Light of Harmony

by GjallarFox


Super Power: The Golden Gun

[Suggested listening]

With the massive Fallen slowly closing in, the ponies began firing on it, hoping to take it down quickly before it could get within slashing distance. And though it stumbled every so often from the addition of hand cannon rounds, it showed no signs of being wounded.

"Done with my part!" K-Rah called, reappearing at Pinkie's shoulder. "Oh shit that's an Archon."

"Yeah, what do we do about it?" Twilight asked irritatedly as she pumped another magazine into the beast's armor, doing no visible damage.

"Pinkie, try a grenade," the Ghost recommended. The pink pony fired one more round of her hand cannon at the Archon's helm, making it stumble, giving her the clearing to reach down to her left hip and arm a grenade with a squeeze of her hand. She tossed it as though she were playing softball, the tiny golden sphere bouncing off of the Fallen's chestplate and landing on the ground below it. It looked down in confusion at the tiny ball, and realized just a little too late that it was an explosive. When it detonated, it sent the beast flying back against the hull of its downed ship. But aside from a few scorch marks on the armor and setting its cape on fire, the grenade did little damage.

"What do we do now?" Rainbow asked, punishing a Dreg for getting too close with her hand cannon. "We're going to need a bigger boom than that, and I don't think I can manage a rainboom right now."

"Focus on the little guys. Only fire on the Archon if it gets too close," Twilight planned. "It'll be easier to fight it when it has no support."

"I'll try to come up with a plan in the mean time," K-Rah added.

With that new plan confirmed by the rest of the group, they set to work picking off the Archon's support. After diverting their fire away from their leader, the rest of the Fallen troops seemed to realize what they were doing, and started being far more careful. They ducked behind cover more often, choosing to blindly fire over ramparts and around corners rather than take a chance at falling to the fresh Guardians.

A sniper dared poke his head out from behind one of the downed skiffs, taking aim with his wire rifle. He took his sweet time, his squadmates on the other side of the small alley between the skiffs providing ample distraction so he could make a good shot. He fired, the wire rifle kicking quite a bit in his three hands as he brought his fourth up to chamber the next round. The thin shot missed his target by a mere inch, and he ducked behind cover again, narrowly avoiding two pulse rifle bursts from Fluttershy. But a few moments later, it felt safe enough to pop its head out again for another look to see if he could make another shot. The thing squinted and pulled up its rifle once more, taking aim again. As Pinkie came into its sights, it held its breath for a moment, and then fired.

The thin arc round cackled madly as it sliced through the air, fast as Dash. And before Pinkie could have possibly seen it coming, she somehow danced right out of the way, simultaneously bringing her hand cannon to bear on a Vandal that had tried to flank her with a sword. She fired two rounds at the thing, the first hitting it in the chest, the second nailing it between its two pairs of eyes, killing it instantly and making a bright display of its ether leaking out of its shattered mask. The sniper, frustrated that his perfectly aimed shot had missed, fired again towards Pinkie. But like the first shot, she sidestepped, and the shot hit the door of the hangar behind her.

"Rarity, we have a meanie hiding by the left ship. He's making my toes all twitchy!" Pinkie complained to her Warlock friend.

"So rude!" Rarity jested, taking aim down the sights of her scout rifle.

"I'm gonna go say hi!" Pinkie blurted as she began skipping down the aisle between the Fallen skiffs.

"I guess I'll cover you then," Rarity sighed, popping a few shots at anything that dared aim towards her bubbly friend. But she'd forgotten that the Archon was a thing that existed and could move, so when suddenly she saw it out of the corner of her eye, she panicked and jumped back, grabbing the grenade on her own belt, and throwing it at the massive enemy. To her surprise, it didn't bounce off the thing's armor like Pinkie's had, but stuck to it as though layered with the stuff on the back end of duct tape. The Archon seemed to panic for the moment between the grenade hitting it and blowing up.

The blast knocked the Archon back a meter or two, sending sprawling onto its backside and sending one of its swords flying like a knife through the air towards Pinkie. For a brief moment, Rarity could only watch as the massive blade neared her friend. But like everything else that had come her way, she evaded the thing by rolling beneath its path instead of bouncing up again. With a sigh, she brought her rifle back up to her shoulder, and opened fire on the Dregs firing pistols at Pinkie.

The sniper, who was ducked behind the skiff, waiting for an opening in enemy fire to poke its head out again, screamed in shock as the Guardian he had tried to kill twice now suddenly appeared next to him. "Hi!" she greeted as she brought her hand cannon up to the Vandal's face and pulled the trigger. With the last round in her magazine, she killed the sniper.

