Vanguard

by Material Defender

Space Cowboys

Orion blinked. "Nightingale Station? I've never heard of it."

"Of course you haven't. You're Alliance. This is Cerberus. Like hell we're going to let you know where our stations are."

"So what is this place then? Where is it?" Orion looked around at the brightly-lit room.

"This place is what it says on the screen. We're in the Nemean Abyss." Jayce pointed at some coordinates on the star map.

"Nemean Abyss? That's pretty damn far from Council or Alliance space."

"No shit. Why else would we want to build a base here?"

"And no one's ever come across this place before?"

"Like hell they would. Most never find this place because Cerberus's anti-detection equipment is advanced as fuck."

"You kill intruders?"

"No shit." The sarcasm was evident in Jayce's voice.

"Right... well, see if you can get in and find anything."

"Will do. I know... knew the guys that ran this place. They just recently changed the codes before I left. If we're lucky, I think they'll still work."

"Access granted."

"Looks like they do," Orion said.

"Sweet. Now to dig through this... ah!"

"Got something?"

"Not yet. But Nightingale Station is here in the Nemean Abyss for a reason. It's an Eezo research facility. We've been harvesting the stuff from this place for years."

"Grab anything and everything on Eezo off the systems, if you can, then. Wait, won't they detect you?"

"Nope. Cerberus IDs are bound to individuals, but I jacked the adminstrator's before I left the last time I was here, duped it, and gave them that one. To the other people on the system, it just looks like I'm the admin himself looking through their research notes. Well, if anyone is. It looks like there's no one on," he said, typing on the terminal.

"How'd you get high-ranking clearance like that? I thought you were just a grunt, you shouldn't be able to walk into the adminstrator's office without someone seeing you."

"...and done." The door to the room locked and the windows fogged themselves. "We'll be safe for a while. And to what you said, I worked for the Illusive Man for a long time. Let's just say that we were on a first-name basis and I got access to all facilities as one of my 'perks'."

"You're Cerberus elite?"

"Yeah, I am. Well, was. I blew up several of their research stations as my resignation. Never felt better."

"Damn, man. How much training do you have?"

"If I had to guess, I'd wager just about as much as you N7 types do. Cerberus ain't exactly lacking on the resources department, and they even have their own training academy," Jayce shrugged.

"Just another reason to take them down a notch. They're too dangerous."

Jayce wasn't paying attention, being too focused on the screen. "I've got everything loaded onto my omnitool." He scrolled past a bunch of video feeds, stopped, backtracked, then brought one up. "Wait..."

"Isn't that--"

"Kai Leng..." Jayce nodded. "...shit."

Orion's stomach sank. If Kai Leng was here, then there was some serious business going down. "We need to get out of here. Now."

"Not before I get to kick his ass."

"What?"

Jayce zoomed in on the video feed. Leng was standing in a hangar bay, from what Orion could see, full of Atlas mechs and Cerberus troops and transports.

"Let's just say we have a rivalry that goes way back..."

"How far back?" Orion was a bit curious that he'd heard of Kai Leng, but not of Jayce.

"When I first enlisted. You always read the reports about Leng, but you never read the reports about me, because I like being thorough on my missions like that, and I paid the proper authorities to keep quiet on it. Leng was always the go-to guy for the Illusive Man if he wanted it done a little bit messier than my style, usually to send a message. Still pretty good, but I'm better."

"You mean you can fight toe-to-toe against Kai Leng?"

"That boy scout? Fuck yeah. Those damn cybernetic enhancements don't work for shit if you know how they work. I should know, I stole the plans and uploaded the countermeasures into my suit."

Orion shook his head. "We should avoid fighting if we can. We need to get out somehow."

"I see your point, and--wait, what's this? There's some research here on some new type of Eezo."

"What's it say?"

"...supercharging biotic abilities? My god, this shit is... absolutely crazy... and this profile on hand matches with the Eezo signature you gave me! This shit can turn biotics into walking death machines!"

