//------------------------------// // Lunar Light // Story: Sunsong // by Sunsong //------------------------------// “Nothing complicated here. Defend your allies and defeat your opponents.” - Lord Shaxx “So, what do we do, oh Glorious Phoenix?” The sound of hooves stomping closer and closer was betrayed to our, greater than average, ears. “These are not Fallen, or Cabal, or any of the other spawns of Darkness. These are my people, normal ponies who are responding to an unknown threat. We will not hurt them.” Sunset looked to be deep in thought, perhaps she was talking with Little Sun? Looking around the room for escape options left me disappointed, there were no moving platforms, traps, or parcore sections, “Are we going to talk our way out? Or blast through one of these walls?” Sunset lifted a hoof to her chin, then she shrugged and looked at the only door in the room, “Lets see how this pans out. After all, if we keep trying, diplomacy is bound to work someday.” Sunset opened the door and stepped out with a moments hesitation. Sunset and I dematerialized all of our weapons, and stood in the hall, waiting for the ponies to turn the corner. Absent mindedly I noticed the poshness of the hallway, with marble everything inlayed with gold. I small group of ponies in golden armor, literal GOLDEN ARMOR, were running towards us. But skidded to a halt when they noticed us standing there. They gaped at us, probably the highly advanced armor, or the robes, or maybe the latent magical energies hanging off of us like a cloak. Lord Shaxx would have a field day whipping them into shape, and then hand them real weapons instead of those sticks they called ‘spears’.  Sunset walked up to the guard in different colored armor, probably an officer or high ranking NCO. She lifted her pose until she resembled Commander Zavala’s own stance, commanding and strong. A wall against which the darkness would crash upon, and falter. “My name is Sunset Shimmer, Warlock, and I request an audience with Princess Celestia.” The Officer/Senior NCO in his red tinted armor, gulped and was about to respond when a voice from behind the Goldies cried out, “We are sorry, Warlock Shimmer, but mine sister is in court. But wouldst thou come with us to answer some inquiries? Just until mine sister is free?” The archaic speaking, dark blue Pegacorn, “Alicorn… their called Alicorns,” corrected my Little Light. The dark blue Alicorn approached the two of us. Taking in the scars on our armor, and the mends in our robes.  “Sure, I’ve waited this long, I can bear to wait a little longer.” We followed the dark coated Alicorn to a blue door marked with a crescent moon and stepped inside. The guards splitting off and returning to do Traveler knows what. I looked around the night themed room, then jumped on a blue couch and nestled into the plush, even Ikora doesn't get as good of a seat as this one! -Somewhere in a Galaxy one dimension hop away- Ikora felt off… and it wasn't a good off. There never is, so when she sat down on her chair, expecting to meet with the warm and supple leather that her vanguard title earned her, she didn’t expect to sit on a rock. She jumped up and looked at the chair again, feeling even more off put. She reached a hand into her boot and pulled out a knife. Channeling her inner Bladedancer (even if she is a warlock) she slashed apart the chair and wouldn't stop until she hit something hard.  She threw away the knife and reached a hand into the leather and plush guts of the mess, and pulled out… a rock. She threw the rock in her frustration, it cracked loudly against the floor and split in two. She picked up one half and read “Property of Pie family Rock Farm, if found please return to the rock farm on the edge of despair and the cataclysm of boredom. She screamed so hard, it shattered windows across the Last City, and was even heard by patrols in the Eastern hemisphere. “SUNBRAND!!!” the name of the infamous Fireteam (of two) rung in the court room the next day.  “Ikora Ray, you are now charged with property damage, AND breaking Warlock code by breaking your grace in front of non-warlocks!” The Councilwoman of the Warlock Bond pointed her finger at the vanguard, “What say you Ikora Ray?! What say you in defense of your actions?!” Ikora muttered two words so quietly, even the Hunter spy situated in the rafters couldn’t hear what she said. “Speak Iko…” “IT WAS FIRETEAM SUNBRAND!” The Council gasped and flipped through notes, before shaking their heads. “Then if that is the case, you are free to go Vanguard Ikora, proud Warlock of the Bond.” The Council bowed to the vanguard and left, leaving Ikora to fume by blasting the Hunter with Arc Light. “SUNBRAND!!!” -Back to the actual Anti-Hero’s- When I finally managed to pull myself out of the plushy couch, I just sat on the little patch of heaven. When I looked to the only other people, “Ponies”, fine… ponies in the room, and saw the two females laughing at me. I narrowed my eyes at Sunset, not that she could tell, and huffed a bit, which she could. “My name is Princess Luna, Diarch of Equestia,” The blue Alicorn smiled and looked at the soon-to-be-dead Sunset, “If thou doesn't mind, thou hast not yet introduced thy companion,” Sunset took off her helmet, materializing it, “Well, like I said earlier, my name is Sunset Shimmer,” Then she pointed at me with a hoof, “and that is Sunsong, my Brother-In-Arms and pain in my flank.” The Alicorn smiled, “Thou mentioned being a Warlock, what didst thou mean by that?” At my… and to a certain degree, Sunset’s confusion. The Alicorn explained, “Well, most unicorns in Equestria art mages to a degree, and a few have served as Warmages. But the title of Warlock was used for practitioners of the dark arts. And I sense none of the foul magicks on thy soul.” Sunset smiled lightly, “Well… that is a long story.” Princess Luna settled into her seat and prepared for the story, “And its one I do not want to repeated more than once, so if you don’t mind Princess. I would like to wait until Princess Celestia is done before telling you both.” The Princess nodded and lit her horn. A trio of mugs floated to her side, where she handed (Hoofed?) one to each of us. Materializing my helmet back into my storage, I took a sip from the mug. The spike of caffeine in my system died as my Light broke down the ‘poison’, but the taste of black coffee was good enough for me. Sunset sighed as she tasted the coffee, then knocked back the near-boiling drink. Using Solar Light quickly heightens your immunity to heat, even on the inside. “Oh thats good coffee.” I tilted back my drink as well, even as the ‘Majestic Alicorn of the Moon’ started to giggle, which she later denied, as Alicorns do NOT giggle! “I couldn’t agree with you more. Hell, even back at the Tower, Cayde-6 has nothing on this!” -Cayde-6 felt like he should be insulted. But then he took another sip of the coffee in his hand and agreed with the voice in his head (not Sundance’s voice, a different one,). Their Last-City Age coffee realy did suck. All of the Golden Age coffee secrets were lost alongside the rest of humanity. A true shame.- The Princess looked at the two of us and asked, “A friend of yours?” We shared a glance and started laughing, “Well... Cayde isn’t exactly a friend but a great mentor, and an even better Hunter. Were just picking fun at the coffee in the Tower, which compared to this Heavenly Elixir of the Gods, tastes like Vex mind-fluid.” The two Warlocks shuddered at the thought of that disgusting abomination. Comparing it to Vex mind-fluid was too kind! “And the Tower?” A not so subtly prod at their background without getting too ‘Spanish Inquisition’ on them. I saw no harm in telling her a little bit, “The Tower is our home. We sleep there…” “Eat there…” “Train there…” “Dance there… It’s our home, no way to really describe it without doing it justice.” Sunset finished off, catching on with my plan of ‘tell them a bit, but not too much’. Princess Luna raised an eyebrow and questioningly asked, “You... dance?” We both shrugged at each other, “All of us knew how to dance so it kind of seemed obvious to do dance parties. They raised our morale in times of strife and provided an opportunity to relax and blow off some steam. Hey Sunsong, what was that one group called? They did some of the best dancing and light shows?” “Umm… Dog Fight?... no. Husky Raid, they were called Husky Raid. I still can’t believe they found a way to use their Light like that.” I remembered the shows they always put on. They used their Guns, Grenades, and Light, tools of war, to create awesome shows of Light, Song, and Dance. There shows quickly sold out every time, so I’ve only been able to make it to a couple of shows. Princess Luna refilled our coffee mugs and asked another question, this time not related to the past, but the present. “What art thou’s intentions here in Equestria? After all, We… I doubt that this art a ‘social call’ as mine sister puts it.” I decided to stop being a wallflower and answer for once, “Well, me being here is actually an accident. Sunset didn’t want me coming through the portal with her.” Sunset glared at me and then punched me in the shoulder. “Of course