Light footsteps broke the snow over the old Cosmodrome. The footsteps of a Guardian of Light, a Champion of the Traveler. White armored robes fluttered in the light wind. Gold and crimson highlights slashed across the mastercrafted robes, and segmented armor. A voice, a voice he had lived with, fought with, and died alongside sounded in his head. “Eyes up Guardian!” He lifted his eyes to meet the single one of his eternal companion. His Ghost, his Little Light. Clad in a gold and fiery red shell, he spoke, “I am detecting Fallen signatures in the area, nothing to be worried about, but still, be cautious.”
I materialized my Revolver and held it at the ready. We kept walking onward towards our destination, steadily working my way back. Back where? To the place I had died, the place where I had been awakened, the place where I had picked up the fight against the darkness. The place where I had lost all memory of my life before. I was almost there when Little Light appeared. “Guardian, Little Sun is calling in for reinforcements.”
I had to smile at that, “How far out, and why is her Guardian not making the call?” Little Light shook his chassis and gave a short laugh.
“You know Sunset would never call in for help, plus it’s only about a klick out.” I smiled lightly at a memory of a young Fireteam Sunbrand setting out for the House of Wolves, a Sunset leader at the helm. “I’ll message them now…”
“No,” My response was so quick, Little Light almost got whiplash from the recoil. “Let’s surprise them, for once.” If Little Light had a mouth, it would be grinning.
We set out, not even needing my Firebird for the short run. I ran up a tall hill, which cut down into a small canyon with a single exit, and closed in was a single Guardian. Another Warlock, like him, but she was much more brash, and aggressive, a veritable titan compared to him, a more hunter like presence.
I readied my Radiance and jumped. Mid-air I appeared to slow, and as I did, I lined up shot after shot, putting a single bullet into jackal after jackal. Seconds before I reached the ground, I gathered his Solar Light around me, and used it to disperse my kinetic force into a ground-pound. Killing more Fallen cannon-fodder.
Activating my Radiance I ran on the wall whilst lobbing Solar Grenades at the Fallen. A couple managing to shatter the Captain’s shield. I wall-ran towards Sunset, who had jumped up and had taken advantage of the Captain’s vulnerability by pinging his skull with a burst from her pulse rifle. Another Sunsinger like him, Sunset focused more on defense and light, while he was more attune to speed and light.
I leaped behind the log Sunset was using as cover, and nestled into a spot next to her. “Praise the Sun! Your not dead!”
She glared at me with the fury of a thousand suns. “Praise the Sun… I told Little Sun that I didn’t need help!”
I lifted his head above the log, only to drop it back down after nearly having to taken off. I looked at Sunset, and in an inquisitive tone asked, “Really?” She, predictably, just got pissed.
Then, unpredictably she pulled out her Dragon’s Breath and fired a trio of rockets towards the fallen, eliminating the lot of the in a wave of Napalm. “Easy G.I! We DON’T want to burn down these jungles!” I shouted. Sunset put away her sophisticated napalm launcher, crossed her arms, and glared.
“I told you I had that under contro…” And as she said that, we heard a rumble in the distance, “Of course I had to jinx it…” We both grew silent as the rumbling grew stronger. Glancing at each other we lept into action. Running, jumping, and gliding to the top of the canyon. Pulling out her Scout Rifle, Sunset aimed in the general direction of the noise and cursed. “Of course its some of those fuckers!”
“What is it? Cabal? Vex? Rouge Warmind?” I joked, (hopefully).
Sunset frowned, “No, something much more annoying. A pack of ogres.”
I face palmed and looked up, “How many, how far out, our chances of not dying repeatedly, and why us?”
Sunset grinned, “To answer all of those in order, not enough, twenty klicks, zero, and why not!”
I shook my head while smiling, and stretched my arms out, “Well, we shouldn’t be late for the party, how many heavies do you have left?”
“None.”
“Why am I not surprised?”