However, the sniper had a partner with swords, who thrust one of the blades towards Pinkie. Seeing it just in time, she jumped and landed on the sword as it got jammed into the dead sniper's chest. Screaming in hatred and frustration, the sword-bearer slashed at Pinkie's legs with its other blade, which she jumped over. When she landed, she kicked the thing in the face. She then jumped off the sword and took her knife out from the sheath on her chestplate, and jammed it into the neck of the Vandal.

Back with the main group, they had since thrown a few more grenades at the Archon when it approached, and had begun to notice a crack forming in its chestplate. "We're making progress!" Twilight called.

"Looks like we've thinned out most of the enemies around here, too," Rarity observed as she shot a Dreg's pistol away, the small firearm shattering as it flew out of the enemy's hand. The small enemy screamed in anger and unsheathed its knife, throwing it like a carnival performer and hitting Rarity in the chest with the blunt end, knocking her down and the air out of her lungs. And no sooner did that happen than the Archon warped closer to the group, skipping about five meters of the distance between itself and Rarity.

"Rarity!" Rainbow hollered, emptying an entire magazine into the Archon's face as she flung herself towards her downed friend. She then grabbed her friend's hand and pulled her to her feet. But now both of them were within slashing range of the thing's remaining sword, and as it brought the blade swinging around in an arc that would most certainly relieve them of a limb or their heads if it made contact, they flinched, holding each other for dear life.

But Pinkie had other plans for her friends, and neither grave injury nor death were a part of said plans. She fired a round from her hand cannon, the lead slug slamming into the Archon's helm, knocking the creature off balance. Though too late to stop the sword from swinging, she ensured that it missed by at least half a meter, saving the lives of her close friends perhaps long enough to see another birthday. With the opportunity to back gain distance from the Archon, Rarity and Rainbow backpedaled back to the rest of the group as Pinkie fired another round at the enemy leader. While doing so, Rainbow reloaded her hand cannon, barely noticing how shaky her hands were getting.

Another few Dregs charged at the group, pistols firing waves of cackling arc bolts. While a few actually hit their targets, the rounds were not powerful enough to pierce the shielding of the ponies' armor. Annoyed by the sudden development, Applejack brought her auto rifle to bear on the approaching group of enemies and held the trigger, spraying a hailstorm of lead towards them, bringing all but one down. The last one threw his emptied pistol at the farm pony, hitting her in the chest and knocking her back. He then brought out a pair of knives and jumped, intending to bring both of them down on her.

But Fluttershy was just as quick on her feet, and spread her wings wide, giving one great flap. The sudden gust slammed into the Dreg like a train, bowling him sideways, where he brought the knifes down onto the hard tarmac, breaking both blades on it. He howled in anger and picked up the broken blades, tossing the handles aside, and then threw the knives in Fluttershy's direction. But before they could leave the Dreg's hands, they were shot out by Rarity's well-placed scout rifle shots. With this opportunity, but a lack of ammunition in her rifle, Applejack returned to her feet and sprinted towards the now unarmed Dreg and punched it as hard as she could, sending it flying back about ten meters.

"Holy shit," Rainbow muttered under her breath upon seeing the poor Dreg land after the punch.

"Holy shit," Applejack muttered as she looked at her fist, not quite believing that she'd managed to do that.

"Girls, we still have at least one problem here," Twilight informed, pointing towards the approaching Archon. She tossed a grenade at it, watching as the enemy leader was forced back a bit. "How do we get rid of it?"

"Keep hitting it with grenades. One of you will feel something soon," K-Rah said.

"Feel something?" Pinkie asked. No sooner did that happen than she felt her ears twitch and her left eye wink. "Ooooo! Guys I got a Pinkie sense!"

"What does it mean?" Rainbow called as she avoided a barrage of the Archon's gunfire. "Is it something helpful?"

"I think so! I got an ear twitch and a left wink!" she giggled back, bouncing over the Archon's fire.

Twilight had less than her usual patience for Pinkie's antics, due to being in a situation where she could die again, and the fact that she just wanted to finish the mission as quickly as possible. "We don't know what that means, Pinkie!"

Pinkie just giggled and dismissed Twilight as silly. She started looking around her, as though there were a fly buzzing about. Due to her being distracted in such an odd way, Rainbow and the others had to keep the pressure on the Archon to keep it from going after her. Fluttershy took her turn to toss a grenade at the Archon and deepen the tiny cracks in its chestplate. "Pinkie, please hurry up whatever you're doing!"

"Ha! It was right above me the whole time!" the party pony celebrated. She holstered her hand cannon, and then reached directly above her head, and grabbed at the air.

