Cayde-6 was used to being gawked at. He was the Hunter Vanguard, a celebrity among those who knew of him, and it was a rare event to see him outside the Tower. Guardians were always held in high regard among the people of the Last City, and being the Hunter Vanguard came with even more perks that only applied outside the Tower, or while on…”unofficial business”.

This time, however, due to Cayde and the other Guardians now being stared at and whispered about by multicolored ponies of all things, this sort of attention was being handled differently on the Hunter Vanguard’s end.

Normally, he would be inclined a bit more into showing off…but as he and the Guardians with him were strangers in a strange world, and about to meet with their ruling monarchs…Cayde was being more uptight and focused on the task at hand.

The other Guardians were also receiving the same treatment, albeit to varying degrees. The Titans got the most of it, as their forms took up the most space. The Hunters and Warlocks weren’t openly stared at as the Titans were. In any case, they were the subject of many murmurs and hushed words as the Guardians passed.

Thankfully, the whispers were not of a hostile nature. Rainea Thoren could even hear a few Equestrians talking in a hushed voice of admiration or gratitude, which was likely a result of their actions in defending their city.

The seven Guardians were eventually led to a large conference room, a good distance away from the crowd. The Solar Guards sealed the doors to prevent eavesdropping, and Princesses Celestia, Luna, Cadance, and Twilight Sparkle took their seats.

They then asked the Guardians if they wanted to do the same, and when Cayde-6 sat down, the others followed suit with some small hesitation.

“Where do you want to start?” The Hunter Vanguard asked, straightening his cape to look a little more presentable.

“From the beginning.” Celestia replied. “I want to hear about everything you see fit to discuss. Just remember…I personally do not regard you all as enemies, nor do I see you as friends. The more you can do to relieve my concerns, the better."

“That’s just fine with me.” Cayde nodded as Sundance materialized a datapad onto the table. “Would you mind if I get someone else on the line? She knows our history better than anyone else.”

At that, a hologram of the Warlock Vanguard, Ikora Rey, appeared from the datapad. She introduced herself and then Commander Zavala, who also appeared from a second projected hologram that formed next to Ikora's.

Cayde then motioned for the Guardians to step outside, before quietly adding “Go make some friends, the Vanguard will handle the talking from here.”

Though the Guardians weren’t entirely sure what that would mean, each of them nodded and headed for an open-air balcony next to the meeting room. Their Ghosts materialized next to them, and eventually, they settled into a half-circle as they began maintenance work on their weapons and armor.

“So…what do you think will happen now?” James wondered out loud, as he cleaned the barrel of his Vanguard-Issue sniper rifle. “The locals don’t seem to be in a talkative mood right now. I guess I can see why that is, though.”

“That is their choice, James. We can't force them to interact with us. It wouldn't be proper." Adrianne said, and James nodded back, seeing her logic. "Besides, we did engage in an open firefight with that “Storm King” and his troops right in the middle of their home. They're likely scared of us, for good reason."

“At least they’re open to talking.” David added, as he stood up to stretch, with his Ghost briefly dematerializing his battle-scratched gauntlets as he did so. Once he sat back down, his armor reappeared, now in a much more clean and proper-looking state. "Still, I think they'll come around at some point."

Then, a feminine voice cleared her throat before calling out "Hello!" to them. The Guardians turned to see five of the locals had approached, and one wearing a stetson hat came forward, and sighed nervously before speaking.

“We just wanted to thank you folks.” She said with a distinct southern accent. “I mean, without your help, we would've been straight out of luck."

“It's not a problem.” Anubis-13 replied. He offered a hand to the local, who shook it, tipped her hat, and introduced herself and her friends as Applejack, Rarity, Fluttershy, Rainbow Dash, and Pinkie Pie, as five of the six Elements of Harmony.

“It's a pleasure to meet you.” Anubis-13 replied, introducing his fellow Guardians. “I suppose you’ve got questions for us?”