I didn’t want you to come with me! I didn’t know if the portal would open again after I went through!” “So you were going to abandon me and the Tower?!” “Of course not! I just wanted answers!” A flicker of Light appeared over Sunset’s horn for a moment before flickering out. “Than why couldn’t we have searched for them together?! Just like before?!” A spark of Light flew through my wings for a second before dying. “This was something I had to do myself! Can’t you see that Sunsong?!” Her eyes started glowing with Light, at first dimly, but getting brighter slowly. “We’ve fought at each others side for a millennium! Why would I abandon you now?!” My wings were slowly wrapped in the glow of Light, looking as if they were on fire. “Um… Young Warlocks?” Princess Luna slowly edged herself further into her own seat. Reminded too deeply of the conflict between herself and her sister to try and pull the two apart. Even as the power surrounding the two rose above standard Alicorn levels, and slowly started matching the levels formerly only exhibited by Luna or Celestia themselves. “Because I thought you would understand!” The Light between the two started to swirl as it interacted with equestrian magic and their emotions. It started to pulse, like a heartbeat, and objects around the room started twitching. Others were lifted off the ground or the walls and added to the swirling mass of Light. Arc Light flowed through the clouds of Solar Light, as Void Light swallowed all surrounding light not formed by their sibling Lights. “Understand what?! That you wanted to leave everything we’ve built together, leave me, while you went on an adventure where I might never see you again?!” Finally, Luna had enough. “ENOUGH OF THIS NONSENSE!” Literally… The Light around us was reabsorbed into the two of our bodies, returning to their hosts. The objects that had been picked up were suddenly dropped, but then picked up again by a dark blue light, and returned to their former place. “STOP SQUABBLING LIKE FOALS! PUT AWAY YOUR PETTY GRIEVANCES AND FOCUS ON THE PRESENT!” I slumped down, ears folded back on my head. Sunset was much the same. We were being chastised like foals by a being that was several millennium older than us. Now at least I know how the young Guardians feel like when the Vanguard sentence them their punishments for breaking some petty law or something.  “Sister? I heard you yelling. Has a servant forgotten your nightly tea again?” I didn’t know the voice, not that it says that much, but Sunset did. If the way her ears swiveled towards the sound was any clue. “Sister?” My body reacted to the door opening before my mind did. Sunset and I both materialized our helmets over our heads just as a giant Alicorn with a flowing rainbow mane walked in. Three things happened after that, most surprising, some not. I had never been one to respect positions of power, just ask the Queen of the Reef. So I just kept sitting there, much to the amusement of the rainbow Alicorn. I kept my body loose and relaxed, but still ready to fight if need be. Princess Luna looked at the newcomer and nodded at her, “Sister, I was just talking with these Young Warlocks whom art from lands far off.” Sunset however, had jumped off of her couch and fell onto all fours with her front knees on the ground. It kind of looked like she was kneeling. She ducked her head and said with reverence, and a little fear. “Princess Celestia.” The newest Princess in the room, Celestia. Looked towards us two, strangers in her castle, and then towards her sister. “Luna, who are they and why are they here?” Princess Luna sat up and took another sip of coffee. “Today, at approx 12 o’clock. Guards in the North Tower reported a large flux in magical power. We took it upon ourself to investigate the surge. It turns out that a mirror had activated a portal in which these two Young Warlocks had been sprouted from. They left the room and approached the Guards. It was then that I asked them to my room for coffee and information. They claim that their story art a long one and wished that thy presence was present before regaling us with their tale.” Princess Celestia sat down on the carpeted floor before asking Princess Luna something important. “If they requested for me to be here, then why wasn’t I informed?” Princess Luna stopped drinking her coffee before setting it back down on a small dish. She then held up a hoof and smacked it into her head. “I art an idiot.” Hmm… it seems even royalty is fallible. I had already known that, but it was nice to get some conformation. Princess Celestia got up off the