//------------------------------// // Close Call // Story: We all have a Destiny // by Emo Rainbow //------------------------------// "Well what do you have to say for yourself alien?" Luna said to her. Xaya's mind was racing furiously to find a way to get the core. "We're waiting." Said Luna once more. Xaya lifted her finger and shushed her. "Xaya I found the core. It's underneath her wing grab it and lets get the hell out of here! We don't have much time." Ghost said frantically. Xaya stood up straight and quickly threw a knife at princess Luna's head. It traveled to the left of her face as Luna's eyes followed the trail. As soon as it hit the wood of the tree house all of the guards' eyes were glued to the spot. Luna looked at it for a short moment before setting her rage filled eyes on to where Xaya was supposed to be. Her horn flickered brightly with all of the pent up magic within ready to be unleashed, but only then had she noticed that Xaya had already fled. Her horn died down but the rage still brewed. Quickly she gave her orders of pursuit. "Go! Find it and don't let it escape." Her orders hit all of the guards and they left immediately. She herself flew into the air to find the guardian, not noticing the core was missing from her wings. Xaya ran through the streets as fast as her feet could carry her. Suddenly a loud siren blew across the whole town alarming all of the guards within. "The temperature in the core is rising fast. Find someplace safe and give me a mote of light to infuse with it." Ghost said. Xaya looked around and found a dumpster in an ally. Quickly she jumped in and closed the lid, once inside she heard a loud squish noise. "Damn It'll take hours to wash off my cloak." She said to herself while picking something off of the cloak. "Xaya. Light. Now!" Ghost yelled as he materialized with the core. Immediately the dark dumpster was filled with blinding light resonating from the core. Xaya reached through her inventory and gave ghost a mote of light. He started working on it when suddenly the dumpster flipped over and everything spilled out. The damp cloak slapped onto her helmet with a wet noise. She peeled her cloak from her eyes and saw dozens of angry guards glaring and pointing their weapons at her. "Xaya buy me some time, this core is gonna go if they stop me now." He said while he worked furiously. Xaya looked to all of the guards who were inching closer and closer to her. "Not another step." She pulled out her hand cannon and aimed it at them. They stopped moving and looked at it confusedly. One guard in the front started snickering and then laughing. "What are you going to do with that thing? It doesn't even look like a weapon, and its not long enough to outreach our spears." He looked at her with an asshole grin. The other guards smiled too before Xaya aimed at a cart to the right of them and fired a single shot. The cart practically exploded from the impact and left nothing but wood and dust. "I'll warn you one more time. Not. Another. Step." Her expressionless helmet intimidated them even more than her threatening voice. When they saw the remnants of the cart they backed up cautiously as all of the smiles faded. Xaya felt a small tap on the back of her head and a little tiny piece of her shield took damage. When she turned around she saw a young guard with a shattered spear handle and a face filled with fear. In one quick motion she roundhouse kicked him in the face, sending him flying into a wall of a nearby house. She looked back the the others as the siren stopped its call. The town was overcome with a deafening silence, she stared the guards down with her gun still trained on them. "Ghost?" She said quickly. The silence was broken when she heard a large stampede of guards coming her way. "Ghost. Ghost!" She yelled as the guards in front of her charged with newfound vigor. "Aaalmost...there I've got it. Lets go." The solar core showed on her HUD indicating that she had acquired it. She managed to dodge the group of guards with a roll to the left, then she summoned her sparrow for a quick escape. "The core's stable but not for long I have my limits." Ghost commented as Xaya sped through the town. "Uh-Oh. Get us out of here their powering something up." He said. An explosion erupted above the town resulting in a large dome going over the entire town to lock everyone inside.With no time to spare Xaya made it into the Forrest and away from the barrier. She turned her head behind her and saw the dome only a few yards away and she cheered in victory. Once she turned forward however a large rock knocked her off of the sparrow and set it on fire. She tumbled forwards and eventually hit her back on a tree. Her