//------------------------------// // Burial Rites // Story: Light of Harmony // by GjallarFox //------------------------------// The team of Guardians left the Cabal warbase on their Sparrows, thrusters at maximum and slug rifle ammunition hot on their tails. They didn't head north immediately, though. Applejack had kindly reminded them that she had some personal affairs to attend to while they were near Ponyville. After making sure that the Cabal were not following them, they turned back around and set a course around the warbase to Sweet Apple Acres, which was on the west side of Ponyville. As they approached, they noticed that the orchard was indeed still in place, the trees left to grow on their own and make a forest of apple trees. Rabbits and squirrels and various forms of wildlife seemed to have made their homes in the ancient apple grove, making burrows beneath their roots and nests in their branches. The wooden buckets that had once been there to catch the apples being bucked out of the trees had long since rotted away, leaving only the metal rings that held them together behind, rusting. Almost everything had been returned to nature, even the dirt path that led to the Apple family's house. But there was still enough open space on that path for the seven to walk side by side, and enough of a view to see what remained of Applejack's home. The house was still standing, but only just so. Many of the main support beams were rotting and looked like they would shatter to splinters if so much as breathed on by Fluttershy. But Applejack stepped into the house, Rarity following closely behind her, knowing she would need help carrying any remains she found. Inside, she found the ancient bones of her little sister sitting by the stone hearth, directly underneath those of her elder brother. Not two meters away was Granny Smith's skeleton, her bones cracked all over, and an old shotgun next to her. Rarity wordlessly lifted the skeletons from the floor with her magic. As the pair of ponies turned around to leave the old and crumbling house, Applejack noticed something in the kitchen she hadn't on the way in. She raised her rifle and stepped into the ancient kitchen, watching for any signs of movement. Satisfied that there were no intruders in her one-time home, she let her rifle lower, inspecting the state of the room. Of all of the rooms, this one was relatively untouched. There was no damage to the walls or flooring aside from age. The table still stood with the chairs tucked neatly under it, but that was where suspicion was raised. Upon that table was a glass jar filled to the brim with Zap Apple jam, and it did not look expired in the slightest. There was no dust on the jar, and the contents were still brightly colored as Rainbow Dash's mane. There was a calling coming from the jar, a faint pull on Applejack's mind. In her gut she could feel something telling her to take the jar of jam with her, that she would need it later. It was an odd feeling, to say the least. It felt like an old friend that had at one point abandoned her had returned, and was now telling her that they were sorry. She stepped forwards and picked up the jar, and she could see the jar start to glow faintly, and hum with a soft voice. She quietly asked her Ghost to hold it for her, and turned around once it was no longer in her hand. Outside, she found that all of her friends had shovels in hand, and Rainbow offered one to her. The digging tools' heads were rusted, but looked almost untouched by time. Applejack chalked it up to Twilight using magic to make the tools usable. Applejack nodded to the group, and led them away from the house to a small patch of land that had been marked by a pair of apple trees at the crest of a hill. She took off her helmet, and her Ghost took it from her hands. Though she would have liked to keep it on, she thought it disrespectful to not show her tears here. She asked her Ghost for her hat, and placed it on her head. When the others followed her lead and removed their helmets, with the exception of Shirska, Applejack stabbed the dirt with her shovel. It felt harder to dig now than it did when she was just planting trees, but she understood why. This time there was pain involved. There was silence. There was death. She enjoyed digging and planting trees in the orchard, and she and her brother would have conversations about Applejack's various adventures with her friends. The work would pass hours away in what would only feel like a few minutes. But this time, every new chunk of dirt she moved felt heavier than her brother. Even though she was being helped by her friends, she wasn't just planting trees; she was digging graves. When at last the holes were big enough, she climbed out of her hole and set down her shovel. She took off her hat and placed it over her heart, bowing her head as Rarity put her family into their graves. Once Rarity's magic faded, she plucked a trio of apples hanging on the two trees already on this hill. She stepped down into Big Mac's hole, and placed the first apple in his ribcage. She said a few words, and stepped out, eyes misty, but without tears. She stepped down into Granny Smith's hole, and placed the second apple in her ribcage. This was the pony who raised her, who taught her how to run the orchard, and helped her fix her mistakes. This was