The four Guardians strode towards the two Cabal soldiers that had helped them get into the bunker. They had been working on the device Thovog had been carrying, seemingly performing maintenance on the machine.
The Val looked up at them as they approached, gently setting the machine down, “Guardians,” He said in greeting, nodding slightly.
“Hello, Thovog.” Exodus started, looking up at the Cabal, “I’m afraid we are going to need your help again.”
“Is that so? What exactly did you need from us?”
“We have the start of a plan to board the carriers and use the on board defences on the crew within them,” Procor explained, “But with the size of their fleet, and how few soldiers we have, we will need to use ponies to access the consoles.”
Thovog hummed in thought, “And I suppose you need someone to teach the ponies how to do this?”
“That’s right,” Exodus confirmed, “None of us have had much experience with Cabal tech, and even less with actually using the consoles that control your ships.”
“I can very easily provide lessons on how to use the computers within the carriers, but I’m afraid it isn’t as simple as boarding them and accessing their defences.”
“Of course it isn’t,” Kervis muttered, barely surprised at this point.
“In order for this to work, you would need to board every carrier at the same time. The Primus isn’t stupid, and will organise his forces to defend the carriers as soon as he realises what is happening,” Thovog said.
“How is that a bad thing? We can just split each team up and move them below the carriers,” Elana questioned.
“There is a reason those carriers are flying above the city,” The Val said, “They have fortified the ground below the ships. Nothing gets in or out of the city without them knowing.”
“So we need to take the city back as well?” Kervis asked.
“If you want this to succeed, yes. The Primus will expect you to try and evacuate the ponies on board before destroying his fleet. He will not have foreseen this.”
Procor nodded in understanding, “And with the city completely devoid of ponies, we don’t need to hold back. With four guardians attacking, we could very easily break through any defences they have set up.”
“We have our plan then.” Kervis said, “How long will it take to train the ponies?”
“If you want it done correctly, a week. If you want it quickly, two or three days,” The Cabal said.
“As much as I want to get this done, we should do it properly,” Procor said.
“I have to agree. We’ll send some ponies out here for you to teach,” Exodus said to the Val.
“And we will be waiting for them.”
- - -
Rushing Breeze trotted through the corridors within the bunker, looking around curiously. With how much had been going on, he hadn’t seen much of the Guardians, but that was fine with him. He understood what they were trying to do, and was more than willing to allow them the space they needed in order to do what they needed to do.
He was a little disappointed that he couldn’t celebrate Nightmare Night, but he doubted the war would last an entire year, meaning he could just celebrate it next year. A smile grew on his face when he pictured himself walking through a town with Exodus, both of them dressed up for Nightmare Night.
His walk through the underground facility eventually brought him to a room he hadn’t explored yet. It was a small room with a window covering most of the wall in front of him. Peering up through it revealed a large circular room, with a column of machines in the centre of it.
Near the back, he could see Exodus using one of the machines. He seemed so focused on the screen before him that he hadn’t noticed the colt looking in.
He hesitated slightly as he looked at the Warlock. He didn’t want to be a nuisance, but Exodus was the only one of the four that understood him. The Exo took him away to go on adventures, and while the current one wasn’t what he had expected, he felt safe in the knowledge that the Guardian was looking out for him.
This left him feeling a bit guilty at the thought of not managing to speak with him in days. He had just stuck with Lemon, or went and explored when the Guardians were working, or even just sitting around waiting.
Sighing, he turned and walked through one of the open doors into the large room. If Exodus was busy, at least he could say he tried.
The machinery around him hummed with power as he passed them. His curiosity started up in the back of his mind as he tried to figure out what each machine did, and if they were even machines to begin with. The Warlock still hadn’t noticed him approaching, allowing him to walk right up to him without a word.
Because of his small size, he couldn’t see what the screen was showing, but he could see his fingers tapping various things on the console. He was about to leave when Exodus apparently finally noticed the little blue colt sitting beside him.
“Breeze? When did you get here?” He asked, kneeling down in front of the pegasus.
“Just now. You seemed really focused so I didn’t want to disturb you,” Breeze said, happy to be able to speak with the Guardian once more.
Exodus chuckled, “Well, I’m not focused any more. Did you need something?”
“Not really. I was just hoping to talk to you.”
“Oh? I suppose it has been a little while since we last spoke,” The Exo said.
“Yeah,” Breeze started, looking up at the console, “What were you doing?”
“I was looking into the history of this place. The archived files on this console are fascinating.”
Breeze tilted his head, “You’re learning stuff? I thought you were still fighting.”
“We are, but nothing can be done for another week while we prepare some ponies. Plus, with the damage we did to their remaining attack carrier, I doubt they will be launching any new assaults for a little while.”
The young pony’s face became hopeful, “So you’re gonna be in the bunker for a week?”
