Nopony moved, or said a word as the unicorn called "Tempest Shadow", walked towards Princess Twilight with a confident smirk on her face. A smaller creature, the one that had planted the flag, stayed close to her side.

Twilight could see that the unicorn's horn was broken, suggesting a previous injury or magical overload of some kind had happened to her. However, that was the least of Twilight’s concerns at the moment.

"What is it you want?" Twilight asked cautiously, slowly charging her horn as Princess Celestia, Luna, and Cadance moved to stand beside her.

"My lord, the Storm King, demands your alicorn magic." Tempest Shadow replied. “He’s not one to be trifled with, mind you.”

"We would rather die.” Princess Luna retorted. “If you desire it so much, then you are welcome to try and take it!”

The other Alicorns then voiced their affirmation to the Lunar Alicorn’s statement. Tempest Shadow, after a few moments, began to laugh quietly, and drew a small obsidian orb out of a pouch on her armor.

"Oh, that can be arranged!" she chuckled, before hurling the orb at the Solar and Lunar Princesses. As Cadance and Twilight dove to the side, Celestia and Luna lit up their horns to defend themselves…

Only, the orb never made it half-way to its intended targets. A loud crack akin to thunder sounded, and the orb exploded in mid-air, leaving only dust behind.

Tempest snarled, and hurled another orb, only to have the same result. Twilight could've sworn that she saw a pair of faint vapor trails pass by her on each crack, but she shrugged it off.

Tempest Shadow, the small blue and gray creature, along with the other, larger members of the Storm King’s army, stood aghast. Those petrification orbs were made by the Storm King himself. Nothing in Equestria could shatter them like that.

"Who dares interfere! Show yourself!" Tempest demanded, scouring the crowd and surrounding area. "I demand it!"

There were a few moments of silence, before a voice spoke loudly, drawing the attention of all present. It was masculine, rather upbeat, and almost sounded as if it was like a robot speaking from one of Spike's sci-fi comics, Twilight would later note to herself.

"So, you "demand" that we show ourselves? Is that what you want? We aren’t exactly the type that you should mess around with, just so you know.”

"Enough talk! Show yourselves right now!" Tempest retorted bitterly. The male voice laughed, before uttering words that made Tempest pause in her tracks.

"Alright then. Just don't say we didn't warn you."

The crowd split as steps came from the plaza behind them, almost like a sea parting from an unrelenting gale. Through the split in the crowd came seven figures, Each was tall, bipedal, and of varying size, though they walked with purpose and confidence, a feeling that made Tempest pause.

The objects they carried on their backs and hips were of an unknown nature and of differing size and shape, but Twilight guessed they were most likely weapons of some kind at first glance as they passed.

Two of them wore long robes, both stylized in a variety of colors, with an armband on their left shoulder. The first figure's robes were colored purple, two shades of tan, and white, while the other wore two shades of blue, black, and gray.

Three wore rogue's leathers, with a long cloak to match. One was orange with a coyote's head, another gray and silver with a red eagle in flight, and the last was a dark brown and red pattern. The first one was tan, red, and white, the second was gray, black, and pale blue, and the last one was mostly brown, with some black and gray.

The last two were tall and broad, with both wearing a waist-sash of some kind. One bore the image of a tiger, the other a twin-winged bird. One wore black, blue, and a pale tan, the other wore crimson red, black, and white.

As the seven figures walked past the alicorns without a word, and stood in a horizontal line in front of Tempest Shadow and her forces, the one who had first spoken came forward slightly, and cocked his head to the left in a questioning manner.

"Who are you?" Tempest Shadow asked with a raised eyebrow. "And what are you doing here?"

"We were just in the neighborhood, saw you all march in, figured we'd see what was going on." the lead figure said. "And just so you know…"

"You might want to leave, otherwise this’ll get ugly.”

Tempest Shadow laughed, and the rest of the Storm King's troops laughed with her. Realizing that a fight was imminent, the four Princesses and the Royal Guards that were present quickly began ushering the attendees inside.

"Do you really think you can take us all on?" Tempest retorted after she finished laughing. "I have an entire army at my back, and there's seven of you! What chance do you possibly stand?"

"Quality over quantity, I'd say." the figure replied with a snarking tone. "Do you want to find out why?"

Then, there was a crack of sound followed by the roaring of flame, and the jaws of all present hit the floor. The lead figure was now completely wreathed in vibrant orange, burning energy, and in his hand, a small object appeared in his hand with a blazing flash.

