//------------------------------// // Tragedy // Story: We all have a Destiny // by Emo Rainbow //------------------------------// The small one cart train was as silent as a cemetery on a rainy day, and the only noise to be heard was the rattling of the wheels on the tracks. Oh sure there was the occasional whisper directed towards the robot and his strange helmeted friend, but other than that complete silence. Rex looked out of the window and just admired the bright vibrant colors of the world. Nala had been staring back at all of the passengers staring at her. She inspected them closely and took note of the various pictures on their flanks. Their coats and manes had rather extreme colorations that were completely absurd. What was even stranger was that some had on clothes while most just sat around completely naked, she wondered why ponies would even need to wear clothes. As the guardians continued with their actions a small filly with no wings or horn, a pink coat, and gold mane done in a braid, had tapped Rex's shoulder grabbing his attention. He looked down to his left and spotted the earth pony sitting next to him. She was the very definition of cute as she stared up at Rex with big inquisitive eyes. Rex stared for a bit until she smiled brightly. If he had a heart it would've melted right there. "Well hello little one. What can I do for you?" He asked in his metallic voice. She shook off her smile and focused herself. "Are you a robot?" She asked rather boldly. Rex let out a slight chuckle and replied. "Why yes I am. I'm an Exo to be exact." He reached out his gloved hand to her and she moved back. "My names Rex-22." He said softly. She hesitated for a moment before putting her hoof in his hand and shaking it. She noted how cold his hand was, he really must've been a robot. "My names Fighter Swan, but all my friends call me fighter." She introduced herself with a smile. "How'd you get a name like that?" "Well I guess that's just what my mom and dad named me. It's strange how that fits with my special talent." She answered. Rex cocked his head to the side in question and Fighter picked up on it. "You see my cutie mark here represents my special talent. I learn martial arts easily. And when I fight I fight gracefully, like a swan." He looked to where she pointed on her flank and saw a picture of a white feather. "Enough about me. I want to know how you got your name." "Fair enough." He cleared his non-existent throat and began. "I used to just be Rex but the 22 comes from all the times I've been rebooted. So yeah." She nodded her head even though she didn't entirely know what reboot meant. In time the train had fallen silent of the hushed whispers and soon a lot of the passengers simply ignored the unusual guardians. The little filly continued her conversation with a robot. Fighter had already considered this to be the best Tuesday ever. "What are those things on your back?" She asked pointing at his weapons. Rex looked to her and simply said it was confidential. She nodded even though she yet again didn't know what that meant. "So what's your friends name?" She said while pointing at Nala. "Well her name is Nala. She is very old if you can believe that. And she doesn't talk like you and me so she needs her helmet to translate her words." He said. The little girl was just looking at both of them with wide eyes. 'Jeez give her the launch codes while your at it.' Shade said inside of his head. 'Hey what's the worst that could happen? She's just a kid what could she do? She probably doesn't even know half of what I'm saying.' Rex replied. "Hello? Mister Rex?" Rex looked back to the filly that broke him from his conversation. "What did you say?" "I asked where you're going to?" "Aren't you full of questions." He said to her. She gave him a smirk that caused him to chuckle. "Well if you must know officer, me and my partner are going to Hayseed just south of Ponyville." Just then the back of the cart door opened up revealing a mare with a newborn foal in her grasp. Then she spotted Rex and rushed over to him and Fighter. "Umm excuse me but what are you doing talking to my little girl?" She asked while putting a protective hoof over Fighter. Rex held his hands up. "She just asked me some questions. No harm in that." He said. "Mom! Mom! He really is a robot! Ask him!" Fighter shouted causing the ponies who stopped paying attention to stare some more. The mare hushed her child and glared at Rex. "I would appreciate it if you leave us alone." She then sat down and talked to her daughter about stranger danger. Rex shook his head and looked at the ground. After a few more minutes of train the conductor's voice filled the room and announced their arrival in one minute. Nala patted Rex on the shoulder and told him to get ready. The train screeched to a halt and a few ponies got up including the mare from before. She turned to her daughter and handed her the baby. "Okay Fighter hold your brother close. I changed him so don't worry. Just remember, at the next stop Auntie will pick you up. And never talk to strangers." Rex caught a quick glance from her as she said that. She walked to the exit and the guardians followed suit. "Hey! Rex!" A small voice whispered loudly. Rex turned around to see the little filly waving. Rex gave a two fingered salute and exited the train. When outside he realized something was very wrong and he