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Raid

Sunset took a breath in her jumpship, trying in vain to steady her nerves.

“Your heart rate is high,” Ray said. “Everything okay?”

“Yeah,” Sunset said, a little too quickly. “Just... nervous.”

“You’ve done missions before,” he said.

“Yeah, but the consequences are higher this time.” She blinked. “At least, they seem to be.”

“Maybe so,” Ray said. “But you’ve never let me down.” He spun in place for a bit. “And anyway, no matter what, we’re in this together.”

Sunset smiled. “Thanks, Ray.”

The communication channel sprung to life. “Fireteam Harmony,” Cayde drawled, “you are go for mission.”

Sunset sat up and gripped the flight stick. “Copy that, Vanguard,” she said. “Fireteam Harmony, let’s move out.”

Cayde cut the communications channel on his station. He didn’t look up, but out of sight of the others he flashed an “okay” sign.

His ghost, Sundance, twitched in place a moment then hovered next to his ear. “So far, so good,” she whispered.

He spun his wrist, mimicking checking a watch.

“Half an hour until they’re beyond recall,” Sundance whispered.

Cayde nodded. “Hey, Ikora,” he said, catching the other Vanguard’s attention. “Any new findings from the Dreadnaught?”

Ikora looked up at Cayde with a look that was half bemusement and half glare. “None that you’d be interested in.”

“Not even the kind of findings that need un-finding? With lots of firepower?”

“Not today, Cayde,” Ikora said with more of a smile. “But if you’re so bored that you need something to do, you could go over Shiro’s reports from the Plaguelands.”

“Huh, worth a shot.” The two Vanguards turned back to their terminals.

After a few moments, Cayde spoke up again. “Hey, uh, Ikora?”

This time she was decidedly less amused. “Yes, Cayde?”

“What drive are those reports on, again?”

The six guardians made their way into the Splicer den. Pinkie and Applejack took point, being the titans of the group. The remaining girls kept an eye out for any patrols, but so far their presence seemed to not be noticed.

"Blackout zone should be just beyond the next room," Ray whispered to Sunset.

Their radios suddenly crackled. "Fireteam Harmony, recall to tower," Ikora said over the comms.

The guardians all paused for half a second.

"For Equestria?" Rainbow whispered?

"For Equestria," Sunset answered.

The six guardians sprinted toward the blackout zone.

"Fireteam Harmony, recall!" Ikora said again. On her display, the six dots winked out one by one.

Fuming, she glared at Cayde. "Alright, spill. What's going on."

Cayde held up his hands. "You're going to thank me for this, just so we're clear."

Ikora raised an eyebrow. "That remains to be seen."

"Cayde," Zavala said from his station, "what have you done?"

Cayde rolled his eyes. "So dramatic." He turned to Zavala, hands still up. "Before you freak out, I did not betray the city or the Traveler."

"Cayde." Ikora said.

Cayde sighed and lowered his hands. "Either of you heard of 'Equestria'?" He sent a file to their consoles. "It was a parallel universe we made contact with during the Golden Age. When the collapse happened, the portal was destroyed and it stranded some of their residents here."

"Sunset Shimmer," Ikora said.

"Not just her!" Cayde answered, sending all six profiles to Ikora and Zavala. "They've been some of our most prolific guardians."

Another patrol of dregs and shanks were quickly dispatched. "Do you think they know we're here?" Rarity said.

Immediately several wire rifle shots whizzed over the guardians' heads, followed by some screeching in Eliksni.

Rainbow took aim with her scout rifle, but Fluttershy ran in front yelling "Cease fire, cease fire!" She stood between the guardians and where the shots had come from. "What did you say about the 'purple spark'?"

There was more yelling in Eliksni.

"We're not here to destroy her."

The voice screeched at her.

"She's our friend!" Fluttershy yelled back. "We want to save her!"

Silence. Then the vandal slowly stepped out of the shadows. He held his rifle ready but aimed to the side. "Friends?" he rasped.

"Yes," Fluttershy said. She pulled out her pistol and laid it on the ground.