Orion nodded, confirming his suspicions. "Have they started using it? It could be a problem for the Alliance if they did, and if so, I need to warn Hackett about it, and this place, before we lose more men."

"Nah, the Illusive Man dropped all his shit towards anything other than Reaper research. The project's on a standstill, and besides, Cerberus's indoctrination leaves biotics docile and incapable of using their powers. Their fucking loss."

"What else is there?"

"They moved Nightingale into orbit around a planet, where they were excavating the Eezo from. They've got the planet out of sight with anti-detection countermeasures like this station. From the looks of it, they have a few bases down there and a comm array. Maybe we can get down there and broadcast. I can't do it from the station, it's way too risky."

"Rip the data, then purge the systems. We can't risk letting them continue the project."

"You sure? If I purge, there's going to be a station-wide alarm, and then we'll have a real shitstorm on our hands."

"Do it. We can find our way to the hangars and get out through there."

"Fuck yeah! Party time!" Jayce whipped out his Mattock and slammed a button. The terminal cracked with electricity, then exploded. Warning bells went off. The servers were lit on fire and started exploding randomly as the fire sprinklers vainly tried to extinguish the increasing flames.

"Alert: Full system purge activated. Origin of broadcast location: Server Room 4E."

"Get ready!" they heard a voice shout from behind the locked door. A hiss sounded as they saw a blowtorch begin to cut through it.

"I'll be damned if we get out of here alive..." Orion shook his head, pulling out his shotgun.

================================================================================

Twilight opened her eyes. Her friends lay around her, slowly beginning to wake up. Then she gasped.

Nightmare Moon! Orion! Jayce!

Nightmare Moon was unconscious, her body sealed in an aura of white, a large explosion crater around her. But the two humans were nowhere to be found.

"Oh, no..."

================================================================================

The door exploded as Guardians poured in. Orion made short work of them using his Shockwave, as Jace threw a couple of grenades. The initial following wave of assault troopers was easily dealt with as the two specialists fought their way towards the door.

"Fucking cakewalk!" Jayce shouted, putting two rounds through the chest of an assault soldier in front of him.

A whirring sound could be heard through the smoke coming from the door.

"Take cover!" shouted Orion. The duo dodged out of the entranceway, taking cover behind some server blocks. "They've got a turret!"

Jayce readied his last grenade. "Let me deal with that. We need to take down the shield."

Orion readied his Saber, peeking around the corner, the gun's custom scope revealing the silhouettes of enemies: one Engineer, more assault soldiers... and the turret.

He moved the scope to the Engineer's head, keying for the Incendiary Ammo for the armor damage that would follow... and fired three times in quick succession. The engineer dropped to the floor. Then Orion quickly turned his aim to the turret, squeezing out the remaining five rounds, knocking out the turret's shields and critically damaging it.

He whirled back into cover to reload, gunfire from the assault soldiers pouring down the hallway.

"Frag out!" The beeping of the grenade went into the billowing smoke, and exploded. Then silence.

Orion peeked around the corner again. "Looks clear."

"Don't get too happy yet. We're at a command post, and from what I saw on the screens, they've got a full detachment here at this facility, and that's a lot of soldiers."

"Any suggestions for dealing with them?" Orion asked.

"Yeah. Kill 'em all."

"One that doesn't involve us getting killed."

They walked out the door, scanning the hallway for threats. Jayce made for a door, Orion following. The grenade had taken out a rather large group of assault soldiers lying in wait behind the walls.

"Set the station to blow, then beat it. We can head down to the planet and broadcast to Hackett. I'm sure he'd like to know about this place."

"Sounds good," Orion said. "How come you weren't hurt? I thought you were wearing the same armor as those soldiers back there?"

"Nope. Those fucking pansies get the cheap and flimsy mass-produced version." He slammed an armored fist into his chest. "This here's the real deal." They continued for the door when a shrill noise rang throughout the hallway. The PA system.

