//------------------------------// // Discordant // Story: Light of Harmony // by GjallarFox //------------------------------// She stood at the table in her apartment looking over the disassembled sniper rifles. Each rifle was laid out in an exploded view of its completed form. The discordant Warlock muttered to herself about how there weren't enough materials there for her to make what she needed, and had mentioned a knife shaped like some incoherent word in a language none of them understood. Applejack, Rainbow, and Rarity were in their civilian attire, sitting on the sofas in the room, watching Twilight do her thing. Pinkie stood at one end of the table, watching Twilight meticulously sort parts out of the main area and into a pile off to the side with a sense of monkey-like curiosity, also in civilian-wear. But Fluttershy stood closest to Twilight, wearing her newly purchased armor and clenching her fists a little bit. Discord was sitting cross-legged on the ceiling, looking up at the table with a vague sense of interest. But the most interesting guest in the room was Ikora Rey, who Twilight personally requested to be present while she was discordant. Of course, she never took off her armor, so she was there in her usual fieldweave robes, her Ghost hanging over her shoulder like a parrot. She watched Twilight work carefully, noting each part that was taken from the main pile and moved off to the side. "Not enough here... It needs magic," Twilight muttered to herself. "Ghost, I need those resonance crystals." Ikora cocked her head a bit at the mention of the arcane. She was familiar with the concept of magic being used by both enemies and allies alike, but she had never seen the actual process of infusing it into weaponry. The Hive were known to be particularly adept in using magic, but usually it was magic alone, not infused into weaponry. Aside from Twilight, only Toland had ever been recorded of having successfully used magic to build a weapon intended for use by Guardians. Ikora was not one to shrink away from the idea of turning enemy technology and arcana to bear against them, and was perhaps the most curious of any Guardian about the possibility of using both Light and Dark to repel the enemies of the Sol System. Twilight placed a hexagonal crystal about the size of her horn on the table and shifted it around until she was satisfied with its position. "Wait, shit. Wrong crystal. Ghost, I need the red one." Once Twilight had replaced the crystal, she looked over the pile of weapon parts again. But she still wasn't satisfied with it. It needs to have fangs made of what it is destined to devour. The unicorn began rambling to herself in a language no one in the room recognized, save for Discord, as though she'd spoken it for her entire life. Everyone else in the room visibly flinched, as though the language was physically painful to hear, like the sound of a nail on glass or nails on a chalkboard. And perhaps most affected was Fluttershy, though whether this was due to physical or emotional proximity was unknown. "It won't be enough," the discordant unicorn hissed. Without warning, she teleported into her room, donning her armor and picking up her auto rifle before teleporting out again. "I need to go to the moon." "It's too dangerous. Hive activity has been escalating there, and we've lost too many to risk letting you anywhere near their fortresses," Ikora said. But Twilight wouldn't listen. "I'll be back. Don't let anything touch my design," Twilight barked before teleporting out of the room and started running towards the hangar. Fluttershy immediately sprinted after her, her Ghost transmatting her helmet onto her body in preparation for the harsh environment of the moon. The other four hastily made their way to their rooms to grab their armor, and Ikora shook her head, deciding that it would be unwise for her to go after the rogue Warlock herself, as she was the Warlocks' Vanguard representative, and she did not have a replacement chosen. As the ponies scrambled after their friend, Ikora took a closer look at the design that Twilight had laid out. The design itself was fairly rudimentary. It looked quite a bit like a spear; a long barrel extending to take up over half of the weapon's total length, with a flash hider at the very end. But back at the base, it looked much like a standard 1000-Yard Stare. Aside from that, the only non-standard component was the red pencil-sized crystal at the center of it all. And it was that crystal that Ikora focused on and tried to analyze with her Ghost while Discord took a nap on the ceiling. ------ Twilight looked out on the harsh surface of Earth's moon for the first time, seeing other Guardians roaming about without bothering to acknowledge her. Knowing she hadn't much time before her friends would catch up, she began running up the slope from the transmat zone towards the large metallic structure where those Guardians were. As she reached the top she noticed Fallen off to the left, armored in green, attempting to fend off a lone Titan. Off to the right were a trio of Guardians defending some object that looked vaguely like a giant spiked ball from waves of Fallen. But Twilight didn't bother with any of it. She kept moving forward, past the buildings, underneath the main component of the structure, which looked like a massive gun-barrel. Eventually she reached a steep cliff, to the top of which she teleported and began walking. She kept walking for a long while until she reached a dip in the terrain, where a single