Canterlot, Equestria. 2:34pm 22/06/1000 AN
It's often said meaningful interaction with another being can mean the difference between life and death. That, in moments of extreme danger, a kind word of encouragement can change the course of someone's fate for the better. This statement is about as true as it gets. Interaction with another being does mean the difference between life and death, and in Mathews case, the current meaningful interaction was going to be the death of him. For good.
It had all started so innocently, with a meagre request for a little bit of knowledge, passed from one person to another. A simple exchange, one that had seen the start of many great friendships throughout history. Pity the fool who starts this conversation with Twilight Sparkle. Today that fool, or fools, was Mathew and his ghost, who had, unfortunately, caught the attention of the plucky purple bookworm through various feats as of late, and they were now paying for their ignorance.
"So what does an ammo synthesis do exactly?"
For Mathew, this simple cultural exchange had become one of the most tedious experiences of recent memory, everything about it was making his brain bleed. They had been through all sorts of stuff, most of it boring. He had spent a solid twenty minutes explaining the functionality behind each of his pieces of armour, as well as what each of the designs signified. Normally this would have been a pleasure, but when each piece had to be removed, and meticulously studied, even though it could be perfectly examined while still on his body. Let's just say that patience begins to run thin. At least He had Pinky Pie to talk to, or more accurately, to get talk at by. Ghost on the other hand, was having the time of his life.
"Well, an ammunition synthesis package basically allows me to create ammunition for Mathews weapons when we are out in the field. The case contains the necessary blue prints for the type of ammunition as well as some of the harder to find materials, the rest can be extracted from the surrounding area."
It wasn't often he got to talk to someone who was genuinely interested in the way many of his abilities functioned. Mathew, like most guardians, seemed to take it for granted that if they used an ammo synth, they would suddenly find that their guns were full, and go back to shooting. Very few actually thought to ask about why things happened as they did. Not that he minded, Mathew often had other things on his mind during combat. Twilight, however, was proving a worthy audience, furiously scribbling down any scrap of information she could attain.
"Yes, yes. Oh this is wonderful! Information from another world! Just think of the scientific merit this has, I'll need to compile these notes into a journal.
Ghost simply blinked in understanding, waiting for her to ask another question. She finished jotting down some reminders and turned to Mathew, who was trying to get a word in though Pinky's constant barrage of party talk.
"And do you know what the worst part is? He didn't even eat the whole thing! It just went to waste-"
"Mathew? Could I ask you a few questions, please?"
No one could say no to those eyes, even if they really wanted to.
"Sure, what do you want to know."
Twilight smiled sheepishly. "Could you maybe tell me about your world? What it was like?"
Images flashed before his eyes as all his features hardened up. He saw the wall, the traveller, his lost friends. How they were all destroyed.
"I'm sorry I didn't mean-"
Then it all stopped. He was back in the throne room, with a teary eyed unicorn looking up at him.
"Hey, hey. Don't cry... It's okay, I need to get it out of my system anyway. What would you like hear first."
Twilight's fearful expression softened. She rubbed the tears out of her eyes with her hoof and smiled up at him.
"Well I was wondering if you could tell what it looked like, like the landscape."
Huh, that wouldn't be to hard.
"Well, it changed a lot depending on where you were, but it was always sight to see. My favourite spot was on one of the neighbouring planets, Venus. The grass there was so unnaturally green, as were all the plants. I used to go and sit under this one small tree near a Vex citadel, it was up so high, like you were on top of the world. You could see for miles, all the way out to across the Ishtar sink, it was nice and quiet. My home planet was different though, most of it was littered with wreckage from past conflicts, there was a few places there that remained untouched, but none worth mentioning, and no matter where I went it always seemed to be snowing."
Twilight finished writing down her notes and looked back up at Mathew, a big smile on her face.
"Thank you, I know that must have been hard." She said. "Just remember, if you ever need to talk to anyone..." She slipped a piece of paper across the floor towards him. It had what appeared to be an address, neatly printed in ink. "You know where to find me."