"If it isn't Wade Jayce, space cowboy," a voice crackled through the intercom.

Jayce gave a loud snort. "How's it hanging, Leng? Still sucking the Illusive Man's cock, you ninja boy scout?"

"You were always second best! You and I both know it, and so does the Illusive Man!"

"Only reason why you got the position is because I don't bend over and take it up the ass like you do."

"You'll pay for what you did to me!"

"Come and get me, then, you fucker. I beat your ass then, and I'll beat your ass now. You should really be thanking me, you know, after my little retirement stunt got you all that pay raise, the head honcho's favor, and top-notch jobs, so maybe now you can go up against a real fighter," Jayce said mockingly. "You still fight with that pussy sword of yours?"

"This sword will end your life, Jayce!"

"That's what you said last time, too. Then I beat the shit out of you with my bare hands, bound you up like the good little boy scout that you are, and threw in the back of my shuttle before I left you in some back alley on the Citadel for the Illusive Man to find you, crying like a little girl. I'm surprised he didn't just kick your sorry ass out of Cerberus for that."

"I remember that, and I WILL make you pay for what you did." The intercom went dead.

Jayce looked at Orion, then laughed. "Who needs N7 training when you got an ex-N7 who wants you dead?"

The explosion from the server room broke them out of their humorous mood.

"You know what, forget blowing this place up, that can come later," said Jayce. "I want to kick Leng's ass, so the hangars it is."

================================================================================

Following several massive firefights and several hundred corpses later, involving one destroyed electrical conduit, one fuel redirection pipe, and an unused Atlas in disrepair that Jayce used to fight them, Orion and Jayce make it to Hangar D2. Whether or not this was the one that Leng was in, they didn't know.

"There's fucking hundreds of these hangars in this place. He could be in any one of them."

"Let's just hope he's not in the one we need." They'd chosen D2 specifically because it had fighter aircraft, and they needed them to land on the planet to reach the comm array.

Another louder, even shriller alarm pierced the station's airspace.

"Warning: Facility self-destruct activated. All personnel, please proceed to escape transports."

"What the fuck?" Jayce shouted.

"Let's see you fight your way out of this one, cowboy. I'll be down at the comm array, if you can prove that you're worth fighting me."

"Heat up some tea, boy scout, 'cause I will make it out alive, and when I get to you, I am gonna KICK. YOUR. FUCKING. ASS."

Two Atlas came out of hidden wall hatches in the hangar, as dozens of soldiers flooded the room, readying their guns at them.

"Shit," Orion muttered. "Any smart ideas for this one, Jayce?"

"Yeah. I got one. Follow me." He grabbed Orion by the shoulder and led him back through the door they came back in.

"Huh? What the hell are you doing? Are we heading to another hangar?"

"Shut the fuck up and watch. Did you forget I still had high-level clearance?" The door closed behind them as gunfire pinged off the metal.

Jayce keyed a few buttons on his omnitool. The door lock turned red.

"Warning: Hangar vent in process. Please stand by." The telltale sound of air vacating the room could be heard beyond the door. Then, nothing.

"Hangar vent complete. Pressurizing."

"Jayce, you crazy son of a bitch."

"Yeah, it's hard to be down-to-earth when you're as fucking awesome as I am. No autographs, please," he laughed.

The door lock turned green, and they passed through to find a completely empty hangar bay. There were several fighters sitting in the bay, and the pair opted for the closest ones.

"Meet at these coordinates on the ground," Jayce said, punching in coordinates for Orion. "Don't be late." His canopy closed.

"Wouldn't miss it for the world," Orion responded, his fighter's engines whirring to life.

================================================================================

"Spike? Spike! We need you, Spike!" Rainbow Dash crashed through a window in the treehouse.

"Uh... huh, what?" Spike groaned, annoyed that he'd been woken up from a restful sleep.

"I need you to take a letter!"

