Twilight had gotten a lot of practice flying on their way to this ‘City’ Ghost kept talking about. She had some scares when she flew through a thunderstorm and almost got hit.
“So what is this City?”
The Ghost clicked into life. “The City is the last stronghold for Equestria, the others have gotten pushed back so far that all of Equestria has been practically destroyed.
“All of it?” Twilight asked shocked. “But… How did they manage it?”
“We weren’t prepared for the Assault.” The Ghost clicked. “The Traveler had to give its life in order to protect the city. This planet used to be beautiful… But now, this is all we have left.”
Twilight sped up the ship as they were nearing the area Ghost marked as the Tower. As she burst through a layer of clouds, she got her first look at the Tower and Traveler. The Traveler was a giant white orb, a large piece of it shattered near the bottom while the Tower was a large overlook, looking down on the city below.
Ghost took control of the Ship as they turned and headed towards the Tower, when they were over the grassy area by the front of the tower, Twilight felt herself being transmatted onto the platform, her helmet had been removed as she felt her straight dark purple mane flow in the breeze. She looked around astonished.
“This is the last stronghold for Ponykind, and this,” Ghost said turning to show Twilight the tower. “Is where the Guardians live.”
Twilight looked at the various ponies walking around. Pegasi and Earth ponies were walking around talking with each other. A few Crystal ponies were walking around the tower, and a few of the other Guardians kept their armor on, though they had a strange curved horn.
Twilight looked towards the tower, but turned and looked down at the City below. Small specks of light came from each of the thousands of houses, all surrounded by a large white wall that covered them safely. A number of Ships flew around the city, stopping and dropping off supplies to the various places around the city, leaving their contrails along in the sky.
“Any idea where I should go?” Twilight asked.
“We should speak with the Vanguard.”
“Vanguard?” Twilight repeated.
“They are essentially the trainers of the Guardians.” Ghost replied. “You should speak with Clear Mind, she is the Vanguard for the Warlocks.”
“Are there other Vanguard?”
“Yes, two others.” Ghost replied. “Sunstreak is the Vanguard for Hunters while Diamond Head is the Vanguard for Titans.”
“Where are they?”
Ghost disappeared and marked a location on Twilight’s wrist map, “Hall of the Vanguard” was marked. “Should have figured…”
Twilight walked straight from where she had been dropped in and descended a flight of stairs, coming to a long hall way where an armored pony stood in front of various weapons. Twilight chose to ignore him but was given the ultimate test of her will to walk past the strange robotic pony on the other side of the hall. She walked past without trying to look at it to see a table in the middle of the next room, with three ponies gathered around it.
“So my Scouts picked up an energy signature late last night that they thin came from a Fallen Ketch.” The red Pegasus said, he was wearing a cloak over his head and body while pointing at a map.
“A Ketch?” The Unicorn replied, her body was a dark brown with a mane of light purple. “Why would they bring a Ketch here?”
“Regardless of the reason we need to ensure the safety of the City.” A blue Crystal pony said, he was a light blue with yellow eyes. “A Fallen Ketch means that an Archon or a Kell is here.”
“Well you know that I could always go down and check.” The Pegasus replied. “Maybe… Go check on my old Stash while I’m there.”
“No Shade, you must remain here.” The Unicorn replied.
“Ugh…” Shade groaned. “Come on, I’ve been stuck in this tower for five years! I just want something interesting to happen.”
“Umm… Excuse me?” Twilight said, causing all three of the ponies to look at her.
“Well, this is great.” Shade said sarcastically. “Looks like another Ghost found a Guardian.” He said, pulling a knife out of a sheath on his side. “Maybe this will be a good day after all.”
“Guardian.” The Crystal Pony said. “Where were you revived?”
“By the Cosmodrome.” Twilight replied.
“Did you see a Fallen Ketch over the area?”
Ghost appeared next to Twilight. “Yes, we did see a Ketch last night.”
“Guardian.” The Unicorn said in a clam voice. “Here, let me give you some new gear.”
Shade spun the blade on the table in boredom as Clear Mind gave Twilight a few pieces of gear. “Well not that this isn’t entertaining, because it’s not.” Shade said. “But I have a Nightstalker to go and beat in a poker game.” He grabbed the blade and flew out of the room.
Clear Mind shook her head. “Guardian, you should get familiar with the Tower, it is your new home, you should speak with the Shipwright about your ship, then meet up with the Gunsmith, he can help fit you for the coming battles.”