The vandal laid his rifle on the ground. He started to reach at his side before speaking a few words in Eliksni.

"That's okay," Fluttershy said. "Girls, he's getting something from his belt."

"House," he said. "New house." He held up a strip of cloth with a six-point star painted on it.

The guardians gaped at it. "How?" Fluttershy finally said.

The vandal began talking, and Fluttershy translated for the others. "She came to us in dreams. At first she wondered where she was. Then she asked who we were. We told her of the Eliksni, of how we lost the Great Machine, of how we scrape to survive. And she did not hate us.

"She told us of a land of magic. Of the Golden Age of Earth. Of how that ended. And she did not hate us.

"She asked to be our friend. We told her of the war between Fallen and Guardians. Of the wars between Eliksni and Eliksni. How our way is not the way of friendship. And she did not hate us.

"'How lonely it must be', she said, 'to have such a large galaxy with no friends.' And she asked to be our friend."

The vandal stood taller as Fluttershy finished the translation. "I am Spyrokan, of House Friendship."

"So," Ikora said, still glaring at Cayde, "we have a fireteam of six guardians, each of whom remembers her past. And all of them are deep in Splicer territory against direct orders."

Cayde laughed uneasily. "Wow, it does sound kinda bad when you put it like that." He cleared his throat and sent another set of files. "Anyway, they've been looking for any information on others like them. And the most powerful one might be in trouble."

"Trouble how?" Zavala said.

Cayde turned to Zavala. "Remember those Fallen in the Ishtar Sink on Venus that raided the Prison of Elders in the Reef? Got an Archon Priest?" Zavala nodded, and Cayde continued. "The prison works on the same basic principles that Ghosts do: keeping a soul in a form of stasis so it can be restored to a body.

"Well, House Kings found her soul, put it in a cell they had scavenged, and they've been trying to restore her for centuries." He chuckled. "Didn't work."

"Of course," Ikora said. "There has to be parity between the soul and the body, otherwise the restoration won't work."

"Which is why I'm standing here in this sexy getup instead of whatever meat suit I had before," Cayde said with a flourish. "No offense, of course."

Ikora, despite herself, had the barest hint of a smile. "So, the Fallen have a soul they can't restore," she said. "Why the urgency? Why are these guardians risking everything right now?"

"SIVA," Zavala said.

"Exactly," Cayde said. "Best case scenario, it doesn't work. Worst case, it works and the Splicers are able to control her."

"But most likely," Ikora said with a frown, "is that bringing together two processes that should never be brought together shreds the soul beyond recognition."

"I don't like this, Darling," Rarity said, fussing with Fluttershy's cloak. "I don't like you not on overwatch, much less being exposed like this."

"I know," Fluttershy said, her usual meekness gone, "but we have to give them a chance. If there's more like Spyrokan out there–"

"We'd be killing Twilight's friends, yes, dear." Rarity stepped back. "That doesn't mean I have to like it, though."

"I can talk," Spyrokan said.

"You can die," Sunset responded. "I don't like this either, but it has to be a guardian. And out of all of us, Fluttershy's the one that can be understood."

Fluttershy laughed uneasily. "Who would have thought that talking to animals also meant this?"

"Nah, it's not just that," Pinkie said. "We all got turned up to eleven here. Rainbow's unstoppably fast, Applejack's a menace with all of her guns, y'know?"

Sunset nodded. "Something to unpack later, of course. Rainbow, you in position?"

"Copy that," Rainbow said over the comms. "Fluttershy, there's a dead SIVA bloom about ten meters past the door. Stop by that; there'll be enough room between you and the Splicers for cover fire that way."

"Copy that," Fluttershy said and turned back to the group. A series of thumbs up gestures, plus a strange one from Spyrokan, met her.

With a nod, she stepped out of the hallway into an open chamber. About a dozen Splicers along with several other normal dregs and vandals were managing various machines and displays, all surrounding the stasis container clearly from the Prison of Elders.

"Parlay!" Fluttershy yelled, her hands up.

All the Fallen in the room immediately turned towards her. A couple pulled out weapons but none fired. A Splicer captain yelled something to her.

