> Destiny: The Light from Beyond
>  by SolidFerret
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

> Tower: The Greatest day on Earth/ The greatest day on Equestria
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------


They speak of land, from time to time. Land that is beyond the Darkness that has yet to be claimed by it's clutches. Yet, they speak that during the collapse... a shard of the Traveler passed through, unnoticed by the dark and into the land.

It wasn't until one day, seven brave heroes discovered the shard. That was when the gift of the Light was cast upon them, bringing them powers they could never have imagined.

We knew the Darkness would notice a surge in Light, we acted as fast as we could...

That is where our story begins...


A Titan knew very well his duty was to be the last line of Humanity's defense. The battle of Twilight Gap was the shining example of when Titans drove away Fallen forces from the City walls. For Karas, a ranking Captain amongst the Titans, it was just his mental reminder of why he was going to shoot and punch his way through every minion of the Dark he saw. He never once saw pity for any enemy he came across on the field, he was to surely finish it off quickly.

Despite his cold-heartiness for his enemy's, his allies knew him to be very kind back home. He opened his eyes and was met with the warm afternoon sun that lit the Tower as he arrived back from a Patrol on Venus. With his helmet removed, his blonde mohawk swayed gently in a breeze as he rubbed the sweat off of his face. Karas remembered being told that before the collapse he would have been perceived as "African". He knew of a Guardian that often studied different race's of Human's before the Golden Age. 

He looked, Guardians were running about, trying to collect Bounty's or turning in engrams.

"Welcome back, Titan." The Drone greeted to him. He waved hello to it and others as he walked to the Hall of Guardians to speak with Lord Shaxx on progress with clearing certain areas of Darkness so that they can be used for the Crucible. He passed by a pair of Guardians talking about a mysterious merchant and approached him.

"Lord Shaxx." He said, his voice deep, comforting, yet had the potential to be powerful.

"Greetings Karas." Lord Shaxx greeted. "How was it today in the field?"

"While liberating an area on Earth was a success, the Moon still proves difficult for us." He told him.

"I had a feeling. Ever since Eris's arrival, we suspected the Moon would be no easy task."

"We were lucky with the Black Garden." He told him.

"Yes... it's still amazing Guardians can fight there." Shaxx said. "Mercer still rants about the option, saying that-"

"Beauty within the Dark should never be disturbed." Karas quoted.

"I bet if he witnessed the Heart while it was still alive, he would be glad we were able to fight there."

Karas sighed. "We at least have him and others to thank for destroying the Undying Mind."

"Yes." Shaxx nodded. "It's almost ironic. That being said, do keep up the work. I can guarantee that our next generation of Guardians will be stronger than ever thanks to your work."

"Of course, Lord Shaxx." Karas saluted before turning away.

"By the way... have you ever wondered if..." Shaxx began to speak.  Karas turned around and faced him.

"... if area's such as the Vault of Glass can ever see Light?"

Karas remembered the Vault of Glass. So Dark that instead of waiting for your Ghost to be able to rebuild you, it took time for your Ghost to gather light for a fellow Guardian to revive you. 

"If that ever happens, then it is safe to say we have Humanity will survive." Karas said.

"Then we best get to it." Shaxx said light-heartily.

"Yes, so we-"

"Incoming Transmission from the Speaker." A robotic voice from within Karas spoke.

"Excuse me Lord Shaxx, I have to take this."

"Go ahead." Shaxx nodded, before stepping away to talk to another Guardian who was waiting. "Yes Tetra, what is it?"

Karas stepped away as his Ghost appeared.

"Go on, play it."

Static was heard before a voice sounded through.

"Attention Guardian, you are needed at once at the Traveler's walk. Come immediately." The Speaker's voice spoke.

"We best be going." His Ghost said, sounding hopeful that it was an assignment that didn't meant them standing around and talking.

"Alright." Karas said as he jogged out of the hall and to the Northern wing of the Tower. But as he got to the quiet hall that seperated the sections, a voice sounded out of the air.

"Quoting me, really?" A deep, grail voice said.

Out of thin air, the Hunter appeared. Having used the light to help them survive in the wilderness and making their own luck, a big risk made for a bigger reward. Thought to have been dangerous, they had made important discoveries dating back to the Golden Age. Now, any of them that were left made their way to the City to band together with the rest of the Guardians. 

Without his helmet, he was an Asian-American with a pale face, brown hair that was shaven except for the top and front. An bright orange arrow was painted over his right eye.

"You ended up apart of the conversation, Mercer." Karas said, not minding how he was eavesdropped.

"Well, maybe you should consider putting it into perspective." He said as he stepped out from a shadow in the corner. "Were you given a message from the Speaker also?"

"Yes." Karas said.

"Well lets go. If high ranking Guardians are needed, it must be important."

Both were in fact high ranked within the Guardians. Karas was a long time Veteran of the Crucible and Vangaurd while Mercer was almost considered Cayde-6's right hand man due to serving with him before arriving in the tower.

The two walked to the Northern side of the Tower, over seeing the City. Mercer took a moment to enjoy the view before noticing another Guardian, a Warlock, waiting at the entrance of the Travelers Walk, an Awoken with purple skin and purple hair that covered her right eye a little with a ponytail in the back. Her face showed Yellow markings that covered her nose while two lines were under her eyes. The two approached her.

The tails of her trench coat gently brushed the ground. Warlocks studied the Traveler before the Darkness invaded. Their arcane energy was the gift they were given to help them drive away the enemies of the Light.

"Are you who we're supposed to meet?" Karas asked.

"I was told to wait for two others. I assume they are you."

"Well Diamante, we better not keep him waiting." Mercer said.

Diamante nodded. She was also a highly respected Guardian. Known for braving Crota's end and destroying Sepkis Prime, she was a highly skilled Warlock who was trying to learn "the ways of a Phoenix".

The three walked into the Travelers walk, wondering what the Speaker needed them for...





{Yesterday}


She huffed and puffed in each breath as she raised her upper body above a tree branch her hind hooves were hooked on to. The ribbon tied in her mane to prevent it from getting in her eyes as sweat trickled down her forehead.

"Jeez Star, just watching you makes me want to pass out." A rainbow haired colt told her, sitting on a nearby tree stump.

"Why? Because you know you couldn't handle the exercise Prism?" She said, not even pausing in the middle of her crunches.

"No." A southern accent said from the bottom of the tree. "Because I don't want to have to carry you to the barn after you pass out again."

"Oooh! Del told you." Prism wooed.

"Now come on Star, T and Annie are on their way and if you want to not have passed out when they get here then I suggest you stop and take a break." Del said to her.

"Ugh, fine!" She said before she hopped down. Starburst rolled her eyes before sitting against the tree.

"Don't be such a downer Star. Today is Annie and T's anniversary. We promised we were gonna set up a picnic for all of us today." Del said, kicking the tree and knocking the apples into a bucket below.

"Well... fine." Starburst crossed her hooves in annoyance before getting up. "What do you need me to do?" she asked.

"Go set up this blanket over on the hill. I'll be over there in a bit." He said, pointing after handing over a picnic blanket. "I'll be there in a minute when the pies are done."

"Alright." She said, walking off with an annoyed look

"I see someone's happy today." Prism Bolt said before getting off the tree stump and stretching out his wings. "Do you think-" he paused when he heard his back crack before letting out a relieved sigh "we should have just sent them to Canterlot?"

"They wanted all of us to be together for today." Del glared at him. "You would have gone to flirt with mares."

Prism raised his hooves in defense. "Don't act like you would have left the moment you got the chance to visit Creme."

Del blushed a deep red as he rubbed the back of his neck. "Okay.... maybe..."

"Yep, I'm right." Prism gave a brash grin. "As always."

"Oh shut it." Del whispered as he walked off.

The clear, mid afternoon was perfect for Anthea and Turquoise Blitz, other wise known as Annie and T. They were the love birds of a group of seven friends. While the two knew each other since childhood, it had been four years sine the two decided to date. The whole group decided to put together a picnic for them however, the two insisted that everyone join them.

As Prism made his way to the hill they were all meeting, he was greeted by Crystal Calrity.

"Hey Claire. Thought you were busy today." He said.

"I wasn't, I just said that so you wouldn't prepare a prank on me to ruin my brothers special day." She said, still keeping a small grin on her face.

"Oh come on, I wouldn't have." Prism defended.

"Oh please, I imagine the pies Del's mother were making were gonna smashed right in my face." She said.

"Okay... maybe." Prism admitted.

Claire gave him a quick hug on the shoulder. "Now I'm sure you'll behave yourself today."

"Jeez, I'm treated like a colt." He muttered. "Yes mom, I will." He told her.

"Good!" She exclaimed, clearly delighted. "Now I'll go help Del. You be a good colt now Prism." She patted his head before heading off to help with Del.

Prism let out "pffbbt" with his lips before flying over the trees and to where Starburst had set up. Her mood had changed, evidence included a smile on her face and a blue and pink pony named Cotton Candy who was there telling jokes and stories.

"Hello there ladies." Prism said as he landed.

"Hey there Prism." Cotten greeted, as chipper as she always was just like her mother. Even Starburst seemed to be put into a good mood. "We're all set up here. Just need Annie and T to arrive and for Del and Claire to bring the food." She said as she hopped around, excited.

Prism chuckled before he laid down on the grass and watched the few clouds that littered the sky. He closed his eyes and decided now was the best time to take a nap.

Del arrived, sighing at seeing Prism asleep as the others came and joined them. Prism's nap was cut short when Annie decided to "accidentally" trip over him. Luckily, he bought the "I'm blind" excuse.

The group shared laughs and stores as they ate under the shade of a tree. The day had only just begun for them when Candy's whole body started twitching.

"A dozy everypony! We've got a real dozy coming!"

A loud crash was heard behind them. Dust exploded into the air over in the Everfree forest that settled at a faster rate than expected. The group of ponies looked in the direction.

"What was that?" Claire asked.

"I have no idea..." Del said. "Should... should we check it out?"

Annie wrapped her hooves around T for protection. "What if it's dangerous?" She asked.

"Well we gotta see what it is." Starburst stepped forward, her wings flapping out as she took off.

"Hey wait!" Prism yelled as he took off after her.

"Great..." Del deadpanned as he ran after them. The rest following after him.

Starburst scanned the forest, not being able to see past most of the thick brush. 

"See anything?" Prism called out to her.

"Not really. Look for a gap in the forest. I bet that's where all the noise came from." She said.

"I'm gonna fly low and lead the others. Stay above it when you find something." Prism told her before diving down.

Out of the corner of her eye, she noticed a glow not far from where they were. She flew over to it and sure enough, here was a white glow illuminating the dark forest. She hovered above it as she called out to the others. Within minutes, they arrived and Starburst descended down to meet them.

The darkest of the Everfree forest was lit with illuminated, sparkling dust. The group moved branches aside and were met with a sharp looking rock that was glowing. It was pure white and seemed to make what was a dark and scary place look beautiful and peaceful.

"Whoa..." Candy said in awe as hey eyes widen in amazement.

"Wow... I've... I've never seen the Everfree like this before..." Prism said as he floated to the ground.

"It's cause of that rock." Annie pointed.

Del was the first to approach. He shook with excitement almost as he reached out to it.

"Where did it come from?" He asked.

"Could it have been space!?" Annie exclaimed, letting go of T and running over as well.

"Annie, be careful." T warned, which fell on deaf ears.

Del's hoof was mere centimeters away. A voice in his head told him that something would happen if he touched. He shook as he wondered if he should or not.

His hoof made contact, he gasped as if he was surprised to feel nothing at all.

"Hey Del, you alright?" Prism called.

T eventually ran over to get Annie away from the rock, she side stepped and he crashed into it. Not feeling much, he got up and felt it also.

"What is this thing?" Starburst said as she landed on it. 

"I don't know... but I bet I could use it for my next gem collection." Claire said as he examined it, her eyes wide with excitement.

"Claire, I think we should preserve this." Annie said, climbing on top of it.

"Yeah, we should carry it back to Ponyville." Candy said, trying to lift it up with her back.

"Easy there Candy. Don't hurt yourself." Prism said pulling her out from underneath before he sat on the edge.

"Well we can't keep this a secret." Del said. "We'll have to tell the others-"

The howl of Timberwolves filled the night sky.

"Tomorrow!" He yelled. "Lets go guys."

The group took off as fast as they could, with Prism and Starburst guiding them out of the forest. They all arrived back at Sweet Apple Acres.

"Okay..." Del said, out of breath. "I don't think that rock is affecting. Lets just see if anything happens tomorrow." He told them.

"Yeah..." Prism agreed. "I say we all just go home, get some rest, and tell our parents tomorrow."

"Alright guys..." Starburst said. "Goodnight."

And they departed after their goodbyes. They all returned home to sleep the night away, unaware of what they had all gotten into.





The three Guardians stood aligned at the foot of the stairs. The Speaker wasted no time on briefing them.

"Guardians, this may just be the greatest mission we could ever embark on." He told them. "We have managed to discover a shard of the Traveler that repelled the Darkness on it's own during the collapse. Our Ghosts were able to establish a link, almost a bond, to it. It's to enter a planet's atmosphere."

"This is impossible." Diamante spoke up. "The Darkness would have surely consumed this shard."

"That would have been, but the Darkness was so focused on destroying the Traveler that it failed to notice this. We have reason to believe that this shard is capable of gifting the powers of the Light to those who discover it. If it is returned the Traveler, it could accelerate it's healing by a great amount."

Karas stepped forward. "What is it you need us to do?"

"Your Ghosts will pilot your jumpships to where the Shard is located, there, you will secure it and carry it back here. One it is reunited with the Traveler, your mission will have been completed."

"Is that all?" Mercer asked.

"It is, Guardian."

Karas saluted. "Then we will see that the shard is returned."

"Good luck Gaurdians." the Speaker told them.

As the three turned to leave, one last bit was spoken.

"Be careful, if the world the shard is on is populated and has been discovered, then it is only a matter of time before the Darkness seeks them out."

Diamante responded. "We'll make sure that the population is protected then."

The trio walked to the hangar, checking their gear.

Karas had a mixed set of armor between the Vanguard and Crucible with a golden Shader applied to it.. But the one thing he held dear to him was his mark, the Golden Hour mark that he worn during the battle of Twilight Gap. Along with his gear were his weapons. The Payback SOS was one of his trusted rifles that he used countless times in the field and Crucible. Along with Two to the Morgue shotgun, that he loaded with shells before pumping in a round. He always kept Heavy weapon ammo synthesis on him for The Swarm, his favored light machine gun that helped him raid the Vault of Glass.

Diamante's armor was an entire Vanguard set with a blue shader applied to it. Her bond was the only thing not from the Vanguard but instead from Eris Morn. The loadout consisted of Time on Traget, a pluse rifle, the Murmur fusion rifle, and the Jolder's Hammer LMG.

Mercer sharpened his knife as he holstered his Devil you don't Know Handcannon. His Epitaph 2261 was attached to his back while his Steel Oracle Z-11 was stored in the Ghost's pocket dimension. His chest and leg armor were from the Vanguard, while the gauntlets and helmet were from the Vault of Glass. He wore the Ghost Angel cloak while his shader gave him a gray, camouflage look.

The three circled up after their gear check, each going over the plan.

"Remember, we need to give a peaceful impression if the world is populated." Karas instructed. "But keep your weapons ready, we don't know if the forces of the Darkness are on their way." 

"Alright." Mercer agreed.

"Lets move." Diamante said before the three all went to orbit and into their Jumpships.

Space, was empty as always. Yet, the feeling of the next step in saving Humanity could warp that view to make Space seem like the roadways taken to get destinations that were once far out of reach.

"Ghost, set a direct course for that shard." She said.

"Right away." His robotic voice whirled.

The three ships disappeared amongst the stars as they set off.





Prism flew through the sky, the wind rustling his mane as the kicked a cloud away and cleared part of the sky. Below, a crowd cheered him on at his flying skills.

"Don't worry folks, there's more where that came from." He called to them below.

He flapped his wings which took him to intense speeds. The white wind formed a cone around him as he flapped faster and faster towards the sky.

"Come on! Come on!" He yelled in anticipation over the roaring wind.

As he reached his peak, Prism created the Sonic Rainboom that his mother had made before he was born.

The entire sky was filled with color, ponies looked in awe as their sky changed from blue to an array of colors.

Prism smiled as the crowd stared, lost for words. That's when he heard another pair of wings flapping.

"PRISM!"

Suddenly, another Pegasus bumped into him and wrapped their hooves around his body and pinned his wings.

Whirlwind, a purple Pegasus with a silver mane looked at him with a smile before nuzzling him.

"You're amazing for creating this..." She said into his ear.

Prism blushed a deep red as he starred back into her eyes also. As he started to lean his face forward, he glanced up and saw that they were falling right for the ground. He started to struggle to get out of her grip as the ground rushed up to meet them.

Prism gasped as he woke up, covered in sweat. He breathed heavily before sitting up in his bed and wiping his forehead.

"Wow..." Was all he could say. That might have been the greatest dream he ever had. The Sonic Rainboom, the ponies thanking him for making the day look so gorgeous . Whirlwind hugging him.

"Whirlwind..." He thought out loud. Why was he dreaming about he and his Ex? Better yet, why did he feel so in love in the dream. They had broken up years ago, only to remain good friends after. Yet the way she stared at him when they were falling just made his heard flutter in his chest.

He rolled out of bed, a happy dream wouldn't save him from bed head and the gross taste in his mouth. After combing his mane to look somewhat acceptable, he walked downstairs and was greeted by his parents, Soarin and Rainbow Dash, and his little brother Icy Storm who gulped down his bowl of cereal.

"Good morning family." Prism said as he stepped over to get a box of cereal for himself.

"Morning champ." Soarin said, taking a sip from his cup of coffee. "Didn't hear you come in last night." He said sternly.

'Last night...' Prism thought. What made last night so important...?

Then he remembered what he and his friends found in the Everfree forest.

For some reason, his wings felt like they were filled with energy.

"Oh uh... I uh... fffffff....ell asleep. Yeah, I fell asleep at Sweet Apple acres." He chuckled awkwardly. "Lots of food, ya know. Plus the others decided not to wake me up. Bunch of jerks, huh?" He said, putting on a convincing smile.

Rainbow Dash raised her eyebrow, she could tell her son was hiding something.

"What did you guys do over there?"

"Oh you know," Prism said as he grabbed the milk carton. "Ate food, made jokes. I shoved a pie in Claires face." He said as he quickly poured himself a bowl of cereal.

"She didn't set you on fire?" Icy asked.

"Nope, I'm to quick for her." Prism seemed to brag before shoveling down his breakfast as fast as he could.

"Okay Prism." His mom said, still eying him. 

"So I  uh... my wonder... Whirlwind, yeah." He said, quickly rinsing out his dish. "She wanted to see me cause I uh... she was... wanting me to show her a new flying trick."

"Cool! Can I come?" Icy asked, hoping to his crush and try to also impress her with his flying.

"Oh, Icy! Uhm... yeah! You can... uh..."

His wings were nearly burning. 

"You... can uh... totally come. We would love that. Just... get us some food at Sugarcube corner. I'll give you bits for it." He said through his teeth.

Icy looked at the food on the table. "But we just ate breakfast."

"Did I say get food? Silly me, I meant go get a uh... b-b-b-book! Yes, a book from Twilight's Library about... flying. And while you're at it, get a book about rocks because T almost ate one yesterday. Dragon cravings, who needs them am I right?" He said.

"Prism, are you okay?" Rainbow asked.

"I am... just fine mom. How are you?" Prism said as his wings sprang out. He nearly ran over to the front door.

"Okay Icy, meet us at Sweet Apple Acres." He said before opening the door. "I love this entire family. I will return. Bye."

He took off so fast, dust littered the house and nearly knocked Icy over.

"What in the world was that?" Dash asked.

"It's a mare. Gotta be a mare." Soarin said.

Prism tore through the sky at high speeds.

