Super Powers: Radiance and Ward of Dawn
Open yourself to the Light. Glimpse, for a few rapturous moments, the truth beyond the powers you wield.
A Skiff dropped down from the sky, slipping out of stealth like a shark rising from the depths to seize its prey. The cannons unfolded, charging arc energy as the aircraft stabilized for the drop-crew. Shirska called out in warning for the four remaining ponies, raising his rifle and hand cannons, firing as much lead into the cannons as he could before that first shot could be launched. Rarity and Applejack opened fire as well, pummeling the Skiff's turrets with everything they had.
The first shot from the cannon was the only. The turret broke just a moment after it fired, but that was all the Skiff needed. The arc round slammed into the ground, splashing plasma against all five of the remaining members of the fireteam. Rarity and Rainbow yelped in pain, while the others restrained their vocalizations to mere grunts. Each of their Ghosts popped out and began to repair the damage to their armor and flesh. Except for Shirska, whose chestpiece took the brunt of the hit and absorbed it. The Fallen raised his weapon, aiming at the crew hold, waiting for the enemies to descend into the fray.
And they did, dropping from the holes in the back end of the Skiff, not bothering to wait for the drop rails to extend. The Dregs dropped first, firing their shock pistols as they fell and springing on their feet to begin running for any sort of cover they could find. The Vandals dropped next, the dull hum of stealth tech emanating from a few of the empty-looking crew-ports, while others carried shock rifles or shrapnel launchers. Finally, a pair of Captains and a pair of Servitors dropped from the Skiff under covering fire from its main cannons.
Upon watching the Captains descend into battle, Shirska pulled the trigger on his pulse rifle, letting a burst of fire fly forth towards the first of the Captains. The bullets plowed into the other Captain's armor, but did not seem to do any damage, instead merely exposing a wispy blue aura around the enemy. "Arc fire on Captains," Shirska called to the ponies.
"On it," Pinkie responded, holstering her cannon and swapping for her fusion rifle. With a skilled twirl, she spun it on her finger and caught it by the trigger. By the time the weapon had finished charging, she had already stabilized it with the sights aimed for the Captain's center of mass. For her, it was easy to keep the weapon under control, as her perception of time was significantly slower, granting her more time to notice and react to things. Between each of the seven bursts of arc-plasma, she was able to bring the sights of the weapon back down to their original position.
The unfortunate Captain on the receiving end of the fusion rifle's fire felt the shield generator snap against its hip as its protections critically failed. The remaining four bolts of arc plasma splashed against its chestplate, overheating the armor and shorting out the coolant system. The remainder of the work to take down the Captain was done by Applejack, who dashed in front of the group, throwing herself into a power slide between the Captain's legs with her shotgun blasting its helmet back up into the Skiff.
The Servitors, on the other hand, had already analyzed the situation and had relayed tactical information to the other Fallen in the squadron. One hovered back behind an overturned eighteen-wheeler, providing a healing aura to the Dregs that Fluttershy and Rarity had been focusing on. The other Servitor began firing blasts of void energy towards the ponies.
"Do not harm the hiding Servitor! That one is mine!" Shirska called out as he lobbed a flux grenade towards the remaining Captain. The Captain, preoccupied with not getting his shield torn down by Pinkie's fusion rifle, failed to notice the explosive until it clicked against his armor and squealed loudly. The Captain only had a second before the grenade decimated both his shield and his armor, sending vital pieces flying, breaking the airtight seal that kept his ether in. After that, the Captain just laid on the ground, suffocating and bleeding to death, unable to continue fighting.
In the mean time, Pinkie had managed to take down most of the Dregs with some help from Rarity. Applejack, on the other hand, was busy with the combative Servitor. She fired four shots from her shotgun into the floating sphere, but it did not die, so she resorted to punching it. The first punch sent a pulse of arc energy through the machine, causing its glowing eye to flicker. The second seemed to damage it, its shell suddenly becoming riddled with glowing yellow cracks. The third punch tore through the shell, causing the Servitor to explode, its stored ether dissipating into the air.
Shirska walked calmly up to the remaining Servitor, pushing a button on the back of his helmet, hidden by one of the crests that looked like ears, and another on the Servitor, just under the eye. For a moment, the Servitor's eye went dark, before it blinked alive again.