head was on the ground and everything was upside down but she righted herself and walked to the sparrow. "Crap." She said while shaking the dizziness from her head. She started for her sparrow but then a loud ringing noise attacked her ears as the sparrow exploded sending her five feet back. In her head she could only hear ringing which made everything else hard to hear. Her vision started blurring and everything twisted and turned in stomach wrenching ways. Xaya tried to stand but she fell back down to her hands and knees while her senses were viciously attacked. "Xaya are you okay? Can you hear me!?" Ghost yelled at her. Xaya couldn't hear though the only thing she could was the ringing noise in her ears. Taking off her helmet she threw up on the ground. She tried to stand up but immediately she became disoriented and fell on to her back, soon darkness filled her vision and unconsciousness took her. "Just hold on I'll figure something out!" Ghost said. His mind raced furiously as he searched for a way to get her out of the forest. 'Come on there has to be something.' He thought to himself. He scanned her and identified a toxin that was coursing through her veins. The same toxin as the flower she showed him earlier. "God dammit Xaya. You can be a real idiot sometimes." Suddenly a large heat emission stirred in Xaya's inventory causing a major alert. "No no no not already." Ghost pulled the core from her inventory and focused all of his attention on its solar integrity. He looked up at Xaya to make sure she wasn't convulsing but with his luck that's exactly what was happening to her. Ghost left the solar core and strung sapphire wire around Xaya's limbs and torso to keep her from thrashing around. Her skin became an even paler blue as foam rose from her mouth. He tried to stop the poison by creating a remedy of spirit bloom and light but the core reheated itself at an alarming rate. Turning towards it he repeated the process of stabilizing the cores heating codes. Each time he reset it the process got more and more difficult. The core was only half of the problem however since he had to focus on keeping Xaya alive. Ghost had himself caught in a race against time on both of his sides. He worked back and forth between the core and his guardian. Time seemed to go on forever as he repeated the process to make sure that neither of them died on him. He reworked the core for what seemed like the hundredth time when he realized that it finally stabilized itself. Feeling relieved he turned to Xaya ready to save her life. Ghost stopped however and noticed that she was gone. She had just disappeared without a trace. The panic began to set in. 'No no no no no. Where is she? Where could she have gone?' "Xaya! Are you out there!?" He shouted. 'Wait I can track her through her helmet.' He activated the beacon but it only told him that the helmet was on the ground below him. 'How am I going to find her?' He thought. He went over to the solar core and picked it up. "Well at least this planet is safe." He said to himself while looking at the core. "Not for long." Growled a creature from deep in the forest. Soon a large burst of electricity struck ghost and sent powerful surges through his small form. His synthetic pain sensors reacted violently causing him to scream out in pain. Soon after everything went black. - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - "This close. This close. And she still got away." Princess Luna paced back and forth in the library's main room ranting about how close they were to catching her. "How could she have gotten past my shield? I should've made it longer." Luna continued on before Twilight grabbed her shoulder and calmed her down. "Listen there's no way we could've anticipated her power but at least we know that their up to something." Twilight turned around and sat down next to her shivering assistant. "But we knew that they would strike. What was so important about that object she came for?" Luna questioned. "The small one. Ghost. He said he was a messenger of the Traveler. Is that some sort of title?" Twilight wondered aloud. Luna thought to herself about all the small creature had said. 