> Guardian Down
>  by Driftie
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

> Books of Harmony-Verse 1:1 Arrival
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

"Guardian down." Mordecai sighed for the fifteenth time during the Crucible match.  He was scoped in with his LDR 5001 sniper rifle, staring at his teammate's downed body and his floating Ghost.  Whenever Doubles showed up as the weekly Crucible event, he would always be paired with newly revived Guardians who wanted a taste of the Crucible.  If he wasn't with one of his fireteam members, Lord Shaxx saw an opportunity for inexperienced Guardians to meet "The Legend." 

Most Guardians have heard of his accomplishments as Mordecai quickly rose through the ranks of the Light and became Legend.  He destroyed the heart of the Black Garden, led the raid on the Vault of Glass, and struck a Hive God down with his own blade.  There was also the Fallen uprising at the Reef, in which he took down the self proclaimed Kell of Kells.  His most recent achievement, defeating Oryx the Taken King, and halting his invasion had only cemented his status as "The Legend."  His fireteam of five was also recognized, each of them getting their own unique titles and fame.  They gained utmost respect from the Speaker and the Vanguard. 

If only fame didn't lead to being put together with blueberries, thought Mordecai.  His teammate, a Hunter named Chandler, had simply walked into the hallway and got sniped in the head.  Chandler really didn't pay attention to his radar, as red flared up on Mordecai's.  He held the scope to his eye and took careful aim near the floating Ghost.  A Warlock slid past Chandler's Ghost, opening fire at him with a scout rifle.  Only two shots hit Mordecai in his chest as his energy shield made of Light took the damage.  Quickly, he lined up his shot.  To a Hunter like himself, sniping was as natural as breathing.  Pulling the trigger, he was rewarded with the kill as the Warlock's body crumpled to the ground.

Red flared up on the radar again, this time behind him.  Acting quickly, Mordecai used shadestep, a evasive roll powered by the Void, to get out of the way of a shoulder-charging Titan.  He double jumped in the air, then threw a smoke grenade at the Titan's feet, disorienting him.  Mordecai switched to his Eyasluna and finished him with two shots to the head.  With only fifty points needed to win the game, he made his way to Chandler's Ghost.

"Thanks for the warning Rain. Really helped out right there."  Mordecai jokingly said to his Ghost as he reloaded his hand cannon. Chandler's Ghost seemed to light up at his approach.

"Hehehe we both knew you didn't need me to tell about the infamous shoulder charge," Rain retorted back.  "Cayde also wants to talk to you about something Guardian. He says it's rather important so let's finish up here."

Wonder what he wants? Mordecai pondered.  He focused and felt some of the Light leave his body and into Chandler's ghost.  The ghost used the energy to repair Chandler's body.  With a flash of bright light, he was alive again.  "Splendid work Guardians.  Victory goes to Bravo Team" called out Lord Shaxx on their team voice channel.

Chandler turned to him and apologized "I'm sorry I died a lot Mordecai Sir.  I saw them on my radar but I didn't know where they were and just-" 

Mordecai patted him the back and said "Don't worry about it.  The radar is difficult to understand but becomes clearer the more you use it."  He had flashbacks to his first couple of games into the Crucible and suffice to say, they were downright laughable.  He was just like Chandler when he started, a blueberry getting assists and dying way too many times to count.  He was sure Rain must've had a headache if that were possible, with the number of times he had to be revived.

"Thank you so much for the advice, it was amazing watching you work,"  Chandler gushed out to Mordecai, "I can see now why you're a Trials of Osiris Champion.  Any more advice?"

Mordecai smirked under his helmet.  "Don't just walk into hallways and around corners because that's what guardians expect you to do.  Sliding, shadestepping or jumping will surprise them."  Mordecai gave what he just said some thought.  "Unless of course they're seasoned in the Crucible so it's really up to luck.  May the Light protect you Chandler."  Mordecai said as he was transmatted to his ship.  He quickly set a course to the Tower,  and made a jump into warp space.







Having landed in the Tower's hangar, Mordecai made his way to the Vanguard.  Some fellow Guardians saw him and said their greetings.  Lord Shaxx nodded to him as he passed by the Crucible Handler.  Approaching the Vanguard Hall, Mordecai saw Cayde-6, the Hunter Vanguard, who was studying a map of Oryx's Dreadnaught on the right side of the long Vanguard table.  Across him was Ikora Rey, the Warlock Vanguard, looking at her data pad. Commander Zavala, the Titan Vanguard, was looking at a pile of reports in front of him as he stood at the head of the table.  The Dreadnaught was left floating in Saturn's rings after the Taken King's final death, as destroying it was out of the question since it would take out most of Sol with the explosion.  Upon further inspection however, the massive ship was side by side to a massive cube-like structure, with a giant portal in the center.  Mordecai instantly recognized the design.  It was the Vex.

"What's the situation?"  Asked Mordecai as he looked to the Vanguard.

"It appears that the Vex are leading some sort of assault on the Dreadnaught Guardian.  We at first believed that they were going to destroy it, and had prepared a small fleet of guardians to stop this threat.  This was not the case it seems."  Zavala informed him as he turned his gaze from Mordecai to Ikora.  

Mordecai looked to her as well as she put down her data pad.  "Observations show that while the Vex are fighting the Hive on the Dreadnaught, they seem only to distract the Hive from their spacecraft.  This cube, appears to be a giant Vex time portal, and with that it seems that Vex are going to attempt to take it through time.  We don't know what will happen as a result.  We want you to take a closer look and scout for more information." 

Ikora then turned to Cayde with a disappointed gaze as he stirred a bowl of spicy ramen.  "Cayde!" 

He jumped and dropped his spoon back into the bowl.  "My bad Ikora. Anyway Guardian, you should stock up on supplies and anything else you might need.  Scout closely, but not too close since going forward or back in time might be hazardous to your health.  I will also be giving you another stealth drive so you won't be a target flying around."  Cayde instructed Mordecai.

Mordecai responded to Cayde with a flat stare, remembering the last time Cayde gave him the stealth drive.  It resulted in the stealth drives failing, his ship (Eris's ship) being detected by the Dreadnaught, and being almost wiped out as the ship was destroyed.  He was stranded on the Dreadnaught until he was able to make a transmat zone, a stepping stone towards the goal to take out the Taken King.  

Cayde stared back at him before snickering.  "Don't worry Guardian, I've made modifications to the already modified stealth drive to not fail this time.  Now get out there and follow your Hunter instincts!" 

Zavala and Ikora both wished him and Rain luck on their scouting mission.  Quickly stocking up on as much ammo as his glimmer could buy, Mordecai got on his ship, Hebridean Thoughtcrime, and made a jump towards Saturn.







Seeing the Dreadnaught always made Mordecai's hairs stand up on end.  The massively dark, rectangular ship seemed to be in a state of decay, reminiscent of all Hive structures.  The Vex cube ship had stationed itself right in front of the Dreadnaught's dish weapon.  Mordecai's ship flew near both, safe from any transgression as his ship was cloaked by the stealth drives.

He had been scouting around the Vex Cube for several hours now, sending whatever data he collected straight to the Vanguard.  He was messing with his data pad before his Ghost Rain grabbed his attention.

"Guardian, look!"  He yelled worriedly.

Mordecai watched as the time portal on the Vex cube started to glow and pulse as it powered on.  Before he could respond the time portal shot out a beam of light at the Dreadnaught, enveloping it in a white glow.  This glow however, turned from a bright white to a sick green as the Dreadnaught seemed to emit it's own power.  

Deciding he had collected enough data, Mordecai got ready to make a jump back to Earth when his ship's sensors started going off.  He had only a couple of seconds to move his ship out of the way as an asteroid hit the left side of his ship, breaking off the left wing of the craft and sent him spiralling back towards the Dreadnaught.

"Minor damage to the hull, left thrusters lost, and jumpship drives operating at half-capacity.  We're flying dead-stick! "  Rain reported to his guardian.  

Getting control back on his ship, Mordecai realized more asteroids were getting pulled in towards the Dreadnaught.  He could only watch in horror as both the Vex cube and Dreadnaught glowed as bright as the Sun, the conflicting energies meeting in the middle of them.  It was creating some kind of... wormhole.  It was pulling in his ship and the surrounding asteroids toward it.  He grabbed his helmet and slipped it on.  The way he saw it, there was no escape.

"Rain, it was a pleasure fighting alongside you, thank you for choosing me to be your guardian."  Mordecai said as he faced his ghost, fearing this will be his last life.

"Mordecai, thank you for being the best guardian any ghost would wish for. May the Traveller's Light keep us safe."  His ghost replied back.  Mordecai was sure if Rain had a face, he would have a proud smile on it.  He watched as he was pulled closer and closer toward the wormhole. 

The wormhole grew bigger as more energy was pumped into it by the Dreadnaught and Vex cube.  Mordecai's ship was pulled into the wormhole, his existence gone from that dimensional plane.  The wormhole quickly enveloped the Dreadnaught and Vex cube,  and then like nothing had ever happened, they were gone.  The only evidence of anything ever being there, was the large hole in Saturn's rings.







Princess Luna walked out of her personal chambers towards the balcony.  Her sister had just lowered the Sun, signalling it was time for her rule of the night to begin.  Luna's horn glowed as she activated her powerful magic, and started to raise her Moon.  While the Moon replaced the Sun's former position,  Luna raised a brow as she felt something small pass by it.  This object was of no concern to Luna, as meteors would occasionally drift towards the planet but were small enough to burn up in the atmosphere.  However, this object made it's way past it.

Luna took to the air with a flap of her wings to get a better view of where the impact would be.  It was small enough that it wouldn't cause a catastrophe, but she didn't want any of her ponies getting hit by a meteor if she could help it.  

She watched it fall toward the Everfree Forest, where she saw it impact.  She hoped the impact didn't disturb any of Ponyville's residents as they slept, as she was interested in their dreams.  She landed back on her balcony content that no destruction was brought to any of her ponies.  She was sure to tell her sister of what had transpired as well as Twilight Sparkle, as she was sure the young alicorn would be very interested in finding the space rock and studying it.  

However, once she turned back to head inside her quarters, she felt a pulse of very powerful magic from behind her.  Looking back to where it originated, she was sure it came from the meteor crash.  Now she was definitely going to tell Tia. 

"Tis interesting."  She said to herself while she got ready to start her night court.
> Verse 1:2 Exploration
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

The last thing Mordecai remembered was entering the wormhole.  Waking up, he felt immense pain, causing him to shut his eyes and grind his teeth to bear it.  It was as if his body was being pulled in every direction and his head felt like he had taken several swan dives off the Tower only to land head first in the City.  He could hear Rain speaking to him, but his ears were ringing.  Forcing a eye open, Mordecai saw they were entering a planet's atmosphere.  What really grabbed his attention, was that it looked like Earth.  

"Guardian prepare for re-entry!"  Rain said to the still disoriented Mordecai.  His ghost then proceeded to pop into his backpack of Light, safe from the outside world.

His ship began to shake violently as they got closer to the planet's surface.  His headache dulled down to a light pounding sensation and he was able to think clearly again.  He grasped at the ship controls, attempting to slow the inevitable crash landing.  A very large forest came into view, and they were going to crash right in it.

"Brace for impa-" Mordecai's head was slammed down into his ship's controls as they hit trees sailing towards the ground.  He lifted his head, once again threatening to burst from the pain, when they hit the ground.

His head was whipped forward so violently it broke his neck and destroyed the visor of his helmet.  The ship continued along the forest floor for a couple of feet before coming to a stop.  The forest was nearly silent, with nothing but the sounds of disturbed wildlife scrambling to get away from the crash site plaguing it.  

Rain popped back into existence, and looked at Mordecai's dead body.  Blood was starting to seep from his helmet and covered the consoles with a bloody mess.  He probed at his Light, and then connected it to Mordecai's.  Bending it to his control, he removed Mordecai's damaged helmet and began to repair his neck and body.  Satisfied with his work, he restarted Mordecai's corpse and the Light washed over him, releasing a small pulse as Mordecai breathed fresh air.  He was back in the world of the living.  

"Thanks for the revive."  Mordecai said as he grabbed his helmet and inspected the damage.  His visor had shattered, but besides that, it was intact and could be fixed.  Getting out of the cockpit, he walked to the vault in his ship.  He accessed the armor compartment and grabbed a spare visor.  Slipping the visor into place and securing it, he put it back on along with his hood.  

His Ghost appeared at his side and began his report.  "Our ship badly is damaged and we currently have no means of repairing it.  That is not the most troubling news however.  This planet, while very similar to Earth, is not it.  There were no space debris from satellites and communication systems are nothing but static."  Rain said.

"Well maybe we were thrown back to an earlier time?" Mordecai asked him, hoping there was a way out of their predicament.  He remembered the transmissions of Praedyth, a Warlock who was forever lost in time due to the Vault of Glass.  He was beginning to feel despair claw at him.

"No Guardian, you don't understand.  This planet... shouldn't even exist.  The Sun and Moon seem to orbit the planet itself, which shouldn't be possible.  The laws of physics is being utterly violated by this planet's existence.  I would like to say it's the Vex doing, but now, I'm not too sure."

Mordecai pondered his words.  Where in the Traveller are we then? Mordecai walked back to the ship's control console.  He had damaged it when his head smacked into it, but it was somewhat useable.  He activated a distress signal, wondering if it was vain.  The Last City and it's guardians have never ventured outside of their Solar System, and star maps have never indicated such a planet.  He was far away from his home, his friends and allies, and the Travell-

"Rain how do we still have Light?!" Mordecai asked very alarmed.  There was no way the Traveller's Light could reach them here, but he felt his Nightstalker Tether waiting on him to draw it.  

"I know this isn't going to make sense Guardian, but this planet is saturated with a kind of natural Light.  It's not the Traveller's, but extremely similar.  It's emanating from this planet's core."  Rain answered.  Mordecai took a deep breath and focused, feeling the Light all around him, the ship, and the planet itself.  He had so many questions, but they weren't going help him in this situation.

"I'm done questioning this place for right now.  Any helpful information?"

"I saw brief signs of a civilization, North of our current position.  I suggest we head there to scout for information, but with extreme caution Guardian.  We don't know what kind of monstrosities are on this planet."  








Scootaloo had thought the meteor was coming straight for Ponyville until it fell below her expectations, literally.  It had landed somewhere deep in the Everfree Forest.  She had gotten a good view of it due to her home being along the outskirts of Ponyville, closer to the dark forest than the center of the town.  She was practising scooter tricks in her backyard when she saw the bright light crash in the Everfree.  

A bright idea suddenly popped up in her head.  What if she could get a cutie-mark related to finding the meteor?  Scootaloo clapped her hooves together as she got giddy thinking about it.  She was sure to tell Applebloom and Sweetie about it in the morning.  








It had been several hours after what the Vanguard dubbed "The Time Hole."  Mordecai had gathered a lot of external information about the Vex cube before sending one last message.  It read, "Time portal is powering on.  Gotta go."  Attempts at contacting him after resulted in only silence as he, the Dreadnaught, and Vex cube was sucked into a wormhole.  The Vanguard immediately sent out their best Guardians to search for any signs of Mordecai, among them his fireteam.  The only thing they managed to find, was the broken off left wing of his ship.  

The Speaker called for every active guardian in the field, from the sandy dunes of Mars, to the Awoken's Reef to attend Mordecai's memorial.  The Tower was full of guardians new and old, of every race and class.  The Speaker stood before each and every one of them, his gaze falling on the Vanguard, Lord Shaxx, and Mordecai's fireteam directly below him.  Whenever the Speaker would call for a speech, there would always be chatter before he began.  Now however, there was only silence.  News of what happened spread fast among them.  Not a single word from anyone was heard, not even from the chatty Cayde, who tried to play off his deep mourning over the lost of the young Hunter he mentored and helped build into a fine Guardian.  

"Mordecai started out just like every other Guardian here today,"  The Speaker began.  "I can still remember the day he showed up in the Tower, curious about what he could do to help out the Traveller.  He set out with the mission every Guardian has, to push back the Darkness and take back our Solar System.  He completed mission after mission, strike after strike, defeating our enemies and bringing hope to us all.  He died countless times, but rose up even stronger than the last, persevering towards a brighter future."  

"We know of his accomplishments, for they are what made him earn a spot besides other Legends such as Saint-14 and the Iron Lords.  He will not be the last, for he has inspired all of us, to become Legend. Let us remember him forever, as a bright beacon of hope, and his dogged determination to see Humanity prevail over the Darkness.  May he rest well, in the Traveller's Light."  The Tower roared with applause and shouting as the guardians rejoiced the Speaker's speech.  They all talked among each other, recalling the amazing stories and events Mordecai played a part in, inspiring themselves with his grandeur.








Mordecai stealthily walked through the forest, his High Road Soldier scout rifle in his grip.  The forest was extremely unsettling to him for some reason, but he couldn't put a finger on it.  He had been walking in the forest for several miles now, and had to double jump over a wide river to get to his destination.  He would see occasional signs of wildlife, woodland critters like squirrels and rabbits scurrying along the ground.  Seeing the same kind of animals from Earth here only intrigued him more. He looked up at the Moon, and relished in it's beauty.  Unlike the Moon he had known, this one had no shattered surface from a Hive God' blade.

His radar flared up with multiple red spots behind him, causing Mordecai to quickly turn around and hold up his weapon.  Numerous pairs of green eyes met his silver visor.  The Hive are here?  He asked himself in disbelief.  Upon further inspection however, he realized that while similar, this was not the case.  Their bodies appeared wolf-like, made of what seemed like wood and branches, not chitin.  They quickly surrounded him, and began to move closer towards their prey.  Mordecai formed a ball of Void energy in his palm, and waited.  

Just like he had anticipated, the wolves all lunged towards him at the same time.  He double jumped in the air, well over the wolves who had crashed into each other.  With his Void grenade ready, he threw it at them.  The result was almost instantaneous.  The Void Grenade landed on three wolves, killing them on contact.  Two more wolves followed after the three as they were in the grenade's radius, and were consumed by the Void.  Mordecai counted four wolves who had survived and aimed at their heads.  Shooting at them, he hit two in head, collapsing them into timbers while the final two lunged at him.  Shadestepping out of the way, he pulled his knife and drove it into the head of the wolf closest to him.  It died after the knife was stabbed all the way through what he assumed to be the brain, leaving one wolf standing.  

Mordecai put his knife back into his belt and looked at it, ready to end it as well.  The wooden wolf growled at him, then retreated back deeper into the forest.  Mordecai stayed on guard for about 10 minutes when he decided it was safe again.

"Scan these remains for me Rain.  Are they related to the Hive at all?"  

"These... tree wolves have large trace amounts of this planet's Light.  It seems to have brought them to life.  How it did that, I'm not too sure.  Besides that, they're just a pile of twigs."  Rain informed him after finishing his analysis.

"Hmm that's pretty scary, but considering what we've been against those wolves aren't that bad." Mordecai said, giving the remains one last look before proceeding forward.

Two hours later, he started seeing glimpses of town peeking out from behind the trees.  Coming to the edge of the town, Mordecai knew if he was going to go undetected, then being a Night Stalker wasn't going to cut it.  Focusing on his Light, he harnessed the Arc energy within him and switched his subclass to a Blade Dancer.  Crouching low, he used his Arc energy to distort the air around his body, becoming invisible.  

Double Jumping onto of the roof of the nearest house, he began his reconnaissance.  The designs of the houses reminded him of the pictures he's seen of the early Last City, before the Titans had built the walls.  Jumping from roof to roof, he stayed along the outskirts of the town, noting any peculiar buildings.  He had saw a farmhouse and to the left of the town. Next to it was a large apple orchard.  There was a shop that looked like it was made out cookies and candy, and he considered seeing if it was the real deal but decided not too.  He didn't want to get caught by the townspeople with his hand in the cookie house.  Another thing that caught his eye was a literal tree house standing near the town center.  This place seemed to be something straight out of a kid's dream.  

Mordecai snapped his head to the right when he heard voices.  He dropped from his crouch to lay prone on the roof of the building to avoid being seen.  His invisibility wore off and he was out of sight.  Peeking his head out, he saw two animals walking together on the road.  Confused, he looked for the source of the voices but still couldn't see anyone.  The animals had gotten closer to where he was at, and he could make out their features.  

They both looked like really short horses, but the resemblances had stopped there.  Their muzzles significantly shorter, their legs were boxy, and hooves were less pronounced.  Their eyes were front facing instead of being on the sides of their faces and were very large.  The last thing that stood out was their colorful fur and manes.  One was light blue with a pink mane and blue eyes, while the other shared the same eye color and reverse colors.  Their manes were both swept back by a white hair band.  

Twins, Mordecai realized.  Their owners had to be close around since he could hear them talking.  Looking back at the horses, Mordecai's jaw dropped.  Their mouths were opening and closing, the voices he hared was coming from them.  The closer they got, the clearer it was to him that these horses were having an actual conversation.  What dropped his jaw even further, was that he could understand what they were saying.  They were speaking English!  A million questions ran through his head but once again now wasn't the time to answer them.

They had heavy accents, but Mordecai could make out words like Spa, busy day, and closing up.  They must've just closed up their business.  Mordecai put his head back down and waited for them pass.  Once he could no longer hear them, he turned invisible again.  It was time to go back to the ship and think about the shocking realization he had just witnessed. 

He luckily didn't run into any more wolves on his back to the ship.  Rain had been silent ever since he left, likely mulling over everything Mordecai saw.  "Thoughts?" 

"It's no surprise there's sentient life on this planet due to it's remarkable similarities to Earth.  However, them being able to speak English shouldn't be possible.  There's only two answers that I can come up with, one making some sense and the other... not so much."  Rain said.  Mordecai gazed at him with a worried look.

"I theorize either humans are on this planet and taught the horses our language, or we're in an alternate universe.  I really want to say the second theory isn't true, but we did enter some kind of wormhole.  We're not in the past or future due to this being a geocentric system, which in itself breaks physics.  If we are, then the laws that govern the universe could be completely different than the ones we had.  It's troubling, but it does make sense."  

Mordecai put his head down in his hands.  Everything Rain said made sense no matter how much he didn't want it to.  Raising his head back up,  he decided to ask the one question that had been eating at him ever since they crashed.

"Is there a chance we could get back to Earth?"  He knew the answer deep down inside of his head.

"If we could theoretically open another wormhole, then we might be able to.  However, the circumstances on how we got here would need to be duplicated and sadly, I didn't see any signs of the Dreadnaught nor Vex.  Judging this civilization by their houses, there is no way we will be able to repair our ship because they probably will not have the materials we need, plus neither of us is Amanda Holiday.  Mordecai, as much as I would hate to admit it, we're stuck."  Rain said.

Mordecai felt sick as despair and hopelessness wrapped him in their embrace.  What if the Last City needed him?  What if something bad happened because he wasn't there to stop it?  What if every guardian he had ever met died and the was Traveller destroyed?  What would happen to the remnants of Humanity?  There wasn't a damn thing he could do to stop it.  It felt like he didn't have a purpose anymore.   He may have become a Legend to others, but that didn't mean he had his own weaknesses and doubt.  He had just been at the right place, at the right time.  His head once again found purchase in his hands.

"Eyes up Guardian."  Mordecai looked at Rain, remembering those were among the words he first heard from his mechanical companion.  "We may be stuck here, but that doesn't mean we can't try.  Maybe something on this weird planet can help us.  Don't lose hope just yet."  

