr. Pahanin. Praedyth. Among the first team to breach the Vault. Kabr is remembered: the armor he forged from the corpses of slaughtered Vex keeps his memory alive. Pahanin is remembered. His journals made it out of the Vault after the first team cleared it. But Praedyth was lost. There are no records of Praedyth anywhere, except for a couple of weapons that bear his name. He was deemed unreal, and the universe forgot.

That was the kind of danger of this plan.

"Alright, run me through this again," Mae said. Her armor sparkled with the erratic light of electricity arcing around her. Patterns of foxes and roses and crescent moons were etched into the thick plating with dexterity and care that could only have been done by a Hunter. The cloth hanging from her hip bore a familiar pattern, marking her with the emblem of her team: the black fox. It, too, coursed with electricity.

"How many teams have cleared the Vault?" Rose asked. As usual, she was unarmored, instead wearing only the thinnest, most breathable fabric she could obtain. Between her breasts was the tattoo of a black rose, and on her shoulder, the black fox. A simple golden circlet was worn around her left arm, and flames emanated from it, though she was not burned.

"Piss if I know," the Titan huffed. "A lot?"

"Yeah, a fuckton," Rose confirmed. "And every single one of them killed Atheon."

"What does the Vault have to do with the Forest though?" Mae sighed.

"The Vault is hidden in the Forest. It's essentially a backdoor," Rose said, smirking wickedly. "Ikora's weird device on the moon was designed to tear a particular target from all of its possible timelines. Kill it enough times, and suddenly, no timeline where it existed can calculate properly."

"Alright, now why aren't we on the moon then?" the Titan asked impatiently.

"Because we need two things. First," Rose replied, "we need a piece of Atheon's corpse. Then we rebuild a copy of it on Mercury and chill in the Forest while every other Guardian flocks to it for loot."

Mae smiled in understanding. She cracked her knuckles, lightning arcing around her fists as she did so. "Alright. Let's go kill Atheon then."

"Let's keep it quick with a Curse, yeah?" Rose smirked as the flame on her circlet flared up. "We'll have you kill Atheon, and I'll keep everything off you. Entropy Cannon is probably your best bet."

Mae smirked, the lightning around her increasing in vivacity. As the pair of them walked down the final hallway, the universe around them began to shudder. Each clunk of boot on stone echoed with magnified volume. The walls and floor seemed to pixelate as they passed. A terrifying mark was carved by their very presence: one of two dragons circling each other, casting an all-encompassing cyclone of flaming, storming death.

The triangular door opened for them.

They stepped inside the final room and took in the majesty of the Vex's geometry one more time. The room was wide and triangular, with the base against the wall of a cliff and each side stretching about one-hundred meters. The center of the triangle was hollow, save for a floating stone cube, and down was an endless void from which there was no return. Directly forward, at the far point of the triangle was a triangular gate, framed in glass, guarded by a Vex Hydra. On the side-corners of the triangle were raised platforms with hollow circles of metal sticking up from the stone. Nearby each of those portal frames was a disc embedded in the ground.

The Guardians smirked as the Hydra screamed a mechanical battle cry, a pair of Minotaur units teleporting into existence and firing their heavy weaponry. Volatile void rounds arced through the air towards the Guardians, but they were far too slow to be effective at such a long range. Both Rose and Mae easily moved out of the way, each making a dive for the plates embedded in the ground.

Mae went left, hopping up onto a stone cube and plucking an incredibly complicated-looking weapon from her back, steadying her aim as she pulled the trigger. The diamond panels of carbon-fiber began to leak a brilliant red light as the weapon hummed ominously, ticking like a stopwatch to the death of the Hydra lined up in its sights. The moment the weapon reached full charge, it loosed a massive, ultra-dense red laser that pierced the Hydra's tough alloy chassis, causing it to disintegrate into nothing.

Rose went right, tapping her Light and tossing a pair of bright orange spheres at the Minotaurs. Each one landed directly under its intended target, exploding into miniature suns that melted each of the murderous alien robot monsters into puddles of liquid metal.

When both of the Guardians had eliminated their targets, they hopped back onto the discs in the ground.

The discs hummed with ancient, timeless energy, tiles of light rising from the edges of the plates in a cylinder, reaching up a meter before suddenly dissipating. The portal frames snapped open.

Dark clouds formed over the far point of the triangle, and square lightning coursed through the vapor, arcing at perfect right-angles. Piece by piece, the machine formed before them. Its chassis gleamed with light glaring off its hybrid metallic-glass exterior. Clawed robotic feet in triangular spread hovered just above the stone as its leg was reconstructed in the air above the foot. Abdomen, complete with a pod of milky white fluid said to contain its mind. Arms, shoulders, hands, weapon, and head. The pieces joined and linked together, and the completed Atheon fell to the ground with a resounding thud and a resonant mechanical roar.

The Vault glitched, and Atheon noticed.

Mae rose into the air, her Lift pushing her up before her Light flared, holding her in place. She called out with a wicked, fanged smile, "O foolish machine! You call yourself 'Time's Conflux'! You are nothing more than an example of the madness of a creature that abandoned the anchor of flesh! Become tribute for our wish! Entropy Cannon!"

Arc Light engulfed Mae's body, concentrating in her palm, then blasting forth in a massive sphere of explosive lightning. The first shot destroyed Atheon's leg, causing the machine to wail in fury, but not pain. The second shot hit Atheon's arm, blowing it to bits and sending the broken remains of its weapon spiraling into the infinite. The third shot smashed through Atheon's abdomen, shattering the pod of fluid and instantly making Atheon fall to the ground.

Mae returned to the ground, panting, but still smirking beneath her helm. A familiar notification on her HUD popped up:

[Light Overtaxed. Grenade unavailable. 06d, 23h, 59m, 45s.]

She walked over to the corpse of the massive Vex unit. Rose met her there, knife in hand, Atheon's eye in the other.

"Got what we need?" Mae asked.

"Yup!" Rose smiled in return. "Thanks for not blowing up its head."

"Welcome," Mae replied. "Now, let's get the fuck outta here. I'm hungry."

Author's Note

This is Atheon, for visual reference.

20: Threats

Mae and Rose stood on Mercury, a couple of weeks after their claim of Atheon's eye in the Vault. Since then, both of them had been busy building the device necessary to enact their plan. Since Mae was the only one who could wear armor, and thus, tolerate the vacuum on the moon, she was the one who studied Ikora's device so that she could remake it. She then went slaughtering enough Vex to build the machine from their corpses, and forged the components. Meanwhile, Rose put those components together in a separate location, and placing the beacons on Mercury to transmat the device in once it was time. And now it was finally time to pull the trigger.

"And we're sure this won't just kill us?" Mae asked, staring at the massive gate to the Infinite Forest.

"Considering we're pulling a Cayde, no," Rose replied. "Jeeves, fire transmat."

A voice, one a stereotypically British butler might possess, answered, "Transmat firing."

Bright light winked to life behind them. A massive metal ring began to form, piece by piece as the Vex and Guardians in the area stood still and watched. The sands and hot wind of Mercury soon became still as the device was finished, and Atheon's eye was slipped into the targeting control. Everything was in place for their plan. All they needed now was to power the device up.

"Standby for charging," Mae said calmly as she approached the frame.

The Titan flared her Light, arc lightning chirping around her. Arc Light coated her body and armor, concentrated in her fists as she leapt into the air before slamming both fists back down onto the frame. Immediately, the device absorbed the electricity, and began humming with ominous purpose. Lights built into the device began to circle around the frame as reality within its bounds weakened.

Much the same as it had in the Vault, Atheon was summoned piece by piece. Feet, legs, body, arms, head. The massive Vex dropped to the harsh Mercurian sand abruptly, its confusion at the anomalies of its location obvious. The Guardians nearby began screaming and firing their weapons at Atheon, while the nearby Vex units stood stock still, just as confused by Atheon's presence as Atheon itself was.

Mae and Rose smirked, turning back to the gate of the Infinite Forest as they made their wish:

"I wish to find Luna Noctis, the Final Night, our friend, our Hunter, our sister-in-arms," they said in unison. The pair leapt up into the air, disappearing as they were transmatted into their ships. Without waiting for anything more, they entered the Infinite Forest.

——————————

Luna sat at a table, across from the princesses and the ~changeling~ Queen. The three ponies had been talking for hours, and there were plenty of words used that she had yet to learn. Well, it was talking now, but the first couple hours had been mostly yelling. From her experience during the Taken War, she felt it best to let the ponies fight amongst themselves and not drag herself into it. After all, they had plenty of arguing to do, and Luna had plenty of thoughts to think.

I wonder how they're doing without me? Luna mentally mused. Maybe Mae's beaten her kill-record? Or maybe Rose has finally gotten Shaxx to one-vee-one her.

"~Violet?~" ~Luna~ asked softly, gently nudging the woman from her thoughts.

Luna shook her head clear and looked up at the three. "~Yes?~"

"~Chrysalis wants to stay in Ponyville instead of Canterlot,~" ~Celestia~ said. "~They would need a —... someone to watch over them. We would ask you, but we cannot, because you are not a —.~"

"~Okay, what is a... si-ci-... citizen...? And where could I find one?~" Luna asked.

~Chrysalis~ put her hoof in her face and sighed in exasperation. The princesses, on the other hand, barely held back laughter.

"~A citizen is one who belongs to a country,~" ~Luna~ explained. "~We could make you one, if you want.~"

Luna took a moment to mull over the offer. "~Would making me a citizen... cause you problems with other countries?~"

"~That is not your concern,~" ~Luna~ said with a kindred smile. "~Any threat against you would have been met with Equestrian force anyway. Becoming a citizen would just put it on paper that Equestria is your home.~"

Luna smiled softly. "~I accept your offer. I will become a citizen and... sponsor... the changelings.~"

——————————

Word traveled quickly in the Sol System. Atheon had appeared on Mercury, at the gates of the Infinite Forest. A copy of Ikora's device had appeared and summoned Atheon. Every available Guardian flocked to Mercury to kill it. Even Osiris had come out of the Infinite Forest to check if the talk was true. Upon seeing for himself, he took charge of the situation, organizing teams as copy after copy of the so-called Time's Conflux were summoned and slaughtered.

