//------------------------------//
// Chapter 3: The loon on the moon 
// Story: Long Far Gone 
// by A-P-A 
//------------------------------//

Graveyard of stars, Equis's moon. 4:27pm Equestria time 21/06/1000 AN 

Luna just wanted to go home. She didn't know that vile creature would seize her yet again, she didn't know the elements of harmony had been found. She didn't know she would be banished, for another thousand years. She had stopped crying long ago. Crying solved nothing. It would only make her think about the past. Instead of... What? The future? Her thousand year banishment? No, but she couldn't stop these thoughts. She only wished to return home. Back to the castle, where her sister would be waiting. Celestia. Luna's heart ached for her. Not that her actions showed it. She resented herself for her foalish behaviour. How could she be so selfish, getting jealous over such petty things, she had a duty and she threw it away in the name of emotional persuits that benefited nopony, not even herself. Tia probably wouldn't even want to see her, after what she did. 

Her lamenting was interrupted by a loud whoosh. Luna immediately took a defensive stance, years on the battlefield had taught her to expect anything. Almost anything. There's just some things that one couldn't ever expect to see. An enormous space faring whale exiting a portal is one of those things, yet here it was.

"By the sun."

Luna fell on her rump and took in the scene before her, it's white skin glistened in the evening sunlight, casting a great shadow over the lunar surface. Along grooves in its side countless shining stars could be seen, making it look one with the night sky itself. Luna could see lettering emblazoned on the side of its head, she could just about read what it said.

'Long Far Gone'

Long Far Gone, UNKNOWN, UNKNOWN. UNKNOWN/UNKNOWN/4367

The Long Far Gone's bridge was quiet, Exuberant-Witness had wanted it that way. It had been in a state much similar to this for the past thousand years, she didn't know why. She just felt that she should let them rest, let him rest. The reclaimers AI had woken up months ago, the moment they started getting traces of arcana. That's what it was called was it not. At least that's what the forerunners had named the energy that coursed through the Wandering star. She found it shameful, to be created by beings who had to steal to get what they wanted. That energy didn't belong to the forerunners, it didn't belong to the humans either. No it only truly belonged to one type of host. Pity they were all gone, she had always wanted to meet an alicorn. 

"Exuberant." Said ghost, dragging her out of her thoughts.

"Yes sorry, I was just thinking."

"Anything I should be concerned about."

"No ghost, it's not relevant."

Not yet at least. They were floating in front of the spot where Mathew had vanished, all those years ago. The visible resedue had long since past, but ghost knew where to look. He began to pulse as light erupted from his frame. It danced in the air, swirling around him like like a cloud of mist. He channeled his light into a resurrection. Preparing to bring Mathew back. All of a sudden ghost snapped shut, and a white light blinded both of them. 

There, in the position he was in a thousand years prior, lay Mathew. Ghost approached.

"Guardian, eyes up guardian."

Mathews raised his head to get a better look at what was making the sounds in front of him. To his surprise it was his ghost, did he make it to the afterlife as well, wait why was Exuberant with him. She didn't die, did she. How were they still on the bridge. Unless...

"MATHEW"

Ghosts volume started him.

"Ugh, nice wake up call dude. I think you may have overdone it." 

"Yes well, answer the first time then so I don't have to yell." Replied ghost.

"Well excuse me for being dead for... How long was I out."

Exuberant spoke up. "You've been in stasis for exactly one thousand years, two days and sixteen and a half hours."

Mathew was instantly wide awake, one thousand years! That made home the oldest living human by a long shot. Then he remembered what had happened. He could very well be the last living human. Yet how was his ghost able to resurrect him. The Traveler was destroyed.

"Wait, how am I even alive. I thought the Traveler lost all its light." 

"It did. Just before I shut down I had Exuberant lock the location of the light and follow it. We just arrived." Said ghost

Mathew stepped up and made his way over to the window on the bridge. He could see they were in floating over a moon of sorts, not unlike earth's actually. There was a lush green planet in the distance, the last of a star's rays were just disappearing over the horizon. 

"There's a lot of things going on in this system I don't quite understand, instead of running a standard heliocentric model, like most star systems, it appears to have a geocentric one." Exuberant gestured towards the hologram that was now displayed over the bridge. It showed a planet at the center with both the local star and the planets moon rotating around it. The star was only slightly bigger than the moon. Ghost was tremendously puzzled.