the closest thing she had to a mother her entire life, and now here she was. But she'd known for a while that she would have to bury her grandmother someday. She was, after all, a very old pony, and she'd been slowing down over time. Applejack said a few words, and climbed out of the hole, a few tears on her cheeks. When she climbed down into Apple Bloom's hole, she was struck by a sadness more profound than she'd felt for the other two. This was her little sister, twelve years her junior. She had never even found her cutie mark, and she could still hear her sister's voice as she apologized for something or other she'd done while searching for it. She could still see that boundless smile in her mind's eye. But Applejack was most unprepared to bury her little sister. If anything, she had expected her little sister to bury her. She should have died before Apple Bloom. She was older, and got into far more life-threatening situations than most ponies in the military ever had up until the Cabal came. Applejack placed the third apple in Apple Bloom's tiny ribcage and climbed out, sobbing. Her friends all gathered around her and gave her a warm group hug, but they could not really heal the wound in her heart. This was more profound than just burying family. This was a family tradition she had known existed for most of her life. She'd been there to watch her parents be buried this same way, but she was young and barely understood. When Applejack had pulled herself together into some semblance of order, the seven of them began pouring dirt back into the holes. As dirt began to cover the bones of her lost family, Applejack began to feel a sort of peace wash over her. Now her family could truly rest. Now the tradition had been upheld. Now, she could move on. She could stop clinging to the past and focus her efforts on the present to forge a better future. She had no doubt in her mind that this wound would leave a scar in her mind that no amount of therapy could ever truly heal, but at least now, she could be at peace with that harsh truth. Shirska asked, "Who were they?" "They were my family," Applejack said to the Fallen. She pointed to the two sturdy apple trees already grown. "They were my parents, and the ponies we buried were my brother, my sister, and my granny." Shirska tilted his head, slightly confused. "Why did they look so different from you?" "The bodies we are in are not entirely our own. Our Ghosts changed us to be more like humans," Twilight answered on behalf of Applejack upon sensing that she was not okay enough to answer. Shirska once again fell silent, thinking on this new information. "I'm picking up something nearby. Just a bit east of here," Rarity's Ghost said, popping up over her shoulder. "Looks like... another Ghost? That can't be right..." Twilight furrowed her brow. "I'll investigate the Ghost signal with Shirska and Applejack. The rest of you, I think we should take this time to search Ponyville for any personal affects. This might be the only real chance we get to do so." "Should we pair up?" Rainbow asked. "Yes. You and Fluttershy go together, Rarity and Pinkie, you two should pair up too," Twilight said. "That way all of our groups have someone with a super power." ------ Fluttershy and Rainbow Dash arrived at Fluttershy's cottage, which had been left completely alone. Aside from the natural growth of the vegetation, her home didn't look any different than when she had left for Canterlot at the behest of the princesses. The tiny stream that ran underneath the path to the door still flowed from the direction of the Everfree. The little place looked like some sort of timeless safe haven, nestled away from harm. Fluttershy smiled softly upon seeing her home in such wonderful condition, proud of the protective magic she knew to be here. The Titan opened the door to her ancient home, the door creaking softly for the first time in a very long time. Fluttershy kept her shotgun close to her chest, just in case. Inside, the little cottage had been looted of nearly everything one could deem practical. Her cabinets and cupboards had been opened and their contents taken. Some of her ceramic tea sets had fallen to the floor and shattered, leaving ancient shards on the old wood floors. However, an old mask that hung over her hearth had remained in place, untouched by anything, as though overlooked or protected by magic. Something in Fluttershy told her to bring the mask with her. It wasn't her consciousness, and it wasn't her gut or intuition. She knew the feelings those gave her. But this was a yet unknown feeling, and she decided to question someone about it later. She approached the mask, and noticed the faintest flash of light emanate from the wooden object as she picked it up from the wall it hung on. Her Ghost eventually stored the object in the same manner Applejack's had stored her hat. Fluttershy went upstairs, telling Rainbow to stay where she was. As she opened the door to her bedroom, a sudden wave of overwhelming calm washed over her. To clarify, this was not a pleasant calm, but an eerie one. She raised her shotgun, slowly peering into her old sanctuary. A sudden creak from the door made Fluttershy yelp and turn around, blasting the offending hinge with a shotgun shell. Rainbow sprinted up the stairs with her hand cannon raised, asking where the threat