spire and a medium-sized door embedded into the surface of the moon. Twilight looked a little closer and saw three creatures offering up their weapons to the spire in what seemed to be prayer and smiled a sickly smile beneath her helmet. "Are you seeing this?" she said into the void. "I never knew this was here!" her Ghost said, appearing over her shoulder and snapping a few pictures and recording coordinates. "What do you suppose it is?" "It's an armory, and we're going to steal the most powerful one," Twilight cackled. "Are you sure this is a good idea?" her Ghost said with doubt in her voice. "What could possibly go wrong?" ------ Greksis, Palhas, and Jyara approached the Tower with caution, even though they were cloaked. The three Eliksni looked up at the immense metal tower with a sense of anxiety gnawing at their stomachs. This was the heart of the resistance on this planet. This was the center of all threats to the Eliksni's campaign; the one City that refused to bow to the Kells of their united Houses. Inside was the army of Ghouls sent to kill them. Jyara placed a hand upon the surface of the Tower, letting his glove stick to it like a magnet. The others did the same shortly thereafter, and began climbing up the smooth wall like geckos. At a point roughly halfway up, they paused for a moment and looked back to the mountain they'd climbed down to get here. But the break was short-lived. They continued their climb upwards towards their objective; the assassination of a traitor to the House of Kings. ------ Fluttershy hit the ground running, jumping into the air and lifting herself as hard as she could over the rise leading up to where she heard weapons fire. She passed through the area without glancing around her, instead focusing on the green arrow on her helmet's motion tracker and following its lead. As she came to another cliff, she jumped up again and lifted herself again, barely reaching the top before her boosters sputtered out. She kept running forwards, clutching her pulse rifle so hard that her knuckles popped. Up ahead, she noticed a faint light, and could hear the sounds of weapons fire. She threw herself into the crater, raining bullets down upon a few unknown creatures that her Ghost had marked as hostile. "She should be up ahead," O-Ron warned, "but there's a lot of Hive movement as well." "Just focus on her," the Titan growled as she switched to her shotgun and blasted a Knight between its eyes as though her weapon was nothing more than a hand cannon. A few Thrall screamed in unfettered rage at her mere presence, one in front, and one on either side, and threw themselves at her. With no hesitation she ducked under the first one, which tumbled off somewhere behind her. The two on either side then decided to double-team her, but the Titan saw it coming, and threw both fists out to connect with their skulls. When the first one recovered it leapt at her again and aimed its claws for her wings but was bucked away with a boot, where it collapsed into dust where its two brethren were disintegrated into axion and neutrino-scatter and manifested as a barrier of Light around her body. She pressed forwards through the open door to the Hive structure built into this seemingly innocuous crater. But the environment inside was far different from the lunar surface. What she beheld could have been described as beautiful, if she could be bothered to give even half of a shit. The architecture inside was almost familiar, reminding her of that found in the Crystal Empire back on Equis. The tiles on the ground were shaped in perfect tessellating patterns of hexagons and diamonds. The ceilings were held up by massive columns three of her thick. And as she descended the intricate staircase, she noticed some of the corners were covered in an odd grey substance that seemed to pour out Darkness like they were tendrils of flame. She did not care to know exactly what this odd material was, but it looked as though a portion had been taken from the otherwise smooth-ish mass. "Fluttershy? Where the fuck did you go?" Rainbow's voice boomed through her helmet as she turned a corner down another staircase, narrowly avoiding impaling herself on a sickly green glowing crystal. "I'm finding Twilight. She needs me," Fluttershy responded gruffly as she leapt over a pit of unknown depth. As she landed on the other balcony, a pair of Knights roared and hefted their Cleavers, stepping forth from the columns on either side of the platform. The Knight on the left took a swing at her with its sword, but it simply glanced off of the barrier, giving Fluttershy the opportunity to fire a shotgun shell into its sword arm. It roared in pain and its sword went clattering to the edge of the balcony. The other Knight attempted to bring down its own sword in an overhand chop but failed to connect the hit. The Titan responded in kind by jumping back to the edge of the balcony and picking up the dropped sword, pausing for a brief moment to marvel at how easy it felt to swing even though it was heavier than her. The Knight whose sword was now in the Guardian's hands roared and tried to kick her off the ledge, but was quickly dodged by Fluttershy, who ducked under the kick and swung the sword at the Knight's other leg. When the sword connected, it sliced through the Knight as though its armor and flesh were nothing more than water. The other Knight screamed like a Thrall at the sight of its comrade collapsing into ash and threw itself at Fluttershy, swinging its own sword wildly in an attempt to make