"This is why." the figure smiled, and three jets of flames soared through the air towards three of the surrounding airships. Tempest spun around as she saw each bolt slam into the prow of one of the three leading airships.

The airships then exploded into three spectacular, roaring fireballs, and crashed to the ground in a tangled heap of molten metal and scorched wood. Tempest's jaw went slack, around with all of her soldiers. As she slowly faced the seven beings again, the leader stared at her with cold eyes that pierced her confident facade.

"This is your last chance to leave peacefully." the lead being said in a clear, commanding tone.

Tempest Shadow grimaced in anger, and screamed for her troops to charge. As the four Alicorns slammed the doors to the Palace shut and sealed them up with their magic, the last thing Twilight saw of the carnage outside was the seven beings standing fast, with weapons at the ready.

====

"Take 'em down fast!" Cayde-6 ordered as he unloaded the Ace of Spades into a group of opposing soldiers. One of them leaped upwards to tackle him, but Cayde skillfully slid out from underneath, and one of his Hunter knives went across the soldiers' throat for good measure.

Cayde-6 may have been confined to the Tower for quite some time after taking up the Vanguard Dare, but that time had done nothing to hamper his combat skills as a Hunter. He was one of the finest martial artists in the Vanguard, and he often sparred with newer Hunters to help them develop their own hand-to-hand combat skills.

The other six Guardians unloaded their own weapons at the charging Storm soldiers, before unleashing their Light upon those who survived the initial volley of bullets. The entire plaza was soon completely filled with flashes of Arc lightning, scorching Solar flames, and blasts of Void Energy. Soldier after soldier fell to the ground, and Upon seeing many of their allies being completely disintegrated in front of them, the remaining soldiers turned tail and fled as fast as their legs could carry them.

"Is that all you got?" Cayde-6 called out, but he soon noticed that Tempest Shadow was charging forward at the Hunter Vanguard, her horn ablaze with volatile magic. She had intended to get in close and fire a concentrated blast at her opponent, but Cayde easily double-jumped away and out of reach.

Before Tempest could change targets or even fathom how a being could jump off of the air itself, one of the heavily armored beings delivered a punch straight into her side. Slamming straight into a nearby wall, she groaned loudly, her vision blurred by the pain from the impact.

The being then approached her slowly, and Tempest gasped as a small object with a single blue eye appeared before her. There was a flash of white light, and the pain went away before Tempest then slipped into a deep sleep.

====

David's Ghost then returned to his side, and as he rejoined his fellow Guardians, a final airship set itself down in front of them. A being that could only be the Storm King emerged, holding a jagged, purple and red colored staff. The remaining Storm soldiers did an about-face and stood close to the new arrival, albeit with their legs shaking.

"I do not care who or what you are, but now, you shall die!" the Storm King bellowed, and he raised his staff, which began to glow vibrantly. He then fired a beam of magenta energy straight at the Guardians, which enveloped all of them. The Guardians turned to each other, not sure if what their adversary had just done was affecting them.

The Storm King was eager to proclaim that their powers were now his...only he stopped upon not sensing anything flow into the staff. He looked down at the staff, and then his opponents, with fear starting to register on his face.

“Wait, what’s going on here?” He called out. “Your magic should’ve been absorbed into the Staff of Sacanas! Why didn’t it work?”

Cayde-6 laughed loudly at this, causing the Storm King to look at him in astonishment.

“Let me tell you one really interesting fun fact, big guy…this isn’t magic.”

The Storm King’s eyes widened in fright, and then furrowed in anger. He lunged at Cayde with a primal roar, intending to crush him with his bare hands.

Only the other Guardians unloaded their weapons again, tearing through the Storm King’s armor. The remaining Storm Soldiers wisely chose to flee on their last intact airship as their leader collapsed before them. The storm clouds soon parted, leaving the sky clear as could be. Cayde’s Ghost, Sundance, moved towards the staff, and began to scan it.

“Well, that’s interesting.” Sundance told her Guardian. “This staff seems to soak up various forms of energy like a sponge, and is then able to channel that energy back through the wielder. I’m not surprised it didn’t work on us, as the Light is a Paracausal force, and thus, can’t be absorbed.”

“Maybe there’s some use for it still.” Cayde said, before turning to his fellow Guardians. “Nice work, everyone.” He smirked. “So, what happens now?”

