//------------------------------// // Dawning // Story: Destiny Calls The Brave // by Reaper99 //------------------------------// I arrived at the Tower Hanger and disembarked my Jumpship, noticing the snow and decorations around the hanger almost immediately. As I walked towards Commander Zavala's favorite place, the balcony overlooking the city, I saw Eva Levante in a small stall in the middle of the courtyard. Upon seeing her I realized the reason for all the décor, it was Dawning! I rushed over to the stall and after chatting with Eva, obtained a Starfarer 7M jumpship and a portable Dawning oven. I then went to Zavala to give him my report on the incident. "Happy Dawning Commander Zavala, I come bringing news." I greeted Zavala, he turned his gaze away from the city and towards me. "What is it Guardian?" He asked, I then told him everything related to what happened at Canterlot. "I will speak to the Princesses about this matter. In the meantime, you are dismissed." I went to my vault and stored my False Promises and Prospector, replacing them with my MIDA Multi-tool scout rifle and Avalanche machine gun. I then went to the Tangled shore to gather ingredients so I can bake gifts for everybody, taking my new Starfarer instead of my Vector. Upon arriving at Thieves' Landing, I spotted a Deranged Scorn Abomination and immediately attacked it and its escorts before they could escape. I let loose a barrage of machine gun fire as I got close, taking out several of the escorting Scorn before turning my attention to the large Abomination. I emptied my belt before double-jumping back a safe distance while switching my weapon to my MIDA Multi-tool. I fired the weapon until I emptied my mag of all sixteen rounds while the Abomination shot bolts of lightning at me, causing me to move behind cover between shots. "God, when will this thing die?" I asked myself as a bolt of lighting flew over my head. I finished loading my rifle and jumped forward to finish the Abomination with a close range shot to the head when a rocket hit the thing in the back. It then slumped over, an indication that it is dead, and a chest appear near the body. I opened the chest and retrieved my share of the gear before I grew curious over who fired the killing rocket. I then looked behind the dead creature's body and saw three pony guardians approaching, the first one was a unicorn in Warlock robes, the second was a Pegasus in Hunter gear, and the last one was an earth pony in Titan armor. They barely paid attention to me as they grabbed everything that was left in the chest and began to walk off, which is considered rude by most other guardians, since they only take what they need and leave some for others. "Hey!" I shouted, the trio stopped and turned to look at me. "What do you think you're doing?" "None of your business, Human." the unicorn spat out the last word like it was poison. "Stay out of it." "At least leave some gear for other Guardians!" I shouted, which got the attention of a nearby raiding party of Fallen soldiers. The three ponies ran off while I fought off the Fallen, taking all the gear with them. After taking down the Fallen troops, I gathered some baking supplies and ingredients from their corpses. Knowing that it will be very hard to find the three, I instead went around the reef (Tangled Shore and Dreaming City) collecting everything except Vex milk from my kills. I then began baking from the portable oven I obtained from Eva and created two new recipes, Celestial sponge cakes and Lunar cheesecakes for the Princesses. I then went back to Avalon and landed at Canterlot, my plan was to surprise the Princesses and discuss the fate of my attackers (the ones who attacked me earlier in the day). "Hello your highnesses, Happy Dawning." I said as I entered the throne room and presented my gifts. Princess Luna just arrived to start night court and Princess Celestia was just about to leave. "What's Dawning?" both of them asked in unison. "Dawning is similar to your Hearths Warming except it takes place over the course of a whole month and is dedicated to the traveler and its light." I answered. "Most Guardians participate in Dawning festivities by giving gifts and playing games. Some Guardians, like me, bake treats for our gifts, while others give trinkets and gear as their gifts." "I see...what did you bring then?" Asked princess Celestia as she picked up the box containing her gift with her magic. "I have a Celestial sponge cake for you Princess, and a Lunar cheesecake for your sister." Princess Celestia then took the box that held her sponge cake and excused herself as she left the throne room. "Here we go again..." Sighed Princess Luna as the doors leading out of the throne room closed. "What's going on?" I asked, staring at the door that Princess Celestia just exited from. "My sister loves cake to the point of obsession, giving her cake is a bad idea when she just finished day court." Princess Luna answered. "Why is that?" I was curious about Princess Celestia's obsession since it reminded me of Markov's love of vodka. "CAKE!" I then heard echo throughout the castle. It made me realize that now would not be a good time for discussing prison sentences. "Never mind." I said as I left the box containing Luna's gift on the ground in front of her and ran out the room as politely as I could. I then tried run out of the castle to avoid being raided by Princess Celestia for more cakes. I was almost off the castle grounds when I was picked up by golden magic and brought face-to-face with a crazy-eyed Princess Celestia. "GIVE! ME! MORE! CAKE!" She shouted, the words almost