//------------------------------// // Heart Of Darkness // Story: Vanguard // by Material Defender //------------------------------// "Wait... something's not right..." Orion said, stopping in the middle of the hall as the ponies gave a questioning look. "What's wrong, sugarcube?" Applejack asked. "Did you hurt yourself somehow?" "No, it's just... where's Luna? I mean... I didn't stay here for long, but I noticed how she and Celestia were together a lot..." "You're freaking out over nothing, man," Jayce said as he tapped him on the back of his shoulder. "Come on, maybe a shot of something good for the soul ought'a keep your mind in one piece." "Come on, Jayce. You've seen it, too." "What? How the two Princesses are practically joined at the damn hip?" "Yeah. It was strange. You'd think Luna would want to be present at the event of Nightmare Moon's demise." "Well, we didn't see her out here, either, Orion," Spike mentioned. "In fact, we didn't see her at all today, even when Celestia was around." That still didn't sit right with Orion. "Fine, you guys go ahead, but I'm going to go check." Jayce looked to the ponies. "Fine, you... ponies... can go ahead. Orion and I will go check." They hardened their gaze and Applejack returned a look at Jayce. "Nuh-uh. If Orion's thinks there's trouble a-brewin', then we ain't leaving nopony behind." "I agree!" Twilight said. "If Luna truly is in danger, then we all should be there!" "Then it's settled then. We'll all go see Luna," Orion said. A murmur of agreement and they were on their way. Thankfully, Orion had the ponies to lead them. The castle was full of turns and tumbles that would have gotten any inexperienced visitor lost quite a lot. It took them a while before they finally happened the great double doors that led to the chambers of Princess Luna. "There's no guards here..." Dash said. "That's not good... they're usually, well, everywhere." "Then we'd best get moving." Orion quickly opened the door to the hall and noticed a smaller set of double doors at the end. "Is that the Princess's chambers?" he asked, pointing. "It is, but--" Twilight began, but Orion ignored her and ran straight for the door. He noticed the tiniest wisps of shadow coming from beneath it, and he put his head up to the door as quietly as possible and heard... sobbing. Faint sobbing. His eyes widened at the realization of what had happened, and turned quickly to look at Jayce. He quickly tugged on the door, only to find that it was somehow locked. He could only guess why. "Jayce! Prepare to breach!" he shouted. ================================================================================ Orion kicked the door open to the room. He wondered why he didn't see Luna at all, and now he knew why; the shadow had almost completely enveloped Luna's trembling and sobbing form, making Orion do a double-take before he realized that the blob was Luna. Thank Celestia for his hunch. "Luna!" He instinctively charged straight for the mass of shadow, and planted a biotic fist straight into it. The other Elements had quickly rushed to Luna, Twilight putting up a barrier around them. "Holy shit, you were--?" Jayce said, running in with his gun primed. "You! Got you now, you slimy prick!" The pool of shadow gave out another shriek and recoiled from Luna's body, fleeing towards the balcony. Twilight and the others rushed to Luna. "Don't let her get away!" Orion shouted, throwing a line of explosive shockwaves at her, but missing and knocking over a table instead. Jayce started firing at her, but to no avail as the rounds seemed to do nothing. He let out a cry of frustration at his preferred method of combat having no effect. "Fuck! Hit her again with the biotics, Orion!" "On it!" Another charge, another punch, another shriek, as the shadow continued darting around the room to avoid the closing duo. "I think I have her on the ropes!" Orion dodged around a slash from a shadowy tendril, and stood between the form and the balcony door. "Then finish her off!" Jayce shouted. He continued to fire his gun at the quick shadow on the ground, regardless of effect. "Damn this gun..." "One more!" Orion's fist glowed with energy, but then the shadow ran behind a table, and disappeared. "That goddamn..." Jayce sweeped the area, under, over, and around the table. "She's gone. Damn it. Orion, check the window, maybe she slipped out." He walked around the room, surveying the furniture as Orion inspected the balcony. Their searching seemed to turn up nothing. "I got nothing," Orion's voice piped. "I'll keep looking, maybe she's hiding under one of the potted plants out here or something." "Roger. I'll keep looking in here," Jayce said, looking behind a painting of a night sky on the wall. Fluttershy was comforting Luna, who was trembling hard. "Shh, shh, it's okay, Princess. We're here now, we'll protect you." Luna closed her eyes. "Please. Please don't let her take me