was. It was then that Fluttershy fell to her knees and dropped her weapon, curling up into a ball, trying desperately to calm her sudden panic attack. Rainbow had at least some sort of understanding of what her friend was feeling, but at the same time, it didn't make sense to her how Fluttershy could essentially live with this feeling hanging by a frayed rope over her head ready to befall her at the drop of a hat, or in this case the creak of a door. She had felt panic attacks, particularly before flight competitions, so she understood that tip of the iceberg. However, she didn't have the general anxiety that her friend did, so she couldn't truly empathize with that. It didn't make sense in her mind that someone could just live in that state right before a panic attack set in. But understanding it didn't matter to her. Helping her friend through it did. She knelt next to Fluttershy and wrapped her arms around her. ------ Twilight and her group stepped up to the library that the unicorn had called home for the last few years of her life before it was cut so short. The leaves had long since fallen, and the normally vibrant brown color of the tree's trunk and branches was washed out, and sun-bleached to an ashy gray. Spiders and birds built nests in the ancient skeleton of the tree, the protection from predators and the havoc of the Cabal deemed worthwhile enough to justify having a home without protection from the elements. Once they reached the door, Twilight held up a signal for the others to stay outside. She stepped into her home, the scent of old books and the earthy aroma of rotting wood still made it through her helmet's air filtration system. Dust and spores hung in the air, visible in the cold beams of gray sunlight. Shelf-like fungi clung to the walls, making it look as though the library had added several new bookshelves since the Cabal invasion. Several rows of books had been consumed by fungi and insects and other vermin, the information in them likely lost forever, as the Canterlot Archive had also been lost in the invasion. Twilight's heart sank at that thought. Was this what other Guardians felt when they were woken up by the Ghosts and told about the Golden Age and the Collapse in the Sol System? Did even a single Guardian feel this much despair over the loss of the collective knowledge of an entire civilization? She prayed she was not alone in this sentiment. As she made her way upstairs, she had to use her magic to clear the stairwell of overgrown fungi. Once she opened the door to her room, she could sense a powerful ambient magic resonating in the room like the sound of a cello in a concert hall. She looked around, searching for the source of the magic. She knew she'd enchanted multiple items in her room, but she'd thought all of those enchantments would decay over time, not strengthen. She took a brief moment to feel the magic, trying to discern what kind of magic it was. Beneath her armor, she could feel warmth, akin to the summer sun on her back as she read a book in the Palace Gardens. With a nostalgic sigh, she moved to her desk, which was somehow still standing with all of the books and assorted items on it seemingly untouched by time. She pulled out one of the drawers and felt the warmth intensify. Amongst the research papers and spare quill nibs was a single quill, made from a phoenix feather. She remembered it as the quill Celestia gave her on her first day as her personal student. The quill was enchanted by the princess to write without ink, and never burn away, even when the phoenix itself had done so. Twilight picked up the quill and looked it over, and then tested it against one of the papers in the drawer. It still worked. Same as ever. "I miss you, Princess..." she whispered under her breath. "I promise I'll avenge you..." Something else caught her eye as she turned to leave. Over on her bed, which had somehow remained intact, a familiar looking white object lay motionless. "What's a Ghost doing here?" she asked herself as she stepped towards it. "How did I not detect that?" J-Ami mused. She picked up the Ghost, and inspected the little machine. Its eye held no light, and no spark of life. There was no signs of trauma or external damage, its white shell pristine as the day it was made. "I think it will have information we'll need," Twilight's Ghost said, dematerializing it to hold onto. "We'll take it to the Vanguard when we go back to the Tower." ------ When everyone met back up at the train station, which everyone had agreed upon by radio communications, they came with helmets on and an intangible air of righteous fury and desperate strength. They carried themselves with a new posture. They stood taller, prouder, like statues of goddesses. There was nothing that would survive their wrath. Shirska noticed this about them, and though he'd never admit it, he was vastly intimidated by this. "Is everything squared away? We will have little time for sentiment once we go after Da'axus," Twilight said to her friends. Everyone nodded. Rarity's Ghost spoke, "Did you find the Ghost?" Twilight affirmed silently. She summoned her Sparrow, and mounted up, signaling for the others to do the same. "I've charted a course through the dragon migration grounds. It'll save us a few extra hours of travel. It's also possible that if Spike made it there, he could