“Alright.” Twilight replied. “Um… If I could ask a question.”
“Go right ahead.”
“Why is my Magic blocked off?” Twilight asked. “Ghost explained it a little but not very well.”
The Unicorn grinned. “Well it is rather complex, through focus and study you can regain the powers you lost, however for the most part many Unicorns never achieve their full potential again. The revival has a nasty habit of entangling the magical pathways within your body, messing with it in a multitude of ways.”
She motioned to where Sunstreak had been before. “Many Pegasi never gain their wings back, and some Earth Ponies lose their abilities fully, the Shipwright is a good example.”
“Clear, we should get back to the matter at hoof.” The Crystal pony said. “We need to find out what that Ketch is up to.”
“I haven’t forgotten Diamond.” Clear replied. “You should get going Guardian, see what you can learn.”
Twilight nodded and headed back out of the room, noticing the armored pony again, but putting him in the back of her mind. She walked up the stairway and headed to the left, where a cloaked pony was standing behind a counter of weapons. “What do you want?” He croaked.
“I was sent here to get a new weapon.”
The pony hmmed. “Oh yeah. Sunstreak told me about you. Take your pick.” He pulled out four different weapons, three rifles, and a large revolver.
“Ghost?”
Ghost appeared next to her. “Need help figuring out what these are?”
“Yes please…”
Ghost looked over the weapons. “Auto rifle, fully automatic fire. Pulse Rifle, a quick three shot burst. Scout Rifle, good at long ranges, one shot. Hand Canon, close range devastator, they are made to stagger the targets.”
Twilight looked over them, “I… Think I’ll stick with this…” She levitated the auto rifle up as the Pony took the other three.
“Be careful with that.” He croaked. “Wouldn’t want to see a good gun like that go to waste.”
“Thank you.” Twilight said as she began to walk away.
“I’ll remember you next time… Maybe…”
When Twilight was far enough away, she looked up at Ghost, “Who was that?”
“Banshee, that is the only name he knows. Has had various memory wipes over the past few years and has severe memory damage. Despite that he has the best knowledge of the Golden Age tech of anypony in the base.”
“Good to know… You keep mentioning this Golden Age?”
“The Golden Age was the best time for the pony race, three hundred year life spans, technological advancements, but it all fell when the Darkness arrived. Even my memory banks are limited on the time.” Ghost led Twilight towards the Shipwright, as she saw her ship fly into the hanger by itself. She walked through the area and found the Shipwright, an orange Earth Pony with a blond Mane was looking over a blueprint.
“Well Howdy there.” The Pony said. “Name’s Applejack, I’m the Shipwright round these parts.”
“It’s nice to meet you Applejack.” Twilight replied shaking her hoof. “I was told you could help me with my Ship?”
“Well Ah’m not sure how much I can really help.” Applejack said. “Yer missin’ a Warpdrive, gonna need that if ya wanna use it fer anything other than travel round Equestria.”
“Where am I going to get that?”
Applejack rubbed her chin. “Yah might wanna try the Cosmodrome, probably a Warpdrive there somewhere.”
Applejack looked over at a robotic pony. “Yah get that Arcadia Jumpship fixed up yet?”
“Confirmed.” The robot said.
“Well then Ah reckon yah should be able to make it there alright, provided yah don’t crash into anything.”
Ghost appeared next to Twilight. “Twilight, Clear Mind believes she found you a team to assist.”
“A team?” Twilight replied. “That sounds good, more heads and all that.”
“Indeed, I marked their location on your map.” Ghost said. “Clear says that she found some new Guardians to help you from each class, you will be paired with a Hunter and Titan.”
“Well that’s great! More chances to get used to this crazy world works for me.”
Twilight walked over to the area where she had a marking on her map, it was behind the stairway that led to the Vanguard, where a large clearing was made there. She walked down the opening and looked at the two ponies talking at the other end. One of them was an orange Crystal Pony, his armor was made of strange metal. Whereas the other member had a cloak on with armor that looked a lot less useful than the Crystal Pony, but seemed better fitted than her own.
As she walked up to them, the Crystal pony looked past the other member and said something to the other member, causing him to turn. His face was a sleek black with a curved horn, while his eyes were pure blue. He smiled with two small fangs within his snout.
As he turned, Twilight froze, she had seen a face like that before… Crashing down onto a city, and hissing towards her from a crater it made in the street. She ground her teeth as she saw the creature.