"...huh?"

"NOW!"

"Okay, okay!" he said, scrambling out of bed, trying to find a quill and parchment. Ready!"

"Tell Princess Celestia that we couldn't banish Nightmare Moon! She's trapped in some weird magic field!"

"Okay! Is that all?"

"And tell her that Orion and Jayce have disappeared!"

================================================================================

"Nice to see you haven't lost your space wings," Jayce laughed, as Orion fell into formation with him.

"It's only been, like, what? A couple of weeks?"

"Yeah, yeah. Watch yourself now." They passed by a couple of Cerberus cruisers.

"Why aren't they firing at us?"

"They must think we're from the team that was on the station. Stay frosty."

"Seriously? Didn't they see all the soldiers and equipment being vented?"

"Hard to see shit in the darkness of space, man. And there were no comms up, so no one knows."

"Squadron, identify yourself." Shit, one of the cruisers was asking for clearances. If either of them talked now, their cover would be blown. And if they didn't... their cover would be blown. Damnit.

"This is Squadron Epsilon." A Cerberus trooper voice? From where?

"What the fuck? Orion?"

"Shut up, I'm working my magic," he responded over the comm. He cleared his throat. "We have orders to help Agent Leng secure airspace around the comm array."

"Copy that, Epsilon. Will be notifying control tower, over."

"Uh, looks like I have engine malfunction in left wing. Request for docking bay assitance planetside. How copy, over?"

"Copy, Epsilon. You land in Docking Bay A1; will allocate crash teams, just in case. Be careful down there."

"Roger. Epsilon out."

"Holy fuck, man, I can't believe that worked."

"Neither did I."

"How'd you do that?"

"Figured that ripping one of their voice filters was going to come in handy eventually. It's easy work when they all talk the same."

"You think they bought that?"

"We're not dead. I suppose there's that."

"I would have never thought of that, though."

"N7 teaches you to be prepared for anything, Jayce," Orion chuckled as they broke through the atmosphere, heading towards Docking Bay A1, located conveniently close to the comm array.

"Slow speed, Orion, I'm not sure about this."

"Yeah... those point defense guns are pointing at us."

"Maybe they think we didn't notice, either."

"Watch out for the docking bay, they'll probably have guns waiting on the ground for us."

"No, wait. I have an idea."

"Yeah?"

"Just before you land, gun the jet and bail out. Send it flying towards whatever."

"Yeah. Ready?" They were coming in close to the bay now.

"NOW!" Just before they landed, they opened their canopies, and gunned the jets, hopping out. Sure enough, two more Atlas came out, but realized too late that the jets were flying straight towards them. They couldn't move fast enough as the jets crashed into them, producing an explosion that sealed off the door the Atlas had came from with burning wreckage.

"Looks like you were right," Orion said, helping Jayce to his feet. "Good thing you saw that coming."

"Don't thank me yet. I still need to kick Leng's ass and you still need to get your message to Hackett."

"Right. Which way is it, then?"

"Thankfully not that way," Jayce said, pointing at the wreckages. "Come on."

================================================================================

The pathway up to the comm array station was mysteriously devoid of any resistance. No one at all.

They found Kai Leng waiting for them in the control room, which sat directly below the giant curving dish of the array. The walkway had no railings, and was the only thing on a massive expanse between the facility and the dish, dense jungle far beneath them. Kai Leng hopped out of the station and landed on the walkway, impeding their way.

"I've been waiting for this day for a long time," Leng said, drawing his sword.

"I'm gonna enjoy beating you to a pulp," Jayce responded, mashing his fists together in anticipation.

"What about me?" asked Orion.

"You stay back. I'll deal with him," said Jayce. "This is personal."

"No weapons, cowboy?"

"I'm not a pussy, boy scout. I can take you on just fine with my fists."

"You will not win this time."

Jayce was sure he would. The last time they fought, Jayce didn't have the countermeasures, and still won anyway. "Bring it, asshole."