knew Nala could feel it as well. The entire town of hayseed was empty. There were buildings standing but not a single soul was there. The other ponies, about six, who had gotten off of the train realized as well. They walked around some more and saw that the loading station was deserted. When they had walked further from the train they took out their weapons and put their guard up, and Rex equipped his helmet. The train doors closed and just as the engine roared to life the guardians heard a familiar whiz noise cutting through the air behind them. They turned around and saw a dreg spike grenade fly up and land on the pink train. Then five more joined it atop the train as they all charged up. Vala tackled two ponies to the ground as the others ducked. But Rex...all Rex could do was watch. With a ding the grenades exploded taking the train, as well as the passengers within, into a giant fireball. Rex was thrown back from the explosion. He picked himself up and looked at the smoldering wreckage of what was once a train full of ponies. Not one single voice came out. Not a cry for help, not a scream, and not a single word. A familiar mare from before walked towards the train slowly and with a wobble. Rex got up and ran to her. Just as he got close she ran for the door crying out for her children. Before she got inside he grabbed her and held her back. He watched as the broken mother squirmed. "MY BABIES! NO!" She yelled at the top of her lungs and flailed madly to brake out of the Exo's iron grip. She eventually stopped yelling and instead buried her face into Rex's warlock coat and cried. He placed his hand on the back of her head and stroked her mane to calm her down. He couldn't lie, if he had eyes he would be crying too. Suddenly his sensor sprang to life indicating a hostile vehicle nearby. He looked back to the others that had horrified expressions while Nala primed her rifle. "Nala, she isn't moving anytime soon." He said while dragging the mare away from the wreck and into cover. "Everyone move back! Go!" After saying that a loud sound rang out and a fallen skiff with a sputtering engine came into view above the town. The front of the ship was devoid of turrets and it's right side grenade dispenser was busted but not the left. Five shock grenades erupted and jumped towards the group. The ponies ran behind a building with Nala following close behind. Rex held the sobbing mare and tried calming her down but every word he spoke fell on deaf ears. He resorted to picking her up and running her over to the building with the others. As he ran he saw the skiff underbelly release waves of fallen. Two waves making 25 fallen in all, he would have considered them easy as pie to take down but with civilians nearby it only made it more of a chore to keep everyone safe. He placed the mare next to the rest of the terrified ponies and turned to Nala who was watching the fallen very closely. The fallen were moving slowly and staying in a pack the skiff took off without cloaking, it had to have been severely damaged. "Stay here and keep out of sight we'll take care of it." Rex told them. Rex looked to Nala and saw that she had a faint yellow glow around her that flashed for a brief moment. He knew exactly what it meant. "Follow my lead." She said through her helmet. Then rounding the corner she charged at the fallen group. They immediately spotted her and opened fire. A large shield materialized in front of her and their rounds simply bounced off. As soon as she was close enough she leaped and threw her arms behind her. She leaped about ten feet from where she started and hit the ground with a large explosion killing at least six fallen. A Dreg slashed at her arm then backed away as he fired at her with his pistol. She punched him, killing him, and causing a blast of electricity to erupt from his body shocking the vandals near him. A Vandal recovered fairly quickly and rushed the Titan with twin blades. However before he could land a hit a trio of bullets shredded into his skull and sent his soul flying out of his body. More and more bullets followed sending more of the fallen to a similar fate. The Fallen pack, seeing their numbers dwindling fast, retreated. Nala gave chase and followed them. "Nala make sure you capture at least one of them. We need to know what they did here." Rex said through the comms. Rex ran back to the ponies behind the shop and turned the corner to find them there. Some of them jumped back and two stallions got in front of the others getting low like they were ready to fight. Rex put his pulse rifle on his back and raised his hands in the air. "I'm not going to hurt you I just want to help." None of the ponies responded. "Listen the Fallen are gone. My friend is chasing after the rest. We need to move now before any more show up, so unless you want to die today then we need to go!" The ponies looked to each other and stood themselves up. "Okay now come on we need to find a way to contact someone that can send help." "I..I uh l-l-live here." The grey mare from before had stopped crying and all eyes were on her. She stood up and wiped the tears from her face. "I remember t-that the post office had an automatic letter messenger. If we get there we can contact the guard at the nearest town and get help." "Are you sure you're alright to do this?" Rex asked. The mare nodded and started into the town with a slow