She made a show of coming to a stop. "A galaxy is cold with no friends," she said. A few Fallen subtly perked up at that, and she continued. "We are not here to bring death."

The Splicer captain yelled more words at her.

"We are friends of the Purple Spark," Fluttershy said clearly. "We are here to restore her."

One of the dregs called out to the rest, motioning at Fluttershy. A few of the others nodded in agreement, but all of the Splicers immediately shouted back.

The Splicer captain turned back to Fluttershy. "Here is our answer," he said. In one fluid motion, he pulled a scorch cannon from behind him and shot it at her.

"Hotbox!" Rainbow yelled. She immediately fired her weapon from her vantage point: Dragon's Breath. The missile hit the ground between Fluttershy and the captain and covered the area in a wide-ranging inferno.

That wasn't quick enough to stop the blast from the scorch cannon. Fluttershy dove out of the way enough to survive the blast and scampered back to the rest of the group that was rushing into the chamber.

"Careful with shots!" Rainbow yelled into the comms. "We have friendly Fallen surrendering!"

"Aw, man," Pinkie whined, putting away her Gjallarhorn. "Guess it's back to you, Party Crasher." With a dramatic flourish, she ran toward the nearest group of Splicers and... well, brought the party.

Rainbow had switched to her sniper and was doing her best to wear down the captain while Applejack got in close.

Rarity and Sunset brandished their own shotguns and wove through the other Splicers, taking down as many as they could that were not obviously surrendering. Sunset caught a glimpse of one Splicer taking aim at them before falling down in a spray of ether, the dreg from earlier standing behind with a knife.

Eventually every Fallen and Splicer in the room was either on the ground with their hands up or just on the ground.

"Friends, yes?" one of the vandals said.

Sunset stashed her shotgun. "Friends," she said.

The vandal stood up. "You can... bring back?" he said, motioning to the stasis pod.

Sunset nodded. "I promise."

The vandal nodded back. He yelled to the remaining Fallen in Eliksni, and they all got up and formed a perimeter.

"So how do they expect to restore her?" Ikora said. "I'd assume the Fallen already tried every known biological profile."

"See, that's the thing," Cayde said. "Remember how Equestria was in a parallel universe? Apparently there was some magical mumbo-jumbo that turned them into humans on this side, but their birth forms were completely different."

"So how did these six come back as guardians," Zavala cut in, "if their souls can't be restored as human?"

Cayde shrugged. "Beats me, but given how they described Twilight–that's who they're saving, by the way–it might have something to do with the power involved."

Zavala's face darkened. "And what sort of power are we talking?"

"Ehhh," Cayde said, "demigod level? Like, Crota if not Oryx. But good!"

"I hope you're right, Cayde," Zavala said. "For all our sakes."

"That still doesn't answer the question," Ikora said. "So, she's too powerful to restore to a human shape, and none of the other patterns the Fallen have work. What's left?"

Cayde smiled. "Pony."

Ikora blinked. "Excuse me?"

Cayde activated the holoprojector. "Here's the telemetry data from Sunset Shimmer performing Fireborn for the first time," he said.

Ikora and Zavala watched as Sunset was obliterated by a scorch cannon then came back as a one-meter-tall pony, still very much a guardian.

Ikora sighed and pinched the bridge of her nose as the projection ended. Zavala just stared. "Well, that's unusual."

"I know, right?" Cayde said. "But apparently it's why she had such a problem with it in the first place."

"She had an incomplete sense of self," Ikora said. "Of course."

"So, Cayde," Zavala said. "Anything else we need to know?"

Cayde shook his head. "If I'm wrong, I'll be first in line to end the lot of them."

"If you can," Zavala said. "We've had some victories lately, yes; but taking down a demigod is no small feat, even for guardians."

"Even if they can restore her," Ikora continued, "who's to say what state she'll be in?"

"Send in another fireteam if you think it'll help," Cayde conceded. "But if they shoot first and ask questions later, things will end poorly. The girls made that much clear."