There was a sudden, loud snap, and Pinkie was holding a golden hand cannon that seemed to be on fire. And as she held onto it, it somehow made the rest of her armor golden and flaming like the gun. She brought it down and looked at it for a moment before her Ghost informed her that she had a limited time before it would disappear. So she sprinted over to the Archon and aimed it directly at its chestplate.

The others watched in awe as their friend achieved something completely unexpected, something the rest of them didn't know was possible. Perhaps it was magic, or perhaps it was the Ghost's doing. But whatever the cause, it may have jut saved their lives.

The first shot hollered the Archon's end was nigh. The round of pure solar energy instantly slammed into the Fallen's slightly damaged chestplate with the force equivalent of a cinderblock hitting at the speed of sound. A deep fissure appeared in the Archon's chestplate, running diagonally from its left shoulder to its right hip. The second shot barked an order to die at the Archon of the House of Devils. The fissure split, making a Y shape as a new crack ran from the collar to the center of the chestplate where the original fissure was. The Archon screamed in pain and hatred, realizing that if two more shots hit, its armor would give way and it would be vulnerable. The third shot screamed a battle cry of the Light, its call for revenge upon the Darkness louder than the sounds of crashing ships and shrieks of pain and terror. The Archon's armor took the hit, the fissures making an X pattern and seeming like they were no longer impenetrable.

But with that third shot, the golden gun burnt itself up, dissipating into nothingness. This came as a slight surprise to Pinkie, as she realized she was no longer holding a weapon, and the Archon was now more than filled with seething rage and hatred directed towards her before the rest of her friends. And the Archon took advantage of her lack of armament, charging towards her with its sword poised to swing and its firearm sending multiple flaming projectiles her way.

"Pinkie!" Rainbow called, throwing her grenade at the Archon, the explosive sticking to the side of its chestplate and exploding before it could reach her friend. "Get out your gun!"

"It just disappeared, and I can't sense it!" she cried as she backed away quickly from the enraged enemy.

"Not that one! The other one!" the pegasus clarified.

Pinkie looked down at her hip and realized she still had her original hand cannon. And on her other hip was a grenade. With that information, Pinkie's mind began thinking of how she could best the monstrosity that was coming after her. And after a moment, a plan formed. "Guys, I need to test something. Summon me!"

"What the hell?" Twilight near lost her cool.

"Just do it!" Pinkie hollered as she dodged a slash from the Archon's sword.

"Promise me you won't touch my hat, Rainbow."

"I Pinkie Promise I won't touch your hat," the pegasus in question smirked. "Cross my heart, hope to fly, stick a cupcake in my eye."

Immediately after the ritual was recited, Rainbow approached AJ's prized Stetson and reached for it. And suddenly, Pinkie was no longer in front of the Archon. The Fallen and Twilight were both confused as the pony that was once there just stopped being there. Suddenly, she appeared from beneath Applejack's hat as she always did when that summoning ritual was performed. "Perfect!"

She jumped out from the farm pony's hat and said, "Rainbow, I need you to Pinkie Promise that you won't touch Big Meanie's chestplate!"

"Wait what?"

"And then I need you to try to touch Big Meanie's chestplate!" she finished.

At first, everyone but Pinkie was confused, but then they realized her plan. "Oh! Oh shit yeah! Okay! I Pinkie Promise I won't touch that thing's chestplate. Cross my heart, hope to fly, stick a cupcake in my eye!"

And with that, Rainbow Dash sprinted forth towards the Archon, who had since turned around and was approaching the ponies with its sword raised as it reloaded its gun. Rainbow fired her hand cannon a few times, just to keep it still by making it stumble. And once she got close enough, the Archon swung its sword to punish the arrogance of its approaching enemy. But Rainbow Dash was quicker than that, and flapped her great wings once, bounding high over the Fallen leader, firing another round straight down into its mask. And when she landed on the other side, she reached for the thing's chestplate as it turned around.

And Pinkie was there, somehow having pulled herself through the cracks in the armor, a tube of cake frosting in one hand and a grenade in the other. "Thanks Dashie!"

The pegasus backed off as Pinkie got to work, coating one side of the grenade in cake frosting. The Archon, thoroughly confused, knew not what to do about the creature that was sticking out of its chest like some bizarre parasite. But before it could think of what to do, it was too late for the thing, as she'd armed the grenade, and stuck it to its chestplate with the frosting, and then proceeded to jump out of its armor and run. It then looked back down, realizing that it was most definitely going to lose its chestplate, if not its life, from the blast it was too late to stop.