“Changeling!” She jumped onto the Changeling and began to shake it by its neck.
“Please… Stop… Chocking… me…” The Changeling said. “It…Is…Starting to Hurt…”
“Don’t think I don’t know what you’re up to!”
“What are you… Talking… about?”
The Crystal Pony shook its head and walked up to the two of them. “You two are idiots…” The pony grabbed Twilight and pulled her off the Changeling.
The Changeling coughed. “Ugh… Sorry, did I… Do something to you in a past life or something? If I did then I’m sorry.”
Twilight glared at the Changeling as it coughed again before a flash of blue light appeared next to him and a Ghost materialized. “Guardian, are you alright?” Unlike her ghost, this one had a shell of dark purple with a single green stripe across it, the eye was also a darker blue. “Your breathing has become irregular.”
The Changeling coughed again. “I’m fine Ghost, just a little surprised by the newest Guardian.” He rubbed his neck. “Why is it always me that gets strangled?”
“Because you don’t keep your helmet on like Sunstreak suggested you do.” The Crystal pony said as he still held Twilight away from the Changeling.
“But with the helmet I can’t smell the beautiful flowers over here.” He took a deep breath through his nose and let out a relaxed ‘Ahh’.
The Crystal pony rolled his eyes then looked at Twilight. “Listen, I know that you probably have some kind of bad experience with Changelings for whatever reason, but you need to calm down. There is no reason to kill him, he does that enough himself.”
“Yeah I… Hey!”
The Crystal pony glared at the Changeling. “If I let you go, will you promise to not try to strangle him or harm him intentionally until we agree on a few things?”
Twilight nodded. “Fine…” She glared at the Changeling as the Crystal Pony dropped her.
“Alright, name’s Topaz and I’m a Titan. You?”
“Twilight Sparkle. I guess I’m a Warlock, that’s what my Ghost told me anyway.”
Topaz gave a small chuckle. “Woke up only a little while ago huh?”
“Yeah… Just last night actually.”
Topaz nudged the Changeling to get him to stop staring off into space. “We’ve both been around for around a week, been stuck on terrestrial duty for a while so the Vanguard can keep an eye on us. We were both picked up by a group of Guardians out by the Ishtar Sink on Venus.”
“So who exactly is he?” Twilight asked gesturing at the Changeling.
“He’s a Hunter, goes by the name of Flit.”
“Why?”
“My actual name is Flitter.” Flit replied. “You can understand why I hated it.” He sighed. “Anyway, every time a pony that gets resurrected in Equestria comes to the Tower, I’m the first one to get strangled… It’s never fun…”
Twilight was still not too happy about seeing a Changeling again, but a part of her felt bad about almost strangling him. “Listen, I’m sorry about that, I thought you were somepony else.”
“I get that a lot.” Flit replied. “So, you met with everypony around here already?”
“Well, probably not everypony, but I’ve met a few.”
Topaz looked over at Twilight. “You were the Guardian who came in on the old Junker right?” Twilight nodded. “Well, I guess our first order of business is finding a Warpdrive. Then we can focus on introductions to everypony.”
Twilight’s Ghost materialized next to her. “And I believe I have the perfect location to find one.”
“Really?” Twilight asked.
“Yup, I think that we can find one in the Cosmodrome back where we found the ship, there is bound to be some parts I can salvage around there.”
Topaz sighed. “Great…”
“What’s up?” Twilight asked noticing the irritation in his voice.
“Well, we only have one other ship, because Flit got shot down using his ship.”
“It was one time!” Flit retorted.
“And that ‘one time’ set us back five thousand Glimmer.” Topaz replied. “So pardon me if I question your flight ability.”
“How was I supposed to know a Skiff had that kind of fire power?”
“By not flying directly into…” He groaned. “We’ll talk about it later. Right now, you are making up for it.”
Flit blinked in confusion. “So does that mean I’m-?”
Topaz tossed a key to him. “If you break my ship, I will drop you off at the nearest Dark Zone.” He looked at Flit’s ghost. “Ghost, make sure he doesn’t crash my Ship.”
“Of course Guardian.” The Ghost replied. “I’ll ensure the ship remains undamaged.”
Topaz nodded, then looked up at the rising sun. “Get going you two, you guys should try to get back before nightfall. Wouldn’t want to lose you two already.”
Twilight nodded.