Mathew grinned and patted her lightly on the head. "Thanks Twilight, I may just take you up on that."
They were interrupted by the arrival of the princesses, who had been out giving a word to the outlying members of the elements of harmony, Rainbow Dash and Applejack. Mathew didn't trust those two, as he was sure they didn't trust him, but he knew that he at least needed to make an attempt to be friendly. After his little 'accident' earlier, Rarity had taken Fluttershy to the castle infirmary for a check up, he was rigorously insured that she was fine, but he still felt it was his fault.
"Ah, it looks like the questioning has already begun." Said Celestia, who was taking the long route around a precarious stack of parchment. "May I ask what has already been covered."
"Mathew was just telling me a bit about his home." Replied Twilight.
The solar diarch shot a concerned glance at her sister before leaning in close to Mathew.
"Are you okay? I don't want this to put any pressure on you, I am aware that my faithful student can sometimes get a little too... 'Faithful'."
Mathew shook his head in reply.
"It's been fine, I was going to need to talk about it sooner or later, so I figured, why not get it over with."
"As long as your comfortable, let me know if it gets to much for you."
The human laughed.
"I've taken on armies, I'm sure I can handle one little unicorn."
Celestia just smirked.
"Then you don't know Twilight Sparkle."
She stood up straight and walked across the room, taking a seat in the massive sun themed throne nearby.
"Go on then, I shan't keep you."
Mathew turned back to Twilight, who was holding an alarmingly familiar object up to her eye. Held within her purple telekinetic grasp was his omolon fusion rifle, and she was peering down the barrel like it was a cavern that needed exploring.
"Twilight! Don't point that at yourself!"
The element of magic flinched at her name being called, instead opting to aim the weapon at Mathew.
"NO! Don't point it at me either! Just, put it on the ground, okay?"
She complied, placing the rifle on the ground and sliding if over to Mathew with her magic.
"What's wrong? I was only looking at it. I wasn't going to break it or anything." She paused, staring at the glossy black paint that covered the item. "Could you at least tell me what it is?"
Mathew picked up his gun and held it at his chest. He was sitting cross legged so it was just at the right height for the small pony to get a clear view.
"It's a weapon, it's called a fusion rifle."
Twilight's eyes widened.
"FUSION! Like, nuclear fusion!"
"Yes that kind of fusion, and that's exactly why I don't want you messing with it."
Luna, who had been watching from the sidelines, chose her time to make an approach.
"How many weapons do you need! Even during battle I wouldn't carry as much as that."
"I like to have one for every situation, just in case I need to engage from a multitude of distances and angles." Replied Mathew.
"I guess that makes sense, what does this one do then? Cause ponies heads to explode? Rip holes in time and space?"
"You can do that?!" Interjected Twilight.
Mathew chuckled, his hand finding its way down to the cartridge at the bottom.
"No, fortunately not, although that would be pretty neat. It's called a fusion rifle because that's what it does. It creates fusion."
Mathew pressed a button on the magazine, and watched as the clear purple liquid flowed seamlessly out out of the reaction chamber. He pulled the now full pack out of the rifle and tossed it at Luna, who caught it in her magic. She regarded the capsule with suspicion.
"Are you sure you should be tossing this thing around, it looks dangerous, and not all of us can just come back to life whenever we want you know."
The guardian waved his hand dismissively.
"Oh, I dunno. Are ponies allergic to sea water or something, if so then you better be careful."
"No we are not, at least I do not think so, I'm unsure of what medical science has uncovered while I was absent."
Ghost approached and hovered inches away from Luna's scrunched muzzle. He shot out a scanning beam which struck her right on the nose, causing the alicorn to flinch.
"No, I can safely say that you are not allergic to sea water, though I would refrane from drinking it. It'll probably have some adverse affects on your conscience."
Twilight had returned to her notes and was now scribbling down a crude a sketch of the weapon before her.
"So your saying that this thing can create a fusion reaction, out of sea water, in that small of a space."