The two charged each other across the empty walkway. Leng went straight for a decapitation cut, which Jayce cut off by blocking with his arm, and kicked Leng in the chest. The assassin did a backflip and crouched down in a defensive stance.

"You won't win this time."

"Try me."

He started doing strange flips, or what Jayce perceived as some asinine kung-fu bullshit. Then the flips were directed towards him, and Jayce found himself blocking Leng's kicks or swings. He activated the new countermeasures in his helmet, and they displayed the methods Leng was using to fight, how, and most importantly: how to counter them.

Immediately, Jayce started blocking Leng's attacks with startling precision and began to deliver counter blows to the small assassin's frame. After a seventh time, a hard punch from Jayce knocked him backwards. Leng had to kneel down and cough up blood.

"Ergh... how did you...?"

"Even with those fancy robot parts, you really are a useless piece of shit."

Leng's head shot up towards Jayce. "How dare you--"

"I'm getting tired of you, you prick. I hope Shepard himself sticks a knife in your gut." Jayce was now towering over Kai Leng. He grabbed him by the neck, kneed him in the groin, and threw the screaming Leng over the walkway into the dense jungle below. The drop must have been deep, because Leng's scream didn't end abruptly, but rather, faded away as he fell further.

"He's probably not dead, you know," Orion reminded him.

"Yeah, I know. He's tougher than that. But unless he can fly, he won't be coming back up."

Satisfied with the answer, Orion just shrugged and followed Jayce into the facility.

================================================================================

The control room was rather sparse. There was a holo-pad for 3D communications, and a comm terminal for outbound transmissions. They stepped towards the terminal when the holo-pad whirred to life.

"Wade Jayce. And here I thought I'd never see you again," said the Illusive Man.

"Hello again, boss. Miss me?"

"You were a very useful asset to Cerberus. It's a shame it had to come to this."

"Really now? I thought my resignation letter was pretty damn hilarious, don't you?"

"You're a liability now, Jayce. You have outlived your usefulness."

"And I see you're still a fucking idiot, as usual. How's that Reaper research coming along? I'm sure one day you'll be able to achieve your dream of being able to sleep in bed with one of them."

"I am trying to control the Reapers. Controlling them will end this war and make humanity stronger!"

"Yeah, sure, whatever. They killed humans, you fucking 'tard. They don't get the privilege of becoming your pets, they get the privilege of dying like the pieces of shit they are."

The Illusive Man shook his head. "You didn't understand then, and you won't understand now. You were always an insufferable ignoramus, Jayce. Goodbye."

"Go fuck yourself, you narcissistic shit."

The holo-pad's lights dimmed, and the Illusive Man disappeared.

"Well, that was... smooth," said Orion.

"Better than most. He's just jealous 'cause I'm more badass than he is. Now get your ass to that terminal while I rewire the control panel."

"Right." Jayce ripped out a panel under the main terminal, and stuck his head in.

"Here and here, and... done. Just punch in those frequencies and you'll be good," said Jayce, pushing himself out and hopping to his feet.

Orion punched in the frequency for Alliance High Command. The screen cracked as a face came through.

"This is Hackett."

Orion saluted. "Sir, N7 Lieutenant Matias Orion. I don't have much time. I'm transferring you these coordinates to an Eezo mining facility on an unmarked planet. They're owned by Cerberus, and I thought I should give you the heads up."

Hackett looked off-screen, then frowned. "That's in the Nemean Abyss, Lieutenant."

"Yes, sir. But I assure you, there's a lot of Eezo here. Any material you can get for the Crucible would be useful."

"Interesting. Thanks for the heads-up, Lieutenant. I'll be sending strike teams through to retrieve the Eezo and anything that can be used for the project. Stay in touch. Hackett out." The screen closed.

"Well, that's that," said Jayce. "Now what?"

"We try to get back to Alliance Command."

"That would work."

"How so?"

