The air had changed for the better as Home Run left CHS’ main building, heading towards the field for his P.E class. He closed his eyes for a second as the breeze wrapped around his face like a long scarf.
“Ah…” he breathed and opened his eyes again, almost walking into Pinkie Pie. Strange. She wasn’t here a second ago.
“Homey! Homey!” she jumped around him excitedly. “Today’s the day you’re all going to see that awesome Warframe! You should see it! It’s so awesome! Though, you can’t see it now, since Mr. Loregiver’s still in class, but you should see it!”
“Right, I get it,” he nodded in agreement. “It’s cool.”
“Yup!” she gave the baseball player one of the biggest smiles he had ever seen. “Well, I’ve got to get to class, so I’ll see you later!”
“Right.” Home Run watched the pink girl dive into a bush before he headed along to the field.
Most of the class was already there, but there were always those few that were always late. “Hey, Home Run,” Soarin waved and gave him a handshake. “Glad you’re all good to join in again. You’ve really got to look out for yourself, you know?”
“Yeah, my bad,” he grinned sheepishly. “I’ll try, but… you know. Accidents happen.”
“No sweat,” he patted the baseball player on the back. “We’ll look out for you. After all, you are fighting robots, right?”
“Technically, they’re not robots.”
“Suits,” Trixie added, walking over. “Trixie has seen them. They have no internal structure. Just a shell.”
“Aha!” Heavy Wind slammed a fist into his palm. “I knew it! I knew Jetstream was way off!”
“Yeah,” Home Run shrugged. “Well, thanks for being understanding guys. We’ll make sure to get this done as quick as we can. We won’t let it harm you.”
“Alright class!” Coach Whiplash blew on his whistle. “Gather around! We’ll be playing baseball today!”
Aw yes. Finally something I’m good at.
Home Run joined the other pilots on the school roof after a long day of work. He’d been the star player of his class baseball game today, and he had a lot of fun. The rest of the day was uneventful, but this was the moment he and most of the others had been waiting for. Mr. Loregiver stood in front of them, about to show them what his new Warframe looked like. Everyone was here except for Princess Twilight, who had to take care of some friendship problems, according to Sunset.
“Ready, Excalibur?” he asked. Pinkie had already explained how he transferred the consciousness of his old Tenno into the new suit, since the new one didn’t have an existing Tenno.
“All set, Loregiver. Let’s do this.”
The new suit folded out over the history teacher, slowly melding across his body, forming a new suit of white and gold. The Warframe’s body looked almost the same, while the head seemed to have a new design etched into it. It reminded Home Run of a void key, but it still looked really cool.
“I present Excalibur Prime,” their teacher said, removing his new sword from his back.
“It’s really shiny,” Sunset smiled. “So what do we do now, Mr. Loregiver? Wait for the Stalker to return?”
“Yes,” he nodded, but looked around warily. “But do not be mistaken. He is probably watching us this very moment, finding a good time to strike. Remain alert at all times, and if possible, make sure you do not travel around alone. He will try, but this time, I know we can do this.”
“Oui,” Eclair agreed from her corner. She was standing by the water tank, her arms folded. “Do be careful. Especially after the stories of your Duality you fought in Equestria. If she is from the Void the Warframes are from, I have no doubt it will be able to come here.”
Loregiver frowned, deep in thought. “Duality will come for me. All she wants is my Warframe back.”
“So there are two things out there trying to kill us?” the blue trickster asked. “Trixie is sure we will be able to take both down. They are only two after all.”
“Two highly advanced killers, Trixie,” Rainbow Dash reminded. “We barely stood a chance against one.”
“Do not fret,” Eclair walked over and placed a hand up for silence. “We will manage. Loregiver and I will be around. Call us if necessary, but watch out. Do not let the Stalker catch you alone.”
“Guess we’ll be having sleepovers!” Pinkie cheered, throwing confetti up into the air. “Sounds like fun! My place, girls!”
Home Run wore a worried face. Sure, the girls were all going to be together, but what about him and Flash? Obviously, staying the night at a girl’s place was going to raise some serious suspicion.
“How about us, Mr. Loregiver?” he decided to ask his teacher. “What do Flash and I do?”
“You two can hang out,” he suggested after spinning his sword once. “Just be careful. It’ll be fine during the day, since you’ll all be together.”
“Well, you’re welcomed at my place, Flash,” Home Run shrugged. “I’m sure my parents don’t mind having a friend over. We’ve got plenty of space for more people after all.”