"What the hell wings!? You couldn't wait for me to even eat!" He yelled, breathing heavily. His wings didn't feel like they were calming down, but more of becoming at ease.

"I gotta get Del, tell him to get the others and meet up somewhere alone. Something is happening to me. The others can't find that rock thing." He gritted through his teeth.

Prism recalled his dream, it had to do something with the feeling in his wings. They seemed to be dedicated to fly, like a mind of their own. "Okay... I was flying, I was awesome at flying, I did a Sonic rainboom, everypony thanked me for making the sky look so beautiful, then Whirlwind held me before I crashed into the ground."

Prism remembered how he felt in the dream and for once, all the ponies thanking him for making something they enjoyed didn't fuel his ego like it normally would have. It made him feel proud to do something for others for once. If his parents could entertain hundreds if not thousands of ponies at Wonderbolt shows, surely he could make them happy also. That's when Prism looked ahead and his eyes dilated. 

A tree.

There was a tree in the sky that Prism was going to crash through, it was clearly uprooted due to some soil sticking to it.

And in that moment, Prism could have sworn his wings were gone as he flew. Time seemed to slow down as he turned his body and that's when he saw them, they weren't his wings.

Pure blue electricity formed the shape of his wings on his back and gave his whole body such an intense feeling that made him feel more dedicated and powerful than ever before.

Prism spun as the wing slashed right through the tree, causing it to vaporize into the blue energy. Without hesitation, he looked down and landed to where the tree once was. It wasn't a giant whole in the ground, put as if the soil was pushed out of the ground and launched the tree into the sky.

He didn't realize he was at Sweet Apple acres until he saw a good amount of trees without leaves or apples. Prism saw Del sweating while looking amazed and horrified.

"Del!" Prism yelled, running up to him. "A tree nearly took me out of the sky! What happened!?" He screamed.

"Okay..." Del said, catching his breath. "I kicked it up there." He said in a monotone voice.

"HOW!?"

"Calm down Prism." Candy said, appearing from behind the uplifted patch of dirt.

"Del, something is happening..." He told his friend.

"I was thinking back to my dream... and I kicked my hoofs into the ground... and it sent the tree flying... I lit the grass on fire."

Prism looked by his hooves and saw some of the grass burning away much like the tree did.

"Dream! You said a dream!? What was it!" Prism asked, trembling.

"Well me and Creme-"

"Shut up about your dream!" Prism yelled. "Where are the others?"

"Candy went to get Claire, she went to go get T. Starburst is studying magic to figure this all out." He said, sweat dripping down his face.

"They should have been here by now..." Candy said.

"Candy! Are you messed up!?" Prism went over to her, grabbing her head and pulling it towards his.

"I've always been, then I had this dream and now watch this!"

Candy stomped her hooves into the ground a little before raising one and punching the air, causing a purple magic blast to produce and destroying a nearby tree.

"Oh my Celestia.. we have powers!" Prism held his head and fell to the ground in a near panic. T and Claire arrived, also distressed.

"We can't find Annie! Fluttershy said she left for here. Have you seen her?"

"No, how are you guys?"  Del asked.

"My teeth and tail still glow purple." T said.

"My claws light on fire." Claire said.

"Okay guys, we need to figure this all out. That rock we found has to be behind it."

"Guys!" Prism got up and trotted over to the Dragon siblings. "I keep hearing dreams. What were they?" He asked.

Claire blushed a little. "I was... on a beach made of jewels with Illusion... and were were just walking... then a tidal wave crashed on me and I woke up." She said.

"Okay, and T?"

"Me and Annie were married, and we lived in an animal sanctuary. It was all fine till a bear scratched me and I started bleeding before I woke up."

Del took notes on what they were saying. Annie, then blood. Illusion, then water.

"Okay... uh... Del! What was your dream?" Prism asked.

"Uh... me and Creme were... running through an orchard and laughing before a swarm of bats flew at us."

"Oh! I get what our dreams are!" Candy hopped up, joining them. "We're all with somepony we love before something that scares us wakes us up. I had a dream I was performing with Parry before I realized I was in front of a large crowd. Star said her dream was her being the Captain of the Guard with Fletcher being her Lieutenant before a spider landed on her face. It was funny!" Candy giggled.

"Well we got to find her, she didn't show off her powers when we-"

"Guys!" Annie called to them, running over. T ran up to her. 

"Where have you been!? We came by your house and-"

"I saw!"

T stepped back in shock. "You... you saw?"

"Yes, my dream last night. Everything was so clear. You and are were looking over Ponyville on a hilltop, then the sun set and it got really dark before I woke up."

"Eureka! Our dreams all share the same dream." Candy exclaimed. "What about yours Prism?"

"Uhm... I dreamed I did a Sonic Rainboom... then Whirlwind held me before I crashed into the ground."

"Annie, was there anything else unsua-" 

"I learned a new spell." She said happily.

"Really... care to show?"

Without hesitation, Annie's horn protruded a purple substance that froze where it was cast before it glowed and was sent towards a tree that was impaled by it like sharp ice. 

"Wow..." Prism commented.

Del looked over the others. "Everypony, we need to go find Star. Tell her that her mother needs to warn Ponyville about that rock and find some way to deal with it."

"Alright, lets go!" Candy said as the group ran off.





Starburst stepped out of her house, visibly stressed by the studying and having to deal with her new found magic. It didn't help that she basically admitted her crush to Fletcher to nearly all her friends. Yet the situation called for it.

A small stampede of hooves alerted her of her friends. She looked over at them as they all ran to her.

"Guys, anything new?" She asked.

"Our dreams... were all the same..." Del said, catching his breath.

"We each dreamed with being somepony we loved before our fears woke us up." Claire informed.

"So what do we do about that rock?" She asked.

"Tell your mom to inform the town of a mysterious artifact and to not touch it at all."

"My mom is at Sugarcube corner. Lets go, no time to waste!" Starburst said before running off, the group following. But just as Sugarcube corner was in sight, Prism spoke up.

"Hey guys, is Derpy Hooves handling the weather today?" He asked.

"Prism, that's not nice. She really tries." Claire scolded.

"No, not that, it's just that she let a storm cloud get loose." He pointed down the street.

Sure enough, a storm cloud that cast lightning was floating a few inches above the ground. Ponies gathered and watched it, wondering what it was.

"That doesn't look like a storm clou-" Del cut himself off.

Mysterious, robotic figures appeared from the cloud as it faded away. Ponies looked in awe at the visitors, to scared to approach however.

"What are those things!?" Prism exclaimed a little to loud.

They all turned at once and faced the group of friends. Prism stepped forward.

"Hi there, do you come in peace?" He asked.

They all opened fire at them, causing ponies to panic and scream before running for safety.

Star acted as fast as she could, he wings glowing purple before she swiped them at the lasers.

"What are those things!" Prism yelled as the group ran for cover. Except for Star, her wings still glowed as she swiped them again. This time she sent projectiles at the span of her wings at the creatures, causing them to be consumed in the purple light.

"Our powers..." Claire said. "We have to fight them!" She told the others.

"We do!?" Prism whined.

"Yes, our powers can defeat those things."Annie said as she ran out of the alley way to join Star and Claire.

"Well come on, we got to do this." T said.

"What have we gotten ourselves into..." Prism groaned as he went out.

The group of friends began their assault against the hostile visitor. Prism used his wings to slice the robots away while Claire clawed them, the burning energy causing them to be burn away after every kill.

Del kicked the ground up to make cover before kicking away a few robots. Candy used her magic strikes to blast away one after one while. T stood by Annie as she cast spell after spell. Soon we tore through the remainder of the robots.

Nothing left... such a small group. "That was quick." Prism commented before gray filled his vision.

"Nope!" Del yelled as more of them appeared.

The group wasn't ready for another wave of them. Prism was knocked to the ground as one of them stood over him, pointing his weapon at him. Claire attacked more before she dug her claws into one that was bigger that the rest. It knocked her down and pinned her with it's foot. Candy was surrounded and back up against the wall, to scared to move.

"No... no no no!" Prism groaned, backing away from the threat slowly.

Claire gritted her teeth as she struggled to free herself from the wight of her opponent.

The rest of the group were so caught up in dealing with the others, they couldn't help their friends. Starburst's head zipped between the situation with her friends, desperate for an opening to initiate a plan to get them back ahead of their enemy. That's when the worst happened.

"Sis...?"

Starburst held a magic shield up, blocking laser fire when she turned around and saw Night Light standing behind her.

"Nighty... go get mom and dad... and tell her to get the Royal guard."

"But... your magic...?"

"It won't defeat these things! Get out of here before you get hurt!" Starburst yelled before her eyes widened to see a lone robot coming up from behind her little brother.

"NIGHTY!" Starburst screamed in fear as she dove down to shield her sibling with her own body.

A loud bang was heard, Starburst looked up to see the robot had fallen over.

"What the..."

Prism watched the robot standing over him fall back with the white stomach exploding, spilling white, burning liquid on his hoof. He yelled in pain as he was sure his fur was scalded off.

Claire watched as another figure who seemed to be made of steel jumped on to the large robot. He held on as the robot tried to swing him off. The figured let out a deep battle cry before it's fist glowed purple and punched the robot until it's body dented and it fell to the ground.

The figure also stood up on two legs, he looked down and saw Claire. He then looked and saw the other ponies.

"Uh..." was all Claire could get out as she stood up. 

"It's confirmed, the Vex got here first." He spoke.

"Uhm... excuse me."

It's head turned to the source of her voice. "The population speaks." He noted before kneeling down to Claire. "Hello there. My name is Karas." He greeted.

"Hi there..." Claire said, amazed. "I'm... Crystal Clarity..." She said.

Karas looked over his shoulder, Diamante managed to distract the Vex long enough to let the ponies get the upper hand.

"What... are you?"

"We're Guardians. Your world has a shard of the Traveler and we're here to get it back."

"A shard of the Trav... OH!" Claire sprang up. "We know where that is. We can lead you too it after we... deal with whatever those things are."

"They're called the Vex. they must be here for the Shard also." Both Diamante and Karas explained.

Starburst and T walked over to Karas. "So... you're here to help?" She asked.

"Yes. There's a lot to explain. Gather your friends. We'll tell you all everything." Karas said.

Elsewhere, Prism groaned in pain as the sun was blocked out of his eyes. A hooded figure stood over him.

"Get up, you're fine." He told him. "If you have the light like I saw, you're fine."

Prism felt his hoof, it felt cooled down and fine. Candy walked over to him and checked him.

"Hi there." She greeted the Hunter with her usual smile.

"Greetings." He said, nodding. "I assume you were gifted with the Traveler's light. We were afraid whoever lived on this world would find the shard before we could get here." Mercer said, stepping pass the two and joining his fellows Guardians.

By now, ponies were coming out of their houses, seeing that the area was clear. A few stepped out and went over to talk to one of the seven to ask for an explanation. Several were scared and in a near panic while others seem to celebrate their new guests.

One in particular approached Prism. Her silver mane reflected the sun as she quickly trotted over to the Pegasus who was able to stand finally.

"Uhm Prism?" She asked.

"Oh Whirlwind! Hey." He said.

"So, what's going on?" She asked.

"I'm as confused as you are... but I think those three guys are gonna explain everything." He said.

"I hope." Whirlwind said.





The only place where ponies could gather was Sugarcube corner. There, the Guardians met and introduced themselves to the mane six and their kids.

"Space magic! You have Space magic in y'all now!?" Applejack scolded, very confused.

"Ma'am, please. I'll explain." Karas said, taking off his helmet. "I'll get right to it. These seven inhabitants of this world happens to found a mere shard of something far powerful than this world has ever seen. We call it the Traveler, and it gifted us the Light. The Light granted us powers that we use to fight against the forces of darkness. These seven found that shard and were clearly gifted powers as well."

Diamante spoke up. "Those robots outside were known as the Vex, we're amazed they came in such a small force. Though we doubt that's the last we've seen of them. But we're currently prepared to extract the shard from where it is and leave, but we need to still see if there is something here that can help us with the fight against the Darkness."

Several mutters amongst the small crown were heard. Mostly if they could trust the Guardians and if the "Darkness" would come back.

"We're not asking for volunteers. Don't bother." Mercer addressed the crowd. "But if the Darkness gets their hands on this shard, they'll most likely wipe us out, and then you."

Several scared gasps were heard. 

"But we're here to make sure that doesn't happen, which is why I call upon the seven light bearers to help us." Karas spoke, turning to the seven.

"Us...?" Starburst asked.

"Yes, we ask you to assist in combating the Darkness while we're here."

Prism sat next to his family and Whirlwind when they all looked at him upon knowing they were talking about him. Del looked and saw a feared look in his father and mother's eyes while his cousins asked him if he was really going to do it. Starburst was the first one to walk up to them.

"I'll do it."

"Starburst, no!" Twilight scolded. 

"Mom, I have to."

T and Claire also stepped up. "We'll do it also." Claire said.

"Yay! My cousin is a hero!" A small filly cheered from the crowd.

Prism eventually stepped up, much to the dismay of Whirlwind, his parents knew he'd do it. "I'm in." He said.

All of them had volunteered, much to the dismay of their family's.

That's when Del's cousin spoke up. 

"Excuse me, you said that they can't be Guardians. What makes you different from them?" Red June asked.

"I can answer that."

Mercer's ghost appeared in his palm which took off and flew around the room. Ponies watched as it looked over the crowd, a few fillies and colts reaching for it.

"The Ghost's are our companions. They're also what rebuild us when we fall in battle and they help guide us through our missions."

"Wait, rebuild? You can die and come back but we can't?" Prism complained.

Several complaints filled the air before Karas stomped his foot. "Which is why you'll never leave our side during a mission. We will do our best to guarantee you safety."

"We don't even get armor." Annie said.

"Actually..." Diamante said. "Our Ghosts have the material to give you all armor."

"Wait, really?" Prism perked up.

"Yes, in fact it's best we get you all suited up as soon as possible."

"Well lets do it!" Candy said.

"Alright then."

The three Ghosts went over to the ponies, scanning their bodies. Mercer's ghost went over to Candy and Prism and gave them a ponified set of the Hunters armor. Candy had a normal clock while Prism had a hood with a small strip running in between his wings to keep the free.

Karas's Ghost took care of Del, Claire and Starburst. Each getting their set of Titan armor with their own mark. Del's was a golden one with a sun in the middle. Claire's was a gem on fire and her horns and claws were not armored. Starburst had a shield on hers, her wings were also free on her back.. The marks all hung on their hips.

Diamante's Ghost set T, Annie up with Warlock style armor. Each getting a bond that looked similar to one another. Annie's horn still poked out of her helmet. 

They all turned and faced the crowd, which all "ooed" and "awwed" at them. The armor felt like a second skin to them as they moved joints to get a feel for it.

"Fits like a glove." Del commented.

"We're glad." Dia said.

"This helmet helps me see a lot more." Annie said.

"This is so cool!" Prism exclaimed.

The audience began to cheer, seeing how there were now ten braves heroes to protect Equestria.

"Now when do we start?" T asked.

An explosion from outside was their answer. The crowd screamed in fear.

"Right now, everyone stay here and keep your head down." Karas ordered as he pulled out his auto rifle. "Guardians, we have work to do."

Dia kicked the door open to see the Vex had reappeared. The seven ran out and prepared to fight the Vex once more as they're powers once again activated.

Karas lead the charge as Mercer slid to cover and loaded his Handcannon before peaking over the corner to see a Vex Hydra amongst the army.
> A dog beat me over the fence
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Del recalled hearing bells. It confused him, whenever he woke up he'd hear the sounds of animals and the wind through trees. Yet he felt like his bed was the most comfortable thing ever. It was so warm to him that... why get up? The stallion laid his head down. Odd, he didn't see a pillow, or anything. It was all a blur to him, and the bells just rang as he saw a golden figure stand above him and a pony. What was Prism doing here?





"Keep your head down!" Diamante yelled over all of the gunfire as she threw a grenade towards a squadron of Vex. Claire slashed away at one and ducked as T chewed into the arm of another. Mercer stabbed into a Minotaur and emptied his clip into it before pushing the robot away for Candy to deal with while Annie kicked the void icicles at the Hydra in hopes of holding it back and away from the others.





What was all of that noise? Was family visiting? Was Prism not the only one to visit? Maybe Candy was throwing a party. Or so help him if Creme was here for a surprise visit. Prism was probably gonna tell everypony they were dating.

It was best to just go back to sleep.





"The light is supposed to heal trauma like this instantly." Karas informed as he examined Del.

"Well it isn't working!" Prism yelled over gunfire. "We need to take him to Sugarcube corner so the others can look after him."

Karas flinched at the sound of a nearby explosion. Diamante flew and hit the side of a house and was cornered by a Minotaur, that aimed it's weapon at her and prepared to fire. A few bullets struck its back as Mercer and Candy charged at it. Diamante tried to get up but dove out of the sights of a Hobgoblin, who took aim for another shot before it was disposed of by Starburst before she flew down to Karas and Prism.

"What happened?"

"It's that Hydra. He took a round to the head." Karas informed. "We need to get him with the others. It's the only place we've made safe." He informed.

"Yeah, Starburst. You and Mercer and protect us while we move him there." Prism informed.

"What about me?" Dia asked, running over.

"You stay with the others. The light may have made them fighters, but they still don't know what they're up against." Karas said as he grabbed Del by one of his hooves. He pulled the stallions body onto his shoulders before standing up.

"Jeez he's heavy."

"Tell me about it." Prism quipped as his wings charged up.

"I can't move to fast. I gotta count on you guys to keep me covered. Got it?"

"We got your back, Karas." Starburst said as her wings glowed once more.

"You are in my watchful eyes, Captain." Mercer said over transmission. Prism ducked when sniper fire zoomed right past him and took out a Goblin.

"As are you." He told Prism.

"Lets move!" Karas yelled as he went into a jog, the fastest he could move with Del on his back.

"He's not the most heavy guy you would have carried today, but at least you can move." Prism joked.

"Cover me!" Karas only yelled back as he tried to dodge anything shot at him with little effect.

"This isn't a time for jokes Prism." Starburst scolded as she landed by him. 

"Just trying to lighten the mood."

"That wasn't funny." Mercer said over the intercom, sniping from the roof of a nearby house.

"What wasn't funny, I jus- Oh.... lighten. I get it." Prism chuckled before he slashed his wing at a nearby Goblin.

"Your light is more important than any thing you've ever had before." Mercer explained, dropping a Hobgoblin that was about to sneak up on Claire, who turned back and gave a quick wave before running off. "It's a gift, the Vex are here since you have it in you."

"How are we gonna get rid of it?" Starbust exclaimed, swiping at a Minotuar before Prism leaped on it and finished it off.

Mercer's Ghost spoke up. "I have a theory, it involves returning that shard to the Traveler. We'll have to deal with these guys first."

"Got it." Prism responded, before looking around. 

"Uhm... where is Karas and Del?"

"I'm detecting the Hydra, it's moving towards the civilians!" Ghost alerted.

"Damnit! Dia, have T and Candy fall back to Sugarcube corner. You, Claire and Annie draw the rest of the Vex away from them. Create as much noise as possible." Mercer.

"I... think I know a way how to." Dia said, as if she was ready for something.

"Whatever it is, make sure they don't get near the rest of the ponies." Mercer advised as he sniped a Goblin, it's white core exploding from the impact of the bullet.

Prism heard a nearby explosion followed by the sound of crashing. He looked at Starburst, who shared the worried look under their helmets.

"Mercer, I think the Hydra is at Sugarcube corner."

"How can you tell?" Mercer asked.

"Call it a hunch." Starburst said.

"Alright, I'm on my way. Dia, scratch that previous order. Have them return to you. And let them know you'll be without sniper support for a while." Mercer told her.

"We can keep things covered on the ground. Just try not to get yourself killed." Her transmission spoke.

"Understood. Stay alert." Mercer told her.

Prism looked up to where the Hunter was perched, but was surprised to see him already gone.

"Mercer... where did you go?" He asked.