"How can a star of that size even support a fusion reaction, it should have collapsed years ago."

"I can't define." Said Exuberant. "It could be due to Forerunner intervention, though this system is well outside of their known operating grounds. I'll look into it."

"If you guys are done talking about orbital patterns could someone please tell me where my weapons are." 

While guardians were often placed on guard within the city, it was always advised to keep your firearms on you at all times. Just in case. Considering what had happened to earth Mathew wasn't looking forward to meeting the cause of such destruction, and his lack of weapons wasn't helping.

"Ah, your armaments. I placed them in hanger L2, next to your ship. I can retrieve them for you if you'd like, or we could journey down there ourselves. I'm sure the walk would do you some good reclaimer." 

Mathew nodded, this room was getting stuffy anyway. He began to walk towards the door when Exuberant stopped him. 

"There is no need, we can simply use the ships teleportation grid to get there." She said

"Wasn't I suppost to get a walk." Replied Mathew 

Exuberant brightened. "I'm sure the hanger will be far enough."

With that she flicked a nearby switch and a small pad on the floor began to glow. It hummed and a swirling blue portal arose. Dancing in the air. Exuberant glided forwards until she was right in front of the rift, almost touching. Mathew looked hesitant. 

"Come on reclaimer, surely you've been through a slip space portal before."

Mathew had been through portals before. Vex portals. It's not something to take lightly, one wrong move and you could be launched years forwards or backwards in time, maybe even into different realities entirely. Lord Shaxx had faced heavy criticism for his use of the Vex portals on a crucible arena out in the Martian oasis. Many believed that the risk of using these portals was way to great to be considered a sport. Shaxx had denied all claims, saying that the portals had been rigorously tested for 'fluctuations' and that none of the gateways ever had a chance of being volatile. Just another reason to avoid the crucible in Mathews opinion, not that it mattered now. Needless to say this was well out of his comfort zone. 

"I don't know." He said sceptically. "Are you sure this is safe?"

"Of course reclaimer. My units and I have been using this system since we implimented it nearly two thousand years ago, it's never had any errors, why should it now."

She made a good point, it was highly unlikely that there would be any danger, even if the portal did look quite ominous. Mathew looked to his ghost. 

"After you..."

Ghost made a short snark and flew through the portal, disappearing from sight. Mathew stepped forwards, facing the portals rim. 

"Here goes nothing." He said, to no one in particular.

He stepped though and instantly felt a large force, like he was being pushed from behind, and then it was over. Mathew was standing in a dark room, alone. He could see a light round a bend. His ghost had probably gone that way. He walked along the dimly lit hall and round the corner. The bridge was big but, this. This was on a whole new level.

Before him stood hanger L2, in all its glory. This place was massive. You could easily fit the intire city cathedral in here and still have room to fly a Zeppelin around. The hangar was filled with Sentinels milling about, performing a variety of tasks. Some were cleaning the plethora of different aircraft and vehicles. Shining and polishing, replacing parts, you name it. Others were transporting crates or mechanisms around the large space. He spotted an enforcer unit amid the rabble. Shifting a long slender craft with its large rear claws. Several more sizeable ships were suspended from locks on the ceiling, their curved purple forms reflecting the light of the bustle below. Mathew scanned the room for his jump ship, after a moment he spotted the familiar orange sight of his vanguard class ship, rather conspicuously named 'Fatal vision'.

Another one of his older possessions, the ship had been with him ever since he returned from the black garden after destroying the Vex heart. He had been offered many things: weapons, glimmer, rare materials. He'd only really asked for a ship because his old Arcadia was falling apart, otherwise he would have turned down most of the stuff. He'd only asked for something simple, a ship to get him here and there, and that was good at fending off Fallen pirates. What he got instead was a state of the art assault fighter that was equipped with pretty much every system available, as well as more cup holders than he could shake a stick at. He had tried to turn down the most certainly outrageously pricy jumper, but Amanda, the tower shipwright, had said that almost everyone in the city had donated a bit of what little they had to have it build for him. He could see that they really wanted to show there appreciation, and it would be ungrateful to turn it down. So he took it, and here it is a thousand years in the future. Looking just as fine as the day it was constructed. He ran across the hanger to get there, brushing close with a few Sentinels. They didn't seem to mind. He spotted his ghost up ahead, tampering with a panel on the ships side.

