//------------------------------// // Alliance and betrayal // Story: The Guardian's story // by Lon35hadow //------------------------------// "Come on, come on," Cybis yelled at the guards. It had been a day since our arrival here, and he had come up with an idea on the Twilight angle he was keeping hidden from even Rhino and I through our link. He always did have that ability. Right now, he was having the guards, pony and proto-hive, yes that's the actual term there for Hive before the Traveler incident, far as we know, or at least what we're calling them, to get a table with magically strengthened leather straps naile dot the floor in Canterlot, Raider Twilight being strapped in. Right now, it was me and him. Rhino had gone back ot get some help, as even we knew our fusion trick would stop working at some point. Who he was getting, I had no idea. "Cybis, seriously," I said, my helmet off, as well as his, "what the hell are you planning?" "Avatar, and I don't mean the James Cameron movie, I mean the show," was all he said, even when I pressed him on it. Seriously, he must have gotten the knowledge of the show because, even though it was one of our favorites before getting split, I remember little of it. "If you want to help, though," he said, "make sure the Raiders or Taken don't get here. I'll need time to take care of this." "Fine," I said, holding my hands up. "I'll be with Sekana and the others." And with that, I left the room, the three proto-hive rulers outside the room. "Before you ask, I have no idea what he plans on doing." "We figured you wouldn't get anything," Crota said. "I haven't been able to even get a hint of it from his body language. And I am quite good at reading body language." "Noted," I said. "Any word on Luna and the others?" "None," Auryx replied. "We are lucky. With just one of the Elements of Chaos, they could strike us here in Canterlot. Four? Wipe us from existence. I wonder why they haven't." "I think we know," a familiar voice said, causing me to turn around. Why was it familiar? Because it was fucking me. "It's because they want to kill you, us, and the other us in person." This version of me wore the same armor I wore when I first arrived in Equestria, same for the other Rhino and Cybis, only the color matched the Raiders." "I'm guessing you three are the mirror version of us," I asked. "More like you're the mirror version of us," the mirror Cybis, who shall be designated M Cybis, as well as M Rhino and M Josh, said. 'But, basically, yeah." "It is good to see you three are alright," Sekana said. "But where were you three?" "Just a little recon," M Josh said. Now, seeing as how he was me, I knew his tells for lying. He was lying. Question is now what is the truth? "And I'd introduce myself to you," he said, turning to face me," but we already know each other, don't we?" "Yeah," I said in an emotionless voice, my own tell for when I'm trying to hide something. Though it's also my normal tone, so maybe it isn't obvious I was hiding something. "We do." "So, what did you three find," Crota asked. "That the Traveler plans on using all the Elements he can get, Harmony or Chaos, to annihilate all against him," M Rhino said. I just realized it sounds like M. Bison. "Only reason he's holding back is because Luna wants to kill you," he said, pointing to me, "personally for embarrassing her twice." "What can I say," I said. "If I had a cutie mark, it'd be mine." Either that, or screwing shit up for our enemies. You know, related to the Tex displaced thing I mentioned yesterday, I wonder if there's been a group displacement fr the Reds and Blues. Church doesn't count, he just became one. Anyway, we didn't shake hands, not that we needed to, and the three of them went off to, in their own words, "make sure everything was ready if an attack were to occur." I don't know about you guys, but I don't trust myself. "It's funny," Auryx commented. "He seems mor elike the' gruff exterior, heart of gold' type Sekana described from various books here. And my Felix alarm is going off. If you watched RvB season twelve, you know what I'm talking about. "Yeah, I guess there are some differences," I said, eyeing the three mirror versions of us. "So, what is Rhino doing," Crota asked. "He said going back to our universe to get some help, and no, I do not know who he's going to get, but a few ideas are present." "Then we had best hope he returns before the next Raider attack comes," Sekana said. "Yeah," I said. "In the meantime, I'm going on patrol around the city. You know how to reach me if you need me." With that, Nolandroid transmatted my helmet on, and I left the castle. Once I left the grounds, he gave me the year two version of my old friend, Invective. Really, the Nobles of this Canterlot went with how one would think of Nobles. Brave, loyal, and giving to those in lesser status then them. I haven't met him, but something tells me, I'd like this world's Blueblood, and a few Nobles even waved to me in greeting as I passed them, word of our feats from yesterday having spread here quickly. Anyway, I was an hour into my patrol when a message from Rhino appeared. I'm back, and en route to Canterlot with the help now. Has Cybis finished what he was up to? No idea, I replied. See ya soon, though. And here is where I think the universe loves to make my life an action movie, as an explosion, the fireball reaching over building and being near as tall as the castle, occurred two streets over, and i heard a very familiar roar. That of a Taken Ogre. Fuck my life right now. So, with that, I used my Hunter jumps to get on top of building, also mantling when needed, and jumped down on the street the Taken, a single Ogre with four Knights, forty Acolytes, and Two Wizards, each of the Taken variety, were shooting at the civilians. Only these fuckers had a yellow tint to them. Damn