Meanwhile, Mae and Rose flew through an endless expanse of white, broken Vex and simulated Cabal hashing it out below them. From their vantage point, they could see each and every corridor and its connections. Platforms of simulated stone, pools of Vex radiolaria charged with Arc energy, bright red laser grids, doors to nowhere and nowhen. The Forest was indeed broken, and the Vex still struggled to fix it. Gone were the floating bridges in the sky, and gone were the thinking storm clouds.

Rose held a hand over the black fox tattoo on her arm, her thoughts on her missing teammate. It had been a year and a day since she'd disappeared. Saint-14, the legendary Titan who was supposed to be dead, had been brought back to the world of the living. Guardians had found and destroyed yet another Vex "Garden" and the towering Minds ruling over it.

But neither she nor Mae cared about those things. What she cared about was that her friend was missing. Luna had been struggling after Cayde's death, and after her failed raid in the Dreaming City, she'd become even more reclusive. Where normally the three lived together and saw each other daily, after that raid, she was lucky to see Luna once a week. Soon, weeks became months. Until one day...

Mae clenched her fist, lightning arcing around it. Where had Luna gone? Could she and Rose have kept her from going? Was she okay? Was she truly gone? Every question raced through her mind on separate circuits. Each of them brought down a sense of anxiety as the moment of reckoning grew closer.

Color intruded from their windshields as they found themselves in orbit above a planet that looked much like Earth, though the landmasses were entirely foreign. The two Guardians stabilized their orbit, both shutting down their navigation systems and rebooting them.

"Guardian, I'm picking up a few of Luna's transmat beacons," the butler-voice said, immediately earning Rose's attention. "There are three active now."

"What now, Rose?" Mae asked, turning to look through her windshield at Rose's ship.

"We wait," Rose replied calmly. "And we run scans of the planet, and we set up a few relays out here."

The Titan pulled off course. "I guess I'll go set up the relays. Transmat me yours, aye?"

"Gotcha covered," the Warlock answered.

As Mae began her journey around the planet, she looked down at it. It was remarkably similar to Earth, but felt just slightly different. She observed regions of everything that Earth had; grasslands, forests, deserts, mountains, glaciers, the whole nine. One by one, she began to place the relay satellites in geostationary orbit around the planet, placing a total of fourteen. The beacons oriented themselves, beginning to broadcast their map and scan data to Rose and Mae's ships. When Mae returned to Rose's position, and their maps fully filled in, they noticed something odd.

"Where's her ship?" Mae asked, staring incredulously at the map.

"Not on that planet, apparently," Rose replied. "Her beacons are—"

"What about her Ghost?" Mae interrupted. "Is her Ghost's signal down there?"

"Can't tell," Rose growled in response. "Interference from an energy field around the planet."

"Then what are we still doing in orbit?" Mae hissed impatiently.

"Cool your tits, woman!" Rose shouted. "I want to find her too. But we can't just fly down there without a plan. Look at the map. The northern beacon, on the mountain. Zoom in!"

"Is that a city built into a mountain?" Mae murmured.

"Yes. Cities mean intelligent life. We're the aliens now," Rose said sternly. "We can't just fly down into the middle of a city. We don't know the language. We don't know their tech. We don't know if they're friendly or if they'll stab us in the knees when we touch down. It could be a Darkness Zone down there. We need to be careful."

"So... what do we do, then?" Mae asked with a heavy sigh.

"We find a better landing zone."

——————————

Twilight watched the night sky from her library balcony. The stars above shone brighter than they ever had in her lifetime and not just because of new light-pollution laws and her locale in Ponyville. No, with the world's magic at play, and her knowledge of the pony responsible for the night, it was easy to figure that Luna's emotions were brightening the sky. Soft blues and warm ambers and brilliant violets painted the night, and just as it reflected Luna's mind, so to did it reflect the subject of Twilight's thoughts.

Violet. The Being. The alien from beyond the stars; born of a lover's wish upon a dragon. Bearer of unknown magics. Undying, eternal warrior.

Violet was still a mystery to Twilight. Her thought processes were just as alien to the pony as Violet was to this world. She carried weapons even in safety, wore armor like normal clothes. Sure, she'd drawn out what her life was like before she came here, but Twilight still just couldn't understand. How much death had she seen? How much had she delivered unto others? How many lives had she ended? How many times had hers ended, only to continue with a pulse of light from her Shape?

What kind of world had she come from that needed warriors that could just keep getting up after death?

A pair of stars appeared in the night sky, new, and moving. They hovered next to each other for a little while before one flew away, darting across the black. The other remained still, unmoving, as though watching or waiting. The moving star disappeared over the horizon, re-emerging on the other side of the world a few minutes later, returning to its companion.

That's weird...

The stars waited, and Twilight pulled over her telescope, trying to focus it on the anomalies. As she fiddled with her telescope, the stars began to move once more, heading north through the sky. By the time Twilight had managed to focus the device, the stars had developed long streaks of light behind them, and began to blaze with orange light.

Are they... entering the atmosphere...?

Sure enough, the stars appeared to be approaching quite rapidly, flame trails growing behind them by the second as they tore through the air like it wasn't even there. Slowly, Twilight began to feel the approach of two powerful magic sources. They both felt different to each other, and to any Equisian magic sources.

Twenty bits says they land in the Everfree Forest.

Not even a minute later, both shooting stars broke their flame trails, revealing their arrowhead-like shapes. The two flying objects continued on their rapid approach to the ground. Her horn began to ache as the objects grew closer. The sheer power of the magic within them was enough to disrupt the aetheric field to the point where she could even feel Violet's power, despite her being in Canterlot at the moment. Violet's magic, combined with the magics of the two objects, felt oddly complementary to each other, as though the three were all parts of the same whole. Violet's magic felt like a vast emptiness, a void in which all was silent except her. The approaching powers felt like the static just before the strike of lightning, mixed with the heat of desert sun.

Just as the objects reached the Everfree, they slowed to a halt in the air before descending beneath the canopy, just as predicted.

"SpiiiiIIIIIIIKE!" Twilight called as she immediately began to pack her saddlebags with parchment and ink.

"What now...?" Spike grumbled, rubbing sleep from his eyes.

"Something, or probably someone just landed in the Everfree," Twilight said. She threw her saddlebags on her back. "I'm going to go investigate."

"I'll send a letter to the princesses," Spike replied with a yawn and salute. "Be careful."

"I will," she said. With that, she leapt from her balcony, spreading her wings and taking flight.

The mid-spring night air was cool, but not cold. Though she could feel the static and warmth of the foreign magics, they were much less prominent feelings than the anxiety making her feathers itch. This time, there'd be two of Violet's kind, and both would have magics she'd never seen before. Would they be as calm as Violet? Were they searching for her?

Would they be a threat?

As she passed over the treeline above the Everfree, the feeling of static and warmth only intensified. In the distance, in the same clearing Violet had appeared in, she saw the familiar orange glow of firelight. The familiar sound of timberwolves howling echoed in the night, sending shivers down Twilight's spine and making her dip in altitude ever so slightly. She looked closer at the clearing, seeing the clearing filling with the wooden monsters. The sound of Violet's explosive weapons soon followed.

Two figures stood on opposing ends of the clearing, each fighting off dozens of timberwolves in the same way Violet did. The first figure was encased in heavy-looking armor, but still moved with the graceful dancing moves of Violet. Her weapon fired in quick, continuous tempo, and she moved it in circles, juggling it across her armor. Each round it passed, another circle of timberwolves fell to scrap wood.

The other had no armor at all, and danced in a way that made no sense rhythmically. Her weapon, much the way Violet used hers, punctuated steps but never beats. Each time a timberwolf leapt to attack, it would fall to scrap. One managed to scratch her, and the figure switched weapons to one only slightly larger than what she'd been using, faster than Twilight could blink. The weapon hissed into the night, its report a soft rattle like that of a venomous snake.

A deafening roar resounded through the night as the last of the timberwolves fell. Twilight felt her fur begin to itch with fear as she watched a hydra break into the clearing. It roared again as the two figures approached it. The figures were unfazed.

The armored one flared their magic as they leapt into the air. Static electricity began to flow, and Twilight's jaw dropped as she saw it happen. From one hand, a massive beam of blue lightning shot forth, piercing the hydra with the ease of a spear through water. The hydra went still instantly as its body slowly disintegrated into smoke and static charge. As the beam of light faded, Twilight felt the eyes of the figures turn upwards to focus on her.

The unarmored figure leapt upwards into the sky, her feet blasting fire to push her further up, and Twilight felt her breath catch in her throat as she saw a weapon and the hardened gaze of a killer pointed at her.

21: Sisters

Luna watched as ~Luna~ read the scroll that had appeared without warning in the midst of their conversation. The moment it flashed into existence, the princess' expression became serious, and this only intensified as her eyes scrolled the page. Her brow furrowed.

~Luna~ looked up to Luna and spoke, "~Two of your kind have come. Twilight is on her way to meet them.~"

Luna's eyes went wide, "~Tell her to stop! It is dangerous!~"

"~She is already moving,~" the pony princess replied. She stood up and gestured to her back. "~Get on. I will take you to her.~"

Luna wasted no time, hopping on ~Luna's~ back. The ~alicorn~ leapt from the balcony with tremendous force as Luna readied a weapon she thought she wouldn't have to use. She slapped a new battery into Cover of Thunder and shoved the charging bolt home. As she flicked the safety, she could feel the presence of Light. Familiar Light at that. She'd been around it long enough to know exactly to whom it belonged.

What the fuck are you two doing here?

Luna felt her arms begin to itch as she raised the butt of the weapon into her shoulder and took a peek through its scope. Sure enough, she could see the familiar sight of Mae beaming something down with Chaos Reach, and above them, a particular pony circling. As the light of the Super faded, she saw Rose leap into the air, using her Solar Light to rise like a phoenix into the sky. In her hand, a familiar weapon, pointed at ~Twilight~.

At that range, there was no way for ~Twilight~ to survive a shot from Rose's weapon. The moment ~Twilight~ lit her horn with magic, Rose would kill her. Knowing Rose, she was set on killing the pony the moment she was as close as her jump would get her.

The rangefinder on her weapon calculated a distance of two kilometers, and her scope's crosshairs depicted a distance of two meters per thousand. That made the distance between Rose and ~Twilight~ just four meters. To make her shot count, she had to aim carefully, but by doing so, she had to activate the weapon's Box Breathing subroutine. If she hit Rose, the arc explosion would hit ~Twilight~ as well, and would likely kill her, either directly or by causing her to fall out of the sky. If she hit ~Twilight~, obviously she'd die.