"Took you long enough." He said on Mathews approach. "I thought you'd gotten lost."

"Wouldn't be the first time" he replied. "Where's my stuff." 

"It's over there, in that crate." 

Mathew nodded, he headed round the back of the ship and unlocked the purple weapons case that had been placed there. Inside, laid neatly, was his scout rifle and his fusion rifle. His sword was placed inside a smaller capsule sitting next to one of the strange energy batteries he had been seeing around. He strapped it to his belt before picking up his other weapons and heading back round the front of the ship, where his ghost was just finishing up his inspection.

"Well it certainly seems like they've been taking good care of her." Said Mathew 

"Yes well, they have been keeping the Long Far Gone running for an extremely long time, I imagine their rather good at repairs by this point." 

Their conversation was interrupted by the arrival of Exuberant-Witness, who was humming a rather merry number as she flew down from a shipping crate above them. 

"Ah there you are reclaimer, I was just looking for you."

"Yeah, where were you. You were behind me, but you never came through the portal." Asked Mathew 

"I became sidetracked. The ship was picking up some rather perplexing energy readings on the lunar surface, similar to the markings that you give off actually. I was wondering if you would be able to investigate." 

"It could be a base of sorts, you never know. Maybe another guardian made it." Proposed ghost.

That was unlikely, but it was worth a look none the less.

"A couple of interesting things you may want to know about the planets moon. It does in fact have an atmosphere, extremely similar to your home planet might I add. You should be able to breath down there just fine reclaimer. The gravity also fluctuates heavily. Meaning that your weight won't remain constant. I recommend observing caution."

Huh, the more you know.

"You know you can call me Mathew right, that is my name. It's a hell of a lot easier to say than reclaimer." 

"Yes of course, apologies reclaim... Um. Apologies Mathew. It's just my programming, the forerunners were often strange about that sort of thing. I didn't mean to cause offence."

"It's fine." Mathew stuck a thumb at his ghost. "It took him ages to stop calling me 'guardian'."

Ghost huffed, it wasn't that long.

Mathew climbed up on top of his ship and popped open the pilots seat, as he slipped down inside he waved to Exuberant. 

"Shouldn't be long." He said

The engines started up. Mathew pulled his hand through the hatch and it sealed above him, good to be back. He put his hand on the throttle and pulled, the ship began to slowly rise before rotating and blasting forwards out of the shielded bay doors. Exuberant just watched in awe. What an interesting character.

Graveyard of stars, Equis's moon. 5:17 Equestria time, 21/06/1000 AN

Princess Luna had been gazing at the large object dominating the skyline for quite some time now. She had long since come to the conclusion that it wasn't alive, multiple life seeking spells held testimony to that. So that meant it had to be artificial, other than that she had made little progress in identifiying it's nature. It could be a city of sorts, maybe a project of her sisters, though that seemed unlikely. While she hadn't been in Equestria for an exceedingly long time she had been there long enough to know that the technology of pony kind hadn't advanced anywhere near this level. That meant that it had had to be somepony else's work. The Griffins? No, they would have used this to start a war the minute it was ready, yet it had remained peaceful for nearly an hour now. Most of the evidence pointed to one thing. Aliens.

Luna didn't want to believe it, but it all made perfect sense. Maybe there were nice, she hoped so. She couldn't imagine the equestrian army squaring off to something as large as this, at least not without the elements. Her thoughts were interrupted by a huge crack as the sound barrier was broken. She instantly hid behind the closest cover, which just so happened to be the large moon rock she had been resting on, the only outstanding object for miles.

Mathew's P.O.V

Mathew loved breaking the sound barrier, the rush of air, the adrenaline flowing through his veins. It was almost addictive. As much as he wanted to fly his ship around for hours, Mathew had a signal to find. He surveyed the landscape below him, and was surprised by the lack of... Well, anything. It was bare as far as the eye could see.

"The signals down there." Said his ghost, who was hovering over his shoulder in the cockpit.