"Those Cerberus cruisers in orbit? I caught a transcript. They're being called action by the Illusive Man. He wants to increase attacks on human-controlled colonies."

"Is he insane?"

"Like I said...."

"Think the Alliance can hold their own against Cerberus's offensive?"

"They can handle themselves."

"We should try to head back to Earth, or the Citadel, if we can."

"But what about Equestria? The ponies? Nightmare Moon? I still have to rip her spleen out through her ass, you know. I never go back on my promises."

"We can't do anything about that now," said Orion. "We don't even know how we got back here in the first place."

"I don't know. The last thing I remember seeing is Nightmare Moon glowing with some freaky shit, the lights from the Elements hitting Nightmare Moon, and then you appeared like a walking wall of barrier. And then things went dark."

"So a large energy transfer could cause that? Interesting."

"Hey, uh, you know Cerberus is gonna be here soon, right? We should leave."

"...not this time."

"Well, shit, I guess the boy scout isn't such a pussy after all. Survive that fall, Leng?"

"No... thanks... to you. I'll end you... one way... or another. So try this on for size: I've rigged the Eezo reactor that's powering this array to explode. You're going to die... here, Jayce... and I'll still be alive.

"Can't fight me mano-a-mano, so you're just going to take the easy way out? Pussy."

There was no response, and then the line went dead. Jayce threw up his arms in frustration.

"We should get to that bomb."

Jayce's head sharply turned to Orion. "What?"

"We should get to that bomb," Orion repeated. "If what I think is true, I have that new Eezo in my system. If I can somehow use the energy release from that bomb to get us back, we won't die, and we'll also be back in Equestria."

"Can't we just run?"

"If the bomb is what I think it is, then running won't do anything. We don't have anymore fighters, and the only way out is to walk through that jungle way below us, which won't work because the blast radius is way too large. We have to use the bomb."

Jayce stood for a moment, then sighed. "Fine. But if we die, I'm going to kick your ass."

================================================================================

"Well, this thing's a real piece of work." The so-called Eezo bomb was actually a reactor that was nearly two stories tall, and sat in a chamber directly below the array control room. "So how the fuck are we going to do this?"

"Simple. I hit the reactor with my biotic charge at full force just as it's about to explode."

"This is fucking crazy. Can't we just defuse the damn thing?" Jayce asked, looking around for wires or a panel to smash open, but found none. As far as things were concerned, this reactor was completely devoid of any extrusions, save for coolant pipes, which they definitely did not want to break. "Fine. Fucking fine. I'll go stand over there and read down that nice little countdown the fucking boy scout left for us."

"Right. Let me know when it hits one second. I can smash into it in a blink of an eye."

"This is fucking crazy," Jayce muttered. "It's got 2 minutes on the clock."

"So we wait then!" Ten seconds passed.

"Hey, Orion!" The reactor's whirring was growing louder, making it hard to hear.

"What?"

"Didn't you ever think about that? Talking ponies? Fucking really?"

"Of course I did! This universe is already a fucked up place, so talking friendly ponies sounds really nice right about now!"

"You think Shepard is going to bail all our asses out of this one?"

Slight silence. The countdown read one minute, ten seconds.

"I'm not holding my breath!"

"One minute!" Jayce held up one finger to indicate. "Yeah, neither am I! These Reapers fucking us up on all fronts!"

"At least we had a good one, right?"

"No regrets!" Jayce laughed. "At least I got to beat the shit out of that boy scout again!"

"You think he got away?"

"That fucker always has a plan when it comes to running away! Fourty seconds!"

Orion laughed. "Man, I must be fucking crazy. I mean, seriously, running into a bomb? Not one of my better ideas!"

"You tell me, man! It's been one fucking crazy ride! Thirty seconds!"

"Oh, man. This is craaaaaazy." He felt butterflies in his stomach.

More silence. "Twenty seconds! And Orion?"

"Yeah?"

