After discovering a new planet, the Tenno, a race of warriors, master of gun and blade and the warframe, and Lotus, the adviser, travel to find a brand new world with a species they've never seen. Unfortunately, they were followed. The Grinner, a ruthless military organization hell bent on wiping out the Tenno, arrive to find their enemy and an ally to them.
Now the Tenno are not only fighting for their lives, but for the ones of Equestria as well.
"We need to move." A nearly emotionless voice said. Another rang into its ear.
"There's the artifact, grab it." A female voice said to it.
Gunfire was all around the artifact as part of the holding chamber for a white, glowing artifact was revieled to all of those in the room.
"Kill 'em." A deep, evil voice said as it fired, bullets not even affecting it.
So what is it? Well it is actually something. But It has a lot of mystery behind it. It was found by someone who calls themselves Lotus. She had trained them in hopes of having them rise up.
They are the Tenno and their the master of their warframes. The Warframe, an exo-skeloton, grants them with abilities unlike any other. Some have peculiar elements behind them such as ice of venom. Others were designed for things such as traps or healing others. They also protect the user with shields and make the user highly athletic.
But back to where we were, the Tenno are sent on missions. This one has them raiding a ship to steal an Orikin artifact. As for what Orikin is, we'll cover that later.
"Volt, get the artifact."
"I'm busy. The Grineer are on me."
Volt, used all the powers he could to clear out the Grinner, who were shooting at him. While his Warframe did have shields, they would run out, leaving him exposed to gunfire.
So Volt ran up the wall near him and backflipped into the group of Grineer, who surrounded him. Weapons trained on him and aiming for the head, ready to kill on a moments notice.
"I guess you have me." His raspy, emotionless voice said to them.
"You're damn right we do." One growled at him.
"No need for such language. We can work this out gentlemen."
The squad of Grineer marines looked at him before laughing. Volt himself would have laughed but instead, took the opportunity to unleash his skill.
All of his limbs curled inwards before he shoot them all out at length, electricity shot everywhere, burning out lights and the flesh of the marines, who all began to wallow in pain as they tried to clear the electricity. Volt saw tat a few were dead and others were distracted, giving him the perfect chance. He rushed around the croup and pulled out his dual Ethers' one blade shorter then the other, and held them out as he spun around, killing or wounding them to the point of bleeding to death. At the last marine, Volt pulled out his Bolto and fired a round into his head.
"Sorry about that. Where were we?" Volt asked.
"The artifact is under heavy guard. We need to clear it if we can get a shot at getting close." A voice said.
"Understood, Ember?"
"What?" A more feminine voice answered.
"Care to clear the way?" Volt asked, though knowing the answer.
"With pleasure." she responded.
Volt got up to where the others are in time to see Ember jump in, kick a marine in the face and unleashed a cloud of flames that burned away at the armor of the marines. She fired her dual vipers at the swarming marines, who were shredded by bullets.
"Grab it." She said.
Another warframe, Loki, ran over and grabbed the artifact. His body glowed a pulsing red as he jumped away to dodge an explosion.
"Lets get out of here." He said.
Volt and Ember wasted no time in clearing their exit. Loki shortly followed them through a path that had two areas above guarded by guard rails. Just as Loki was half way, he turned back and then looked up...
The Grineer marines saw Loki firing and were taking cover by the outer edges of the path, they blind-fired around the corner in hopes of at least distracting him. One barely caught a glimpse of a marine jumping down and behind Loki. He pointed his gun at the back of his head and fired.
The bullet went though his head. Loki "fizzled" before continuing to fire in a straight direction.
"Huh!?" The marine waved his hand through his body. It was like he was a-
The grinner suddenly coughed and spat out blood. He looked down to see a blood covered blade going through his body. He turned his head to see Loki looking at him. If a warframe could express emotions, he would have seen a wide grin.
"Wrong one." and pulled the blade out.
Twilight Sparkle stretched her wings out in exhaustion. Princess duties can be exhausting for someone who, like Twilight, weren't born and raised on preparing.
"Well, at least I don't have a sun or moon to worry about."
Twilight looked out of the window to see the moon shining and the stars twinkling. the moon certainly caught her eye. Twilight's mind began to wonder.
Did the moon glow when Luna was up there? Did she feel it move? Probably. What was the view of Equestria like? Did she see other worlds?
That last one certainly caught Twilights mind. while she had read stories of Extra Terrestrial life, she had laways wanted to believe that they were all real.