The explosion did indeed destroy the Archon's chestplate, thus opening up a wide, vulnerable target for the ponies to aim for. And with that in mind, the Archon began playing defensively, taking cover behind one of its skiffs, hoping to keep its exposed chest out of the line of fire. But that proved to be quite a challenge, as Pinkie just kept bouncing towards the Fallen leader, firing her hand cannon whenever she saw an opportunity for the shot to hit its weak point. And as the Archon backed up to stay away from the crazy party pony, it tripped over Rainbow Dash, who'd bent down onto her hands and knees behind the Archon and signaled for Pinkie to kite the enemy to trip over her. And once the Archon tripped, it lost grip on its sword due to it getting shot out of its hand by Rarity, and its gun suffering the same fate just a second later.

With no weapons to defend itself, Pinkie shot the Archon six times in the chest, each shot a call, a salute. It was a form of ritualistic respect for their now fallen opponent. Each shot to ensure that their enemy would stay down, and never be allowed to return and take the lives of innocent, or the lives of their newfound comrades, the Guardians. But at the same time, it could never know shame or dishonor. It would remain a noble and valiant warrior for their race, and its name would be remembered in glory and honor. And as the last shot was fired, the Archon reached up to Pinkie with its top right arm, its hand open as though to offer her a grudging handshake. She took the Archon's hand in her own, and gave it a shake of grudging respect, and then let it go. When its arm fell back to the tarmac it let its head tilt to one side, and stopped breathing. And just like that, surrounded by fires, shrapnel, and death, it was over.

"We're done here! Opening the door now," J-Ami informed, reappearing over Twilight's shoulder. The other Ghosts did the same with their respective Guardians as the massive blast-proof doors of Hangar 1 began to pry themselves apart. They rumbled and screeched as rusty gears moved for the first time in decades or even centuries. As the doors opened enough for the Guardians to see inside, they saw great banners with alternating red and white stripes and a five-pointed-star spangled field of blue in one corner. There were two of these great banners, and both seemed to be in near pristine condition. "Dear Traveler… I thought all of those were burned by the Fallen!"

"They're just flags. Are they really that big a deal?" Twilight asked.

"Those are the flags of the United States of America. They were the most prepared when the Fallen came. They were the last nation on Earth to fall," Z-Lda replied swiftly. Without another word, she floated up to the flags and inspected them. After a moment, both flags disappeared, devoured by a small pulse of light. "They're the last known artifacts of that nation. The chryptarchy will be overjoyed that these exist."

"In other words, better armor," O-Ron said.

"Oi. Shouldn't we be looking at the ships?" K-Rah interjected softly.

The group turned their attention to the ships in the hangar. Seven shiny ships sat in the massive hangar towards the back. Two of them were triangular in shape, with an angular nose that was almost like the point of a crystal. Two were more blocky and bulky, but looked to have plenty of armaments and powerful engines. Two had odd W-shaped wings, and looked sleek, with a design intended for pure speed and maneuverability. And the last one looked completely different from the rest. It had two wings that were folded back completely behind the main engine, and two blue parts that looked as aerodynamic as a spoiler on an elephant, and a point that looked pointy. The cockpit could be seen from the outside, even with the canopy down.

"Welp, take your pick. Doubt it'll really matter much," Twilight sighed, looking over her options.

"Hey Pinkie," Rainbow whispered to her friend. "How'd you pull that golden gun out of the air like that?"

"I just felt like I could. I got my Pinkie sense and I know that one to be the one that lets me know I can just pull something out of nowhere," she replied with a shrug.

"There's no way you can do it, anyway," Rainbow's Ghost interjected. "She's a Gunslinger, and you're a Bladedancer. Only Gunslingers can use the Golden Gun."

"Then I get a knife?" Rainbow asked. "Lame!"

"It's a really really big knife and you'll like it. Trust me," the little machine chided.

"Is it made of lightning or something?"

"Actually, yes."

------

And so, on the way back to the tower from the LAX Cosmodrome, the ponies watched the sun rise over the horizon, bathing the land in light once more. They all smiled and closed their eyes, remembering that they had all become friends because of a very special sunrise that they all helped to ensure happened. That sunrise, and this one were similar in two aspects, it was their first as comrades in this world, and they had fought to ensure they saw it. But there was something more than that, at least for Pinkie. She had ended the life of a powerful foe, but at the same time, it was a sentient, living thing, with thoughts and emotions that she could understand. She had shaken its hand after shooting it six times, as though she had bested it in some sort of game. It was unsettling to her.

But they had succeeded. They accomplished their mission, and bested the forces of the Darkness this time. And for now, that was all that mattered.