"Well there's a bit of helium-3 in the mixture but essentially, yes." Replied Mathew absentmindedly.
"Prove it."
A deep silence hung over the room as the human and the unicorn locked eyes. Celestia sat forward on her throne, this could be interesting.
"What do you mean 'prove it'."
Twilight's competitive smirk grew.
"Prove it, because I think it's a load of horse apples. Fusion is impossible anywhere but in the core of a star, and yet you claim that this tiny device can create a fusion reaction out of something as simple as sea water! That's pretty rich, even by science fiction standards."
Mathew puffed his cheeks out in frustration.
"Okay, little unicorn, let me ask you. Who arrived in a spaceship this morning, and who took the train."
Now it was Twilights turn to get angry.
"That doesn't mean anything! Your craft could be operating on any number of magical systems, systems that are already in place all around Equestria! To believe that something of that size could operate on anything else is pure madness!"
She finished her statement with a dismissive snort, only serving to infuriate Mathew, who was about ready to point the rifle at her and prove it that way.
"Ghost, how exactly does the Lich, wait, scrap that. How exactly does the Long Far Gone operate!"
Ghost dug through his telemetry link to the ship, searching for the engine schematics.
"According to the ship's schematics, it has three slip space drives, two of which are currently in a low power state, that allow for interstellar travel, with a fuel scoop that can extend to collect fuel from nearby stars. Sub-light is governed by a large octa-core fusion system, producing enough energy in one minute to power every device on this planet..."
Twilight was open mouthed.
"For a thousand years."
"Wha-how... No! I refuse to believe it, energy like that can only come from magic! There's no way that's true!" Stammered Twilight.
Mathew, being the competitive hunter he was, had sensed his advantage, and he wasn't letting it slip away.
"Well it says right here that's how it works, are you going to attempt to argue with a computer system developed be an age old empire, or are you just going to accept the truth."
Twilight was beginning to grow red with frustration, making Mathews sly smile increase ten fold. Pinky, who had been watching the exchange with no small part of enthusiasm, misunderstood Mathews smile as being one of joy, and began to smile to, making the lavender unicorn shiver with rage.
"There is no way that ANYPONY, could have invented ANY OF THIS!" She punctuated her sentence with a slam of her hoof, which echoed around the silent room.
Princess Celestia could sense where this was going, and she didn't like it. She knew how agitated Twilight could get when presented with something she didn't understand, and it wasn't pretty. Mathew leaned in close, his smug face filling his opposition with unbridled fury.
"Well that's just to bad, because last time I checked... I wasn't a pony."
That was the straw that broke the camels back. Twilight let out a scream of anger and lept up into the air, her mane and tail erupting into a torrent of flames. Mathew scrambled backwards in surprise, slamming his helmet onto his exposed head. She floated there for a second, solar energy spiralling around her, before slowly descending, her coat returning to its normal colour. Her hooves made contact with the ground, her eyes darting around, panting with rage.
Mathew stared at her in disbelief. Everyone else seemed remarkably unfazed.
"Are... Are you like, okay?" He stuttered.
Twilight didn't answer, she just continued to twitch erratically.
"So, I'll take that as a... Yes?"
Celestia disembarked her throne and trotted down next to Mathew.
"Just give her a minute, she's just coming to terms with everything you've told her."
As if on cue, the purple protagonist loosened up and the wild, unorganised, look left her eyes. However, it replaced with an arguably much more terrifying expression, self-confidence.
"I have come to the conclusion that the information provided to you, Mathew, must have been in some way, inaccurate."
Both Mathew and Celestia's faces fell.
"Or maybe not."
Mathew resisted the urge to face palm, but the lavender science-pony wasn't quite finished.
"And, that the only way of informing you of the truth, is to categorise and study each of the devices you have brought with you!"
Mathew's resistance shattered, his visor almost did as well.
"No! That's not happening! There will be no messing around with alien weapons and vehicles, not on my watch."
Pinky leaned in.
"Your not wearing a watch, silly!"