"I'm back, old friend," he said to the machine.
The Servitor made a strange noise that he knew to mean that it was pleased. It followed up with a stream of data directly into Shirska's helmet, with audio transcripts, video recordings, and raw data. Most of it had to do with the devices Shirska had previously recovered from his time scavenging humanity's ruins. But some was of slaughter within the House. Orbiks-13 had pulled security footage from aboard the Orbiks-fel of Zeklas lining up younglings and turning them against the wall. None of them were old enough to wield a knife in defense. As he watched, he stood in horror as his father pulled swords from his throne and stepped back towards the children.
"Turn it off," Shirska said to the Servitor. "No more."
The information clouding his HUD dissipated, and the Servitor made a low hum.
"We are here to end this," Shirska told the Servitor. "I can't continue my research if he lives."
The Servitor turned and spun rapidly before firing a shot of its on-board void energy weapon. The round flew for a moment before exploding against something unseen. For a moment the Servitor tracked the cloaked thing, and only stopped when the thing revealed itself to be a Skiff, carrying a Walker painted in Kings' colors. The Walker swiftly detached itself from the Skiff, landing harshly on the ancient concrete of the ruined highway.
"Keep track of cover, girls," Rarity called out, "that thing hurts worse than heat cramps."
When the Walker finally stabilized, Pinkie opened fire with rounds of void-fire from her machine gun. The high-caliber rounds bashed the leg joints with the force of vengeance behind them. Rarity added a rocket for good measure, blasting a foot off of the concrete for just a moment, enough for her to toss a grenade under it. A dozen explosions resounded like a firecracker, snapping against the metal of the Walker's hull, warping it ever so slightly with gravity and Light.
An explosion, less like a rocket and more like the sudden ignition of a gas-soaked bonfire, reported behind the group, causing the five fighting to turn around. There in all her glory was Twilight Sparkle, with wings of flame and a halo of Light, and a look in her eyes that would stain the pants of most. And then she knelt and took Fluttershy's cold hand in hers and with a soft kiss, like that of a flame on a marshmallow, Fluttershy opened her eyes and stood. The pegasus stretched her wings and stamped the ground, holding her hands out as though to get between an unseen fight, and her palms caught with void fire. A dome of Light formed around the two, and they both beckoned for the others to take cover in the Ward.
Twilight stepped from the Ward with a film of void Light moving with her angelic flames. She raised her palm and tossed a grenade, binding it with her will to the leg of the walker, not even waiting for it to explode before tossing another. Step, toss, step, boom, toss, step, boom, toss; the process continued this way until a foolish Dreg charged to stab her in the back with a shock dagger. As it plunged between her wings, she turned with holy rage and spat flame from her hand and burned the Dreg into cinders, coating her with another blinding layer of seraphim flame. The Walker aimed at her and fired a main cannon shot, hitting her directly in the chest.
All but Fluttershy rushed towards the wall of the Ward, calling out to see if she was alright through the explosion's smoke, but the Defender held them back with a smile on her face. She knew Twilight's power. She knew that if she didn't stay dead when the Cabal killed them all, nothing could keep her down long enough for it to matter.
The smoke cleared, revealing Twilight standing on top of the Walker's exposed core, planting fusion grenades on the weakness. She jumped off with the grace of Rainbow taking flight, and her wings carried her back to the Ward just in time to watch the Walker collapse as its core was shredded by the grenades.
Twilight shed her wings of flame, returning to the normal lavender unicorn everyone there knew and loved in one manner or another. She stepped back, shaking her head and taking in the view of destruction at her hands, tinted purple by the Ward's Light. And then she turned around, looking over the familiar faces of her friends before finally rushing into the arms of her lover. Even though everyone was watching, she wept openly, letting tears and haunting sobs of pain and joy flow freely. Fluttershy knew what it all meant. It meant, "I love you," and "I missed you," and "I'm sorry," and "I'm so glad you're okay," just to name a few. She tried her best to comfort Twilight as she stood there crying into her shoulder. As Twilight's knees failed her in that moment, Fluttershy knelt with her, doing everything in her power to keep hold of Twilight.