floor while chuckling to herself, probably at the expense of her sister. She looked to the pony on the floor, “Rise warlock, there is no need to kneel in my presence behind closed doors.” Sunset got off the floor and sat beside me on my couch, leaving her old one for Celestia to use. “I am here now, so if you want, you may start your story.” Sunset turned her head towards me and nodded, it was my turn to speak. Damn it. “I guess we better start from the beginning. Were from a world called Earth, in the Sol System, Milky Way Galaxy. Some time in the past a God-like being called the Traveler came to Earth and started our Golden Age. Rises in technology and science that would have taken centuries took days. The Traveler terraformed the other planets in our System so that they could hold life, and in Starships made from the technology the Traveler gave us, we rose to the stars and conquered the worlds around us.” I dipped my head, in memory of what was to come. The Princesses seemed to understand what was going to happen as well. “We weren’t alone. There were others that desired what the Traveler held, others that the Traveler deemed not worthy of giving knowledge to. There were too many for our fledgling race. They held secrets and powers that we would never be able to understand, much less stand against. We were pushed back planet by planet. Cabal took Mars, the Red Planet, to add to their War Machine, their Legion. The Vex took Mercury and turned it into a Machine World, where their Infinite Forest exists only to make Guardians lose their minds. The Fallen wander the Galaxy, pillaging and stealing from all to try and regain some of their former glory. The Hive burrowed into our Moon, building up an army of their undead, death worshipers for centuries. And the Taken corrupt all they touch to the Darkness.” “We were pushed back until only Earth remained, and not even that. All factions now fight on Earth. All wish our enslavement or death. But we fight, and the Traveler had given us the means to do that. One day the Traveler died, he had shut down, for what and why we didn’t know. But he left us a gift, a means to fight. Ghosts.” I held up a leg, and Little Light formed, Little Sun formed next to Sunset. “Ghosts were released and eventually bonded with long dead people. Human, Awoken, or Exo, it didn’t matter, if the Traveler felt that you could wield Light, then a Ghost would find you. And you would rise a Guardian. A partially Immortal warrior who protects the Traveler, The Last City, and the Light at all costs.” “And so we Guardians fought the Darkness, our Titans were the wall on which the Darkness would crash against, and falter. Our Hunters found their ways in the woods and far off places. Fighting the Darkness wherever it spawned. Our Warlocks studied the Magic of the Traveler, discovering the secrets of the Golden Age, and of the Traveler. And how to use it to fight the Darkness. And eventually, we pushed them back, we shattered the Hive’s hold on our Moon. We broke the Cabal’s exclusion zone on Mars and shattered their War Machine. We killed Skolas, Kell of Kells of the Fallen. And any hope they had of taking back the Traveler. We slayed Oryx, and his son Crota, gods of the Taken and the Hive. We even shattered the Heart of the Black Garden, the hivemind of the Vex.” “After all of this, things calmed down. The Darkness was still there, it will always be there. But now we had the chance to explore the secrets of the Golden Age, not just their weapons. We could resettle lost Cities, and rebuild Humanity. Eventually, when the fight was long gone. My partner and I were on patrol, and exploring. She had found something interesting in Russia. Turns out it was the last shard of a broken Mirror.” Celestia went a bit wide eyed at that part. “We Guardians lose all memories of our past lives when we become Guardians, everyone except for a select few. I know of two, and one of them turned out to be my partner. I had never asked about her life before. But it turns out that she wasn’t even from our Universe. She had come through a portal in a Mirror from another world, only to die and become reincarnated as a Guardian.” Celestia turned to look at the mare sitting next to me, only now noticing the familiar brand on her robes, “S...Sunset?” She nearly choked on the words. Sunset slowly dematerialized her helmet and looked at the Princess, “Hi… Mom.” (It’s my headcanon, shut up!) Celestia jumped up and hugged Sunset, nearly crushing her ribs with her Alicorn strength, only impeded by Sunset’s Guardian body and Light. Celestia was even crying much