you, Celestia. Guys, whatever the fuck you're doing, hurry up, I say over the link to Cybis and Rhino. Almost done, Cybis said. Same here, Rhino replied. Just keep them there. Oh, joy. Okay, no idea what a Taken Ogre can do, but the major threat is between the Acolytes or Wizards. Wizards are shielded and can summon shadow thrall, but only at a specific rate, and one at a time, but also have homing shots, while the Acolytes are not shielded, but are able to summon rapid fire turret things, but only one per Acolyte, and those are easy to kill. On the other hand, there is forty of the fuckers. Yeah, going with the Acolytes. With that decision, I stowed my shotgun, and brought out year two Super good advice, and just unloaded on them, the ammo fabricator essentially allowing me to fire over a hundred shots, regenerating a 'miss' shot, which is to say it didn't hit the guy in center of the reticule, which quickly mowed the Acolytes down, which left the heavy hitters. I dropped my HMG, which transmatted to who knows where, and reached on my back, Nolandroid knowing what I wanted, and transmatting my Dark Drinker into my hand. "Let's dance," I said, before going after the two Wizards, using shadow step to avoid their homing hots and dual wielding my Vanity hand cannon to shoot the Shadow Thrall, which allowed me to get close to the Wizards, and go to town on them, quickly destroying the shields, and then using the tornado of death to finish them off. Then I allowed the blade to transmat away, and grabbed my knife and getting into a ready stance. Nolandroid, music, if you please. Damn you, Roosterteeth. Why must you come up with excellent songs? Anyway, I charged my blade with lightning, and then went after the Knights, each with a Void Boomer, whose shields were resilient, but each fell eventually, which allowed me to go in for the killing strikes, which were stabs to their brains, slitting their throats, or the showstopper move. That left the major challenge, the unknown variable, the Ogre. No way in hell I can take it on myself. Before I go further, though, I should describe it. It was as large, if not slightly taller than Phogoth, and had the usual color and flames as usual Taken, but like those I had just slain, there were traces of yellow in the white. Okay, the absence of the Renegades definitely has to do here, and I call bull shit if they say 'They knew I could handle it'. They are me, me is they, they know my best, I know their best. One on one, no fuse, this is not in my abilities. I hate my life right now. The Taken Ogre roared at me with enough force to send me sliding back a bit. Looks like this will be a distraction game. That, I can do. "Come on, fucker," I muttered before I fired off an entire Vanity clip at the guy, which did shit against him aside from probably pissing him off. Assuming he still could get pissed off, that is. I saw him charging his eye beam, which meant it would be much more powerful, joy, and dodged out of the way as a large orb of Arc energy hit where I had been standing, and only a single blast. Okay, one blast, but much more powerful, and requires a charge time. I can work with that. To keep him focused on me, I did my Golden Channel, as I call my ability to infuse my Golden gun into one of my other weapons, with the Vanity, and fired to keep his attention, but also trying to kill him, the former working, the latter failing in the extreme. Damn it, guys, where are you? The answer came in two instances. The first was the easily identifiable sound of jump jets inbound, as well as missiles firing, followed by the usual impact explosions. As the clouds dissipated, I looked up, and saw four familiar jets, the Scorpio Miracle, Fangs of Nyx, Road Unraveled, and Aspect of Glass. Looks like the whole Fire team's here now. Took you long enough, I told Rhino over the link. Shut it, Rhino said as he and the others transmatted down. "Don't worry, I filled them in." "You all just keep getting roped into stuff, don't you," Nightmare asked. "You have no idea," Applejack replied. "So, where's Cybis," Twilight asked. "Castle," I replied. "And I have no idea what he's doing." "Well, whatever it is, he'd better finish it soon," Rhino said as the Taken Ogre turned, as we were at its back, and roared. "Otherwise, we're going to be Ogre feed." "Then let's scatter," I said just as the thing charged its eye blast again, with all of us getting out of the way just in time. "The blast is more powerful than those from before," I yelled so that the other three who faced Ogres before could hear. "But it takes time to charge!" "Got it," they yelled in reply just as Rhino summoned his hammer, and began to Thor beat the thing's head. "Over here, fucker," he yelled, getting the attention of the beast. Really, we were just trying to keep it in one place, using our supers being the only way to do so and to harm him without Rhino, Cybis, and I being fused, and keep property damage and civilian casualties to a minimum, seeing as how a few died in the initial explosion., and, fortunately it worked, and I saw some of Auryx's forces keeping the street ends empty, preventing other civilians from getting in. Cybis, where the fuck are you, Rhino asked over the link. We can't fuse without you down here, damn it. Almost done! DEFINE 'ALMOST'! Three, two, one- done. Just hold for a while, guys. One last thing. You said you were almost done! Five more minutes, max! You'd better fucking hope so! "Enough, Rhino," I said, the two of us being close enough to where I could speak to him. "If Cybis says five minutes, he means five minutes." "I know," he said as the Ogre fired another blast, this one aimed for a flying Nightmare, "but I don't want to die here because he was doing something we don't even know. I swear, it'd be nice if he balanced how cryptic he is in situations like this, with honesty." "Two things," I said. "One, he's Generosity. Two, I think you just gave me the answer to what he's doing. Avatar show, and balance." "That clever fucker," he said before firing a burst from Suros and the both of us moved. And that's how it was for the next three minutes, the five of us distracting the Ogre. It was the three minute mark that a shatter bomb came into our view, hitting it in the face, followed by a Golden gun. Why did I note that? Because I was facing the back of the thing, and Twilight was to my left, and we were the only Hunters. Looks like Cybis' plan worked. 