"Thank you Rain.  You always know how to cheer me up."  Mordecai said, a new goal forming in his head.  Sitting up, he began to manually pull off his armor, starting with his cloak.  After he had gotten it all off, he walked down to the lower sleeping compartment of his ship.  In there was a small bed, a table and a mirror.  He took a look at himself in the mirror.  Bright blue eyes looked back at him in the reflection.  He had dark skin and curly hair, with stubble starting to grow his face.  Guardians who were revived for the first time would sometimes have features they didn't have in their past life, before the Collapse.  This included eye color and facial marking.  This was due to the Light reacting to their bodies, changing or adding things that were overall trivial.  Mordecai was sure his blue eyes used to be brown, but that didn't matter to him.  Who he was before the Collapse, before the time he was a guardian, he simply didn't remember.

Grabbing a knife off the table by his bed, he began to get rid of the stubble to the best of his ability.  Satisfied he didn't cut himself, he laid down on his bed.  "Rain, turn off all the lights... and goodnight pal."  

"Good night to you as well, Mordecai."
> Verse 1:3 Contact
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Princess Luna walked into the dining hall to meet with her sister for breakfast.  As usual, she was exhausted from taking care of her duties for the night and was really looking forward to getting some rest.  However, she had business to take care of with her sister.  Tia had made her waffles with whipped cream and blueberries on top.  She sat down to the right of sister and levitated a knife to slice into them.

"Good morning Luna, how was the Night Court?"  Celestia asked while she took a sip from her tea.

"Ah, boring as usual.  The Nobles want this, they want that or want something removed because it offends them.  I will never know how you dealt with them for a thousand years.  I've found myself slipping back into the Royal We more than once to handle them."  Luna said as she raised the fork to her muzzle and took a bite out of the waffle slice.  She lost herself in the taste and hummed in approval.  While Tia had always been the better cook, it was ironic the only thing Luna was better at in terms of cooking was baking cakes.

"Sister, did you feel the magical pulse last night?" Levitating a pineapple off the fruit tray, Luna took a large bite out of it.  Celestia raised her cup again to drink the soothing liquid.

"Yes I did Luna, but I left it for you to handle since once the Moon rises everything is in your jurisdiction, not mine.  Did you happen know the cause of it?" Celestia asked her sister, who peeled a banana and ate the peel.  

"Well, a meteor crashed into the Everfree Forest, and shortly after something caused a magical pulse.  Guess where it came from?"

"That's... concerning.  You didn't investigate it?"  Celestia levitated the peeled banana and ate it.

"No, I simply took a page from your book and sent a letter to Twilight Sparkle.  I find it fitting to let the Element of Magic deal with a possible problem of magical nature." Luna saw Tia's alarmed expression and smirked.  "Relax dear sister, I sent a small detachment of my Lunar Guard to watch her and make sure she isn't harmed." 

"While your logic is sound Luna, is sending Twilight to the Everfree really safe?  That is a very dangerous place not meant for ponies.  Why not just send your guard to deal with it?"

Luna looked at her sister with a glare.  "Don't even have me start on sending Twilight on dangerous missions, dear sister."







Mordecai looked over his sharpened throwing knives, taking a second to admire their beauty.  He's forgotten the number of times these knives had saved his life or proved useful in other situations.  Putting them in their holsters on his belt, He got ready to depart his ship.  His thoughts went back to earlier that morning when Rain had woken him up to go look outside.  Startled and confused, he grabbed his Eyasluna and a knife in case it was something bad.  Stepping out of his ship, he had seen what had Rain alarmed.  The Moon was moving incredibly fast, lowering out of his sight in seconds.  The Sun had just as quickly taken its spot, making him avert his eyes.  He felt the strange powerful Light coming from both as they moved.  At this point, the shock of what he had witnessed only affected him mildly.  

After putting his helmet on, he slipped his hood over it and clipped it onto a small latch on the helmet.  He went to his weapon Vault and pulled out his Matador-64 shotgun and Raze Lighter, an Exotic sword.  The sword was put on his back, his Eyasluna in it's holster on his thigh, and shotgun in his hands.  Now that he was geared up, he changed his subclass from Blade Dancer to Gunslinger, fanning the Solar flames inside of him. 

He was ready to head back into the forest.  He had some locals to talk to.







Twilight Sparkle looked over the map Princess Luna sent to her detailing the area where she had expected the meteorite had landed.  She packed everything she needed in her saddlebags and was on her way to the Everfree Forest.  She knew the kind of dangers she faced heading into the forest, and made sure to look over some combat spells.  

Making her way to the forest, she noticed three fillies going there as well.  What didn't surprise her, was that she recognized them.  Her horn lit up as she cast her teleportation spell, appearing in front of the Cutie Mark Crusaders.

"And where did you three think you're going?"  Twilight asked the Crusaders.  They jumped once they saw Twilight was standing right in them.

"Getting our Cutie Marks in meteorite discovery."  Scootaloo said with a bright smile.  Applebloom facehooved and Sweetie knocked her in the back of the head with hoof.  "Oops."

"Girls I'm sorry but going into the Everfree is too dangerous for three fillies.  It's even dangerous for me, but luckily I'll have the Lunar Guard to watch my back in case something goes wrong. "  Twilight said to the Crusaders.  Seeing their hope for Cutie Marks dashed broke Twilight's heart, but she knew they would probably follow her anyway.  So she decided to have a compromise.

"Ok Crusaders, how about this; If I find the meteorite, I'll break off a large enough sample for you guys to study and perhaps find a Cutie Mark related to it.  However, this deal only stands if you Pinkie Promise not to follow me.  Do we have a deal?"

"YES!"  They yelled in unison.  After going through the motions of a Pinkie Promise,  they all waved goodbye to Twilight as she ventured into the Everfree Forest.








Mordecai estimated he was about halfway to his destination when his radar turned red from movement ahead of him.  Taking cover behind a thick tree, he peeked to see a lavender unicorn with wings heading his way.  It's attention was on a piece of parchment that was floating.  Putting aside his disbelief, something he's been doing a lot of lately, he realized it was glowing a faint purple.  It's horn was glowing the same color, so it had to be some kind of telekinesis.  

When it got closer, Mordecai began to feel something.  It was a powerful source of Light, seeming to originate from the winged unicorn.  He whipped his head back when it lowered the parchment and looked around, it's gaze settling on his hiding spot.  The sounds of twigs snapping getting louder confirmed his fears.  Knowing Rain sees everything he does because of their link, he tapped on his left arm three times and wiggled his fingers over it.  Rain understood what he was signaling for and grabbed a specific pair of gauntlets from Mordecai's backpack of Light.

The Trials gauntlets he was wearing disappeared and in their place stood Khepri's Sting, an Exotic pair of gauntlets that had a giant metal beetle on his forearm.  It's Exotic special ability turned him invisible while crouched, also multiplying his melee damage if he struck an opponent behind.  It was similar to his Blade Dancer ability backstab, however Khepri's Sting left a lingering burn effect.  He didn't use it that much besides to get out of dicey situations like right now when he wasn't a Blade Dancer or Night Stalker.  

He could hear the winged unicorn in front of the tree he was currently behind.  It had stopped for a couple of seconds when he heard it continue to go around.  He held his breath as a horn came into view.







Twilight did her best to stay on the route the map wanted her to go when she felt a strong magical aura.  Lifting her head from the map, she looked around when her gaze settled on a single tree with a extremely thick trunk.  According to the map she still had long ways to go to the meteorite, so that couldn't have been it.  She began making her way to the tree when she stopped right in front of it.  The aura had only gotten stronger the closer she got, so she put the map on top of her saddlebags so that she could scan the tree.  Getting nothing from it, she decided to walk around it to see if there was something hiding there.  Making her around, the aura suddenly disappeared when she got to the other side.  

Perplexed, she decided to chalk it up to the Everfree just being the Everfree.  She levitated the map in front of her and decided to trot on her way, not wanting to waste daylight.  

She had only gotten about 15 feet away when the sound of howling echoes throughout the forest.  The fur on heck neck began to raise when she recognized the call of Timberwolves.  Her left ear picked up a sound and she turned in that direction.  Green eyes met her's as the largest Timberwolf she had ever seen approached.  Adrenaline began to pump through her veins as she stared at the Timberwolf Alpha.  Alpha's were extrememly powerful, only being susceptible to physical attacks and fire damage.  If he was here, then the pack would not be far behind.

She dropped the map and fired a beacon into the air, calling for the Lunar Guard.  The Alpha lunged at her but only closed it's jaws around air, Twilight teleporting away from it.  The combat spells she learned was useless against Timberwolf Alphas, as not only were they heavily armored, but had a mild resistance to magical attacks.  They could also spread magical resistance to other Timberwolves in close vicinity.  The sound of beating wings made her look up when six guards landed in front of her, each wielding halberds.  The Alpha's pack appeared beside him, all of them growling at the ponies.

The Lunar Guard dropped into combat stances, their halberds pointed at the wolves.  Counting every wolf she saw, Twilight came to about fifthteen wolves against six guards.  They were outnumbered by eight.  

The Alpha lunged forward faster than the guards could react and grabbed one by the neck.  Whipping it's head forward, it threw the guard at the others, knocking two of the guards down as they were hit.  The other three began thrusting the halberds into it's hide, but they barely penetrated it.  The Alpha lunged again but the guards evaded it.  Twilight lit up her horn and cast a  shield dome over the Alpha, who began bashing against the magical construct.  Twilight strained to contain it and cracks began appearing.  

It stopped and let out a chilling howl to the other Timberwolves, and they started attacking.  The Lunar Guard dragged their injured teammate to Twilight and surrounded her.  Swinging and thrusting their halberds, the wolves stayed at bay, not wanting to get hit by the deadly weapons.  Twilight screamed out in pain as the Alpha finally broke through her dome and started to approach the ponies snarling at them.  With their Alpha freed, the Timberwolves began closing in around them.  Twilight wrapped the guards in her magic and started charging up her horn.  It glowed a bright purple and she released a magical shockwave, blasting away the small Timberwolves.  Five of them were thrown into thick trees, shattering against the trunk.  The Alpha and several wolves besides him were barely affected by it, sliding back only five feet.  Twilight was nearing her magical limit, having put a lot of magic into the shockwave and containing the Alpha.  Things were looking bleak when she heard shouting.

"Hey!  Over here you piles of twigs!"  Both ponies and wolves looked to their right, and saw a tall bipedal being walking towards them, some kind of device in it's grip.







Once the horse had left him, Mordecai started moving fast, not wanting to be detected by it again.  He had gotten far away and had put his Trials gauntlets back on, continuing on his way.  He heard howling but it wasn't that close to him, so he ignored it.  A scream of pain grabbed his attention, making him turn towards the source of it.  It had to be from the unicorn.  He began sprinting back the way he came, hoping he wasn't too late.  

Red started popping up on his radar, and he saw what was causing it.  He saw the winged unicorn surrounded by five other winged horses wearing purple armor and wielding halberds. What caught his attention was one of armored horses was injured, it's armor bent and punctured around it's neck.  It was laying down on it's side by the lavender horse, unconscious. They were facing up against the a large number of the wooden wolves he saw the day earlier, but this time they had a way bigger wolf with them.  It was bigger than Lord Shaxx and Saladin combined and had heavier armor than the others.  Mordecai assumed this was their Alpha.  

The lavender unicorn was charging up it's horn when a massive shockwave came from it, throwing some of the wolves into tree trunks.  They shattered into timbers but the Alpha wasn't thrown back, the other wolves next him seeming unaffected as well.  The unicorn's attack reminded Mordecai of a Titan's Fist of Havoc, a devastating Arc shockwave.  The horses were still outnumbered, so Mordecai decided to step into the fight.

"Hey!  Over here you piles of twigs!"  He shouted at the wolves.  The shout had its desired effect, as both the wolves and horses looked at him.  One wolf in particular began growling and snarling at him louder than the others, and Mordecai assumed it was the one that had ran away from last night.  Cocking his Matador-64, he took aim at the wolves farthest from the horses.  Firing a shot, it blew apart two wolves and he cocked it back.  He continued to empty the 4 shots in the magazine, obliterating three wolves as they were pelted by the buckshot.  

Putting the shotgun away into the Light subspace known as his backpack, Mordecai felt the Solar energy inside of him had reached it's maximum potential.  His super was ready.  Pushing the energy into his hand, his body burned  bright with flames as he forged the Golden Gun, a hand cannon that used Solar Light to disintegrate its enemies.  His body radiated with power as he took aim.  He fired his three shots at the wolves closest to the horses, turning theirs bodies into ashes.  Once the three shots were fired, the Solar energy surrounding his body vanished, used up by the Golden Gun.

This left only the Alpha standing.  Mordecai walked up to the horses who pointed their halberds at them, shaking with fear.  He pulled Raze Lighter from his back, gripping it tightly as he approached them. The Alpha looked extremely pissed, and it charged at him.  Once it had gotten into range he performed the Phoenix Uppercut, its Exotic ability.  The upwards slash dealt massive Solar damage, falling not too far behind in damage compared to his Golden Gun.  The Alpha was incinerated, joining it's pack as ashes littering the forest floor.

Mordecai put Raze Lighter back in it's place on his back, and turned around to face the horses.  It was time for first contact.

"I'm not going to hurt you, I promise."  He assured them.  Seeing their halberds drop slightly, he continued.  "My name is Mordecai, and I am a Guardian of Light from the planet Earth.  My ship was badly damaged and I crash landed in this forest last night, south of our current location.  I have medical supplies for your wounded."

"How can we trust you? You just wiped out several Timberwolves and their Alpha with ease.  You're dangerous."  One of the armored horses said.

A first-aid kit was pulled from his backpack and watching their halberds, he dropped it at their hooves.  The lavender horse levitated it over to them and opened it.  Looking them over, Mordecai noticed the differences between the armored horses and the lavender unicorn.  He guessed the unicorn was a mare, because of her long mane and her muzzle was more curved than the other horses.  Her body was slimmer as well.  The other horses had flatter muzzles and broader bodies.  They had to be stallions, minus the injured one.  She shared the same body type with the lavender unicorn.  They all had slit pupils, grey fur, two toned purple manes, and leathery bat wings as opposed to the unicorn's feather ones.  She  pulled off unconscious horse's helmet and began dressing the wound.  The process took five minutes, with Mordecai standing there with halberds pointed at him.  Once she was done, one of the stallions picked the mare up and put her on his back.

"If all of you have wings, why didn't you use them to escape?"  Mordecai asked to the stallions.  They looked at him as if he had asked why the sky was blue.

"Littered throughout this forest are Snapper Trees, they're carnivorous and use their vines to snare Pegasi from the sky to eat them.  We had a hard enough time responding to Princess Twilight's beacon because of them."  They answered.  Mordecai raised a brow at this.  He guessed the lavender mare was Princess Twilight.

Princess Twilight cleared her throat before looking at him.  "Guards, stand down.  Thank you for saving us from the Timberwolves Mordecai.  Don't mind them, they're just doing their job of protecting me."  Twilight said sheepishly.  Her eyes suddenly widened.  "Wait... the meteorite was you?!"

"Yes Princess, my ship was badly damaged and I crashed here.  I was hoping I would be able to get help from you horses so that I could go home."

"First, we're called Ponies.  Second, I will do everything in my power for an exchange of information about your world and your magic."  Twilight offered to him happily.  

"Magic?  Never mind that, let's get back to your town."  Mordecai said to the Ponies.  "I'll take the lead and watch for any more Timberwolves"  

Drawing his Eyasluna, he started walking in the direction of Ponyville, with a Princess and guards in tow.
> Verse 1:4 Threat
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Mordecai got a lot of weird and horrified stares while walking to Twilight's home.  He had learned from her that he had crashed in the Everfree Forest, a spot where Magic had run rampant and created all kinds of creatures, including the Timberwolves they had faced.  The town they entered was named Ponyville, and Mordecai couldn't help but smile at the pun.  The guards had left, going to the capital called Canterlot, to report to the other Princesses.  He could see Canterlot from Ponyville, the capital built on the side of a mountain.  Reaching Twilight's literal tree house, he ducked as he went inside.  

It was actually incredibly spacious inside, looking smaller from the outside of the tree.  Mordecai could also see the home served as a library as well, shelves full of books built into the walls.  The home definitely wasn't something he would expect a Princess to live in, but he decided to keep that to himself.  

A small purple reptile with green spines and eyes was reading a book when he glanced up at them, awe in his gaze.  "Who is this Twilight?" It asked.

"That's Mordecai Spike, the meteorite that Princess Luna wanted me to investigate was actually his ship.  He crashed here and wanted to see if he could get any help.  Of course, me being the Princess of Friendship and Magic, who better to stud- I mean befriend him than me?" Twilight said with a nervous smile, while Mordecai raised a brow under his helmet.  A Princess of Magic, this world's form of Light, he could understand.  A Princess of Friendship?  That was something new.

"Wow!  He's an alien?  That's so cool!"  Spike reminded Mordecai of the newer Guardians he ran into at the Tower when they first met him.  

"I know you're excited Spike and I promise you'll get time to talk to him too, but right now I need to document as much as possible for Equestria's first contact with an extraterrestrial."  Spike sighed and went back to his book.

Twilight walked us over to a table and sat down on a chair opposite to Mordecai.  She levitated a pile of blank papers and a quill over to herself.  Mordecai sat down on the other side.  Debating whenever or not to remove his helmet, he decided not to.  

"Now, Mord-"  Twilight was cut off as five mares busted into the Library.  She laid her head down on the table and groaned loudly.  Mordecai knew he made the right decision in not taking off his helmet.  By the way these mares had entered Twilight's home, it seemed like a confrontation was inevitable.

"Twilight!  We heard a alien was holding you hostage and have come to rescue you!"  The cyan pegasus mare with a rainbow mane yelled.  Realizing she had her sights set on him, Mordecai got up from his chair and got ready for her to make a move.  She was about ready to rush him when all five mares were surrounded by Twilight's magic, trapped in a purple dome.

"Girls, while I'm happy you came to my rescue, I'm perfectly safe.  I won't have you assault Equestria's first ever extraterrestrial.  Besides, he saved me and the guard's lives from the Timberwolves.  You girls know I don't like pulling my Princess card, but I'm trying to document this and I don't want you all distracting us."  Twilight said, her head still down on the table.

The mares smiled sheepishly at her, and Twilight collapsed her dome.  All but one exited the library.  A orange mare with green eyes and a cowboy hat walked up to Mordecai, looking dead at his visor.  "Do ya intend on hurtin' Twilight or any other Ponies?"  She asked him with a country accent.  Surprised at recognizing the accent,  Mordecai cleared his throat.

"I have no intentions on bringing Ponies any harm as long as they are not physically hostile towards me, as I will have a right to self defense."  Mordecai answered, making sure not to break the orange mare's gaze.  She stared at him for several seconds before smiling, seeming satisfied with his answer. 

"Thank ya for tellin' the truth.  I've learned mah lesson with antagonizing folks from Zecora, see ya Twilight."  She left the library, leaving Twilight alone with Mordecai. 

"Sorry about Applejack and my friends.  They're very protective of me." Twilight said, raising her head up off the table.  Mordecai smiled under his helmet and was about to say something when he felt a powerful wave of Light wash over him from behind.

"Now, where were w-Princess Celestia!"  

Turning around, Mordecai saw the tallest Pony he has seen since arriving here.  Most of the Ponies here came up to his stomach, while this one came up to his chin, minus the horn.  

She emanated a powerful magic, and to him it was as if she was a Sunsinger Warlock in permanent Radiance, her multicolored mane flowing from Solar wind.

"Mordecai, you have been deemed a possible threat to Equestria and it's citizens, so I need you to surrender until further evaluations are made.  You will be coming with me to Canterlot Castle, where my sister and I will judge if you are a danger to Equis."  She said in a stern voice.







Princess Celestia sat on her throne, waiting on a letter from Twilight Sparkle about what she discovered in the Everfree Forest.  Instead she got six guards, one of them injured with her neck wrapped up with bandages.  After sending her to the infirmary,  Celestia immediately asked the guards what happened.

"We responded to Princess Twilight's distress beacon where we were attacked by a Timberwolf Alpha and their pack.  They surrounded and outnumbered us quickly.  We did our best to fend them off, but Dawn was injured.  Princess Twilight also tried to help us out with her magic, but against a Alpha it is near useless.  That was when 'It' showed up."   Narrowing her eyes slightly, Princess Celestia asked what the guard meant by 'It'.  

"A extraterrestrial biped wearing black armor with a navy blue cloak and hood.  There were knives strapped to it's right foreleg and waist.  It had a strangely advanced Weapon that shot out projectiles faster than you could see them and a big flaming sword was on it's back.  Using this Weapon, it killed several of the Timberwolves with ease before it stopped using it.  That was when it used the most powerful Magic I have ever seen in my life, rivaling yours whenever you raise the Sun, Princess."  The guard said with fear in his eyes.  Princess Celestia locked her jaw and nodded to the guard to continue.

"This thing burned as bright as the Sun, flames covering it's entire body but they weren't hurting it.  In it's hands was a oddly shaped Sun, and it incinerated the rest of the Timberwolves with three shots of focused sunlight, excluding the Alpha.  The flames died after the three shots and it returned to normal.  It approached the Alpha while pulling the flaming sword off it's back, Magic pouring off it.  The Alpha lunged at it when it did a powerful uppercut of fire, once again radiating immense Magic.  The Alpha was nothing but ashes after.  This thing spoke Equish and told us it's name was Mordecai, and that the meteorite was his ship.  He said he was guardian from his world and that he ended here on Equis after an accident.  He wanted to see if it was possible for us to help him with repairing his ship.  We didn't trust him, but he gave us medical supplies to care for Dawn's neck and escorted us out of the Everfree.  Princess Twilight told us to go back to Canterlot so now we're here.  Even though he did in fact save us, with that kind Magic should he decide to, he could bring destruction to Equestria.  What if he isn't the only one and more like him are on their way to conquer us?"  

Celestia was in disbelief hearing this information.  Equestria's first extraterrestrial and he was with Twilight, a pony she saw as her daughter.   His intentions may not be what he said they were and his race could already be on their way, ready to invade them.  Hundreds of scenarios started running through her head before she decided to calm herself.

"I have taken everything into consideration, you are all dismissed until further notice, and keep everything you saw to yourselves until me or my sister says otherwise.  On your way out, inform everypony that the Day Court and anything else regarding me is withheld until tomorrow."  She said to the guards.  They all bowed to her before taking their leave.

Sighing to herself, Celestia's horn lit up in a golden aura and she cast a long distance teleportation spell to Twilight's home.







Mordecai felt adrenaline start pumping through his veins and making his nerves go wild, but he steeled himself and stood up.  He knew better than to disrespect Royalty after his dealings with Mara Sov, Queen of the Awoken in the Reef.  He was stuck here, so the lesser enemies he could have the better.

"Yes ma'am."  He replied.

"But Princess Celestia, Mordecai saved me and the guard's lives!  He's a Guardian of his world and he came here because of a accident, and even Applejack believed him when he told her he wouldn't bring any harm to Ponies.  Doesn't that count for something?"  Twilight pleaded to her.

"I'm sorry Twilight, but I'm doing this for Equestria's safety.  Maybe after he is deemed safe he can answer all of your questions and more.  Goodbye for now Twilight."  Getting closer to him, he saw her horn glow gold and with a flash of Light, he wasn't in the library anymore.  He was teleported to what he assumed was the castle, the white walls and ornate designs around him confirming it.  

"Follow me."  Princess Celestia said to him.  Following behind her, he followed her down a long hallway before entering what he guessed to be the dining area of the castle, with a long table and chairs in the center.  She sat down at one end, and motioned with her head for him to sit as well.  Taking a seat right beside her, he put both of his hands on the table, not wanting seem like he was going to pull a weapon or anything on her.  