They worked quickly to set up the ritual, painfully aware that their guards were mortal. Sunset and Rarity did their best to set everyone in the proper points, each class balancing the other.

"Ray, how's the air here?"

Ray spun a bit. "Not great, but breathable."

"I only need a minute," she said. "Everyone ready?"

A chorus of affirmations came back. With a deep breath, she removed her helmet.

"Sunset?" Ray said, storing her helmet.

"Powerful spells have a strong verbal component," she said. "And we need this to work the first time."

She stood tall. And she reached deep. Deeper than the fiery Light she recently channeled. Deeper than the spark of the Traveler she carried with her. To the glow she knew came from her first life.

"Lost soul!" she yelled. "In the name of Harmony, hear us and return!"

She channeled the Harmony within her, felt her connection to the others, and called out,

"From all of us together Together we are friends; Marks of destiny made one Brings us magic without end."

The power began to gather among the six guardians, wisps of it gathering toward the six ghosts that floated between the guardians and the cell.

"Through Darkness cold and dangerous Your Light has found it’s way; Now with the rise of iron’s might, Bring triumph here today."

The power grew to a steady stream, flowing from the guardians through the ghosts to the cell. Bright cracks of purple energy began to climb up the cell. All six guardians released their stored light.

“With bonds of friendship burning bright And power matriarchal, Return our princess safely here, Be reborn, Twilight Sparkle!”

The cell exploded, atomized; Sunset felt the dust blow past her, grains stinging her cheeks and eyes.

In its place stood a lavender alicorn, her face passive. Her eyes were open, but not seeing.

The guardians stood at the ready.

The alicorn blinked. Took a deep breath.

And Twilight Sparkle blinked.

“My friends,” she said.

A beat. And the guardians rushed forward to smother her in a group hug. There was laugher and tears and exclamations of each others’ names, and when the group finally calmed down, Twilight turned to Sunset and said, “‘Matriarchal’? That’s the best you could do?”

Sunset playfully swatted her neck. “You try rhyming with ‘sparkle’ sometime.”

The motley crew made their way back to the surface. Sunset and the two titans in the front, followed by Twilight, and the remaining three behind her. The Eliksni of House Friendship stayed close but hung back, knowing they would be the first shot if they ran into another group of guardians.

"I must say," Rarity said as they walked, "you are looking very much the monarch today."

Twilight blushed slightly, though she couldn't deny it: she stood eye-to-eye with the guardians, her horn was impressively long and quite pointy, and her mane and tail shifted in a false breeze just as the royal sisters' had.

"Well," she said, "there are some perks to being centuries old."

"Y'all weren't awake the whole time, were ya?" Applejack said.

"No," Twilight shook her head. "Not entirely. I was... aware. Barely. I've got a general idea of what's happened, between what I could get from the others and the Traveler." She glanced at the Eliksni, making eye contact with Spyrokan briefly. "But I could tell when I was needed."

The group continued walking, making small talk on occasion. As they broke into the sunlight of the Cosmodrome, they were greeted by another fireteam, one titan, hunter, and warlock. All three had their weapons held ready and aimed at the ground.

"Well met, Sunset Shimmer?" the titan called.

The girls stopped, Sunset out front with Pinkie and Applejack standing to guard Twilight. Rarity, Fluttershy, and Rainbow spread out to get closer to the Eliksni.

"Hivebane," Sunset said, recognizing the titan from their strike earlier. "What brings you out here?"

"Vanguard are concerned about a potential rogue element," he said. "Wanted us to make sure everything was fine here."

Sunset nodded. "There's no enemies here," she said carefully.

The titan glanced to his teammates who nodded. He looked towards Rainbow. "Hey, Tank? Remember what happened on the way to Omnigul?"

Rainbow's ghost materialized, hovered in place a moment, and another burst of static flooded the radio before all the ghosts cut transmission.

"So, those Fallen are with you?" the titan said?

"They're my friends," Twilight said, stepping forward to stand next to Sunset.

The other fireteam took a step back and looked among themselves. "You're..." the titan fumbled. "You're a friend of Sunset's?"