her back away from its furious onslaught. But the Knight was wrong to think for even a moment that the rage of the Darkness could push back an equal rage of the Light. Fluttershy held her ground as the Knight approached, blocking its sword with her own, watching carefully as it stepped closer and closer. The Knight threw punch instead of another sword swing, and managed to clip her shoulder, but it overextended its arm to make contact, and that was its only mistake. Fluttershy wrapped her arm around the Knight's fist and yanked it as hard as she could, and threw the Knight over the edge, where it fell roaring into the abyss. Fluttershy pressed on, hearing more sounds of fighting coming from the halls ahead. There were crystals here, but they looked mundane in comparison to those that grew in the Crystal Empire. She stepped through another door and saw ashes falling down from the air into a puddle of some kind of liquid. She doubted it was water. On either side of her were balconies lining the sides of the hallway, along with dim green lamps hanging from the ceiling like intricate chandeliers. A few glowing green crystals also grew out of the sides of the walls, casting light like sickly green torches. And of course, there was more of the strange gray substance off in the corners, pouring out Darkness. Something felt very off in those twisted hallways of the Hive's fortress. Aside from the three Thrall and three Knights she'd seen, there were no enemies here. Her motion tracker saw no enemies, and she had yet to meet any real resistance. Perhaps this was due to Twilight clearing them all out on the way in, but Fluttershy didn't think that to be the case; or at least not entirely. Sure, Twilight was more than capable of taking care of herself, but even she would need help against a horde of enemies. The distinct lack of such a horde in such a seemingly important installation made Fluttershy's wings tingle uncomfortably. "All clear up ahead, but keep a lookout," Fluttershy said for the others over the comm line. "I've got a very bad feeling about this..." As she stepped through the next door, she heard a loud and percussive sound, like metal pounding against metal. An increase in temperature could be felt as she crossed a bridge spanning the width of a fissure that descended probably for miles. The putrid smell of rotting flesh and the metallic scent of blood passed through her helmet's ventilation system and nearly made her puke on the spot. But she forged ahead anyway, following the directions of her Ghost towards Twilight. A scream echoed from below her, followed shortly thereafter by a roar of unfettered wrath. The metallic sound resounded all throughout the chasm, coming every few seconds. "What do you suppose they're doing down there?" her Ghost asked. "Sounds like torture," Fluttershy replied. "Knowing the Hive, it probably is," O-Ron mused. Fluttershy stepped through another door, and immediately leapt back with a sharp gasp, staring down into a dark pit that she'd almost fell into. After catching her breath, she looked around and saw no other doors, and no other ways forward. She looked down again, and her Ghost appeared over her shoulder, shining a light down the pit in vain hopes of seeing the bottom. "She's down there somewhere..." O-Ron said quietly. "Well then, I believe the appropriate word is jeronimo," the Titan said, just before she hopped down into the abyss. ------ The three Vandals reached the top of the Tower, and peeked up over the ledge of a balcony just under the railing. There was a courtyard with a pathway of gray stone with rows of grass on either side of it. Off to the left was what looked to be an altar of some kind, with a flame occupying some sort of chalice. The plaza looked to be abandoned. Their motion trackers saw nothing, and their eyes failed to find any Ghouls standing around. Once they deemed it safe, they pulled themselves up over the railing and quietly discussed the finer details of the mission. Jyara suggested waiting in a position of observation for the target to pass through, and then follow them from there to a more confined space. Palhas agreed, but Greksis suggested that they all find different vantage points instead of sticking together, to 'cover more ground,' as he put it. The other two Vandals agreed with his suggestion, and began climbing the walls of the plaza up towards a new vantage point. When they reached the top of the wall, they peeked out over it only to behold forty of the Ghouls walking around, making noise, laughing and talking and dancing. Off on one side, three small towers stood with several Ghouls standing around them and placing items in them. Off to the right, there was a short building where the Ghouls would speak with a robot of some kind and receive items. "This may be more difficult than we first thought..." Jyara groaned. ------ Fluttershy stepped through yet another doorway deep within the Hive fortress. She had seen only one more enemy since jumping down into the pit, and it was merely another Thrall. But now, as she stepped into the next room, her motion tracker began to light up bright red on nearly all sides. She looked around and saw a massive furnace against the back wall, with an equally large block of something sitting just a short distance away from it. Off to the sides, the walls were lined with the odd gray substance, and pointy crystals the size of swords poked through the thick layer of it, their sickly green glow lighting the room just enough to see the floor and ceiling. "Where's