She pulled the trigger and kept her aim and breathing steady. Arc energy flowed through the weapon, charging the firing coils and passing through the linear repeaters. The weapon hummed with purpose before loosing its deadly bolt of straightened lightning. Luna watched through her scope as the bolt shot forth towards Rose and ~Twilight~...

...and hit neither. The bolt passed directly between the human and pony's faces immediately earning the attention of Rose and allowing ~Twilight~ to back off with a few frantic flaps of her wings. Rose began to fall back down to the ground, tapping her Light to glide gracefully back to the forest floor.

The moment ~Luna~ had begun her descent into the clearing, Luna jumped off her back, falling straight down and landing without harm. Her eyes were locked onto both Rose and Mae as they turned to approach her, and both faltered as they saw the anger on her face.

"You! Helmet off!" Luna called as she stomped forth, pointing at Mae. The Titan shuddered and complied without a word.

Rose opened her mouth to speak, "Lun—"

WHACK!

Rose's head spun sideways, twisting her entire body with it from the force of the slap. The Warlock fell to the ground clutching her cheek.

"Don't!" Luna growled venomously, "speak to me before I'm done yelling at you!"

Rose fell silent. Luna turned her icy gaze to Mae, who simply offered her own cheek to be slapped.

Luna slapped Mae hard enough to send her to the ground as well. She waited for the two to return to their feet.

"You fucking morons!" she hissed. She turned her frigid glare to Rose. "Fucking Light, are you two truly braindead without me? Do neither of you understand logic‽ Did you not see the fucking tiara on her head‽"

"I—"

WHACK!

Back to the ground went Rose, spiraling the other direction this time.

"Shut your stupid fucking mouth when I'm yelling at you!" Luna screamed.

Rose pushed her jaw back in place with an uncomfortable crack. Mae shrunk in place a little.

"You almost just killed one of the princesses of this nation," Luna continued. "I have never had to make such a critical shot in my life. If I missed by even two meters in either direction, I could have killed her! You're fucking lucky I was able to hitch a ride here, otherwise we'd all be fucked six fronts to Twilight Gap!"

~Luna~ and ~Twilight~ touched down behind her, but Luna was too busy to care.

"And you!" Luna hissed, turning to Mae. "You know how Rose gets in a fight! You've seen her in the Crucible! Why didn't you grab her and keep her on the ground?"

Mae simply hung her head.

Luna shook her head and sighed, "You're lucky I love you two stupid bitches."

The Hunter then pulled Rose and Mae into a tight hug. The three of them wrapped each other into a close embrace.

"You fucking morons..." Luna murmured as tears fell from her eyes.

"Hey, we're here now... You're okay..." Mae said, pulling the Hunter closer. "You're okay..."

——————————

To say that Violet loved these two was an affront to the kind of relationship they had. Even Luna could immediately feel the intensity of their bond. The way the three of them seemed to complete each other was beyond anything she'd ever witnessed. The bonds of soldiers who fought together was similar, but only in the same way that ice was similar to a diamond. Sure they were both crystalline solids, but the two were made of different stuff and in different conditions. Luna's bond with her sister was vaguely comparable, but again, more different than similar.

The three took a few minutes before finally releasing each other from their collective embrace. All three were weeping. Violet began gathering the scrap wood of the felled timberwolves, and her friends joined her. The whole time, the three were talking.

"Are you okay, young Twilight?" Luna asked softly as she watched the three {humans} work.

"I... think so..." Twilight replied. "I think I saw my life flash before my eyes."

"The moment I told Violet what you wrote in your letter, she demanded I write back to stop you," Luna added. "You are quite lucky."

Twilight simply nodded, returning to silently watching the three {Guardians} work.

"I... don't understand them," Twilight murmured after a while. "Violet seemed so... angry that they were here... She hit them! But... she also seems... relieved?"

"Much the same way I have been with Tia," Luna said. "There were many times when I didn't want her anywhere near me, but was glad she came anyway. Have you not had such moments with your brother?"

"No." Twilight shook her head. "I only ever had moments where I wished he could be there but he couldn't because of his own life."

Luna nodded sagely. "I understand that too."

"But... why does their friendship feel so much different than everything else I've ever felt?" Twilight asked.

"You remember Violet's drawings," Luna said. "Those two are her sisters-in-arms. They have fought alongside each other for longer than anypony should ever have to, and died more times than is reasonable. No bond forged on a world as gentle as this could ever compare to one like theirs."

The three {Guardians} eventually stopped moving around, and were now settled by a couple piles of scrap wood. Violet was talking to them quite animatedly, and her two friends were looking over to the ponies as she spoke. The red-haired one, the one without armor, held a gaze that was much warmer now. Her green eyes gleamed with curiosity.

"Luna, Twilight, come," Violet called. "Come meet my... friends is not right word..."

Luna turned and offered an encouraging smile to Twilight before stepping forwards herself. Twilight hesitated just a moment longer, but she too trotted over. As they approached, the red-haired {Guardian} raised her palm to a small pile of wood. A small blast of flame shot forth, igniting it into a small campfire, providing light to the clearing.

"Twilight, what is the word for one who..." Violet paused, thinking of her words carefully, "...one who gives you born...?"

Violet cursed to herself as Twilight and Luna giggled.

"The word is 'mother'," Twilight answered. "One who gave birth to you is your mother."

"What is the word for one born from the same... mother...?" she asked, testing the new word on her tongue.

"'Sister'," Twilight answered.

"Twilight, Luna, these are my... sisters," Violet said, gesturing to her friends. "We are..."

She cursed again.

"'Family'," Twilight said with a soft smile. "You're family."

Violet smiled. "We are family. Not all by blood, but still family."

The red-haired {human} spoke a few words, bowing slightly afterwards. Violet jabbed her sharply with an elbow, earning an embarrassed giggle and a few extra bashful words.

"She says, 'My name is {Rose}, it is nice to meet you.' She also says sorry for raising her weapon at you," Violet said, translating her friend's words. "Twilight, did you bring paper?"

Twilight offered a friendly smile, accepting the apology. She lit her horn and pulled out a few sheets of parchment as well as a quill and bottle of ink.

Violet took a sheet of parchment, plucking her pen from a pouch on her armor and beginning to draw. Her friends watched as her pen glided across the sheet. When Violet handed back the sheet, the gaze of her friends followed.

Twilight scribbled the spellings of the words Violet was asking for before holding it up for the three to see. "This is 'rose'," she said, pointing to the first image. "This is 'storm', and this is 'mountain'."

Violet quickly told {Rose} something before turning back to Twilight. "In your language, her name would be Rose."

Violet's armored friend spoke in a similar manner to Rose, while Violet keenly listened and prepared to translate. Now that she was more comfortable and calm, Twilight began to notice the little details about Rose and her yet-to-be-named friend. Rose seemed to radiate more heat than the fire she'd started. Even with most of her skin exposed, Twilight could feel the heat from her, yet none of the three seemed to notice. And she also seemed to be entirely fireproof, her bare feet were partially dipped in the fire, yet she showed no sign of pain; not to mention the flaming golden circlet on her arm.

The armored one, on the other hand, seemed to house more electricity than the most violent storm clouds Cloudsdale had ever produced. Static arced around her subtly buzzing and chirping. Her luminous blue eyes seemed to carry the light of a lake constantly struck by lightning.

"She says, 'My name is {Mae Gjallarfjall}. It is nice to meet you'," Violet said. "There is no word for her name in your language. But her family name means 'Yelling Mountain'."

"It is nice to meet you as well," Luna said with a courteous bow of her head. "I am Princess Luna. Welcome to Equestria. Any friend of Violet's is a friend of ours."

"And I'm Twilight Sparkle," Twilight added.

Violet took a moment to translate for her friends. Rose and {Mae} seemed to nod in understanding before asking their own questions. Violet gestured to the pen and parchment, perhaps warning them of her limited vocabulary. Their talk became somewhat more animated for a moment, but Violet was able to keep her friends' heads level. After a brief silence, Rose and {Mae} seemed to nod in agreement, conceding some point.

"My original plan was to be alone among the stars. That plan was destroyed by the Curse. Now, my plan is to learn to feed the {Ahamkara} so I might control it," Violet said. "If I cannot learn to control the {Ahamkara}, my backup plan is to return to the stars with my sisters."

"It won't come to that," Luna said, just a little too quickly. Twilight cast a glance at her.

Violet shook her head, not bothering to translate before replying, "It might. If I do not lose control, then {Mae}, or Rose. I will not risk your lives. I care about you. I cannot lose you to the {Ahamkara}... to me..."

Rose and {Mae} both placed their hands on Violet's shoulders, expressions solemn. Luna's expression faltered in turn as Violet's words sunk in. Twilight could only watch in silence as she felt the mood around the campfire darken.

The sound of great wings flapping broke the silence. All parties looked up to see Princess Celestia descend from the night sky. Rose and {Mae} both instinctively reached for their weapons, but Violet placed a hand on their shoulders, reassuring both of them. Violet nodded in greeting, and Celestia nodded back. Luna greeted her sister with a brief nuzzle. Twilight gave a humble nod as well.

After quick introductions, Celestia sat down and asked the question that had yet to be asked, "What brings you here?"

Violet answered, not bothering to translate the question. "They came for me."

Celestia's expression became oddly grim. Twilight remembered the day she had departed to the Crystal Empire, and the way Celestia's face looked when she used dark magic. A shiver ran down her spine and her wings began to itch as her mind drew the comparison.

"I once asked you if any would seek you," Celestia asked with a strangely cold voice. Twilight shifted uncomfortably at the subtle venom in her mentor's words. "It seems you have lied."

"When I was asked, I did not believe any would seek me," Violet said, either not noticing or, more likely, not caring about Celestia's tone. "I thought it was impossible to find me."

Celestia's face remained stern and cold. Slowly, Twilight and Luna could feel her magic building. "You now seek to aid the changelings with no certainty that they can help you in return. The changelings that killed dozens of ponies in their attack on Canterlot. And your backup plan, if and when your plan fails, is to run away to the stars, for our protection?"

"Yes," Violet answered calmly.

"Forgive me for my harsh language, but bullshit," Celestia spat with blatant venom. Her brow creased in disgusted anger. "We have just learned that your kind can follow you here. What will happen if another of your kind arrives here after you leave?"