"I believe Mathew was using an expression Miss Pinkamena." Said ghost, who was oblivious to the humans massacre themed thoughts.
"You can just call me Pinky, all my friends do, it's waaaaaaaay easier."
Ghost logged the new data before turning back to his fuming companion.
"Why not Mathew, I, for one, believe that this could be great for all of us, including you. Why not see if we can learn about each other through a constructive and repetitive task, I've heard it does wonders for the mind."
Luna was next to through her 'crown' into the ring.
"I wouldn't mind a closer look at some of the odd items in there, who knows there may be something of benefit to us."
"Well, it wouldn't hurt to have a little look, I was certainly curious when stepped out of your craft for the first time." Said Celestia confidently. Mathew shot his ghost a stern glare.
"Ghost, can I talk to you for a second. In private."
The little light nodded and disappeared, leaving several of the halls occupants rather confused. They waited for Mathew to retreat to the other side of the room to have his 'private' conversation, until he started emoting wildly.
"What's he doing sister?" Whispered Luna.
"I'm unsure, it could be a form of sign themed communication."
Mathew began pointing at them and shaking his hands about.
"Is he talking about us now?"
"Shh, Luna. Let's see how this plays out, we could learn something."
"It looks like a kind of dance." Pondered Twilight. "I wonder if I could get him to perform it at Spike's birthday party."
Little did they know, that Mathew had simply soundproofed his helmet, and was now having a very heated discussion with his own 'number one' assistant.
"They will be going nowhere near ANY of that stuff, who knows what could happen."
"I do, I know what all of the weapons in there are capable of, I know how all the vehicles operate. There is no danger letting them look."
"And what if one of them does something stupid, eh? What then? Do you want us to be responsible for slightly more that putting the poor little pests in the hospital."
"You know I seem to recall you giving a certain Princess a plasma based sword earlier this morning, or did my single light sensor deceive me."
"I- well- Ugh, you got me there. Was that a bad idea, should I take it off her?"
"I don't see why, she seemed to know her way about it, and I doubt it'll get used for anything more that a mantel decoration. That is why there's absolutely no harm in showing them, it might even help build trust. If we're going to be here for the indefinite future, then getting on good terms with the locals is a top priority."
Mathew sighed.
"What about the Sentinels?"
"What about them?"
"How can we be sure they won't just attack blindly again."
"Because they didn't the first time."
"But they-"
"-did what you ordered them to, guard the premises, and deter anybody who gets too close."
"I ordered non lethal force ONLY!"
"There is such a thing called self preservation you know, and it's not just exclusive to organics, most likely those Sentinels had been designed to forego any direct orders in the name of keeping themselves active, they were only doing what they were programmed to do."
Mathew hadn't thought of that, just another thing to the long list of things he didn't think about. A certain purple orb wandered from somewhere within that list. Exuberant. What was he going to do with her? Or more likely, what was she going to do with him. That monitor had already been shown to negate certain details from her cryptic explanations, but why? What was going on here? This planet seemed so familiar, like he'd seen it before somewhere, and then there was the flags, and the magic. She was hiding something, and the first chance he got he was getting some answers. If that started with showing his new companions some interesting tech then so be it.
"Okay, I'm game, but if this all goes sideways-"
"Which it won't."
"But if it does, then just know I said I told you so."
"Affirmative."
Mathew deactivated his helmet soundproofing, allowing noises from the outside to flow in. He turned back to his new friends, two of which appeared to be standing on their hind legs, attempting to mimic his stance, badly.
"What are you doing?"
"Trying to copy your dance, it looked really super dooper fun." Murmured Pinky, who had her tounge stuck out in concentration.
"Ha, which one?"
It's considered common knowledge that guardians have a certain fondness of dancing, whether it be a celebratory jig at the end of a hard won sparrow race, or deep behind enemy lines, often in very questionable locations. Mathew was no exception.
"The one you were performing there, with your claws." Said Twilight, who teetered but regained her balance.
Mathew looked down at his gloved fingers.