“Sounds good to me,” Flash smiled. “Thanks, Home Run. I hope you don’t mind me playing my guitar over there. You play any instruments?”
“I play the acoustic guitar. I mean, nothing fancy like what you or the captain can play, but… yeah, I can play.”
“Cool,” Flash put an arm around Home Run’s shoulder and pointed to the sky. “Tonight, you and me’ll be rockin’ out some tunes.”
“You two sound like you have it all planned out,” Sunset raised and eyebrow and a corner of her mouth. “We’ll all just be cramming over at Pinkie’s for the time being. If her place can’t handle this many people, I guess we’ll split up.”
“Okay,” Loregiver stowed his Warframe and joined them. “Eclair and I will be stationed in the school day and night, so if communications fail, you can find us here. Just be careful Mr. Pierce and Vice-Principal Luna don’t see you here at night; they’re very late-nighters. Kids aren’t supposed to be here overnight, you see.”
“Okie-dokie-lokie, Mr. Loregiver!” Pinkie sprang up in the air and saluted. “We got it! Let’s go, girls!”
And the puffy haired girl was gone, disappearing in a cloud of smoke as she swept down the road, followed by a mysterious ‘eep’. The rest noticed that Fluttershy was also missing, probably dragged along with Pinkie when she ran off.
“Guess we better go catch her,” Sunset waved to the others. “We’ll all follow each other to our homes to get our stuff, then we’ll meet at Pinkie’s.”
Home Run knew he was lucky to have so many friends to look out for him.
You better watch out, Stalker. You hide in the darkness alone, while we spend time with our friends. You bet we’d be willing to fight for them, even with our lives.
The sun had already set over Canterlot, casting dark shadows across the school grounds. Eclair noticed the secretive computer teacher, Mr. Pierce, wasn’t around tonight.
Good, she thought to herself. He was normally more of a problem than a guard. Posing as a student, Eclair obviously wasn’t allowed to be here after hours, so she would have to creep around while Loregiver distracted the man. Vice-Principal Luna was more understanding, since Eclair didn’t have a home, but after years of training in the Lunar Eclipse Guard, the batpony would rather avoid a confrontation than lie her way through one.
Another thing on her mind was the safety of the other pilots. The humans of this world, helping out the sun princess. Eclair knew they were safer together, but was that good enough? Last she heard, seven of them were unable to defeat the Stalker, even with their full powers unlocked. It clearly wasn’t enough to just buddy up.
“Loregiver, if I may…” Eclair decided to ask as they approached the library. “Shall I suivre the others? I do not trust the Stalker. It may strike when they least expect it.”
“It’s not necessary, Eclair,” Loregiver said simply, holding the door open for his fellow guard. “I trust them to be able to handle themselves. After all, we can’t focus on all of them at once. The Stalker knows that. All we can do is wait and see who he targets next. We don’t want to be at the wrong party because of a hunch.”
“You’re right,” Eclair mumbled, sitting herself against a bookshelf next to the table Loregiver chose. He had picked out a few books, beginning his night work of learning human customs. “Pardon, Loregiver. I am just worried for them. What if the Stalker gets them?”
Loregiver reached over and placed a hand on the grey-pink haired girl’s shoulder. “Look, they’ll be fine. Their Tenno partners are looking after them, like Nekros and Excalibur. They’ll learn. They’ll get better.”
“Alright,” Eclair took a breath and leaned her head back against the wooden frame. “I will just have to calm myself. Merci, Loregiver.”
“Anytime, Eclair,” he said, starting on one of the books. “Would you like to join me? Perhaps you can learn up on this world’s inhabitants too.”
“Perhaps I shall take you up on your offer this time,” she smiled and moved for the chair beside him. It wouldn’t hurt to learn more about how these humans operated.
“Evening, Mr. and Mrs. Run,” Flash Sentry greeted as Home Run’s parents met them by the door.
Home Run had earlier followed Flash to his place to grab an extra pair of clothes and his toiletries before returning back with his friend.
This was the first sleepover Home Run was ever having. Even back in Fillydelphia, he’d never stayed the night at any of his friends’ places, nor did he have anyone over.
“You must be Flash Sentry,” Homebound shook the boy’s hand. “Well, Home Run’s never had a friend stay over before. Do enjoy yourselves.”
“Will do, dad,” Home Run smiled and went to show Flash around his place.
After sorting out everything, the first thing the guitarist did was pull out his shiny red electric guitar. Since it was close to nighttime, he elected to stay away from his amplifier. Home Run agreed and sighed with relief. He didn’t want to have to put up with the sound all night as well. Vauban and Volt had folded out, placing themselves on Home Run’s floor, talking among themselves about old times.