Another flash of Light, and two teacups and kettle appeared in front of them.  Pouring tea into both of the teacups, she levitated a cup over to him.  Watching her to take a sip, he unclipped his hood from the helmet but hesitated when he saw the Princess tense up when he reached to remove the helmet.  Pulling it up as slowly as possible, his uncovered blue eyes met hers for the first time.  Setting his helmet on the table, he grabbed the cup and took a sip of the tea.  He hadn't had tea in a while, his last time being at a shop with his fireteam members celebrating taking out Oryx for the final time in his throne world. 

Princess Celestia lit up her horn, and Mordecai began to feel weird.  Actually, I'm feeling more than weird, I'm scared, worried, anxious and curious.   Mordecai's eyes widened at his inner thoughts, then he looked at the Princess.  She had raised her brow at him, taking another sip of her tea.  

"Is your name really Mordecai?"  Princess Celestia asked him.

"I don't remember.  After I was revived by my Ghost, it was the first name that came to mind."  He replied, disbelief at the words that came out of his mouth.  He wanted to say a simple yes, but his mouth said more than he wanted.  

"How?"  He asked her, glaring at the Princess with narrowed eyes.

"I cast a Truth Spell on you, that way I can know if you're lying or telling the actual truth.  I normally wouldn't do this, but when the whole planet can be in jeopardy, I can adjust my morals a little bit."  Taking another sip of her tea, Princess Celestia set her gaze on Mordecai's, and he swore he wasn't looking at a Pony anymore, but the Sun in flesh and bone.  He couldn't take his eyes off hers, the purple irises burning their visage deep into his mind.

"Now let's talk, shall we?"
> Verse 1:5 Intent
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

"Now let's talk, shall we?"  Princess Celestia looked at him from her chair.  "I know you are angry with my invasion of privacy, but it is not one-sided I assure you.  I will have cast the spell on myself as well."

"How can I trust that you will?  I can't see any external differences besides your horn glowing."  Mordecai said back to her.  Suddenly his body was covered in a soft golden glow, the same as Celestia's horn.  The Princess smirked at him before casting another spell.  A dark blue unicorn was teleported next to her on the floor, her head resting on a pillow and her body covered by a blanket.  She was snoring softly, and continued to for about three minutes until Celestia looked at Mordecai.

"Can you wake her by dropping your helmet near her?"  She asked him.  Nodding to her request, he grabbed his helmet and tossed it near the sleeping mare, the sound of metal hitting stone echoing throughout the room.  The mare jumped up straight from her bed, wings flaring out from underneath the blanket.  Her eyes were wild and frantic until they focused on Mordecai.  Glaring, her horn lit up blue and was pointed at him.  Mordecai instinctively pulled his Eyasluna out of his backpack subspace and pointed it at the Alicorn, resulting in a tense standoff.

"Do you two have any manners?"  Princess Celestia said to them, their heads turning to look at her.  She hid her grin by taking another sip of tea.  Lowering his weapon, Mordecai kept his eyes on the Alicorn mare, while she did the same and powered down her horn.  Her gaze turned from him to Celestia, and she scowled.

"Sister, why did you interrupt my rest for... this being?"  She asked with a stern voice.  

"Dear Luna, say hello to the meteorite, or should I say, this extraterrestrial whose ship crashed on Equis.  His name is Mordecai by the way."  Luna's eyes widened and her mouth dropped, looking back at Mordecai.  He waved at her, and sipped at the tea in his cup.  The Princess seemed to compose herself, before teleporting out of the room.  Several seconds of silence later, she popped back into room, this time wearing a onyx crown and regalia with a crescent moon in its center.  Her mane was also moving in the wind like her sister's, however he could see specks of lights glowing in it.  Taking a seat opposite to Mordecai, she looked back at him with a neutral face.

"Forgive my aggression Mordecai, I had quite the rude awakening."  She looked at her sister with a scowl, then turned her attention back to him.  "I am Princess Luna of Equestria, and Avatar of the Moon."  

Remembering back to earlier this morning when the Moon switched places with the Sun within a minute, he wanted to confirm his suspicions that it was her.  He wanted to choose his words carefully as not to offend the Princesses, but knew the truth spell would probably do more than that.  For now, he decided to ask that question later.

"I am Mordecai of the Last City, Guardian of the Traveler and Humanity." He said proudly.  They both sported troubled expressions at his title before Celestia turned to Luna.

"Luna, while I would like to believe his word that he wouldn't bring harm to Equis, I have cast a truth spell on him and I would like you to cast it on me as well."  Luna's expression turned from one of shock to anger in seconds.  She opened her mouth to speak but Celestia cut her off.   "I want to protect Equis, something I'm sure a Guardian can understand."  

She looked at Mordecai, and he slowly nodded his head at her, knowing he too would do anything to protect the Last City.  "It will be to both of our benefits, having complete transparency with each other."

"Sister, though I understand your thought process, we will have words later."  Luna's horn glowed a pale blue, and Celestia's body glowed the same color.

"How can I know this isn't a trick?"  Mordecai said to them, not fully trusting the two sisters by him.

"Luna and I wielded the Elements of Harmony several thousand years ago.  They are six extremely powerful Magical artifacts that were here before our rule.  They are the pure embodiments of Harmony, each Element representing an aspect of it.  I bore the Elements of Kindness, Magic and Generosity.  Luna bore the Elements of Honesty, Loyalty and Laughter.  When combined, they were our most powerful weapon against those seeking to disrupt Equestria's Harmony."  Celestia levitated the kettle to pour more tea into her cup.

"When my sister was corrupted by the Nightmare, I had to use all six elements to banish her to the Moon for a thousand years, which ended up breaking our connection to the Elements.  They have now chose six new Bearers, and you have already met two of them.  The new Element of Magic is Twilight, and Honesty is Applejack.  Take Luna's word for she had represented Honesty, and were it not for what happened, she still would have."  Celestia finally said to him. 

Mordecai looked back at Princess Luna, deep into her eyes.  Being a seasoned Hunter, he could usually tell when someone was bluffing, but this wasn't completely reliable as he had been wrong sometimes.  He had taken many gambles, some for a game, others a choice in a battle.  Individuals like Cayde was extremely hard to read, not just because he was a Exo but because he knew to keep his emotions and thoughts hidden.  Celestia was a good example of this, her eyes betraying no emotion she didn't want to show.  However, looking into Luna's eyes, he could tell she was sincere.

"I trust you Princess Luna, so how are we going to do this?" He asked them.  Luna smiled at him before turning to Celestia.  

"We will ask questions first, to ease my conscious and to learn more about you."  Watching Mordecai nod to this, she continued.  "When you said to Applejack that you had no intention of harming Equis, did you mean just yourself?  What about the rest of your kind?"

"I did mean myself, and Guardians would never harm a race like yours unless we had reasons to.  Those reasons would be something like you starting a war with us.  That's not possible due to the circumstances of my crash."  He answered her.

Celestia let a small smile on her face before asking him another question.  "What were those circumstances?"

Mordecai proceeded to tell them of his scouting mission from the Vanguard.  Having to go into plenty of detail due to the spell, Mordecai gave them brief summaries of who the Hive and Vex are.  The sister's horrified expressions spoke for themselves as he continued on with his story.  He told them about the wormhole, how he was dragged through it and his ship's crash landing.  He told them about how even though he was far away from the Traveller, Equis's Magic substituted Light.

"We have heard you mention the Traveller, but what is it?"  Luna asked Mordecai.

"The Traveller is Humanity's god basically.  It showed up in our Solar System hundreds of years ago,  terraforming our planets and bringing about a Golden Age.  We had spread out from Earth, colonizing our planets and we were going to go beyond when the Traveller's enemy, the Darkness, appeared.  With it, 4 different alien races came to Solar System and started mass genocide.  The Traveller and Humanity was pushed back to Earth, where it made a last stand before sacrificing itself to save us from complete annihilation.  This was called the Collapse.  The Traveller's last act was to make Ghosts, tiny sentient machines that select Guardians from the dead and revive them, gifting us directly with the Traveller's Light."  Mordecai explained to the sisters, staring at his teacup.  He looked up to see Celestia wipe away a tear from her eye and Luna's sorrowful expression.

"Not all Guardians started as one.  Some were warlords and abused their powers, but were stopped by the Iron Lords, the first Guardians.  The remnants of Humanity migrated to the Traveller's resting place, an area it hovers over.  We built the Last City, and with more Guardians being brought to life, we began to fight back, taking back large areas of Earth back.  I was revived after the Last City was built, and have played an instrumental role in pushing back our enemies, destroying armies and killing Gods to protect Humanity.  I have died thousands of time, but thanks to my immortality from Rain I was brought back, becoming stronger and smarter from each death.  That is the life I live, and I wouldn't have it be any different."  

Mordecai emptied the rest of his cup and pushed it over to the kettle.  The Alicorns were silent, most likely pondering about everything he just told them.  "Are you done with your questions?"

"Yes Mordecai, and forgive our silence.  Your race has our condolences and respect.  I believe we are done with our questions, but we understand you must also have yours."  Princess Luna said to him.

"Do you control the Sun and Moon?  Rain informed me that they were moving extremely quickly." 

Both Princesses looked at him as if he had asked why the sky was blue, but remembered he wasn't from Equis.  "I move the Sun, while my sister the Moon.  We Alicorns tend to represent things just like the Elements do."  

"Alright, that's all I really wanted to know about this world."  Mordecai told them.  Celestia's horn stopped glowing and the weird feeling he had disappeared.  Luna did the same as her sister.  

"What now?"  He asked them.

"We want to meet your Ghost, and our technology is lacking sadly.  Ponies are nowhere near as advanced as you Humans are, due to our Magic.  We can provide you with any metal and supplies to repair your ship, but anything else beyond that would be out of our power.  Perhaps Twilight's genius would be of help to you."

"Thank you Princesses.  The whole alternate dimension seems to be my biggest issue, but for now I'll focus on my ship.  Also, say hello Rain."  Holding his hand up, Rain appeared out of Mordecai's backpack subspace and floated above his palm.  The Princesses looked at him curiously.

"Hello Princess Luna and Princess Celestia, I am Rain.  Mordecai and I are neurally linked, being able to share our thoughts together in his head when necessary.  In case you're wondering, I live his backpack."  Princess Luna tilted her head at hearing this and looked behind Mordecai, while Princess Celestia looked at her sister in amusement.  "I meant the subspace of Light he has, which is a bubble of warped spacetime that is used to keep weapons and supplies."

"It is a pleasure to meet you Rain.  Forgive me if this question may offend you, but are you alive?  Celestia asked Rain.  Spinning the components that made his shell around, Rain focused on her with his optic.

"Yes and no.  In the sense of being organic, I am not.  However, I have my own personality, thoughts and memories, the same as any sentient creature."  

Mordecai was about to open his mouth when the hairs on the back of his neck stood up.  He wasn't the only one, as the Alicorns began looking around the room.  Rain disappeared back into Mordecai's backpack, sensing an unseen danger.

"Oh my, who do have here?"  A disembodied voice asked, sounding playful.

A snapping sound was heard and appearing in front of them was one of the most unsettling creatures Mordecai has ever seen.  It had the head of goat with two different horns, a long slender body with brown fur, a eagle's claw on one arm and a lion's paw on the other.  It had a reptilian leg and tail, the other leg belonging to a goat.  Two different wings were on it's back, one being a leathery wing similar to the ones he saw on the guards, and other being a normal feathered wing.  Two crazed red irises surrounded by yellow looked back at Mordecai's blue ones. 

He didn't know why, but Mordecai reached into his backpack and pulled out his Gjallarhorn Exotic rocket launcher.  Without hesitation he fired a rocket at the abomination, feeling strongly compelled to do so by an unknown source.  The rocket obliterated it's body, the mismatched body parts scattering the room.  Gjallarhorn's Wolfpack Rounds split apart and tracked them, destroying them as well.  All that was left was its eagle claw, remaining undisturbed from the Rounds.  

The sisters were extremely surprised at what they just witnessed.  "Silly Guardian, that's a Year 1 Gjallarhorn.  You haven't reached Year 3 yet plus it was slightly nerfed, but alas maybe next time we'll meet you'll have the Iron version.  Farewell my future associate."  The claw snapped it's talons and disappeared, leaving behind two shocked Princesses and a confused Hunter.

"What... was that?"

Celestia let out a huge sigh, while Luna rubbed at her face with a hoof.  "That was Discord, the Lord of Chaos.  He bends reality to his favor, usually in chaotic ways.  He's been reformed though, so don't mind him.  Now, let's pretend that didn't just happen."

"...Ok I guess.  My concern right now is how I'm going to get my ship out of the Everfree, due to it being grounded." 

"I can help with that."  Princess Luna volunteered.  "First, you will need to be introduced to Equestria via a Royal Announcement and then I will help you the following night.  Anything else?"

Mordecai shook his head to her question.  "Thank you Princess Luna, and to you as well Princess Celestia for your help.  I won't cause trouble to your kingdom, but no promises as I tend to be in places when something bad happens." 

"You're welcome Mordecai, and I hope you don't as well.  The night is fast approaching, so I will have the Ambassador's suite prepared for you and you're welcome to stay for dinner."  Celestia told him.  "It is rare to have such a interesting guest after all."
> Verse 1:6 Reveal
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Mordecai finished putting his armor in his backpack subspace, now having adorned himself in a pair of black pants and dark blue shirt.  Guardians mostly didn't wear anything besides their armor, but for social outings and events in the Last City, they required casual wear.  Without his armor, Mordecai felt naked and vulnerable.  To remedy this, he had holstered his Eyasluna to his right hip and slid a Hunter knife in his sleeve inside of a hidden sheath.  

Exiting the Ambassador's sleeping quarters, he reached in his backpack again, this time into the resources pool and pulled out a Pre-Golden Age device he found on Earth.  It was a broken relic, but thanks to Rain he scavenged the necessary tech to repair it.  Once fully repaired, he turned on the device, and selected an option for music.  He pulled out a wireless ear pod and started playing his favorite song.  There had been an entire playlist of music on the device, and he would occasionally listen to it when he had the time.

Walking down the hallway towards the dining room, he saw two guards posted outside the entrance.  They visibly tensed when they saw him approaching.  Nodding to them, he pushed the door open and looked over at the table.  Princess Luna and Celestia being there was expected, but so was Twilight and the five mares he saw at the Library.  They had been conversing, presumably about him, when their attention was turned to him because of Luna waving at him to sit at a empty chair next to her. 

Sitting down between Luna to his left and a cowering yellow pegasus to his right,  he brought up the device and selected another song.  Turning down the volume to hear better, he looked up from the music player only to throw his hands up as a pink blur tackled him.  His chair fell back, and Mordecai almost pulled out his knife when he realized the mare was looking at him with a wide grin on her face.

"HELLO TO EQUESTRIA!  I'M PINKIE PIE AND I NEVER GOT TO INTRODUCE MYS-"  The mare was levitated off of him by Luna, who was sporting a angered expression.

"Ms. Pie, while I enjoy your enthusiasm, tackling our extraterrestrial ambassador is not the best idea for a first impression.  Tis best you remember."  Mordecai smiled and picked his chair up from its flat position on the floor.  Returning to his seat, he held out his hand to the pink mare across from him, and she eagerly shook it with her hoof.

"Hello Pinkie, I'm Mordecai."  He said to her.  "And this is Rain."  Whipping out his Ghost,  Mordecai watched as his small mechanical friend stayed right next to him, not wanting to get the same treatment he just had.  "Hello everyone, and I speak for myself and Rain when I say it is very interesting meeting you all.  May I have your introductions? "

"I'm Pinkie Pie, your best party-pony and baker extraordinaire!"  The pink mare said, and Mordecai could feel nothing but joy coming from her.

"Uh we met already, but I'm Applejack, farmer of Sweet Apple Acres."  She tipped her hat at him and smiled.  

"I'm Rainbow Dash,  fastest flier in Equestria and future Wonderbolt."  The prismatic-maned pony said, the arrogance rolling off her words made Mordecai smirk.  She reminded him of young Hunters who thought they were the best at everything, but had nothing to back their claims.  He hadn't seen her fly yet, so he decided to believe her until otherwise.

"I'm Rarity, seamstress and the owner of the Carousel Boutique, at your service."  She reminded Mordecai of Eva Levante, and a pang of homesickness hit him.  Turning to his right, he waited on the yellow mare beside him to introduce herself, but she looked so nervous that she couldn't keep eye contact with him.  

"I'm Fl-flut-tter-shy-y and um... I like tak-king care of a-animals."  The shivering mare said.  It took all of Mordecai's will to not have a heart attack.  Rubbing his hand over his heart, he simply gave her his warmest smile, causing her cheeks to blush and hide more behind her pink mane.

"Since our introductions have been concluded with our extraterrestrial ambassador, let us dine."  Princess Celestia said regally, her hooves clapping together.

Mordecai was going to bring up his ambassador status when the doors opened and multiple ponies entered, each carrying a dish of food.  While Guardians didn't need to eat because of their Light which fed their bodies, they could still eat food when they felt like it, mostly to indulge in the taste.  All kinds of dishes were dropped at the table.  A glass was given to him by a servant with red fur and was filled with what he assumed to be was red wine.  Grabbing it, he took a sip of the sweet wine and closed his eyes, relishing in the taste.  His eyes snapped open once he suddenly felt extremely weak, and Mordecai had taken enough gambles to know what was in his drink.  He tried to speak, but all that came out was a gurgling sound.  He felt an intense burning sensation in his stomach that was spreading throughout his torso.  Luna turned to him in concern when her eyes widened as well.  She charged her horn up and grabbed all the glasses before the other mares could take a sip.  

"Our drinks have been poisoned!"  Yelled Luna, when Mordecai started coughing extremely hard, his hand that was used to cover his mouth came away slick with blood.  Spots started popping up in his vision and Mordecai lost control of his body.  His head would've hit the table when his darkening vision was flooded with a blue aura.  The other mares had gotten up from their seats, and Mordecai could hear Celestia call for her guards. 

"While I'm sure Mordecai would appreciate the gesture Princess Luna, I don't think your magic can heal liquefied organs, at least not on a unknown biological system.  This is my area of expertise as a Ghost after all."  Luna gave Rain a withering gaze, before ceasing her magic on Mordecai.  He gave one last cough before taking his last breath, his view being of a blood stained table cloth and a frightened Fluttershy. 

Rain ignored the panicking ponies as he went to work.  The amount of damage done to his Guardian's body was extremely extensive, so Mordecai was going to need more than simple repair, but a whole body resuscitation.  Drawing from their Light reserves, Rain wrapped Mordecai's whole body in Light.  After he finished extracting the poison, he replaced the destroyed organs by creating new ones, causing Mordecai's body to be as good as new.  Finishing up, a pulse of magic was released from his body and Mordecai sat up.

His eyes refocusing, he noted how all the Ponies, even the Princesses, had a look of pure awe in their eyes.  He knew these Ponies weren't at fault, but that didn't stop him from grabbing his Eyasluna and walking out of the dining room.  Looking down the hallway, he saw the servants walking back towards him.  Scanning over them, he quickly spotted the red stallion that had served him.  He was about to shoot him in the leg when the servants blinded him with a green flash of light.

"Mordecai watch out!"  Rain shouted to him through their mental link.  Shade-stepping backwards, Mordecai heard a crash coming from the spot he had just been at.  Firing his hand cannon blindly, he heard hisses of pain followed by silence.  Rubbing his eyes to clear them, Mordecai saw Rain come out of his subspace and began to scan the three pure black bodies in front of him, green blood beginning to spill from them.  They all looked identical, and their bodies reminded Mordecai of an insect's exoskeleton.  Hearing movement from behind him, he turned around to face Princess Luna.  She took one look at the bodies when her eyes narrowed dangerously.

"Tis appears we have been once again infiltrated by Changelings."
> Verse 1:7 Prelude
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Very light crunching sounds could be heard as Mordecai and Luna walked through the Everfree Forest.  The two of them, along with Princess Celestia, had decided to bring Mordecai's ship to Canterlot sooner rather than later.  They had found no other Changelings in the castle, but they did find the unconscious victims they had replaced stowed in the kitchen's large pantry.  

"Ok, I understand you're strong enough to move the Moon, but are you strong enough to move my ship while walking through this forest?"  He asked her,  gripping Telesto, his second favorite special weapon.  

"Tis a simple, yet complicated solution.  If your measurements of your ship is correct, there is an area large enough besides the gardens.  I have placed an advanced teleportation rune there and I will teleport your ship there."  Luna replied confidently.  "However, this will take intense concentration and I will need somepony to watch my back.  That is where thou comes in."

"Alright, seems like a plan.  I don't know much about runes, it's more of a Warlock thing."  

"Are you not a Warlock?  You wield Magic as if you are one."  Mordecai stopped the urge to facepalm, opting to do it internally.

"Princess, I'm no Warlock.  Guardians come in three classes, each with their own three subclasses.  Hunter, Titan, and Warlock.  I'm a Hunter, you can tell by my majestic cloak."  Mordecai proceeded to do a twirl, spinning his cloak around and causing Luna to giggle. 

"My apologies, Mr. Hunter.  Please, forgive my transgression by doing another majestic spin of thy cloak."  

Mordecai smiled and entertained Luna by spinning again.  They snickered, both knowing the forest wasn't the place for silly antics.  Shaking his head, Mordecai looked ahead of them and he could see they were approaching his ship.  He saw Luna's mouth open in awe as they got closer.  

"If you think it looks amazing now, you should've seen it before I came here."

Luna walked over, inspecting his ship with wide eyes.  Her horn lit up and covered up his ship with her Magic.  "I trust you to watch my back, Mr. Hunter."  

Luna smirked at him before turning back to her task.  Mordecai paced back and forth behind Luna, eyes on his radar for any movement.  Seeing it was clear, he looked back at the Moon Princess do her thing.  An array of orbs left her horn and hovered over his ship in some kind of pattern.  She shot a beam at the closest orb and a line of light began to connect to each orb until it formed a symbol.  Mordecai watched in amazement as the floating rune and his ship started glowing extremely bright.  

It was no surprise when Mordecai's radar showed movement because of the Magical light show happening right behind him.  Aiming his  Telesto, a giant lion leapt in front of him.  It roared at him, leather wings flaring out from it's back.  He heard Luna gasp behind him.

"Don't worry about this thing Princess, I got you covered."  Mordecai said, getting closer to the creature.  Charging Telesto, he fired its Void bolts at it, covering the creature's left paw and mane.  The lion lifted its paw and tilted its head, confused at what was sticking to it.  The bolts exploded,  removing a large portion of the lion's mane and fur while also removing the claws on it's paw as the Void energy consumed it.  The lion roared in pain as it clutched at the damaged paw with the other.  

"Guardian watch out!"  Rain yelled at Mordecai through his com link.  Something large came out from behind the lion and plunged towards the Hunter.  Mordecai double jumped to his right and looked at what he just dodged.  A giant scorpion stinger pulled itself free from where it stabbed the ground and dived towards him again.  Bringing his knife up, he leaned to his left blocked the strike, deflecting the scorpion stinger with the blade.  Putting Telesto on his back, he wrapped both his arms around the stinger.  The lion didn't like this very much, and swung him hard into a tree trunk.  Mordecai grunted as he felt his ribs break from the impact.  Getting a firm grip on the tail, he stabbed his knife between the segmented section separating the stinger from the tail and cut through it.  The lion roared louder than before, its tail squirting red blood and green venom from the stump.  