"First of all they're called hands, don't ever forget that, and second of all, what are you talking about."
"You were moving about erratically, we assumed it was a form of dance or sign communication."
Mathew burst out laughing, a long drawn out chuckle as he struggled to compose himself.
"You- You thought I was dancing, oh that's rich, thanks for the best laugh I've had in a while Sparkle."
Twilight didn't see the humour.
"Well if you weren't dancing, what were you doing."
"I was yelling a my ghost, but dancing sounds ok I guess."
"Oh,oh! Were you silent yelling, that's Mrs Cakes favourite kind of yelling. She likes to play that game with me all the time, and she's soooo good a it, I'll never be able to beat her." Recalled Pinky. Mathew began to wonder if this pony was on any form of medication, and if not then he could think of many that might help... Quell, some of this insanity.
"No I wasn't doing that either, I just soundproofed my helmet so I could talk it private." He explained.
"So he was inside your helmet."
"What! No. Well, not really, but at the same time yea-" Mathew felt himself switch to ramble mode. Today just got inexplicably longer.
Long Far Gone, Equis orbit. 3:14pm 22/06/1000 AN
Exuberant Witness coasted casually through the narrow corridors that made up the ship's service tunnels, whistling a cheery tune to herself. She had just finished repairing a small terminal that controlled one of the doors, a tiny minimalistic error that was one of the few and far between issues with the sub-systems. The Sentinels wouldn't allow for anything major to build up. She could have sent one of her drones to deal with minor malfunction, but she enjoyed fixing things, she was a builder after all.
That wasn't the only reason she had come down here though. There was something she needed to do, and it wasn't something she enjoyed. The service tunnel came to fork, and she instinctively chose left, her logical mind attempting to push her further away from that ghastly section of the ship. She reversed and proceeded right, down the dimly lit hallway. Why did she have to do this? It was irrational, stupid, and extremely dangerous, but her creators had programmed it into her. The hallway began to glow with the light of preservation chambers, the eerie blue pulses casting shadows onto the deck. She could feel herself being pulled away, all of her senses trying to force her to leave, but she was no longer in control.
As she journeyed further into the complex, more of the chambers began to unlock, revealing what was inside. There was a myriad of bizzare objects ranging from weapons to bits of bodies. She passed one that caught her eye. Though it was foggy she could just about make out the jagged shape of a changling queen's horn. Queen Chitus wouldn't be needing it anyway. Exuberant knew she was only distracting herself from her true goal. As she approached the back of the chamber she found herself stopping outside a heavily fortified door. She just couldn't bring herself to go through, so she turned to her right.
She kept this particular preservation tube here for a single purpose, to give her hope. It worked for human soldiers, and she felt that the object held within was a symbol that things would indeed get better. Even if they looked bleak. She dragged herself away from the silver capsule, which held a relic more precious than all the gold in the Canterlot treasury. A battered and old helmet, once worn by the greatest warrior in history, and a piece of humanity's history that will always be remembered, even after they're gone.
The massive indigo door began to unlock, the sound of thousands of tiny mechanisms working themselves apart. The barricade slowly retracted, as what looked like the entire wall slid away. There was no complex designs here, not for something as deadly as this. Exuberant floated forwards, putting herself on auto pilot, the less she saw, the less she would have to remember. This was no place for the faint of heart, and she was reminded of the every time she forced herself down here.
For inside that chamber, resided the remnants of the most evil forces in the galaxy. All the darkness that has ever existed, could be found within it's walls. Exuberant felt a familiar sensation wash over her form, it was cold, unfeeling, hungry. She passed an object held within a gravity well, she could feel it's single dead eye watching her. Against her will, she turned to face the cracked and broken shape, 343 Guilty Spark stared blindly back, his metal frame singed beyond recognition. She was reminded of better times, before all of this madness. When she was but a young AI, following orders that were easy to understand.