pace. Everyone followed behind her while she led them to the building. "Nala are you there?" Through the comms he heard a scream and then a very graphic crack. "Yeah I'm alright, I just caught a Vandal and broke his arm." She said "Okay well we're heading to the post office to send a message for help. Meet us there." Without waiting for an answer he shut off the comms. After some time wandering through the town they made it to the office. The ponies filed in with Rex coming in last. "Let's see if we can get it to work." Said one of the stallions there. Rex was about to offer his help until his comms came online. "Rex..." Nala had said his name but she was quite for a moment. "You uh, you need to see this. Come alone." She said before shutting it off. Rex pulled out his ghost and told him to help get the machine to work. The ponies seemed a bit wary but accepted the help. Slipping out of the office he went to see what Nala was talking about. He walked to the east side of town, not too far from the office, and found Nala with an unconscious Vandal lying on the ground next to her. She was pacing back and forth and was rubbing the back of her head. That is what caught Rex's attention, the fact that her helmet was off. She picked it up and proceeded to breath into it at a fairly fast pace. Not many investors could make Nala the Titan get flustered like this. Her exposed head showed black skin, with a shaved black head, and an intricate skull war paint pattern over her young face. "Nala what happened." Nala tried to respond but just rambled in a dead African language from the past. "Where is spirit?" Rex said putting his hands over her to calm her down. She pointed down towards a hill side and continued breathing into her helmet. Rex hesitantly made his way towards the downward hill. When he reached the end he found a large trench filled with something he couldn't describe. Spirit was analyzing it but stopped as soon as Rex showed up. "Oh my god. What is this?" "I don't know for sure. But I guess we do know what happened to the inhabitants of this town." Spirit flew towards Nala. "I think it's for the best that we don't let the others see this." Once again Rex had a thought creep into his mind. If he had a stomach he would hurl at the horrific site in front of him. - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - Xaya felt like she had been there for eternity. A world filled with torturous dreams that never seemed to stop. Every single important person in her life before her death showed up. Each one made her more depressed than the last. She eventually realized that none of it was real, but it didn't matter. It felt real enough and Xaya couldn't escape the hell in which she watched all of her friends and family die. Until after what seemed like several lifetimes she wasn't in a bed. She wasn't viewing a car crash, she wasn't in a Venus overtaken by vex. She was just floating in an endless sea of white nothingness, she looked around wondering why she was there and thankful for her respite. Nothing filled the vast emptiness whatsoever. There was no ground to stand on nor a roof above her, only a white void that she was floating in. Her time in the Void grew boring as she wished to finally wake up from her horrible dreams. Then she felt a very strong and menacing dark force behind her. Something far darker than anything she had encountered before. She spun around quickly and froze. She was expecting a black cloud, a dark blob, a Vex, Cabal, Fallen, Hive, anything that she could pin an evil deed to, but what she saw was none other than the smiling face of her mother, who she had not once seen in a dream prior. Tears streamed down her face, she knew this wasn't her mother, but what if it was? There was no possible way her mother disappeared when she was a child, but it was her mother the one women she desperately needed to see. As her mind fought over whether to punch her or hug her she moved closer to the frozen Xaya. As she moved closer at a slow pace Xaya's mind continued to freak out, changing from fighting itself to trying desperately to activate her fight sequence. When she was only one meter away Xaya's fight response failed, so her body tried to activate a flight response. She was so close Xaya could see the features of her face, her beautiful azure eyes and chestnut hair flowed gracefully. She hasn't aged a day since then, since she was just gone. Another look to her face and Xaya's body collapsed. Because her mothers face had sorrow filled tears streaming down it. They were now face to face and all Xaya could do was watch as her mother placed the back of her hand on her face and gently caress it. With a great force her mother hugged her and cried into her shoulder. Xaya collapsed into her own mind as a full onslaught of emotions overtook her. Relief that her mother was here, sadness that this was a horrible way to meet her again, anger that this must be an illusion of an impersonator toying with her. All of this and more flooded her thoughts for hours. She fell to her knees and her mother, no the imposter, fell with her in a bone crushing hug. Xaya had not made a single move towards it because she was too busy dealing with her own emotions. In all of her years as a guardian, and even before, she wished for one more moment with her mother. But not like this. Finally regaining control of her senses Xaya pushed the