Sunset nodded. "Twilight, this is Hivebane. Hivebane, her majesty Twilight Sparkle, Princess of Friendship."

Twilight snorted. It was a very equine snort. "Just 'Twilight,' please," she groaned.

The titan gave a slight bow. "It's an honor to meet you." He turned back to his fireteam. "You guys see a problem here?"

They both answered in the negative, and he turned back to Twilight and Sunset. "The Fallen aren't going to be welcome in the city," he said, "but we'll try to spread the word about their insignia, hopefully keep them out of range of any patrols."

"We were gonna take them west," Sunset said. "Find a spot in the EDZ that isn't heavily patrolled."

The titan nodded. "Good plan." He faced Twilight. "I was only told to make sure you are not a threat. If you're a friend of Sunset and Rainbow, that's good enough for me." He holstered his gun. "I don't know how the Vanguard will want to proceed from here, though."

Twilight shook her head and smiled. "Leave that to me."

As the sun set over the Last City and the different shops began to light their signs for the evening, word spread of a strange creature sitting in the center of the city, where the Traveler was closest to the ground.

Zavala strode purposefully toward the center, Ikora and Cayde close behind him. The citizens let them pass without issue, though there was a small crowd gathering toward the center.

At the center of the crowd was a group of children playing on and around a lavender horse, though it had both pegasus wings and a unicorn's horn, and a magenta starburst was clearly visible on its flank.

"Twilight Sparkle?" Zavala said.

With some soft words of "Don't worry, I'll be back," Twilight gently pushed the children back into the crowd. That done, she turned to face Zavala fully. "Vanguard Zavala, Ikora, Cayde." She dipped her head. "It is nice to meet you."

"You as well," Ikora said. "Though, if I may ask, what exactly are you?"

"I am an alicorn," Twilight explained, "possessing the magic of all three pony tribes: unicorn, pegasus, and earth." She smiled knowingly. "Consider me a warlock, a hunter, and a titan."

"And what do you plan to do now?" Zavala said.

"What I have always done," Twilight said. "Discover. Learn. And make friends."

"Friends are hard to come by, these days," Cayde said.

Twilight smiled patiently back. "I think you could have more friends than you realize."

Zavala scowled. "If you're referring to the Fallen–"

"I'm well aware of your history with the Eliksni," Twilight shot back, though she kept her voice even. "And I do not expect centuries of antagonism to disappear overnight. Especially when, as I understand it, difficult memories are still present." She closed her eyes and shook her head. "No, I have no illusions of what can happen, of how wars are fought." She looked back at Zavala. "I just ask you to consider that, just as there are good and bad guardians, there may be Eliksni and others that are willing to be friendly."

Zavala opened his mouth to retort, but Cayde butted in. "We'll do what we can."

Zavala glared at him, and Ikora gave him a side eye.

"What," he said more quietly, "I'm trying to not piss off the horse god in the middle of the city."

Twilight snorted. "Okay, who told you I was a god. Was it Rainbow?"

Cayde cocked his head. "Don't know if I should say..."

Twilight gave a gentle smile back. "In all seriousness," she said, "thank you, Cayde, for trusting my friends."

Cayde shrugged. "They're good guardians; how could I not?"

Twilight turned to Zavala and Ikora. "And thank you as well, for choosing wisely who you sent after us."

"We were informed," Ikora said, "that to do otherwise would be folly of the highest order."

"But you still had that choice," Twilight said. She turned back to Zavala. "If you truly fight to protect," she said, "then we are on the same side."

Zavala nodded. "Then we are in agreement," he said. He held out his hand.

Twilight glanced down and grinned sheepishly. "If it's alright with you," she said, "I'd prefer a fist bump."

Someone in the crowd giggled. Another laughed out loud. Cayde just bumped Zavala in the shoulder. "C'mon, Zavvy."

With a sigh, Zavala curled his fingers into a fist that Twilight promptly bumped with her hoof.

Author's Note:

And that's it! At least for now. Finally got most of the original ideas I had for this story out. If inspiration strikes, I'll post an epilogue or something later. But for now, enjoy!

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