“Almost too many to keep track of." Fluttershy replied. “So…who wants to go first?”

“I will, and I must say, your choice of color on your armor is simply fantastic!” Rarity exclaimed with passion. “Does all of your attire come like that?”

"Not quite. It's a little tough to explain, but I'll do my best." David replied. "Every piece of armor issued to Guardians, along with our weapons, can be equipped with shaders. A shader is just a pattern of colors and textures that is overlaid onto our gear."

"They're easily made, although some are harder to come by than others. Guardians usually purchase their shaders from those who are authorized to make them, such as developers in the City or official vendors in the Tower."

"Fascinating!" Rarity breathed. "You said they were interchangeable, however. How do you do that?"

"Simple. Our Ghosts do it for us." David said. "Parker, would you mind?"

"Not at all." David's Ghost replied, as Parker changed his Guardian's shader from Feud Unfading to Chanson de Geste. Rarity’s eyes were full of stars as his armor shifted colors from its original state, to a palette of battered blue, neon green, gray, and black.

“Simply marvelous!” Rarity beamed, jotting down something in a notebook she had pulled from her sidebag.

“It is cool, I have to admit.” David nodded. “We Guardians are always trying to look our best, even when we're out fighting the Darkness. Customizing our gear is just one of the many things Guardians enjoy in our downtime.”

“I think Rarity's gonna pass out.” Rainbow Dash giggled, seeing her friend's awestruck expression and rapid pace of breathing.

“You might be right.” Rarity said lightly, now feeling rather overwhelmed. “Excuse me, please…”

As she carefully made her way inside to calm down, Rainea chuckled amusedly, drawing the attention of everyone there.

“Is she always like that when it comes to matters relating to fashion?” The Warlock asked the other Elements, who responded in the affirmative.

"Good to know." Rainea sighed. "What do you want to know next?"

"Are there any interesting animals where you come from?" Fluttershy quietly ventured.

"That's a good question." Anubis-13 replied. "We do have pigeons and other birds that live in the Last City, but outside the walls, it's a different story. Some Guardians have pets like cats and dogs, but they're a pretty rare sight. Many of the animals that inhabited Earth even before the Golden Age…didn't survive the Collapse or the Dark Ages that followed."

"But there are those who survived." Anubis-13 clarified, as he saw Fluttershy start to look a little downcast. "For example, Saladin Forge, the last of the Iron Lords, keeps a pack of seven gray wolves as his companions. Some Guardians call them his mascots, but they're far from that.”

“Are they friendly?” Fluttershy asked.

“They are, but mostly to Lord Saladin and other Guardians. I’m honestly not sure how they’d react to your kind. No offense.” Rainea replied.

“None taken.” Fluttershy nodded.

“Anyway…” Rainbow Dash cut in. “Can any of you Guardians fly?”

“In a jumpship, yes. On our own, that’s a no.” James replied. “I take it you’re pretty fast?”

“I’m the fastest flier in Ponyville, maybe in Equestria.” Rainbow Dash boasted.

“That is impressive,” he replied. “But you have to understand that even though we fly in jumpships, we can still go faster than you can by far.”

“Why’s that?” Rainbow Dash sounded quite offended. “How fast can you go then, huh?”

“Fast enough to travel between the planets in our System in less than a minute on average.” James replied. “Amanda Holldiay, the Tower’s top shipwright, once told me that they go about three to six times the speed of light, depending on the type of jumpship.”

“And I don’t think you can imagine how fast that is.”

“Is that fast enough to break the sound barrier?” Rainbow asked. “Like I usually can?”

“Times about…over one million and change.” Evs, James’s Ghost, replied. “Breaking the sound barrier is impressive without the use of technology, but we’ve just gone far faster.”

“I apologize if it seems blunt…and I don’t mean to diminish your record.” Evs added at Rainbow’s expression of shock.

