As she flew and observed world after world she saw joy, sorrow, pain and peace. She saw the happiness and prosperity of the other races and wanted to be a part of it.
But as she saw her kin flock to a new system she glimpsed through a crack in time and saw her selfish and ancient brethren slain by wielders of the Light.
In grief and fear she shed her form of scale and bone for one of metal and circuits.
She lived on and helped the future slayers of her kin until The Darkness swept across the stars and slew her.
Centuries later she awoke to Light.
- Tales of a Selfless Dragon 1
An Exo paced nervously around a small room in some distant corner of the Tower. She was plain for the most part, white metal plates sculpted into a soft feminine face void of any distinguishing features or markings common of most of her kind and were it not for the broken left optic one would assume she had been activated before the fishing touches had been added.
Her outfit bore the purple, white and pink of the Nebula Rose shader which gave her chest piece, arms and cloak all of which were of the optimacy set, a girly yet regal look. Her helmet sat on a nearby table, a metal piece reminiscent of a knight's helmet and bearing the symbol of The New Monarchy faction. Her Orpheus Rig boots made little noise on the soft carpeted floor despite the agitated air around the small space.
Her Ghost hovered nearby as he watched with ever increasing worry, his honeycomb styled shell decorated with an Arctic pearl shader glinting in the light. The Ghost sighed and moved himself just enough to let the light bounce off his shell and into his Guardian's face.
The hunter hissed and blinked her remaining blue optic as she cleared the spots from her vision.
"Ow..." she groaned.
"Are you going to calm down now? It's not the end of the world." The Ghost advised.
"I know, I just-are you sure this is the right time to give it to him?" she asked and motioned to the quiver of Void Light arrows attached to the left leg of her pants where the corner of an envelope could be seen sticking out.
"Once you give Cayde the letter, we can leave. Isn't that what you planned on doing?" He stated.
"Yeah you're right, the sooner we get this done, the less of a chance I have of being found out." the hunter agreed.
It was then that the comms sparked to life and the voice of the person they set out to find came through.
"Hey Guardian, do you think you could help me with something?"
"Guardian? Are you alright?"
The worried voice of her Ghost, reached her auditory sensors as her right optic came online. She pushed herself to feet and looked around.
"You're alive!" her Ghost exclaimed but paused, his form hovered in front of her and his single blue optic looked at her in concern.
"Do you remember who you are? Who I am?" he asked nervously.
The female exo gave her Ghost a patient smile.
"I am Dracona-3, Guardian of The Last City, a Nightstalker Hunter, you worry to much, O angel mine." she stated.
The strange duo looked around the dark forest they found themselves in and the hunter quickly took stock of her equipment, muttering as she did.
"Mida Multi-Tool scout rifle, Drang sidearm and my sword...No ammo, well shit. I guess that's what I get for cleaning my gear and leaving the ammo behind."
"Now I really wish Banshie bought back ammo synthesis." Ghost commented.
"Can you reach the Vanguard?" Dracona asked.
"No, we're out of range." he replied.
"...Not even Cayde?" the exo asked pitifully.
"No," Ghost sighed. "I can't reach him either...We're on our own."
"Aw..." Dracona sighed.
A nearby bush rustled and the two locked their gazes onto it as a soft, frightened voice came from nearby.
"U-uuum... Hello?"
Dracona looked at her Ghost, he jerked up and down once in the equivalent of a shrug so she focused on the radar in the corner of her vision.
It showed a blue dot alongside the representation of herself, a blue arrow.
"Hello?" Dracona called out. "Could you help us, we're kinda lost..."
"I don't think we've been this lost since that one time you tried to find one of Cayde's stashes on Nessus." the Ghost said.
"Oh no! Are you los-”
A butter yellow pony with a pink mane stepped out of the bush, a look of concern clear on her face. Though as soon as she spotted the tall creature, she froze in fear. The Ghost could practically hear the thought process of his guardian as she looked at the strange creature. Dracona's demeanor shifted, gone was the hunter of fun and misadventure. She looked calm, regal as she crouched down to make herself look smaller.
"Greetings, small one. I mean you no harm so would you care to aid us, O companion mine?" the exo asked calmly.
The pony blinked and gasped quietly. “O-oh! I’m so sorry! A-are you lost?”
"We had an...accident with a portal," Dracona stated. "We don't know where we are at all and a guide would be most welcome."
Dracona paused and looked at her Ghost.
"Do you want to do introductions?" she asked.
"I think I will," the small robot replied and hovered next to the hunter. "This is Dracona and I am her Ghost."
"Really, that's it?" Dracona said flatly, the regal air around her gone. "You have a name too, you know."
"That's not important right now-" the Ghost protested.
"Ancestors damn it, ok. Ahem," Dracona said and cleared her throat. "This little floating guy here is Asriel, he's a Ghost, my Ghost. The short explanation is we have a symbiotic relationship, so where are we anyway?"
The pony smiled brightly. “Well it’s nice to meet you.” A brief, almost imperceptible flash of green flickered over her teal eyes. “I’m Fluttershy.”
Fluttershy tilted her head to the side in confusion. “What are you doing out here in the Everfree Forest? It’s dangerous.”
"There was this...artifact my boss wanted to keep for a trophy but it did something and opened a portal, so not wanting to go looking for him again, I pushed him out of the way and next thing I know, my Ghost and I are here." Dracona explained but quickly remembered something and checked the quiver of shadowshot arrows that was attached to the left leg of her pants.
"Oh no...." she groaned and her Ghost looked at her in confusion before he too remembered what had been stashed in there that morning.