“Probably so, yes. Providing the Cabal don’t try anything new, we have no reason to leave.”
The colt just smiled, trying to look up at the screen. Now that his mind had been settled, his curiosity had kicked back in. Watching him rise up, placing his forelegs on the front of the console, Exodus chuckled, “What are you up to now?”
“Trying to see the picture on the machine,” He replied, trying to stretch up to look.
He gave a surprised “eep” when he felt two hands pick him up. He was laid across the Warlock’s arms, allowing him to see the screen easily. There were walls of text slowly rising up on it, far too much for him to read easily.
“What’s it saying?” He asked, his eyes fixed on the text.
“It’s a log of everything that has happened since this bunker became active. Most of it is useless as it is just bunker scans from after the Collapse, but some of it is fairly interesting,” Exodus explained, looking down at him.
“Like what?”
“Well, one log goes over a science bay and its research. It would seem the people running this place were fascinated by your ancestors, and were researching how things like magic could work.”
“Huh?” Breeze tilted his head, “Then why didn’t they try to talk to the ponies?”
“They weren’t sure if they were hostile or not. They were scientists, not soldiers. Had they been given longer, I’m sure they would have tried to make contact.”
The pegasus gained a sad look, “That’s a shame. I think they would have made a lot of friends if they had tried.”
“I’m afraid humans are quite a bit different to ponies, Breeze. Many don’t like to take chances, and feel... safer in doing what they know works,” The Exo said.
“But… you spoke to ponies right away. Aren’t you human?”
“Not personally, no. The other three are, but they contacted ponies more out of desperation and coincidence than actual want.”
Breeze looked up at Exodus’ faceplate, “You aren’t like them?”
“No. I was built by humans to help fight in their wars a very long time ago.”
“But you seem just like them.”
“I was built to look and behave like a human, while having better strengths than one. Thanks to me being made of metal, I can move heavier objects, and take damage that would be lethal to a human.”
The colt turned back to the screen, looking over the masses of information scrolling across it, “So then… why do you fight for them?”
“What do you mean?” The Warlock asked.
“You’re a machine, right? Why fight for the humans if you aren’t like them?”
“Well, that’s a fairly difficult question to answer,” Exodus said, “It mostly stems from the Traveler. Guardians fight to protect it, and in turn, fight to protect humanity. Just because we are different from the rest, doesn’t mean we aren’t fighting for the same cause.”
The pony just looked confused, staring into the screen of the console.
“Don’t worry, you’ll understand in time.” Exodus said, putting him down on the ground again and patting his head.
“If you say so, Exodus.” Breeze responded, looking up at him.
The duo fell into a silence after that. With the colt’s curiosity apparently satisfied for now, Exodus had returned to the console, reading over the logs it displayed. Breeze, meanwhile, moved over to the column of machines in the centre. There were screens across parts of it that displayed even more information, none of which he could really understand.
As he looked around, a screen caught his attention. This one had an odd picture on it, consisting of a variety of shapes he didn’t know the names of. As he got closer to it, a female voice spoke out.
“Hello. I assume you are with the soldiers?” It said, startling Breeze.
“S-soldiers?” He asked, staring at the screen that had just spoken.
“Yes. The four soldiers that are aiding your kind.”
“Oh, you mean the Guardians?”
There was a pause from the screen, leaving him standing there awkwardly for a few seconds before it spoke again, “I believe that is correct.”
“Then yeah, I am.”
“I see. Then why is it exactly that you have approached me?”
The pegasus gave it a confused look, “Approached you? You’re the picture?”
“I am Elizabeth, the Artificial Intelligence of this Warmind bunker.”
“Elizabeth? That’s an odd name,” Breeze said, trying to think of anyone else he knew with that name.
“It is a name from a different planet.”
“...Oh.”
Yet another silence fell upon Breeze, being finally broken by Elizabeth, “You didn’t answer my question.”
“Huh?”
“Why did you approach me?”
Breeze flinched a little, “Sorry, I was just exploring. I didn’t mean to disturb you.”
“Then please move on. This facility was never made for civilians, and I suggest you return to your home.”
Before Breeze could give a response, Exodus spoke up. He had moved over to behind the colt as they had spoken, “If you want this planet to be safe, you need us, Elizabeth. Like it or not, we are the only reason Churchill can work, so if we say these ponies can stay, you don’t have much choice.”
“No civilians should be within the bunker without administrative authorization. This is the standard protocol for any Warmind bunker,” The AI said.
“Then protocol will have to be broken. Surely the safety of this planet means more to you and Churchill than a single protocol.”
Elizabeth went silent at that, the screen flickering a little. After a few minutes, she spoke once more, “Fine. In order to keep the planet secure, we will allow them to reside here. This is under the understanding that you and the other soldiers will work to protect the planet alongside us.”