Struggling to get up, Mordecai put his hand on the trunk of the tree to steady himself.  Still holding the severed stinger, he waited until the lion flared its wings again and charged him.  Attaching a smoke grenade to the stinger, he threw at the fastly approaching lion and shadestep rolled out of the way.  The lion freaked out in the smoke, swinging blindly while inhaling the toxins inside of it.  Mordecai took a moment to catch his breath.  Reaching into his backpack subspace, he pulled out Silimar's Wrath, an auto rifle.  He emptied the whole clip into the lion, dropping it quickly as the bullets found their mark in its skull.  Rain popped into existence, and started pouring Light into Mordecai's chest, healing him of his injuries.

"Thanks."  Mordecai turned towards Luna as the light coming from her Magic grew even brighter in intensity.  His ship disappeared, leaving no trace of it being there besides the crater it made when he crashed.  

Luna let out a deep sigh and turned around, looking at the dead monster.  "Hmm Mr.Hunter, thou is not only a twirler of cloaks, but also a manticore slayer.  Thank you for defending me."  

Mordecai smiled behind his helmet and bowed to the Alicorn Princess, making her roll her eyes and smile back.  Getting closer to him, she cast a long distance teleportation spell, making them appear in the castle gardens.  True to her word, was Mordecai's ship there in a empty field of grass.   

"May we?"  Luna asked him.  Nodding his head at her,  Mordecai put his hand on Luna's back and they were transmatted on board by Rain.

Mordecai took a fascinated Luna on a tour of his ship, showing her the cockpit, storage area, Sparrow hold, and sleeping quarters.  She asked him various questions about it and how it worked.  He was no expert on jumpships like Amanda Holiday, but he explained to the best of his ability.  

"Beyond needing to repair the wing of your ship, what else will it require to be airborne?"

"I will need a working thruster, but anything like traveling beyond this planet will require a fully functional jumpship drive.  Mine was damaged when we were hit by an asteroid."  Mordecai opened the compartment under them and pulled a lever, revealing the broken mechanism.  Taking it out he held it to Luna.  "You can give this to your scientists to study.  If they can fix it, then I'll let them keep it until they can at least make a prototype."

"I'm sure all of Equestria's brightest minds will have a look.  Thank you for letting me on your ship Mordecai.  I will see you in the morning."

"Goodbye Luna, see you then."  Mordecai transmatted her off with the jumpship drive.  "Rain, pull up the ship' schematics.  Time to learn jumpship repair 101."







Queen Chrysalis stared at the pathetic Changeling in front of her.  Out of the six Changelings commissioned in Canterlot, only three remained.  The other two were given a new mission of reporting the Alien's actions back to her.  The Changeling in front of her, Vedalia, was the one in charge of poisoning the Alien.  Not only had it apparently survived the organ destroying poison, it had also revealed them.  

"Dear Vedalia, what am I going to do with you?  You not only gave us away, but you failed your objective."  Vedalia flinched at her Queen's words, knowing they were nothing but the truth.  "While I would make an example of you, I have been brought to the attention of newer developments.  The Alien has had its ship brought to Canterlot.  You have a new mission."

Two Changelings teleported in with an unconscious Thestral mare.  She had bandages around her neck.  "You are to take the guise of this pony and become friends with the Alien.  Study it, learn about its weapons and knowledge, and report everything back to me.  Once I have enough, you will either frame it with a crime, or finish your job.  You will have the next three months to do so.  Do not fail me again."

Nodding to her Queen, Vedalia approached the mare and touched her horn to the mare's head.  Infiltrators such as her didn't have the ability like her Queen to brainwash victims, they did however have the ability to pull basic information from their heads.  This information included their name, location of their home, names of their loved ones and associates, and anything regarding their Cutie Mark or occupation.  Gathering enough, she transformed into the mare.  She now had light grey fur, a two-toned blue mane, a pair of leather wings, and golden slitted eyes.  Her name was no longer Vedalia, it was Dawn Light.








"Dear Citizens of Equestria, I'm sure you have heard talk of an extraterrestrial in Ponyville.  While you may all be inclined to be scared and fear this individual, my sister and I can vouch for him.  His name is Mordecai, and he is a Guardian from his homeworld named Earth.  He came here by accident, and has no ill intentions for Equestria.  He will be here until either his ship is repaired, and if it isn't, I intend on giving him Equestrian Citizenship.  I wish for you all to welcome him as Luna and I did, for he is an interesting being to get to know." 

The massive crowd of Ponies attending the press conference in front of the castle went insane with questions and comments.  Princess Celestia looked back at Mordecai and motioned for him to come next to her.  Taking a deep breath, he steeled his nerves and stepped out onto the balcony with the Princess.  The crowd grew even louder in volume when they saw him and he waved at them.  

"I would say it went well."  Princess Celestia said while sipping her tea.  

"Define well Princess.  I heard some scream in fear, the word monster be thrown around and I'm pretty sure I saw a pony faint.

"Well Guardian at least not all of them fainted."  Mordecai fought the smile that was coming on his face from Rain's joke.  He was about to say more when a Royal Guard came up to Celestia and whispered something into her ear.  She nodded and the guard stomped his hoof two times.  A mare with bandages around her neck came into the dining hall.  Mordecai recognized her as the guard that was injured from fighting the Timberwolves.  

"Hello my little Pony, I understand you wish to tell Mordecai something?"  The mare slid her hoof along the floor nervously before making shaky eye contact with Mordecai.

"My name is Dawn Light, and I would like to thank you for saving my life.  Because of Thestral tradition, which I take extremely seriously, I am forever in your debt."  She said to him.  Mordecai raised  a eyebrow at her, confused at what she meant.

"No problem, but that isn't necessary.  Saving people is a thing I do."  Mordecai replied to her.  She shook her to his response.

"I'm sorry Mordecai, but I intend to fulfill this debt.  I am capable, despite my injury from the Alpha."  Mordecai opened his mouth to argue back when Celestia loudly cleared her throat.

"Both of you stop, I have a solution.  Dawn will be your guard, or should I say guide, to Equestria.  She will be like an assistant to you and will help you adjust to being here for the time being.  That sound fair?"  Dawn and Mordecai both nodded to her.  "Good, now if you both will excuse me, I have to deal with Equestria losing their minds." 

Princess Celestia finished the last of her tea before handing the teacup and saucer to the guard, who took it in his mouth and followed her out.  Mordecai watched her leave before turning back to Dawn, who wore a triumphant smile on her face.  He pinched the bridge of his nose and let out a long sigh.





 


Rare Find was walking home with a basket of oranges he got from a store.  The news of a alien appearing in Equestria had spread quickly, but that didn't scare him into not going out that night once his favorite snack had run out in his home.  A cloaked figure was approaching him and his heart started beating fast until he saw that the figure had hooves.  

The figure bumped into him, breaking his levitation spell on the oranges.  "My bad, I didn't mean to bump into you mister?"  The cloaked figure lifted it's head, smiling at the unicorn whose eyes widened when he saw his face.

"Tirek boy, my name is Tirek.
> Verse 1:8 Tirek
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Mordecai woke up to a frantic knocking outside of his ship.  Getting up from his bed, he stretched his arms and let out long yawn.  Summoning Rain, he was transmatted outside of his ship and behind whoever was knocking.  

He was expecting it to be Dawn but was surprised when he saw not only Celestia, but Luna as well, both wearing worried expressions.  He noticed their manes had stopped flowing, and their special talents, called "Cutie Marks" had vanished.  "What's going on?"

"Mordecai, Equestria is in grave danger.  Put on your armor and come with us, we'll explain on the way."









"So there's a Magic-devouring Centaur on his way here, and you want me to defend Twilight while he gets more powerful and harder to take down?  Hell no."  The Princesses, along with a new one Mordecai met named Cadence, had transferred all of their Magic to Twilight, which was part of their plan to stop an old threat.  After hearing their reasoning, Mordecai had all but disagreed with them.

"Mordecai if Tirek gets ahold of Alicorn Magic, he will be unstoppable.  With Discord on his side, the decision to pass all of our magic to Twilight was unanimous.  The only way to take it from her would be for him to become more powerful than her, or she willfully gives it up.  You have to protect her and give the Bearers enough time to unlock the Chest."  

"How can you be so sure of a Chest that might not even have what they're looking for?  I would much rather put my faith in my Light to stop him than some Magical chest in a Magical forest."  All of the Princesses shook their heads at him.  Cadence stepped forward towards him.

"If you believe you can stop Tirek, go ahead.  But if you can't, promise me you'll go find Twilight."  Mordecai nodded his head at her before walking out of the throne room, a plan in his head already forming to assassinate Tirek.







It didn't take long for Mordecai to find his target.  After helping some Magic-less Ponies get back to their homes, he followed the destruction Tirek had left behind.  Double-jumping on top of a large building,  Mordecai pulled out his Y-09 Longbow Synthesis sniper rifle.

Seeing the red Centaur in his scope,  he waited until his sight was lined up perfectly with Tirek's head.  Pulling the trigger, the bullet left the sniper's barrel... only to explode in confetti.

Mordecai expected something like this to happen and fired three more shots at his target.  However, each pull of the trigger was rewarded with more exploding confetti.  The Centaur turned towards him and his dual horns glowed orange, a ball of Magic forming between them.  Tirek fired a Magical blast at him, but he evaded it by jumping off the roof he was on.  Mordecai took off towards the edge of Canterlot, where the buildings ended so that he could have better shot at his target. 

He was suddenly teleported in front of the Lord of Chaos, who was about to say a witty remark when he was Phoenix-Uppercutted into ashes by Mordecai's sword Raze-Lighter.  

"Creature!"  Mordecai turned around and saw the tall, eight-foot Centaur glaring at him.  With Discord distracted with reforming his body, Mordecai put away his sword and gathered all of the Solar Light in his body, channeling it into his hand and forming the Golden Gun.  He fired a single shot at Tirek, expecting him to be disintegrated by his Light or extremely injured.  His jaw dropped when saw him catch the Solar energy in his hand, absorbing it.  Mordecai gripped his weapon harder and fired off the remainder of the Solar energy in two shots, both being caught and absorbed by the Centaur.  

Tirek reached out with his right arm and wrapped his fingers around Mordecai's neck.  Mordecai grabbed his knife but it was wrapped in an orange aura and ripped out of his hand, and plunged into his side. Mordecai grunted in pain and ripped it out with his hand.  He was about to grab his Eyasluna when Tirek opened his mouth, and the Guardian felt a tugging sensation.  The tugging turned into a extremely painful, ripping sensation as Tirek pulled the Light out of Mordecai's body.  Mordecai screamed out in pain as the last of his Light left his body, feeling as if his soul had been ripped out, his senses dulling and muscles weakening.  

Tirek let go of Mordecai, who fell to all fours as the Centaur grew in size, becoming ten feet tall.  Rain appeared to heal his Guardian, but fell to the ground, shutting off from his main source of energy being drained.  Mordecai reached out and grabbed his fallen Ghost, when he raised his head to look at the towering Tirek.

"Pathetic."  Tirek kicked the downed human with his right hoof, sending him flying back towards the edge of the city.  Mordecai writhed on the floor as he gripped his chest in pain.  He was sure nothing was broken, and the stab wound didn't hit any vital organs.  He turned over and shakily tried getting back on his feet.  Hunched over, he raised his head only to get backhanded by Tirek.

He hit a section of Canterlot's safety rail and broke it off.  Rain flew out of his grip and joined the falling section of rail that had stopped him from going over as well.  He reached out towards his Ghost in vain, watching his companion who has been with him ever since he became a Guardian, fall towards the forest below.  

"Discord called you a Guardian of your world, but look at all you have protected."  Mordecai painfully turned around on all fours and raised a leg to crouch.  He saw the scared Ponies looking out of their windows, and he looked away in shame.  

"What a Guardian you are."  Tirek put his hoof on Mordecai's head, and pushed him off of the city of Canterlot.
> Verse 1:9 Harmony
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Mordecai saw nothing but Magic.  He was walking through the Everfree forest, but he did not know how he knew this.  He could see every individual strand of Magic flowing from the ground beneath him, to the tall trees that stood over him.  

He saw a dark cave in front of him, and inside of it was the brightest spot of Magic he could see, in the form of a chest.  He could see the tendrils of Magic extending from it into the ground, its roots leading to the very core of the planet.  Magic was everywhere.  A bright flash enveloped his vision and he was no more.  







Mordecai's awakening was met with a magnitude of pain.  Usually Rain would've eased his pain by now, but the memory of his fall was fresh in Mordecai's mind.  If his Ghost survived the fall, he would need to find him.  Mordecai tried lifting himself off the muddy ground he was on, but grinded his teeth when he realized his left arm was broken.  He took the glove off his left hand and starting unraveling the cloth armor that covered the limb.  

Looking around, he noticed he was close to river, which would explain the mud.  He saw what he was looking for lying a few feet away from him.  He almost tripped getting up, the result of twisted ankle.  He made sure not to put a lot of weight on it and limped over to what he saw.  Getting to them, he put a length of the cloth armor in his mouth and bit down hard when he set his broken arm.  Lying his arm on the ground, he lined up the two sturdy branches and began wrapping the cloth armor around them. 

Now with a makeshift splint, Mordecai unwound the cloth armor wrapping his abdomen and rewound them less tight, lessening the pain of what he guessed to be two broken ribs.  Looking around for a weapon,  Mordecai found none besides the knives he had on him.  He couldn't access his backpack without his Light, and his sniper that was on his back had been lost when he was knocked around by Tirek.

Mordecai's only option was to find Twilight, but he didn't know where he was.  He knew the direction the Everfree Forest was in the opposite direction of Canterlot, and that was all he had to go off of.  

He had started to head into forest when the sound of flapping leathery wings caught his attention.  Looking up, a smile was brought to his face as he recognized who was above him.







Vedalia had orders from her Queen to stay away from the Magic-hungry Centaur, for if he were to take her Magic, her disguise would dissipate and she would have been revealed.  In order for her departure from everypony including Mordecai to seem normal, she used the guise of a family emergency to leave.  Her Queen had suspected Mordecai would fight Tirek and had Vedalia watch the fight from a distance.  Once the fight had ended with Mordecai falling off of Canterlot, her Queen gave her new orders.  

First, to retrieve the contraption that Mordecai had lost falling off.  Second, if he died, she was to bring his body back to the Hive for study.  If he survived the fall, she was to give back to him the contraption so that she could use that to gain his trust better. The third order, was to assist him indirectly with taking down Tirek.  Queen Chrysalis knew Twilight Sparkle would be no match for Tirek if they fought, even with her having all of the Alicorn Magic.

Following her orders, she had found the green and white contraption in the dirt, the only visible damage was the round center glass piece being cracked and various scratches and scuffs covered it.  Putting it in her saddlebags, she took off high into the air to find where Mordecai landed.  

It took her about an hour to find the alien, but once she did she saw him wearing a splint on of his left arm, his armor was bloody, and he walked with a limp.  He must've heard her because he turned around and looked up at, a surge of hope swelling up inside of him.  

"Dawn!"She flew down and landed in front of him.

"How badly hurt are you?"  She asked him worriedly, surprised that he actually survived the fall.  Ponies were resilient creatures, but Mordecai was no pony.  

"Broken arm and ribs, internal bleeding, twisted ankle and a killer headache."  He responded tiredly.  "The only thing that could kill me is the internal bleeding."

"We need to get you to the nearest hospital, if you don't have a means of healing yourself."  Reaching into her saddlebags, she grabbed his machine gently with her mouth and held it out to him.  "I fwound twis by the way."

She heard him gasp and he took the machine from her.  "What is it?"

"This is my Ghost, Rain.  He's my partner and my means of healing."  She tilted her head in confusion.  How could that small machine be alive?  A lot of questions started going through Vedalia's mind.  She had learned that Mordecai was a protector of sorts on his world, and when he said he had a Ghost, she had thought his kind had learned to use a Soul to revive themselves from the dead.  She didn't want to seem annoying, so she didn't ask him further questions about it.  Perhaps that machine contained a Soul?

He tinkered around the machine until its body exploded in a flash, various parts floating around its core, a blue glowing light peering out through the cracked lens.  Sparks would occasionally shoot out of the damaged floating components, making Vedalia think it was somewhat broken.  It floated there for a couple of seconds before bringing its floating parts back to its core, focusing its eye on Mordecai.

"G-g-guardian, you're alive!"  The machine's voice sounded warped, as if it had two voices speaking at the same time but was slightly off, sending chills down Vedalia's back.  She really did think this was a spirit now. 

"H-here, let m-me heal you."  The Ghost expanded its parts once again and shot a blast of white light at Mordecai.  She watched in amazement as he stood up straight, putting his weight on his healed ankle and stretching as his ribs were mended.  "I-i can h-heal you, but I c-can't resurrect you, not since T-tirek took our L-l-light."

Vedalia eyes widened at this.  She found out he could be resurrected by his Ghost, but now she knew exactly what his Ghost is.

"I can't access my backpack without it either.  When Tirek took our Light, he must've stopped us from being able to absorb Equis's Magic.  Rain, by any chance, did you have a vision when you shut down?"  Mordecai asked his floating Ghost.

"I did, it was about a Chest in a cave in the Everfree.  Why?"

"I think it was some kind of sign for us to go there.  I know we're supposed to go find Twilight and have her unlock the Chest, but what if it wants us to open it?  Mordecai pulled the knife that had its handle shaped like a cobra out its sheath on his right arm.  Checking its sharpness, he looked back to his Ghost for an answer.

"You could be right, but how is a Chest, an inanimate object, calling out to us?"

"Rain, the Traveller is literary a giant floating ball, a mini moon to our moon if we're comparing sizes."  Vedalia was once again confused by what Mordecai said.  She had thought the Traveller was something like Mordecai was, not a giant sphere.  The Ghost didn't reply and simply vanished.

"Where did he go?"

"A dimensional subspace.  It's how he stays out of trouble."  He turned to her."  Dawn, is there anyway we can get to the Everfree Forest quickly?"  Vedalia thought about what Mordecai was asking her.  She reasoned that she pick Mordecai up, take him to a cloud, and propel them using her wings.  She could fly for a very long time, but the only problem was that Mordecai didn't have the Pegasi Magic that would allow him to be able to walk or sit on a cloud.  She had a risky idea, but she had no other choice.  

"Hold on a minute."  She flapped her Thestral wings and took off to the sky.  She gathered a bunch of clouds together and formed a chariot with a back to it.  She flew back down to Mordecai and picked him up from behind by the armpits.  While he was really heavy, she managed to bring him up to the cloud-chariot.  With his back to her, she undisguised her horn and touched it to the back of his hood.  She cast a cloud-walking spell on Mordecai just as she dropped him on the chariot.  

"What was that?"  He asked, looking down at what he stood on.  He was certainly surprised to be standing on a cloud.

"Pegasus Magic."  She lied to him, and he just seemed to accept it.  Getting behind the cloud-chariot, she started flapping her wings.  









Mordecai and Dawn were approaching the Everfree when they saw and heard explosions outside of the forest.  Landing the chariot, Mordecai got out in time to see Tirek grow humongously, absorbing what he assumed to be Twilight's Magic.  He sees the lavender Alicorn in a field surrounded by her friends.  He and Dawn ran towards the group.  

Mordecai slowed down when they got closer and pulled a knife out.  The Elements greeted him and asked him why they were here but he ignored them as he walked past them.  His gaze was on Discord, who put up his claws defensively.  Mordecai was about to attack him when he was suddenly yanked back.  Turning around, he noticed that Fluttershy had pulled on his cloak with her mouth.  She met his visor with a hard glare that seemed to pierce into Mordecai's being.

"Mordecai what are you doing!?"

"He betrayed us Fluttershy!  Everything that has happened today is because of him!"  Mordecai said back to her, but she didn't back down from his raised voice.  

"Discord helped Tirek because Tirek said him he could act like himself if he helped him.  Discord's true nature is to make Chaos, and denying him that is like saying a carnivore cannot eat meat because it is wrong.  Do you understand?"  Mordecai put his knife away and nodded.  Fluttershy did a complete one-eighty and hid her face behind her mane.  "Um, plus he gave us the last key to the Chest and apologized to us."

"Well then, let's get to it."  He said, and they all left in the direction of the cave.








They had arrived at the cave where Twilight approached with the final key.  Putting the necklace up to the Chest, it glowed with Magic as it was ripped out of her hoof and transformed into a key, plunging into its slot.  Twilight turned to her friends.

"Together, I think we have to do this do this, together."  The Elements went to their individual keys, and turned them.  The Chest glowed with powerful Magic, and shot out towards Mordecai.  He glowed bright white before being turning into Magic that retreated back into the Chest

Shocked and curious, the mares surrounded the glowing Chest and tried to look inside of it, but all they could see was Magic.






Mordecai opened his eyes and looked around.  He was some kind of area that was a variety of different colors, reminding him of a rainbow.  Next to him, was his Ghost Rain.  

"Hello you two, I am Faust, or as others would like to call me, Harmony."  Both of them turned around to see a tall white Alicorn mare, with a red mane and blue eyes.  Her Cutie-Mark was a quill in a bottle of ink.

"I am the creator of Equis, and made the Elements for the Ponies to use as an equalizer.  Normally, I would've given them my Magic to combat Tirek, but because he took your Magic, he has become more dangerous for them to face.  While I have faith in them, they are not ready to fight him.  You have more combat experience and know what to expect when fighting powerful enemies if your memories are anything to go by."

"I'm sorry but this is all little too much for both of us to take in."  Rain said back to Harmony.   Mordecai understood what she was saying, but felt blind-sided and violated because she could see his memories.

"I am going to undo what Tirek did that blocked you from absorbing the ambient Magic on Equis, and instead overcharge you with it.  You will be powerful enough to stop him, save Equestria and I will reward you with something that has been forgotten."

"What is that?"  He asked her.

"Your memories.  You would've had them if it weren't for the Traveller's last ditch effort to stop the Darkness.  If it had created the Ghosts at a different time, they would've been able to recover them.  Will you become Equestria's Guardian?"

Mordecai's mind froze at what she said.  His memories of his life before he was a Guardian wasn't that big of a deal to him, and that was because he had no way of recovering them.  Exos had an easier time remembering glimpses of their past lives because they were mechanical and had their memories as data.  

Mordecai already knew his answer.  "I will."
> Verse 1:10 Guardian(Rewrite)
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

"Very well.  Once you defeat Tirek and regain your memories, I will only take the memory of our conversation."  Harmony's horn lit up with rainbow colored Magic.

"Why?  Shouldn't the Ponies know you exist?"

"I am not like your Traveler, who took a more direct route in bringing Humanity to a Golden Age.  I prefer the more subtle approach, working behind the scenes like an author working on a story.  There will be times where I must act directly, such as right now, but that's only when things don't go according to plan.  Prepare yourself, Guardian."  That was the only warning Mordecai and Rain got before she fired her Magic at them, enveloping and infusing the Human and Ghost with all the ambient Magic in Equis.





Two minutes had passed with the Elements, Discord and Dawn when the Chest blew up,  shooting Magic straight out the top of the cave.  When the beam of light died out, standing there was Mordecai, who was shining bright white from the enormous amount of magic pouring from his body.  Rainbow Dash's excitement couldn't be held back at what she was seeing.

"That's so bucking awesome!"






"Rain, do you feel this?!"  Shouted Mordecai as he flexed his wrists, feeling the vast reserves of magic/light flowing through his body.  

"With all this boundless magic you can go all out against Tirek, though it might turn into a battle of attrition if you prolong it for too long."  Rain replied.

"Alright, let's not waste any more time."

Sprinting out of the cave, Mordecai saw that the massive centaur had sensed the sudden influx of magic and was rushing towards him.  The white aura around his body turned bright orange as solar light was channeled through it, turning Mordecai into a mini sun.  He pushed the solar light into his right hand and cast Golden Gun.