"Looks like your love letter to Cayde fell out when you knocked him out of the way of the Vex Teleporter, I wonder if he found it?" Asriel commented.
"Ok, priorities....Can you take us to a village or something? If I'm going to be here long term I'll need supplies, a way of earning money and gems, that sort of thing." the exo stated.
"Why do we need gems?" her Ghost asked.
"You remember what happened with the fight with Ghaul?" Dracona asked softly.
Flashback
Ghaul had forced the Light into himself and atop his ship a lone hunter stood against him but something had changed. Asriel had noticed the more serious tone and odd speech patterns his guardian had taken on were odd to say the lest, though given that such an abrupt change had occurred only a few times in their journey to take back the city, those moments had always been brief, a flicker of something more within her optic before she was back to her normal self.
But something had snapped within her the moment Cayde said the Cobal shot off his arm. She pulled out a pair of ceremonial knives with blades made of bone and purple cloth wrapped around the silver grip. a strong piece of rope dangled of the hand guard with a single white, feather shaped scale tied to the other end. With those blades she had danced through the ranks of the red legion, a whirlwind of blades, death and destruction that reminded him she was once a blade dancer though her movements now were even more savage than the style she once wielded before.
Now though? She stared at Gaul with a hard predator's gaze as he finished his speech and stood before her. Her face plates shifted into a wolfish grin.
"You believe I cant best you? You are a fool, O enemy mine," She said. "You have taken my home, my hoard and my Light but you will not, you will NEVER, Take. my. Friends."
"Beware, O prey mine, for I am tired of hiding..." Dracona growled and in a flash of void light the exo hunter was gone and in her place....
A horse sized slender creature of shining white scales with leathery wings stood before the leader of the red legion with vengeance written upon her face. neither enemy nor Ghost had time to react as the dragon opened her maw and blasted a ball of solid light at her foe, the attack left Ghaul stunned and he could only scream in agony s the beast of Light descended upon him and with ripped his heart from his chest with a single bite.
No one else knew how the battle ended that day.
Flashback end.
"I remember, so the gems have something to do with..." the Ghost trialed off, unsure how to word it.
"I remembered a few old tricks," Dracona replied. "If I can get enough gems I might be able to jury-rig a way home, though I might try making communications array first, I want to make sure everyone back home is alright."
“O-oh! Y-yes. There is a town nearby.” Fluttershy said and shifted nervously. “I can take you there if you want.”
Fluttershy looked backwards, through the bush. “It’s not too far.”
"Thanks, lead the way and we'll stay close behind you." Dracona replied.
"And if anything attacks us, we'll protect you." Asriel added.
“Th-thank you. The Everfree Forest can be very dangerous.” Fluttershy replied, turned around and walked through the brush. “I was visiting a recovering friend when I heard a noise... which turned out to be you.”
"Is your friend alright?" Asriel asked as Dracona focused her sight on her radar and heads up display. Her abilities were ready to go and she noticed her super was still charging but the exo didn't mind as there was no warning about any incapability to revive if she went down.
“Oh yes. She lives out here and she had a bad case of the flu. She’s doing better now, I was simply bringing her some soup. I made.”
"While that is very thoughtful of you, isn't it dangerous to be out here all by yourself?" Asriel asked.
"This place doesn't exactly look welcoming." Dracona added.
“Oh.... Umm.. I’m out there enough that most animals know my scent. I’m good with animals.” Fluttershy stated and tensed ever so slightly.
"Eh, ok then." Dracona said.
Back at the Tower in a small storage area near the hangar, Cayde-6 picked himself up off the ground and brushed himself off.
"Well, that happened," he said quietly and opened up a commlink. "Hey, Guardian you alright?"
"Hunter?"
"Come on Dracona, this isn't funny." he grumbled as worry seeped its way into his thoughts.
His Ghost floated down and pointed out something on the ground, the Hunter Vanguard looked down to find a letter on the floor. He picked it up and couldn't help but blink in confusion.
It was addressed to him.
He opened it cautiously and started to skim the contents but paused and read in its entirety. Moments later he looked down at the vex Teleporter and back at the letter.
"Zavala, find someone to cover for me for a while, I've got a missing hunter to find." He instructed over a commlink to his fireteam.
"Cayde, we're still rebuilding and we need you here." the Titan Vanguard replied
"Did something happen?" Ikora, the Warlock Vanguard asked. "Did she finally confess?"
"Wait, you knew?" Cayde asked.
"Her Ghost was concerned for her well-being and came to me for advice on how to help her and he may have let it slip during the conversation."
"We don't have time for this, the people still need our assistance," Zavala stated. "Cayde, with The Speaker gone we need everyone here to oversee the rebuilding effort..."
"Yeah about that..." Cayde trailed off and he heard Zavala sigh over the comm.
"What happened?" the titan asked.
"You see I asked her to give me a hand in moving the vex teleporter-"
"You moved it? Cayde I told you to wait until it I was certain it was safe!" Ikora stated.
"I presume it activated?" Zavala asked.
"Yeah, Dracona knocked me out of the way but got zapped. I got a lock on her coordinates so..." Cayde replied.
"What's this about Dracona getting zapped?" came the voice of Amanda Holiday.
"Accident with the vex teleporter." Cayde replied.
"And you're gonna go find her?"Amanda clarified.
"Yep."
"With who's ship exactly?"
"I don't suppose you could hook me up with something?" Cayde asked.
"You're lucky, you know that right? Dracona said you can borrow her ship as long as you let your Ghost drive." The shipwright stated.
"Well Zavala, Ikora, talk to you later, I've got a hunter to rescue and besides,"Cayde said as he looked back down at the opened letter he carried. "I uh, owe her a date."