"Sister..."

"Will you take responsibility if another of your kind comes and slaughters my ponies?" Celestia demanded, her voice beginning to boil with anger.

"Tia!"

Celestia's magical presence felt dizzying and intense, making Twilight stagger beneath its pressure, and Luna stare helplessly. Boiling tears spilled from her face as she levied a sharp gaze at Violet. "Will you leave us to die when another of your kind, another who can return from death, eventually comes to our world?"

But ever still, Violet remained unfazed. "We will be beyond your reach, but you will always be within ours," she said softly. "No Guardian will raise a weapon against you before we can pull them away. No threat to your world from ours will ever come to pass."

"That's not the point!" Celestia screamed, earning surprised and fearful glances from Luna and Twilight. Luna placed a hoof on her sister's withers, causing the solar alicorn to take a deep breath. "You are now a citizen of Equestria. You have a responsibility to us, just as we have a responsibility to you. We agreed to peace talks with the changelings to help you live a normal life here as a citizen. In turn, we expect that you will remain here as protection from the changelings should those talks fail and from any more of your kind who may arrive here."

Twilight's eyes shifted between Celestia's paradoxically frigid gaze boiling over with tears and the emptiness of Violet's neutral face. Behind her mentor was the confidence of one who'd ruled for thousands of years; behind Violet was the sheer unfathomable power to enact whatever she so chose. Celestia's argument, to anyone with a sense of duty to one's country or empathy for its citizens, could not be denied. On a micro-political level, it was the single most effective speech Celestia had ever given in her time as the crown princess. To Twilight, it was, anyway.

But Violet also had a point: she was unstable, and thus, dangerous. It was clear she cared about Equestria, or if not, at least about the ponies present now. Even without a degree in psychology, it was clear that Violet had a case of post-traumatic stress disorder orders of magnitude beyond what anypony could ever treat. No amount of therapy or medicine that ponies had could help her manage it. Her life had been a tri-edged dagger, wounding her in a way that could never properly or fully heal. And from her own testimony, her lack of control had cost the lives of five more of her kind that, according to her drawings, were also capable of returning from death. And that wasn't even accounting for the magnitude of her curse magic.

Neither Celestia nor Violet were wrong on this. Both sides had equally valid points. But which details were focused on always came down to the experiences each of them had had. For Violet, control was the key factor of everything. Years of war and death and resurrection had made her neurotic. She refused to part with her weapons, even in the library; the ace of spades was always slung on her hip, or on her nightstand when she slept. For Violet, being armed and armored was a constant amid the chaos of her adjustment to life in Equestria, just as it had been in the chaos of war. Her weapons and armor were the only things she had absolute control over.

Celestia, on the other hoof, was a mare of responsibility and duty. She grew up knowing she would one day rule Equestria, and had a responsibility to care for her subjects. When Nightmare Moon had surfaced from within Luna, Celestia did not hesitate to fulfill her duty to protect her subject. Even through the grief of losing her sister, Celestia took on her sister's responsibilities in addition to her own. She'd give everything for Equestria, and any citizen who didn't feel that same duty to do what was best for their country, in her mind, was a reflection of how well she'd fulfilled hers.

Luna stepped forth, the feathers on her wings visibly puffed out a bit, betraying her anxiety.

"Violet...?" the lunar princess asked, voice barely audible over the fire. "May I speak with you... alone...?"

Intermission: Bonds

It was supposed to be simple. She'd performed dozens of surgeries far more complicated than this one. It was just supposed to be a partial liver transplant; take a piece of the donor's liver and put it in her patient.

It was a procedure she'd pioneered, which she had dubbed genetic replacement therapy. Her patient was born male, and was seeking this surgery as part of her transition. The concept was simple enough. A piece of organ tissue, ideally one that was infused with a lot of blood, like a liver or kidney, would be taken from a donor, and DNA from that donor's tissue would be isolated. An engineered 'virus' would be made using the donor's DNA, and a little extra to help it remove the patient's unwanted DNA. That 'virus' would be put into the donor organ and then implanted into the patient. The donor organ would release a slow and steady supply of the 'virus' to genetically modify the patient's genes. In her patient's case, the goal was to replace each of her Y-chromosomes with an X, and have her cells accept that change.

Her patient's name was Mae [redacted]. Born on Earth and working for a materials engineering company based out of the United Republic of North American States. They had met when Mae had come to the Clovis Bray Research Center to begin work on engineering her own material for use in space suits. When Mae discovered her work was in endocrinology and microbioengineering, Mae volunteered to be the first patient for the procedure.

The donor was Rose's half-sister, one Luna Noctis, the only woman alive biologically born to a cis female-female couple. Mae had selected her as the donor due to 'the lack of masculine traits in a woman born of only women'. Rose didn't believe that would make a difference, but she couldn't outright disprove it.

It was supposed to be simple. It was supposed to be quick. Her scalpel must have slipped during the surgery. A simple cut on her hand. It was likely that she now had her 'virus' within her own body. How would it act in her own body? She didn't have the target DNA that it was meant to replace.

Only time would tell.

——————————

They stood in a forest in the Pacific Northwest, where coniferous trees blocked the sky and littered the ground with shed needles. Dense fog covered the forest floor in the early morning, and the sky was gray through the cloud cover. The air was cool. Mae watched the sky, judging its weight and strength and debating the risk of rain. Rose could only smile at the cool morning breeze. She hadn't been in a beautiful forest like this since before she died.

It was strange to think about for her. She remembered who she was before she died, and why she woke up where she did, but she couldn't remember how she died. Was she killed? Did she starve? Disease? There were plenty of questions that couldn't be answered.

"How familiar are you with music theory?" Mae asked, still staring up at the sky.

"I never played an instrument beyond elementary school, if that's what you're asking," Rose replied.

The Titan shook her head. "If I showed you a sheet of music, how much would you be able to read?"

"Nothing at all," Rose said simply.

Mae sighed. "That's gonna be a problem. Here, I'm gonna teach you how music works—"

"Why?"

"—and then I'm going to teach you how to fight with it."

Rose turned to stare at her Titan friend. Mae, in turn, was staring right back at her. The Titan's blue eyes flickered with determination and a lightning storm.

Learning music was boring and complicated until it clicked. The point was the rhythm, the time signature, the importance of rests and how to use them, the choice of dynamics and emphasis and how tiny notation changes made worlds of difference. Mae was indeed teaching her how to fight with music. After learning about how music was taught and written, Mae went on to teach her how it felt and how it moved. Over the course of the first few years of her new life, Mae taught her how to dance, and how to apply it to combat. Every style she learned was both a new weapon and a new set of armor. She began to find that her encounters with the Fallen on Earth were easier, and that she was dying less often. And soon, she had learned everything Mae had to teach.

So she taught herself more.

——————————

The first time Luna joined them on a mission, Mae and Rose noticed it near instantly. Their first mission together was to find and destroy a Pilot Servitor from the Fallen House of Winter on Venus. The moment they landed they were under fire of snipers. Mae and Rose danced forwards between the bolts, but Luna hopped on her Sparrow and used a smoke bomb to go invisible. She reached the snipers first, and tore them to shreds. Her combat prowess, even without Mae's teaching, was unmatched. Her Light was more powerful than anything they'd seen, and her wit was sharp as an obsidian scalpel. By the time they reached their target, the Fallen were hiding from her in fear.

But she still had room to improve.

Mae taught her music, but found that Luna was a talented musician and composer before her death. They skipped the music education directly to dance. What took Rose four years to learn and master, Luna accomplished in one. Within days of completing Mae's training, Luna asked Rose to teach her more. Luna learned everything Rose had in months.

By the time of her seventh resurrection day, Luna had learned everything she could from her team. The only things Mae and Rose had that Luna hadn't mastered were the things they couldn't teach: how to call upon different Supers, how to mix Supers, how to modify Supers on the fly.

If they could, they would have taught their little sister everything they knew.

22: Integration

"Citizens of Ponyville, we come bearing news that will affect your lives," Luna called out to the crowd. Memories of the last time she'd made an announcement in Ponyville resurfaced as Violet stood on stage with her. However, this time, the ponies of the crowd were not afraid of her. "As of one o'clock this morning, Princess Twilight Sparkle reported two interstellar objects entering our atmosphere and landing in the Everfree Forest. Upon investigation with escort and guidance from Violet Light, we have discovered two more of her kind have come to our world."

The crowd slowly began to murmur amongst themselves, and the quills and cameras of the reporters were put to use.

"I now give the floor to Violet Light," Luna said before backing up and yielding to Violet.

Violet turned to the back of the stage, waving to her sisters. As the two joined her on stage, the murmurs became a dull roar as ponies began to talk to each other about their beliefs on whether or not they'd be hostile or if their presence meant any threat to Equestria or the world.

"Hello, ponies of Ponyville. These are my sisters," Violet said, gesturing to {Mae} and Rose. "They cannot speak Equestrian, so I will translate for them. My words are also limited, so please keep any questions simple."

She turned to Rose, and calmly spoke. "This is {Rose}, which would translate as 'Rose' in your language."

Rose bowed, and Violet turned to {Mae}. "And this is {Mae}. I cannot translate her name, but she has agreed to use the name 'Storm Mountain'."

Storm bowed to the crowd, and Violet turned back to the crowd. "My sisters and I have fought monsters all our lives, but I can promise you that we seek peace. I understand that you will have questions. I will answer what I can. Princess Luna will select ponies to ask their questions."

Almost immediately, journalist ponies began clamoring for attention in hopes of having their question specifically answered.

"You, griffon in the front row," the princess called.

The crowd went silent as the reporter asked, "What kind of magic is it that you wield, and do your sisters have the same kind as you?"

"What we wield we do not call magic. In your tongue, we call it Light," Violet said. "All of us wield Light, but we do not have the same kind."

Luna selected an earth pony stallion from among the crowd. "Why does she not wear armor?"

Violet didn't bother asking Rose for her answer. "Light comes in three kinds, and we all have a different one. Her Light we call {Solar}... She is... on fire... inside. She would become too... I do not know the word for it."

Luna selected another pony. "Why do her eyes not glow?"

Violet turned to Luna for a translation of a word she didn't know before answering. "We are the same kind, but also different. She is {human}. Storm and I are also {human}, but we are also {Awoken}. Only {Awoken} have light in their eyes."