"If this really fails, and we die, I'm going to fucking kick your ass."

================================================================================

"Princess? Is it working?" Twilight asked.

"I am trying to dispel this... aura... around Nightmare... Moon... but it won't... let me..." Celestia grunted. They'd brought the paralyzed Nightmare Moon to Canterlot Castle, and were now trying to dispel the aura so they could re-banish her again, properly. There were four times the normal amount of guards on duty this particular day to ensure protection.

"What's causing the disturbance?"

Celestia gave a sigh before she gave up, looking down at Nightmare Moon's frozen shocked face. "I can't remove it, Twilight. There's something there that prevents me from dispelling the aura. And what of the two humans?"

"The last thing I can remember is Orion using a charge on Nightmare Moon, just as our spell connected."

"Interesting. So perhaps his abilities could alter the effects of the spell somehow?"

"I don't know, Princess."

"Then it would seem that we cannot do anything about Nightmare Moon until they return?"

"Return? Your Majesty?"

"Yes, you have heard me correctly. Return. I know they will," Celestia smiled.

However, she had heavy doubts. The aura, she could tell, was only temporary. The Elements of Harmony were exhausted in using the abilities to stop her the first time, but the two humans were quite powerful in their abilities if they could hold their own against Nightmare Moon. And from what Celestia recalled in her dreams, she needed them to return.

She didn't want to think what would happen if they didn't.

================================================================================

"Ten seconds!" Jayce held out a closed fist towards Orion, readying a thumbs up when it hit one.

"Seven!"

Orion ducked down into a lunge stance. It was now or never.

"Five! Four! Three! Two! One!" Jayce's thumb shot up.

Orion focused his mind and could feel himself pull forward. The last thing he recalled was the reactor exploding in a giant ball of white-purple energy, and then everything went dark again.

================================================================================

"...ion... ayce... awake... them!"

Orion's eyes popped open. Voices. He was hearing voices. He was staring at an expertly-crafted arched ceiling. And then he noticed two glowing purple eyes looking through his helmet visor.

"Orion! You're back!" Twilight smiled.

"Ugh... yeah... I guess I am..." he groaned, sitting upright. Jayce was spread out on the ground some distance away from him.

Applejack went over to him. "Sugarcube? You all right? Can ya hear me?"

Jayce clumsily swatted his arm at her. "I'm fucking awake, just let me... lay down... for a bit." He rolled his body over, facing up, and threw an arm over his head. "Remind me... to never... do that again... you crazy... ass."

"We're... ugh." His shoulder was beyond sore; he raised his other arm to move it and was met with a rather loud cracking noise. "Damn. We're back, at least."

"And in one piece. Guess I won't have to kick your ass, after all."

"You're all back!" shouted Pinkie Pie. "Yay, now we can have a welcome-back-to-Equestria party!" She hopped in circles around Orion.

"Later, Pinkie," he said. He noticed Nightmare Moon lying on the ground in the middle of the room. "I thought you guys banished her?"

"It didn't work," Twilight said, shaking her head. "Your charge did something that changed the effect of our beam. As it is right now, she's unconscious, but once she wakes up, you two and the guards will have to deal with her."

"Ugh, fucking fantastic," muttered Jayce, getting to his feet. "Damn. Feels like we've been gone for months."

"You were only gone for a few hours, actually," Rainbow chimed in.

"Seriously?" Orion said, incredulous. "We blew up a station and an entire base while we were gone!"

"What?! Hay, I wish I was there!" Rainbow groaned in frustration.

Orion stood up, standing with Jayce looking at the unconscious Nightmare Moon.

"Anybody got any ideas as to what we do with her?" asked Jayce. "What with the Elements being all out of commission now, and all..."

Nightmare Moon's eyes shot open, her form exploding with energy as her body slowly lifted. The guards in the room jumped to attention and dived straight for her, holding her body to the ground. "I awaken! Bow mortals, tremble and despair before the presence of Nightmare Moon! I shall bring the eternal night to this land and--"

Her speech was cut short as Jayce walked up and delivered a solid kick to her face with his armored boot, knocking her out again.