No response.

"Mercer!"





Each of the ponies inside Sugarcube corner stayed silent, some listening to the battle outside while others looked through the windows.

"I don't understand at all..." Caramel said, Applejack right next to him.

"There isn't much to understand." Pinkie said, hopping from behind the counter with a plate of cupcakes. "Robots are here to attack our kids cause of some artifact from another world..." She passed them out to nearby ponies, seemingly having enough for everypony crammed into the shop. "And three brave heroes came to help them and get said artifact back." She handed a cupcake to her husband, who asked "How did you...."

"Nevermind." Pokey Peirce had learned to never question his wife's antics.

Soarin peered out the window, dust and smoke over the town. "I still know why this has to happen..." He said. "Our kids are literally fighting something that's threatening our home."

"It can't be for to long. There can only be so many of the those robot things." Cloud Chaser told him.

"But that doesn't mean-"

An explosion rocked the ground, causing a few to cry out as they held on to something or somepony.

Soarin turned to look out the window.

"What was that!?" Applejack asked.

Soarin kept looking, seeing how close the explosion was. He focused to see something flying out of the smoke.

"Get away from the windows!" He yelled.

Everypony ducked in cover as something crashed through the window of the store. Dust rushed in after it and filled the room, causing them all to cough and gag before it settled. 

In the farthest corner of the room, Karas laid in a small crater of the wooden floor. He was groaning in pain as he tried to get a hold of his bearings and find out where he was. A few of the ponies went over to him, checking to see if he was okay.

"S-sir..." Fluttershy approached him. "Are... are you alright?"

Without responding, Karas stood up, charged to the door and kicked it down before running back outside. Looking around, he found Del lying on the ground a few feet from where he was blown up.

"Del!" Karas ran over and grabbed him by one of his hooves and started to drag him back to the building. As he looked up, the Minotaur that had sent him flying through the window was fast approaching him.

A few ran outside to see the situation. Applejack shrieked when she recognized the armor that her son was given and also ran over.

"Hey, get away!" Karas yelled to her as he pulled out his shotgun and fired at the Minotaur.

"Golden Delicious!" Applejack yelled as she ran over to her son and did her best to try and carry him as well. Caramel ran out as well, hoping to help his wife with saving their son.

"Damnit, I said stay back!" The Titan yelled at the two before firing two shots at the large robotic monster.

The couple attempted to lift their son on to their backs. It didn't help that he grew up to be bigger than both of them. Applejack suddenly was flying through the air and had the wind knocked out of her.

Karas charged at the Minotaur, a purple glowing fist tearing into it's head before the creature tossed the Guardian off of it. Karas landed near a house and before he could get up, the Minotaur aimed and then fired a shell where he laid.

Del looked over at the dust settling to see a figure struggling to stand up. He was about halfway through the door to Sugarcube corner. Several ponies reaching out to grab him and pull him back inside.

Until he saw a robotic creature move towards his parents.

"Del... get up."

What was that voice... it sounded like... a group...

"Del... I will help you... your strength is my giving. Now rise."

"Del..." Rainbow Dash checked on him, moving his head around to see if she could rouse him.

The Minotaur had nearly gotten to his parents when something inside of Del glowed, causing him to spring up and charge at the beast before turning around kicking his legs out. Instead of giving it the good ole fashion buck that would have made his family proud, Del let his hind hooves fall into the ground hard and kicked the ground up and at the Minotaur, which was crushed underneath it all.

"That was the coolest thing I have ever seen!" Prism yelled from above.

Del caught his breath as his vision cleared up. The concussion healing as his head cleared.

"You alright Guardian?" Karas asked, running over with his shotgun.

"I'm alright..." Del breathed out.

"Your light didn't heal you right away. That happens to new Guardians." Karas explained. Del looked down at his parents, seeing them breathing heavily, his father in pain. Del went over and picked him up.

"Your parents went out here to try and get you inside. It's safe in there if you need to rest." Karas said as he helped Applejack up, Caramel's hooves dangling off his shoulder.

"No... there's still Vex to fight. Ain't there?" Del asked.

"That's the spirit Guardian. I'll lead you back out to the fight." Karas said as he dropped Caramel off. "Your dad broke his leg... Ghost's analysis say's it'll heal right up."

That was a relief for Del. Getting someone hurt would make it all seem like this was his fault. But a distressed yell could be heard from inside the store. When Del went over, he heard...

"The back door is open... I saw Icy follow Pixel out..." a distressed Sweetie Belle cried.

"Where would they go?" Del asked.

A shadow appeared over Del. He immediately tried to kick the stranger away, only to have his hoof grabbed by none other than Mercer.

"Probably to see what we're trying to keep away." He said, holding Karas's assault rifle in his hand. "I can find them."

"Oh... th-thank you..." Sweetie Belle cried more as Button held her.

"Clearly I'm never to far from home." Mercer told Karas as he handed him his rifle. "You take care of the Vex in the town with Dia and the rest. I'll have Prism search the skies for me."

"You should try looking for that Hydra. Who knows where it is?" Karas said.

"Will do. Good luck Captain." Mercer said as he turned and whistled at the sky, alerting Prism.

The Pegasus landed on the ground, blowing dust everywhere. "What is it?"

"Your brother and another child is missing. I need you to scan the skies above me. Let me know if you see anything." Mercer ordered him.

"Alright..." Prism said,, distress visible in his voice through his helmet.

"Now you let me know if you see anything." Mercer told the pony as he pulled out his Hancannon.

"I will. Make sure he's safe please." Prism said.

"I promise." Mercer said.

Before Prism could take off,  pair of hooves wrapped around his necked and he felt somepony's head on his shoulder.

"Please be safe... and find your brother." Rainbow Dash said, who was also crying.

"Mom... I promise you he'll be safe." Prism told his mom. "Now... I gotta go." 

Rainbow let go of her son and looked back to Mercer, who was staring at the two.

"You... make sure they're both alright. You got it?"

Mercer nodded to her. "Lets get moving Prism."

"Got it, Mercer." He said as he took off to the sky.

Mercer walked off, yet when Dash blinked, she could have sworn he had disappeared. 





Claire ran through the street, swiping at a Goblin before spinning to impale her tail through another then jumping and pouncing on another. turning around, she gave a threatening growl to a Minotaur before running and tackling it to the ground. T arrived to bite into it before stomping it to pieces. A bullet caught her in the shoulder when she turned around to see a squadron of Vex approaching her. With her claws and tail burning with Solar energy, she charged forward and was met to see them by destroyed by a burning piece of rock. Looking over, she saw Del and Karas running over.

"Glad to see you're alright." Claire said, smiling to him.

"Yeah... took a round to the head according to Karas. I'm feeling better though." He said.

"Well come on, there's no shortage of these guys to fight!" Claire said, rallying him up. Del almost laughed, it was rare to see her in such a violent mood that didn't involve burning Prism to a crisp after a prank.

"Actually Claire, I need you with me. Someone by the name of "Pixel Bit" went missing. I was told you two are related."

Suddenly, Claire went from rowdy fighter to the most concerned of them all at that moment. 

"What!?"

"We've been assigned to look for them." Karas told her. "Del, you're with Dia."

"Wait, how come I'm not looking? She's my cousin too." T asked.

"We need as little Guardians as needed. We don't need more unwanted attention." Karas explained.

Despite the wishes to search for his cousin, T nodded solemnly. 

As Karas walked off with Claire, Del followed T back to where Dia and the others were. 

"How have things been in the town?" Del asked.

"Not much has changed. They say that if we take out these Vex's big cheese then we think the rest will fall back." T explained to his friend as the two trotted back to where the rest were.

"I sure hope that's true, though I doubt we'd hear the last from these things." Del said.

"The Guardians are smart. I'm sure they have a way to stop them." T responded.

"I sure hope so." Del said before he noticed Annie kicking suspended void icicles at a Hobgoblin. She noticed the two and waved.

"These helmets helped her eye sight a lot." T told Del, excitement riddling his voice.

"Hey guys! We're kicking ass right now!" Annie told them as a Minotaur appeared behind her.

"Annie!" The two yelled in fear.

Suddenly, the Minotaur  felled over covered in flames as Diamante appeared behind them.

"Hey boys. We could use some of your help fighting these guys." She said, rifle slung over her shoulder.

T looked at Del, who nodded as the two walked to where the others were set up.





"Pixel! Wait up!" Icy Storm cried out to his friend as he quickly ran over to her, who looked around the near deserted part of Ponyville.

"Relax Icy. No one's around here. We'll be fine." She said to him as she peaked around the corner of a building before running out to the middle of an empty street. Icy followed after her, visibly scared as he looked around.

"Come on, they must know we're gone by now. We have to go back." He pleaded to her.

Icy Storm looked around, only distant gun fire and an occasional explosion sounded through the air. Pixel skipped around in excitement as if there was nothing to worry about.

"Relax. They're fighting those really cool heroes and our brothers and sisters." She said.

"You're not worried about Claire or T at all?" Icy asked.

"Nope!" She exclaimed loudly. "Claire is the coolest of all those Guardians. She'll probably burn them all and T can stomp on them!"

Blissful to their surroundings, the two were unaware of the Hobgoblin that had examined her words so that they could identify them as related to one of the Guardians. Receiving it's order, the Hobgoblin kept his sights on them as it's internal radar showed allies moving to it's location.

The storm cloud appeared in front of the two that brought lightening and terror in the form of metal and lights. Pixel and Icy backed away slowly from the group of Vex that looked at them.

"Pixel... run." Icy whispered loudly, shaking in fear.

Pixel saw as a Minotaur approached them and raised it's cannon at them. Preparing to fire, Pixel was frozen in terror. Not a sound or single flinch coming from her.

"Pixel!" Icy screamed as he turn around to run, only to stop to see the Hydra that lead the Vex here approaching them from behind.

The purple glow would be the last thing Pixel saw...

Until the purple glow turned orange as Claire slashed her way right through the robot and leaped to Pixel to protect her from the rest.

"CLAIRE!" Pixel screamed as she was rocked by an explosion from the rest of the Vex that fired at them.

"Come on Pixel! I'll get Icy and then we can-"

A direct bullet to her head knocked Claire to the ground. She felt like a boulder crashed into her skull as she tried to stand up. Pixel grabbed her claw and tugged at it.

"Come on Claire! We have to leave. There's to much of them and you're hurt." She tried to pull her cousin away. "HELP! SOMEPONY!" She screamed as the Vex descended upon them.

Karas landed right in front of the two as the Vex opened fire. Instead of firing back, Karas suddenly felt like his whole body was wrapped in a tight force that he couldn't escape from. Every inch of him struggled to move as body refused to react to what was gonna happen. Using his arms, he knew a way to free himself.

All he needed to do was push.

As all the Vex shot at them, a purple shield formed around the three and blocked any of their attacks. Claire felt something clear her head as she got up and shook it to wake herself up some more.

"Claire..." Pixel sobbed as she hugged her. "Are you okay?"

"Yeah, I'm fine." She told her as petted her head. She looked to see them all surrounded.

"I can handle this, Pixel." Claire said as she was ready to charge forward. "You stay here-"

With a sudden force, Claire was pushed back into the shield as Karas ran out and engaged the Vex. He started by rushing the Minotaur and jumping on top of it and emptying an entire clip from his auto rifle before punching it to death. He back flipped off of it and landed on a Goblin and crushed it before quickly grabbing the other Goblins gun and turning it on it's allies and gunned down a few Vex before Karas blasted it with a shotgun shell and sent it flying to another Minotaur that was greeted with a Magnetic grenade that blew up the first time and sent pieces of the metal enemy flying towards the rest of the Vex, where the second explosion took care of the rest of them.

Karas exhaled as he looked at the rubble of destroyed Vex at his feet. As he turned around, the crunch and squeal of a living Goblin nder his foot could be heard before the machine like purr ceased.

"Whoa... that was so cool!" Pixel exclaimed. "And this bubble thing, it's so awesome."

Karas looked to Claire. "Claire, are you alright?"

Rubbing her head, she responded "Yeah... I'm fine. Thank you very much."

"For what? I did what a Guardian does." He told her.

"Uhm... mister?" Pixel tugged on Karas's mark to get his attention.

"What is it young one?" Karas asked, looking down at her.

"Do Guardians help save other ponies?"

"Of course."

"BECAUSE ICY NEEDS TO BE SAVED FROM THAT GUY OVER THERE!" Pixel screamed as she pointed to Icy, who backed away slowly from the Hydra.

As Karas turned to look, suddenly his whole body locked up as he dropped to his knees and held his head in pain.

"Karas! What's wrong?" Claire yelled to him as the Ward of Dawn disappeared.

"Help him! Please!" Pixel asked as she kept tugging on his mark.

"I promised this wouldn't happen... it's already to late." He whispered.

"It's not over! Get up!" Claire yelled.

As for the little Pegasus, Icy backed away in fear as the Hydra looked down at him, his guns pointed at him.

"Uh... I..." He tried to speak, but no words could come out. He could only watch as the cannons lit up and prepared to fire...

Only for something to pull it back.

"Huh?" Icy saw as the Hydra was pulled back and instead fired into the air and hit nothing as something seemed to pull it back. An invisible force that came to the young colts rescue.

And that invisible force was Mercer, who appeared on the top of the Hydra carrying his knife as he stood on his knees and rammed it repeatedly into it's eye.

"Get out of here!" Mercer yelled to Icy as he held on to the beast and stabbed it a few more times. 

Mercer pulled out his Hancannon and pointing the barrel at the eye of the Vex machine and pulled the trigger till he needed to reload, he put in another cylinder when the Hydra used a "detonate" which shook the ground and knocked the gun out of the Hunters hand.

Icy saw the handcannon slide towards him and saw that Mercer needed help. Picking it up, he floated up and yelled to Mercer.

"Hey!" He yelled and saw Mercer turn to him.

Tossing it, Icy unknowingly caught the attention of the Hydra as well. As he landed, the Hydra prepared to fire. Seeing what was going to happen, Mercer jumped off and reached out to grab Icy while another caught his gun. Icy braced himself for the Hydra's attack when an armed wrapped around him. Mercer reached into the air with an empty hand and grabbed something invisible to Icy and pulled. He and Icy appeared far out of the reaches the Hydra and tumbled to the ground. As Icy got up slowly, Mercer sprang up and saw the rotating shield of the Hydra protecting it.

"Stay here." Mercer ordered Icy as he ran off o fight the Hydra. "Captain, I need your help!"

Back at Karas, the Titan shook his head and pounded his fist into the ground as he stood up when he saw the Hunter approach him.

"Get up. He's alright." Mercer told him.

"I'm out of ammo Guardian." He told the Hunter.

Giving him his  "The Devil you know", Mercer accessed his inventory and brought out another Handcannon.

"I save this one for special occasions... and this is surely something special." He told Karas.

"Is that the...?"

"Yep, found it in the Vault of Glass. The Fatebringer." He told him.

"Well Guardian, we still have a foe to defeat."

Mercer looked over to see the Hydra approaching the two.

"Claire, get your cousin and Icy out of here." Mercer commanded.

"You got it. I'll be back to help." She said as she had Pixel climb on her back before running off.

"Well Hunter, think we can take it?" The Titan asked as he saw the Hydra's rotating shield guard itself.

"You keep it distracted from the front, I'll get it from behind." Mercer told him.

"You got it Guardian." Karas told him as the two charged.

As Karas slid in front of the Hydra and fired at it, Mercer jumped and then 'blinked' over to it's unprotected side. As the Vex turned to him, he aimed and fired.





Diamante heard a distant gun shot ring out as she looked over to see a wave of Vex advancing on her teams position.

"There's no way we could fight all of those things." Annie told her as she used her void magic to encase her hoof before waving it and making a shield for them, which was chipped away by laser fire.

"Well... I do have a plan. Del, I need you to get on that roof above us with me." Diamante said.

"Uh... I don't think I can. There ain't enough room." Del told her.

"Well... Annie. Can you make something for Del to jump off of?"

Annie turned her head and nodded. "Yeppers!" She exclaimed as she coated her hind hoof with void energy and kicked upwards, which made a pillar for Del to jump on to.

"A little higher please." Dia asked as she started to use glide to levitate herself up to the roof. 

Annie jumped off of the pillar and kicked her hoof across the entire alleyway to make a bar for Del to climb onto and reach the roof. There a hobgoblin waited for them. It wouldn't bother to shoot below since it would have been destroyed in a matter of seconds. Del pounced on the creature and tossed its gun away and held it down as Dia shoved a solar grenade into it's core.

"Ready?" She asked.

"Ready." Del told her.

Standing the Hobgoblin up, Del bucked it with his solar powered hooves and sent it flying into the rest of the Vex, which blew the all up when the grenade detonated. The pair had laid down on the roof to take cover from the explosion.

"That was awesome!" T cried out when he saw the debris of Vex clear.

As Diamante and Del chuckled to each other, another wave of Vex spawned in.

"You have got to be kidding me!" Starburst could be heard yelling before the sound of void magic being used.

"I need to go find the others." Dia said, standing up and trying to dodge all of the laser fire.

"No!" Del pulled her down into cover. "We have to wait stay here." He told.

"No, I have to go find them." 

"They're fine!"

"How do you know!?" Dia asked.

"I just do! We'll be fine, and so are they." Del yelled over all of the combat.

"You know what Del." Dia stood up, gaining the attention of the Vex. "I don't believe you so I'm going to-"

From the distance, she saw Prism in a ball of arc energy crash into the Hydra. The explosion rocked the ground and made her fall over. When she peaked her head over, she saw the Vex retreating.

"Wow... they actually did it." She commented as the streets cleared up.

"We won!" Candy cheered as she hugged Starburst tightly before running off.

The intercoms in their helmets came on. Mercer spoke.

"Good news, the Hydra is down. How are things on your end? We don't hear anything."

"Diamante here, the Vex are retreating. It's safe to say we have this town secure." She told them.

"Fantastic news. Meet us at Sugarcube corner. We'll plan our next steps there." Karas told her.

"Understood Captain, out."





Whirlwind's mane was a mess as Prism, rubbed her shoulder. Ponies looked around the sight of a war-torn Ponyville as the Guardians and a few of the ponies talked to them.

"Dubz... you sure you're okay?" He asked, his helmet off.

"Yeah... I'm fine. Just really worried." She told him. "What's gonna happen to you guys?" Whirlwind asked as Ghost flew over.

"We have answers for that. The Guardians need a word with you." It told him.

"Not now, buddy." Prism waved Ghost off, who managed to give him a 'look'.

"You can spend time with your girlfriend later. You have the light, you speak with the Guardians." Ghost scolded.

"One, not my girlfriend. Two, I didn't ask for this stupid light. I didn't want me and my friends to get shot at." He yelled.

"Neither did we." Ghost said as it floated away.

Sighing, Prism looked at Whirlwind. Who nodded in assuring him she was okay. Walking off, the rainbow maned Pegasus walked over and joined his friends.

"I know a way to get rid of their powers, but to make sure the Darkness doesn't come here after them they will have to go with us." Ghost explained.

"You mean.... leave on your space ship things and go to wherever the Traveler is?" Del asked.

"Exactly, the Darkness is here for your light. We need to make sure that they're not here when you lose your powers. The only way to make sure is for you to come with us back to Earth." It told them. "And only you guys."

The group looked at each other. The Light may have given them more energy for another fight, but they still felt down at the thought of leaving home.

"For how long...?" Candy asked.

"A day at best." Karas told them.

That was a relief to them all. 

"Guardians." Dia stepped forward. "Your bravery today will be remembered in the Tower and here on Equestria-"

"And isn't over yet." Ghost informed as he looked out to the distance.

At the edge of the mountain, Canterlot, showed a dropship that didn't belong to the Guardians nor seemed to bear resemblance of Vex technology.

"It's a Fallen patrol. They're looking for the shard." The Ghost informed.

"What are we gonna do?" Annie asked frantically.

"Okay, Dia, you and three others stay here. Mercer and I will take four others to that city."