The baseball player had pulled his acoustic guitar out from behind his bed and both boys got to playing their instruments.
“Hey, you’re not too bad at this, Home Run,” Flash said as he strummed away at his guitar. “Too bad you weren’t around for our musical showcase.”
“Uh, from what I heard, it wasn’t all that good,” Home Run rubbed the back of his head. “No offense.”
“None taken. Well, the Rainbooms won, but I guess you’re right about that. Did you hear about them? The sirens? The Dazzlings?”
“Yup,” he nodded and returned to his music. “Heard it all from Rainbow Dash, and how she was so awesome that they destroyed the sirens’ power.”
“Well, she’s not wrong,” Flash chuckled. “How is it with her anyway? Rainbow Dash.”
“Uh, you know…” Home Run sighed. “She doesn’t want a relationship. Sports is more important to her, you know.”
“Oh, man. Bummer. You alright?”
“It’s fine, it’s fine…” Home Run waved him off, but the guitarist seemed to know something was up, still waiting for an answer. He even stopped strumming his guitar. “Huh… Alright. No, I’m not fine. I tell myself I am, but I think I’m just not taking it well.”
“Shucks,” he scratched at his cheek. “I’m sorry about that, Home Run. I guess Rainbow’s just a tough girl to get into a relationship with.”
“Yeah… I’m over it. I know it’s not going to work out, but… I just can’t seem to stop thinking about it.”
Flash put his guitar down and leaned back. “You know, with Twilight, it’s not easy, but well, you know, I like her and stuff. Uh, yeah, but of course, she’s from a different world, and she has her duties, so we can’t see each other a whole lot. I just accept it. It’s the way it’s gotta be, you know? I mean, it takes time, but one day, you’ll get over it.”
“Flash Sentry is correct, Home Run,” Vauban suddenly joined in on the conversation. “Just accept it as it is and as time progresses, it’ll slowly take up less of your mind, day by day.”
“Thanks, guys,” Home Run managed a smile. “It means a lot. Well, Flash? How about we get back to some music?” Home Run lifted his guitar by the head and shook it a few times.
“Sounds groovy to me,” Flash nodded and picked up his guitar again.
The rest of the night was filled with the tune of rock songs as Flash taught Home Run some shredding techniques. And then one of Flash’s strings snapped.
Down under the streets of Canterlot, the sewers rang with the dripping and flowing of water, slowly carrying all the city’s dirty water to the ocean, filtering it out into the deep blue. The Stalker sat in one of the alcoves, unmoving. From any human’s point of view, it might’ve looked like he was sleeping, but it was more than a simple sleep cycle.
The Stalker was reliving his past, going back to the times where the Orokin had lived. His masters had been rulers of the universe, keeping peace for as long as he could remember. It had been such a great time to be alive, until the Tenno turned on them. For reasons he had yet to find out, the Tenno had killed the Orokin that day, spilling their blood across the golden steps.
The Stalker awoke, shaking himself out of his stasis.
The Tenno.
That was why he was here. For generations, they slept; he slept. There was no purpose for them. No call. Then he had received it. The Tenno’s call to wake. To once again roam the universe, doing as the Lotus instructed. For every foe they had slain, he was there, watching them, recording down their terrible acts. He had killed plenty of Tenno back in the ancient days, but since waking, he hadn’t killed a single one. His scythe was aching for a fresh Warframe kill. Unlike the cloned flesh the Grineer were made of, Warframes had such perfectly made systems. The feeling of his scythe cutting through their metal like paper brought great satisfaction to the Stalker. He longed for the time to arrive. So far, the current Tenno and their pilots had evaded death, but their past was going to catch up to them soon. Human or not, the new pilots were going to pay for the mistakes of their Tenno partners. There was no avoiding it.
They thought they could bring reactivate more of the Warframes to use against him. They thought they had strength in numbers. He had proved them wrong and he had shattered their false hope when he destroyed the other Warframe pods. Now, there was nothing they could do to reactivate their slumbering brothers and sisters. But he could.
Unknown to them, he hadn’t destroyed three Warframes. Instead, he had simply disabled them, slipping in a fragment of his shadows. When the time was right, they would find their hosts and they would turn against their fellow Tenno, fighting instead for him. For the Stalker.
The Stalker got up and pulsed a ball of void energy before his hands, gazing into the red shadows, into his unending power.
“Your reckoning is coming, Lotus. Just wait a little longer…”