back." Rainbow gave her a hard smile. "Don't worry about it. We only have two awesome humans here to protect us! I mean, yeah, I guess I can do it, too, but they're pretty awesome. You should have seen how fast Orion ran when he realized you weren't with us!" Twilight was scanning the area using her horn. "Yeah, it was actually pretty surprising. I didn't know humans can run as fast as pegasi." "We can do a lot of shit if we put our minds to it," Jayce said, looking behind a nightstand, then sighed. "Still nothing." He walked towards Luna, examining her. "Well... at least she doesn't look like she's been affected, maybe--" The ponies had shocked look on their faces. "Behind you!" shouted Rarity. Jayce wheeled around, gun ready to fire, only to get jumped on the face by the shadow. It reared its form into a head with a mouth, with sharp teeth, and attempted to snap at Jayce's neck. "Fuck!" he said, grabbing the tendrils and pushing it back. He broke his right hand free, and in a fit of desperation, picked up his dropped Mattock and slammed it upside the head with the rifle stock. The monster shrieked again. "So that's how it is, huh?!" He dropped his Mattock again, and in feat of pure strength, broke through the tendrils with his left arm and grasped the entity's neck with a hard grip. "Find anythi--Whoa!" Orion said, walking back in. "I got this motherfucker!" Jayce said, rolling and tossing with the flailing shadow Nightmare Moon. He raised his right hand, balling it into a fist, and activated his omniblade. "Chew on this!" He brought down his fist, repeatedly smashing into the form with repeated thrust attacks with his omniblade, the monster shrieking in intense pain as the glowing blade pierced its body. The form slowly dissipated as it shrank away from Jayce's body. "Oh, so firing at it doesn't work, but beating the shit out of it does. I can do that," he said. "I will return!" Nightmare Moon still had more in her, it seemed. "And when I do, all the ponies shall suffer, and the coming eternal night shall be a sign of my rule for eons to come!" Luna had covered her ears, shaking in fear. "And I shall have you again, Luna... I shall..." the voice faded as it laughed. "N-no... please... don't..." she whispered. "Don't you worry, Princess," Jayce said, again picking himself up, and grabbing his Mattock. "I will mess that bitch up in as many ways as possible. She won't even want to think about walking anywhere near here after I'm done with her." "And you! Insolent fool! You shall be the first to die after I return to power!" He scoffed. "Looks like the boy scout has a rival now. I'm gonna enjoy kicking your ass." The shadow said nothing as they heard the sound of wind going out the window. Then, silence. "Right, looks like she left. Looks like muscle's the only way to solve this one, huh?" asked Orion. "We can do that," Jayce grinned. "Beating the crap out of something is probably the simplest solution I've heard in a long while." "Is she gone?" Orion asked Twilight. She shook her head. "From what I can gather, she's only retreated from the castle. I'll ask talk to Princess Celestia and see if she can help." "I am here, Twilight." Celestia stood in the doorway, apparently only having just arrived, accompanied by guards wearing golden armor on both sides. "Please, guards, see to it that Luna has protection. I shall be increasing the guard patrols in the castle, at least until this matter with Nightmare Moon has been dealt with." "So much for that dream," Orion said. "I have a feeling this is going to take a long while." Jayce gave a hearty laugh. "Unless we find her first, and I drive my fist through her face." "Maybe we should just work on trying to mod your guns." "Yeah. They're all just paperweights now." He holstered his Mattock, and drew his Raptor. "Maybe something with more punch should do it." "So she can regenerate faster than a Krogan on steroids, and in her shadow form, she's invulnerable to everything except direct physical contact... or maybe... Eezo!" "What?" "We need to mod your rounds to use Eezo, Jayce." "How the hell's that going to work? I'm not a fucking biotic, Orion." "Not yet, you aren't. Still got that research from Nightingale?" "Yeah. You aren't seriously going to try to turn me into one, are you?" "With this new Eezo, I think anything is possible." "First time for everything? I don't think I like the idea putting Eezo in myself, but I guess with the amount of vanguards, adepts, and sentinels we have running around Council space, I don't think it'll be much of a problem." "It's going to take time to get used to it, you sure?" "The way this shit is turning out, we've got all the damn time in the world." "Right, so it's agreed, then. I'll talk to you more about it later, but for now..." Celestia had joined the other ponies and the newly-arrived Spike in comforting Luna. Spike looked at Jayce. "Whoa. What happened in here?" "Shit hit the