"Why do we have to stay here?" Dia asked.

"We can't leave this town undefended. They say the Shard is nearby." Karas asked as he put his helmet on.

"Now who volunteers to go to uh..."

"Canterlot." Prism corrected.

"Canterlot. Who's staying and who's going?" Mercer asked.

Starburst was the first to step forward. Del was second, before Prism went up to join them.

"We need one more. Is there anyone here who has friends and family there?" Mercer asked.

Claire stepped forward. 

"I have to go with you."

"I guess I know why." He responded.

"Ghost, there is room in the dropships correct?" Karas asked.

"Affirmative."

"Alright, we have no time to lose. Lets get moving Guardians."

As the shout of good luck and wishes were heard, the four suddenly felt themselves whisked into a small cargo room. Del and Prism were in one with Mercer while Karas transported Starburst and Claire.

"We should be there in no time." Ghost told the four.





Ponies backed away nervously. Their new guests were intimating to say the least. Several Vandal's gave looks at the equines as Dreg resisted the urge to scare them all straight.

The patrol was composed of about 6 dregs, 4 Vandals, and 2 captains with one Archon. There was an occasional growl between them that most assumed was them communicating.

It wasn't long before Royalty found the Fallen patrol. Princess Celestia and her family were the first to meet them. Celestia seemed curious to meet the newest arrivals, and lacked the look of intimidation she would usually have. Several Guards accompanied her to meet the small group.

"Greetings." She greeted them.

A small chirp came from one of the smaller ones, the Dreg, before being growled at by a Vandal.

The Archon bent down to Princess Celestia's heights and reached forward one of his arms.  She reached her hoof out and he took it before doing what most assumed was a greeting ritual. The Archon raised all of his hand over his head then hissed and chirped before touching her hoof to his forehead.

The Princess bowed, her family following her actions as the Fallen watched them.

"I apologize.... I don't understand what you're saying... but I do welcome you to Equestria, foreign visitors." The Princess smiled warmly to them.

"Mom..." Illusion spoke up "Isn't there a spell that can translate what they're saying." He asked.

"Actually.... there might be. I would think Twilight Sparkle would know though."

"Can I take a carriage to Ponyville?" Nidra, her niece, asked. 

"In a moment, dear." Celestia told them as she continued to address the Fallen. "We haven't had guests like you before. Come, join us in the castle. There will be much to discuss from what I can tell." She said before glancing to the roof of a nearby house.

"And you your guard can come too, though I'm quite sure there won't be a need for conflict." She said.

The Fallen seemed confused by that last statement. One of the Captains hissed and growled in what most assumed was a confused tone.

"The one on that roof over there." Celestia pointed.

All of them turned to see small glare coming from a hooded figure before a loud bang rang out just as one of the Vandals heads exploded and his soul was "ripped from his body". Celestia gasped in fear and confusion as the Archon let out a roar and pointed to the figure, who had disappeared.

"Who was that!?" Celestia yelled frantically. The Archon turned to her and yelled some kind of threat and pointed before he drew his weapon and ran off with the rest of the Fallen patrol.

"Mom, what was that!?" Illusion yelled ponies ran in a panic.

"I don't know, you all get to the bunker. Don't come out till I come get you." She ordered.

"You're not going with us?" Luna asked.

Celestia sighed and looked at the ground and over at the Fallen that were on the hunt for their assassin. 

"Clearly this is a conflict that needs my resolving." She told them.

Discord, giving her a sad look, ran over and embraced his wife quickly and gave her a peck on the cheek before he ushered the kids back to the castle.

Celestia sighed and turned to see the Fallen had taken several positions around the block. Using her Royal Canterlot voice, she spoke.

"Attention Assassin! We mean no harm and I'm sure these guests can overlook your crime against them. Come out peacefully so we can settle this." She alerted. Several Fallen could be heard groaning and growling as their response.

Other than that, there were murmured whispers of ponies that were watching from a distance.

"I will only say this one more time!" She spoke as she inhaled. "Come out and-"

"Princess Celestia!" A familiar voice yelled. The Princess looked around to find the source.

"Prism... is that-"

"LOOK OUT!" He could be heard yelling.

Celestia turned to see one of the Dregs approaching her with it's arc blade ready. She backed away while readying her horn. 

"I don't wish to fight you. Stay back." She ordered.

Ignoring her, the Dreg lunged forward but was quickly grabbed and stabbed in the head by Mercer, who had appeared from his invisibility. Turning towards the Fallen, he only yelled "NOW!"

Karas jumped into the center and attacked the Captains with his shotgun while Del appeared and took out the Vandal and Dreg pair as Claire leaped from a rooftop and into an alley way with a hiding pair of Dreg. The Alleyway glowed orange before Starburst leaped in and took out the two Vandals before assisting with Karas to eliminate the Captains. They successfully wiped out nearly all of the Fallen in a speed that would make Prisms mom proud.

The Archon ordered the surviving Dreg to get the ship and leave after he saw the number of Guardians that were there. The Dreg obeyed and were long gone as the Archon approached the Guardians.

"You were right Ghost, just a patrol." Mercer commented as he drew his handcannon.

"I don't think this guy will go down as easily as the others." Starburst said as her wings glowed purple once more.

"Exactly, that's what makes the kill more satisfying." Mercer told her. "Del, you and Starburst and on civilian duty with Karas. Make sure they stay away from here. Prism and Claire, you're with me."

"You're the boss." Prism responded as the others moved out of the area.

The Archon looked at his foes that surrounded him. It wondered who to attack first.





Starburst ordered the guards to set a perimeter as Del answered as many questions as he could to a panicked crowd. Karas merely stood at the main pathway that was being blocked.

"Think they can handle that thing Captain?" Starburst asked.

Nodding, Karas explained "A lone Guardian was able to defeat an Archon a while ago, I do think three can handle this one." He said.

"I hope so..." She said as she looked over at Del and despite the current situation, she couldn't help but smirk under her helmet when she saw who he was talking to.

"I-I'm sorry miss... it's just that there's been an-a uhm... attack of sorts." He explained to the mare with a pink mane and white fur.

"Is everyone alright back there?" She asked.

"Princess Celestia was moved to the bunker with her family. Royalty was one our top priority's Creme."

The mare smiled. "Oh that's great to hear. I'm glad that- wait... how do you know my name?" She asked.

Del could be seen shaking slightly in his armor. "Oh well I uh..."

"And that accent. I know somepony who has one just like yours." She said.

"Uhm..." Was is only response.

"Del.... are... are you in that suit?" She asked.

Sighing, Del admitted "Yes... it's me."

"How did you get in there?" She asked.

"It's a long story. Basically, my friends and I found a rock that gave us magical powers and then these guys called Guardians show up just as evil robots arrive and they gave us armor."

"Oh I see." She nodded.

Del sighed again.

Starburst giggled to herself as she watched the interaction unfold. Seeing Del get flustered always brought her and her friends great joy. Sadly, it was vice versa for her as well.

"Princess Starburst?" A think Norwegian accent spoke. (Or Norhay, but I wasn't gonna find a way to ponify that)

"Oh... F-Fletcher. How goes it?" she said, trying to be casual. It only confused the Guard.

"Well... we have a perimeter for the ponies to not go into set up. But we can't be sure it'll keep the ones inside from going out." He said.

"Well... I'm sure my friends can handle that thing." She said, ignoring the explosion heard from behind her.

"Well... Princess, I hope so." He told her.

Karas seemed to perk up when he spoke. "That accents..." He said. "Where are you from originally?"

"Norhay, before I moved here." He said.

"Norway..." Karas commented. "That's very interesting. When this is over, I'd like to talk to you."

"Of course sir." Fletcher said as there was a loud crashing sound that alerted them all.

"That sounded really close-"

The Archon crashed through a nearby house and stumbled into the crowd of ponies that scattered at the sight of it. Prism was on the back of it's neck as he yelled a battlecry. Claire and Mercer chased after him.

"Prism! Get off it damnit!" The Hunter yelled as he thought about shooting him off, only to remember Prism didn't have a Ghost to revive him. Claire leaped and latched on to the Archon's leg before being kicked off at lighting speed. The Archon looked to see Karas and Starburst near Fletcher and aimed his weapon.

"Move!" Karas yelled as Starburst flew off, leaving the Titan to grab Fletch and dive behind a barrier.

"Let me go." Fletcher yelled as he tried to push Karas off of him. "I need to make sure the Princess is safe."

"Stay down!" Karas yelled as the Archon fired it's shrapnel launcher at them. Dust and chunks of the ground rained of Karas's back as he protected Fletcher with his body before equipping his LMG and peeked over to fire at the Archon's head. Stunning him, he let Fletcher go as he got up.

"Bad news Guardian." Ghost spoke up.

"Can it wait?"

"Can a large battalion to the north being detected wait?" Ghsot asked.

"Damnit!" Karas yelled as he looked at the Archon reaching to grab Prism. "Go tell Starburst and Del. Tell them to come with me."

"Roger that." Ghost appeared and flew off as Karas followed it.

Meanwhile, the Archon jerked it's shoulder to the side and kept trying to grab Prism before a rock hit it in the head. He looked up to see Whirlwind glaring at him.

"Whirlwind, what are you doing here?" Prism asked.

"To make sure you don't so something stupid, which I've clearly failed at." She told him as she flew around the Archon.

Prism reached out to her to say something, which resulted in hims being grabbed by his head. Prism struggled and yelled "Hey! Hey HEY!" before being thrown into a nearby house. His helmet came clean off.

"PRISM!" Whirlwind yelled in horror at her friend being thrown so hard.

Inside, Prism got up onto his hooves and shook his head to help him recover.

"I've come back from worse than this." He said, gritting his teeth.

"What in Equestria..." A voice said, that Prism picked up on immediately. He looked around and almost recognized the house.

"Wait a minute..." He said, his head still feeling fuzzy. He looked over and saw a blur of red and crimson.

"Hot Head... hey." He said before looking to the other side of the room and seeing Amber and Lucky hiding in a corner as well.

"What is going on?" Hot Head asked.

"It's a really long story that I'm sick of hearing and explaining." Prism told him. "Ya see, it all started when..."

Prism looked over to see the Archon peeking into the house. Amber shrieked and almost threw a pillow at it as he aimed at Prism. Prism looked behind him and realized it would also hit Hot Head, so he jumped up and sprinted to Hot Head before tackling him out the window as that side of the room exploded.

Hot Head landed on his shoulder and yelled in pain, but stopped when he heard a distressed Amber.

"Amber.... Lucky..." He groaned out.

"I'll get them out, you stay here." Prism said as he ran back out to join Claire and Mercer.

"You alright Guardian?" Mercer asked.

"Good, but my buddy over there busted his shoulder and there are two others in that house." He explained.

"I can get them out." Mercer said. "I see your significant other is here, work together to lure the Archon to the edge of the city. Let me take care of it when I'm done." He said.

"Drop that term, she's my friend." Prism explained as he saw the Archon approaching them. "But we can discuss that later. Good luck." Prism said as his wings flared with arc energy as he charged at the Archon and landed a three hit combo to it's chest. It stumbled and tried to defend itself from Claire as she tore away at his armor and did her best to get the aggro on her. 

As the trio distracted the Archon, Mercer snuck into the house to be greeted with a pillow smacking his face. He tuned to the source.

"Go away!" Amebr yelled, shaken by the incident and the hole in her wall. "Just get out."

"Easy Amber..." Lucky told her. "Maybe he's here to help us." He said.

"I am." Mercer told them as a stomping and slight dragging sound could be heard behind him. He quickly turned and aimed his Handcannon only to see Hot Head, who was limping.

"Amber... we need to get out of here." He groaned in pain.

"Hot Head!" She pushed past the Hunter and hugged her friend. "You're gonna be okay sweetie. You'll be fine. I promise." She assured him.

"I'm leading you all out of here and to the Royal guard. I assume they'll take care of you. Hot Head, can you walk?"

"Yeah..." He groaned out. "I can fly." 

"Alright, l lets move. I can't trust myself to let the others handle that Archon." He said as he waved them out of the house.

The three moved as quickly as they could, Hot Head hovering around the group as he made sure Amber and Lucky were alright.

"I can't believe Prism is a super hero now..." Hot Head moped.

"Your shoulder is dislocated and this is all you can whine about?" Mercer groaned as the sound of fighting grew distant.

"It's just that... he gets everything you know..." Hot Head sighed. "You wouldn't get it, you only just got here." 

"I know all about rivalry's, but things like this are not meant to be something to brag about. Just because you don't have the Light doesn't mean you can't help others." Mercer explained.

"Yeah, easy for you to say. You've-" 

Claire dug her claws into the Archon's arm and yanked his arm away as it fired, the explosive bolts heading right for the group.

"Look out!" Mercer yelled as he reached and grabbed the nearest pony, who was Lucky, before blinking out of the way for debris to start raining down on them. He looked to see Amber looking up in fear.

"AMBER!" Hot Head screamed as he flew and pushed her out of the way as the house that was hit came down on him, burying him in debris.

"Oh my goodness.... HOT HEAD!" Amber shrieked as she ran over with Lucky and started to pick pieces of the house off of him. Mercer shoved the two aside and cleared Hot Head off of dust and picked him up.

"Lets go!" He yelled as he took off running. The others following him. Amber nearly breaking down in tears.

"Why... why did he does this... why would he?" She sobbed.

"He loves you. That's what people do." Mercer told her.

Back at the battle, the Archon used Claire's shocked reaction of what happened to pin her to the ground. Whirlwind flew in to try and get it off of her only to be grabbed and squeezed.

"LET THEM GO!" An enraged Prism yelled as he tackled the Archon with a great force than knocked it off of it's feet. He flew down to help Claire and check on Whirlwind.

"Dubz! Are you alright!?" He asked.

"Don't worry Prism, I'm fine." She assured him

The Archon got up and was hit with a great force by Claire that caused him to stumble back and near the edge of the city.

"We almost got him!" Whirlwind cheered as she hovered around him.

Still mad at seeing what happened to his friends, Prism leaped onto the Archon's face and smacked his wings across it's face. It stumbled back some more and nearly fell.

"Prism! Don't!" Claire called out to him.

Not listening, Prism slashes his wings some more before turning and bucking the Archon with a great force that sent it off the edge, except one hand reached and grabbed the Pegasus by a hoof and pulled him down with it. Prism yelled out as he was dragged off.

"No!" Claire screamed as she looked over to see Prism desperately reaching out for help.

The air rushed around him, and suddenly that sickening feeling of being in free fall. Free fall with no way of escaping. Prism flapped his wings in a desperate panic to escape his foes tight grasp that dragged him to his doom.

Suddenly, Prism felt the weight of the Archon replace with a lighter weight, he saw that Mercer had cut off it's hand and grabbed on to Prism.

"FLY!" He yelled to the Pegasus, who happily obliged and flapped his arc powered wings back to Canterlot. Upon reaching sanctuary of solid ground, Prism let his weight fall, giving up standing on his hooves as his breathing took a composing pace.

"You alright?" Mercer asked, never seeing someone freak out this badly.

"Y-yeah..." Prism told him as Whirlwind and Claire hugged him to make sure he was alright.

"I'd hate to say this, but Karas and the others went up North to another location. A heavy enemy signal was detected by our Ghosts." The Hunter told them.

"I..." Prism breathed out. "Alright." He said as he turned to Whirlwind and pulled her into a hug.

"Go back to Ponyville for me... it's safe there." He told.

"Okay..." Was all she got out, her voice cracking. "Be safe for me."

"I'll be okay, I promise." e said as he looked back to Mercer. "Ready when you are." 

"As am I." Claire said.

"Then we don't have a moment to lose. Lets get to to it Guardians."





Footsteps that rocked the very earth stomped through the Crystal Empire as gunfire was countering magic blasts from unicorn guards. Karas and Starburst attacked the giants in armor as Del provided cover for the Gaurds that were fighting these monsters. A shadow overhead signaled that help had arrived as Mercer, Prism and Claire appeared on the ground. He ran over to them.

"Canterlot secure?" He asked.

"Yep." Mercer told him as he drew his gun and ducked at the sight of a rocket heading for them.

"Who are these guys?" Starburst yelled.

"Karas didn't tell you, it's the Cabal!" Mercer yelled as he fired at a Centurion that roared at him.
> Special delivery
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Diamante sat cross legged on the ground, her helmet to her side as she meditated peacefully. Others looked at her with slight confusion. The Warlock didn't seem to worry about her teammates or the fate of the shard. She just gave off a warm radiant glow that lead some fillies and colts to imitate her actions.

T and Candy looked at her, questioning her from afar.

"I just don't get it." T said. "Earlier she was freaking out over her teammates not being near her and now she's more calm than I've ever seen her."

"Tell me about it, she almost killed Del to get off the roof to see her friends." Candy told him.

The scene in Ponyville was calm and eerily quiet since the Vex were repelled by the Guardians. Annie stayed by her mom and the Mane six as they investigated some of the areas and remains of destroyed Vex for samples. Annie would joke that Flash was certainly in for a long night with Twilight studying them. The rest of the ponies went to see if their houses had survived the invasion while others were still afraid to leave the shelter they had took.

"I just hope this over soon." Candy told him. "I may have a lot of energy from this Light stuff, but I could use a nap."

"You can lay down, just try to keep an eye on Diamante for us. We don't know why she's suddenly so calm..." T told her as he was ready to walk off, but the sound a flapping wings caught his attention.

"Oh hey, there she is." Candy said as she saw Whirlwind land, gasping for air.

"Hey Whirlwind, are you okay? Where were you?" T asked as the two walked over, along with a few ponies.

Catching her breath, she spoke up. "Listen! The situation in Canterlot was resolved, but there's more things invading the Crystal empire." She alerted, causing gasps to the crowd of ponies.

Dia perked up, her head leaning to her as she got up and walked over. 

"What's the status on the Guardians?" She asked.

"Prism was almost dragged off the edge of Canterlot and he also lost his helmet. Other than that, everyone is fine. They're at the Crystal Em-"

"Can any of you fetch this mare a tissue?" Dia suddenly asked.

No one moved, they mostly were confused by the Warlock yet again.

"Why... why do I need a tissue?" Whirlwind asked, as if trying to play something off.

Dia approached her and bent down so she could look the pony eye to eye. Whirlwind backed a way nervously as she felt the eyes behind the helmet pierce her soul.

"The fur... around your eyes. It's damp. You've been crying, haven't you?" Dia said.

Whirlwind did her best to deny it. Shouting "No!" loud enough to for everyone to hear her voice crack. Everypony gave her a sympathetic look as Candy walked over to her as she was taking off her helmet.

"It's okay..." She told her, as the crowd decided to give the two some space. "I'm worried too." as a sympathetic hoof was placed on the Pegasus's shoulder.

Whirlwind broke down once more and was pulled into a sudden hug from Candy, who patted her back.

"He... he was so reckless... after he saw me and Claire get hurt... I... I can't let that go on my conciseness." She sobbed.

"Shh, everypony gets scared when they see friends get hurt. It makes them do crazy things. I know he's alright right now though, I can tell."

"How..." Whirlwind continued to cry, sniffling a little. "How can you just know somepony you care for is gonna be alright when he's fighting a major threat and you're not there with them?"

A tissues came into her line of sight, she reached out and grabbed it before blowing her nose. Whirlwind looked up to see Dia crouched down to her.

"We clearly have a lot in common. When you're ready, I want to talk to you. You have something very interesting to say, I know it." The Awoken told her.

While the Warlock and the Pegasus discussed their fears over the matter, the news was spreading throughout town about the attack on the Crystal Empire. It wasn't long until word had reached the mane six and Annie, who knew there was someone who they would have to tell.

"I dunno girls..." Applejack thought as she looked at her brother with his wife and daughter as they investigated the school house. Red June was with her parents, Big Mac and Cheerilee as they made sure the school wasn't to damaged. Surprisingly, the family seemed rather optimistic and were even cracking jokes about how they could have used the scraps of Vex to rebuild the building. 