This continued for a while until Violet expressed that she was getting tired. At that point, Luna stepped back to the center of the stage and relieved her, allowing her to step down and relax for a moment.

"Before we adjourn this public address, the Crown bears one more announcement," Luna said, earning the crowd's attention once more. Every journalist present perked up, ears twitching to face forwards, eyes tearing away from their notes. "As of this morning, Equestria has negotiated a treaty with the Changeling Hive."

The uproar was immediate. Every pony was immediately shocked into anger and disbelief. Panic struck the crowd, threatening to transform it into its more dangerous counterpart. Somewhere in the crowd, a pony picked up a rock. But before Luna could silence the crowd, it was done for her. Violet had leapt back on stage, quicker than anypony had seen her move, and placed herself between them and Luna.

The rock started its flight, soaring over the head of the ponies in front of its thrower. It was not graceful in its flight, nor in its form. It was a jagged, pale brown rock with plenty of corners and rough edges. It spun on a strange axis that didn't pass through its center of mass. Its trajectory was messier than a fly's path through the air to land on a pony's face. But its expected point of impact was what made this particular rock, rolling like a potato in the air, so significant: Princess Luna's eyes.

Violet flared her Light, stamping her foot on the ground and thrusting her hands out in opposing directions. The bubble of brilliant violet Light formed around her in an instant, enveloping herself and Luna within it. A thin film of blue light formed over both of them. The rock bounced off of the bubble as though it were made of hardened steel, denied its destiny to hit Luna. The mob went silent as they witnessed firsthand Violet's Light.

Rose and Storm leapt into the bubble as well, slipping through it as though it were air. In the silence, the sound of a sword being drawn and a crack of thunder echoed in the town square. From nothing, Rose had drawn a flaming sword and held it skyward. Fiery butterfly wings sprouted from her back, and the rest of her body caught fire. Storm, on the other hand, was now floating a few inches off the ground, electricity crackling and arcing around and through her. Her palms were lit with blue lightning she held in her hands. Both of the {humans} glared at the pony who threw the rock.

The crowd took a step away from the pony who threw the rock, revealing him: a young earth pony colt. Violet placed her hands on Rose and Storm, whispering something to them. Both of them backed up as she stepped forward. She leapt from the stage high into the air, and jumped again before hitting the ground. The colt's face was wet with tears of rage. His face was twisted into a hateful snarl, and Violet looked into his eyes, past the fire of anger.

"Why did you do that?" Violet asked softly.

The colt refused to reply. His legs shook with fear and rage, and he likely thought he was glaring daggers at Violet. To any normal pony, they'd likely think this colt would react violently with such an intense glare. But Violet was no stranger to what this colt was feeling.

"You lost someone in the changeling attack," she said.

"What would you know, you monster!" the colt snapped. He reached up and struck Violet's cheek with a hoof. She didn't flinch. "You're an alien! You know nothing!"

"Did you see it happen?" Violet asked.

The colt turned away as more blazing hot tears streamed down his face. That was all the answer Violet needed.

"Who did you lose?" she asked.

The colt shivered. "M-my mom..."

Violet bowed her head in sympathy. "I understand your pain."

The colt remained quiet as tears dripped down into the dirt.

"If you saw the changeling who killed your mother," Violet asked, "would you know?"

The colt looked up at her, anger returning to his eyes, but no words came.

"Hating all changelings for one's violence is a mistake," Violet said softly, only loud enough for the colt to hear. "Attacking someone with no tie to your mother's death is waste. Allowing hate to become your food is to become food for hate. It will eat you unless you let it go."

The colt looked up into her eyes and saw unspeakable grief within them. "Wh-what do I do...? How do I forgive them?"

"You do not have to forgive," Violet said, placing a hand on the colt's withers before pulling him into a loose but comforting hug. "You just live. You find peace where you can, and hold on to that instead."

The colt cried into Violet's shoulder as the crowd looked on, not knowing what had just happened. But Luna had a soft, understanding smile on her face and a warmth in her heart. She didn't need the details. She didn't need to know what was said. She knew what Violet had done. Witnessing Violet's level-headedness in such a situation, as well as her quick defensive reflex only made her fuzzy feelings for Violet grow.

"As of this morning, Equestria has negotiated a treaty with the Changeling Hive. They are now in the process of becoming Equestrian citizens. Overseeing their integration into Equestrian society will be Violet, as well as her sisters, Storm and Rose. They will be assisted directly by Princess Twilight Sparkle and the Elements, and will have the full support of the Crown," Princess Luna said, drawing the attention of the crowd back to her announcement. "As of today, the changelings will be constructing a settlement near Ponyville, where they and Violet and her sisters can work on learning how to be proper citizens."

——————————

The changeling town was set up to the southwest of Ponyville, along a part of the same river that passed through the Everfree towards the South Luna Ocean. With the benefit of train tracks already passing through the area, the town's first construction objective was a train station, where supplies could be hauled in by rail. Upon completion of the station, a simple two-street town plan was drawn up, and construction of residences for the changelings and {humans} began. Though Chrysalis had been adamant about showing gratitude to Violet, and by extension her sisters, the {humans} had insisted they be left to build their own home.

Within a short period of two months, the town had completed construction of seventy percent of its planned infrastructure. Violet and her sisters had yet to complete their home by this point, due to "lack of appropriate materials". However, a small mining operation and metal foundry had been established. These would serve as the town's economic backbone, allowing the changelings, as well as the {humans}, to be productive members of Equestrian society by providing goods. This, Luna hoped, would allow Equestria at large to see the changelings as normal ponies just trying to live like everyone else.

In that time, Violet had become much more fluent in Equestrian, and her sisters had picked up enough for some conversation. Rose and Storm had the benefit of Violet's assistance in teaching, so their first month of learning had been far more accelerated. But that pattern had plateaued to a slower, steady rate as they had elected to learn how to read and write at the same time.

With Violet having learned to write in Equestrian to an appreciable degree, Luna had asked her to fill out the paperwork for her citizenship. Within those two months, she had been granted citizenship, and her sisters had submitted their own paperwork to follow in her footsteps.

Violet's overall mood seemed to have taken a drastic upturn in those two months as well. With her sisters by her side, she seemed to be much less anxious and reclusive. Her nightmares had grown less frequent, and the few that slipped past Luna were cut short from her waking by the hands of her sisters. Though she had yet to go without a weapon, she was more frequently going out in normal clothing, leaving her armor behind.

Luna found herself stunned to silence as she saw Violet in civilian-wear for the first time. She was beautiful in a way that artists could never truly capture, no matter how they tried. Luna thought Violet was beautiful with her armor, but seeing her out of it and in normal clothing... Her brain short-circuited, and her memory of what exactly happened from there were still a bit fuzzy. She knew that the two of them had gone out for coffee, and Violet had picked out a little hole-in-the-wall coffee shop. She remembered that the barista had treated her as she would any other patron, and that the other ponies were all too engrossed in their own activities to notice the royalty among them.

The two had talked about a number of things, but what she remembered most clearly was that their worlds' flow of time matched quite evenly, and that Violet had been alive for one-hundred and thirty-two years. Violet then specified that she didn't know how old she'd been when she first died, nor how long she'd been dead before her 'Ghost' had resurrected her for the first time, so knowing how long she had existed for in totality was impossible.

Luna now sat in that same coffee shop with Violet yet again, with her heart fluttering in her chest. Nopony noticed that she was a princess here, and no one paid any nevermind to Violet. The two of them were alone together in a casual, friendly setting.

"Violet, I have a question that I think you might be able to answer now," Luna asked softly. She plucked her warm cup of coffee from the table and took a short, delicate sip. It was still too hot to really taste it.

"Go ahead, Luna," Violet replied.

"What exactly, is Light? I remember you said it 'lives in all places and all things'," Luna asked, "but I've yet to grasp what it is."

"I'm still not fluent enough in Equestrian to answer completely, but I will try," Violet said. There was a flash of light, and one of her notebooks appeared in her hand. She set it down and began to draw as she explained. "There is a school of thought in my world about cause—" she drew a set of six panels; three rows of two, "—and effect. We called this {causality}. The world I come from, and yours, from what I have seen, are {causal}. Hitting a target—" she drew a target with an arrow sticking out of it, "—depends on if you drew the bow first."

She drew a bow drawn back, with an arrow nocked and ready, and an arrow pointing from that image to the previous.

"There were monsters from my home that could... disobey this idea. To them, drawing the bow was caused by them hitting the target," Violet continued. She drew the same pair of images, with the arrow pointing the opposite direction between them. "They were {acausal}."

"I'm guessing that Light is a unique third relationship in this philosophy?" Luna guessed.

"Yes and no," Violet answered with a sly smile. "It is {paracausal}. Light is the lack of a relationship between cause and effect." She drew the same two images one more time, but drew an X between them. "Hitting the target is caused by nothing. It is willing the universe to be a certain way, and shaping it through that will alone. It is declaring, 'Let there be light,' and by that will there is light."

"So, if what I've gathered is correct," Luna began, "then I also have Light, yes?"

Violet smiled and nodded. "Yes."

"What is it that makes you able to use yours the way you do?" Luna asked. "Why are you able to make that bubble, where I cannot do the same? Is it a difference solely in the amount of Light we have, or a difference in training, or something else entirely?"

Violet giggled softly, making Luna's heart skip a little. "There is a difference in amount, yes," Violet said softly, before her tone grew cold, "but the difference is death. Light is kindled in the darkness of death. Only by being consumed by the nothingness can your Light ever become more than a mere spark."

Luna nodded quietly, taking in what Violet had said.

"This is how Rose explained it to me," Violet added.

"Speaking of Rose," Luna said, perking up again. "Why do you and your sisters' Light feel and look so different?"

Violet took a sip of her coffee, cueing Luna to take a sip of her own. She was almost distracted by the pleasant taste.

"Light, as we know it, has three types. Most Guardians are able to use all three, though not at the same time," Violet explained. "We are... different. Each of us has one type that we are gifted with, one we can use but are below average with, and one we can't use at all. Rose is gifted with {Solar} Light, which is fiery and hot like the sun. Storm is gifted with {Arc} Light, which is energetic and wild like lightning. I am gifted with {Void} Light, which is quiet and cool like starlight."

"Does your Light affect you on a personal level?" Luna asked. "Is Rose fiery as a person because of her Light?"