After plenty of bullets, magic, explosives, and only a couple of revivals later, the last ogre had finally been toppled. I took off my silver chrome dome and wiped the sweat from my head. Sunset sat down next to me, helmet of, and started cleaning her rifle. “So,” I asked, “how come your so far from your usual routes? You usually stick to those school ruins in Old America.”
“I found something, something about my old life…” Now that had been surprising, few Guardians remember their old lives, I knew of 3, Sunset, an old Shipwright, and good ol’ Ikora, “I found a piece of Vex tech connecting two shards of mirrors in two different places, one in Old Canterlot, the other in Old Russia, I just thought if I found it, I might be able to find some evidence of… well, it doesn't matter anymore.”
I scooted closer to Sunset and put my arm around her shoulders, “You don’t have to tell me what your looking for, just tell me how to help.” She looked shocked.
“Come on Sunny, I’m your friend, and the Traveler will be damned before I refuse to help my only friend.” She hugged me back and had Little Sun relay the coordinated to Little Light. We set out for the ruins the signal came from. “By the way, how did you end up in that canyon?”
Sunset mumbled something unintelligible, “Come on Sunset, you can tell me.”
She looked at me and was about to speak when her Little Sun appeared, “She tripped,”
I had to choke back a laugh, “You… what?”
Sunset had the decency to look away, “I tripped, I was looking down the canyon and I slipped on some ice.” We laughed and kept walking, passing snow mounds and ice covered ruins. Old Russia was truly beautiful this time of year.
We were finally here, a snow bound shipwreck. Golden age tech it looks like. We were about to head in when a Fallen dropship approached. We both ducked down behind some scattered ship parts, now acting as cover.
Sunset peaked out, looking back at me she listed what she saw. “I see a Walker, a pair of Servitors, about twenty bigger shanks, a dozen vandals, and a captain. Not to mention the fifty plus dregs with them.”
“Damn, can’t we every catch a break?” Little Light spoke to me in my head, following my thoughts, “As if we ever can catch a break.”
I tapped Sunset on the shoulder, “Well, we shouldn’t keep the party waiting. Firebird or Phoenix?” Firebird was a simple plan, first we attack the cannon fodder, utilizing our Radiance to eliminate bigger groups, then working together to attack the big guys.
“Phoenix,” Phoenix was a little more complicated, one member attacks the fodder while the other tackles the boss alone, head on. Either they kill the boss (unlikely but it does happen) or they die, and then utilize their Fireborn Radiance to weaken the boss and then aid the other in slaughtering the rest of the cannon fodder. After that, both parties use their Radiance to kill the big boss. “I’ll hit the Servitors and the Walker, take care of that Captain.”
I smiled, you could always count on Sunset biting off more than she should. “Alright, see you on the other side Firebird.” I jumped off the log, and threw a Solar grenade into the biggest group of dregs. I pulled out my Revolver and while hovering in the air, shot three vandals through their heads. I dropped down as soon as enemy fire hit where I had been.
Looking at Sunset she was doing… better than I thought she would be. She was ducking behind cover to throw off the Captain's tracking shots, and once in a while, threw grenades at the Servitor. Often using the Walker itself as cover.
Going back to my fight, I ducked under a swing by a dreg. Then pulled out my blade, The Young Wolf’s Howl. I took off the dregs arm, then head. I pulled out my Auto Rifle and mowed down the hoard of dregs.
I turned towards Sunset as I heard a loud screech. Turns out that came from a Walker with two shattered knees. Curtsy of Sunset’s shotgun, now being used to lay suppressing fire on a Servitor. But it wasn’t working. The Servitor charged up it’s attack and shot a beam right through Sunset, dissipating her into dust. I grinned under my helmet, the fight was just beginning.
Sunset rose from her ashes with fiery wings, blasting the remaining shanks and vandals. I activated my own Radiance and started blasting the Servitor with Solar Light. Sunset and I swapped out, now I was dodging the Fallen's shots, while she was putting hundreds of bullets into it’s back with her Pulse rifle. I threw a final Fusion grenade at the Walker and watched it take the Captain with it.
But finally it was over, and we collected ammo and engrams from the bodies around us and proceeded inside.