Twilight?" the Titan asked. "She's up ahead, by the furnace," her Ghost answered. She wasted no time, dashing forth towards the far end of the room, calling out for her lover. She leapt over skeletons and piles of ash and ruined armor to reach her unicorn companion. When she reached the furnace, she saw Twilight staring into it, speaking an unknown language, not the same as the one that made her cringe. She looked to be weaving some sort of spell. Her horn was glowing, but not entirely her own natural color. It gave off her natural magenta, but also the same sickly green given off by the flames in the furnace and the strange crystals on the walls and the chandeliers hanging from the ceiling. When she fell silent, a cold feeling swept through the room, and the ground began to rumble. The door Fluttershy had come through opened and allowed entry to the remaining four of their party. But as soon as they stepped in, the door slammed shut, the loud thunk resounding through the massive room, echoing several times over. The ground shook again, the chains suspending the chandeliers rattling, and the furnace spewing sparks. Fluttershy stayed close to Twilight, though, gripping her weapon and looking around the room again. "UP THERE!" Rainbow hollered, pointing up at the ceiling, between a pair of chandeliers. A single eye stared back at them, its odd green glow resonating with the crystals and the flames. Rainbow pulled out her sniper rifle and took a shot at the eye, only for the bullet to miss its mark and bounce off the ceiling. Two more similar eyes opened up in positions similar to Knights and the other Hive minions. "What is it?" Rarity asked, looking through her scout rifle's scope in hopes of seeing more. The lights in the room intensified without warning, exposing the strange ceiling creature to be a larger-than-normal Knight, hanging on the ceiling like some kind of spider. In one arm it looked to be wielding a hammer instead of a sword, and in its other hand was a long chain that seemed to be forged into its armor. The Knight roared and dropped down from the ceiling, slamming its hammer into the ground, where a circle of green flames arose from mere contact. It then turned around, ignoring the four by the door and looking instead at the Warlock who dared awaken it from its slumber. When it opened its mouth to roar again, Twilight pointed out that a few of its teeth had been replaced with crystals, one of which seemed to absorb all light that it was exposed to, and would radiate Darkness. "So what's the plan? Do we shoot it?" Pinkie asked as she watched the Knight step towards Twilight. "Of course we shoot it!" Rainbow answered, taking another shot with her sniper, which plinked off of the Knight's back. "Enemy analyzed! According to the fragmented works of Toland, that's Gordök, the Darksmith," Rarity's Ghost said over the comm channel. "Crota may have shattered the moon, but he's the one who forged Crota's sword in the first place!" "So let's hurry up and kill him," Rainbow quipped, taking another shot at a point on the back of the Knight's head, which managed to knock his head forward and make him stumble a bit. When Gordök turned around, he raised his hammer and brought it down on the ground. The entire room shook, and a few sharp crystals began stabbing through the ground in a line from his hammer towards Rainbow. She leapt to the side to avoid the oncoming wave of sharp crystals, and took aim again for his eyes. Pinkie hopped closer towards the Knight, holding her hand cannon in just one hand, not seeming to pay attention to the movements of the enemy. But when he started swinging his chain, she was forced back, let she be whipped by the massive length of metal. He roared again, and the ceiling opened up, two tiny fissures in space opening up to allow a pair of screaming Wizards into the room. They charged their hands with Darkness and threw circles of green fire onto the ground, watching as Thralls crawled up from them, shrieking and howling in famine and pestilence. "Twilight? What's the plan?" Applejack asked as she opened fire on the charging waves of Thrall. "How do we beat this thing?" The Warlock in question remained unresponsive, instead climbing up onto the strange platform next to the furnace and firing a few rounds from her auto rifle into the fire. "Don't mind her right now, just keep shooting!" Rainbow called as she fired a round from her hand cannon into a strange glowing Thrall. Gordök howled as the furnace seemed to co cold for a moment, its flames extinguishing. He knelt down for a moment and leaned on his hammer, breathing heavily, and Twilight hollered, "Now! Aim for his eye!" Without hesitation, the four nearest the door began putting as much fire into the Knight as they could, every round seeming to do something. But the furnace was quickly reignited by a Wizard, who flew directly into the opening and set itself alight with magic, and Gordök stood again, the bullets that once seemed to be doing damage now just bouncing off like they were nothing. And not only that, the wounds he'd sustained seemed to be healing, the flesh growing back where it had been shredded by bullets. "Of fucking course," Rainbow huffed. Fluttershy lifted herself onto the platform next to Twilight, and aimed her rifle at the ceiling, where another pair of Wizards had appeared and were floating down and throwing arc blasts at her friends and summoning Thralls to shred them. She screamed and began spewing bullets at them, wishing nothing but pain and death upon them.