"Yes," Violet said with a nod. "She burns hotter than normal {humans} because of her Light. Storm has to sleep with her because she gets cold and needs Rose for warmth."

Luna took another sip of her coffee.

"What is your magic like?" Violet asked. "From what I can tell, it is almost like Light, but... older...?"

"I... guess you could say that," Luna replied. "It still obeys your theory of {causality}, but it allows some rules to be... bent."

"Are there different types?" Violet inquired. "Or is it always unique?"

"Pegasi, unicorns, and earth ponies all have distinct magic from each other," Luna answered, "but I hesitate to classify them the same way as Light. The lines between the three are... blurry at best."

"What of your magic, then? It feels different to all three," Violet asked. "It doesn't feel like a blend of the three..."

Author's Note

Chapters are getting slightly tougher to write, simply by virtue of having to go back and make sure I keep all of my details consistent.

Anyway, we're getting closer to the end of the story.

~GjallarFox

23: Wasting

"I'm sorry... We've lost the memories that could help you..."

Chrysalis was just as heartbroken having to say that as Violet was to hear it. This alien, this being from beyond the stars, from above the surface, had fulfilled her promise to bring peace to the changelings and end the famine. Violet Light had saved her hive from death and extinction. The changelings were slowly able to enter Equestrian society over the course of a year, during which time they had built their own town, which they named Lighthold, after Violet. Over the course of that year, the changelings had become demystified, and the fear and hatred that ponies once held for them had dissipated to a remarkable degree. This effect was felt more in the surrounding areas to Lighthold, like Ponyville, and was less pronounced in areas further away.

But the famine had done too much damage. The collective memories of the changelings had withered away. Despite desperately wanting to thank her for saving the hive, Chrysalis could give Violet nothing for her effort.

Violet had saved the changelings from the fate to which she was now doomed.

"It's okay," Violet murmured. "I did this knowing I was unlikely to acquire the knowledge I wanted. I was also prepared for the information being useless."

Though Violet smiled, there was no joy in it. There was a melancholy in her upturned lips, a faint shimmer of tears just behind her gaze. Chrysalis understood. Violet took pain upon herself so that others would not have to suffer, much like a Queen ought to do herself.

"For what it's worth... I truly did hope that we could help you..."

Chrysalis placed her hoof over Violet's hand as the alien's gaze sank into her drink. The world around them felt still and quiet. The scent of coffee and baked goods faded out of consciousness as the two shared in Violet's sadness.

"Make no mistake, I have not given up. Guardians do not quit," Violet said, looking back up. A tear rolled down her cheek, glimmering with a faint purple glint. There was a flame of determination behind her eyes. Her hand retreated from Chrysalis' hoof.

The Changeling Queen could not suppress her surprise. "How...? How do you learn of your hopelessness and continue as though you were never wounded by it? How can you stand the pain?"

"I was already hopeless," Violet replied simply.

——————————

Luna sat in her bed, staring up at the moon. It was still strange to her, seeing that pale sphere completely whole, untouched by the Hive. It was still strange to her, even having been here for more than a year. She was effectively a civilian now, but on occasion, she'd still wear her armor, just to keep how it felt in mind. She still carried the Ace, and still maintained all of her weapons, as well as those of Rose and Mae. She still knew well the difference of the weight in her hand between a gun that was loaded and one that wasn't.

Nova sat in her lap, staring up at the moon with her. The fox had since remained an enigma, yet also a welcome companion in her daily life. Luna subconsciously pet the fox as she looked up, remembering how Earth's moon looked from her old dorm in the Tower she shared with her team. Its pale silver light corrupted with the faintest hint of the sickly green of Hive magic. Its round shape marred by the scars Crota's sword left on its surface.

The moon here was comforting; soothing. The moon offered a silent assurance: Sleep, little one. You may rest in peace, now. I will watch over you.

Nova licked Luna's chin, before yawning and curled up into a ball next to her. Luna smiled and gave the fox a scratch behind the ears. She stood from her bed and sat back down at her writing desk. Dozens of sheets of paper of varying templates were neatly organized; blank paper, lined paper, graph paper, staved paper, hex paper, all at the ready. She plucked a sheet of staved paper and began to hum a soft melody to herself. Her pencil began to scrawl the melody from her memory down from her head into the page.

Luna could not remember the origin of the song. Where it had come from was as much a mystery as what the lyrics meant. She scribbled in shorthand that she didn't know she knew. Her left hand began to tap at the desk with the rhythm.

She stood, bringing her hastily written music to the piano in the corner of her room. Her fingers began to dance on the keys as her foot tapped time of four. A song of ancients flowed from her soul as she played. Her voice lent itself to the music, knowing what syllables came next, and which were connected. The fox sang along, lending its voice to the song, knowing what was happening.

The soft sound of flapping wings and hooves on stone were suppressed by the music. ~Luna~ quietly entered the room, eyes fixed on Luna and Nova, ears perked. The music resonated with the ambient magic of the world, with Luna and the fox as the focal points. She had seen this dozens of times before, and recognized it immediately for what it was: a harmony moment.

Time switched from four to three. Luna could feel that her voice resonated with two others from the ancient past of her home. Two voices, ancient, yet clear as the air. The voices felt... comforting, in a strangely familiar way. It felt as though she knew them, knew the people they belonged to.

Tears welled up as she sang with the familiar voices. Memories of warmth and comfort filled her mind, though no images followed; only the voices and the feeling of being held by someone. The music faded, leaving Luna to stare at the keys of the piano through teary eyes. Nova rested her chin on Luna's leg in a gesture of comfort.

~Luna~ gently knocked against the balcony doorframe. Luna looked up to her.

"~Are you okay?~" ~Luna~ asked.

Luna nodded, but the pony was not fooled.

"~The changelings were unable to help you...~" ~Luna~ murmured, guessing at the source of her friend's pain.

Luna nodded.

~Luna~ tentatively entered the room, approaching Luna and wrapping her wings around her. It wasn't much, but at that moment, it was the best she could do to comfort her friend.

"~This is when I would have left,~" Luna said. "~Now, while it's calm and quiet... Before I can become dangerous again.~"

"~I know,~" ~Luna~ said softly.

"~Will you stay with me?~" Luna asked. "~I would appreciate your company...~"

——————————

The world around her was warm. The wind passed through the grass making it wave like ripples on a lake, and a lone tree stood in the distance. The sound of flowing water mixed with the quiet hush of the wind. Long past the tree, she could see a mountain where great flying creatures wheeled about in the air.

She stepped forwards, the dirt soft beneath her hooves. The grass lapped at her coat. The wind whispered in her ear. Beneath the tree, she saw Violet sitting, staring at the sky. She was in armor, but the armor didn't fit anymore. The underlayer of the armor hung off her body as though it were made for someone much larger. The plates were not shiny as they once were. Rust and tarnish stained the metal, reflecting the light of the sun in strange ways. Violet looked up at her, her eyes nowhere near as bright as they usually were; a dull ember now as compared to a roaring flame. The light that once danced just over her skin was gone.

"So... This is the end, huh?" Violet asked. Her voice was weak, and cracked like an ancient painting that had been poorly maintained. "Always thought I'd go out with an explosion."

"This is not the end," Luna said. Her voice was strained, and tears were already threatening her vision. "This cannot be the end..."

"My Light's been wasting away this whole time," Violet said calmly. A dry chuckle escaped her lips. "Funny how you're more afraid of me dying than I am. But, I guess that'd make sense. After all, I've already died a few thousand times."

Luna opened her mouth to speak, but found no words awaiting her.

"You know... starving to death feels different when you're still eating," Violet mused. "I've been having a lot of dreams about Before... I remember things I shouldn't be able to remember... Like how when I was just born... I could feel how happy they were to hold me... The memory of that moment felt..."

Violet paused, searching for the right words.

"I could taste the sweetness of the moment..." she said. "I could feel how much they'd wanted me, and how much love they had for me..."

Luna sat down next to Violet against the tree, placing her wing around her.

"I had a dream about this place..." Violet continued. "I used to come here a lot when I was a kid. Mom and I built a treehouse out here, and I'd come out here in the winter when it was warm and play in the river and practice violin in the treehouse... As I got older, I'd come here when I wanted to be alone. I broke a boy's heart here. I shared my first kiss with a girl up in that treehouse..."

"This place is hallowed ground to me," Violet said.

"I don't mean to intrude," Luna murmured, beginning to stand.

Violet stopped her, placing a hand over her withers. She smiled weakly, but genuinely. "You are welcome here, Luna."

Silence permeated the area. Clouds rolled by, casting long shadows on the sea of grass and the river banks. The warm breeze carried the scent of unsullied nature.

"I've been thinking about a lot of things lately," Violet hummed softly. "This world, my world... The one I was resurrected into... I never hated it... It was loud and chaotic and violent and cruel, but I didn't hate it. I loved it so much... It was home... But... I don't miss it. It was too much for me, especially after I lost Cayde... after Riven..."

Violet wiped a few tears from her eyes and took a deep breath.

"Your world is the kind of place I wanted to find," Violet said. "I would have loved to spend my life there with you."

Luna felt her heart skip a beat.

"You still can," Luna insisted. Tears broke forth, blurring her vision. "You're not going anywhere! You can't just die!"

Violet chuckled to herself as she wiped the tears from Luna's eyes. "There is one universal truth, Luna. Nothing has ever lived which will not one day die. Guardians are no exception. We just take longer than most."

The world blurred, and color began to fade, starting with the blue from the sky. The color drained from everything, the tree decaying as the green of its leaves fell away. The grass stopped moving and slowly, it too began to dissolve away.

"Violet?! No! Violet!"

"Don't beat yourself up about this..."

Luna continued to cry as Violet, too, began to lose color.

"O love mine, quiet your screams and dry your tears. This is but another proof of the universal truth. Nothing has ever lived which will not one day die. This is my parting gift to you: to be bathed in the name you gave me."

Luna screamed. The world slowly began to fill with violet light as everything else disintegrated around them. As the light intensified to blinding brightness, Violet smiled and took Luna's hoof in her hand in a weak, yet firm grasp.

"Light Sacrifice..."