'Good job as soon as we get that solar core we'll be unstoppable, and they won't stand a chance!' Luna's eyes widened as she realized the full story. "Twilight they intend to attack us with that object. It must be some sort of weapon." She said. "How do you know princess?" Asked spike as he huddled next to Twilight. "Wait a minute you might be right! I remember what he said. They needed that thing to become more powerful." Twilight said. "Exactly and if they have an object of such importance then there's no telling what they have planned. We must contact my sister." Luna said. Her horn lit up and she quickly contacted Celestia for help. "My sister is on her way. The time to act is now." Luna walked to the door but it swung open quickly letting in Twilights friends. "Twilight darling we heard about the home invasion are you alright?" Asked Rarity as she checked Twilight for bruises or blemishes. "I'm perfectly fine. It's spike who isn't doing too well." She pointed to spike who was still shivering from the encounter. "Oh my poor Spikey wikey. It's okay that horrid creature can't hurt you anymore." She hugged him tightly and suddenly the dragons mood got a lot better. "Thanks Rarity." He said dumbly. They embraced for a moment when suddenly Pinkie Pie jumped up with confetti blowing everywhere. "Hey hey spike your friendly neighborhood Pinkie Pie knows just how to turn your frowny upside downy." She said with a huge smile. Spike started to get worked up at the sight of Pinkie being Pinkie. "No it's okay. See my frown is already upside down." He said with the biggest smile he could muster. Pinkie eyed him closely as if she were staring down a pastry critic as he bit into one of her creations. She leaned in real close, scrunched her nose, and narrowed her eyes. Spike started to feel beads of sweat roll down his face. What was even worse was that he wasn't aware he could sweat, Being a dragon and all. Pinkie eventually laid off and replaced her stern glare with her normal happy face. "Well alrighty then but just know that I'm ready to help." She said before taking a paddleball out of her hair and started playing with it. "I shall remind you that we still have a task to fulfill." Luna reminded them. She walked outside and was followed by the group. Several moments later Celestia appeared and all save for Luna bowed before her. "Sister we must discuss our plans. Let us go back inside time is of the essence." Luna said. "Indeed it is. I had hoped that we wouldn't need a confrontation so soon. But I guess there's no stopping it now." Celestia agreed and followed Luna inside the library. "Our tests on the materials we've found from the wreckages confirm that whatever these creatures are, they greatly surpass us in technology." Luna looked unsurprised at the discovery. "I believe the only way to put an end to this is to send a team into the Everfree to confront these creatures." Celestia proposed. "We would agree to that proposal but there was the events that transpired earlier today that places doubt in our minds." Luna said. "What happened?" Celestia asked. Luna did a short rundown of what had transpired only minutes before she contacted her. "So they may be much more powerful than we think." Celestia concluded. "Wait can't you just send us?" Asked Rainbow Dash. "We can head in there and force them out of here like we did with that dragon." Rainbow puffed out her chest before shadow boxing in midair. "Yeah if we can take down a dragon, then how can we not take down an alien or two?" Asked Applejack. The rest of the mane 6 nodded in agreement. "The scenario with the dragon was entirely different. We may not have much knowledge of dragons but we at least have some degree of information." Celestia stood and walked towards her sister as she finished her point. "These creatures are completely unknown." "Not only that but if you go and just one of you is captured, or in the worst case gets killed the elements shall be rendered useless." Luna added. All of the elements looked down and realized that they shouldn't go. "The only way I can see this going smoothly is if I myself go forth and confront these aliens." Celestia said. Everyone else gasped at the very thought. "Sister surely you can't think this to be the safest plan? There is always an alternative to your direct intervention." Luna said to her. "At the very least have thou accompany you." Her voice was getting even further into her old way of speech. Which would usually happen with stress. "No I need you to stay here in case I don't return. I do not wish to put any of my subjects or my own sister in harms way." She hugged Luna and tipped her head to the Elements. "Stay safe until I return." She said before teleporting into the Everfree. - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - The Tower: Hub for new and existing guardians. Among the many guardians in the tower there were two very important guardians. A Warlock and a Titan who were the former teammates of the guardian Xaya. However they had only discovered her disappearance moments before we join them. Their names were Nala, and Rex-22. Nala was a human Titan who lived further in the past than most other Human guardians. Rex-22, the warlock, was an Exo that was