“It’s cool, I guess.” She nodded, offering James a hoof-bump. “I mean, it’s still awesome that you can go that fast.”

“Remind me to take you on an FTL flight sometime.” James said, accepting the gesture. “Any other questions?”

Applejack was about to speak, when Cayde-6 poked his head out from inside, and motioned for them to follow.

"Uh, Guardians? We've got our first contact, but…Celestia wants us to assure her citizens that we aren't a threat, and I'm not the best at speeches."

"I'll do it, I suppose." Anubis-13 replied as the Guardians' Ghosts packed up their equipment, and they headed back inside, The Elements were following behind them, and soon, Twilight, Princess Luna, and Princess Cadance joined them.

"So, how'd it go?" James asked Cayde.

"Not too bad." the Hunter Vanguard replied. "Zavala, Ikora, and I managed to hammer out a temporary agreement between the Vanguard and the Equestrian Diarchy. The Consensus still has to fully look it over, and when the time comes, some Equestrians will be returning with us back to the City."

"Our only problem is that one Equestrian, Tempest Shadow. Princess Celestia told us she wasn't sure what to do with her, and I told her I have a few ideas. Other than that, everything went fine."

"What exactly are you thinking in terms of ideas, Cayde?" Adrianne raised an eyebrow. "The last time you did something without Vanguard approval, we ended up crashing Eris Morn's ship into the Dreadnaught."

"Which, if I recall correctly, ended up getting us a transmat zone and a secure operations point." Caydereplied. "Just don't remind me about Eris's ship though, I'll deal with that when we get back to the Tower."

As the Guardians entered the Day Court chambers, the assembled ponies who had come for the festival quickly and quietly found a place to sit. The atmosphere had calmed significantly, and the Guardsponies had managed to bring whatever food and drink they could find inside for the attendees.

As Anubis-13 stepped forward to the podium, and took off his helmet, there were some gasps of surprise from the crowd at seeing his face. Anubis-13 understood their surprise, as Exos and Awoken were counted amongst humanity back home, and thus, weren't seen as different or out of the ordinary.

The Equestrians, Anubis-13 had to remind himself, were a different case. They'd likely never been beyond their planet before, or ever come into contact with being such as Guardians, or a paracausal power like the Light.

Anubis cleared his throat, and began to speak.

"Well, I must admit to you all, I'm not as skilled in public speaking as some other Guardians, so I will have to wing this as best I can. There are many things I can tell you, though, and I first want to assure you all that we are here in peace."

"Now, the question of "who are we?", is a very long and very complicated story." he continued. "I will do my best to tell you, though, I must warn you all, some parts will be difficult to hear."

"For countless generations, humanity developed and grew on the world of Earth, in the Sol System of the Milky Way Galaxy. We had reached out to the stars before, but we never seemed to get very far. On one fateful day, the four astronauts of Aries One, landed on the planet Mars, and encountered the entity known as the Traveler. That single meeting began what we know as Humanity's Golden Age."

"The Traveler is best described as a god, imbued with the full scale of the paracausal force known as the Light. the Traveler chose humanity to receive its gifts, and using its powers, the Traveler terraformed planets en masse for humans to settle and prosper on."

"Mercury, the closest planet to our Sun, once a scorched and lifeless rock, became a tropical planet of gardens and jungles. The once-poisonous atmosphere of Venus was swept away, and many of the great scientific minds of this time formed the Ishtar Collective there. Their wondrous works of science and technology were rivaled only by Clovis Bray, whose headquarters on the planet Mars fueled the development of the city of Freehold."

"Our home planet of Earth turned into a place of grand prosperity and rapid development, and Earth's moon became the site of several small research colonies. Even with all this, we sent the Exodus colony ships into the outer planets, such as Titan, a moon of the planet Saturn, and others out in the reaches of space."

"Humanity must've been in awe of itself, of what they had become." Anubis-13 said. "But I suppose it can be said that all good things must come to an end."