24: Rest In Peace

Audi and Nova Noctis were well known, having become the source of interplanetary intrigue overnight. Their daughter, Luna, was the first and only child to be born of two cis women. Scientists in various fields of biology flocked to the Ishtar Sink on Venus to conduct various tests and research both the happy couple and their child. The first tests had confirmed that Luna was indeed the child of Audi and Nova, with a margin of error less than two percent. When asked how they had achieved such a thing when the technology to create a child this way did not exist, the couple simply shrugged and claimed she was a miracle: their own little Light.

Growing up, Luna was closely observed by various researchers, including those who studied the Traveler and the Light. They found she was quite normal, and surprisingly mentally healthy, considering the amount of public attention that was on her. She took music lessons for various instruments, from the violin to the oboe to the piano. She learned how each one worked, what the essential mechanism for creating sound was, and how to play with that directly. As she left high school and moved on to college, she pursued music, to the surprise of no one.

She went to a relatively small college on Earth. It wasn't particularly prestigious, nor did it have a particularly robust music program, but it was where she wanted to go. On her first day, when her mothers dropped her off, they gave her a simple necklace. It was a simple gold chain upon which a pair of intertwined rings hung. One ring was gold inset with a ruby, while the other was silver inset with sapphire. The two rings were inseparable, as they were bound both by the chain, and to each other.

The rings were her mothers' wedding bands. Audi and Nova had the original rings made into that necklace shortly after Luna was born, with the intent of passing it down to Luna as an heirloom. The rings were the promise of love to each other, bound together in unbreakable loops. The chain was Luna, intersecting both rings both individually and together, including her in their love.

——————————

Luna shot awake, her wings itching with distilled anxiety. She could feel Violet's curse magic flaring down in Lighthold, and could only assume the worst. With no regard for control of her magic, she ripped open her balcony doors and threw herself into the night. The icy air easily pierced her coat, only adding to the chills that ran down her spine. Off in the distance, the only sense of hope came from the fact that the night was still dark. Whatever was happening, Violet had yet to cast that curse.

Her mind raced to put the pieces together. What was that dream? What did it mean? What was with that incantation? Why did she look and sound so weak...?

Was Violet dying? Could Violet die? She still had her Shape, her 'Ghost' as she called it. Its entire purpose was to bring her back from death. As long as it was unharmed, could she not just be brought back?

Luna touched down on Violet's balcony, and reached up to knock on the door, but found only a curtain blocking the way. Inside was quiet and dark, but she could hear faint sobbing. It sounded... mostly like Violet, but with another voice mixed in, similar to how she sounded when she'd cast her curses.

"Violet?"

The sobbing went quiet.

"Violet, may I come in?" Luna asked softly.

There was no reply.

"Violet, I'm coming in," she said.

With a faint touch of magic, she pulled the curtain aside and entered Violet's room. Immediately, Violet's dragonoid form caught her eye. The fur on the back of her neck raised in response, and her feathers itched with anxiety. But then she noticed the fox sitting in Violet's lap as though nothing were wrong. Violet's hand continued stroking through its fur in steady rhythm. A necklace Luna had never seen before was around Violet's neck, shining in the beam of moonlight that slipped past the curtain.

"Violet... are you... okay?" Luna asked tentatively.

"Yes..." Violet answered. "I'm... not hungry..."

Luna paused, confused for a brief moment before understanding kicked in. She lit her horn, trying to feel what was happening.

A fine wish, Miss Noctis! Your desire for this is vast as the void, and shall feed me until this star dies!

She could sense a warmth flowing in the room, and she could sense that Violet seemed to be absorbing it.

Your wish is granted. Your daughter, my heir, is born.

Violet's magic, her Light, seemed to be growing stronger, and the curse magic seemed to be weakening. Luna looked up at her, trying to follow what she was sensing in that room.

Violet stopped petting the fox. The warmth stopped flowing. Slowly, Violet's scales began to recede, sliding back down beneath her clothes and skin. Luna looked on in disbelief.

I leave for you enough desire to sustain you until you are old enough to know how to hunt on your own.

"Violet... That fox..." Luna murmured. Her brain struggled to grasp what was happening, let alone how it was possible. The fox was radiating a warm feeling, something akin to the warmth of motherly love, and Violet had been absorbing it, almost drinking it. "Where did you find that fox?"

Violet remained silent as she watched her body return to normal. The bony face-plates shrank down until, like the scales, they receded beneath her skin. The stingers, too, shrank back down to nonexistence.

"I found her in the forest, not far from where I crashed," Violet said, her face betraying her confusion. She stared at the fox pensively, and the fox ignored her gaze. "I... I don't understand what she is, but she fed me..."

Luna thought for a moment, trying to piece together an explanation for what she'd just witnessed. "I think that fox was your inheritance. The {Ahamkara} must have left you a well of desire from which you could sustain yourself..."

Violet looked down at the necklace, her mind still processing what was happening.

"Violet, I'm coming in," another voice sounded, this one rougher than either Luna's or Violet's. The curtain pulled away to reveal Chrysalis. Her mane was even more unkempt than usual, and her eyes betrayed a deep-seated anxiety that Luna could immediately recognize. Her brow furrowed as her gaze shifted between Violet, Luna, and the fox. "I could feel her feeding on something... Was it you, Princess?"

"No," Luna answered, gesturing to the fox.

The fox, in turn, smiled cheekily at the ponies.

Chrysalis flared her own magic, reaching out into the aetheric field. Near immediately, Chrysalis' gaze fixed on the fox with a deep and curious confusion. "That fox is not real."

Violet raised an eyebrow. "How do you mean...?"

Chrysalis sighed. "That fox is... empty. It's a vessel, and only that. It's not possible for such a being to exist. The amount of magic necessary to sustain it..."

Luna looked down at the fox. "It contains desire..."

"Correct," Chrysalis said. "It's made of magic and desire."

"Then... I won't starve..." Violet murmured.

Luna tentatively approached. "No, you won't starve."

If ever Luna had been surprised by Violet's actions it was in this moment. The princess had no time to react as Violet threw her arms around her and pulled her up into the tightest hug she'd ever felt. Luna's face immediately stained over with a harsh blush.

Chrysalis, meanwhile, simply smiled to herself, drinking in the overflowing warmth of the affection.

Rose stared up at the sky, watching the pegasi moving the clouds in preparation for a thunderstorm. It was morning, just before dawn; the first of the sun's rays were just barely visible over the horizon, providing just enough light for herself and the pegasus weather crews to see by. The cool air felt nice against her skin.

The sound of footsteps. A gentle touch of a cold hand on her shoulder. A soft, feminine voice that said, "Hey."

"Mornin', heatsink," Rose said as Mae wrapped her arms around her and pulled her into a tight hug. "Fuck you're cold."

Mae was unarmored, wearing some civilian-wear that had been given to her by one of the local ponies. ~Rarity~ was her name, if she remembered correctly. According to Luna, she was quite talented, and her designs were pleasing to the eye. Given Rose's restrictions on what she could and couldn't get away with wearing without overheating or accidentally incinerating, the Warlock had declined the pony's offer to make her clothes.

"I'm always cold, you know that," Mae said, smirking to herself. "My armor's bulky so I can fit in the heating system."

"So why aren't you wearing your armor now?" Rose asked, a playful smile appearing on her lips.

"Wanted to bother you," Mae answered.

The two sat in silence, watching as the storm was assembled in the sky.

"This place is fuckin' weird," Mae murmured.

"What's the weirdest bit?" Rose asked.

"All of it," the Titan replied. "The locals are ponies, magic is real, they make their own weather, and everything's just so... peaceful."

"Yeah..." Rose hummed. "But it's nice..."

Mae nodded. "Aye... It is..."

The two sat in silence together for a moment, watching as the sky was filled with dark clouds that smelled of lightning and petrichor. As the final patch of clear sky was filled in, one of the pegasi flew down and landed in front of the two. Said pegasus had a coat the color of clear skies, and a mane in every color of the rainbow. ~Rainbow Dash~, Luna had said her name was.

"~You two should head inside,~" the pony said. "~The thunder will start in about five minutes.~"

Mae released Rose from her heat-sapping hug and stood up. With a snap of her fingers and a flash of light, she donned her armor. "~Good,~" the Titan replied. "~Let it come.~"

"~It's not safe to be out here, you need to go,~" ~Rainbow Dash~ insisted.

"~I will be safe. Lightning cannot harm me,~" Mae said. She stepped calmly forward into the field of the park and took a low, awkward stance. Her legs were bent, her left the only one on the ground, her right slightly raised. Her left arm was forward with the elbow bent and pointed down, while her right was bent behind her head, elbow up, palm facing the sky. Lightning flashed in the sky, hidden by the clouds, and the roar of thunder followed.

Luna stepped forward into the field, to the surprise of Rose and Mae. One of the princesses, ~Luna~, if the crescent moon on her flank was anything to go by, sat down next to Rose with a contented smile. She offered a polite nod to the Warlock, and Rose nodded right back before turning back to her sisters.

Luna stood with a brand new posture about her, a new aura that made both Mae and Rose wonder what had happened. No longer was Luna hunched over as though trying to make herself smaller or hide away. She didn't stand with the same commanding presence as a Titan either. There was something entirely different. Something Mae and Rose recognized, but couldn't put a name to.

Thunderclap and flash. Lightning struck Mae, and in an instant, seven blades of Arc Light formed across her body: one in her right knee, one against her right hip, one in her right elbow, one between her right shoulder and neck, one in her left elbow, one in her left armpit, and one in her teeth. With incredible speed, the Titan lurched forwards with her Arc Blades, juggling the seven blades through the air as she moved.

Luna swept her left foot in a circle around her and flared her own Light. Twin blades of Void Light formed in her hands as she brought her left blade around behind her, perfectly blocking Mae's incoming slash. She ducked forwards, bringing her right blade up to block one of Mae's airborne blades. Luna leapt up into the air, allowing her Void Light to slip her into glossy stealth, making her nigh invisible to the naked eye.

The two Guardians proceeded to dance a dance of blades, neither managing to gain ground against the other. Rose watched with greater interest than usual. Luna had never been able to keep up with Mae's Arc Blades before, and would usually take her first death within the first twenty strikes. But as she counted twenty, thirty, forty, fifty, Luna remained standing. Sixty. Luna was still veiled in shadows, and Mae could only make out her form from being so close and seeing the way the light from her blades bent around her. Rose could see her by watching the footsteps in the grass and where the rain was halted before it reached the ground. Seventy. Eighty. Ninety. The two Guardians clashed one final time, totaling one-hundred strikes.