to the surprise of her sister. And after much discussion and talking, we eventually settled down. Celestia watched as I took of my helmet and dematerialized it. “Your… name is Sunsong, right?” I was confused as none of us had actually told her my name yet. “Yes it is, how did you know?” Princess Celestia looked down at Sunset, “Sunset, how much do you remember? Everything?” Sunset shook her head, much to my and Princess Luna’s apparent surprise, “I don’t remember everything, only most of it. I remember you, and most of my lessons. But some days, I seem to black out for most of them. It’s just… gone.” Princess Celestia sighed, she looked down seemingly aging a hundred years in a second. “As I expected. Sunset, Sunsong, I am sorry to ask this, but what are you to each other?” Sunset and I looked at each other, I spoke first. “We’re friends.” It was true, despite what many thought we were not romantically involved. Then Sunset spoke, “We’re each others only friend,” Celestia looked at Sunset confused, “We’ve been together through thick and thin, always having each other's back. It’s been like that since day one. When we first met at the Tower we just clicked. We both went on a Raid together and decided to form a Fireteam together, Fireteam Sunbrand." "We started hanging out together more and more, going on patrol together, and even pulling some strings to get us on the same watch during Wall duty. Eventually we bought an apartment in the Tower together so we could save some money. Then we started to share hanger spaces, so we could work on our jumpships together. Then it was a shared post address, a shared armory, and even a shared bank account. People kept making the assumption that we were dating, they even had a small betting pool on it!" Celestia gave a sad smile, “Just as I thought,” why does she keep saying that? “Sunset, you don’t remember this, but some of the first spells you learned were Pyromancy spells. After you became proficient with them a young Stallion in the Solar Guard started to seek you out. He wished to watch you use fire, as it was his Special Talent, even though he was a Pegasus. After a while the two of you started to hang out more and more during your free time.” “The two of you fell in love, even though you didn’t know it yet. But one day, you wished for more power. The power to rule, or even move the Heavenly bodies as I did. You wished to become an Alicorn.” Sunset’s eyes widened at the part where Celestia mentioned her being in love, but I still didn’t see as to how this connected to me. “When I didn’t grant you this power you fled into the Mirror portal with the goal of using the realms magic to boost your own, and prove your power to me. That young Stallion from the Guard wished to bring you back. So despite orders to not do exactly that, he snuck out of the barracks during the night and knocked the portal’s guards unconscious. Then with nothing but his spear and armor, he went after you.” “Soon after the Mirror shattered into a thousand pieces. And my hopes of ever seeing you again went with it.” “Princess Celestia, I don’t see how this connects to me.” I spoke up.  She looked at me, “That stallion’s name… was Sunsong.” “What?! How?!” both Sunset and I yelled. Princess Luna had removed herself from the conversation and was making a new pot of coffee. “Princess that’s impossible!” Sunset spoke out against her (most likely adopted) mother. "We chose that name an hour ago! There is no way Sunsong is from Equestria!" Celestia looked at me, “Your Cutie Mark, is it of a Golden sun? With four wings of golden fire, two on each side?” At my nod she continued on. “I believe that you both died when the Mirror shattered, and were brought back by your Ghosts. I believe that Sunsong lost all of his memories prior to his awakening while Sunset only lost the ones pertaining to her interactions with you Sunsong.” That… actually made a little bit of sense. “But why would only my interactions be lost from Sunset’s memories?” “Because Equestrian magic hates a void. So when your memories, and what made you Sunsong were lost, Sunset’s memories became lost because she shouldn’t be able to remember what never existed. At least in that world.” Wait... if I was in the Royal Guard, but abandoned my post... “Quick question Princess,” “What is it Sunsong?” “Will I be charged for going AWOL still?” “Die! Die! Di-(cough) Sorry. I’ve been watching too many Iron Banner matches. What time is it? Shaxx? Shaxx, are you there? Can you get me a water? Stop yelling, it’s just a question. I’m not old!” - Lord Saladin Forge of the Iron Banner