With a faint rush of wind, the Ward collapsed on itself and the seven were left exposed, but none were concerned about this. The path forward was clear, and there was no urgency to turn to heel. Twilight stood again with Fluttershy and gave her four pecks on her face and lips, and offered a warm, if awkward, smile. Fluttershy giggled a bit at her lover's bashfulness and offered four pecks in the same places as were given to her before she offered Twilight her helmet. "It's not your fault, but I forgive you," she said, fighting back tears and forcing a soft, gentle smile.
"I love you," Twilight replied, somehow knowing that those three words were all that were needed.
"I love you too." Fluttershy put her helmet back on as Twilight donned hers. Hand in hand, they treaded forward, ready to take on the next challenge and do so in the comfort of each other's Light.
"How long were we gone," Twilight asked, turning to Pinkie, who was smiling and weeping for joy.
"Twenty-nine point seven six five seconds," the Gunslinger replied. "Please never cut it that close again."
"Can't make any promises," Twilight answered. She stopped for a second and lifted a hand up to her horn, sighing in relief as she felt the familiar texture of the bony structure still on her head.
"Looks like a straight shot to the Ketch," Applejack interjected, pointing ahead to the massive Fallen ship with its hangars open. "Let's get this shit done so we can go home and not get shot at." Shirska nodded in agreement and began running towards the Ketch.
In his mind, equal parts eagerness and apprehension swirled about, preventing him from being confident or uncertain of what was to come. But for all of this, he took comfort in the support of his friends and allies. His surrender and defection were perhaps the best things he'd ever chosen to do.
They reached the ramp up to the hangars of the Ketch rather quickly. They ascended and found no opposition lying in wait. No Servitors or Shanks working on damaged Skiffs, no Vandals guarding the doors, no Walkers watching for incoming enemies. The hangar was quiet and still. Shirska took the lead, walking up the steps above the main floor and up to the catwalks leading to the main halls of the Ketch. The door opened upon sensing motion, and the Seven walked through, weapons at the ready. Again, no opposition stood in their way. No Vandals, no Dregs, no Captains or Servitors, or even Shanks. They continued, cautious of the suspicious lack of enemies.
They reached the room just before the Throne Room, and only then did they see a Vandal in their path. It stood off by the door to the Throne Room, leaning against the doorframe with its arms crossed. As the door closed behind them, Shirska's Servitor called out to the Vandal.
"Old friend. You are here for Zeklas, yes?" the Vandal spoke in native Eliksni.
"Aye. The time has come for him to be heard by the old Kells of Judgement," Shirska answered, strapping his weapons to his back and moving towards the Vandal. "You should leave here, Greksis. I already know who will make a claim to the throne after Zeklas. You'd be safer with the humans."
"You and I both know I can't leave. I am a patriot. I must stay and fight for my House's future," Greksis said, stepping off the wall and approaching his Captain. "I do hope you succeed. This House needs you."
"I cannot return. This House is no longer mine. I have my own," Shirska replied, gesturing back to the six Guardians behind him. "This is my House. I am their Kell, and friend."
The Vandal offered up his lower right hand to shake. "I understand. Go, then, Shirska, Kell of Ghouls. Deliver Zeklas to Judgement. And when you feel it to be time, come back and wager a treaty with House Kings."
Shirska took Greksis' hand with his own lower right hand and shook it firmly. "Remember, old friend, you always have a place in House Harmony."
Greksis walked away calmly. No confrontation but words, no conflict but emotions. Everything that needed to be said was. As the door closed behind Greksis, Shirska offered his weapons to his Servitor, which stored the weapons somewhere in its circuitry.
"This is it, friends," Shirska hesitated at the base of the stairway leading up to the throne room. "This is what you've fought for, and now it's my turn to fight."
"All Badgers, this is Prince-One. Your mission is accomplished, we've got it from here," Applejack spoke into her helm's comms system. She didn't bother waiting for the response before switching back to the private channel she and her team were using.
"It is time for us to go end Zeklas."
------
Back in the Tower, the Speaker looked up at the Traveler, his face obscured by his mask. A human engineer stood with him at his desk, showing the Speaker something on a datapad. But he ignored the words, his mind preoccupied with trying to use his eyes to perceive something about the Traveler he'd failed to notice before.