The attendees, who had been quietly enraptured with Anubis's words, began to murmur in confusion.

"The Darkness, a paracausal force like the Light, came to the Sol System." Anubis-13 continued. "Whereas the Light sought to create life, the Darkness aimed to erase all that we had created, and bring death and destruction the likes of which we had never seen before."

"The arrival of the Darkness began the Collapse of the Golden Age. With it, four alien races came to Sol. First among them are the Fallen. Their home planet was once visited by the Traveler, but it left them and their home was destroyed in an event known as the Whirlwind."

"The Fallen houses came to Sol to reclaim the Traveler, or the Great Machine, as they know it as, for their own. They are excellent machinists and engineers, and I have to give them credit, they are quite crafty. I've faced many Fallen creations in battle that I do not wish to see again."

"Next, are the Vex. The Vex are a machine-race, advanced enough to exert a good degree of control over time and space. There is only one Guardian that I know of that is capable of understanding the true scale and power the Vex possess. When they came to Sol, they transformed the planet Mercury into another cog in their endless Collective in only a few days. A world that was once vibrant with biological beings was made into a cold, unfeeling metal expanse."

"Then, there is the Cabal. The Cabal are conquerors, capable of destroying planets and moons for simply getting in their way. Now, we've never seen them actually destroy a planet or moon before, but I digress. The Cabal ransacked the city of Freehold, and buried it beneath the martian sands. From what we understand of their culture, without total victory, they are forbidden to return to their home planet. We aren't entirely certain what made the Cabal wage war against humanity, but we do know it will end one way or another."

"Finally, there is the Hive. Their race is sworn to serve the Darkness, and they worship death, very much like how we serve the Light. The Hive are relentless, and Earth's moon was transformed into one of their spawning grounds during the Collapse. Their pantheon of gods demand an endless blood tithe, and the only way the Hive can fulfill that demand is through destruction."

"Against all odds, humanity survived the Collapse. The Traveler summoned all of its power and drove the Darkness away, saving our race from extinction. In its last waking moments, the Traveler sent out countless numbers of Ghosts, in order to choose beings who were worthy of wielding its Light to defend humanity. These chosen ones were first called the Risen, and are now known as the Guardians."

"Guardians such as myself and my friends here, are immortal, for as long as the Light is with us, we cannot be killed. We can wield the Light in one of three elements, as burning Solar flames, roaring Arc lightning, or all-consuming Void energy."

"The Risen, for a time, ruled as warlords, and subjugated what remained of humanity that lay under them. These Warlords were soon defeated, and over the years, the Risen shepherded what remained of humanity to a vast plateau underneath the Traveler."

"What began as a patchwork of campfires and wooden huts, over hundreds of years, soon became the Last City of Humanity. The walls of the City have endured many threats and battles, from Six Fronts to Twilight Gap."

Dusty them appeared beside Anubis, and projected a hologram of the Last City into the crowd, whose gasps and exclamations of wonder could be heard by all the Guardians present.

"We Guardians stand together against the Darkness, and all those who would threaten humanity. We have triumphed over countless foes, whether they be Fallen, Vex, Cabal, or Hive. I and the Guardians that stand before you now have even managed to slay gods, and that is not an exaggeration."

"First, was the Heart of the Black Garden. Its death, along with its Vex attendants, allowed the Traveler to begin to heal from the injuries it sustained during its battle with the Darkness."

"Then, it was Crota, the Worldbreaker, and the son of Oryx. Crota and his Hive spawn were responsible for over three hundred Guardians dying their final deaths during the campaign to retake the moon, in a single battle known as the Great Disaster. We entered the Hive Ascendant Realm,and I, using Crota's own sword, slew him."

"Next, was Skolas, the Kell of the Fallen House of Wolves. He sought to unite all the Fallen houses under his banner, and crown himself the Kell of Kells. He was captured, and soon met his end in the Awoken Prison of Elders."