He fan-fired his weapon of Light at Tirek, who had quickly put up a shield to block the incoming shots.  The first shot cracked the shield, the second broke it, and the third struck him directly on his left horn.  He roared in pain before his horns glowed the same color as Mordecai's body.  That was the only warning he got before Tirek released his own solar blast, hitting the guardian before he had a chance to dodge.  The beam completely encompassed the guardian and annihilated him, leaving only ashes behind. 

Rain appeared over the newly created crater where his guardian had died, and drenched the area in Light, reviving Mordecai.  Once he was back in the land of the living, the hunter switched subclasses from solar to arc, and electricity began coursing over him.  He activated Blink and teleported half a mile, appearing directly in front of Tirek.

Mordecai formed a construct of light in his hand, and cast Arc Blade.  He lunged at the centaur before he had a chance to react and stabbed him repeatedly in the eye.  Tirek screamed and as he got ready to attack the other eye, Mordecai felt himself get grabbed by telekinesis.  He was launched into the ground in front of the centaur and created another massive crater.  Fortunately, the resilience from being in his super saved Mordecai from being crushed flat, but he still took considerable damage.  

Getting up, he saw that Tirek had stopped being distracted by his wound and he glared at the guardian with something beyond murderous intent.  Tirek's horns glowed again, and this time he vanished in a flash of light.  Mordecai went on guard and looked around, wondering where his enemy went.  He got his answer as a huge shadow appeared over him and he looked up.  Mordecai barely had enough time to Blink out of the way as Tirek slammed a axe made out of Arc Light into the ground. 

He was thrown to the ground as soon as he exited Blink by a earthquake created by the attack.  Mordecai wasn't given time to recover before Tirek had closed the distance between them.  He swung his axe down towards the hunter who raised his blade to meet in a clash that vaporized the grass and nearby trees as bolts of arc energy leapt from their weapons.

"Watch out!"  Rain suddenly cried out.

Mordecai lowered his head to see a giant hoof flying towards him.  Seeing as he couldn't do anything about it, he took the blow to the chest and flew back before crashing into the ground.  The kick had completely destroyed his Pariah  vest armor plate and caved in his chest.  He groaned in pain as Rain healed him and he got back up.  

Double jumping high into the air as his opponent changed the shape of his axe into a ball of arc energy, Mordecai pulled deep from the void.  The area around him warped as his body started leaking void energy and he constructed his Night Stalker bow.  When he got ready to cast Shadow Shot, he winced as he noticed a sudden decrease in the amount of ambient magic he was absorbing.  Fully drawing his arrow of void light, he knew its damage output wasn't going to be as high, but prayed it was enough to at least cancel out whatever counter Tirek had.

"Die!"  Tirek shouted as the ball of arc light he held in his grasp shot out towards him as a arc bolt.  Mordecai released his arrow and watched it fly towards the incoming bolt.  When they struck each other, Mordecai's fears had been realized as the bolt overpowered and dissipated his arrow.  Now, it was coming straight towards him.  He raised his bow and pumped more void light into it in an attempt to block it.

The arc bolt impacted the bow, which managed to almost shoulder most of the damage until it broke in half and Mordecai was electrocuted.  His body went limp and he fell towards the ground with the broken bow.  He managed to get his legs under him, which broke his fall, but they ending up snapping as he slammed his body on the ground.  

"FUCK!"  He screamed in pain, his knees having completely shattered and the broken bones were sticking out of his legs.  "Rain!"

"On it."  His ghost replied, healing him again.  "We're running out of ambient magic, and I don't have enough to rez you again.  Whatever you're gonna do, make it count guardian."

"I got enough for about 3 more supers"  Mordecai said as he got on a newly repaired knee.  Tirek had seen all of his attacks, and he out of options.  It was time to get creative.

"What, have you finally lost your will yet human?"  Tirek gloated as he calmly approached him.  "I'm going to heal my eye with whatever magic you have left and I'm going to enjoy ripping you apart."

"Yeah, keep monologuing you fairytail motherfucker."  Mordecai said under his breath as he focused on the broken bow halves he held in his hands.  They were still burning from the amount of void light he pumped into them, so he started absorbing the excess light, enhancing his body as he would with the Arc Blade.  Void flames started surrounding his body and if he had his helmet off, his eyes would be alight with void fire.  He reshaped the bow halves into dual blades, and he smiled when he had reached his desired effect.  He was now a Void Wraith.

He sliced a dimensional rift open with his blades and jumped in it, entering the dimension of the void.  To Tirek, he had just vanished into thin air.  

"Cease your pesky trickery."  Tirek said as cast a spell that sent a pulse around the entire area, revealing the location of all living creatures around him.  However, the guardian was not detected, angering him.  "Show yourself!"  He yelled, before noticing something strange.  

There were a pair of flaming purple footprints from where the human had disappeared, and a trail was made coming straight towar-Mordecai didn't let him finish his thought as he struck above Tireks's left hoof with both blades, completely severing it and bringing the centaur down to his knee.  His thunderous scream of pain was music to his ears as he re-entered the void.  

Mordecai double jumped and stabbed both blades into Tirek's back, before using it as a boost to once again double jump above high above Tirek's head.  After he had entered the void dimension, he saw magic had started leaking from cracks made in the left horn, most likely from when he had shot it with his Golden Gun.  Deducing it to be his critical spot, Mordecai killed the void light erupting from his body, before combining the blades and lengthening them into a staff.  He poured arc energy into the staff and enveloped his body with it.  He brought the staff over his head as he dived towards Tirek and used a jump to increase his momentum downwards.

Mordecai slammed the staff on the base of the cracked horn, and was rewarded when he broke it off.  Tirek tried to cover the stump as magic began erupting from it.  "Damn you!"  Tirek shouted as other his arm was enveloped with magic and he slammed it into ground.  A jagged stone pillar erected from the earth beneath Mordecai feet and launched him into the air away from the centaur.

Tirek used his remaining horn to construct a void lance, and shot it at Mordecai.  The guardian saw the attack coming and begun rapidly spinning the staff, building up a arc guard.  When the lance struck, Mordecai bent the light held by the guard and redirected it back at Tirek, who took the lance directly to the jaw, breaking it.  Seeing his opponent dazed and shrinking in size as he lost magic, Mordecai decided to end it once and for all.

Activating another high jump to keep his height up in the air, he killed the arc light in his body and staff before breaking the construct into knives.  With 4 knives in each hand, Mordecai transformed all the remaining ambient magic into solar light, and he pushed it into the now flaming knives.  He aimed and released the barrage of solar infused knives towards the remaining horn.  Tirek weakly raised a shield to protect himself but the knives pierced through and stuck themselves into the horn.  Two seconds later, they released the pent up solar light inside of them in a massive explosion, obliterating the other horn and part of Tirek's skull.  His lifeless body rapidly shrunk as all the stolen magic left him, and Tirek the centaur was no more.

Mordecai felt a sliver of his original light return to his body before splattering against the ground.  

"Guardian down."







Opening his eyes, he was once again in front of Harmony.  "Congratulations on saving Equestria."

"No problem, a deal is a deal after all.  Plus your ponies, they've kinda grown on me."  Mordecai admitted sheepishly.

He started to say more but was interrupted by Harmony giving him a hug, which he returned.  "Thank you."

She touched her horn to Mordecai's head, the Guardian's soul vanished.  Alone in her realm again, Harmony sighed.  The future of Equis had always been certain, but now it was changed by Mordecai's arrival.  She didn't know what would happen in the future, which excited and scared her at the same time.  However, she knew Equis would be in good hands and hooves.

"Oh, so many unknowns..."





Mordecai felt himself being shaken.  Opening his eyes, he saw Dawn looking right at him with a smile.  "Mordecai you saved Equestria!"  he could feel the rest of his Light returning to his body, along with something else.

He heard cheering coming from the Elements behind her and clapping from Discord.

The world around him died and Rain appeared in front of him, taking off his helmet.

All the voices were blurred out.

He found it hard to breathe.

A pit formed in his stomach and he felt sick.

His face became wet from tears.

He remembered everything.  





In deep space, a small section of a once great ship remained.  It was slowly floating towards the nearest source of Light it detected.  The only way it was moving was by using the dark energy made by various Blights.

On board, was a Prince and his small army of Taken.
> Verse 2:0 Past
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

"Up a little higher son, line up your shot."  My father said to me.  I was ten years old at the time, and had lived a fairly ordinary life for that age.  I went to school, had friends, and had a good family.  

I learned in school about the Traveler, the bringer of Humanity's Golden Age.  Whispers at school had started circulating, talking about the "Darkness."  I didn't know what the Darkness was, which lead to me asking my parents about it.  My mom frowned deeply as she was feeding my little sister Roselite, who was just born recently.  My dad wore a grim expression, and he took me outside to the backyard.  He had grabbed a rifle, and was showing me how to shoot it.  Being my first time, I missed the targets my dad had set up.

"Dad, I suck at this.  Why do I need to know how to shoot?"  

"It's better to know how to than not, Mordecai." 

Another few missed shots later, I brought up my question again about what the Darkness was.  My father sighed deeply before looking at me.

"A problem we hopefully won't have to deal with"





Ten years later, and that problem had come to Earth. 

Roselite was crying as my parents ran towards the Colony ships, in the Russian Cosmodrome, hoping to get on board to escape this nightmare.  The Darkness, had arrived on Earth.  The triangular ships had come to where we were at, and from them, dropped living shadows.  This caused the people to abandon their cars and rush towards the entrance.  My sister's cries were hard to hear over the screams of other people and the gunfire as soldiers tried to stop the shadowy creatures.  

"Get down!"  My dad yelled at the top of his lungs.  I grabbed my sister and brought her in front of me as I got down.  The soldiers in front of me were shot, pelted with bullets coming from behind.  New ones took their place, pushing past my location.  Wondering how my father knew to get down at the right moment, I turned to look at him.  My eyes widened as I saw my dad's coat was bloody, three bullet holes leaking out onto the ground.

"Dad!"  I went over to him as he fell on his side.  Both my mom and sister started crying hysterically once they realized what had happened.  He reached out his hand and I took it, bringing him off the ground and to his knees.  He wrapped his arms around me and my family.  He let go of them and grabbed me by my arm.

"L-listen here Mordecai, I'll h-hold them off for as long as I c-c-can, but you have to take your mother and sister to the s-ships.  I l-love you all with e-e-every fiber of my being."  He reached for Roselite whom he kissed on the forehead.  He grabbed one of the fallen soldiers' gun.  My stomach twisted as my mind caught up with what my dad was about to do.

"Dad please don't!  We can make it together I know it!  Don't leave!"  I cried out to my father, who turned to look at me.  A pained smile graced his face.

"Goodbye s-son, take care of our f-family."  With that, he turned around and started shooting alongside the other soldiers.  I grabbed a gun, and motioned for my mom and sister to come with me.  The entrance in my sight when another triangular ship appeared in front of me, raining down shadows that lunged onto people.  Those who weren't killed became possessed, and lashed out at the people around them.  I took aim with the weapon and started shooting at them.

My body felt like it was on auto-pilot as I gunned down the possessed in front of me, but it was futile.  More and more were coming.  Turning around, my heart dropped as I saw the creatures approaching from behind as well.  Grabbing another rifle off the ground, I got on top of a car and shot at them from both sides.  I prayed to the Traveler for a miracle, but the prayer fell on deaf ears as more people were killed or turned.  

My mom had also grabbed a rifle and started shooting at them, but they rushed her.  My gun had ran out of ammo at that point and I watched in horror as my mom got surrounded by the creatures and was ripped apart, her screams grabbing at my heart.  Roselite was below me and I grabbed her hand to run.  Suddenly I was pulled back as her hand was torn from mine.  Turning around, my sister's face leaked black ooze from her darkened eyes.  I fell to my knees, losing the remaining strength in my body.  I had failed my family.

I was pushed down to the ground by an unseen force, it's touch burning through my clothes and onto my body, restraining me.  My head was yanked up to face Roselite.  Her possessed hands reached up to her face, and began pulling the skin off it.  I threw up as her scalp and melted flesh revealed a grinning skull whose eyes pierced my soul with their depth.  I screamed until my throat was raw and numb.

The dark presence in my sister left, her lifeless body falling to the ground.  The creature looked at me with something akin to a smile, before putting its claw out my head where I felt it enter my body.  It filled every nook and cranny inside of my head, replaying memories of my family.  It was nothing short of torture for me, reminding me all that I had lost.  My body spasmed and shook as this happened.

"You're all alone now child.  Embrace the Darkness, embrace us, and you can see your family again.  Wouldn't you like that?"

I refused, and it started laughing.  The laughter that would haunt my soul.  I felt it wrap its claws around my heart, and it crushed it.  Blood and ooze left my mouth as I laid dying.  It left my body, and my head fell back on the ground.  My vision grew dark as oxygen stopped reaching my brain, but brightened as Light erupted across my sight, vaporizing the Darkness.

My pain was eased, and I died.





Who am I?  What is this?  Where am I?My first thoughts were questions as I tried to recall my memories, but found nothing.  Opening my eyes, a little machine was in sight as it stared back at me.  I didn't know why, but a sense of security came over me.  Looking down at my body, I saw that I was wearing some kind of armor. 

My eyes went from my armor to a small skeleton that was near me.  A pang of sadness went through my heart and my eyes watered. 

"Eyes up Guardian."  Hearing those words, made everything feel better.
> Verse 2:1 Broken
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Princess Luna walked through the Dreamscape, looking for a nightmare which belonged to a certain Human.  Ever since Mordecai had defeated Tirek, which she and her sister were surprised to hear, he had stayed in his ship and refused to come out.  His dreams, which Luna had never seen when he first came to Equis, were now available to her.  The only problem was that she could not see into or enter his dreams, which was blocked by what she assumed to be his Light, which protected Mordecai's mind from mental attacks.  For the past week Mordecai had nothing but extremely vivid nightmares, which was signaled by the dark aura coming from his dreams.

She had went out and called for Rain instead of Mordecai, which he answered and had somewhat explained why Mordecai had shut himself off.  The Guardian somehow had regained his memories of his past life, which had mentally and emotionally shut him down.  Rain told her how he had lost his mind, refusing to sleep in the dark and becoming extremely jumpy.  The only time he would sleep was when he would pass  out from exhaustion.  This greatly worried Luna, but she could not do anything to physically help without startling him.  

That left her with one option; Attempt to brute-force herself into his dream to dispel the nightmares.  Channeling her Magic, Luna touched the dream portal with her horn and closed her eyes as she forced her way into his dream.  Air whipped pass her her, causing Luna to open her eyes.  She was on a road, with rusted metal contraptions around her.  They had become victims of time, covered in moss and weeds.  They were lined to her left and right, creating a path forward for her.  Following it, she heard a voice whispering.  Coming around a corner, she saw Mordecai, on his knees, rocking back and forth.  His armor was gone, and he wore what she assumed to be casual wear.

"Mordecai?"  She called out to him, but he didn't respond.  Walking around to face him, she recoiled in shock at what she saw.  There was a smaller human Mordecai cradled in his arms, but that was not what startled her.  What startled her was that the smaller human's flesh and mane had burned away, leaving a skull.  Mordecai did not seem to notice this or Luna, for continued to rock the body back and forth while muttering something.

She channeled Magic into her horn and probed the body, but that was not the source of the nightmare.  Perplexed, Luna wondered where the source was when she felt a presence behind her.  Whipping her head around, she was face to face with The Darkness.  The knowledge of what it was surprised her.

As she stared into the Void that was its eyes, her gaze did not waver.  Instead, her Magic washed over it, confirming that it was the source.  She didn't hesitate in banishing it, blasting away the entity and ending the nightmare.

The scenery changed, and Luna was surrounded by the familiar sight of the inside of Mordecai's ship.  Turning back to the human, the body was gone and Mordecai stood up, confused.

"Luna?  How did you get in here?"  He asked her.  She created a dream-construct of a pillow and sat down on it.

"Mordecai, we are in your dream.  You have been having nightmares for a while now and I decided it was time to intervene, so I came here and banished it.  Tis my job to, after all I am the Princess of the Night."

"Oh, well thanks."  He walked around, looking at his surroundings.  "So this is a dream huh?"

"Mordecai, Rain told me you got your memories back."  Seeing his face tense, Luna continued.  "I do not know what happened, but I do know that it was bad enough to send you into isolation.  I want you to know that everypony is here for you.  You do not have to go through this alone."

He took a deep breath and looked back at her.  "Luna, I've seen so many things since my first revival that I thought that I had seen it all.  No Guardian completely remembers their first life, and now I know why.  I don't know if I should thank the Traveler for not giving us our memories back, or hate it for denying us them."

He looked down at the floor.  "My family died, but I knew they did since the Collapse happened centuries ago.  What bothered me, is how they died.  Painfully, killed by something that makes me lose my mind when I think about it."  Tears started falling from Mordecai's face.  Luna's heart ached seeing him hurt like that, so she got up from her pillow and went up to him.  Sitting directly in front of him,  she spread her wings and front hooves wide.  He took the invitation quickly and hugged her back, holding her tightly to his body.  

Luna's cheeks blushed as he held on to her, the only other beings having held her like this being Tia and a past lover.  She pushed those thoughts down, wanting to focus more on Mordecai.

"I feel like the Traveler suppressed our emotions, and whatever Magic gave me my memories back, also undid what the Traveler done.  My emotions have never been this intense before, and now I feel like different person than I was.  Fear is a emotion I've barely experienced from my time as a Guardian, but now that's all I feel and more.  I don't know who I am now."

Mordecai started sobbing, and Luna felt her fur get wet from his tears.  Luna was not like her sister, who always knew what to say and how to comfort ponies who needed it.  Mordecai had become her friend, despite her only knowing him for less than a month.  From that time however, he has proven to be brave, funny, calm, nice and sarcastic.  Instead of going with her brain for what to say, she pulled from her heart.

"Thou may not know who thou art, but we will help thou find out."  She said to him, nuzzling his neck.
> Verse 2:2 Summit
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

"Shit."  Mordecai's shaky hands dropped the screwdriver he was holding.  Luna and Dawn had visited him yesterday, bringing supplies and materials to help him build a new thruster.  Using the ship's blueprints, he worked on construction while Rain worked on how to make it work.  They made little progress, but something was better than nothing.

Rain flew over to him and picked the fallen tool up for him.  "What would I do without you Rain?"

"You would probably do something stupid, die, and then stay dead."  The Ghost and Guardian both stared at each other before bursting out laughing.  

The shakiness Mordecai had disappeared as mirth washed over him.  Calm again, he got back to the thruster.  Three hours later, he was halfway done and decided to call it a day.  He was actually thankful with how much work needed to be done with his ship, as this distracted his mind from the dark thoughts he had about his recovered memories. 

Transmatting out of his ship, Mordecai walked towards the castle.  The guards at the entrance nodded at him as he passed by them.  Making his way towards the throne room, Mordecai could hear talking as he got closer.  One voice he recognized as Celestia's, but the other belonged to a stallion.

"...I would hope so auntie."  The stallion said.  Entering the throne room, his gaze fell on a Unicorn stallion with a short blonde mane and a pristine white coat, almost rivalling Celestia's.  Everything about him seemed to scream royalty, Mordecai noted.  The stallion turned to look at him and smiled.

"Hello Mordecai, I am Prince Blueblood.  It is a pleasure to finally to meet you."

"Likewise."

"My aunt and I were actually discussing something concerning you that has come up."  Mordecai's interest piqued and Blueblood continued.  "The announcement of an extraterrestrial on Equis was startling news, but when said extraterrestrial then proceeded to save one of the most powerful nations from destruction, you gained a lot of attention.  So much so, that now there is going to be a summit meeting between the leaders of the other races who want to meet you and gauge your potential as a threat to them."

Mordecai was mildly surprised, but at the same time expected something like this happen, with him being the first documented case of a alien.  "Who's going to be there and when is it?"

Princess Celestia cleared her throat before addressing him.  "You will be meeting King Talas of Griffonia, Emperor Taurus of the Minotaurs, Queen Nefertiti of the Felines, and Dragon Lord Torch of the Dragons.  As for the summit, it will be held in the Crystal Empire in three days."

"Crystal Empire?"

"That is where my niece Princess Cadance and her husband, Shining Armor rule, and it is located in the Frozen North."

"Alright, but what will happen if they do see me as a big threat to them?"  Mordecai asked her.  She paused for a second to think of a response. 

"Without a doubt, you are most likely seen already as a major threat.  They could declare war on Equestria, demand you share your technology or they could simply want you dead.  The last thing will not be an option because you are under Equestrian protection."

Mordecai frowned slightly at the implications.  "You would protect me even if it costs you war?"

"You saved Equestria from Tirek Mordecai, so yes I would.  War would likely be seen as unnecessary against you as your abilities and weapons would best their primitive weapons and you would be backed by Equestria's full military might.  War would be a last resort."  She finished with a sip from a cup of tea.

With some of his worries put to rest, he realized he didn't really have anything nice to wear.  "Uh...Princess?"

"Yes Mordecai?"

"You wouldn't by chance have someone who makes suits?  I kinda need one if I want to look fancy."  Celestia took another long sip of her tea before responding.

"If I were you, I would take a note from my sister's book on how to dress for diplomatic gatherings."  Seeing Mordecai raise a eyebrow, she snickered softly to herself.  "Just wear your armor."  Mordecai's eyebrows furrowed together and she broke out in laughter.

"Normally I would not say to do that, but the other races like the Griffins, Minotaurs and Dragons have a warrior-like culture, and their respect for a warrior would overshadow their fear of the unknown.  As long as you don't directly threaten them, then we will be fine."

Mordecai saw the logic of her reasoning and he really couldn't argue with it.  He did however, have one more question he wanted to ask Celestia.  "Do the Changelings have any representatives showing up?"

Her face slightly soured and Prince Blueblood spoke up.  "No.  The Changelings have declined all contact, as per usual.  They do not seem to want to accept friendship any time we offered it, which was many times."

"That's all I needed to know, thanks."  Mordecai offered his hand to Blueblood who shook it and he nodded at Celestia, who did the same.  Leaving the throne room, Mordecai headed towards the dining hall where he was sure someone was waiting for him.  Walking through the door, sure enough there was Dawn sitting at the table reading a book.  She had questions about Mordecai's powers and today he had time to answer them.

Her ears swiveled towards him and she turned her head to look at him.  "Hey Mordecai."

"Ready for Guardian 101?"  

"Yes!"

For about half a hour Mordecai went over the basics of how his Light worked and the training he went through, mastering each subclass, and finally the process of Ghost to Guardian resuscitation.  He felt her curiosity being satisfied and she asked him one final question.

"So, if Rain were to be taken or destroyed, you would lose your immortality?"

"Yep.  While I can control and manipulate my Light, Rain acts as my conduit for absorbing and storing it.  Without him, I wouldn't be able to absorb ambient Light or Magic and would eventually run out.  An excessive amount of  Light is needed for revivals and unless I'm a Sunsinger Warlock, I wouldn't be able to revive myself."  Mordecai finished.

"Wow, so when you die and Rain has to revive you, isn't he vulnerable?"

"No, because when he's able to create a pretty durable shield of Light around him.  I swear he's taken Gjallarhorn rockets and they didn't even dent his shield."  Dawn tilted her head in confusion and Mordecai sighed.  "Is that all you wanted to know?"

"Yeah, thanks for entertaining me with your knowledge."  She said happily.

"No prob Dawn.  By the way, there's going to be a summit in three days concerning me.  It'll be at the Crystal Empire."

"Can I come with?"