"You know how close she and the Prince are." Rarity commented as she looked to Applejack. "It's best that if something happens, she at least knows ahead of time to prepare herself."

"Just who's gonna tell her?"  Twilight thought.

"I can..." Annie spoke up.

"Oh Annie..." Fluttershy whispered. "Do you really want to.... ?" Her mother asked.

"Well it is my friends and allies fighting over there. I should be the one." The unicorn mare told them.

"Need any help sugarcube?" Applejack asked.

"Actually... you should come with me Applejack She'll need family support."

"Alright then." Applejack nodded before turning to her friends. "I think y'all should go find your family as well. Make sure they're alright."

"Yeah... I need to check on Cloudy and Sugar." Pinkie said, not wanting to stay around and hear Red June's reaction. 

"I think we should all go make sure everything's okay." Twilight spoke softly. "We can meet up at the castle when we're ready."

The sound of sobbing broke the air as Pinkie flinched.

"Okay Twilight." Rainbow Dash said. "We'll see you later." She said as she flew off.

Meanwhile, Annie did her best to comfort Red June, who broke down crying when she heard.

"June, I know it's hard but I promise you that he'll be fine." Annie assured.

"How do you know!?" Red June sobbed into her father chest as he hugged her tightly.

"If there's anything I've learned about the Guardians, it's that whoevers after them will only attack them and that they'll make sure nopony gets hurt."

Sniffling and pulling away from her fathers embrace, the mare asked "Are you sure?"

Annie smiled. "I'm positive. I bet right now they have everything under control. Who knows, they might be friends as of now."





"This is an outrage! You never once considered a peaceful negotiation!" Valiant Hearts, prince of the Crystal empire and captain of the Royal guard yelled to Mercer.

"We tried it a long time ago and nearly lost Humanity as a whole. Now step aside Captain." He ordered as he peeked over the corner of the wall of crystal that was being used as cover. Several earth pony's blocked oncoming fire from the Cabal with shields as unicorns fought back with magic blasts. The Guardians were taking care of civilians as they lead them to safety while Mercer stayed behind to command the guards.

"You're gonna need a lot more firepower to deal with these guys." He told the unicorn as the Hunter aimed and fired, killing one of the Centurions. The squadron of Legionary advancing to their location was being held back by magic blasts before Starburst swooped in to fight them.

"What!?" Lance exclaimed as he ducked down from a nearby explosion. "My guard are the best of the best and this is something we could have handled on our own. Peacefully too." He told Mercer.

"I sincerely doubt that." Mercer said.

"Heads up!" A nearby guard shouted. "They got shields!"

Mercer looked to see that indeed, there were now a group of Phalanx's that came to assist in attacking Starburst.

"Starburst get out of there. I'll handle them." Mercer told her over radio.

"Are you sure? There's a dude with a big gun here." She responded.

"Don't worry, I've dealt with much worse." Mercer said as he holstered his handcannon and walked out with nothing but his knife in hand.

"But I'm the worst they'll deal with." He growled as he swung his knife.

The wastelands... the Hunters survived them for years. Using the light, they had been able to survive the collapse and hunt as a pack. Many treasures were discovered due to this. In this wasteland, Mercer found himself staring at a ball of pure arc energy, which he struck with his knife.

Lance and the Guards were amazed to see Mercer channel electricity into his knife as he gave off a radiant glow. Charging forward, the Cabal were met with a series of strikes and blows that Mercer dealt by the hands of his arc blade.

A Legionary swung at him, only to lose his arm before being finished off as Mercer spun and swung up at another's head and back flipped to land on the shoulders of a Centurion where he used his legs to snap it's neck. He jumped off and landed to face a row of more Cabal, grinning, he slashed and brushed the ground with his blade, creating a wave of arc energy that traveled across the ground and erased the them all in arc energy. Mercer turned and saw the Colossus and went away to slashing away at it's thick armor, only for it to stomp the ground and send Mercer flying back a few feet. Jumping and then blinking over it, Mercer dove back on to his prey as stabbed the hulking Cabal soldier repeatedly before delivering another wave of energy which finished it off.

The guards were amazed by the Hunters skill. His arc blade faded away to his normal knife as he sheathed it and pulled out his handcannon.

"Alright people, we need to take this fight to them." Mercer instructed. "We're on offense now."

Valiant Hearts nodded. "Alright everypony, I need a defensive layer around the palace. Make sure nothing gets in. Unicorns are with me. Am I clear?"

"Yes sir!" The Guards responded.

"Lets move!" He yelled.

Else where, Karas gunned down a wave of Cabal units before charging forward to strike down the Colossus. Both he and Claire assaulted  the beast, watching to tumble to the ground as it was vaporized by Claire's solar powered claws. They turned and saw Del had annihilated a squadron with one kick while Prism charged through and killed another colossus.

"Amazing, I bet if given time you'd all be unstoppable." Karas commented.

"That's great and all, but I wasn't hoping to keep these powers forever." Claire commented, checking her claws.

"I understand. We'll make sure everything is in place when that happens." Karas told her.

Nodding, Claire ran off to join her friends as Starburst flew and in front of Karas.

"Karas, Mercer was looking for you. You two are gonna work together with the Valiant Hearts while the guards join us." She informed.

"Roger." He tapped his helmet. "Mercer, are you there?"

"I hear you Captain. You know where I am?" He asked.

"I got your location. I'm heading there now." Karas informed before turning to Starburst.

"You all stay safe. Stick close to the Guards and if you see anything major, let us know." He instructed.

"You got it Karas. Stay safe, and look after my cousin." She said as she flew off with her wings glowing.

Karas wasted no time in running off. Using lift to get to the roof of a nearby building, he ran across the rooftops and was able to quickly find Mercer and Valiant Hearts.

"Greetings Captain." Lance said. "It's an honor to meet you." The Guard bowed to the Titan. Mercer merely stood behind him with his arms crossed.

"The pleasure is mine, Valiant Hearts. Your cousin spoke of you highly." Karas told him.

"We need to get to work. Our job is to secure a path for a royal carriage to come and escort the my mother and father out of here." Lance said.

"Aren't you supposed to go with them?" Mercer asked.

"I'm not leaving, these ponies will need me to stay and defend our home." Lance said.

"Well lets get moving. The area was marked by my Ghost." Mercer said as he drew his Handcannon and ran off, the others following him. Karas stuck close to Lance as they sprinted down an alley way and were met with a platoon of Cabal soldiers.

"It's go time!" Mercer yelled as blinked above the crowd and pulled out his rocket launcher and fired in order to clear a path for them. Lance fired several magic blasts at the war rhinos as Karas fired his Auto rifle.

"This is clearly a bit more than we expected!" Mercer yelled.

"Call for backup?" Lance asked them.

"Nothing like this has stopped a Guardian before and it won't start today." Karas told him as he lifted above the crowd and fired his auto rifle at them. A Legionary pointed up at him and roared something.

Next thing he knew, a rocket was fired at Karas. Letting himself fall to the ground, he leaned and narrowly avoided the rocket. The explosion shook his landing as he dropped his rifle and stumbled to the ground. Getting up, he grabbed his gun and resumed the fight along side his allies. 

"How close are you to arc blade, Hunter?" Karas asked as he ran to cover.

"Still far, we just need to keep the pressure on these guys." Karas informed before looking over to see Lance readying up a spell.

"What are you doing Cap-"

Running out of cover, Lance's horn flared as he cast a bubble shield similar to that of his fathers that enveloped the Cabal soldiers in a stasis. Leaving them vulnerable, the Guardians jumped at the opportunity and opened fire and were able to clear out the area.

"Amazing..." Mercer commented.

"What kind of magic was that?" Karas asked.

"It's a detainment spell." Lance told them, sitting down and rubbing his temples. "It's usually not used in that large of a radius but..."

"Not bad." Mercer said.

"Well...." Lance got up and stretched. "Time to go let them know that there's a safe landing. We need to escort my parents out-"

Lance flew to the ground, blood pouring out of a wound in his stomach as he howled in pain. The two turned to see a Psion had shot their Alicorn ally. Karas aimed and emptied his clip into the robot before he ran over with Mercer to check on the Guard.

"Lance can you hear me?" Mercer yelled as he checked the wound, his biggest concern was that the armor was cracked and there was no exit wound.

"We need to get him medical attention." Karas yelled, seeing more Cabal nearby.

"No time! The bullet didn't leave him. We're gonna have to get it out." Mercer yelled as he check Lance himself.

"Valiant? Stay with me! You'll be alright! LANCE!"





"Just breathe in... and relax." Diamante instructed.

The Warlock, Red June, and Whirlwind sat in a triangle, each cross leg/hoof as they breathed gently and meditated. In order to bring a peaceful environment, Dia took her helmet off and let the young ponies play with it. She doubted they could break it, and she kept a spare just in case anyways. 

"I understand what you two are going through. A loved one facing a conflict without your support can be very difficult." She told the two ponies.

Whirlwind glanced at Red June, who glanced back at her.

"It's not that we love them it's just-" 

Whirlwind was cut off by a "Shh" as Dia went over and tapped them both on the nose.

"Regardless, I understand a friend going through something without you is hard. You want to be there for them. Am I correct?"

The two nodded.

"Well I can tell you that sometimes, you have to trust the fact that even if you were there, you wouldn't be able to change their fate. If they come back from this, then it's clear that there were other plans of their fate." Dia told them in a calm tone.

Red June exhaled a shaky breath, clearly still distressed over the thought of Lance being hurt or worse. Though Whirlwind seemed more calm then her, knowing that her friends had space magic powers.

"The Guardians are here to make sure that no harm comes to anyone of this world, that I can assure you." The Warlock spoke.

Red June's eyes snapped open as if she felt something wrong. She looked over to see the children running around, chasing after Ghost and playing with Dia's helmet.

"You must stay relaxed." Dia told.

"I can't." June said, breathing a lot and visibly getting nervous.

"June." Dia's eyes opened. "You must accept that you couldn't change anyone fate regardless if you were there or not."

"You're speaking in past tense?" Red June pointed out. "Something has happen and you're not telling me."

"I haven't heard from the Guardians since they left for Canterlot, and I only have faith that they'll return." Dia said, growing more impatient.

"Yeah, well you're friends have magic and weapons, my friend doesn't and he's in danger." Red June yelled.

"June, sit down. This will only make things worse."

"You act like nothing bad will happen to you, because nothing bad probably ever has!"

Dia stood up and stared the earth pony down, her eyesight piercing her soul.

"You never know what happened to someone when you say that."

"Well you probably don't have to live with people who don't have your gift to protect themselves!" June screamed before running away in tears. 





Valiant Heart screamed in pain as Karas carried him off the streets. Mercer found a nearby intact house and kicked the door down, scaring a family of Crystal ponies.

"Stay down!" Mercer yelled as he looked around.

"Please don't hurt us!" The mare screamed, protecting her foal.

"We won't, but we do need help." Mercer told the mare as Karas came in with the Prince in his arms.

"Oh my goodness, is that the Prince!?" She nearly yelled, covering the colts eyes.

"Ma'am, I need you to stay focused here." Mercer took off his helmet and looked at her. "Is there a medical kit or something?"

"I've been studying to be a nurse." She said. The mare turned to look at her son. "You go upstairs and be safe with daddy, I'll be up soon."

"Mommy..." The colt wept. "I'm scared."

"I know sweetie.... I know.... I'm scared too.... but we need to be brave, remember?" She said.

The colt nodded and ran up the stairs. The mare turned and looked to see Karas had carried Lance into the kitchen and threw everything off the table and placed the Prince on it.

"Okay miss, he's been shot and there's no exit wound." Karas informed her, she nodded.

"So... is the thing still inside him?" She asked.

"Yes, is there something we can use to stop the bleeding? We'll need to stitch this after." Karas said.

"Yes." she grabbed a cloth from nearby with her magic.

"Okay, can you use that magic to see if you can pull out the bullet?" Mercer asked.

"I..." she shook her head, "I can't be sure that'll work. We usually use tools and..."

"Can you try?" He asked.

"Y-yes.." The mare was starting to tear up and sweat nervously as she used her magic to feel for the bullet.

"You're gonna be alright Lance!" Mercer yelled to the Guard, who was gasping in pain.

"There are.... three letters... get the one on the right in my armor."

"Letters....? What are they for?"

"One if I'm hurt, another if.... I'm dying.... and this one is for when I die without... seeing her..." He breathed out.

"You can see 'her" yourself, you hear?" Mercer told him.

"I think I found it." The nurse said.

"Good now get it out." Karas said.

The moment the magic grasped the bullet, Lance thrashed and yelled in extreme pain. The mare backed away in fright.

"No use, it'll kill him to use magic." Mercer said as he drew his knife. "We'll have to cut it out." 

"With him awake?"

"You're right, give me your rifle." He said, the Titan obliged and handed it to him.

"Wait.... what are you doing?" Lance asked, nervous.

"Saving you, this will hurt when you wake up." Mercer told him before looking at Karas. "Have your Ghost go find Starburst and tell her to get a doctor."

"You got it." Karas's Ghost appeared and flew off and out the door.

"Wait! How do you know I'll live?!" Lance asked.

"We don't, but this is the best option with what we have." Mercer told him as he raised the rifle.

"Hey, WAIT!"

The last thing Valiant Lance saw was a rifle being slammed into his head, knocking him out.

"He's out cold, I'll get to work." Mercer said as he examined the wound. 

"Ghost, I'll need a light."





Starburst and the Doctors had followed the Ghost back to the house sometime after the Cabal were all repelled. Her heart raced as the Ghost pointed to the building that they were supposedly in. She rushed over and saw the two Guardians walking out, streaks of blood sprayed on their armor.

"What happened!?" She yelled.

"Relax, he'll live." Mercer said. Karas went over and informed the Doctors what had happened as they went in.

"How was the fight?"

"They didn't come in full force, and the Cabal must have realized they were in the wrong place after a while." She said as she sat down, Mercer joining her.

"Well that should be it for now, lets get that shard and you guys to earth as soon as we get back."

"Sounds great..." Starburst said as she took off her helmet and stretched her wings. She looked over and saw her cousin being carried out on a stretcher. The two got up and ran over to him.

Seeing them, Lance ordered them to stop so he could speak to the two Guardians.

"Hey Star..." He breathed out.

"Oh Lance...." Starburst moped. 

"Hey... I'm gonna live I just uh... need a favor from... that guy in the hood."

"What is it?" Mercer asked.

Raising his hoof weakly, there was an envelope with a heart sticker sealing it.

"You were right... I would change letters..." Lance chuckled weakly. "There's a Mare in Ponyville named Red June... she's pink and red and wears a bandana. Can you give that to her? It's a letter telling her I'll be in the hospital and it has two train tickets." He said.

"I will." Mercer took a hold of the hoof holding the letter. "You fought well to defend this kingdom, you're forever praised in my mind." He told him.

"Wow.... thanks...." Lance said. "Alright boys, take me away." He ordered the doctors to keep carrying him.

Watching him go, Starburst looked up and at Mercer.

"We should go." She told the Hunter.

"Yeah, I'll have the others here in a bit." He said as he walked off.

Starburst looked up, seeing the afternoon sun shining down on her. How long would this day last?

A scream rang out from the Crystal tower where Shining Armor and Princess lived.

Hopefully not much longer.

"You all stay here, I'll handle this." Mercer told everyone as he ran off with his Handcannon at the ready.





Twilight was shocked to see how fast Ponyville bounced back from the attack of the Vex. Several unicorns confiscated the remains and were sent to be studied in Canterlot. Soon, her, her friends, and the Guardians that included their children would meet with the Princess to explain what has happened here.

The small tuft of grass on the road was the resting place for her. Pulling the pencil from between her ears and wrote down a few more notes.

Subject: "Vex" (No other known title)

Made of metal, they appear as bipeds and were able to walk much like a young Dragon. They used weapons that seemed to sling a glowing red slug at it's targets that would cause wounds such as burns and could kill a pony if used correctly. Several variants of these Vex appeared, including a hovering type that had a rotating, see-through shield. The main weak point to strike was a white core on their stomachs that contained a scalding hot liquid. I present these notes and studies to the science department of Canterlot Castle.

Stopping for now, she awaited to hear about the other things her daughter and her friends saw. She had heard of creatures that were bipedal and had four arms and two legs and had also.

Seeing her son play with the other foals while her husband worked with a few other guards. Smiling, she got up and went over to see if there was anything else to do.

When this was all over, she was gonna take a trip to visit her family again.





"Shiny! Get up!" Cadence pleaded as she struggled against the tight grip of two arms.

Try as he might, Shining had lost all strength to rise and defend his wife from their attackers. Three Fallen Dregs stood over him and seemed to clap in celebration over their defeated foe.

The Archon, pointing with his only free hand, ordered them to execute the unicorn while he held his wife.

"No...! Please!" She pleaded once more, falling on deaf ears.

Just as Shining closed his eyes and prepared for the end, he saw a blue light spin and shine on the Dregs. Suddenly, a burst of electricity bolted around the three and killed them. the Archon growled loudly as Mercer appeared from a corner in the room.

"They're in here!" He yelled to ponies outside.

Wasting no time, the Archon jumped out the window with it's hostage, who screamed and struggled.

Starburst was outside looking at a strange vehicle when the Archon landed on to it and held Cadence with two arms, one having a missing hand as it twisted something and sped off.

"Aunt Cadence!" Starburst yelled as she readied her wings before she saw something else.

Mercer had jumped out the window and had his sparrow, the "X10 Timebreaker" spawned underneath him before he hit the ground. He sped off at top speed after the Archon, determined to claim his kill.

The Archon looked over to see the Hunter in pursuit and tried to speed up on it's Pike, boosting far ahead of him and out of the empire and back to his ship at high velocity. 

Mercer hit the brakes on his sparrow without letting go of the accelerator. Instead of slowing down, time seemed to slow down for him as he approached the Pike. Ignoring the warning beeps that indicated he would blow up his ride soon, Mercer moved so he would avoid be ejected from the Sparrow as he let go of the brake and jumped so he could let the vehicle crash into the Fallens pike.

The Archon was thrown fro his vehicle, Princess Cadence flying out of his grip and landing on her hooves. Mercer blinked forward and landed on the Archon with his Handcannon pointing in it's face.

"You're mine." He told it as he fired.





The wind picked up rather fast in Ponyville and it was then that ponies noticed that the two jumpships that left earlier had returned.

"They're back!" Night Light cheered as he ran over to them, seeing the Guardians appear in blue light. "Sis!" Night Light ran over and hugged Starburst tightly, who chuckled.

"Hey Nighty. Keep things safe while I was gone?" She asked.

Red June looked over and saw the blood on the two human's armor, causing her heart to race more. It didn't help that one of them in a hood walked over to her.

"Are you Red June?" He asked.

"Y-yeah..." She told him. A letter was handed to her.

"What... what is-"

"He's alive, but he wanted me to give this to you anyways." Mercer said before walking off.

Tearing it open, it read.


Dear Red June, if you're reading this then I've been injured in the field but am expected to live. In that case, I wanted you to get this message so that you can know about my whereabouts. Inside this envelope are two train tickets so that you can come visit me in the hospital. I care for you a lot June, and it would mean a lot to see you while/if I'm recovering.

Love, Valiant Lance


Her heart fluttered in chest at the "love" in the letter, but that didn't stop June from having a large weight off her chest as. Red June got up and looked over to see the group of Guardians were meeting. She knew she would have to apologize to Diamante at some time.

"So what's our plan now?" She asked.

"Get our jumpships to carry the Shard back to earth and return the shard. We take the ponies with us so no other of the Darkness shows up here." Karas told her.

As they all discussed, Twilight wrote everything interesting they said down. Flash himself was afraid to touch her on the account she would explode with how excited she looked.

"Oh my goodness.... I need to have all of you take notes while you're there." She said, bursting with excitement.

"Mom..." Starburst whispered.

"No.... I guess you all should take notes of our world." Dia said. "It would be good for yours to learn about the Traveler."