fan, that's what. Now we've got a psychotic evil pony running around out there, and we have no fucking idea where she is." "Oh, no... Luna looks like a wreck." "Nothing like what Nightmare Moon's gonna look like after I run her through," Jayce shot back. He felt abnormally flustered at the thought of Luna crying like this. He shrugged it off. "Like hell I'm gonna let someone... somepony walk after almost beating me." Celestia could say nothing as her sister continued to sob. She turned her steely gaze towards Orion and Jayce. "I am assigning both of you to Luna's personal guard." "Agreed," Jayce immediately responded. "If she's gonna come back, I'm gonna be waiting for her. And next time, I'll really kick her ass." "I also accept," Orion said. "If Luna's the one that Nightmare Moon wants to go after, then you can rest assured that she has our protection." "I thank you both. Now, everypony, let us leave. We have much to discuss in the library. Guards, please see to it that Luna stays safe." The two guards nodded wordlessly, and took up position in the room, taking special care to keep an eye on the balcony and the door. Orion quietly closed the door as they left. "Out of the frying pan and into the fire." "Yeah, no shit," Jayce said. "Just one more thing after the other, like a freaking rollercoaster. Ah, well, we've got our work cut out for us, at least." He shrugged. "If Nightmare Moon is truly a greater threat than we had originally anticipated, we must prepare everypony to be able to deal with her," Celestia said. "Starting with you ponies, the Elements of Harmony. Given what had happened in the Everfree Forest, it was quite miraculous that you had not all been killed." "There was no way to expect that it would have turned out the way it did, Princess," Orion said. "The Eezo on this planet has a catastrophic reaction exposed to a large increase in energy. I think it would be for the best if I could properly instruct everyone on how to deal with my abilities before we continue any further." "I agree," Celestia said. "Then we shall proceed immediately to the library." ================================================================================ Luna sat on her bed, and sighed. That was a terrible ordeal. She laid her head down, her mind trying to properly make sense of what had just happened. The guards stood at silent attention, maintaining their wordless vigil. Nightmare Moon was back. Luna was terrified that she was. She had no intention of becoming Nightmare Moon again, and what had happened when she was banished tormented her, even up to this very day. She broke down just at the mere sight of her... she was... She didn't want to think about it. Just trying to remember what her time was like back then made her head hurt. She couldn't stand up to Nightmare Moon. She felt so powerless; all she could do was tremble and cry. She gave another sigh in frustration. But there was that one human... his name... Jayce, was it? She was piqued by him. Never before had she met someone so vulgar and terse such as himself. But his enthusiasm of making sure she remained unharmed... lit a spark in her. He was so confident and determined in everything he did, and definitely charismatic, if not somewhat violent. It was like he had no regrets. Luna blinked for a few moments. But everyone had regrets. How did the human deal with his? She would have to ask sometime. ================================================================================ "Wait. You mean you knew about this supercharged Eezo?" Jayce asked Orion. They had sat down at a large table in the library again, and Orion relayed their lucky findings on Nightingale Station to Celestia and the others. "That I did, Jayce. Exposure to this planet's advanced Eezo is what allowed me to get us back here." "That was one hell of a gamble. So you have this new Eezo in you now?" "Sort of. I did preliminary scans on my body, and it turns out that this new Eezo is capable of subverting our old Eezo. In short, given time, any biotic exposed to this new Eezo will have their nodules eventually completely converted to this new one." "What else does it do? Is it like red sand?" "No. It's something else entirely. This Eezo can actually modify and enhance properties of the human body. The research notes didn't say much else. There was so little of this type of Eezo harvested that they ran out of samples just by running a single test." "And you're saying that with this new kind of Eezo..." "I can do a lot more things now, and I'm a lot more powerful." "And you're trying to put that shit into me." "So you can kick Nightmare Moon's ass." "Well, no complaints from me about that. It's... going to be harmless, right?" "I haven't found a method of transferring it to you yet, Jayce. But the most I expect will happen is that I just materialize the Eezo from the air and shower you with it. Just mere exposure to a sufficient concentration