"How could I go to a diplomatic meeting without my personal guard?"  Mordecai said sarcastically.  Dawn rolled her eyes at the sarcasm before grabbing her book.  

"I've got something to take care of.  Catch ya later, cloak twirler."  Dawn laughed as she exited the dining hall, leaving behind a grumbling Mordecai.





"This Rain is the key to defeating him?"  Queen Chrysalis asked Vedalia.  She nodded at her Queen who appeared deep in thought.  "And this summit, it will be held in the Crystal Empire?"  Vedalia once again nodded.

"I think I see a solution to our extraterrestrial problem, but we will deal with that at a later date.  He will be much more useful to us alive rather than dead, don't you think, my dear Vedalia?"

"Yes my Queen.  What would you have me do at the summit?"  

"For now, nothing.  I want to know the other race's reaction to him first before I make a move.  If there is distrust, we could exploit it.  That will be all, my precious infiltrator."  Vedalia bowed at Queen Chrysalis before leaving the throne room.  She had a lot to look forward to.
> Verse 2:3 Negotiations
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Mordecai raised his head groggily from the table in front of him.  Looking out of a window on his right, falling snow greeted his vision as the train continued on its path.  Next to him was Dawn, who had fallen asleep too, but was wearing her guard armor which looked very uncomfortable to sleep in.  

Stretching his arms and yawning, Mordecai looked back out the window and saw a huge crystalline castle and a magical shield around it.  A small smile had graced his face as he realized he would be arriving in the Crystal Empire.





Now adorned in his armor minus his helmet, Mordecai stepped off the train, Dawn right behind him.  Celestia and Luna were already there, having arrived a day earlier to help get ready for the summit.

"Brrrrr it's freezing here."  Dawn said as she got beside him.  

"No shit Sherlock.  I'm pretty sure they don't call it the Frozen North for nothing."  

Dawn scoffed at him when a look of confusion crossed her face.  "Wait, who's Sherlock?"

Mordecai shook his head and started walking towards the dome that protected the Crystal Empire.  The walk from where the train dropped them off to the shield wasn't that far, but they were only halfway there when a large shadow fell on.  Mordecai's heart started beating faster as adrenaline was pumped through his system, the shadow nearly triggering a flashback.  Dawn looked up whistled at what she saw.  Doing his best to ignore his fight-or-flight response, Mordecai looked up and his mouth dropped at what he saw.

The biggest dragon he had ever seen since coming to Equis flew above them, causing gusts of freezing wind to whip across them.  Mordecai felt his nerves mostly calm themselves and he squinted to get a better look.  A flock of armored dragons followed behind him, who Mordecai assumed to be Dragonlord Torch.  The massive dragon and his entourage flew through the barrier and towards the castle.

"He's huge, isn't he?"

"That's what she said."  Dawn's wing slapped him and Mordecai chuckled to himself.  Continuing on their path, the Guardian and Thestral dredged through the snow towards their destination.

Approaching the dome, Mordecai got goosebumps as he passed through it.  The icy chill Mordecai felt disappeared and was replaced by warmth.  It was surprisingly sunny, with some clouds here and there.  Mordecai looked at Dawn, who had a dopey smile and was slightly twitching.  He raised an eyebrow at this, but ultimately decided not to question it. 

A small group of guards in sparkling crystal armor approached them, led by a familiar pink alicorn.  Cadence smiled at the pair warmly.

"Welcome to the Crystal Empire."






"Who hasn't shown up yet?"  Mordecai asked as they walked to where the summit was being held.

"You're actually the last to arrive.  You and Dragonlord Torch were scheduled to show up today, mostly due to accommodations for Torch and a surprise factor for you."

"Hehehe, I feel so special now."  Mordecai replied sarcastically, making Cadence snort in amusement.  The Crystal Empire was really a sight to behold to Mordecai.  It definitely was in his top five list of the most beautiful places he has been to.  The summit was taking place in a massive stadium, the only area that could house a ginormous dragon and his accompanying entourage.

Coming up on the stadium, they could see the two airships the Griffins arrived in and Torch's back peeking out from inside the stadium.  Mordecai brought out Rain, who silently floated beside his Guardian.  They walked through the entrance of the stadium, and a wave of anxiety passed through Mordecai as the beings attending the summit came into view.

Inside of the stadium, a huge crystalline round table had been set up in the center.  Seated at the table, was everyone Celestia had said was going to be there.  The only downside Mordecai saw about being the last to arrive, was that all eyes were on him.

Doing his best to show no outward signs of nervousness, Mordecai walked towards where he was told his seat was going to be, which was between Celestia and Luna.  Dawn joined the Crystal Guards who stood near the entrance and Cadence took a seat to the right of Celestia.  Silence reigned supreme around the table.

"So this is the creature?"  Asked the black-feathered griffin from across the table.  He had a small gold crown on his head, which had green gems embedded it.  He also wore metal armor around his torso, which was silver in color.

"My name is Mordecai Cierson, and it's a pleasure to meet you, King Talas."  The griffin snorted at him and and didn't say another word.

"What is your purpose for coming here?"  The female feline at the table asked.  Queen Nefertiti had amber fur and wore a bright blue headpiece similar to the one the Egyptians used.  Now that he thought about it, there were a lot of similarities between Earth and Equis, adding more evidence to the alternate dimension theory.

"I came here not on my own circumstance, but because of a freak event."  That had gotten the complete attention of everyone at the table minus the Princesses.  "My ship was sucked into a portal made by two other hostile ships.  I was knocked out and when I woke up, my ship was damaged badly enough that I couldn't avoid crashing here."

"What is that floating thing?  Some kind of weapon?"  King Talas spoke up, making some of the other races tense up.

"No, it's way worse."  Smirking at the startled face the Griffin king made, Mordecai continued.  "He's my partner, a living mechanical being named Rain.  If it weren't for him, I would have stayed dead how many revives ago?"

Rain did his best impression of a sigh before answering.  "I have revived Mordecai 6,742 times, and I'm sure it is going to go up 1 in the next few minutes."

"Impressive creation, but how have you died so many times yet appear here?"  The massive Minotaur named Emperor Taurus questioned.  He had brown fur, and his body was riddled with scars.  He wore silver casings over both his horns.

"He speaks the truth, for my sister and I have witnessed one of his deaths."  Luna replied.  "He has the ability to come back from the dead and he wields powerful Magic, or as he calls it, Light."

"How about a demonstration?"  The table shook from Dragon Lord Torch's voice.  Getting up from the table, Mordecai walked near the Dragon and held his arms apart in a open invitation.  Torch wasted no time in opening his mouth and breathing fire onto the Human.  This lasted for 10 seconds before he stopped, leaving a black mark on the crystalline floor.  

Rain floated near the burned mark, and remembered the last time his Guardian got incinerated.  It was during a Crucible match of Clash when Mordecai rushed the enemy team only to receive a flying Solar Hammer to the face instead.  The hammer had come from Jak, one of the members of Mordecai's fire-team.  They were matched up by Lord Shaxx to see the old rivals turned buds from their love of the Crucible.

Coming back to the present, Rain focused his Light and combined it with Mordecai's.  Reviving a Guardian from scratch was always a combined effort, after all.  Rain's expanded shell exploded with Light as Mordecai's body and armor re-materialized from thin air, shocking Taurus and Nefertiti.  Both Talas and Torch wore indifferent expressions on their faces. 

"Simply... amazing.  How did you come back?"  Taurus asked in awe.

Mordecai explained what the Traveller was and how its enemy, the Darkness, nearly destroyed Humanity.  He went over the Collapse, but neglected to tell them of his personal experience of it due to anxiety.  Their facial expressions differed. 
Nefertiti looked depressed, Talas had a grim face,  Taurus wore a solemn expression, and Torch remained indifferent.

"Your people must be extremely strong to be able to come back from something like that, you have my respect Mordecai."  The Minotaur Emperor said, and he put his fist over his chest.  Mordecai did the same back to him, hoping he wasn't doing anything insulting.  To his relief, the Minotaur smiled and nodded his head.

"You have mine as well, but there are other matters we need to get to."  Started King Talas.  "What weapons did you bring with you and what are the chances your enemies survived your trip as well?"

"I brought my personal armory, which is on me and my ship as well.  As for the Hive and Vex, Rain didn't pick up anything on my ship's radar after we exited the wormhole.  There's still a chance however, that they're somewhere out there."

"Would you be willing to share your knowledge of your weapons, to increase our chances of survival?"  King Talas asked with a straight face.

"Absolutely not, that wou-"  Luna started to say when Talas cut her off.

"You Ponies have your precious magic to protect you!  We Griffins only have our claws and wings.  Having these weapons will even the power between Griffonia and Equestria and should those monsters come, we'll have a fighting chance."  Luna glared darkly at the King when Mordecai spoke.

"I'm not giving my weapons to anyone, not even the Equestrians."  That caused a couple of shocked stares, minus the silent Dragon Lord who looked like he wanted to be anywhere else but here.

"I had no plans on upsetting the balance here by giving everyone the knowledge of my weapons.  I can offer other things, like how my ship is able to fly and my Ghost can give pointers on advancing your technology, but that's it."  Mordecai said, and the tone he used left no room for argument.

"However, I am willing to make a compromise."  Mordecai continued.  "I will give each race a basic blueprint on a firearm, in exchange for direct access to your countries and one rule;  You will not use these weapons on each other for as long as I am here on this planet, and should I catch you doing so, then I'm taking them back myself personally.  I will also be able to personally see your progress with nothing hidden from me.  Deal?"

King Talas smiled and nodded his head.  "Thank you."

"Is there anything else to discuss, or should I take my leave?"  Dragon Lord Torch asked.  Everyone looked around the room at each other before Torch opened his wings.  With a single flap of his powerful wings, he was off the ground and out of the stadium.  The wind generated from his wings almost blew everyone off their chair, and they all took a moment to gather themselves.

"Rain?"  Mordecai said to his Ghost.  

"On it."  Rain said, using his Light to create four blue prints of the Khvostov 7G-02.  Mordecai handed the blueprints to each race, who took them to look over.  

"Like Dragon Lord Torch said, is there anything else?"  Everyone shook their heads.  "Alright then, I guess we're done."

"Thank you Mordecai, and you will receive a very warm welcome into Griffonia whenever you decide to arrive there."  King Talas said, and he went over to Mordecai.  Holding out his claw, the Guardian took the invitation and shook his claw.  Nodding at him, King Talas turned around and was joined by his guards as he exited the stadium.

Emperor Taurus again put his fist over chest with Mordecai doing the same before he took his leave as well.  Queen Nefertiti went up to Mordecai and hugged him, then she gave him a wink and took her leave as well.  This left Mordecai with the Princesses and the Crystal Guard.

"Well, you handled that well Mordecai."  Celestia said.  "However, are you sure giving away weapon blueprints was wise?"

"Not really, but King Talas had a point about a possible attack by the Hive or Vex.  Equis is still using primitive weapons and won't stand a chance against a invasion.  Equestrians and the Dragons have the best chance against them due to dragons being, well, dragons.  Ponies have some powerful Magic, and that'll prove useful.  I want the other races to have a fighting chance if that happens."

"You're a good po-person Mordecai."  Cadence said, and the other Princesses nodded their head in agreement.

"I mean it helps that Rain placed super small undetectable mics on the blueprints as well so that he could monitor them if they decide to openly go against my rule." 

Both Celestia and Luna raised their eyebrows, while Cadence picked up the blueprint with her magic.  "Where?"

"That black tab on the corner.  I trust you guys enough to tell you that."

"That is very... sneaky, but I can see why you would do that."  Luna stated, and her transformed into a smirk.  "Very sneaky indeed."

"So what now?"  Mordecai asked them.

"We will spend the rest of today and tomorrow here, then leave in the following morning back to Canterlot."  Celestia replied.

"Alright, cool."
> Verse 2:4 Abduction
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

The next day Mordecai and Dawn went sightseeing, visiting the different areas of the Crystal Empire.  The Crystal Ponies were actually very nice to the duo, making them feel very welcome.

After eating dinner with the Princesses and saying goodnight, the pair went to the Ambassador suites to spend the night. The following morning, they would be leaving the Empire and heading back to Canterlot. 

All was well, until it wasn't.





My sweet Vedalia, wake up.  It's time to make our move.  Vedalia opened her eyes, awakened by her Queen using the Hive Mind to contact her.  

What will you have me do, my Queen?  She asked obediently.

Your body has been charged tremendously with the Love produced by the Crystal Heart.  Your Magic will be several times more powerful than normal, and your body will be more resilient as well.  Your mission Vedalia, is to capture Mordecai's companion, end Mordecai and return back to the Hive.  Vedalia's brows furrowed together in confusion.

How would I do so my Queen?  Mordecai is a very powerful combatant.  She asked her Queen, who responded back in a annoyed tone.

I have sent five Battle-Master rank Changelings to help you ambush him in his room.  He somewhat trusts you, so you will approach him with more questions about the link between him and his Rain.  One Battle-Master will break in through the window, and you will use this distraction to imprison Rain in Changeling gel.  You will engage Mordecai with the other three, while another Battle-Master will put Rain in a Containment Bubble.  She will teleport out of the room and by then, I hope the dreaded alien will be dead by then.  Do not mess this up Vedalia, for you will be banished if the Battle-Master returns empty-hooved.

Vedalia gulped, knowing banishment was almost a death sentence for any Changeling.  She quickly went over all of her offensive spells before leaving her room.  She was next door to Mordecai's room, making her job of getting to his location easy.  She could see the four Battle-Masters down the hall, disguised as maids.  They nodded at her, and she entered his room.

Mordecai was instantly woken up the sound of his door opening and he looked at her with alert eyes.  "Dawn?  What are you doing here?

"We Thestrals are normally nocturnal, and I just wanted to ask more questions about your Light.  I hope I didn't come at too bad of a time?"

"Nah, it wasn't like I was sleeping or anything."  He said sarcastically, before turning his body towards her.  "Whatcha wanna know?"

"How does the mind thing work with Rain?  You never went into detail how that worked."  Mordecai brought his hand up in the familiar motion of summoning his Ghost.  Vedalia's heart sped up at seeing his companion who stared at her with his single eye.

"Take it from here Rain."  Mordecai said and he put his hand over his mouth as he yawned.

"Well Dawn, as you know both Mordecai and I have our own individual pools of Light to pull from.  A Guardian Candidate on their own cannot use their pool of Light, which is why we Ghosts need to link our pools with theirs to make a connection.  With their pool unlocked, they can wield the Light on their own.  Our Light is connected to our Guardians' soul, and that allows us to read each other thoughts.  Is there more you want to know?"

"Can you come closer so that I can examine your beautiful shell?  It's so intricate and I never really got a good look at you."  She said, luring Rain closer to her.  The Ghost, suddenly full of pride because of the compliment, got right in her face and began spinning in a attempt to show himself off.

Vedalia sensed the Changeling outside the window suddenly dive towards it and she prepared herself.  The Battle-Master crashed through the glass and curtains in a shower of shards that rained on everyone inside.  Mordecai pulled out his Eyasluna to fire but the Battle-Master was faster and fired a Disassembly Spell at the weapon.  The hand cannon fell to pieces in the Guardian's grasp, making him curse.  Still holding the handle he threw it towards the attacker, who ducked under the thrown handle.

Vedalia gathered a large amount of Changeling gel in her mouth and spat it with accuracy at Rain who had turned his back on her.  The Ghost was enveloped in the sticky gel and fell to the ground helpless.  

"Rain!"  Mordecai yelled when he turned around and saw what happened to his Ghost.  The other four Battle-Masters came in through the door, horns lit, ready to fire.  One of them picked up Rain in a Containment Bubble and quickly teleported herself away, leaving everyone else in a standoff.  

Mordecai had drawn two knives and he looked at Vedalia with a mixture of hurt and anger.  "If you don't tell me where you took Rain, I'm reducing your bodies to dissipated Arc energy."  He said to them.  They all responded by dropping into combat stances, with their hooves bent ready to pounce and horns readied to unleash dangerous Magic.

"No can do big guy, the Queen wanted your contraption and she will have it.  Unfortunately for you, she has no need for a dead thing that should've stayed that way."  The Battle-Master that had crashed through the window said.  They sensed the pure rage that came from him and the grip on his knives was tightened.

A searing hot pain in her side made Vedalia scream out in pain and her hooves threatened to give out.  Her eyes widened in fear when she realized Mordecai didn't strike her, but one of the Battle-Masters behind her did.  "Ww-why?"

The female Battle-Master looked at her with pity.  "There's a reason the Queen scarcely sends Changelings to the Crystal Empire.  Too much exposure of Love from the Crystal Heart not only makes a Changeling more powerful, but also starts our Evolutionary Matrix to overload and can make a Queen out of any female Changeling here.  All it takes is 36 hours, and you've been here longer than that."

The Battle-Master's face softened.  "Sorry Vedalia, but know our Queen is only doing this to protect the Hive."  The softness hardened and she fired a offensive spell at her.  Vedalia cast a barrier spell around her  and dropped to her knees as she used a lot of Magic to maintain it.  

Mordecai used this distraction to throw a knife at the Changeling near the window, which nicked its neck as it dodged to the left, firing a spell at the Guardian.  Mordecai quickly jumped to his right, and  while holding out his empty hand, activated Blink.   

Exiting the hole in space, Mordecai felt all the Arc energy inside him rage, wanting to be let out.  Who was he deny it?  He pushed the Arc energy inside of his body  to his knife, which elongated the blade and enveloped his body in sparkling electricity.  

Three Battle-Masters starting firing offensive spells at Mordecai, while the fourth continued to shoot at Vedalia's dome shield.  Mordecai danced between the spells that were fired at him, which left sizzling holes in the walls.  He Blinked towards the Battle-Master near the window, which raised a barrier to protect himself.

He gasped in shock as it only took Mordecai one strike against his barrier to completely shatter it, and the next strike cut off his head.  His body and head was charged with so much Arc energy that it was converted to the element and promptly dissipated against the wall, staying true to Mordecai's word.

Mordecai grunted as one of the spells found its mark in his chest.  He was wearing his normal civilian clothing, and even though the Arc flowing in his body made it tougher, the spell that was fired at him was very powerful.  The Magic had burned off a considerable amount of flesh from his side, showing the bone of his ribs.  

The Guardian did his best to evade the other spells flying at him, when the Arc energy around him and his knife died.  Alarmed that his super had ended quicker than it normally had, Mordecai dived inside of the entrance to the bathroom to take cover.  He hissed as he landed on his side, but ignored the pain as he got out of the way of incoming Magic.

Vedalia's barrier had started to crack from the barrage of Magic.  Sweat was dripping down her face and her body as she tried to keep it up.

Mordecai reached into his subspace backpack and pulled out the Suros PDX-45.  Peeking out from behind the entrance, he fired 6 rapid bursts at the Changelings.  One of the Battle-Masters dropped as a burst found its mark in his head and neck while the other two raised up barriers.  Seeing her chance Vedalia dropped her shield and charged up the most powerful blast of Magic she could muster.  She fired it at the female Battle-Master's barrier, which obliterated it. 

Mordecai saw this and charged the now defenseless Battle-Master.  He spun out of the way of a incoming spell and activated Blink-Strike, teleporting himself close in front her.  She had no time react as Mordecai's knife found its way into her skull through her eye.  With the knife still in the Changeling's head, he used the blade to pull all the electricity formerly powering her body and brain and transferred it over to him.  The wound on his chest started healing, powered by the Arc.

Another useful perk of being a Blade Dancer, was Hungering Blade.  Kills with Arc Blade or Blink-Strike transferred a being's electrical energy over to his body and would start healing any wounds he received.  However, Mordecai's wound didn't completely heal, having only regrown the muscle and tissue but not the skin.  The Guardian knew it was because of his Ghost being taken away, which restricted his pool of Light.

The remaining Battle-Master dropped his barrier and blasted Mordecai out of the room into the hall.  He hit the wall hard enough to hear something crack and his vision swam with dark spots.  

The Changeling saw Vedalia trying to get to her hooves when he pounced on her.  Grabbing her wing with his teeth, he ripped it out, making Vedalia scream murder as her appendage was dropped by head.  Picking her up with telekinesis, the Battle-Master bucked her out the broken window.

Desperately trying to hold on to consciousness, Vedalia flapped her remaining wing in an attempt to slow her fall.  She slammed into the ground with enough force to crack open her body's shell, but her organs remained inside of her body.  Her world was overwhelmed with pain and she blacked out.

Mordecai got to his feet only to raise his gun to block a overhead strike from the Battle-Master.  His opponent had constructed a blade made out of Magic.  Another blade was materialized in front of him and thrust towards Mordecai.  He twisted his body so that the blade only cut his side, not impale his stomach.  With his strength starting to give out, Mordecai kicked the Changeling in the snout, breaking his focus and constructs.  

Mordecai tried to fire his gun only for it to jam, having been damaged from the construct.  The Battle-Master picked him up telekinesis and began applying pressure to Mordecai's body, making him cry out in pain as he was slowly crushed.  

With the bones in his body starting to crack, The Changeling smiled at the human only for it to be wiped off his face.  He dropped Mordecai to the ground, and then he fell to the floor in half, having been cut down the middle of his body. 

Mordecai weakly looked to his right and saw none other than Princess Luna standing there, a massive black scythe with a gleaming silver blade held in her Magic.  Behind her was Shining Armor and some guards, all looking in hate and disgust at the dead Changeling in front of them. 

Luna rushed to his side and started healing him.  "Thou must stay awake, do not fall asleep."  She commanded strongly, pumping massive amounts of Magic into his body.

"D-dawn...Changeling....window...save....n-no....kill...Ra-ain taken."  Was all Mordecai could get out before the pain made him black out.

"Mordecai!"





"Approach Sectar."  Queen Chrysalis said to the Battle-Master in front of her.  In Sectar's Magical grasp was Rain, still trapped in the Changeling gel.  The Battle-Master knelt in front of her Queen and offered the Ghost.

Taking it in her hoof, she inspected the little machine.  Vedalia's questions about the Guardian and his Ghost was useful, and she planned to exploit it.

"My Queen, I can no longer sense my fellow Battle-Masters.  I fear that the Human has killed them, and Vedalia's link to the Hive Mind still lingers.  What will you have me do?"

"Nothing.  While Mordecai and Vedalia may live, that will not be an issue.  The human is mortal without his little machine, and as for Vedalia..."

The Changeling Queen closed her eyes, finding Vedalia's connection to the Hive.  She rarely banished Changelings, but when she did, she would gently remove the link connecting them to the Hive Mind.  Doing this would block their connection, thus kicking them out.

In Vedalia's case however, Chrysalis grabbed the connection and severed it as violently as she could.  The feedback from such a violent rip would usually make normal Changelings comatose, trapping them in their own minds.  Chrysalis hoped this was the case for Vedalia, for any information she had could be used against them.  

Chrysalis hid the sinking feeling that Vedalia's mind could have gotten stronger from the overexposure from the Crystal Heart.  In case her plan went awry, the Queen decided her next action would have to be done quickly.  Turning the Ghost to face her, she gave it a predatory smile.

"Hello Little Rain."
> Verse 2:5 Rescue(Unedited)
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

A pink crystalline ceiling was the first thing that greeted Mordecai's eyes.  Memory of what happened before he lost consciousness made him spring up out of the soft, white bed he was in.  An attempt to get on his feet resulted in him falling to the floor, his body sore and weak.  

Clutching his side and chest, Mordecai turned over on his back and the room was silent.  No worried voice telling him to get back in bed, giving him input on how he could've handled the fight better, or a hypothesis on how Changeling Magic was amplified through love.  Nothing from his Ghost.  Rain, dead or alive, was absent from their mental link.