A flight plan appeared on the ships hud, it lead to a small hill with a stand alone rock resting perfectly on top. He could have sworn he saw a flash of blue move for cover behind it, it was probably just his eyes playing tricks on him. Mathew brought the ship into a bank and flew down to the base of incline. It's twin engines roared, kicking up dust and sediment as the landing gear extended. He shut down the thrusters and unlocked the pressure seal on the hatch. Mathew pulled himself out of the pilots seat and jumped onto he surface. Dust burst up as he landed, making it look a lot more dramatic than it actually was. There was nothing here.

"The signature's coming from behind that boulder, there's also a heat source." Said ghost. Almost warning him.

Mathew took a few strides and began to ascend the small hill. Small stones crumbled beneath him as he climbed. As he reached to top he noticed the lack of anything significant, just a flat hill a rock and a blue tuft of fur sticking out from behind it... Wait, that's not really a moon thing. A light blue appendage shot out and pulled it back in. Mathew began to approach when a small stone sitting nearby was surrounded by a light blue glow. It launched off the ground and towards his head. He caught it with an outstretched arm. There wasn't anything unique about it, just a moon rock in a sea of other moon rocks. He dropped it and moved again towards his target. He could make out muffled whispering from behind it.

"Please don't see me, please don't see me..."

Mathew peered round the back of the rock and saw something that made his heart melt. A small blue equine was huddled at the stones base, obvious tear streaks could be seen running down its fur. It's Aqua mane was visibly matted. It instantly looked up at him, it's large blue eyes meeting his, although his visor covered them. 

"Are you going to kill me..." She said in a weak voice, her voice was way to soft to be male.

Mathew convulsed, why on earth would she think that. Then it all made sense. She must have seen the Long Far Gone jump in, it was huge in the sky. She must have heard the sonic boom of his ship breaking the atmosphere, and the way he jumped out of his ship. She was probably terrified. 

"It's okay little one, I won't hurt you... Are you lost." Asked Mathew

She hid behind her mane, blocking her face. Mathew was getting no where. So he did something he hadn't done for over a thousand years. He took off his helmet. He placed it on the ground next to her causing her to look up in surprise. Their eyes met once again, though this time she could see could see Mathews own brown eyes staring back. He pushed his hand through his short brown hair and smiled, trying to look as non threatening as possible. 

"See, I'm not that scary. Do you have a home?" 

Slowly, she lifted a hoof and gestured off towards the horizon. She was pointing towards the planet. She was lost on the moon.

"Do you have a name?" He asked 

"It's Prin-... Luna, just Luna. She stammered.

"It's nice to meet you Luna, my name's Mathew Ausland." He stuck out his hand, she hesitantly shook it. "How did you get stuck on the moon?" 

"I was banished here by my sister, I attempted to overthrow her, I didn't realise what I had until it was to late." Came a weak response

"How long have you been up here?" 

"A thousand years..."

Mathew was shocked. How could one being stay on the moon for a thousand years. Without food, or anyone to talk to. He thought for a moment, he couldn't just fly her home couldn't he. It would probably brake several vanguard policies (not that it mattered anyway), as well, no doubt, many of the laws of this world. Mathew looked down at the snivelling mess of a creature slumped at his feet, and instantly, didn't give a damn. 

"Would you like a lift back." He asked casually.

Her eyes lit up immediately. 

"You would do that for me? Even after I tried to hurt you?"

She had tried to hurt him? Ah, the stone. I wouldn't have done much damage anyway.

"No harm done, you were just scared. I couldn't possibly judge you for that."

Mathew felt a force plow him in the stomach, knocking the wind out him. He traveled backwards before landing in a heap, a pair of azure hooves wrapped around his chest.

"Thankyouthankyouthankyou!"

Mathew propped himself up with his elbow and smiled at the small equine embracing his midsection. 

"I think we should probably wait until dawn, I don't want to wake anyone up down there. We could go back aboard the Long Far Gone, I'm sure Exuberant would love to meet you." He said

"Who's Exuberant?"

"A friend."

With that, Mathew pulled himself up, shaking his new companion off. She stood roughly at chest height, gazing up at him. He picked up his helmet and brushed the dust of it, before slipping it back on his head. They journeyed down the slope and towards the jump ship. Whatever happened tomorrow, it was sure as hell gonna be interesting.