"Sir, the Traveler's thermal levels are rising in the core, far above normal," the engineer said. "Something's going on, and we don't know if it's good or bad."
"The Traveler is waking up," the Speaker responded calmly. "We need to leave it be. Tell your engineers to cancel all inspection flights. Scans only from the surface stations and the towers. Pull all engineers out immediately."
"Sir?" the engineer's expression shifted to one of shock. "What if we miss something important?"
"Thermal and gravitational levels inside the Traveler before it went to sleep was well above survivable. If you don't pull your people out, they will roast alive or be crushed by gravity." The Speaker turned to the engineer. "Go. Pull your teams out, and give me updates every hour on the hour."
"Yes, sir." The engineer scurried off, immediately calling the engineering teams of the City and giving them the new directives.
The Speaker, on the other hand, began walking out of his observation room into the main Tower plazas. He stopped by the New Monarchy area, pulling Executor Hideo away from his post for an immediate meeting of Tower Representatives. He made his way over to the Tower Hangar, gathering Dead Orbit's Arach Jalaal and the Future War Cult's Lakshimi-2, and then headed back to the Vanguard hall. Upon arriving, the few Guardians who were actually there had the good sense to leave , figuring something of great importance was to take place in the hall.
"What's the news?" Cayde spoke first, offering the prompt for the conversation. "New threat? Let me guess. Hive ritual on the moon again– wait, no, Vex on the moon."
Commander Zavala didn't even deem it worthy of a response, choosing instead to just discourage the comment with a stern glare. Ikora went a step further, choosing instead to ignore both of her fellow Vanguard representatives, maintaining her attention on the Speaker.
"The Traveler is awakening. Thermal scans show higher than normal readings, and I can hear it breathing again," the Speaker said. "Soon gravitational scans will show rising activity, and then we may see the Traveler begin to work its magic again."
"Impossible," Arach Jalaal stated flatly. "It's probably just going to release another wave of Ghosts and go back to sleep."
"What are the implications of this as far as the war is concerned?" Lakshimi interjected. "Will the Fallen detect this new activity and possibly redouble their offensives?"
"I don't know, and that's what I'm here to discuss. I'm no military mind. You are," the Speaker replied.
"If their tech is anything to go by, my guess is the Fallen will be able to detect the changes," Hideo offered. "I'm not sure if they'll be able or willing to try another Six Fronts attempt after what happened at Twilight Gap."
"Oh, they will. That's the thing about the Fallen," Cayde spoke up. "They once had the Traveler on their side. They had a Golden Age and collapse just like us. They want that Golden Age back, just as much as you, Executor."
"So what do we plan to do about it?" Jalaal asked irritatedly.
"Dead Orbit will be acting as scouts as far as the Reef. You'll be watching for incoming Fallen Houses. Future War Cult and New Monarchy will be assigned to City defense. We need as many ships and boots as we can muster up in case of another Six Fronts," Commander Zavala spoke. "All Guardians will be pulling back to the City until the Traveler has fully awoken. We can't afford another Twilight Gap; that was far too costly."
"What of the Reef Awoken?" Ikora asked. "They certainly have the forces to assist in scouting the Reef. Should we reach out to the Queen?"
"We'll send in a Guardian for diplomacy. One with no allegiances to the Factions," Zavala answered. "In the mean time, any updates on the Traveler's status should be forwarded to Ikora, and all scouting intel should go directly to Cayde. Any reports of conflict or signs of impending conflict go through me first. We'll be sending out a message to all Guardians to return to Earth. How long do you expect this awakening to take?"
"Only a day or two. Thermal readings are already thirty percent higher than they were twelve hours ago," the Speaker answered.
"Then there we have it. Everyone has their orders. Hop to it," Zavala finished, turning around and heading to a desk in the corner of the Vanguard Hall. From there, Cayde went back to his maps, making and moving and erasing marks on it after thoroughly reading scouting reports. Ikora grabbed a book off of a nearby bookshelf, opening it to her notes on Fallen technology and military strategy.