For the first time since his first death, Mordecai was alone in his head. 





Princess Luna and Celestia stared at the near-dead Changeling, restrained to her hospital bed.  Her hooves were shackled and a nullification ring was placed on her horn.  Her entire body was heavily wrapped with bandages, the doctors not knowing what else to do with the cracked chitin shell.  Scans of her mental state revealed that her mind was in a state of extreme disarray, causing her to be in a coma.  

"Why?"  Luna asked indirectly, deep in thought.

"Why what?"

"Why try to kill one of their own?"  Luna questioned.  "Her wound was caused by a heated Magical blast, and scans show her body was held by a levitation spell."

"As much as I would like to entertain that question Luna, there is the more pressing matter of Rain's abduction."  Celestia said, her brows furrowing together in a worried expression.  

"I beli-"  Celestia was cut short by Mordecai, nearly staggering into the room.  Doctors and nurses were behind him, trying to take the human back to his bed.

"We gotta get to my ship, right now."  Mordecai said to the Princesses, struggling to get the doctors and nurses from dragging him back.  "It might be my only way of getting Rain back, before it's too late."

Both sisters looked at each before dismissing the hospital staff.  Luna's horn became alight with her Magic and she washed the room with a blue glow.  "Now that we won't have any eavesdroppers, explain."

"Rain has a tracker on his shell, and I can use my ship to find his location."  Mordecai's serious face turned into one of pleading.  "Please let me get my friend back."

"Mordecai, this is the Hive we are talking about.  There could well be a million Changelings there, and I do not want to risk the lives of my Ponies if that is the case."  Celestia's face softened.  "I suggest we wait until this Changeling awakens and we get information from it."

"Sister, I will go with him to get back those who have been taken from us."  Luna declared.

Celestia reacted as if she had been slapped.  "Absolutely not!  I just got you back Luna, and I will not lose you again."

"This will be a stealth mission sister.  We will sneak in, rescue those who have been trapped, and escape through long distance teleportation."

"For extra assurance, I will take one of my Shadows with us.  Will that suffice Tia?"  Celestia appeared to be deep in thought before sighing deeply.

"I will authorize this, just this once Luna."  Celestia declared, before beckoning them close with her hoof.  "In case things go bad, a Life-Line spell will be cast on the three of you."

"The three of us?"  Mordecai asked, and his question was quickly answered when Luna's shadow rose from the ground.  It materialized into the shape of pony, and took the form of a male thestral.  Instead of the dark purple armor Mordecai seen the other Lunar guard wear, his was black with silver highlights, and was considerably more armored.  His coat was silver, with a dark blue mane peeking underneath his helmet and cool blue eyes.  What really caught Mordecai's interest however, was that instead of bat wings, the thestral had a curved horn on his head.

"Mordecai, meet Silent Strike, one of my Shadows."  The thestral turned his attention to Mordecai and regarded him with a nod.  

"What's a Shadow?  Some kind of secret guard?"  

"Yes, my Shadows are my most elite guard, compromised of ponies born with extraordinary magical abilities.  Currently I have seven Shadows in service, with one always guarding me in secret."  Luna said.  Mordecai was reminded of Ikora's Hidden, powerful Guardians who operated in secret and reported only to her.

The three of them stepped directly in front of Celestia, whose powerful Magic washed over them as the spell was cast.  "This spell will let me read your vital signs, and should they go critical, will allow me to teleport you directly back to Canterlot.  I will have a medical team on standby.

"Thank you Luna, Celestia.  Without full control of my Light, this would've been a near impossible task."  Mordecai said.  

Luna smiled at him and walked out the door, Silent melting into her shadow.  As he was about to follow her, his body was suddenly held in place by a familiar powerful Magic.  

"Mordecai, I believe in my sister, and in Silent Strike.  Your arrival here instead of oblivion was luck, surviving the fall from Canterlot was luck, and your triumph over Tirek was luck as well.  Whatever happens at that Hive, please don't let it be luck as well.  That will be cutting it to close, especially when it involves my little sister.  Can I trust you with her safety?"  

Mordecai turned towards her, surprising her with the resolute expression on his face.  "I know what it's like to lose a little sister Princess, and I promise you won't go through the same thing I did."  Celestia's face relaxed, and she nodded her head at him.  Taking that as his time to leave, Mordecai opened the door and ran to catch up to Luna.

I'm coming for you Rain, please wait for me.





Queen Chrysalis hummed in delight, her plan for Rain already bearing fruits.  It was hard to get the machine under her control, but she was a master at manipulation.  It also helped that the machine experienced emotions like a sentient being, and with emotions came exploitation.  In her sessions with Rain, she had convinced him that she was Mordecai.

At first, she had to actually transform into him to keep the illusion.  Now however, the machine was so far under her control that she could walk undisguised around the Hive with it following like a love-sick puppy.

Her goal was simple.  She was going to feed on the Light from Rain and use it, but not too extensively to damage the machine.  She considered destroying Rain after she was done with him, but ultimately decided against.  She knew Mordecai would ultimately come looking for him, so she had made arrangements from the moment she sent her Battle-Masters.  She ordered the evacuation of the Alpha Hive to the Delta Hive.  The last thing she needed was a vengeful alien with advanced weaponry after her and her children.

Ah, her children.  The reason for abducting Rain was not meant for her, for she wasn't thirsting for power like Tirek.  No, this was for her children.  Using Light instead of love, she laid 1,798 eggs and had them sent to the Delta Hive.  Now these Changelings will be stronger than the rest, more powerful, and hopefully capable of utilizing Light.  They would be perfect protectors of the Hive, and will lead her armies once production of the weapons were finished.  

Light wasn't the only thing she got from Rain.  Posing as Mordecai, she managed to get highly detailed schematics of weaponry, as well as some personal information.  She was curious about how long it would take for her children to acquire the materials and assemble the weapons, but it didn't matter to her.  Compared to what the other races got, she would be ahead of them by a long run.  

With her new Changelings, she will rule the world of Equis with no equal.  Her mother would've been proud of her.  Looking at Rain, she grabbed him with her Magic and lowered him unto a table next to her throne.  She coughed up some gel and covered the small machine with it, ensuring that it wouldn't go anywhere after her control over it would falter.  Chrysalis wasn't going to hoof Rain over easily.  500 Changelings soldiers, 10 Battle-Masters, and a Infiltrator disguised as her were left in the Alpha Hive.  Upon Mordecai's arrival, they will engage the alien and whoever else was with him.  In order to get the ponies off her back as well, she left half of the prisoners she had in the Alpha Hive.  

Thanks to her Magic, victims who fall under her control lose all memories of the event.  She also left a surprise spell on Rain, one that would stay dormant until she was ready to activate it.  With nothing standing in her way, Queen Chrysalis took her leave.





It took a full day to reach Canterlot by train.  Luna originally was going to use a long-distance teleportation rune, but Mordecai disagreed with any use of Magic until they reached the Hive.  Stepping on-board his ship, Mordecai went to the controls.

His ship, for the most part, was still heavily damaged but was able to get off the ground.  Flight would be slower than normal, but 575 miles per hour was be enough.  Pulling up Rain's coordinates on the ship's console, Mordecai found his exact location and compared it to a map given to him by Luna.

He marked the map approximately where his ghost was, and then he checked the stealth drives functionality.  They were above 75%, meaning his approach on how they would arrive at the Hive undetected would work.  

Luna was in the castle still, prepping herself and said she would meet him by his ship when she was ready.  Walking to his vault, Mordecai pondered what load-out would be most effective.  Ultimately, for his primary he went with Hawkmoon, his secondary would be a Void fusion rifle called Ashraven's Flight, and his heavy would be Arc Zombie-Apocalypse WF47.  

Stocking up on ammo synthesizes, Mordecai put on his armor and went outside.  While he didn't have Rain, his control over his Light was greatly diminished, but not completely gone.  Once a Guardian's Ghost is lost or destroyed, the standard period of time before they completely lost their abilities was about a day and a half, maybe 2 if they were lucky.    

Channeling the Void, Mordecai materialized his Nightstalker Bow and shot a Black Hole Tether at his feet.  As expected, it disappeared in 4 seconds instead of its usual 8 second duration.  Mordecai sighed at this.  This was going to be hard, but not impossible.

The sound of approaching hooves alerted Mordecai to his makeshift fireteam.  Princess Luna and Silent Strike had arrived.  Luna wore shiny metal armor, its silver gleam reflecting light from the full moon. 

"Alright Luna, take this."  Picking up Thunderlord,  Mordecai watched the princess hold the Exotic heavy machine gun with her magic, looking in awe as electricity flowed from the weapon.  

While Mordecai knew that the Princess would be packing powerful magic, he wanted to go the extra measure and provide her with a weapon he thought she would like.  "Hold the sight to your eye Luna.  Take deep breaths and when you're ready to pull the trigger, hold your breath and take your shot."  Mordecai said as he showed her how to aim.

"Now I know you have some strong magic, but this thing is going to kick like crazy once you pull the trigger.  Good luck."

Luna slowed her breathing as she pointed this marvel of technology at a stray tree.  Heeding Mordecai's warning Luna tightened her magical grip and braced herself. 

Holding her breath, Luna pulled the trigger and was rewarded by the sound cracking thunder as lightning poured from the gun.  The tree was completely obliterated the moment it was hit, reduced to tinder by the arc rounds.  Luna breathed in as she looked at the destruction.  "Wuzzah!  Thine instrument is delightful dear Mordecai!"  The hunter smirked as he watched the princess hug the gun.

Using one of the heavy ammo synthesizes Mordecai gave her, she watched in amazement as the purple brick was materialized into a drum magazine full of electrified rounds.  Using what she had been taught, she reloaded the magazine of her weapon.  She levitated Thunderlord onto her armor and used a Magnetism spell to attach it to her back, between her wings.

"Silent, this is your weapon."  Mordecai pulled out a exotic sniper and fusion rifle hybrid, called the Queenbreaker's Bow.  Handing the gun to the stallion, Mordecai went over the difference between the two scopes and charge times, and he pointed at another tree.

Following what his princess had did, Silent tested out the short zoom scope and charged up the rifle.  The gun rocked back and a blue streak whizzed straight into the tree, leaving a large, burning blue hole in the tree trunk.  He nodded his head at Mordecai, thanking him for the upgrade.  He strapped the weapon he was given and he attached it to the side of some small sandle-bags he had.  

They all stepped aboard Mordecai's ship through the back entrance, and the guardian had them stand in front of a scanner in the ship.  "In case we ever need a quick getaway, my ship will need a scan of your bio-signatures, so stand still for a minute."  Once the ship had finished, Mordecai pulled out two passenger chairs that were folded into his ship.  After showing the ponies how to strap themselves in, Mordecai got into his chair and turned on his ship.  He let his ship warm up for a minute before strapping himself in.

Activating the stealth drive, the Hebridean Thoughtcrime cloaked itself completely, turning invisible in the night sky.  Adjusting a route to Rain's location, Mordecai looked back to check on his fireteam.  While Luna looked cool inside the ship, Silent seemed a little bit more nervous, as he was really tensed up in his chair.  Mordecai suppressed a laugh as he accelerated his ship to their location, Silent's screams ringing throughout the ship.





It took them a good 30 mintues to get to a desert canyon with a large, cone-like structure littered with holes located there.   Landing near a large group of rocks, Mordecai unstrapped himself and got up.  He went over to Luna, who cast her magic on the three of them.  Their bodies vanished, having been turned invisible.  Exiting the Thoughtcrime, the trio walked toward the structure.

Their plan was to discover where the prisoners were, who Luna would teleport to Canterlot by using a rune.  They would then look for Rain.  Once they found him, they would make a hasty retreat.  They would only engage if they had to.

Approaching the Changeling Hive, Mordecai saw the holes were opening and closing all over the Hive.  After scouting outside, Mordecai concluded there were no outside guards, meaning the Changelings were all inside.  Luna cast a sonar spell in all the holes she saw, and tugged on them when she found the right passageway.  

Walking through the cave-like passage, Mordecai kept straight as they went through the Hive.  It was strangely quiet, and Mordecai hasn't seen any sign of the Changelings anywhere, including the motion on his tracker.  That all changed when Luna stopped them with her wings as she sent her sonar spell down into a new entrance.  Going inside, motion flashed up on Mordecai's radar and he tensed up as he heard something.  Getting closer to a doorway, Mordecai tensed up when he saw two Changelings flying through one of the holes that had just opened up.  

Even after the Changelings were gone, Mordecai was still getting on motion on his tracker.  It was coming from one of the holes, so he tapped on Silent and Luna to follow him.  Stepping through the hole, Mordecai heard the sound of crying and rushed to it.  Inside of the hole was large cells, filled with sickly and gaunt ponies of all races and genders.  

Mordecai tapped on Luna and Silent's shoulder to indicate that he was going to guard the entrance hole.  Luna quickly went to the locked cell doors and used a powerful locksmith spell to open the doors, confusing those inside the cells.  Silent cast a noise dampening spell inside the cells and around them.  After breaking her invisibility spell on her self, Luna was greeted by the shocked faces of her ponies. 

"All of thou who can walk, come outside your cells and wait for our directions.  I will assist those who need help."  She said with her Royal Canterlot voice.  Ponies rushed outside of the cell, some thanking the her with their gratitude.  After she helped the ponies who were too weak to move, she performed a Changeling Detection spell on all of the prisoners.  They were all confirmed to be ponies, so Luna turned to one of the mares that she had recognized.

The real Dawn Light stood before her, and Luna caught the weak mare in a hug.  "All will be fine, Dawn Light.  Thou will suffer no more."  Luna got to work making the Long Distance Teleportation rune, and after she had charged it with enough magic, the prisoners got on top of it.  The spell fully activated and within seconds, they were gone.

Luna closed the cell door and cast a powerful illusion spell, making it appear as if the prisoners were still inside of their cells.  "Our spell will grant us more time, lead the way Mordecai.  

Mordecai grabbed Luna after she cloaked herself again and Silent, leading them to where Rain's position was at.  Following the marker on his helmet's HUD, Mordecai lead his team to a large hole that revealed a large empty throne room.  On table in front of him was Rain, covered in a sticky goo.

Mordecai knew this was a trap.  As he looked around the room, Mordecai heard a sinister two-tone voice laughing.  The source of the voice, came from above.

Aiming his Hawkmoon at the ceiling, Mordecai's eyes nearly bugged out his head at what he saw.  What he thought was jagged rocks on the ceiling started moving and bright blue eyes glared back at him.  He immediately holstered his hand cannon and pulled out the Zombie Apocalypse.  Firing the machine gun broke the spell on him, but that didn't matter to Mordecai anymore.  

Luna knew their enemy had detected them so she dropped the invisibility spell and pulled Thunderlord from her back.  Following the guardian's lead, she opened fire upon her enemy, bodies falling to the ground from their assault.  Silent drew Queenbreaker's Bow and started picking off the Changelings. 

Emptying the entirety of his clip, Mordecai made a rush towards Rain.  Readying a smoke grenade,  Mordecai got close to his ghost when a large, slender Changeling with teleported in front of him, laughing.

Assuming this was the Queen, Mordecai was starting to see a theme with Equis. Mordecai ran faster towards the Changeling and stuck the grenade to its body, which detonated and consumed the Changeling in a cloud of toxic gas.  The Queen started coughing and retching violently, having breathed in the toxins. 

Mordecai unsheathed one of his knives and began to cut away at the hardened gel surrounding Rain.  Yanking his ghost free, the Guardian noticed Rain was still functioning, but was unresponsive.   His eye, which was usually blue in color, was a sickly green instead. 

Cursing, the guardian put the ghost away in his subspace.  Without Rain to resynchronize their connection, Mordecai was still handicapped in terms of Light.  Having heard the retching stop, Mordecai turned his attention on the Queen, who was wiping away green blood from her mouth.  He drew Hawkmoon and readied himself.

Queen Chrysalis stared daggers at the human, and enveloped her magic around her horn.  Her wings opened and in a instant, she was upon him.






Princess Luna stopped firing Thunderlord and returned it to her back.  Most of the Changelings that had been on the ceiling were either dead or had been grounded.  More Changelings were pouring in through various entrances being opened up to the throne room.

A large group of Changelings quickly surrounded her and pounced.  Luna frowned and teleported, leaving behind a glowing trap rune.  The insects triggered it when they landed on each other, causing the rune to glow brightly before lighting ignited from it, brutally electrocuting them to death.

Coming out of her teleport Luna materialised her scythe, Crescent Arc, and unfurled her wings.  Looking toward her Shadow, she saw him multitasking with his Magic.

To the normal eye, it would appear as if the Changelings around him that  were not getting vaporized by his bow, were instead getting sliced in half or beheaded by an invisible source.  They pushed and shot Magic at him, but their attacks would fall short by a invisible barrier, protecting him.

That was what made Silent Strike special.  His horn does not show visible magic use, making everything he does a mystery.  His horn also acted as a motion detector when his magic was cast, making him very skilled in combat.  

Luna used her wings to jump up high in the air, where she began slicing through Changelings with her weapon.  Bolts of magic hit her armor, but had no effect due to the rune enchantments she placed on it.  Mordecai had recovered Rain it seemed, and was currently engaging the Queen.  

Luna considered giving him assistance when she was hit by a powerful gravity spell.  The spell pulled her back down to ground, restricting her from moving freely.  Locating the source, she saw 10 Changelings putting their magic into the spell, strengthening its effects.  These Changelings were different from the fodder.  Their shells resembled the ones that were at the Crystal Empire, meaning these were the warrior class of Changelings.

If she was not an Alicorn, Luna would have been splattered across the ground from how much the spell was strengthened.    The other Changelings saw this opportunity and began pelting her with blasts.  Luna's enchantments were starting to weaken, and she was very annoyed at this.

Gathering a large amount of Magic in her horn, she cast a self-singularity spell.  The warriors and standard Changelings alike were all ripped from where they were and pulled towards her, stopping inches from her body.  Once her spell had reached the apex of its power, it collapsed violently and released a shock wave. 

Those closest to her were instantly killed as the force of the shock wave destroyed their organs.  Those who were fortunate to survive the initial attack found themselves being thrown away from the Alicorn.  They hit the ground hard enough to crack their shells and break their limbs.  Most of the Changelings that had attacked her, did not get back up.

Seeing that Silent was starting to get overwhelmed, Luna went to him.





Mordecai ducked as the Queen flew over him.  Turning around, he fired several shots at her but they stopped by a shield spell.  Switching to Ashraven's, he charged the fusion rifle up and was rewarded when the bolts shattered the shield.  She teleported away and reappeared on his right, delivering a charged blast to Mordecai's chest.

Mordecai was knocked back but he got to his feet quickly, ignoring the pain in his chest.  He double-jumped into the air and he fired a Shadow Shot from his Nightstalker bow.  The Void arrow surged towards the Queen only to dissipate before hitting her.  A strong sickness hit Mordecai and he knew he was out of Light to use for the fight.

Chrysalis smiled and flashed her fangs at him.  Mordecai raised his fusion rifle to shoot but was knocked down from behind.  Having neglected his radar, Mordecai struggled against the two Changelings pinning him down.  One of them bit down on his left hand, ripping apart his fingers making him cry out in pain.  Grabbing a knife with his right, he stabbed the bug that destroyed his hand in the head. 

He managed to throw the other one off him, only to get hit in the back by lightning.  He collapsed to his knees as his body spasm-med.  Trying to stand back up, Mordecai wasn't given the chance as the Queen fired more magic at him.  Diving out of the way, Mordecai saw more Changelings flying straight towards him.  

Drawing Hawkmoon, Mordecai shot down three of them and the last one became acquainted with Hawkmoon's handle, the talon at the end being driven into its chest.  That didn't kill the bug, so Mordecai grabbed it and slammed it down on the ground.  Before it could make its next move Mordecai slammed his boot down on its neck, snapping it.

When turned to where he saw her last, he realized Chrysalis had disappeared.  Looking at how his team was doing, Mordecai saw Luna and Silent were surrounded by dead Changelings.  They were doing fine without him, but that didn't stop him from emptying the rest of his rounds into ones they were fighting.  

Mordecai started to reload with one hand before his radar warned him of movement behind him.  He whipped around with his gun aimed, but what he saw made his blood run cold and time froze.  Standing in front of him, was his little sister Roselite.

He started aggressively shaking, dropping Hawkmoon out of his hand.  "R-rose?"

Roselite took a small step forward, making him take a huge one back.  She kept walking towards him, making him retreat from her.  His foot hit something and he fell down to the ground.  He had tripped over a dead Changeling.  Mordecai started hyperventilating, making him remove his hood and take off his helmet.  His heart started beating very fast, and his mind felt like it was falling apart.

She looked scared, but that didn't stop her from reaching out with her hand.  His shaky hand reached out as well, taking her small one into his.  He felt warmth when he squeezed her hand, confirming he wasn't losing his mind.  He fully embraced her, tears running down his eyes.

"I'm sorry Rose, I'm so sorry I couldn't protect you when you needed me, or Mom and Dad.  But that doesn't matter, because you're here now."  Mordecai said, still tightly embracing her.  "You're here now."  

Unbeknownst to him, the sound of combat had become mute to his ears, and the pain in his left hand went away completely.  All that mattered to him at that moment, was Roselite.  A voice in the back of his head had started yelling at him, but he drowned it out.

Roselite suddenly broke out of his grip and hid behind him.  Confused Mordecai saw Luna and Silent standing in front of him.  All of the Changelings in the room were dead.  This was the first time he saw Silent look troubled, and Luna had a sad look on her face.  Realizing they never met Rose, he stood up to introduce them.

"Hey guys, this is Roselite, my little sister.  Now that we got Rain and the Changelings have been dealt with, let's go."  

They didn't say anything at first, until Luna stepped forward.  "Mordecai, I need you to listen me very carefully.  That is not your sister, it is Chrysalis impersonating her."

Mordecai stared for a second before laughing at them.  "That was a good one Luna, but seriously lets get out of here."  He expected Luna to laugh with him, but she didn't.  "Luna?"

"She has you under her control Mordecai.  I know you want to believe that it is, indeed her, but that is a monster wearing her skin."  She said in disgust.  "Get away from her, please."

Luna took a step forward, making Roselite cling closer to her brother.  He took a step forward, drawing a knife defensively.  Silent drew Queenbreaker's Bow, aiming it at him.  Luna saw this and lowered the barrel with her wing.  "Do not do this Mordecai.  Your aggression is being pointed in the wrong direction."

"I will protect my sister Luna, even if it means fighting you."  Mordecai said, unwavering.  Luna started to say something when a flash of light caught their attention.

"Mordecai, they're right.  As your Ghost, I cannot and will not lie to you."  Rain said to his guardian.  "Besides, from you shown me from our mental link, I don't remember her having green eyes." 

Mordecai froze, and turned to look at Roselite.  Instead of seeing her warm, dark-brown colored eyes, cold green ones stared back.  He closed his own eyes, and took a shaky breath.

Before anyone could react, Mordecai drove his knife straight into his sister's chest.  With his eyes still closed, all he could feel was warm blood running down his hands.  It made him feel very sick inside of his stomach, but he reminded himself it was not her.  Feeling her body shift confirmed this.

Opening his eyes, the smiling face of Chrysalis met his.  Pulling the knife out, he watched as the Queen fell to ground.  She raised her head at them, and laughed.  Her body was engulfed in green flames, leaving behind a slender Changeling who kept laughing until it grew weaker and weaker.  Soon, the room was dead silent.