imposter off of her and stood up, putting her hands up in a fighting stance. The figure disguised as her mother showed a look of great pain at the guardians rejection. Xaya wiped away her tears and kept her arms up. The imposter moved closer to the hunter but Xaya shouted. "Stay away from me!" "Xaya?" Xaya cringed at the abomination standing before her, as it called her by the very name given to her by her mother. "I know this is hard but you have to believe me when I say that I'm really here." She pleaded with the distraught hunter but her words fell on deaf ears. "I won't believe anything you have to say to me! Do you honestly think I'm stupid enough to accept this!?" The woman clenched her heart as if the hunter had mortally wounded her. Xaya only felt more disgusted at the monsters horrible display. Xaya wanted to believe it was her mother but she knew that it was impossible; it had to be an imposter it just had to. The imposter moved to speak but Xaya interrupted it. "I will not accept this! I get sent to my own hell where I watch everyone I knew and loved die?! And now my mother just randomly shows up after hours of grueling memories and visions claiming to be oh so sad? That she wasn't dead all this time? That this is finally the way I see her again after so long!? Yeah right." Xaya spat. The imposter had looks of great sadness written all over her and actually stepped back in anguish with each sentence Xaya spat out. Whoever this beast was Xaya had to give them credit for nailing the distraught mother expressions. But alas her anger had only just begun. "Don't you dare lie to me either! I know you're a fake You're covered in a veil of darkness! I can see it clear as day!" Xaya shouted at it. The only thing keeping her from tackling the imposter was it's resemblance to her beloved mother. Silence overtook the white void as Xaya stared down the tear riddled face of her fake mother. "I know that you probably don't believe me. But if you gave me but a moment I could explain everything to you." She reached out for Xaya but she just stepped back. Pulling her hand away it cleared it's throat. "Well let's see how your going to try and lie your way out of this." Xaya said angrily. Knowing full well that whatever came from her mouth was a bold faced lie. "It all started on that fateful day while you and your father were at your friend Naomi's party, and I was at work in the collective." - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - A young Hungarian scientist by the name of Mara Szikszai was sitting in a chair while monitoring the progress of the archeology team within excavation site 14. The day had been boring and it was almost time to call them back up and head home. They continued to extract glimmer as she typed down their progress in the log. "Um Dr. Szikszai?" One of the team members said through the comma. "Yes mister Mathers?" She responded. "We found some structure within the excavation site. Switch to my camera feed to get a look." Mara switched to his helmet's live feed and saw a large stone and brown metal structure. It was lodged into the ground and had strange tunes on them. "The scans show that this thing is ancient. Probably dating back to before humanity existed." "What else is there?" Mara asked intrigued. Before he could reply a sharp noise cut into the air as the spire began to rise. A bright white conflict began to form beneath it. A sharp noise sounded out as black smoke filled his vision. The video feed cut off but the audio could still be heard. "What is that!? Run!!" Mathers yelled. He only took a few steps before a laser noise could be heard tearing into his suit and body. He fell to the ground and blood gurgled from his mouth. Maya sat shocked as a metallic screech roared into the mic before it was cut off. Mara switched to the feed of one of the other team members and attempted to hail him. "Thomas! Thomas can you hear me?" She waited for a response but no noise came except for his footsteps. Then another metallic screech fed into the audio. "Ian! Oh god! No!" Mara could only listen to the horrible fate her co workers were suffering. "Dr. Szikszai. Dr.Szikszai can you hear me?" "Yes yes I'm here." She replied. "If you can hear me then listen." He panted heavily as his running continued. "Seal the doors. We're dead men walking." Mara couldn't bear to hear his words but didn't have to any longer as a laser cut through him as well. The lifelines of all three went flat on her monitor. Mara wasted no time in shutting down the doors and closing off the excavation site. After all exits were cut off she sighed and pushed her swivel chair away from the computer screens. She stood and paced within the viewing station. A ping came from her computer and she turned to it. She had received a message from a secured channel. She rushed to it and hoped it was the lead scientist for the archive, she had to let him know what was going on. Instead the username was blank and only had two words in the message. 