"Fuck you."

"I c-can't believe that... worked..." whispered Fluttershy.

"I won't rip her spleen out through her ass, but I'll be damned if I don't get to put her through hell before we send her back where she came from." The implication of such violence made Fluttershy nearly faint.

Nightmare Moon's form started to slowly melt as it turned into liquid shadow.

"What the--?!" shouted one of the guards. "She's getting away!"

The liquid then seemed to shrink until only a tiny speck was left, and then it disappeared.

"Psh. Figures. Fucking coward," Jayce mumbled.

"We have to take this time to prepare," Orion said, to Jayce and the Elements. "We need to be ready for when she returns. I want to convene another meeting this afternoon in the library to discuss the subject. Until then, I guess we'll be staying with the ponies again."

"True to that. I had myself a strange hunger for apple-related food," said Jayce.

"Well, sugarcube, don't flatter yourself! You know mah family's gonna be happy ta oblige, what with yer help on the farm and all!"

"Heh. Thanks, Applejack. I'm starving," he said.

"Come on, Orion! You should join us for lunch! Tell us--er, me, all about what happened while you were gone!" said Rainbow Dash, her face inches away from Orion's faceplate.

"And we should have another PARTY!" Pinkie hopped up and down.

"Sure. Come on. I'm pretty hungry myself. I guess blowing things up is a lot of work," he laughed. He left the room with the group, listening to Rarity talk about cleaning his armor and new color schemes, Twilight about discoveries of new magical spells, Spike about doing 'grownup' stuff, as the guards left searched the room for traces of Nightmare Moon.

But Orion couldn't help shake the feeling that he'd missed something. Something very important, that was present before, but not now.

================================================================================

Princess Luna was hiding in her room, trembling in the corner.

"N-no! You were supposed to be gone! You can't! You shouldn't be here! The Elements banished you!" she screamed.

"I have need of you again, Luna. You again... shall become Nightmare Moon. And together, we shall bring the eternal night... once and for all..." The evil entity, a pool of shadow, slowly began to swallow Luna's body, herself powerless against it.

She opened her mouth to scream, but no sound came out.

Comments

[PoisonSt]

y u nightmare luna?!

[Anquietas]

Poor Luna

[Jack Cypher Vex]

Damnit I really wish bullets worked against magic.

[Material Defender]

461160 461200 Don't worry, I'll clarify on that later on.

461256 They can conjure magical barriers capable of stopping ballistic projectiles! You can't explain that! Don't worry, though, elbow grease always worked for lots of things.

[Sarkastik Menace]

all i know is, the Cain must be used sooner or later... fuckin reaper in ME2 never stood a chance seriously, i bet it could break through nightmare bitch's barriers easier, being able to own a gigantic human reaper and all

[Material Defender]

461509 Oh, it'll be used, for sure. But somewhere down the line with explosive effect.

[Sarkastik Menace]

461520 hmm, spoiler? but hey, i wanna see the mass effect version of the tfe medic's ubercharge, but only 3x as strong, due to magic and stuff

[Material Defender]

461579 Oh, in my excitement I hadn't realized I slipped on that. I shall... alter the statement, and hope that I do not need to alter it any further.

[Anquietas]

461266 what's to clarify? Nightmare just took over Luna. Right?

[Material Defender]

461667 Indeed. Sorry, I mistook the comments as ones of confusion. All's well.

[Anquietas]

461681 I've done that myself a few times.

[Sentinel]

"I hope Shepard himself sticks a knife in your gut."

static.tumblr.com/bm7cgai/J1ym0smni/happy-i-see-what-you-did-there-_clean_-l.png

[Material Defender]

462316 Wink-wink.

[MyLittleBurger]

And the plot thickens to the point of oatmeal...