should do the trick." "Bathing in Eezo. Great." "Uh, you two done?" asked Applejack. "We got more important things tah talk about right now." "Yeah, we're done," Orion said. "So now on to the issue of Nightmare Moon..." "We haven't been able to locate her since she escaped the castle. The most we can do is be on our guard and wait for her return. Unfortunately, the rest of us have things to tend to back in Ponyville. I'm sorry, Orion, but you'll have to make do without us. But send a letter our way, and we'll be here in no time flat," Twilight said. "Nothing we can't handle. It's not like you... pff, ponies, are in any shape to deal with her anyway. Didn't you say something about having to let your elements recharge or something?" Jayce said, still dealing with the shift in nouns. "That's correct, Jayce. Our elements need to take quite a while to recharge, and we aren't as hardy as you or Orion are, so you'll be the only ones that can deal with Nightmare Moon if she shows up again. I'm not even sure if the guards can do much against her. Orion did say his biotics could do permanent to Nightmare's form," Twilight continued. "So all of you ponies are heading back, then?" Orion asked, receiving a nod from all of them in response. "Very well then. We'll do our best to protect the Princess while you're all away. Do come visit us sometimes." "Oh, you can count on it," said Dash. "But I haven't finished designing your wardrobe yet!" moaned Rarity. "We still have to make more outfits for every occasion! Oh, what will you do without me? And in Canterlot, no less!" "We'll manage," Orion smiled. "I don't think we'll be needed out there, at the very least, so you don't have to worry about us mingling with... the Canterlot elite." "Wait. You mean there are rich folk up here?" asked Jayce. "You mean all those houses out there are for rich folk?" "Yes." "Oho, this ought'a be good. Just keep them away from me, and no one ends up going home in a body bag." Orion raised an eyebrow. "What do you mean?" "I don't mix well with rich people," he shrugged. "I... instigate altercations, and let's just leave it at that." He took a sip from his cup. Apple juice again. Huh. "Duly noted. Aside from that, everypony, I don't think there's much else we can do. Just sit, and wait." "I agree," Celestia said. "I will inform you if anything drastic happens." She looked to the Elements of Harmony. "Take care, and stay safe, my little ponies." She stood up and walked out of the library, off to tend to her court and other issues pertaining to the kingdom. The ponies said their goodbyes, and followed suit. The door shut behind them, leaving the two humans left in the massive library. "Well..." sighed Orion. "Who goes first on guard duty? You, or me?" "I guess I'll go first," snorted Jayce. "Although I don't really think it matters who does." "You know, after all that stuff you pulled on Nightingale..." "What?" "You a human krogan or something?" Jayce let out a hearty laugh that rumbled through the library. He had to hold his sides, laughing for a couple of minutes before he composed himself. "Oh, man, that's a good one. Yeah, I guess I really am a human krogan. Even by human standards, other people tell me I'm a goddamn beast. Not that I mind, of course. I guess you're... uh, I don't know, a human salarian? You sure aren't lacking, that's for sure." "I think I'm just a regular human, about as smart as anyone else. But you, Jayce, you're a walking tank." "What can i say? I'm a hard motherfucker to kill." Now that Orion had time to actually notice, Jayce was certainly built like a tank; his muscle mass was larger than any average N7 soldier Orion had seen, and Orion had seen many. "Lots of assholes have tried and dug themselves an early grave." "I hear that. Come on, we should head over to Luna's quarters." The two, still armor-clad, made their way through the sprawling castle's hallways until they reached Luna's door. They were stopped by two guards. "Halt. I have a notice that Princess Celestia wishes to give you." "Go ahead," Orion acknowledges. "Princess Luna has her own section here in the castle, among which are several guest rooms. One of them is being used as a temporary barracks by the two guards within, Star Bolt and Gold Aegis. They are your partners in this task until Nightmare Moon has been dealt with. The other two rooms closest to the Princess's personal chambers are to be used by each of you. That is all." "Thank you." Orion nodded to Jayce. "Let's head on in." ================================================================================ The two proceeded into the inner hall. There, they ran into one of the guards, who was patrolling the hallways. "Er... and you are?" Jayce said. "Royal Guard Star Bolt, at your service, sirs. It's an honor serving under knights appointed by Princess Celestia herself!" He gave a quick salute. Orion and Jayce returned it. "Er... knights?" Jayce