'Open Up'. Mara felt a rush of chilling air pass her and goosebumps appeared on her arm. Immediately her screen became distorted and warped before a message prompt said that the excavation doors were opened. Mara took immediate action and tried to shut down the opening sequence. She had succeeded but the other user had beat her yet again. The back and forth of the entrance process continued until Mara could no longer keep up with the user. She cursed to herself and tried to contact the rest of the archive to let them know that there was something in the sub levels trying to escape. All of her messages were intercepted and destroyed negating all efforts. She then tried to contact the Warmind on Venus known as Voltare through the emergency radio wave frequencies but again all hails were cut off. Sensors within the monitoring room burst to life stating that dangerous materials had escaped the excavation site. Maya again cursed to herself and ran out of the viewing room and towards the fifty inch thick failsafe doors at the excavation elevator that led to the top levels of the archive. Mara ran as fast as her legs could carry her and already she heard the familiar sound of whatever the creatures in the site were as they fazed in. Running past the generator room and into the hardware room/exit she reached the door and activated the automatic seals for the door on the timer for one minute. Allowing her enough time to get out. However the noises of the approaching creatures grew closer. Mara thought to herself and questioned, if they were smart enough to hack the level four security passage lock at the excavation, then what would stop them here? "For fucks sake." She said. She pulled out her data pad and threw it across the exit door to the other side. Then she slammed the immediate lock button and the doors closed immediately, sealing her inside. She then grabbed an excavation hand held plasma cutter and fired it at the panel until it was nothing but blackened wires and shattered glass. The door groaned as the locks forced themselves into an immovable position. Mara backed up against the cold metal door and slid down. She placed her head into her hands and started laughing. Her laughing grew louder until she fell to her side on the ground laughing. One of the creatures walked up to her on the ground placing it's brown metallic foot near her head. Mara looked up into its singular red eye as it scanned her. Mara continued to laugh as tears streamed down her face. Closing her eyes she waited for the pain of her death to take her, but nothing came. She waited for what seemed like hours yet still nothing came. Slowly she opened her eyes and saw something she could've never imagined. Instead of the floor of the academy sub levels there was a stone like substance with runes, much like that of the one in the excavation site, except this one had moss covering it. Standing up she flinched at the sight of other strange robots like the one that had stared at her. They had the same half circle heads and markings, except these ones had moss covering them. They were all on a one knee stance with stretched arms and heads pointing upwards as if they were worshiping something. Then she saw it. Her breath caught in her throat at the sight of the horrible thing that can only be described as a demented heart pulsating with horrible black energy around it. Pieces of the dark energy pulsated frantically around the heart and burst from it. Mara's eyes grew wide just before the energy hit her and she saw her whole life flash in front of her. All of her achievements, the great moments she spent visiting earth, meeting the love of her life, and spending time with her precious daughter. The energy hit her and she felt...strange. She felt powerful, angry, sad, and in pain all at the same time. All of her senses faded as she felt more and more powerful but in a matter of seconds It consumed her and she was no more. Her mind body and soul were now forever bonded to this strange energy. - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - "After that I couldn't hear or see anything for what felt like years, though it was only for a few minutes. In time I learned so much, too much, about the universe and the Vex." Mara continued to explain as Xaya held her stance. "The black heart..it tried to assimilate my mind into the Vex network, for whatever reason I can't say. I don't even know how I was able to escape it's grasp." "The darkness changed me to a point where I almost forgot who I was originally, but there was one thing the darkness could not force me to do. Forget about the love I felt for you and your father." At the mention of her dad Xaya's eyes flashed with anger. Mara caught it and tried changing the topic again. "I'm so sorry I just spent so long searching for you. So many worlds, so many guardians, until I found you here. I wanted to see you so bad, and I never meant for this to happen. The darkness has just such a negative effect on my powers." Looking back to Xaya she saw the guardian glaring at her, jaw dropped. "What?" Xaya asked suppressed anger seeping through her closed teeth as she walked closer. Mara stuttered trying to find some way to calm her down. "You did this? You put me here? Wasted my time with this..this hell?!" Xaya had had enough and was going to take action. Sprinting towards Mara she tried tackling her only for her to disappear. Standing up she looked behind her and saw the figure of the imposter. Again she rushed Mara but this time she stopped mid run. Not of her own free will, she just simply froze in mid run. Mara walked up to her and placed a cold hand atop her forehead. "Maybe another time you'll realize just how much I truly love you." With a deep breath she imposed her will on the guardian who then woke up.