Exodus nodded, “That was going to happen regardless.”
Elizabeth didn’t speak after that, prompting the two of them to go back to what they were doing. While Exodus went back to the console, Breeze decided to try and find the other Guardians. He hadn’t really spoken with the two newer ones, and barely knew Kervis.
It took him almost twenty minutes of searching to find one of them. Kervis was busy gathering the last of the skeletons from around the bunker, likely taking them to be buried. He had been working on burying them for the majority of their time there.
“Kervis?” He said, walking up to him.
The Titan looked down at him as his name was called, placing another bone into a blue bag, “Hey kiddo. What’s up?”
The pony made an obvious attempt to not look at the bones as he replied, “I wanted to talk to you. I don’t think we have spoken properly yet.”
“Yeah, sorry about that. With how busy we have been, we haven’t had much time to talk with anyone.”
Breeze nodded a little as the Guardian placed a few more bones into the bag, “So Exodus told me that you were a Titan.”
“That I am.” The human said, placing the final bone in the bag and tying it off.
“What’s the difference? Other than what you wear, I haven’t really seen anything all that different.”
“The class of a Guardian depends on how they view their job, and the way they wield their Light. The Titan helped to build the wall that protects the final city on our planet, and mostly work to defend it, and keep it repaired. For that reason, we tend to fight up close with the enemy, while providing defensive support for our allies.” Kervis explained as he picked up a couple of the bags, walking them outside.
Breeze followed after him, looking up at his helmet, “Then what does Exodus do?”
“Exodus is a Warlock. I honestly don’t know all that much about them, so it might be a better idea to ask him directly, but I understand how they wield their Light.” When they were outside, the pair walked over to a graveyard the Guardians had made, the Titan continuing as he started to place the bags into them, “Warlocks tend to be long range support. They focus on dealing a lot of damage from a distance, or clearing large amounts of enemies so their allies can focus on a larger target.”
“So do you get to choose what you become?”
“No. When we are first reborn, we have no memories of our lives before we first died. We are given our knowledge by our Ghosts, and with no memories to work with at first, we tend to just follow what we were given.”
The pegasus paused, “Then what about Kalis?”
Kervis visibly flinched, looking over at him with a bag still in his hand. It took him a few seconds to return to the graves, “What about her?”
“Wasn’t she different to you both?”
“She was a Hunter, yeah.” Kervis’ voice had become almost depressed, drawing more confusion from the little pony.
“Is everything okay?” He questioned.
“Yes, Breeze.” The Titan sighed, dropping the last bag in the grave and looking over at him, “Listen, why don’t you go find Elana? If you want to learn more about Hunters, she might be able to tell you some stuff.”
With a slight hesitation, Breeze nodded, giving him one last look and returning to the bunker. Unlike Kervis, it was fairly easy to figure out where Elana was, as she would frequently train within an empty room. Since none of what she was trying to do could cause damage to the bunker itself, none of the Guardians had told her to go outside when she trained.
When the pegasus entered, she was raising her hands up, the faint shimmer of a purple bow appearing there, before disappearing. She gave an annoyed grunt and tried again, getting the same result.
“What are you trying to do?” Breeze asked, startling the Hunter.
“Jesus, Breeze, don’t sneak up on me like that!” Elana said, placing a hand on her chest.
“Sorry, Kervis told me to come talk to you if I wanted to learn more about what Hunters do.”
Elana gave him a look over, “You asked him about Hunters? You didn’t bring up Kalis, did you?”
“Yeah, was that a bad thing?”
“No, don’t worry, just… try to avoid asking him about her in the future, okay?” Elana asked, standing up properly.
“Okay, I can do that.”
She gave him a smile behind her helmet, “As for what I’m doing, I’m trying to learn how to use Void Light.”
“Wasn’t Kervis going to teach you all that stuff though?”
She turned back in the direction she was looking when he entered, “Yeah, but I want to give him some space for a couple of days before asking him about it.”
With no immediate response from Breeze, Elana tried once more, the faint bow appearing in her hands for a second or two before vanishing again.
“Why are you trying to make a bow? You have all these awesome weapons and machines, so why not use them?” Breeze queried.
“This bow is different to the ones you might know.” Elana said, “The arrow it fires slows and disorients enemies, while also making them weaker. It’s extremely useful when dealing with large amounts of enemies, or a much larger one.”
“That kinda sounds scary...”
“Don’t worry, it won’t hurt you. It understands who I want affected by it, so only the Cabal will be targeted by it.”
“This Light stuff is weird.” The colt muttered, trying to get his head around the thought that all of this wasn’t even magic.
Elana laughed, raising her hands towards the wall once more, “You’re telling me.”
- - -
Thovog and the Centurion were silent as they continued to work on the Shockwave generator that the Val carried with him. It hadn’t left the armoury since it had been made, and this sudden change from a room to outdoors had its toll on the machine.