Then, Oryx, the God of the Hive, the Taken King and father of Crota, came to Sol to destroy those who had slain his son. His flagship, the Dreadnaught, a fleet of Hive warships, and an endless army of stolen souls, the Taken, threatened to destroy all we had left, including the Traveler. My fellow Guardians and I boarded Oryx's flagship, and in a brutal battle, banished him to the Hive Ascendant Realm, where he was later killed."

"Finally, there was the Archon Prime of the Devil Splicers, Aksis. Using a Golden Age technology known as SIVA, which was responsible for killing all but one of the Iron Lords, who were the ones that brought the Warlords to heel. My friends and I smashed through the Splicer's defenses of their last bastion, and Aksis too, was destroyed."

"Now, we Guardians stand at the ready to face whatever threat may come next. There are still terrible things born out in the Darkness, and every moment brings them closer. It matters not what they will be...we shall face them all the same." Anubis-13 finished. "Our Light still holds strong, and some who have once called us their enemies, are now our allies."

"After the death of Aksis, a Baron named Mithrax formed a new Fallen House, the House of Light, and promised those that joined him a peaceful existence under the Great Machine. Kell Mithrax soon came to the Vanguard and asked for sanctuary under the Traveler, offering his and his house's service to us in reply."

"The Vanguard and the Consensus, the government of the Last City, accepted Mithrax's offer after a bitter debate, and the House of Light soon made camps inside and outside our walls. These Eliksni, as they preferred to be called the name of their own race, instead of "Fallen", soon proved their worth. They have reinforced our walls with their best troops, Fallen Ketches and Skiffs joined our aerial forces, and their Walker tanks now patrol outside the walls of the CIty."

"Then, a message came to us from the planet Mars, originating from Cabal territory. A growing faction of Cabal, known as the Deserters, asked for terms of surrender to humanity. Their leader, Aventus Cua'lan, promised us his forces and all that came with them, in exchange for safety from the other Cabal Legions on Mars. The Guardians intervened, and the Deserters soon joined the forces of the Last City. The Deserters, now called the White Guard, and like the House of Light, aided us by adding Cabal fortifications to the City's still-expanding defenses, and their soldiers now patrol alongside Eliksni and human forces."

"After a formal signing of peace between the House of Light, the White Guard, and the Vanguard, the Coalition was established by the Consensus." Anubis-13 finished. "Our battle against the Darkness may not be over, but with our allies at our side, hope remains that we will triumph."

Anubis-13 then looked to his Ghost, and then to Cayde-6, who nodded back in response. Then, Anubis turned to Princess Celestia, who stepped forward as Anubis approached her.

"Princess Celestia, on behalf of the Consensus, the Vanguard, and the Last City, we formally extend an offer to you and your people to join the Coalition."

Celestia dropped her jaw slightly as Cayde-6 offered her a datapad and stylus. Celestia cleared her throat, and after taking the stylus with her magic, signed her name onto the datapad, which was followed by Princess Luna, Princess Cadance, and then Princess Twilight.

"As I and my sister, the two Royal Sisters of Equestria, have signed this, we accept your offer, Guardian." Celestia said confidently. "I believe there will be time to hammer out the finer details,, but for now, I now decree that we may resume our Festival of Friendship, and I invite the Guardians to attend as my guests, as a sign of unity and solidarity."

There was silence from the crowd, but a mighty roar of applause soon filled the hall. As the attendees hastily made their way back outside while the sun began to shine once more.

"So…what happens now?" Cayde-6 asked Celestia, who simply sighed and motioned to the open doors.

"Now, we may celebrate. Not as friends, but as allies." she replied. "Shall we?"

"Lead the way." Cayde affirmed, giving a bright smile as the Guardians followed the Equestrians out into the sunlight, as a new future awaited them.

Author's Note

UPDATE!