have survived the invasion." "Any reason to believe he could have made it?" Rarity asked. "No, but it's worth taking a look into," Twilight answered coldly. ------ A Psion sprinted down the hall frantically, screaming at others to move and let her pass. Legionaries hopped to the side lethargically, watching with vague interest as the Psion sprinted past. As she turned a corner, she squawked as a Centurion got in her way. She swiftly slid underneath the Centurion, then sprang to her feet and kept running. The more of her comrades she passed, the greater the sense of urgency became in the Cabal warbase. As she came to a door, she tapped her foot impatiently as the bulkheads lazily moved to unseal the door. The moment it opened enough for her to fit through it, she leapt through and continued her path through the warbase. "Aventus!" the Psion screamed as she approached the leader's office. "We have a problem!" A massive figure, at least twice the size of most Cabal, turned to the Psion. "Report." "The Light Ones are coming! Firebase Loma has taken a hit, by a group of seven," the Psion gasped. "Seven? There were only supposed to be six," the leader huffed. "It seems they brought an ally. It is not of their species, and it is most definitely not a species we have encountered before," the Psion recited. "Do we have updates on their combat prowess?" "We only have intel on their ally. Our team on YD-dash-Zero-Two was eliminated solely by their ally," the Psion reported. "The Light Ones did not participate in the fight." "Raise the base to DEFCON Four. I want Centurions on the Towers. I want Phalanxes ready to deploy within a minute's notice. The Light Ones are already powerful. They have slain a good number of our original expedition force in the Battle of Landing." "Aventus, if I may add some of my own speculation?" the Psion half-asked. "Speak freely, Val," the Cabal leader said. "I suspect that the Light Ones, or at least a few of them, are capable of using Light Magic, which has been reported by the Sand Eaters and Dust Giants on YD-dash-Zero-Four being used by other Light Warriors." "This is most troubling. Combined with their races' natural magics, they could be much more powerful than we anticipated," Aventus said. "They are undoubtedly here for vengeance. They are just in their desire to destroy us, and they will destroy us. I have no doubts that they will succeed in that venture. However, we must ensure beyond any shred of doubt that they are ready to face our enemy. We must ensure they are strong enough. Our original plan is still in motion, and we must ensure its success. Everyone here knew what they signed up for." "Shall I raise us to DEFCON Three?" Val asked. "I think that would be appropriate. We are here to forge them, toughen their minds and hearts into armor that is stronger than Phalanx shields. The killing was just to motivation." "Aventus. Valus Gra'auc is waiting for an update on our operation," another Psion said from the edge of the office, next to a door. "Tell him we are now in Stage Three," the leader dismissed with a wave of his hand. Turning back to Val, he continued, "Contact Valus Trau'ug. Tell him—" "Trau'ug and his forces have been denounced by High Command," the Psion said. "He disobeyed non-combat zone protocol, and has been captured by the denizens of the Wreckage Field." "What of Ta'aurc?" he asked. "Problem 78-F," she answered. "A significant portion of the leadership on YD-dash-Zero-Four has been eliminated. All of the leaders that owed you favors are gone, sir." "I was hoping the Light Warriors would be unable to eliminate them until the Light Ones arrived. This is why I am not a Valus." ------ "So that's it?" Twilight asked as she lowered her sniper rifle. "That's their warbase? Seems a bit small." "Cabal warbases tend to extend underground, sometimes for a few miles. What you see on the surface could be just the tip of a very large iceberg," her Ghost replied. "They look ready for an invasion," Rainbow added, adjusting the zoom on her sniper's scope. "I think they know we're coming." "What if they're not preparing for us?" Rarity asked. "You all saw the footprints. We have reason to believe the dragons are still alive. What if the dragons are planning a raid?" "Possible, but I think unlikely," Shirska said. "You say dragons don't like cold. This place is just ice. Too cold for dragons to stay here." "Oh no," Rainbow gasped, tapping Twilight while keeping her eye at the scope of her sniper. Twilight turned and looked through her own sniper's scope. "Luna help us." "What is it?" Fluttershy asked concernedly. "Let me guess. They've got a tank down there," Pinkie said. "Yup," Rainbow replied. "And they're going to lock us in the courtyard with it," Pinkie continued. "More than likely," Twilight affirmed. "Bring it on." Without further notice, Pinkie bounced down the mountain pass, summoning her Sparrow just as she landed, and blasting down the hill. The others sighed and brought out their own Sparrows, following Pinkie before she got too far ahead and got into trouble. At the back of the group, Shirska watched, and silently planned in his head. He mentally cursed, remembering his promise to tell the Guardians about his plans. Under his breath, he muttered, "After this battle, I must tell them. They deserve to know." "We just have to survive..."