The blades of Arc and Void Light faded away, leaving Mae and Luna standing face to face staring into each other's eyes. Several ponies, including both princesses, were assembled, all sitting and watching like Rose.

"I see you haven't lost your step in this peaceful world," Mae said.

"Sometimes, you need to stop and start again," Luna replied. "I've found a new rhythm."

"And you keep mine just fine," Mae added with a delighted smile. She brought herself back to a normal standing position. "This place is good for you."

"No, the people are good for me," Luna said with a subtle smile. She gestured towards the ponies. "They helped me learn to move on."

"This place is good for you," Mae insisted, placing a heavy hand on Luna's shoulder. "You've found a place to rest your soul. A place where people care about you, not just your Light or what you do with it."

Luna smiled and started walking back to Rose and the ponies. "Aye. I've found a special place where I don't have to worry about the Ahamkara or the Vanguard or the latest movements of the Cabal or the Hive. I can finally breathe easy here. I'm not walking on eggshells anymore..."

Luna smiled and placed her hand on ~Luna's~ withers as the ponies stood up. "~Let's get out of the storm,~" Luna said.

To herself, she added, "I can rest in peace."

Author's Note

If you can see the reference I made with Mae's Arc Blades, congratulations.

Epilogue: Taking Inventory

Luna had always been prone to sentiment, holding on to mementos and the like to remember people and places and experiences she'd had. She often filled journals not just with notes, but also sketches of stunning vistas throughout the Sol System. Everything from the quiet forests of the EDZ, to the unending desert of Mars, to the majesty of the Dreaming City; she'd seen it all and captured those moments in pen and ink so that it wouldn't just be the image that was familiar. That core sentimentality was part of why she maintained her weapons and armor so religiously. By maintaining those weapons and armor, she maintained the memories of how she'd acquired them, and the people she'd acquired them from.

The Ace of Spades was a prime example of this. She'd worked with Cayde and Banshee to build the weapon, and it had served her well in so many situations that it was easily her most prized possession. She couldn't count how many times having that weapon on hand had saved her life.

From her old home in the Sol System, Luna had most of the weapons she'd brought with her, with the exception of the Raze Lighter; more ammunition-synthesizers than she'd ever need here; her Reef-Awoken armor; her journals; her heirloom necklace from her mothers; and her sisters, Mae and Rose. The fact that they'd followed her was something she never expected, but was overjoyed about nonetheless.

From this new world, she'd acquired plenty of new keepsakes and mementos. Among them, all of her new pony friends; from ~Applejack~ to ~Celestia~ to ~Chrysalis~, she'd managed to make more friends here than she ever had in the Sol System. She was dating ~Luna~ now, to the surprise of only Mae and Rose.

She sat back in her bed, ~Luna~ cuddled up next to her as she held the Ace in one hand, her other absently stroking through the pony's mane. Memories of the good times with Cayde played out in her mind, including several practical jokes she'd helped him pull on Zavala and Ikora. Memories of exchanging tales from the fronts, talking about what they felt when they tapped their Light in some ramen shop in the City. Memories of the missions she got directly from him, and how every single one inevitably went wrong. A melancholy smile graced her lips.

She set down the Ace on her nightstand, before turning out the light in her room. The warm light of the incandescent bulb was replaced with the soft, pale light of the uninfested moon of ~Equis~ spilling in from the balcony window. She settled back down beneath the blankets and closed her eyes. Warmth radiated from ~Luna~ and Nova, contrasting with the cool autumn air coming in from the balcony window.

Here, on this world inhabited by ponies, Luna could finally rest in peace.

[Mercury, Fields of Glass: Ten days before Contact]

The gate to the Infinite Forest was being constantly watched by several Guardians after the Atheon Incident. The device that had appeared and begun spitting out copies of Atheon had been dismantled violently, leaving deep scars on the landscape outside Brother Vance's tower.

The Forest door flashed, and from it stepped a lone Hunter, clad in brilliant purple armor with an Ace in her hand. A moment later, a Titan in blue and a robeless Warlock followed. The three shared a look with each other, and stepped forth, back into the world.

A Warlock clad in fine black robes attempted to approach the three, but a lone ship passed over them, transmat firing and pulling them all inside as it blasted away from Mercury, back towards Earth.

Intermission: Violet - Exposed

This world was vastly different from Equus. Gravity was lighter here. Clouds hung higher in the sky, and gentle rain fell from them down to the ground below. All around her were plants unfamiliar to her, broad leaves in greens more vivid than any she'd seen at home. Tall trees towered overhead in a jungle too large in scope to truly take in. The sun appeared far closer, making the area feel like a sauna more than a tropical jungle.

Luna looked around more, finding that she was within her own dream, and not somepony else's. As she cast a spell to confirm this, she saw motion from the corner of her eye.

One of Violet's kind, a {human}, stepped forwards towards the edge of the jungle. The {human} was female, with long, golden hair that covered half of her soft face. She wore black leather garments that did not seem tailored to her, and in her hand was a machete. The one exposed blue eye held the flame of determination, and she proceeded forwards into the green depths, hacking away at the overgrowth.

Luna followed the {human} with deep curiosity. Her face seemed so familiar, and yet not quite. As she continued, she found the way to be lit by luminous flowers and insects. The branches and leaves colored the skyline, blacking out the sunlight and making noon like midnight. Dragonflies with lights in their tails and the shining eyes of birds acted as stars against the canopy. But the {human} paid no mind, moving forward with tenacity befitting the most stubborn earth pony.

The path was forged in cut leaves and branches and brambles. Vines hung like curtains separating it into segments. Progress was slow, but never felt so. There was constant forward momentum, whatever goal the {human} had acting as a beacon in the ocean of alien flora. She moved towards it as a tsunami, making her path in destruction.

Eventually, the {human} reached a sheer cliff with a massive cave opening. Inside was darker than the depths of the jungle, but that did not stop her. She reached into the breast pocket of the leather jacket and pulled a small stick from it. She clicked a small button on one side, and the other immediately lit up with intensely bright light. A wide cone of light pushed back the dark as she proceeded forwards into the cave.

Come close, O patron mine. Bring me your wish.

A deep, slow, rumbling voice spoke through her mind, and she understood its words. It spoke in Violet's tongue, and beckoned the {human} deeper into the dark cave. Luna followed closely, not wishing to become lost in this place. The cave descended deep into the cliff, winding down in a meandering path. Stalagmites and stalactites lined the floors and ceiling, giving the entire cave the feeling of being within the maw of a massive beast. Instinct told Luna to turn back and fly away, but her curiosity was strong enough to hold it down.

The path leveled out into a massive room. A vortex of wind circled against the walls, whistling and howling around them. The stone was smooth, even on the ceiling, rounded out by some creature, and the dust on the ground was thick as carpet. A massive pile of glowing blue cubes lay in the dust, and Luna nearly jumped out of her own skin as she found herself face-to-face with a dragon laying upon it, much the same as the one from Violet's nightmares. {Ahamkara}, she called it.

"Ahamkara! Hear my plea!" the {human} called out, her voice echoing in the cave.

What is it you seek, O patron mine?

"I wish to conceive a child with my wife," the {human} female declared. "Though we are both female, we both desire a child that is ours, and ours alone, and the technology of humanity is not enough to grant this."

A fine wish, Miss Noctis! Your desire for this is vast as the void, and shall feed me until this star dies! I shall grant your wish, O patron mine!

"Noctis...?" Luna wondered aloud.

The {human} female began to glow with a soft purple light, much like that of Violet's magic. It slowly grew in intensity until it was brighter than the sun. For a brief moment, all was blinding white.

When the light faded, Luna found herself in a hospital room, that same {human} female sitting on the bed next to another. The new {human} was clad only in a hospital gown, and held a newborn in her arms. Her hair was shorter, only falling to her shoulders. Both of them looked down in pure adoration, and the infant looked up at them with dazzling green eyes. Everything was at peace here. The storm of delivery had passed, and now the couple were allowed to enjoy their moment of bliss.

"What should we name her, Nova?" the first {human} asked. "You carried her, so you get the final say."

The second {human} hummed softly, "I don't know, Audi... You should name her..."

{Audi} thought for a moment. "How about Luna?"

"Luna Noctis... Beautiful..." {Nova} teared up, an overwhelmed smile on her lips. "Welcome to the family, Luna..."

Your wish is granted. Your daughter, my heir, is born.

Intermission: Bones of Eao

All creatures are made by the same process and for the same purpose. All life is the same, from the humble ant to the proud Ahamkara; evolution was their maker, and survival was their goal. Humanity is no different. On the cusp of extinction, all creatures must either adapt or die. Birds must change the shapes of their beaks and fish must change the location of their eyes and insects must change the color of their carapaces evolution does not demand change: evolution is change. Of this I can assure you.

Ahamkara were made to feed upon desire of all kinds, and the desire of sentient creatures was the most effective way to sate their hunger. To inspire lust— sexual desire —the Ahamkara evolved venomous stingers equipped with a hallucinogen and an aphrodisiac, with a paralyzing agent to keep their prey from running away and wasting that desire. To inspire higher desires— desires for knowledge or power or fame —the Ahamkara evolved the ability to bend reality; to grant wishes, strike bargains with prey and use their power to obtain sustenance. To inspire the desire to sate one's desire, the Ahamkara evolved hallucinogenic tissue. Everything from their blood to their ancient, sun-bleached, fossilized bones could cause auditory hallucinations in any sentient creature who came near them. The bones, claws, scales, and skulls of the Ahamkara taunted humanity with knowledge and power, the knowledge and power they needed to survive extinction, and farmed people into beings with desires vast enough to feed cities of Ahamkara.

But the Ahamkara's niche was a fragile one. Their power made them dangerous, and humanity would eventually claim all of the power and knowledge it was willing to take from the wish-dragons. Humanity would then call for the Great Hunt, and the Ahamkara would be made extinct; their prey becoming their predators.

One Ahamkara had seen this possibility and had chosen to use its power to ensure its lineage would continue. She granted a wish for a human who desired a child, driven by that same immutable force. And in that wish, she wove her power around the child, passing on the lineage of the Ahamkara by forcing evolution.

All creatures are made with a single goal: Defy Extinction.

The Ahamkara live on. Of this, I assure you, O reader mine.

Author's Note

Just a little something for y'all while I work on the next real chapter. Shit's been crazy lately.

~GjallarFox