asked Orion. "Must be something Celestia did without us knowing. I'll ask her about that sometime. In any case, it's a pleasure to meet you, Star Bolt. This is Wade Jayce, Jayce for short. I'm Matias Orion, Orion for short. We've been personally appointed by the Princess Celestia to guard Princess Luna's chambers." "Yes, sir. Not a lot of the guards know what happened, and Her Majesty wishes you to keep it that way. Gold Aegis and I were just the only two guards at nearest available call to go with Celestia, and that's how we ended up with this post." "Doesn't she have her own guards?" asked Jayce. "Well, yes, but..." He stopped for a moment. "...I'll let Gold Aegis explain it to you. He knows more about it than I do." "I see. Carry on then." "Yes, sir." Star Bolt continued his patrol back down towards the entranceway. "We should check on Luna," Orion said, as they continued towards the door. They reached the large double doors, and Orion gave a knock. "Who is it?" asked a male voice. "Orion and Jayce." "Ah, the two knights. You may enter." Orion and Jayce entered the now-reorganized room, noticing another guard standing immediately to their right, who gave a salute. "Royal Guard Gold Aegis, at your service, sirs. I've been ordered to guard Princess Luna and her room, and ensure no threats come to harm her." "Shouldn't there be like, I don't know, more guards?" Jayce's helmet clanked as he shrugged it against his armor. "Normally, there would be. We of the Royal Guard happened to mostly be away when the incident happened. Incidentally, it was shift change time," Aegis said. "There are only two of you assigned to this?" asked Orion. "...yes." "Isn't that a little low on the guard count for a royal princess?" "You have to understand, sirs. Most people look to Princess Celestia as their figurehead, and as such, she stands out more. The Princess rarely, if ever, chooses to leave her quarters, and so it was seen fit that she did not need many guards. And you must understand, since what had happened with... Nightmare Moon... the ponies of Equestria are not so quick to forgive her. Having more guards than what she has now would raise concern." "I see. Carry on then, Aegis." "Sir." He returned to his guard stance, head staring intently at the balcony door, but occasionally scanning the other parts of the room, as well. Luna had been intently paying attention to the two as soon as they had entered. "Princess Luna," Orion said. "Yes, Orion?" She made no movements and held her gaze as her mane waved in the air. "I'm sure you've heard the news..." "Yes. My dear sister has appointed both of you to me as personal guard. I am grateful that you have decided to aid me." "Yeah, and when that Nightmare bitch shows up again, she is so dead," Jayce said from over Orion's shoulder. "Jayce..." Orion said. "What? It's just me being me, just chalk it up to that. A few words never hurt anyone. And you know she's got it coming to her." Orion sighed. "Princess, I'd like to hear the story of Nightmare Moon, from your perspective. Tell us what happened." Luna bowed her head a bit, and then cleared her throat. "It all first started over a thousand years ago..." The following hours were filled with Luna's recollection of the events that had happened: her fall from glory, her corruption, her banishment, and her rescue by the Elements of Harmony. There was an undertone of shame and sorrow in Luna's voice that both Orion and Jayce could pick up, but didn't point out. Aside from the occasional exchanged looks between Orion and Jayce, and a few questions, the story was presented quite clearly from Luna's point of view. The sun was setting by the time Luna finished. "I'm... very sorry to hear that, Princess," Orion said. "Do not feel sorry for me. I have already paid for what I have done." "But you're hurting," Jayce said plainly. "You think no one notices that you're walking around wearing your pain like a fucking cross on your chest?" Luna could say nothing as the words cut deep. "I must go raise the moon now," she quickly deflected, standing up and walking towards the balcony door. Orion and Jayce quickly followed her, as did Gold Aegis, who opened the door for them. There, the three watched as Luna channeled her powers, bringing up the mass of the moon beyond the horizon as Celestia's sun began to set beneath it. The moon was bright and clear, and soon enough, the skies turned dark and began to glitter with the crystal lights of the stars. The process must have taken a lot out of Luna, on top of the day's events, as she started to lean left and right. Orion caught her before she fell. "I... I thank you. Please, I must... retire to my quarters... I feel... exhausted." Orion carefully led her back to her bed, Jayce in tow, and Gold Aegis closing the door behind them. The light of the moon shown through the balcony door, painting the room in a dim light-blue glow. "Sleep well, Princess, and