The Faction representatives, as well as the Speaker, all turned and left for their respective areas. As they passed, Zavala's voice rang out from the intercom system, informing all Guardians to remain on Earth until further notice. Some groaned, some didn't seem to care. But all were surprised in some manner or another, as such an order was not common from the Vanguard. The Frames all received new directives from Zavala, and off in one corner of the Tower, an odd-looking janitor smiled and looked up at the Traveler with genuine happiness.
------
Shirska stepped into the throne room of the Orbiks-fel, an involuntary shiver running down his spine as he crossed the threshold. This room was disgustingly familiar to him, and the mere sight of the columns of ether and the two Pilot Servitors watching everything unblinking made him want to turn around and puke. The unwashed walls of the throne room lay stained with ether and blood, and the smell of death and fear were all too pungent. Off in one corner was a pool of not-quite-dried blood. Eliksni blood. Shirska held out his hands and took those of his comrades in his own for comfort and confidence.
"My my... My little Shirask comes to visit me. To what do I owe this... displeasure, defector?" Zeklas' voice called out through the dark of the room, his eyes the only things about him that were visible.
"I have come to deliver you," Skirska stated clearly, drawing his blades from his back, "to the old Kells of Judgement." The arc energy snapped and buzzed around his blade, much like the thoughts of murder in his mind. "I challenge you to Aksin-Ten."
Immediately the Servitors looked at Zeklas expecting, judging, anticipating his now honor-bound response.
"Just like your existence, I am forced to accept. I expect no interference from your company, and you can expect no interference from the Servitors," Zeklas spoke coldly, stepping up from his throne as the lights finally turned on, illuminating the room. He drew two swords from the throne, sparking them together and letting their own arc energy begin to crackle like warming ice. "I shall show no mercy. This ends in death."
"I'd have it no other way." In English, he added for his friends, "This is our fight. If I lose, end him."
Applejack placed her hand on his shoulder. "You won't lose."
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well she didnt stay dead for long also cant remember if she fired her wonder weapon or not
DAMN! That was EPIC!
Shirska, TEAR HIS FUCKING HEART OUT!
This dawned on me recently when I saw that this updated. Because of the events of Rise of Iron, will the SIVA Crisis happen, or has it already happened? If yes, they I'd like to see our heroes team up with Saladin to destroy the rising SIVA.
...Or not. It's your story, and I'm just blurting out an interesting thought I had.
7917531
Unfortunately, year 3 content (RoI) will not be in this story. Currently, the story is taking place in the middle of the Dark Below and House of Wolves content. By the end of the story, it should reach the end of the Taken King content.
<3 DarqFox
7917788 Okay, that makes sense. Still, I am excited for what's in store.
7917794
Well obviously there's patricide/regicide ahead, so definitely reasonable to be excited.
<3 DarqFox
7917859 Alright then...
One last question, and this is pure wish-fulfillment so take this with a pinch of salt, will we see Yu (The Players' Guardian)?
7917888
Short answer: No, we will not see Yu.
Long answer: I named the players' Guardian Yu to sound like "you" as in you the player. While this story is happening alongside Destiny canon, Yu will be fulfilling the canon. The other reason I bring up the name is because of second person. Yu is meant to be you, the player, and Yu only gets a few lines in the Destiny canon, which makes it hard for me to separate Yu from you. In other words, Yu is too hard to write in a way that makes them seem true to everyone who's played Destiny due to the lack of distinction of Yu as a separate character. See also: Controlling VS Being Your Character
<3 DarqFox
7918084 I understand. Still would have been interesting to see, but I know that its impossible to write him/her/it into the story to cater to the audience member's time in Destiny (If they've played the game).
Anyways, looking forward to what's next for our heroes.
7983434
That is a Heavy Pike, and it only started spawning after House of Wolves dropped, which is later in the timeline than this story. Plus, how would they know where it was?
Thanks for all the comments, by the way! I really appreciate seeing all of them, and it makes me motivated to write more!
<3 DarqFox
7982020 The big M.C. for flutter, punchy punch, ultimate titan defender running a punchy class neeeeeds it!! and no backup plans!!
and for pinkie, the G-horn is good, but the queensbreaker I had more fun trolling people with >.>