reforged in light after his death in the faction wars prior to the current city age. Both of them were determined to find their lost friend. "This doesn't make sense. Why would she just leave without a trace?" Rex asked aloud. They made their way to the table of the Vanguards. Once there all three of the Vanguards, Ikora Rey, Commander Zavala, And Cayde-6 looked to them somehow knowing why they were there. "Where the hell did you send her Cayde?" Nala pointed accusingly at the hunter and expected a Damn good answer from him. "Alright I admit it. I may have sent her on a three man mission. But I thought she could handle it, apparently I was wrong." He looked back to the map of old Chicago expecting it to be done with. "Is that all you have to say? Our friend is gone and you were the one who sent her there!" Nala's fury had risen even greater at the words of the Vanguard. "There's nothing else to say Guardian. We cannot bring her back. She is forever lost in the Darkness." Ikora stepped in to the argument before it got out of hand. "That doesn't make sense though. I can still sense a sliver of her light. As a fellow Warlock can't you as well?" Rex asked her. "This argument is done and over guardians. I'm sorry but we as Vanguards cannot give the form of consolation you desire. Whether you like it or not your friend is gone." Zavala said in an authoritative tone. Cayde stepped toward the two Guardians and stopped. His metallic eyes filled with sorrow. "I know how it feels to lose a trusted friend. Xaya was a good guardian but you can't keep fighting for her when she's gone. The best you can do is remember her and to not let her die in your thoughts. Do that and she'll never truly be gone." Cayde finished his speech and silence fell onto the room. The people working on the screens were all watching the commotion. Nala and Rex couldn't say a thing. They wanted to say that it didn't have to be that way, that they could still find her, but they couldn't say a word. Caydes words hit them to the core and they knew that he was right. Without speaking another word they nodded and turned towards the hallway that led to the main tower. The walk seemed like an eternity to them as they remembered all they had done together. Discovering the worlds grave, rebooting Rex, Discovering the remains of Xaya's parents, and so much more. Their thoughts were interrupted as a shadowy creature, Xūr Agent of the Nine, stepped in front of them. "I know where your friend is. I can send you there if you wish." He proposed. They looked to him and Nala scoffed. "And how would you send us?" Rex asked. "Like this." Xūr replied. He grabbed a black box that was longer than it was wide, and placed it in his arms. "Return to orbit with this in hand and you shall be taken to her. You as well take this." He grabbed another box of the same shape and placed it in Nala's hands. "My actions are the Nines not my own." He said before going back towards the wall. The guardians looked at each other and pulled out their ghosts. Their destination Equestria. - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - Simiks prime: Dead Aksor Archon priest: Dead Kaliks Prime: Missing Prexis Wolf Kell: Dead Simiks-3 Ascendant Servitor: Alive Zaeed Winter Kell Rising: Alive Indra Winter Baron: Alive Dreg pack wolves bane: Alive Axis looked at his log book and closed it. Deep underground somewhere close to the edge of the humungous forest known as the Everfree the Wolf Archon Axis sat upon a makeshift throne built by pieces of the ship that were unsalvageable. Alone he sat thinking to himself as the dim light from above filtered in through the ground. 'Soon all of the creatures on this planet will fall. But without a servitor we will not survive. We must kill those winter fools.' A dreg burst into the throne room, And ran to him. "Sir it's ready." The Archon stood and stretched his three arms. He placed them behind his back and walked out of the door. "Now we are ready to commence." The door shut and all of the room went dark. Axis traveled through underground tunnels that only sometimes had metal supports. Every single dreg and Vandal he walked past bowed before him. After five minutes of walking the Archon entered a room that was far larger than any other. It houses a damaged skiff that countless fallen were repairing. "My lord." A vandal jumped off of it and walked towards Axis. "It is almost ready. Shall we test it out before we commence?" He asked. Axis simply nodded. The vandal laughed deviously and boarded the skiff along with ten other fallen. It roughly started up letting sparks out of the thrusters but flew upwards the surface. Axis laughed and watched as the skiff flew out to wreak havoc.