'Bout time, I said over the link. Hey, it worked, Cybis replied as he, firing shots form his Tlaloc, and Trapper Twilight, firing from my old friend, Abyss Defiant, came into view, firing at the Ogre side by side. Okay, before I go further, here's what Cybis' plan was, as he told us later. Basically, it was implant enough Darkness in Twilight to balance the Light, because, as it turns out, too much of one makes you go bat shit insane. He figured she would want to atone for what she did. He was right, as well as he found out during his research session into the Light Seed that it was connected right to the world's Traveler, which was controlling her and, quite possibly, the other Raiders. So by balancing it out, which, for those who don't know, goes with what the main characters of the show were doing. Bringing balance. And the plan quite obviously worked. Back to story. Well, you guys think its time to fuse, Rhino asked. Hell yeah, we both replied. We waited until all seven of us, including the mirror Twilight, were surrounding and evading him. We arranged ourselves to where we would be able to fuse with the next dodge, creating the Shade Orbs just before we did so, Rhino being in the center this time. The usual shit happened, and the three of us now fused, and this is not because we can but because it's the only way to kill this Ogre, I swear, stood facing the Ogre. Hm. I have the abilities of each class when fused. Perhaps Striker plus Sunsinger and Golden gun. I looked down at my hands, and tightened them into fists, flames appearing around them as I did so. One part is true. Now the next part. I looked at the Ogre, who did the same, before pulling my fist back, and then shooting it forward, an orb of energy travelling pretty quickly coming from my fist and exploding when it hit the Ogre. Whether because the universe agrees this is cool, because I want it to happen, or just because, I don't give a shit. Right now, well. . . hit it. I am going to have fun, here. The Taken roared at me as I got into a ready stance before it tried to crush me with one of its huge hands, which I dodged while firing off my replica Ember Cilica shots at his face. Quick explanation: I was using the Golden Gun to coat my fists in flames, Sunsinger to contain the Fist of Havoc energies, which were released on impact and firing, which is why I brace for every punch. In short, I had a pure flame version of Yang's weapon from RWBY. So much fun for me. Anyway, when I landed, I slid a little, but continued to fire at the face and currently open maw of the Taken, my cloak being sent back by the pressure from the firing. Just as I pulled my fist back for another punch, the twentieth one, I think, something odd happened. Before I could deliver another shot, the Ogre disappeared. "I told Oryx and Sekana we wanted to kill you ourselves," my voice said, and the mirror versions of my three personas came into view, having been hidden by a smoke grenade effect. "Not that we wanted you pounded into paste." "I knew something was wrong with you," I said, splitting back into three. "You are me, after all." M Josh chuckled. "Yeah, I guess I should have just said it in a certain way. Oh well, doesn't matter now. And to avoid the cliche even we find annoying, we're with Oryx because, though we are similar to you three, we have the difference of wanting more power and ruling over this Equestria." "As for how we found him," M Cybis said. "We were with the Darkness to begin with. We just found the largest concentration of it." "And his terms for us," M Rhino said. "Kill you to clear his way in his universe. We just wanted to do so in person." "So you're with the Raiders," I asked. "No, we aren't," M Josh said. "They want to remove everything that is ruled by Auryx and her kids. We just want to kill them and you three. Nothing personal. Just me, or is it weird saying that to myself?" "A little," I agreed. At the look from Nightmare and the others, I said, "What? He may want to kill me, but that doesn't mean we can't have a conversation when he isn't trying." "Because you two are essentially mortal enemies now," Nightmare said. "Doesn't mean they can't be civil about it," M Cybis said. "Or 'we', now that I think on it." "Anyway, before you ask if I know, yes, these Taken were your world's Sekana," M Rhino said. "We kinda figured that from the yellow tint in the white there," Rhino replied. "So, are we going to fight now, potentially killing a shit load of innocent, or wait until the inevitable and cliched moment when every group is in one place?" "Let's go for the next time all six of us are in the same place," M Josh said. "Oh, and Nightmare?" "What!?" "Your sister says hi and hopes she'll join you, even if you're, quote unquote, 'corrupted by your father and his Light', See ya." And with that, they disappeared. "I take it my father is trying to destroy Equestria in this world," Nightmare asked. "He's also this world and our current world's version of the being who gives Guardians our abilities where we come from, which makes you, quite literally, the daughter of the Light," I said. "Also, glad to meet you under friendlier circumstances, this world's Twilight." "Same," M Twilight said. "Also, thanks, Cybis." "No problem," he said, shrugging. "Come on, time Auryx meets all of you."