“I think we must’ve interrupted something important, Cayde.” Anubis-13 replied. “However, judging by our surroundings…there’s some major cleanup work to do on someone’s part. I don’t think the locals are going to be happy with us.”

The Guardians surveyed the area, and saw that their use of guns and their Light abilities had wrecked a good amount of the area, from scorch marks on the bricks beneath them to upturned and downright destroyed carnival booths.

“Well, damn.” Seahawk-8 cursed. “Well, there’s no sense in delaying it any longer. Let’s go talk to the locals…if they’re interested in talking at all.”

As they approached the doors, Cayde-6 turned to the other Guardians with an apprehensive air about him. David Paulson then remembered the one he had knocked unconscious was still in the open, and after picking her up shepherd-style, he rejoined his fellow Guardians.

"So...how do you want to handle this?" He asked. "Seeing as we likely messed up a first contact in multiple ways...I don't think the locals are going to be interested in talking to us."

"You never know until you try." Anubis-13 replied, shouldering and then stowing his Vanguard-issue Machine Gun with the help of his Ghost. "Seeing as you're the only Vanguard representative here, Cayde...this is on you.."

"Oh, fine." Cayde-6 shrugged as he knocked on the door, and then spoke up loudly enough that those on the other side could hear them.

"Uh, hey there, It's safe to come out...and we’re really sorry about the mess. We'd like to talk with whoever’s in charge around here, if that’s possible?”

There was silence for at least two minutes, and the doors opened slowly. The four winged-and-horned locals walked out tentatively, alongside eight others wearing armor and brandishing spears that were pointed directly at the Guardians.

"So...I guess I should ask who's in charge around here?" Cayde-6 asked as he holstered the Ace of Spades, and motioned for the six other Guardians to stand down.

"That would be my sister and I." the alabaster-white one replied. “I am Princess Celestia, Ruler of Equestria, Alicorn of the Sun. My sister, Princess Luna, Alicorn of the Moon. My niece, Princess Cadance, Alicorn of Love, and Twilight Sparkle, Alicorn of Magic. Who, exactly, are you supposed to be?"

"Name's Cayde-6, I’m the Hunter Vanguard, and official representative of the Last City of Humanity." Cayde replied. "On my left is Guardian Fireteam Horizon, and Fireteam Tradewind on the right. I guess I should clarify things and say that unlike your recent arrivals, we're not here to cause any kind of trouble."

"If those soldiers were a recent arrival…How long have you been here, then?" Princess Luna asked, an eyebrow raised in suspicion.

"A few days. Mostly just observing, figuring out things on our end." Cayde replied. "Look, we're more than happy to answer any questions you have for us, I promise yout that. Just...give us a moment to contact the rest of the Vanguard. There's a lot they need to hear from me regarding what happened.."

"You may, but under our supervision." Celestia replied. "How long should that take?"

“Not too long, hopefully.” Cayde said as he stepped aside, Sundance appeared next to him, surprising the Equestrians. Sundance pulsed with white light several times, and Cayde began speaking quietly. The Equestrians could only catch snippets of what was being said on both sides, but from what they could gather, whoever Cayde was speaking to wasn’t happy wiht him.

“Yeah, Zavala, I know. Those things attacked us first, we responded to defend ourselves and the locals, and we’ve got a start on first contact. Just…hold up. I can understand them completely, they’re open to negotiations. Just cut me some slack, I can fix this. Really? Okay. Look I’ll give the Warlock halls a once-over with a mop, is that good enough? Okay…Deal. See you in a bit.”

As Sundance disappeared into blue particles, Cayde came forward and looked at Princess Celestia with a sigh.

“Is something wrong?” She asked, confused.

“Not really. The Vanguard gave us permission to proceed with FIrst contact and all that goes with it, I just have a bunch of things to do when we get back. God, the paperwork on this is gonna be a bi…tough to get through.” Cayde-6 sighed. “Mind if we come inside, do this in a more private location?”

"Alright then…" Celestia motioned to the Equestrians by the door, and they opened it for the Guardians. The Equestrians that were armed with spears took the unconscious unicorn off of David's hands, and presumably began rendering first aid. The locals that were sheltering inside whispered and stared as they walked past, and towards the deeper sections of the Palace.

Author's Note

Update!

Next time - Negotiations, a public Q-and-A session, and some serious changing of plans on the part of Twilight Sparkle.

EDIT - 3-27-2023 - Made some substantial changes, reworked the dialogue, made it flow better in my opinion.