"Yeah." One of the Ghosts said. "But we gotta move fast. It's only a matter of time before-"

A horrible sound that Prism thought was concrete scraping against concrete turned out to be the sound of a Hive Tombship coming into Orbit. To her horror, Twilight watched as the street were filled with panic as ponies ran from horrifying creatures.

"It's the Hive, everyone get to safety." Mercer yelled as he fired at the charging horde of Thrall that rushed them, being gunned down by Karas's LMG and Dia's fusion rifle.

"We have to get the shard!" Prism yelled to an oblivious group as he slashed his wings at a cursed Thrall that exploded and sent him flying till he smacked the wall of a house and was stunned. He saw a blur of the battle and tried his best to get up. A light blue blur was in front of him.

"Prism!" Icy yelled as he grabbed Prism's hoof. "Get up!" He said. Icy looked over and saw Whirlwind running towards them.

"Prism, you need to GAH!" Whirlwind yelped when she felt a mixture of freezing cold and burning heat grab her hoof and pull her to the ground. She clawed at the two to try and get away as she was dragged across the ground before being lifted by her hind hoof. She turned and was face to face with a witch, who gave an ominous hiss in her face. Whirlwind grunted as she struggled to get free, trying to brush the claw away that reached her face.

"Whirlwind!" Icy screamed in terror as he looked behind to see Prism getting up. He readied his wings and charged forward to save his friend when a Knight intercepted him and knocked him back down. Getting up, he charged at the Knight and blocked it's sword with a wing while spinning to cut it down with his other. Looking over, he saw that the witch had dropped Whirlwind when Mercer jumped on top of the beast and stabbed her to death.

"Keep a better eye on your girlfriend, Prism." He told him.

Disregarding his comment, Prism checked on Whirlwind. 

"Are you okay!?" He asked, almost yelling.

"I'm fine... I just..."

"You two need to get to safety now!" He yelled before a rumbling shook the whole town up.

"What in Equestria is that?" Whirlwind asked. She expected Mercer to give an answer, but he took off running. Looking up, she gasped.

"Is... is that?"

"Yeah... I think." Prism told her.

The shard from the Traveler floated out of it's resting place, it was surrounded by a green energy that one would assume was being used to carry it.

"No!" Mercer yelled as he ran after it.

"Guardian, stay back!" Dia warned as she continued to hold back a wave of Acolyte.

Ignoring her, Mercer kept sprinting forward with an unmatched determination to retrieve the shard. It was then that a Knight of the Hive landed in front of him, but not any ordinary knight.

"It's Urzok!" Karas yelled.

The Hunter jumped and readied an attack, only to be cut down by Uzrok, the Hated and be sent flying back. His body skimmed the ground before sliding to a halt. His Ghost appeared over him and spread it's pylons out, creating a blue sphere.

"Guardian down!" Ghost alerted.

"NO!" Icy shrieked as he saw the limp Guardian lay on the ground dead. He looked over to see Karas running to help, only to be stopped by a swarm of Thrall. Just before he could yell for help, the colt was swooped up by Whirlwind and carried away.

Annie blocked attack after attack from a Knight as she struggled to find a way to get a hit on it. But just as her void ice shield was chipped away, T came in and chewed the Knight up. He looked over and mauled an Acolyte before swiping a Thrall with his tail.

Summoning up a large ball of her void magic, Annie hopped on T's back and jumped off his head before kicking the ball at a large group of Hive and watched it explode.

She looked over to see Dia, who was about to get swarmed on when...

There it was, the burning light of the Traveler, in the palm of her hands. She wrapped her fingers around it and felt the burn course through her entire body. The Warlock couldn't handle this sensation, her body convulsed as she writhed in the gasps of it.

Time to use this power.

Flexing her body, Dia lit up with solar energy. Using her power, she punched a Acolyte and threw several grenades towards the Hive forces before using her rifle to gun down the ones attacking Karas before using glide to hover above and using her LMG to shoot wave after wave of advancing hive.

Uzrok, the Hated screeched something while waving his arm back, probably to call back the Hive forces. It didn't matter at that point they had what they came for. All the forces escaped back to the Tombship just as Diamante's Radiance wore off.

Karas got up and revived Mercer, who shouted at the shard as it was being carried through the portal with the Hive tombship. Tearing the Titan's Auto rifle from his grip, Mercer ran out and fired at the sky with no avail. Everyone who was there watched as he fired an entire magazine into the air before seeing the portal close. Yelling in anger, Mercer tossed the rifle before slamming his fist into the ground.

"Damnit!" He screamed. "That was ours!"

Dia ran over to him placed a hand on his shoulder.

"Mercer, we can get it back." She told him. "I doubt the Hive can steal something of that value without taking notice."

Taking his helmet off so he could breathe better, he looked at the crowd watching him and saw the Guardians.

"Alright, we need to hurry and inform that Speaker as soon as possible. We'll need as many Guardians on it as much as possible..."

A few hearts in the crowd sank. Mercer got up and grabbed the Auto rifle he had tossed.

"And I'm sorry to say, but you seven have to come with us one way or another until the shard is found." He pointed to the group of Guardians they had found this morning.

Fluttershy, who was by her daughter, let out a sob as she broke down. She buried her face into Annie's shoulder as she cried.

"I personally wish there was another way, but if you stay here then they'll come back." Mercer gave the rifle to Karas. "If there's anything that should be done here, now is the time to say."

Twilight stepped forward, clearly shaking. 

"Can you at least give a statement to Princess Celestia on what has happened here?" She said, her voice cracking.

"Of course, we can leave as soon as they're ready." Mercer said.

This was it, after a long day they all knew that it wouldn't be for a while until those seven ponies saw their friends and family again. 

Starburst looked at her mother, who finally started to cry a little. She went over and gave her a big hug, wings and hooves. A few tears even fell from her eyes as well.

"Oh Star..." Her mother choked out.

"Mom, I promise I'll be safe." She told her. "Please keep an eye on Nighty while I'm gone."

Sniffling, her mother pulled away from her daughter gently. "You... stay close to the others.... listen to those people and... make sure you eat." Twilight told her daughter.

"I will mom..." Starburst broke down and hugged her once more.

Del followed Applejack to the hospital to find his dad, who was recovering from earlier.

"Dad..." Del asked.

"Del... I heard stuff going on outside what happened?" He asked. Caramel seemed to be doing very well.

"We... we lost that shard... and now we're leaving."

"Leaving.... for how long?" His dad asked.

"Until we get it back. We have to leave Equestria." Del told his dad.

"What!?"

"And if we don't leave, those things will come back." Del said.

"I... I don't know what to say." Caramel said.

"I came here to give make sure you're alright..." cracking a small grin "and you best be up and at em when I get back."

"For you my son.... I will." Caramel chuckled lightly as Applejack pulled the two into a group hug.

"We'll be sure to keep the farm going while you're gone." Applejack said, sniffling a little.

"And keep on Api for me too?" Del asked.

"We sure will." His mom said, smiling a little.

Rarity didn't care that  her makeup was running for once. She sobbed onto Spike's shoulder as he patted her back.

"Listen you two, I don't know what you'll be doing on whatever planet you're going too, but please try to be safe. Stick close to each other, don't be afraid to call out for help. Ask questions if you need to, make sure you eat and sleep well." He told them, tears welling up.

"Dad..." Claire said, hugging her parents. "We'll be alright. I promise."

Suddenly, Spike felt a large mass on top of him. He looked to see his son was hugging all of the family at once.

Prism teared up for one of the few times in his teen years. His mom didn't bother to not hide her emotions either, while his dad kept a stern look.

"Well guys... I'll be back... I guess."

Too emotional for words, Rainbow Dash broke down crying while her husband wrapped a wing around her and pulled himself close.

"Stay safe son. "He said.

"I will dad. Take care of mom for me." Prism said as he turned to face Whirlwind and Icy.

Whirlwind rushed to embrace her friend, she too was crying.

"Please come back safe."

"I will... sorry you lost your job of in keeping me in one piece." He said.

Though able to crack a smile, Whirlwind cried a little more after she let him go. Prism knelled down to Icy.

"You're the man of the house now buddy. You look after the others while I'm gone for me, okay?" He told his little brother.

Sniffling, Icy was able to give him a salute.

"Okay.... you be good. Make sure Whirlwind doesn't hurt herself. Keep dad from eating 3 pies a day.... and...." Prism started to cry this time. "I... I'll make sure to come back.... and we can practice flying all day when I'm home. Whirlwind can come.... even Star and.... doesn't that sound great."

Icy nodded.

"Yeah.... it'll be great." Prism said before getting up and turning to Whirlwind.

"Dubz.... keep an eye on him" He asked.

"I will...." She wept.

At Sugarcube corner, Candy typed furiously at a typewriter and was able to leave a 1000 word letter in 30 seconds. She wiped her eyes and read it over before leaving it with the cakes to give to her friend Parry, who was out of the town and wouldn't be back for who knows how long.

Walking outside, she was met with a blast of confetti from her moms party cannon.

"Candy! We all wish you luck out there." Her sister Sugar Rush said, her and Cloudy Skies holding a banner. Both her parents were there.

"We know you'll be alright, just don't do anything to risky." Pokey Pierce said.

Smiling, Candy pulled the entire family into a group hug.

Fluttershy, to the surprise of everypony, was extremely calm. 

"Now Annie, you stick close to T. Make sure you eat and if those Guardians are ever mean, you tell T."

"Why T?" Annie asked.

"Nothing like a scary dragon to put others in their place." Fluttershy giggled.

"Well, I doubt they'll be rude, but I'll remember that." Annie giggled.

"Now good luck." Fluttershy patted her daughter on the back.

The group had gathered over the three jumpships hovering over the surface. Giving a few final waves, they were transported inside. The cheers from the crowd outside faded out as they left for Canterlot.





The ten Guardians were led into the throne room, met with heavy guard deployment and the stern look of two Princesses. 

"I think diplomacy runs high here." Mercer commented as they were brought to a stand.

"You three, step forward." Celestia commanded.

The trio stepped forward.

"So... we read the statement, and the only thing we're not pleased with is the fact that all of this had to happen." Celestia said.

"We're sorry, we accept full responsibility for the outcome of our mission." Karas spoke.

"Do you all agree that taking these young kids away will help solve the situation as a hand?" Luna asked.

"If they were to stay, a new force will come to claim this land. We do hope to complete the mission and get them home as soon as possible." Diamante said.

"And have they consented to leave?"

Starburst stepped forward. "Yes Princess Luna. As much as we don't want to leave home we know its for the best right now."

Celestia gave a sort of sad look. 

"We also have an official statement released from my mother detailing the events that had happened in Ponyville." Starburst took out a piece of paper and handed it to a guard, who gave it to Princess Celestia.

"Interesting...." She read it over. "I've made a decision. I allow you all to travel beyond Equestria and fight this "Darkness" to recover that piece of "Traveler". Celestia said, clearly confused by what she said.

A few sighed with relief. 

"We'll be leaving shortly." Mercer told them. "I personally need to visit someone." He turned to the group. "If any of you need to say goodbye to anyone here, now is the time."

As a few left the room, Prism was stopped.

"Prism, we need to visit someone."





The nurse led the two through the hall ways of the Hospital, which had become over burden with ponies after the attacks from the Fallen. Mercer and Prism looked through the room to see who had been hospitalized.

"How long have you known this kid?" Mercer asked the Pegasus.

"A couple of years..." Prism muttered out.

"So... how deep did this rivalry run?" The Hunter asked.

"For the first year it uh.... it wasn't that big of a deal. Then he started dating Whirlwind... But I never wanted this to happen to him. We'd make fun of each other if we sprained a wing but not this." Prism said.

"This wasn't your fault." Mercer told him. "I made sure that Archon payed for what he did." He growled.

Before Prism could respond, the nurse spoke.

"They're right through here." She said. "but I have to say, his mother is very emotional right now."

"Mother?" Mercer said. "She's almost the same age as him." 

"She adopted those two from the orphanage to come live with her." Prism told him.

"I guess they do love each other. I was right." Mercer commented as he stepped into the room.

The sight of Hot Head made his heart sink a little. He was bruised and had bandages and his hoof in a sling.

"Hi, I came to-"

A pillow smacked him in the face again.

"Stop that." He said.

Amber's damp eyes looked at the Hunter. She had been cuddling that pillow for a while, judging by the tear stains on it.

"You're.... here to visit?" She asked.

"Yes, me and Prism." He told her as Prism stepped in.

"Hey Amber.... how you holding up?"

Amber sobbed some more. "I've been a wreck. Lucky is out working with others to repair the damages and they say Hot Head might be here for a long time."

At the sound of that, Ghost appeared. He examined Hot Head in the hospital bed before checking out the machines he was hooked up to.

"Amazing. this stuff predates Golden age technology." It said.

"Really?"

"Yep. As for him his wounds are bad, but he can recover." Ghost went over to Amber.

"His injuries are bad, but he'll be awake soon." It told her.

"Are... are you sure?" She asked.

"We've seen others with worse survive this on earth. He can pull through." Ghost said before going back to Mercer.

"Oh... thank you.... thank you so much." She spoke.

"Amber.... you let Hot Head know that I had leave...." Prism said.

"Leave where?" She asked.

"All seven of us have the thing that made those alien things come and attack.... and we have to leave."

"Even Annie?"

Prism nodded.

"Oh gosh!" Amber sobbed heavily some more. "Say goodbye for me and the boys... okay?"

"I will." Prism told her as he turned to leave. "We need to get going Mercer."

"I know." The Hunter responded. He went over and looked at Hot Head.

"You were brave for those you cared about. I promise you that you'll be able to rest easy."

Mercer spun, his cloak waving in the air as he walked out the door.





The jumpship's engines all roared as a few of the Guardians were transported inside. Karas looked out the window to see Del bidding farewell to Creme, even seeing her give him a peck on the cheek. Starburst waved to the guard he met earlier. Hopefully he would have a chance to tell him about the Norway on his world.

As Claire gave Illusion a kiss goodbye, all of them were whisked into the hull of the jumpship.

"Alright team, we're leaving for the Tower." Karas told them. "I can' thank you enough for agreeing to this."

The ships began to take off, the crowd below waving to them.

"Next stop, the Tower." Diamante told them as they sped off into space.
> Tower: Home away from home, somewhere
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

"Nighty.... come on..." Starburst moaned out. She looked over to see her mother and father instead of her brother. "Where is he?" She asked them.

"He's here..." Flash seemed to assure her.

"Where...?" She asked, every sound bouncing around her.

"Somewhere...." Twilight told her.

Starburst ran off... she wasn't sure where she was... this wasn't the Everfree forest or Ponyville... it was somewhere.

"Nighty...." Her voice rang out, seeming to echo forever and ever.

Starburst looked around frantically in search of her brother before she looked to see him sitting right in front of her.

"I'll miss you..." His voice echoed from him.

"Miss you..." Just kept echoing in her mind. Starburst slammed her hooves on her ears to block the sound.

"Somewhere." Starburst whispered as her eyes snapped open. She looked to see Del, Claire staring at her.

"You alright?" Del asked

"Yeah just..." Starburst took a few breathes, noting how she wasn't sweating at all in the armor.

The dense hull of the Jumpship had little light source except from the cockpit where Karas piloted the ship. The three weren't sure where they had been since they last saw the sun when they left Equestria. Ghost had commented that the moon and the sun were moving in an odd pattern. The ponies figured that Celestia and Luna were changing the time of day.

"You've been out for a while. I still don't know when we're gonna get there." Claire told her.

"We just passed Venus. We'll be there shortly." Ghost informed them.

"I don't know what that is." Claire told it.

"This is gonna be a annoying, I can tell." Ghost said.

"Hey!" Claire scolded.

"Knock it off down there." Karas told them. "We'll be there soon."

Shoving Ghost away, Claire gave a huff and slumped in her seat. The little pylon ball floated back to the cockpit to meet it's Guardian companion.

"They're pretty crabby down there." It said.

"Probably because they had to leave home to help fight the Darkness for that Traveler shard." Karas said. "We're lucky they understood why they had to come."

"I just hope we can find it soon..." Ghost commented.

"I'm sure we will. No doubt we'll have more than just us searching for where they took it." Karas said, noting how he passed Earths moon. He looked over and called to the three in the hull.

"We'll be there shortly."

Starburst perked up at the sound of that. Despite being depressed over leaving her family, she was excited to see a new world with her friends. She looked to Claire and Del to see their reactions and saw that they shared her excitement.

"I hope this place has decent food, I'm starving." Del said. Claire giggled.

"I'm sure they do." She told him.

Suddenly, orange light shined down from the cockpit. The ship shook and rumbled before slowing down. The three eagerly looked up to see if they were on Earth.

"Are we there?" Del asked.

"Yes we are. Welcome home, Guardians." He said softly as the he piloted the sip to the tower. "Take us down Ghost."

"You got it."

With in a moments notice, all of the occupants were transported to the surface of the Tower. The Warlocks and Hunters had joined them also. 

"Hey guys!" Candy waved as she went over to Starburst and the rest. "How was your flight? Prism complained the whole time about the lack of food." She muttered.

"Hey! I've only eaten breakfast." He talked back. The reunion was cut short by Mercer clearing his throat.

"Ahem." He coughed.

The all turned to see his hands behind his back as his Ghost floated over to them.

"Welcome to the Tower Guardians." It said. 

[Day One]

The seven ponies were so caught up in seeing each other that they didn't bother to look out to see where they were. The setting sun had given the Orange hue to the Tower, where Guardians were out and about still bustling to go out on missions or group up in a Fireteam. One consoled their friends over how mad they got over engrams while another had just turned in a few bounties. A few Guardians took notice to their arrival.

"This is where the Guardians live." Ghost told them.

A few waved, some were frantically in a hurry as they ran back and fourth. Others went to the Guardians to ask about their new allies.

"This will be your home for a while." A robotic "whirl" was heard in Ghosts voice. "And that...."

It turned around to point outward towards the City's treasure.

"Is the Traveler." It spoke.

"Whoa...." Annie breathed out in awe as she and her friend marveled at the Celestial being.

"It protects our city still." Karas told them. "It only began to heal recently." 

"So that thing is why we're here?" Prism asked.

"Yep." Mercer told him. "This is what gave us so many advances in technology and gifted us the light."

"Just from that sphere?" Prism asked him.

"Apparently...." Mercer responded.

As the ponies admired the view, Ghost looked to the group of Guardians.

"We need to inform the speaker, let him know that we failed the retrieve the shard."

The Titan and Hunter nodded while Dia was explaining to another Warlock what had happened.

"Okay you seven, we need to go see the Speaker. He'll want to know what happened." Karas told them.

The seven broke away from their mesmerized stare and looked back to them.

"Who's he?" Annie asked. 

"He's the voice of the Traveler, the one who sent us to Equestria." Mercer told them. "He's gonna want to meet you all."

"Well lets get to it. The sooner we see this guy, the sooner we get to rest." Del said.

"Lets get going then." Karas said as he lead them to the Traveler. Mercer waved Dia over.

Looking up, the Warlock turned back to her friend. "Sorry Gunnar, but I have to go see the Speaker." She told him. "I'll see you around." She waved before jogging off to meet the others to show the ponies the other part of the Tower.

The ten awed at the sights of the tower, touching every wall and scrapping their hoof across every marble floor. the architecture of the Tower was unlike anything they had ever seen. Several of the inhabitants waved to them, Frames, more humans and Awoken greeted them each with kindness and curiosity.

"This place is wonderful..." Claire sighed.

"I bet mom would have had a ball here." Starburst thought out loud to herself.

As the three were lead to a room, a white robed figure descended the steps.

"Speaker." Karas stepped forward. "We regret to inform that we were unable to retrieve the shard from the distant world it was on. The Hive stole it from our grasps."

"I see..." The Speaker spoke. "As much as I would hate to say it, I was prepared for this."

"And what might that plan be?" Mercer asked.