thank you for telling us your story. We will leave you to your rest now." Orion looked at Jayce, then thumbed towards the door. Jayce stepped out as Orion stopped to talk to Gold Aegis. "Keep her safe, Aegis. Jayce will be out in a few hours to relieve you." "Understood, sir. Good night." Orion slowly closed the door behind him, the form of the sleeping Princess Luna being the last thing he saw before the door closed shut. "Get some shuteye, Jayce. You're going to need it," Orion said, opening a door and checking to find that it was empty. "It's going to be a long night." "I hear ya, don't get your panties in a bunch. I'll be up in three hours. I'll make sure my omnitool reminds me." He waved the glowing arm accessory in the air. The two closed their doors, their rooms across the hall from each other, and just directly outside of Luna's room. The hall was silent save for Star Bolt's footsteps up and down the hall. ================================================================================ Jayce awoke to beeping from his omnitool. The time read afternoon, though Jayce knew that since he couldn't sync it, he just had to use the skies as an indicator for time; not too unfortunate, as the sun and moon were quite clear in this world. He took a few moments to strap on his armor, and made sure all of his weapons were with him. He looked out the window for a moment, admiring the sky and the quiet, before putting his helmet on. He walked outside and noticed that Orion had taken over Star Bolt's patrol in the hall. They gave each other a silent nod before Jayce quietly opened the door to Luna's chambers. "Aegis. You there?" he whispered. "I am, sir." "You're relieved. Get yourself some sleep." "Understood. Thank you, sir." The pegasus quietly shuffled out of the room as Jayce walked in, taking his spot. He looked around the room. The moon was even further in the sky now, and the room was now painted in a healthy light-blue glow. The entire chamber was filled with an eerie quiet. Luna was seemingly muttering something in her sleep, and fidgeted quite a bit. Jayce could tell this was going to be a long shift... ================================================================================ Luna didn't remember how she got here. Was this a dream? It felt too real to be a dream. She awoke at the end of a dead-end hallway. The entire hall was painted in some sort of glowing black, like an oozing darkness. She couldn't see anything else. Then she heard it. That voice. That laugh. Laughing. At her. Luna was terrified. She knew who it was. She ran through to the other end of the hallway, only to find it made a sharp turn. And that one led to another turn, and another, and another. It was an endless maze of madness, with the voice of Nightmare Moon endlessly mocking her as she ran. Then the maze started to collapse as she ran through it, revealing a yawning darkness, fumbling at the pieces of tile that fell. Her fear intensified as the tiles collapsing behind her started to catch up. She could feel the shadows barely grasping at her legs. Then it was too late. The tile behind her hoof dropped, and she lost her footing. She could feel the tendrils grab her, and pull her into the darkness. "You... are... mine..." laughed the voice. The tendrils pulled her down into the darkness, screaming, until she could not see any more. Pure darkness. Then shaking. There was shaking. She could not tell where it was from. "...ake up, sweetheart... wake up... come on now... you're better than this... some stupid nightmare..." It was a voice. A male one. It appeared to be speaking to her. She closed her eyes and continued to listen as she was pulled down into the void, while the shaking intensified. "...rincess...? Princess? Come on... real funny... Wake... up now... WAKE... UP!" A final strong shake woke her mind from her frightful slumber. ================================================================================ She gasped as her eyes shot open. She was panting and covered in sweat. Jayce was crouching next to her bed. "Well, shoot, Princess. You looked like you were having one hell of a dream there." "It... it was..." she coughed. "Must have been pretty damn crazy. I'll bet it was about that Nightmare Moon, right?" "..." Her lack of a response only confirmed Jayce's suspicions. "Well, shit. Was it that bad?" Luna closed her eyes. "It was." "Well, uh... want to talk about it?" "...what?" she said, still trying to catch her breath. "It does you good to talk about this sort of thing, you know. No good having it all pent up inside you." He stood up, his dark grey armor glowing like obsidian in the moonlight, the red glowing lines on his helmet the only other trace of light in the room.. "You up for it?" "I... I will allow it. Please, take a seat. I will tell you of my dream." Jayce grabbed a nearby stool and sat down as she began her tale, the moon still rising into the sky.