Inside we found, nothing really. Just a couple of chests, a few broken computer screens, and an unopened golden-age storage area… We both got into a mad rush, sending Little Light, and Little Sun into the hardware to try and break down the door. “Is this, what you were looking for?” I asked Sunset, Golden-age tech, let alone unscavenged Golden-age tech was extremely rare. This was probably the greatest find in a hundred years!
“I hope it is,” Sunset was about to say something else after that, but then the doors opened, and we were shocked. Inside was a ship. A Golden-age ship, similar in design to most Guardian ships, but this one was armed, armored, and looked big enough for two people to live in. Not just enough space for a cockpit and digital storage area.
The hatch was open, so we walked in. Inside their was a small hanger, enough for two little Guardian ships. Further in was incredible, two bedrooms, a kitchen, a bathroom, a duel-pilot cockpit, and a digital storage port. Sunset and I dissolved our helmets and looked at each other, “This thing is incredible.”
“Mhm…”
“But it isn’t what you were looking for.”
“Right.”
I looked a Sunset, “It’s ok, we’ll find what your looking for, and if we can’t, we’ll sell the ship and use the glimmer to look for more info, ok?”
Sunset turned and hugged me, “Your a good friend. Even if your my only one.”
“What about that Shopkeeper in the City?”
“He overcharges Guardians,”
“The Gal from the bar?”
“Rude,”
“Zavala?”
“Mean as hell to me, and a sarcastic know it all.” I had to laugh at that, Zavala is pretty rude to Sunset.
We got up and were making towards the cockpit to fly it back to the tower, when Little Sun appeared. “Eye’s up Guardian, I found something in the digital storage port,” said the female voice of Sunset’s Little Sun. “You’ll want to see it.”
A black box with hydraulic seals formed out of compressed glimmer appeared in Sunset’s lap. She took it and opened the seals. Inside was a velvet bag, about the size of a business card. Sunset, with shaky hands pulled the drawstring and took out a piece of glass. A piece of glass infused with Light. I could feel the Light coming off of it. “Wow.”
“I found it… the last one, the last piece. The last shard of the Mirror.” Sunset was crying, tears of joy.” She hasn’t cried in years.
“You’ve found it, what now?” I was a bit confused, what mirror, what could a Light infused Mirror have anything?
“I’m going back to Old Canterlot, and I want you to come with me. I want someone there. So I can prove to myself that I really can go back.”
“Sunset, I don’t know whats going on, but this is related to your past, i’ll help. Not like we haven't earned a break from this never ending war.” We got up and headed toward the cockpit. Setting new course, Old Canterlot, High School ruins.
We were cruising on the atmosphere of the world, getting a little time to take a shower. Sunset went first, coming out while brushing her red and gold flaming hair. Her skin was pale, but with a faded natural tan. She was like a Phoenix. Even her Solar Light was more red than my golden Solar Light.
I myself had white skin. With choppy brown hair and eyes. But it never felt natural, like living in someone else’s body. Other Guardians sometimes had the same problem, but most of us just had to live with it, a constant presence, always feeling like a squatter in an abandoned house.
I got out and had reappeared my armor on my body, just as we set down. We stepped out of the ship, and Little Sun broke down the ship into memory, just like we had both done to our other ships. “Just insurance, wouldn’t want another Guardian to lay his claim on our ship.”
“Hmm, smart.”
We walked to the old school. Looking around I saw plenty of wreaked statues and old murals depicting horses, unicorns, and pegasusai. Odd but not the weirdest thing I've ever seen in a ruin. We walked towards the ruined main building, where in the front was a large statue of a horse on it’s hind legs. Sunset walked to the front of statue, and put a hand on the stone.
Then she pressed down a little while infusing her hand with Light, and her hand fell in. Looking a little closer shows that the stone had turned transparent, revealing a mirror with a chunk of glass missing. She took out the shard of glass from the velvet bag, and place it in.
Nothing happened for a solid two seconds, then all the cracks in the mirror started glowing with Light, and fused together, into a single mirror. Sunset stepped back and looked at me smiling. “I guess this is goodbye…”
“Goodbye? Where are you going?”