"You three are now going to be assigned missions on finding the shard. I also plan to assign a hunter who will track it down for you three." The Speaker approached the Guardians.

"He will report on it's location and that's when you and...." The Speaker looked over to see the seven ponies. "I assume these seven uhm.... equines will accompany you to the mission locations."

"Yes. These seven found the shard and acquired the light from it." Diamante pointed to them. "They better introduce themselves."

The seven stepped forward and presented themselves in armor, minus the helmets to the Speaker.

"Greetings." He waved as he descended the steps. "We've never seen any of your kind before on our world."

Starburst spoke up. "I can imagine why. We've heard that equines are..."

"Its quite alright, Starburst." The Speaker said.

"Wait, how did you know my name?" She asked.

"I was contacted by one their Ghosts. I've heard what you all did back in your home world." The Speaker chuckled. "Quite a day from what I've heard."

"You have no idea." Prism commented.

"Well it's settled, you three will take each out on a field mission until we get reports from out Scout about the whereabouts of our shard. But as of now, take our new Guardians on a tour around the tower."

As the group left, Mercer went over and whispered "They have the light. You know they'll need training tomorrow?"

"Of course." The Speaker whispered back.

"Also... make sure no Faction takes a hold of them. They'll be under our command." Mercer told.

"That is understood." The Speaker told him as the Hunter began to leave. "Make sure you all care for them. Poor things will be homesick."

"You have my word." Mercer responded as he exited the room.





"This here is the Hangar." Ghost showed the ponies. "The Guardians usually get armed here and have our sparrows and ships repaired."

The seven looked around to see what the area had to offer. They introduced themselves to several Guardians and people who were there as Mercer had arrived.

"What did you two talk about?" Diamante asked.

"I just told him that they will need training tomorrow, and that no fraction to to use them." He said.

"Good thinking." Karas told him. "No doubt they'll want to get them to support their cause."

Mercer had walked off to see what the others were up to. Prism was showing off his flying skills to Amanda Holliday. T, Annie, and Del were talking to a hangar worker while Del and Claire watched the Jumpships land.

"Look!" Claire pointed. "That's Mercers I think." She said as a jumpship pulled into the hangar and was landed on to a platformed that took it away.

"Aspect of Glass." Mercer thought as he watched his jumpship be put into storage. "I'd rather not describe where I found it." His thoughts ceased when he saw Candy talking to someone.

"And so you see, we just got here." Candy explained to a pale white Awoken.

"I see.... and where did you get this armor?" Arach Jalaal, representative to Dead Orbit, asked.

"Oh! Those cool floating things with the blue eye made them for me and my friends." She told him.

"Interesting...." He said, rubbing his chin. "I would-"

Upon glancing up and seeing the dreaded Hunter standing behind Candy's shoulder, Arach suddenly lost his words and desperately searched for new ones.

"love to meet them..." He finished.

"You okay Mister?" Candy asked.

"I'm fine."

"Okay! Come on, my friends are being shown around by our new Guardian friends." Candy bounced back to where her friends were as the Awoken followed. Passing Mercer, he did his best to avoid the Hunter's burning stare. 





"In the hall of Guardians, this is where you'll meet the best of the best." Ghost explained to the group. "You'll meet the Vanguard and Crucible handlers." 

"Neat!" Candy exclaimed. 

The three walked down the stairs and were greeted by Lord Shaxx. 

"Ah, these are the ponies I've been hearing about." He told them. "You've guys have caused quite stir here in the Tower."

"For good or bad reasons?" T asked.

Chuckling, Lord Shaxx told him "No no, you're never a bad presence in the Tower unless your a minion of the Darkness."

"No need to worry about that." Karas smiled. "These Guardians would take care of them personally."

"I bet they would. Why don't you all go and meet the Vanguard. They're the ones who probably sent these three to find you." Shax said.

As the seven look around more, Karas whispered to Shaxx "They don't have Ghosts, so no mention of the Crucible."

"Of course." Lord Shaxx responded as Karas walked off. Dia approached.

"Greetings Diamante. I assume you three plan to lead the mission to retrieve this shard?"

"Yes we do." She told him.

"Well I wish you luck."

"Thank you very much Lord Shaxx."

As the Warlock walked off, Mercer also walked by the Crucible handler. In a dead, flat tone Shaxx merely said,

"Mercer."

"Shaxx."

Mercer walked off.





"So what are you exactly?" Candy asked Cayde-6.

"I'm an Exo." He explained, going on about the history of his race. The seven all sat and listened to his story.

Hours had passed since their arrival to the tower, and the group of ponies had already been affiliated with the residents. Several Guardians had met, asked almost everything about where they came from and about their species. Now it was their turn, as they had already learned about the history of humans and the Awoken.

"Some time ago, we were rebooted after the collapse. We really don't remember what our original purpose was, but I think being Guardians is fine reason to be activated again." He said.

"Wow...." The seven exhaled out.

"Tell us a story about being a Guardian!" Candy cried out.

"Well.... I do have one funny one...." Cayde-6 looked over to Mercer. "Do you remember that one mission on-"

"Mars when we had to take out a high command Cabal unit?" Mercer finished. "Yes, how could I forget?"

"Well me, Mercer, and an old friend. Lets call him Andal..." Cayde-6 trailed off for a moment. "We uh.... we were told that this was gonna be one of the deadliest units. When we got their, the Vex patrol outside their base were more of a problem." He chuckled, Mercer grinned.

"When we get inside, there were only a few Cabal Psions. We took care of them easily before moving in. Wouldn't you know, turns out nearly all of the soldiers inside were focused on mining some relic iron that they dropped all their guns. By the time their commander walked in, we were long gone."

The group laughed to the story,  even Mercer let out a small chuckle.

"Last I heard, he was gunned down by a squadron of Vex." Cayde-6 said casually.

"Some Commander he was." Prism commented, causing a few more laughs before it died down.

"Okay..." Dia commented. "I am dead tired right now." She finished with a yawn.

That yawn spread to nearly the whole room, save for Ikora and Commander Zavela.

"I guess it's time we show them where they're staying." Karas said as he sat up.

"Alright guys, come on." Diamate said as she lead the group back to the entrance. There, they saw a door that was to the right of where they came in from. One of their Ghosts opened it and it showed rows of elevators in a long hallway that lead to more doors with four digit numbers over them.

"Lets see.... we're under.... 5026." Dia said. "Here we are."

Opening the door, several beds were in the room for the Guardians to rest.

Letting out a sigh, Prism claimed the top bunk of the closest bed. Starburst got in the bottom one.

"I guess you guys chose your beds. This room is usually for guests and well... you're all considered one." Dia told them.

"Nice setup." Del commented. "So we just sleep in armor?"

"Why not? It feel so comfy." Prism muttered.

"I'll be in my room across the hall if you need me." The Warlock said before spinning around and stepping out the room.

Within a few moments, Del had gotten into a bottom bunk since Candy took the top while Claire slept in the top bunk of T and Annies bed.

They were all asleep within a few minutes before the lights were turned off.





Del seemed to gasp the moment he woke up. For some reason, the stallion could not recall what was going on in his dream that made him awake in such a way.

"It was uh.... there was a...." He tried to recall his previous visions from last night, yet drew a blank.

"Sleep good?" A voice asked.

Del looked over to see Annie and T were already awake.

"I guess...." Del got up and out of bed to stretch.

"Hey, go see if the others are awake." A voice muttered above Del. He looked up to see Prism was just waking up and peeking over his bunk.

"You guys can go wake them up, I'll stay here." Annie said.

"I guess I could go..." T said as he left the room, a nervous Del and complaining Prism following him.

Del knocked lightly on his door before entering Karas's room where he was greeted with the Titan doing handstand pushups.

"Oh, you're awake." Del said.

Looking up, Karas saw the stallion looking at him.

"Ah, good morning." The captain said as he pushed his body off the floor and landed on his feet, the act making Del jump a little. "I assume you're already to get some breakfast and get to training."

"I guess.... how early were you up?" Del asked.

"I'm always up up before the sun." Karas told him. "Taught myself to do it on the field, so that no enemy would sneak up on our base."

"Well... that's.... great I guess." Del responded. "Will we ever need to stay overnight out there?" 

"Never, we'll make sure we're in orbit asap if anything goes wrong." The Titan said.

Del nodded. "Uhm.... so where's breakfast?" He asked.

"I'll show you." The Titan lead him outside, passing T who went into Dia's room and found her head asleep on an open book.

"Uhm.... Dia...?" T asked as he lightly shook her.

The Awoken snorted as her head popped up. "Huh, what!?" Diamante said as she looked around. "Oh... hi T I was just...." She stretched her arms and yawned. "Studying..."

"I see..." T commented at the large amount of books stern about her room. "Some of us just woke up and wanted to get breakfast."

"Oh yeah.... cause we plan to spend the whole day training you guys."

"Are we going out into the field today?" T asked.

"No, we will tomorrow. We're gonna take one of you you on a mission while the others patrol."

T got a little nervous. "Well I think me and A-"

"She's coming with me, Karas is going to look after you and your sister."

"Uhm.... alright." T nodded, nervously.

"Now come on, I'll show you and the others where the mess hall is." Dia said as she lead the dragon out of her room.

As  walked out, he looked over and saw Prism knocking on someone's room. Only one response came from behind it.

"Open." It said.

Prism walked in to find a dark room where Mercer dismantled several hand cannons under a lamp.

"Morning."

"Uh... hey." Prism said. "So, we were planning to get some breakfast so if you-"

"Of course." The Hunter quickly responded without batting an eye at the Pegasus.

Prism stood there silently for a few moments before asking "So uh.... what are those?"

"My collection of Handcannons that I've used out in the field." Mercer said. "Some I just have for show, like The Devil you don't, others I've kept after a mission." Mercer said, motioning to a purple gun with the words "FWC" printed on it.

"What about that one?" Prism asked, pointing to a slightly rusted one mounted on the wall above his bed.

"Personal." The Hunter responded as he sat up. "You all better eat hearty, cause we're putting you all in the virtual sim-field all day. Yes you will stop for lunch and we we'll be done in time for dinner."

"Well okay, how hard can virtual training be?" Prism asked.





Prism spun to slash a holographic recreation of a Hive Thrall before jumping to avoid being taken out by a knight. He was almost out of breathe as another wave spawned in. The blue glowing grid seemed to shake with each step as they rushed at him

"COME ON GUARDIAN! GO GO GO!" Mercer yelled at him as he watched the pony fight off waves of enemies. All of the others were watching as Prism leaped up and bucked a witch before finishing her off with his Arc charged wings.

"Time!" Dia yelled as a virtual clock stopped above the doorway. It read a time of 5:26.52.

"Whooo!" Prism cheered as he walked through the entrance and back to a sort of dugout like area where his friends were. "I bet none of you could beat that time."

"Glad to see your ego came with us." Starburst commented. Mercer gave him a scowl.

"Well, lets see who else is up." Karas said as he got up from where he was sitting and looked over the list.

After breakfast, the team was sent to a virtual training grounds, and have been working on their skills all day. First they were taught about how to dodge enemy fire, the elements used in their powers, and how to survive on their own. The sun had just disappearing over the horizon by now. The group was exhausted by now.

"We have time for two more." Karas said.

"Oh, I'll go!" Annie jumped up.

"Alright Annie, you're up!" Dia exclaimed as she set up the enemies.

Annie stepped onto the deck and let out a confident sigh inside her helmet. With slightly improved sight while wearing it, her horn charged up with void energy as simulated Fallen rushed her. Waving her horn to have the magic flow like water before freezing in the air, she formed icicles and kicked them at the Fallen one by one.

"Wow..." T commented, his face pressed against the viewing glass.

Annie encased her hoof in void magic as she waved it around into a ball before kicking it towards a group and causing an explosion. The group was amazed by her skills despite her blindness.

"Time!" Dia yelled as the last of the enemies were defeated. Annie stepped off the training area.

"How did I do?" She asked.

"4:38.09." Karas told her.

As the group cheered and congratulated Annie, Prism sat in his spot with his hooves crossed in a pout.

"I call fowl play." He muttered.



 

The group were still sharing plenty of laughs by the time they got back to their barracks. The Guardians returned to their rooms while the ponies went to theirs and told more stories.

"Man, that was the most fun I've eve had training." Prism said.

"Yeah, hard to believe we have to go fight those things again tomorrow." T said.

"Cheer up guys." Candy said. "They say that it's mostly patrols, small groups on enemies, that we'll be dealing with. Besides, we got to get that shard back so we can go home."

"Yeah.... home." Starburst muttered.

The group fell silent as they remember it had been over a day since they left. To think that yesterday was the last time they would see their friends and family for a while.

"I hope dad is feeling better." Del commented.

"Mom must be worried sick." Annie said.

"I bet dad is taking care of mom right now." T thought out loud.

"I bet she's crying on her drama couch.... you can hit me for that." Prism told him.

"Actually... you're probably right." Claire responded with a chuckle.

"I hope we can go home soon." Prism sighed.

Starburst got up, hearing the sadness in her friends voices sparked something in her. "Guys, come on." She said walking around the room. "I mean, I know it's sad and all, but we can't be down. We'll kick these guy's butts out of here in no time. I mean, we took on an invasion at our own turf. With even more Guardians by our side, we'll find the shard faster than Prism's made up timed lap."

"Hey!" Prism called out. The group followed with laughter that he eventually joined.

"Now lets get some sleep guys. Tomorrows our first step to getting back home."

"Alright, goodnight everyone." Del told the group as he turned off the lights and got into bed as the rest were snug tight in their blankets.

"Oh and by the way, that was an actual time limit." Prism told the others.

"You can't lap Ponyville in under a minute." Starburst told him.

"You can't." Prism told her.

"I'd like to see this when we get back." Claire called to him.

"Oh you will." 

"I'm betting he takes a nap halfway." Del commented, causing the others to burst out laughing.

"I do not deserve this roast." Prism exclaimed.

Before Annie could say something, light filled the room as a male human Warlock in purple armor stood in the door way. 

"Yeah, hi. I know." He said. "Could you guys keep it down a bit? I get you're all having fun and miss home, but keep the noise down."

"Oops.... sorry." Annie blushed as she snuggled up to T.

"It's okay... goodnight." The Warlock turned and closed the door, Starburst was able to point out yellow face paint under his eyes before the door shut.

"Well I guess that's it for one night. Goodnight guys." T said.

The group seemed to forget how happy they could all be together in one day.
> Story: The Falling Sky
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------



Investigate the increase in Fallen activity near the Skywatch with Claire and Turquoise. 










Starburst was the first to wake up. The barely lit room gave a drowsy appeal that almost made her go back to sleep. But rather than that, she got up and tiptoed (tip hoofed?) out the door to not wake her friends.

The sun peaked over the mountains and cast light on to the tower. Guardians were already out going on with their day, a few of which waved hello to her as they jogged to their various errands. The sound of ships soaring through the sky as the wind brushed through her mane caused the mare to sigh, relaxed at the atmosphere that the Tower gave on such a morning.

[Day Two]

As she walked around, she noticed a lone, dark figure with a ship behind her. The figure held a green sphere with a black fragment inside it. Curiosity got the better of Star as she walked over, in which the figure took notice.

"Tell me little one, has the light burdened itself on you?"

"Don't call me little." Starburst muttered. "Uhm... it's not really a burden Miss."

"Oh but it is. Soon you'll realize how much it has given you before the Darkness takes it away." She preached to the mare.

"Hey! I didn't leave my family to be told this power is a burden, lady!" Starburst growled.

"Eris!" A robotic voice called out, before a hunter jogged over. "I've told you a thousand times to leave new Guardians alone with your depressing speech." The Guardian lectured before leading Starburst away and to the grassy area near the other side of the tower.

"Sorry about that, don't take it personally. That's Eris Morn." He told her.

"What's her problem?" Starburst asked.

"Her light was taken by a Hive Prince. The rest of her team was wiped out." The Hunter told her. "Just try to stay clear of her, there's only a few number of Guardians she speaks highly too."

"Well she'll just have to wait, I'll become one of those Guardians." Starburst boasted, puffing her chest out.

"Let me guess, plan to find that shard?" The Hunter asked.

"Yeah... we just don't know where it is."

"Relax, The Speaker assigned me to track it for your team."

"Oh, you're the Hunter who's gonna help us then."

"Yes I am." The exo held it's hand out. "My name is Raine-18."

Starburst took it and shook, noting the purple lights that made for the Exo's features.

"Starburst." She told him.

"Well Starburst, I better get going. Good luck out there today." Raine said as his Ghost appeared.

"To you as well." The Pegasus told him as he faded away.

Sighing, Starburst trotted back to the living quarters. As she walked back, she thought back to what Eris said. Could someone with the Light lose so much. Her heart raced a little, she was going out on a patrol. To make matters worse, Claire and T were going on a mission with Karas, leaving her and the rest to worry about them.

Brushing the thought off, Starburst arrived to her room. Her friends were awake and actively talking with the Guardians.

"Ah, there you are." Karas told her as she walked in. 

"Yeah, just went for a walk and met Eris." Starburst said as she sat down.

"Oh really." Mercer said, almost enthusiastically. "How was she?"

"She told me the light was a burden and started bugging me before Raine-18 came and pulled me away."

"Well that's a shame." Mercer shook his head. "But, you met Raine at least."

Starburst turned her head to the Hunter. "Friend?"

"Good one." Mercer answered. "Me and him are in the same guild of hunters since before we came to the tower. He's a very skilled Scout."

"Well I have faith that his luck in the field today will be great." Karas said as he loaded a magazine in his rifle. "Lets grab breakfast before we head out."

"Oh please! I'm starved." Prism cheered as he sprang out of bed.

Del shook his head. "It's always food with him." 




"Ever since the Hive took the shard from Equestria, we've been getting reports of a massive increase in Fallen forces near the Skywatch." Ghost explained to them group The three jump ships sailed over the atmosphere of Earth, approaching Old Russia.

"Fallen?" Prism asked. "Why are they riled up when they don't have the shard."

"The Hive must have taken it to Earth then." Mercer told them. "Perhaps their gonna move it to the moon after showing it to their forces here. Clearly the Hive plan to do something here first, where there are already several Fallen houses at war with them here.."

"No doubt there's gonna more activity here then ever with Guardians and Darkness." Diamante spoke. 

"Everyone watch your backs down there." Karas said as the three ships dove into the planet's surface.





Appearing on the surface, the ponies surveyed their latest landscape. They saw the barren waste of what was left of Old Russia with scattered Fallen patrol.

"Take it in." Mercer commented.

"Is... is this it?" Annie asked.

"Yes..." Dia told them. "It's been a while since the collapse, but we've managed to take back some of this area."

"It's..." Claire started to speak.

"We should get moving." Karas said. "The rest of you can patrol the area. Claire and T are coming with me."

"B-b-b-but Annie! She'll need my help." T trued to argue to the Titan.

"Don't worry T, I'll be right by Dia." Annie assured him.

As the group conversed, Karas's ghost appeared.

"They don't have a sparrow, and I doubt you plan to walk." It said to him. "I could contact Holiday with the idea of a modification to fit the two, but it'll take until we get back to the Tower."

"Well we're not leaving till we complete the mission..." Karas said to his Ghost as he thought of a plan.

That was when Ghost has an idea. It looked over at the two dragon-hybrids. "Wait.... they're horses. So speed should be something they excel at." 

"I'm listening..." The Titan responded.

"How fast do you think those two can run?"





Sighing to himself, the lone Warlock sat down and looked out to the Mothyards, seeing the Fallen patrol the area as they searched for what little there was to scavenge. Clutching his rifle tight, he stood up at the sound of heavy thudding a the sound of a Sparrows engine grew close.

Aiming down the sights as the barrel glowed a blue hue, the Warlock was surprised to see a sparrow leading two animals in Guardian armor. The green one was galloping while the one in purple ran like a pawed creature.

Watching as the Sparrow soared by, the two creatures ran by, one slowing down briefly to speak in a slight British accent.