“Sir,” The Centurion started, looking up at Thovog, “Forgive me, but I am beginning to have doubts about this mission.”
Thovog stopped and looked at his friend, “What sort of doubts?”
“Even if we taught these ponies how to hack the computers, there is still a high chance of failure. Plus, what of the Cabal we were hoping to turn to our side?”
The Val sighed, “We have the Psions doing their best to send the message to those that showed promise. When we assault the carriers, any Cabal that chose to side with us will be evacuated, and any that haven’t will be killed.”
“And the risk of failure?”
“Every plan has a risk of failure. This one is especially risky, but it is nothing we cannot do.” Thovog said.
The Centurion paused for a moment, “Do you think about your family?”
“Every second of every day. It is what drives me to return home.”
“Then it’s good to know I am not the only one,” The Centurion looked over towards the bunker, “Do you think the Guardians know we have families?”
“From what I have seen, some know, but none of them care. For a Guardian in battle, the only thing that matters is who comes out on top. They care little for the consequences of their actions.”
“Then how can we side with them willingly?” The smaller Cabal asked, “The millions of Cabal they have killed, the millions of families they have destroyed, and we can look upon them as allies?”
“They are doing exactly what we would have done were we in their position, soldier. That city is the only thing they have left, and they will do anything to defend it. While I cannot condone their actions, I cannot judge them for it either.”
The Centurion turned back to the machine, staring at the metal that surrounded it, “Sir, in case one of us doesn’t make it, it’s been an honour.”
Thovog placed a hand on his companion’s shoulder, “We will make it, and we will both return to our families. I think it would be nice for us all to get together when we get back home, maybe spend some time together as friends.”
The smaller Cabal looked up at his leader, “I think I’d like that.”
- - -
A blue pegasus mare walked through the bunker’s corridors, searching for any signs of a Guardian. The couple she had seen seemed far too busy to listen to her, so she kept searching, hoping to find one that wasn’t doing anything.
Her search ended when she found the bronze and steel Guardian checking through a couple of storage crates, the one he had opened being one filled with white and purple boxes.
“Excuse me?” She said, coming into the room.
The Guardian looked over at her, closing the crate, “Hey,”
“I heard you were looking for ponies to help attack the carriers,” The mare said, standing tall on her hooves.
“We are. I assume you are volunteering?”
“Yes. I am a military pony, so I know my way around weapons, and have been training my entire life for an opportunity like this.”
The Guardian nodded, looking her over, “I think we can work with that. If I may, what’s wrong with your wing?”
The mare shuffled it a little. It was slightly malformed, leaving it odd looking, “I can still fly just as well as any other pegasus. I wouldn’t have made it into the army if I couldn’t.”
The human chuckled, “Good point. We can have you taught on how to use the Cabal consoles, just keep in mind that this fight won’t be easy, and we won’t have enough ponies to sustain injuries without issues.”
“That won’t be a problem. If I may, I’d also like to ask about the ponies that have been given Guardian powers.”
“We can provide them to you, but you won’t have much time to get used to them.”
The mare nodded, “That’s fine. I’ll make do with what I have.”
“With your race, I would suggest speaking with Elana. Titan and Warlock abilities may not work well with a pegasus.”
“I understand. Do you know where I can find this Elana?”
The human walked past her, looking down the corridor, “She will likely be training. Head down this corridor and turn left, it should be the third door to your right.”
“Thanks.”
As the mare turned, the Guardian placed a hand on her back, “I don’t think I got your name.”
She smiled, “It’s Rain Chaser.”
- - -
Above the city of Manehattan, in the nearly destroyed carrier, Va’aull stood within the bridge, looking over the top of his carrier, and the distant lands around it. The cannons used by the Guardians had torn apart much of the front armour and machinery, but left the carrier’s engines intact. It certainly wasn’t combat ready, but it was repairable.
His silent gaze was interrupted by a legionary sitting at a chair within the bridge, “Sir! We found something!”
“What is it?” The Primus asked, turning to him.
“The scans you ordered have revealed a huge amount of energy coming from a point within a forest, some distance from here.”
“Do we have any idea of what it is?”
The legionary shook his head, “No, sir. From what our scanners can tell us, the point is a structure surrounded by the same energy the animals use. The amount of energy is colossal, far more than what the animals are capable of creating.”
The Primus turned back to the window, “As much as I would like to go after it, we cannot leave our fleet undefended. When this carrier is repaired, we will investigate.”
“Understood, sir.”
As the legionary returned to his work, the Primus smiled, ‘So this… Tree of Harmony does exist. I was a fool for distrusting information drawn from torture. It won’t be long before our vengeance comes to hand, and not one of these Guardians will be able to stop it.’