Flit wrapped his hoof around Twilight’s shoulder. “Don’t worry, I’ll make sure you get back safe and alive.” He patted Twilight on the back. “Me and Twi here are like the best of friends already.”
Twilight lifted her hoof to Flit’s face and forcefully pushed him off of her, causing him to land on the ground. “Okay… I deserved that.”
Topaz shook his head. “Just make sure he doesn’t do anything stupid.”
Twilight shot a glance at Flit as he began to stand up. “I’ll try, but first, I need my personal space Flit.”
“You got it…” He said. “I’ll keep my distance.”
“Good.” Topaz replied. “I’ll see you two when you get back.” He looked over at Flit. “And remember, blow up my ship, and I will kill you.”
Flit saluted. “Got it sir.”
Topaz sighed. “Your Ghost should be able to give you the location, just follow him, and Flit, don’t go killing yourself.”
“I will try.” Flit gave a small grin. “No promises.”
Topaz facehoofed. “Get going you two.”
Twilight and Flit’s ghosts both looked towards the guardians. “Preparing for Transmat.”
Twilight felt a brief blink of non-existence before finding herself back inside her ship, looking to the side, she saw another ship next to her own ship. It was a blue and red arrowhead design, a small fin sticking out from the back.
Ghost appeared inside the cockpit. “Opening transmission from Guardian Flitter.”
Ghost’s eye blinked bright blue for a second before Twilight heard Flit’s voice as though he was in the same room.
“So Warlock, you good at flying?” Flit asked as the other ship began to lift off the hanger floor. “Or are you still a newbie?”
Twilight grabbed onto the controls for the Ship and lifted her own ship off the ground. “Well I’m not going to say I’m better than you, but I am still new to this.”
“Try not to get lost on the way there.” Flit said. “I’m not going to be happy coming back for you.”
“FLIT!” Topaz’s voice came through the channel. “Keep her alive! Or I swear by the Crystal Heart I will impale your insectoid ass!”
Twilight heard a loud gulp through the channel. “Yeah… I’ll uh… I’ll do that…” He cleared his throat. “So Twilight, you ready to get this started?”
“As ready as I’m going to be.” Twilight replied. “Ghost, mark the landing location.”
The Ghost clicked. “Alright, displaying directions to Cosmodrome located in Stalliongrad.”
“So Twilight, something I’ve been wondering.” Flit asked as both of the ships flew out of the Hanger. “You know of any friends or family missing?”
Twilight sighed. “Honestly. All I remember is some white Alicorn… Even then a lot of it is blurred out.”
“That’s just standard. It should clear up after a few days.” Topaz said. “Though it tends to be gradual. I can barely remember King Sombra and he was the bane of my race when I was around.”
“Hopefully…” Twilight replied. “The Shipwright seemed familiar though…”
“I’m sure you’ll figure it out eventually.” Topaz replied. “Right now you should focus on surviving out there. The Vanguard would be pissed if you wound up dead on your first mission outside the tower.”
“Yeah… You’re probably right.” Twilight replied. “Still need to get used to everything.”
“You’ll get used to them pretty quickly.” Flit replied. “Then again, I’m a Changeling, adaptation is what we live for.”
“Hopefully I can be that adaptable.” Twilight replied. “But you are probably right, should focus on getting this ship fixed up before anything else.”
“That is if there are even any spare warpdrives lying around.” Flit replied. “The Fallen probably already tore them apart.”
“There has to be something there.” Twilight replied. “I’m not going to be able to do much without one.”
“Alright, I’ll be monitoring you two from back here. Try not to do anything I wouldn’t.”
“You mean Smile? That’s going to be a tall order.”
Twilight snickered as she heard a sigh from the communication. “Shut up and fly Flitter.”
“Notice he didn’t deny it.” Flit said.
“Cutting Communication.” Topaz said as a light clicking from Twilight’s Ghost signaled Topaz shut off his communication channel.
“Alright Twi, let’s see how good you can fly that thing.”
The Ghost clicked. “I really hope he isn’t doing what I think he is…”
“Wanna race?”
“And he is.” Twilight replied, shaking her head. “I’ll humor you, let’s go.”
“Prepare to lose Warlock!”
“I hope you know what you’re doing Twilight.” Ghost said as Twilight pushed the controls forward, causing the Ship’s engines to glow bright with flame. A second later the ship was zooming across the sky, heading towards Stalliongrad, and Twilight’s first mission in her new life.