For a moment, Mordecai had experienced true happiness, but now it was gone.  Rain floated over to Hawkmoon, putting the weapon away into Mordecai's backpack.

Luna wrapped her wing around Mordecai's back, trying to comfort him.  Wiping away a tear, Mordecai grabbed Luna and brought her in for a hug.  Seeing Rain float by him, he grabbed his formerly abducted partner and brought him into the hug as well.  Silent just stood there, doing his own thing.

"Let's go home."
> Verse 2:6 Metamorphosis(Unedited)
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Vedalia opened her eyes, her vision greeted by a white void.  She was floating in a plane of white, when suddenly a hole opened up beneath her and sucked her in.  She tried to scream but couldn’t as she was dragged through darkness.  She had lost her sense of time and it felt like a eternity had passed until she became aware of a warmness spreading throughout her body. 

Although pleasant at first, it quickly progressed from uncomfortable to unbearable as her body felt as if it was being dipped in lava. Tears ran down her face from the sensation and she screamed in silence, no sound coming from her mouth. Slowly, her nerves became numb and she closed her wet eyes, being consumed by the void.





Caring Hoof walked towards the captured changelings room, with orders to change its bandages and check their vitals.  She greeted the royal guards standing outside the room with a smile and stood still as both of them cast a changeling detection spell on her. Once finished, they nodded their heads at her and took the defensive wards off the door. Walking into the room, her eyes widened in shock and fear as she looked at what had suddenly became of the changeling. The bed and area around it was charred black from intense heat.  The changeling that was once on the bed, was replaced by a iridescent pod, glowing from the immense magic at work inside of it.

Regaining her composure, she ran out of the room to alert Doctor Pack.





“Ready Mordecai?”

“Let's go Luna” Mordecai readied Bolt Caster in his hands and got into a fighting stance.

Luna charged up her horn and shot magic above Mordecai’s head. The magic transformed into dark grey clouds that flashed as lightning was generated inside of them. A sudden surge sent multiple lightning bolts flying towards him. He activated his arc guard, blocking the bolts but grimaced when he realized the attack took away a majority of Bolt casters hilt energy, nearly depleting it. His sword was strong against solar and void attacks, but arc attacks depleted its energy faster. Mordecai immediately counterattacked, twirling with his sword around to build up the remaining arc energy inside. Completing his spin, he released the built up energy and flung a disk of arc energy towards Luna who put up a shield to block it.

The disk struck the shield  and only took a couple of seconds to destroy it. Luna teleported, causing Mordecai to look at his radar. Red flared up to his left and he double jumped out of the way of a charging Luna, who swung her scythe into the floor with enough force to create a small crater where he had been standing. With Bolt-Caster’s remaining energy spent, the blade of arc had disappeared, leaving Mordecai with a hilt. He threw the hilt at her but she stopped it with her telekinesis. Mordecai took advantage of his distraction and threw multiple knives at her, aiming for her head, chest and hooves. Luna quickly dropped the hilt and cast a spell that caused a mirror to form in front of her.  

Mordecai watched as his knives disappeared into the mirror and got ready to dodge when he felt himself get stabbed in the back twice and in the upper calf. Realizing what Luna did, Mordecai  tried to quickly pull the knives out but was given no time due to Luna rushing towards him with her weapon. Managing to pull the knife out of his calf, Mordecai raised it to meet Luna’s downward slash.  

The second before the two blades made contact, Mordecai released the arc energy inside of him which transferred to his knife, coating it in arc. The two weapons clashed in a brilliant display as the guardian and alicorn’s struggled to overcome the other.  Mordecai was steadily losing the clash, as Luna’s strength was comparable to a titan’s. The blade of Luna’s scythe turned from silver to nearly transparent as it phased clean through Mordecai’s arc blade, surprising the hunter who had no way of defending himself from the incoming attack. The blade resolidified and cut through Mordecai’s arm before sinking itself deep into his chest. The arc energy flowing throughout his body was canceled  and Mordecai was slammed into the ground by the force of the swing. Blood erupted from his mouth as he coughed from his entire ribcage being shattered. 

With half of his right arm on the floor next to him, Mordecai raised his left and tapped the ground, yielding to defeat.  Luna pulled her scythe out of Mordecai and used magic to wipe the blade clean of blood.  Rain appeared above Mordecai, scanning his body for all the injuries he sustained before releasing a pulse of light, healing him.

“Looks like round 3 goes to Luna.” Rain said. “She’s got the lead on you Mordecai, but I guess a 1,000 years of experience trumps 4 years.” He joked

“I mean I’m limited to melee weapons since I don’t know if alicorns can take bullets or fusion bolts. Plus Magic is pretty versatile compared to Light since all of my abilities can cause fatal harm to combatants.”

“Are those excuses I'm hearing, Mr.Godslayer?”Luna asked with a smirk on her face.

“I give you props for taking down a Chaos god, but getting teleported into either the past or future with oracles trying to erase you from existence itself required finesse I don’t think you have.” He retorted back.

“Then why don’t you show us this finesse of yours you so highly speak of guardian?” Luna said, settling back into a combat stance.

“With pleasure princess” Mordecai said as he switched to his Nightstalker subclass and readied a smoke grenade.

The two were interrupted as a lunar guard entered the training room.

“My Princess, there has been a major development with the changeling.”





Taking a deep yawn, Princess Celestia probed the cocoon with her magic and was slightly relieved when she detected a faint heartbeat inside. 

“Thoughts Doctor Pack?”She asked.

“While Changeling physiology is still mostly a mystery to us, I say this is a result of her body trying to heal itself with a massive amount of magic. However, there seems to be more to it than that as internal scans has shown her body ha-”

“Grown bigger, I know. What are your thoughts you two?”Celestia asked as she turned towards her sister and Mordecai.

“For my two glimmer I would say she’s undergoing some kind of metamorphosis, like a butterfly.” Mordecai said. “I’ve been told that Changelings feed on love which is magic somehow and by staying in the Crystal Empire which is powered by love, caused this.”

“We agree with Mordecai’s theory as the amount of Magic radiating from this cocoon is being used for more than just simply healing wounds.” Luna said.

“Then the question is, what is this changeling transforming into, and what will be done about it?” Celestia questioned.

Silence reigned supreme as everyone gave thought as where to move on from there. 

“If this changeling is metamorphosing into a queen, how would Chrysalis react to it?” Mordecai asked, causing everyone to look at him. “We know Chrysalis tried to have her killed that night for an unknown reason, so what if that was her motive?”

“Mordecai, what you are saying is believable, but that does not mean that she is on our side. Changelings are fiercely loyal to their Queen and this fiend has committed crimes, even getting so close as to replacing one of my threstrals in the process.” Luna said.

“I understand that but she could be a pretty big asset to us, especially in regards to information. I know Chrysalis took something Rain from the state he was in when I found him. If she managed to get information, blueprints, or even Light, then that gives her army an massive advantage, and last I recall she might want to return the favor for what happened in Canterlot.” Mordecai explained.

“Then by bringing up this suggestion, I shall give you the task of guarding this changeling, as well as reforming and acquiring any useful information as well.”Celestia said 

Mordecai kept a straight expression before turning around and walking out of the door. “Sister, you cannot ask that of him, especially after what he has just been through.”Luna said. 

“We have no other choice Luna. Chrysalis may send assassins to kill her and she would be in no better hooves, or rather, hands than Mordecai’s.”  Celestia replied.

“Then you will have the pleasure of retrieving him, dear sister, as I have to return to my Night Court.” Luna said, smirking as she left the room.

Celestia frowned before taking another deep yawn. This was going to be a long night for her. 





“Everything on board?” Mordecai asked Rain.

“Yes, but isn’t this a little childish? We haven’t even finished the repairs for our ship.”

“Nope, I’m not going to get used by Celestia to play guard when there are better things I could be doing. ” 

“If we make it past the upper atmosphere without a malfunction or issue,I’ll deal with the emergency broadcasts from now on.” Rain challenged.

“Deal.” Mordecai said. It felt good to have his partner and companion back with him. He activated his ship’s thrusters and was preparing to take-off when his ship suddenly stopped mid-air. 

“Um Rain, you don’t think I broke something just now do you?”

“It’s not you or the ship, take a closer look outside.”Rain replied

Squinting outside,Mordecai saw a thin haze of familiar yellow magic covering his ship. He pushed his thrusters to their max however the ship did not move an inch.  He laid his head down on the console and turned off the thrusters, then felt himself slowly get lowered to the ground. 

“The only thing I can handle being held down by are random guardians in the crucible.”

“Well, it looks like I won that bet.Back to the broadcasts you go.”
> Verse 2:7 Awakening(Unedited)
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

The  cocoon holding the changeling had lost its glow, its color now a dull grey.  A large crack suddenly appeared, and the shell burst open into several large pieces, spilling a foul smelling fluid all over the bed and floor.  Vedalia groggily raised her head and opened her eyes.  Her body felt really weak, her head was pounding, and her magical reserves were completely depleted. 

Suddenly, she tasted disgust in the air and quickly turned towards its source. In the corner of the dark room was the human, who was scraping dirt from underneath his nails with a knife. "It's you!"

"Who, me?" Mordecai quipped, before going back to seeing to his nails. Vedalia knew she couldn't use her magic, so she coughed up some gel and shot it towards the human. The gel covered his hands and knife before hardening, causing him to sigh. Vedalia saw a chance to escape so she tried to get off the bed. The moment her hoof touched the floor it gave out, making her fall face first onto the ground. Her headache exploded, and she found it hard to move her body.

"Ya know, the same thing happened to me when I woke up from our fight.  Didn't think it was funny until I seen it happen to someone else though."  He snickered as she struggled to pick herself up. Her body not only felt weak, but extremely different than the body she had before.  She was thrown off by how much larger she had grown, but now was not the time to be pondering things.

Raising her head, she saw that the human had disappeared.  Still tasting disgust in the air, she knew that he had most likely turned invisible and was hiding somewhere.  She got to her hooves and made a dash towards the door, only for Mordecai to reappear in front of her.

She accelerated towards him and lowered her horn, hoping to impale him.  She was expecting for him to either dodge or try to counter her attack, but he simply stood there as she buried her horn deep into his stomach. She tried to pull out but he wrapped his arms around her head and neck, keeping her attached to his body.

"Damn, you didn't even buy me dinner first before moving on to penetration, how daring of you." He said painfully as he held her.  Vedalia hissed and desperately tried to free herself from him but it was a losing battle as her strength left her weak body and she collapsed in his arms.  Still holding her close, Vedalia felt him wrap a tight band over her wings, restraining them to her back.  He let her pull her horn out a little before he also locked a metallic object around the base of her horn, most likely a magic suppressor.

He pushed her away from him, her jagged horn ripping out his intestines as she fell.  Mordecai held his abdomen as he staggered towards a chair in the room near her.  When he tried to sit down, she kicked the chair away from him and he fell on his butt, gasping in pain.  "You bitch, can't even let me bite it comfortably."

"Die your final death humiliated, you alien monkey."  She said as she laughed, happy to be rid of the human once and for all.  She waited 10 mins until he took a final, pained breath, and he went silent.  A large pool of blood had started to surround his body.  Vedalia managed to get his intestines off her newly elongated horn before dragging herself to the door.  She had just put her hoof on the handle when she felt a strong pulse of magic behind her, lighting up the room momentarily.

She turned her head in utter disbelief and saw Rain, hovering over a now revived Mordecai, who was smirking at her.  "While you were getting some beauty sleep, I led a strike on your hive.  Too bad I didn't get to kill your queen though."  He said disappointingly.

He pulled a knife out and in a flash of light coated it and his body with arc energy, before lunging at her quicker than she could react.  He stopped his blade mere centimeters from touching Vedalia, and held it there before clearing his throat. 

"Alright, now listen up changeling.  I don't know if you hit your head too hard when you fell, but I don't think you remember your situation all too well."  He started.  "Your queen tried to have you killed because you absorbed so much love in the Crystal Empire that it forced you to undergo a metamorphosis into a queen."  

Vedalia clutched her head with her hooves as her memories of what happened started to replay in her mind.  "Shut up!"

"She damn well almost succeeded too.  The only reason you're alive is because I thought you could be reformed and Celestia assigned me the role of babysitter."

"I'm of no use to the Hive, I should've died."  Vedalia said as she wept about her situation.  "It's all your fault."

"Don't blame me for your mistakes, first of all.  Second, now that you're a queen, can't you make your own hive now?"  Mordecai asked.

"Why do you care?"  Vedalia asked, sniffling.  "Don't you want revenge for what I did to you?"  

"I somewhat care because as a guardian, I've done a LOT of killing with no questions asked.  However, now I can see  that there is another route I can take."  Mordecai pulled his blade away from Vedalia's throat and killed the arc energy erupting from his body.  "Me and you are similar in the way that we have been thrown from our homes and are forced to survive in a new, hostile setting."

"The ponies don't seem that hostile towards you."  Sneered Vedalia as she started wiping her eyes.  

"I was close to getting into it with Celestia and Luna when we met, had I not told them the truth.  While the changelings are on shitty terms with ponies, you can change that by making a hive that's on friendly terms with them."  The guardian reasoned.  "Friendly terms means you don't have to kidnap for food when it is being freely given to you."

"I doubt the ponies will get over their xenophobic views."

"Not at first.  Their trust is something you're really gonna have to work towards, and I'll help you along by being your bodyguard, as well as your friend."  Mordecai stretched his hand out towards her with the warmest smile he could muster.

Vedalia frowned before slapping his hand away.  Instead, she leaned against him as support to help herself stand.  Mordecai helped her to a couch on the other side of the room as her hospital bed was soiled from the cocoon.  Once she was on, he crouched in front her and started going through his memories.

"You're hungry, aren't you?"  He asked her.  The changeling said nothing but opted to look away from him.  Sighing, Mordecai finished compiling all of his happiest memories from his non-guardian to guardian life, along with the emotions he felt from each memory.  "I know you are, so go ahead and feast before you die of starvation."

Vedalia flinched as a literal tsunami of positive emotions hit her, and she became truly aware of just how hungry she was.  Transitioning from an infiltrator to a queen used up all the love gathered from the Crystal Empire, and for some reason the love from the Crystal Heart wasn't reaching her room.  She hesitated at first, but caution was overcome by hunger as she began to siphon the emotions being presented to her.  

The emotions she harvested from Mordecai were unlike any other, as his were mixed with his Light instead of Equis magic.  She quickly had her fill, and ceased her draining.  Having her stomach filled to the brim and overcome by both physical and mental fatigue, she fell asleep on the couch.

Mordecai also felt tired from having his emotions drained, but got up and went to a set of cabinets near the couch.  He grabbed some sheets and covered the changeling with them.  Mordecai knew that what happened to Rain wasn't entirely the changelings fault, as she had just been following orders from her queen like he had from the Speaker.  Who was more justified, he couldn't really answer as he never knew the Speaker's true intentions or if anything he said was the truth or a lie.  Either way, Mordecai did his job as a guardian and protected the Last City on Earth from those who would threaten it.  

"Oh yeah, I forgot to ask her what her name is."
> Verse 2:8 Fate(Unedited)
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

"Why am I here again?" Vedalia asked, watching Mordecai place a number of different unique looking guns in front of her. Ignoring her, Mordecai finished lining up the different exotic weapons in front of the new changeling queen. 

They were right outside his ship where he had borrowed several targets used for archery practice from Luna. From left to right was the 4th Horseman, Boolean Gemini, a replica of the infamous Thorn, Plan C, Jade Rabbit, and the Universal Remote. 

"Alright, choose a gun, any gun and prepare to have some fun." Mordecai said gleefully as he motioned at the collection of exotics. Giving him a strange look, Vedalia looked over the weapons before settling on the 4th Horseman.

Picking it up with a telekinesis spell, she aimed it towards the target before squeezing the trigger. The weapon violently broke through her magical grip as the 4 barrels rapidly fired and gun was sent flying behind her, landing near Mordecai who had broke out in a fit of laughter as he looked at her bewildered face.

Her face changed from shock to anger as she picked the shotgun up again and started to whack Mordecai with the gun as he continued to laugh at her. Going back, a silver spiky weapon that was similar in shape to the red gun she seen Mordecai use caught her eye. There were small green orbs on the side of the weapon which reminded her of the Changeling capture or healing pods at the Hive. 

Pushing aside the pang of homesickness she felt, she strengthened her magical grip on the weapon before looking down its sight. Pulling the trigger, she was rewarded with a flash of green light and a sound of something slicing through the air. She looked in awe at the archery target which had a spiked projectile impaled into it, which spread a sickly green aura over the target. Intrigued, she fired several more shots before the target began splintering, quickly breaking down into a pile of burned wood.

"Hmm, this weapon seems like it's down my alley. What is its name?" Vedalia asked, turning to Mordecai who was staring at the pile of burned wood. "Mordecai?" The hunter continued to stare wide-eyed at the target, as if he was going through flashbacks of some terrible event that happened with the weapon.

"Are you ok?" 

"Oh yeah, my bad. It's name is Thorn, although the one you're holding is a replica of the original."

"Original?"

"The real Thorn is way deadlier, with the ability to put guardians down for good by devouring their light. It was lost though, when its wicked wielder, Dredgen Yor, was brought to justice after having gone on a guardian killing spree." Mordecai finished.

"Do all of your weapons have such history behind them?" Vedalia asked, inspecting the Thorn within her magical grasp.

"Mostly exotic tier weapons do, but some are a mystery like this one." Mordecai said, materializing a weirdly shaped golden weapon with orange lights.

"The Vex Mythoclast." Mordecai showed the weapon to Vedalia, before firing a couple bolts at a archery target, instantly disintegrating it.

"This weapon was dropped after my fireteam and I defeated a Vex time lord in a dimension of their own design."

"You WHAT?!" Vedalia shouted in disbelief. "How?"

Chuckling to himself, Mordecai sat cross legged on the grass in front of her. 

"Let me tell you about the time we raided the Vault of Glass..."





"Holy shit this hurts." Liore-1 said, her titan chest plate smoking after taking a hit from Atheon's Torch hammer. Her ghost surveyed the damage before quickly repairing it. "I'm going to use my next ward's light to strengthen our guns by the way Cai." 

"Got ya." The hunter replied, taking a peek at their heavily damaged foe. Atheon's once pristine and shining chassis was littered with bullet holes, causing massive cracks to appear on his frame.  The giant vex minotaur was hammering away at their location, when it's attention was grabbed by another Titan throwing a pulse grenade at it feet. Having switched targets, Mordecai sighed in relief and watched as Jak dodged all of Atheon's shots as he catapulted into the air. 

"I'm betting 50k glimmer that the next three getting teleported are Mordy, Radia and Drew." Orion-5 said, the gunslinger using a heavy ammo synthesis to reload his Swarm machine gun. 

"I'm gonna be rich then" Mordecai agreed, the two shaking hands to signify their bet. Jak laughed deeply over the sounds of void blasts while Radia sighed in disappointment.

Atheon ceased firing before raising its arm to the sky, making everyone go on alert. A flash of light appeared, and gone were Radia, Mordecai and Drew. Orion-5 pumped a fist in the air before jumping on the synch plate to open the vex timegate to Mars. Liore-1 stood near the portal with her newly acquired Found Verdict, firing shots off at the supplicant harpies attempting to kamikaze her.

"You alright by yourself over there big guy?" Orion-5 asked, looking at Jak who was defending the synch plate to Venus alone. 

Jak let loose several bursts of gunfire from his new pulse rifle, Praedyth's Timepiece, killing the approaching supplicants on his side. "No worries over here." The titan said, happily reloading the newest addition to his arsenal.

"If anything, worry about Cai paying you that 50k." Liore-1 said, sticking a supplicant with her magnetic grenade. It died in the initial explosion, with a second one following suite after the grenade's secondary explosion went off. "He still owes me after all."





Mordecai poured his light into the Aegis, using the last of his vision to release a blast of energy at a glowing white Oracle. His vision black from the Oracles attempting to wipe his existence, he used his motion tracker to get close to Radia and Drew. Once he was in their vicinity, he used the Aegis to make a shield of light, cleansing their vision as they made their way to the now opened portal. As much as he wanted to look at the beautiful lush green scenery that was the planet Venus, Mordecai carried on. 

Another oracle appeared by the portal, Drew gliding towards it with Invective in hand. Once the fifth Oracle was quickly taken care of, Mordecai jumped high into the air. Like clockwork, the sixth Oracle appeared opposite of the fifth, and Mordecai quickly brought the Aegis down on it, destroying it and bringing their work in the future to a close. The guardians began to glow, a universal consequence for the Vex for attempting to overwrite the guardian's destinies.

"Another cleanse?" Drew asked, Mordecai nodding his head in agreement as he used the Aegis's shield again. "You guys ready to make our own fate?"

"Let's finish this." Radia said as her Icebreaker sniper rifle recharged completely. The three of them ran through the portal, getting teleported back to present. Mordecai quickly jumped to the middle platform between the two portals before immediately raising the Aegis's shield to block Atheon's shots. 

A lone supplicant who had been hiding behind the portal blitzed Radia before she had a chance to react and exploded, killing her instantly. The rest of the fireteam paid her death no mind as Liore-1 placed a Ward of Dawn near the back of the platform, everyone taking a dip inside to strengthen their weapons with her light. They took up positions besides Mordecai and started shooting at Atheon.

Radia's badly damaged corpse turned to ashes and with a flash of solar light, she was reborn. The flaming solar empowered warlock started tossing miniature suns at the giant vex, who staggered from the amount of damage being done to it.

"We almost got him, keep firing!" Mordecai yelled to his fireteam. Drew blinked up out of the shield and threw a nova bomb at Atheon, causing the minotaur's right arm get blown off from the impact of a collapsing star. Jak charged at Atheon with his Fist of Havoc, making Atheon kneel to their might. The vex angrily used its weapon to knock Jak into a stone pillar, the impact killing him as his chest collapsed in on itself. Radia flew towards his body and lended some of her light to his ghost, reviving him.

Orion-5 pulled out his Wail hand cannon and funneled his light into it, making it burn bright with light before he quickly let out six rapid fire shots of pure solar energy at Atheon. Five of his shots found their mark at the vex's weak spot, his radiolarian core, severely cracking the container and causing it leak out. Atheon became enraged, his torch hammer firing rapidly and supplicants began appearing to his sides.

"Everyone get clear!" Mordecai shouted to his fireteam. He let down the Aegis's shield and jumped towards Atheon. "Guardians make their own fate!" 

Charging the aegis with as much light as he could hold, Mordecai shot one last blast of light at Atheon, the shot completely obliterating its radiolarian core and causing the machine to collapse, dead. The fireteam cheered, ecstatic with their victory against time itself. The aegis Mordecai was holding changed its shape to a large cache, weapons and armor appearing inside created by Kabr, the titan who previously attempted to conquer the vault but failed. 

While his fireteam was fighting over who got what, Mordecai noticed a glint coming from the remains of Atheon. Deciding to investigate, the hunter was surprised to find a gun among the broken parts of Atheon, one that seemed mysteriously fit for human hands...





Vedalia sat with her mouth agape at Mordecai's recollection of the raid. "I'm speechless." Laughing at her reaction, Mordecai internally winced when a strong wave of longing came over him, caused by reliving his memories of his best friends. They had done so much together, from conquering the Vault of Glass to seeing to the King's Fall. He missed them so much.

Vedalia tasted his change in mood but her curiosity of what happened next beat her sympathy. "What happened after?"

"We were recognized by the Vanguard and we decided to officially become a registered fireteam, but first, we had to choose a name." Mordecai smiled. "As cliché as it sounds, we became known as Fireteam Fate."

"Did you ever pay Orion?"

"That is a story for another day."