loud enough to deafen at close range and unfortunately I was right in front of her. "I still have to gather the ingredients and bake the thing, can you wait for at least an hour?" I begged, even though I already collected everything I needed for another Celestial sponge cake and it only takes five minutes to bake. "Fine." I was then unceremoniously dropped and the Princess then went back inside the castle, but not before searching me for any sign of another cake. I ran to my ship as soon as she closed the door and took off for Nessus to get as far away from Avalon as possible. I arrived on Nessus just as a public event started, I summoned my Sparrow and rode towards the event. "Attention! A Fallen mining expedition is on its way. May I suggest discouraging them?" I heard Failsafe say as I approached the event. "Alright! Glimmer Extraction! My favorite event to do!" I cheered as I got close. I hopped off my sparrow and ran towards the event with MIDA multi-tool in hand. I made sure to first destroy the small machine that fed mined glimmer to the drill to help start the Heroic event before I attacked the extractor crews. After chasing the extractors off two times and destroying another 'glimmer feeder', I was approaching the third site where the crews were when a rocket destroyed the third glimmer feeder and triggered the heroic event. I decided to hide behind cover to see if the three ponies who raided the Abomination earlier in the day were going to show up. After a while, they appeared and stole the glimmer but left the loot chest alone. I opened the chest and grabbed my share before following them. I followed them from Nessus to Avalon, watching them from a safe distance, until they landed in the everfree forest. I decided not to land my ship, but instead transmat down to avoid being detected. I tailed the trio until they entered a cave and were out of view. I heard the sound of buzzing insects as I approached the cave entrance, giving me a hint of what awaited me within. I told ghost to keep the light off as I entered, instructing him to turn on his flashlight only when I tell him to. As we descended deeper into the cave, the buzzing grew louder until we saw a light up ahead. "Here you go my queen, the most glimmer we have managed to steal in one go." I heard the unicorn say to some unknown creature in the area. I silently pulled out my Arsenic Bite bow and nocked an arrow. "Well done my children, I will see to it that you are all promoted from infiltrators to infiltrator-soldiers." I heard the unknown creature reply, allowing me to get a estimated direction and location. "Thank you, my queen." I heard the unicorn say before I decided enough was enough and it was time to reveal myself. I ordered Ghost to turn on his flashlight and drew my bow while slowly approaching the three guardians and the unknown creature. The guardian drew their weapons but did not fire due to the fact that my bow was pointing straight at their 'queen'. "Who are you?" I asked since the creature kept to the darkness just outside my view. "A creature of many faces and voices, the one who hides amongst the shadows." She answered calmly. "Leave us my children." The three guardians the left, leaving me, my ghost, and the creature by ourselves. I released the tension in my bow once I knew the guardians were gone and stored the arrow, leaving myself somewhat vulnerable but not defenseless. I also pulled down my hood and took off my helmet so I can see better. "So, you're a Human. I was wondering how such simple looking creatures with no magic created such powerful weapons and such advanced technology." She said, her sickly green eyes penetrating the darkness. "And I've been wondering how so many magical creatures have lived so long without even developing pre-golden age tech." I replied smugly. "So tell me, Changeling. Why does your kind need Human weapons and glimmer?" "You know of our kind?" She asked, sounding sincerely confused. "How?" "One, your drones addressed you as 'Queen'. Two, you addressed a Earth Pony, Pegasus, and Unicorn as 'children'. And three, your kind attacked Canterlot almost a month ago and failed." I stated "It's pretty obvious your kind are preparing for another attack by your acquisition of modern weaponry." "Well, I must commend your intuition." She said before the a swarm of changelings decloaked around me. "BUT YOU WILL NEVER SEE THE LIGHT OF DAY AGAIN!" "We'll see about that." I said before casting my super and proceeding to massacre the changelings surrounding me. The queen watched silently as I cut down her children with my arc staff and ran out the cave, only to be met with even more changelings. "It's over!" shouted a changeling. "You will never defeat us!" "He's right Guardian, you only have thirty more seconds of super remaining." Ghost told me mentally before some of them revealed their firearms. "Plus, they have modern weaponry." "I know that, I'll have to make the most of my remaining super energy." I said as I charged the swarm. My arc super running out after defeating a dozen more changelings. I then drew Avalanche and fired until I emptied all my ammo, leaving me with only my Arsenic-Bite Bow, fifty-four arrows, my MIDA multi-tool, and one hundred twenty rounds of primary ammo. "HE'S OUT! ATTACK!" Shouted one of the gun-wielding changelings before the swarm took to the air to dive-bomb me. "Ghost, it was an honor being your Guardian." I said out loud as I saw the moon being blocked out by the vast numbers of Changelings. "Please, the honor was mine." He replied as I readied myself to face the swarm with my MIDA Multi-tool at the ready...