“Home, I’ve been gone for far too long, and I just can’t wait. So this is goodbye, I’ll miss you.” A tear fell from her eyes. “I’ll always rememb…” Whatever she was about to say was interrupted when the Main building of Canterlot High School blew up. A massive armored scorpion rose out of the crater. This thing was bigger than the Riven. We stood no chance, “Little Sun, call the Tower, and tell them to scramble everyone out here, and I mean EVERYONE!”
As Little Sun called them, I looked at Sunset. “How about one more fight before we say our goodbyes?”
“Sounds good, how about we pull a Dragon this time?” Dragon was their big boss strategy. One Warlock is on the offensive, dealing massive damage and keeping their attention, while the other targets weakspot and joints. Interrupting otherwise lethal attacks. “I’ll pull his aggro, hit it’s legs.”
I nodded and pulled out my Revolver, running under it’s legs and right behind it. Sunset lobbed a Fusion grenade at it’s face while back peddling. I threw another one at one of it’s legs and had a crazy idea. I looked around and saw a water tower nearby. I sent Sunset a message with my plan, and after getting her to agree with it, we put the plan in motion.
I shot the Scorpion’s knee joints with my Solar infused gun. Attempting to cut down it’s mobility. Then after getting Sunset’s signal, I started running to the water tower. And after reaching it, started the long climb up.
Meanwhile Sunset was dodging a very large stinger, multiple blasts of dark colored lasers, and a very angry pair of mandibles. It probably had something to do with the Fusion grenade she threw in it’s mouth. Dodging it’s attacks, she repeatedly shot the eyes of the scorpion, doing little to no damage compared to the vast well of health it had, curtsy of her Ghost’s inbuilt hud. Blasting it with her Dragon’s Breath she noticed that it at least did a little damage.
Dodging another hit from the stinger, she looked at the water tower where her fellow Guardian was. Just then he sent out a wave of Solar Light, signaling that he was ready. Sunset smiled, the plan was ready.
I stood balanced on the top of the water tower. Solar grenades were at the feet of the tower, ready to blow them off. I watched as Sunset ran to my position, when she got the Scorpion close enough I blew up the grenades. Causing the tower to start falling. The Scorpion hardly noticed as it chased it food in flame colored armor. Then she summoned her Sparrow and hopped on, flying away from the blast zone.
The tower fell on the Scorpion, dealing a healthy amount of damage and partially immobilizing it. And as it hit the scorpion I jumped and boosted my Glide to make it to it’s head. I ran to it’s eyes and started stabbing with my The Young Wolf’s Howl. Then I started firing my biggest guns there too. At some point Sunset had managed to join me and we whitled down it’s health. But as it reached the midway point. A scorpion about three times the size of this one broke down the mega shopping mall it was hiding under. We looked at the big one, then the little one, then the big one again. “How many Scorpions are born in a clutch?” I asked,
“About two hundred give or take.”
“Fuck.”
We ran towards the Mirror. I wanted to run and materialize the ship, but Sunset made a good point. We would be long dead a hundred times before we would have the opportunity to do that. So she had us run to the Mirror. I don’t know what it does, but I sure hope it works. The scorpion was gaining on us, and we didn’t have the chance to summon our Sparrows. So we ran, ran as fast as we could. Sunset ran ahead with a burst of speed out of nowhere and dove through he mirror. I had no chance to question it, I dove through right after her. After I was through, I barely caught a glimpse of the giant smashing both the statue and the mirror. I sighed and sat down. I started laughing and looked at Sunset, then immediately stopped. Sunset wasn’t there anymore. Instead was what looked like a horse in Sunshrine Warlock Robes. With a horn sticking out of it’s head. “Sunset? What happened to yo…” I looked at the arm I was pointing at her with and screamed, it wasn’t an arm anymore, it was a Traveler damned horse leg! “What in the Light happened to me!”
The horse across from me laughed nervously, “Heh… well I guess I better explain. Welcome to Equestria.”