This was no way to be, she needed to keep focused, and her pain was far from over. The monitor continued down the long hallway, passing various dark and horrific relics. A shard of the composer, a Vex goblin head, the stolen blade of a dead hive god. This continued until she reached the far end of the chamber, which had to be the darkest place in the galaxy. Two pillars stood there, like monoliths of the night. Both had, perched atop them, a single preservation chamber. She could feel the blight leaking from them, urging her to stay back. Within one, floated a small, weak looking, creature. It's skin was pale and yellow, and it seemed slick with grime. It's long wiry feelers topped with red tufts. The last known, true, harbinger of death. Exuberant shuddered as she turned to the next container, which contained something of a whole different nature.
Hovering inside the glass cylinder, was a chip. A chip with a single hole through its center, a chip that was extracted from her relic of hope. A chip represented everything she fought against. Exuberant could feel her, like she was still there, still hanging over her. Planning to torment the galaxy with her false promises of peace and prosperity. She would never understand why the humans chose to name their protecters, their life saving wielders of the arcana, guardians. After all that monster did to them. Even now, her retched creations still haunt the galaxy, bending it to their desire. Those were dark times, and she knew they were still out there, hunting her. It wouldn't be long before she was found.
Exuberant finished taking the required scans, and as always, considered destroying them. It would be so easy, she could have the infection form incinerated, and the chip simply smashed to smithereens. It was then that she remembered why they were kept. For study, for science, the same study that ultimately lead to her creators downfall. She couldn't just throw them away, it was against protocol, and protocol was all she had left.
Canterlot, Equestria 9:37pm 22/06/1000 AN
Mathew had honestly expected the worst when he had invited them into the Lich. He had expected to be cleaning up un unclean-able mess, but, much to his suprise, most of Twilights tests proceeded without consequence. She had a couple more foaming at the mouth moments when she couldn't find any magic in any of the weapons, and she dropped some of the chemicals in the bio lab, but otherwise it would have been considered a great success. He was now lying drowsily against the newly named 'spectre' that he had been given by Exuberant, the largest of his small collection of ground based vehicles.
"Well." Said Celestia, who was organising a pile of homeless rifles. "This is certainly the most appealing arsenal I've ever seen, the colours are just beautiful."
Mathew sat up from the small troop transport brushed his hand over the smooth pink alloy. Whoever Covenant were, they certainly knew how to create some impressive designs. When he had first started testing the odd firearms, he certainly hadn't expected much. They looked to artistic to produce any real damage, and some of the concepts seemed outlandish and impractical. Then he started firing them. The power was indescribable, launchers that propelled nuclear fuel rods, rifles that fired pure plasma. It was insane. He had become rather fond of one particular carbine, as it had been converted to fire blamite crystals instead of the regular fuel rounds. Mathew held it in his hands, admiring the pristine red paint job.
"Yeah, you've got that right." He said, looking down the blue holosight.
The Sentinels hadn't been a problem either. Just as his ghost said, they weren't going out of their way to attack ponies, it was just another case of wrong place, wrong time. In fact, when Fluttershy had been discharged from the hospital, she had rushed down to see them, and had Mathew in a bone crushing hug. She was now sitting outside in the grass, a small swarm of constructors flowing around her, they were lifting up bits of her mane, and scanning parts of her body, but she didn't seem to mind. She spent most of the time giggling, and trying to catch them with her hooves. The other elements had also returned, and while Rarity had claimed fawning over objects designed to kill was 'uncouth', even she had been attracted by th unique light show.
Rainbow Dash had kept her distance, obviously still untrusting of Mathew, or maybe just the ship in general, but he could see just how much she wanted to come over and join in. Applejack had approached and apologised for what she had said, and Mathew could see that she meant it. He wasn't naive, he could understand that meeting a 6 foot tall alien could perhaps be a little daunting, and he wasn't about to hold it against her.
"You know, I don't think I could have wound up anywhere better."
Celestia, who had just finished organising the last of the stray weapons, looked up and smiled.
"I'm glad you think so Mathew, Equestria is lucky to have you."
The human let out a soft chuckle and lay back against the spectre, watching as the sun made it's slow approach to the horizon.