"Hello there." She said to him before taking off in a sprint.

Watching as the three ran to their destination, the Warlock turned back and sprinted to assault a Fallen patrol.

As the two got to the entrance of the Lunar Complex, Karas unmounted his vehicle and readied his rifle.

"In order to get to the Skywatch, we have to go through here." He explained. "I advise heavy caution." 

Nodding, the two followed him in to the worn building. The interior degraded through time as tile from the ceiling were missing and the ground was cracked. The two turned a corner to see a different site. Two Dreg were patrolling an entrance that was covered in an unknown material while crystals glowed.

Popping the two, Karas crouched and examined the substance that covered that walls. The two looked in curiosity.

"What is this stuff...?" Claire asked.

"It's a residue from the Hive. A secretion they use for territory." The Titan said as he stood up. "We need to get moving. The Skywatch is just through here. Raine has reported about a Fallen captain rallying troops for something."

The three walked up the stairs, Ghost appearing to give them light as they ascended to the top.

"Kinda glad Annie isn't here..." T said.

"Why so?" The Titan asked as he moved slowly up the stairs.

"She hates the dark." T answered.

Without responding, the Titan turned the corner and aimed his shotgun, finding no enemies waiting like he expected. Sighing, he lowered his weapon and walked through the dark area. The three followed him as they tried their best to see through the blinding blackness as the only sound was their foot and hoof steps echoing throughout.

"T, I get your nervous put can you not hold on to me." Claire scolded.

"Uh.... that's not me..." T responded.

Before Karas could look over, a shriek pierced the air as a Thrall sank it's claws through Claire's armor, causing her to scream in pain. T tacled the creature off of his sister and tore into it with his Void-fused claws as the room lit up green.

"Ambush!" Karas yelled as he fired is shotgun at several Knights that were waiting in the corner before dodging a Boomer fire. T wasted no time in helping his sister up and pulling her away as a Cursed Thrall exploded near them, almost knocking the air out of the Dragon as he got up and hissed menacingly at a Wizard.  

Hissing back, the Wizard poisoned the air, which weighed down on the group as they tried to get away from the toxic mist. The Titan managed to hop away and began to fire at the Wizard before stopping to see the two leap on to the vile being and tear her apart with their power-infused claws.

Watching the dragon side of them take over, Karas saw the Wizard be attacked by the two before letting out a final howl and crumbling to dust. As he turned, T swung his tail and slammed a Knight into the wall and crushed it before looking at a swarm of Thrall that his sister attacked. Claire swiped through the horde and yelled a battle cry as the Thrall turned to ash with every claw strike. 

Karas looked around to see the room was devoid of all Hive forces. Sighing, looked back at the two to see them catching their breath.

"Nice work Guardians..." He told them.

"Yeah..." Claire responded, looking over to her brother, who was panting.

"We need to hurry. The Fallen are gathering and the Skywatch and no Guardians have been able to secure that area." Karas told them, loading a shell into his shotgun before pumping it.

Standing up, T shook his head to clear his mind. "Yeah... lets hurry and get out of here." 





"Clarity, T, can you two come in here please?" Rarity's voice sounded from down stairs. The siblings noticed that her tone was much more serious compared to other times. Walking down stairs, the two young kirin's walked down to see their father and mother waiting for them.

"Yes... what is it mother?" Claire asked her.

"Well.... you two are getting older and we decided it's best we have this talk." Spike said.

"You see.... you may be aware that you're half dragon..." Rarity explained. 

The two nodded.

"Well, there are certain instincts that come with being a Dragon that you may feel.... try to take over. It's important that you resist wahtever urges you feel." 

The Titan led them up more stairs to a brighter room, where his Ghost switched off the light and disappeared. Looking around, the area was clear of Hive markings and didn't have a single minion of the Darkness in it. Echoing through the halls were chants of some kind from outside.

"We're getting close, I doubt we can take out the entire Fallen forces but assassinating their captain is a good start." Karas said as he broke off into a sprint with the two tailing him. The raced down a hallway and were greeted by the sun shining outside. Running over to a nearby shack, the Titan slid into cover and pulled out his rifle.

A crowd of Fallen had gathered in the area, cheering on as a Captain preached to them, raising his two arms in the air as he roared over the audience, who cried back in excitement in an unknown language to the Guardians.

"There he is, on top of that rock. I don't know what they're planning to do... but.... wait a minute..." Karas focused more and examined the Fallen Captain from a far. "I was told he had Yellow armor... that one is wearing blue."

A loud thud was heard behind them. As he began to turn around, Karas was grabbed by the back of his neck and thrown into the wall by the real Fallen captain. Before he could get up, the Titan was pinned to the ground by his foot as the Fallen raised it's arc blade over it's head and was prepared to finish the Guardian.





"Okay guys, your mom didn't want me to tell you this. I wanted to wait till you were older." Spike said as he tucked them into bed. "Those instincts.... you should know how to use them..."

"Why daddy?" T asked, snuggling his toy in his bed.

"Well.... something your mom doesn't get is that sometime it takes a dragon to be able to protect his loved one with their strength. I know that at sometime, you'll have the desire to protect those you care about... and that desire will turn into dedication... and dedication turns to burning motivation."

As the Fallen captain swung down to end the Titan, he was tackled by a snarling T and Claire as the two ripped him apart. Karas got up and watched as the Captain was helpless as the two Kirin tore him to pieces as his body was consumed in Solar and Void powers.

As the last piece of the Fallen faded away into the wind, the two sat down, panting as they looked at each other and realized what they've done.

"Our mission is done... take us to orbit Ghost. Let the others know we'll be at the Tower." Karas said as he sat down with the two.
> Story: A lack of Color
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------



Find info on Raine-18's reports about the Hive infiltrating the AI core with Annie.





Annie dipped her brush into blue paint and squinted as she dragged it across the paper using her magic. She spun the paint brush into a cup of water before dabbing it on the edge of the cup. She then used the green paint as painted back and fourth at the page. 

Fluttershy walked through the front door, sighing as she placed a bag of groceries on the kitchen table. 

"Hello Annie." She smiled sweetly to her daughter.

"Hey mom!" She waved in the direction of her voice. "I was just painting."

"Oh, can I see?" Fluttershy trotted over to look at her daughters painting. It was a wide array of colors that were painted carefully onto the paper.

"It's of my friends." Annie explained.

"Wow Annie, you used the colors just perfectly." Her mom said, pulling her daughter in for a hug.





[Day Three]

The jumpship soared over the atmosphere. Inside, T clutched Annie's hoof as if she was gonna disappear if he let go.  

"Hey T, I wouldn't mind having my hoof later." She said.

As the two stayed close to each other, Diamante piloted the ship while her Ghost explained the mission.

"Raine's intelligence suggests that the Hive are hiding the Shard near the AI core. The Fallen are planning to assault them and take it. We have to scout the area if we're gonna be able to launch a strike on Earth."

"Hm..." Dia thought. "I'm not sure if the ten of us can take on an assault.

"We can plan things out later, lets see what's down there for us." Ghost said as the ship dove into the planet below.





The group appeared on the ground. The rest of the Guardians were on patrol as Dia summoned her sparrow.

"Get on, we don't have much time." She told Annie.

"Alright." She nodded before turning to T, who shuffled his paws nervously. 

"Okay T, you go find the rest of the Guardians."

"Uhm... we should look for them together..." T tried to argue. "So incase something...."

"T." Dia scolded. "Mercer is waiting for you over there. Go now."

Hanging his head, T walked off. Annie sighed as she climbed onto the sparrow and put her hooves around Dia's waste.

"Okay, you've gone this fast before right?" The Warlock asked.

"Uhm..."





"Alright Annie, I'll just step off this cloud..." Prism told her as she held onto his back tightly.

The only thing that was louder than her screams was the wind zooming past her ears.





"Yep.... something like this.... I think." Annie told her.

"Alright. Hang on tight cause we're not stopping till we get there." Dia said as she pulled on the throttle.

Leaving a trail, the Guardians sped off as the rest of the group began to patrol the surrounding areas.

To Annie's surprised, she stayed calm as the sparrow turned sharply and flew over a large gap. Dia seemed like a good enough driver and wasn't trying to scare her on purpose.

Annie had held her eyes shut before opening them to see them riding right by a river in a passage way. Dia had steered to go right through a small waterfall, in which Annie reache her hoof out and watched it skim across the gentle surface of the water.

"We're almost there Annie." Dia told her as they arrived to the Forgotten shore, being alerted of a fellow Guardian nearby. "Our first stop is an outpost on top of that hill." She told Annie.

"Okay..." Annie said as they sped past abandon ships that housed several Fallen.

"Are we... gonna take care of those guys?" She asked.

"We don't need to." Dia said. Within mere moments, sniper fire was heard. Annie turned over to see all of the Fallen have their souls ripped from their body.

"It's taken care of." The Warlock spoke.

The two arrived to a very old building that overlooked the whole area. Dismounting from the Sparrow, Dia walked over and inside the building.

"Annie, can you keep watch?" She asked.

"You know who you're asking right?" 

Dia giggled lightly. "I know you can spot something coming."

The unicorn nodded. "Alright."

As Annie assumed a guard position, Dia went over to an old console and deployed her Ghost.

"Tell me what you got, Ghost."

"Rasputin is safe, but the Hive still managed to get the Shard near his core. Though it shows they plan to move it soon." Ghost explain.

"Hm... looks like Raine was right. Lets get-"

"Uhm.... Dia!" Annie yelled.

The Warlock rushed outside to see a massive army of Fallen landing on to the shore. Several squads formed and began to attack the Hive that have come from the building where the AI core was housed.

"This is not good. Ghost, tell the others we went to orbit." Dia told it.

"I never was given the order to take you two to orbit." Her Ghost responded.

"Don't you get smart with me." Dia turned and pointed a finger at her Ghost. "This is a serious situation. Alert every Guardian in the Cosmodrome about this."

Suddenly, Diamante felt a tug on her trench coat. She turned to see a group of Fallen aiming at her.

"Or summon Sparrow! Whatever comes first!" She yelled as her Sparrow was formed under her feet. Annie hopped on as the Guardian sped off. She didn't get far before Fallen took noticed and shot down her Sparrow. The two were ejected from it as the vehicle sped off and exploded. Without hesitation, they ran into the rusted sailboat that was on shore.

"Okay Annie, I need you to stay calm." Dia told her friend as she readied her rifle and got to cover. "We'll wait for a break and make a run for it."

"No... I think we can leave now."

"Are you mad!? There are hundred of Fallen out there." The Warlock said before leaning to avoid projectiles being fired at her.

"No! There's a small break we can drive your sparrow through."

Dia ran over and looked to where Annie was pointing and sure enough, there was a small gap between the Fallen forces.

"Alright, we'll do it your way." She said as her Sparrow was summoned once more. The two charge out of the area at lightning fast speeds as several Fallen opened fire on them.

From the distance, the same sniper fire was heard. A hunter in blue armor could be seen covering their escape. Annie waved to them as the Sparrow turned down the pathway.

"Let the speaker know we know where the Shard is." Dia spoke to her Ghost. "We'll plan the strike as soon as we get back to the Tower."

> Story: Night vision
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------



Use the cover of night and take Prism to study Fallen movements.



"That ambush at the Forgotten shore was no coincidence." Ghost spoke to the two hunters. "It's obvious something is happening near Rasputins core. You two will need to investigate the Rocketyard. There's been reports of a Fallen captain who has a key to the AI core here."

As Mercer piloted the ship, Prism sat in the back and shuffled his hooves nervously. He glanced a little at the Hunter, wondering what was going through his mind. The Pegasus went back to minding his business

"Don't give me a look." Mercer had said sternly 

"I wasn't giv-"

"I know you were giving me a look." Mercer told him.

Prism sighed, showing signs of getting frustrated. "Look, I'm sorry. Are you really making me do this?" He asked.

"You saw me. I had to make sure you wouldn't tell them while I was gone." Mercer said to the stallion.

"Hey man, I was going to the bathroom. It's not my fault that when I see you walking out your room and loading a pulse rifle that I get suspicious."

"And now you're here with me." Mercer told him. "I'm glad we could come to an agreement."

"Agreement!?" Prism threw his hooves up in frustration.

"Relax, this will only be for a moment." Mercer said. "Ghost, we there?"

"Yes we are." The little floating pylon told them. "Bring us in, Guardian."

Mercer dove the ship into the planets atmosphere, Prism yelling at the g-force he was feeling in the ship hull.





It was there again, in his dreams. The arrow of purple light that pierced his mind from time to time.

Why must it appear now? Every time it does, it seems to tell Mercer there's something he needs to do. He saw it the night before he agreed to go to the Black Garden. It appeared after the Vault of Glass was open, prompting him to go in with a fire team.

It was a blessing and a curse to the Hunter. But he knew it was a way of reminding him of goals for humanity.

What would she be doing if she was there.... he wondered. Wasn't there something about a key?

Yes.... to the AI core. Sounds like something she would be into.

Getting out of bed, Mercer went over and examined  his weapons. He glanced above his desk and saw the mounted, rusted handcannon. A solo job would require more than a Handcannon. He decided to take his Coiled Hiss 1919, his pulse rifle that he saved for certain missions.

Walking out of his room with the weapon in hand, Mercer closed the door and was surprised with Prism running into him.

"Oh hey..." The Pegasus said. ''What'cha up to?" He asked.

"Come on." Mercer told the pony. "Lets go."

For some reason, Prism said nothing else and agreed to follow the hunter.





The two landed onto the Earth's surface just as snow began to fall. Prism looked up to see only a small amount of clouds in the sky. That left enough space to see the bright stars that lit the Divide.

"You guys don't have someone who takes care of the clouds do you?" Prism asked.

"No... do you?" Mercer asked as he was checking his weapons.

"Yeah..." Prism said, still in awe over the scenery. "Pegasi can stand on clouds... so we can make it rain. My mom was a weather pony."

"Really now... I'd love to hear about." Mercer's tone dropped. "But right now, we need to move. It's luck if they wake up and find out we're gone."

"Right... so where to?" Prism asked.

"Not to far. It's a quick sparrow ride to where our target is." Mercer turned back to his ally. "How fast can you fly?"

Prism flared his wings, sparking them a little with arc energy as a sly and confident grin appeared under his helmet. "Wanna see?"

"No." Mercer said flatly. "You'll need to follow me, unless you've been here already. You won't know the way."

Prisms wings fell to the ground. "Way to kill a dudes excitement."

"Listen, we're in a good spot." Mercer said, looking around. Aside from a few buildings, the landscape was near empty. "This place has been considered good luck ever since a Warlock shot their way out of here."

"Really...?" Prism asked. "That's considered good luck to you guys."

"Well considering the odds they and their ghost were up against, I'd say yes." Mercer told the Pegasus as his Sparrow was formed. "You stay behind me and follow." He commanded.

"You got it boss." Prism responded. "Lead the way." He said in forced enthusiasm.

"Alright, lets make it quick." The Hunter said before speeding off, Prism following him.





Opening the door, the Warlock sighed upon seeing it empty. Fearing the worst, she turned and tiptoed through the hall and down to the where she was told they stayed at. Opening the door, she peeked inside to see the ponies sleeping in their bed.

Sighing relief, she closed the door. It opened again as she counted six. That was good right? 

No, there were Seven!

Closing the door once more, she sighed and walked back to her quarters. She couldn't leave, and so help Mercer if he came back alone.





Mercer saw the target, yet he wish he could pick him off from the distance he hid. Sadly, it would have been easy for the Fallen patrol to leave the moment he picked one off. He didn't even know which one had the key.

"So, which one are we supposed to get?" Prism asked loudly. Mercer darted his hand over to ponies mouth and held it shut.

"Quiet! We can't let them see us." Mercer whispered to Prism. The two watched from the shadows.

Within the Rocketyards, the two watched an entrance to old Fallen Hideout that belonged to the House of Kings. The pair of Guardians had been waiting for a perfect moment to strike.

"We need to hurry up. They'll know we're gone soon if they haven't found out already." Prism told him.

"I know, just give me some time." Mercer responded.

"We don't have time." Prism replied. "We have to hurry up and get back to the Tower."

"Alright, just calm down." Mercer said. "Okay... we're going to have to charge in there and wipe them out as quickly as we can."

"Will that work?" The Pegasus asked, showing signs of getting nervous.

"Yes, don't you want to brag to your girlfriend about wiping out a group of fallen." Mercer told him.

"I said she wasn't my girlfriend." Prism explained. "So we're just gonna have to charge in. You have me back?"

"Of course." Mercer said as he cocked a shotgun. "We just need to go-"

The two watched as a Titan ran into the entrance of the Kings watch and began to open fire at the Fallen.

"NOW!" Mercer yelled as he ran at the Fallen, Prism following behind him with his wings readied.

Prism leaped over and flapped his wings to do a flip and slashed down the back of a Fallen dreg. Mercer slid underneath the Pony and kicked the Dreg as it was burning away. He fired a shotgun shell into the face of a Vandal before turning to see the Titan punching a captain to death. Suddenly, another Captain jumped on top of her and pinned her on her back. She looked over to Mercer as he slid his shotgun over to her, which she took to bash the Fallen in the face before shooting her. 

Prism looked over to see a Captain trying to sneak away. The pony charged at him and tackled him to the ground. The Titan ran over and stomped on the Fallen's head until it's soul was ripped from his head. Mercer ran over and saw a kind of device on it's chest. He grabbed it and examined it.

"Just what I was looking for." He said. The hunter turned to his fellow Guardian. "Thanks for the help."

"Didn't know you even needed it." A female voice spoke. Prism perked up at the sound of her voice. "But I guess we'll be going to Rasputins core then?" 

"Yeah, get a fireteam ready. We'll need a lot of help." Mercer told her.

"You got it, boss." She said, before turning away.

As she walked off, Prism thought she sounded a lot like Whirlwind. For some reason, he felt his face heat up.

"Come on, we got to get back." Mercer said as he pulled out his Ghost and returned the two to orbit.





The two arrived back to the tower. Only a few Guardians were awake at this hour. The two quickly made their way down the stairs to the living quarters.

"Okay, hurry back and if anyone asks you had to use the bathroom." Mercer told Prism.

"Oh, for two hours?" A voice asked. The two froze in their tracks as they turned to the source.

Ikora stood n the darkened hall, smiling at them. "I'll be honest, I was gonna shoot Mercer if he came back alone."

"I wouldn't blame you." He responded. "But I'm guessing you'll let this slide right?"

"Well.... as much as you deserve scolding for taking a Tower guest on a late night mission.... I used to do the same." 

Prism let out a sigh of relief. "Get some sleep boys." She told them before leaving them.

"Alright... I'm going to bed. Goodnight Prism." Mercer said before walking off.

"Hey wait!" Prism called out, only to see his friend had disappeared. Sighing, Prism walked back to his room. He silently crept in and into his bed. Amazingly, no one woke up to find him gone. He was shocked. He really just snuck out of the tower and went on a quick mission.

"Wow..." he whispered in his bed. "I can't wait to tell everypony about this back home."

Laying his head on the pillow, he drifted off to sleep.





Prism and Whirlwind rested on a cloud overlooking Rainbow Falls, both tired after a long day of training. Stretching her wings, Whirlwind let them fall to her side, one happen to wrap around Prism.

"Man.... I can't wait to try out for the Equestrian games." She said.

"Same here." Prism said. "And if there's anypony who can make it, it's-"

"Let me guess," Whirlwind cut him off. "You."

"Actually..." Prism stammered for a moment. "I was gonna say both of us." He said, turning to her.

"Aw. Finally you realize how much better I am at flying then you." She replied.

"Yeah yeah." Prism said. "But I'd miss you to much when if I got picked and have to leave for the Crystal Empire without you."

"Oh hush." Whirlwind slugged his arm with her hoof before giggling and pulling him close. "Good thing I'm so great that we'd be going together." She said.

"Yeah...." Prism looked out into the distance, seeing a noticeable outline of a celestial body. "Good thing we'd leave together..."