"Maybe some day."
Loki chuckled to himself as he ran through the corridors of the ship. Clearly proud at the look of the marines face when he saw that Loki had stabbed him.
"Loki, we're waiting by evac. Hurry." Ember called.
"On it." He said.
Loki ran, he should have known the others would have cleared the ship on their way there.
"Now where's-"
Loki turned into to see a chain gun be swung and knock him to the ground. He looked up to see a heavy Grinner gunner aiming right at him. It aimed at his head and got ready to fire.
A blade went through its back and out its head. It was silenced and fell over dead. Loki got up and saw who he knew it was.
"Where have you been Excalibur?" Loki asked.
"Making sure the rest of the ship isn't here." He said as he flung the blood off of his Skana and re-sheathed it.
"Where are they if I may ask?"
"Some are dead. The rest are on their way."
Loki and Excalibur turned to see a door be blown down. The captain of the ship pointed at them.
"Get them!" He yelled as he pulled out a cleaver.
"Move." Excalibur said as he and Loki took off.
The two ran as the mob of marines chased and shot at them. They only turned around to either fire back or cut a bullet. The comparison could be made to two teens in trouble with a town. The two ran up a slope that lead to a door that need a bypass. The two opened it quickly and ran in. The Captain pointed his men in. But only a hand full made it before a beep rang out.
"Lockdown has initiated."
Lotus rang up again. "Ship is entering lockdown. You'll need to override the system." Before getting off.
"That will take a moment." Excalibur commented before dashing towards the group of rookie grineer. The blue streak was fast, but when three of the fifteen suddenly split in two, it was quiet a shock for them.
"What?" One commented before getting shot in the face by Excalibur's Lex.
Meanwhile outside, The Captain of the ship had looked around to see who locked down the ship.
"I better know who and now!" He yelled angrily amongst his men. He came upon a rookie who had finished typing in the system.
"What? It seemed like a good idea to me." He grumbled.
The Captain walked over and raised his cleaver.
"Wait!? I'm sorry! Please! No!"
Excalibur dodged another swipe from the prod wielding marine and slashed him with his sword. He pulled out his Latron and fired a round into a marines head who was about to shoot Loki. He then super jumped and landed into the crowd. Using radial blind, he stunned the men and quickly used radial javelin to finish the rest.
Loki appeared beside him. "Done?"
"About to ask you the same thing."
The door opened and in rushed the Captain with a bloody cleaver along with the guns-blazing marines.
"It's a shame we have to leave." Excalibur commented as he took off with Loki.
"Rumble wake up." Thunderlane called out. Rumble's eyes snapped open at the realization that he had slept in.
"Aw man!" He called as he shot out of bed. He ran to the bathroom and quickly brushed his teeth. Then quickly ran downstairs and grabbed his backpack and flew out the door.
"Poor thing skipped breakfast. Rumble!" Thunderlane called to his little brother. He flew out the door to see his little brother going top-speed.
"Wait!" He called as he flew towards his brother. He caught up and playfully tackled him before carrying him back home.
"Buddy, it's Saturday."
As soon as those words went into Rumbles ears, he face-hoofed.
"Are you kidding me? I woke up just to hear that!" Rumble exclaimed as he dropped his backpack. Thunderlane chuckled as he sat down next Rumble on the couch.
"Sorry. But man, you were going top speed." Thunderlane grabbed his little brother and held him up.
"I had to go faster than usual to catch you." He pulled his brother down and jabbed a hoof into his sides. Rumble squealed out in laughter.
"Might have to take your wings." Thunderlane said playfully. "I want to be fastest flyer." He let his brother go to catch his breath.
"Well why did you wake me anyways?" Rumble asked.
"Because we're spending the day with Cloudchaser and Flitter." Thunderlane told him.
"Aw man." Rumble moped.
"Oh, don't give me that."
"But Flitter and Cloudchaser treat me like a baby and call me "cute" and "adorable". It gets on my nerves."
Thurnderlane chuckled. Flitter and Clouchaser adored Rumble. They always greeted him with hugs and kisses. Though Thunderlane could tell that Rumble actually liked it.
"Come on buddy, when you're older, you'll learn to like it."
"Well there's the problem, i'm not older. I'm little."
Thunderlane put a hoof on Rumbles shoulder.
"One day." He said to his little brother with a smile.
Rumble walked out to the porch and looked up while waiting for Thunderlane. It had been ten minutes but the words stuck to him.
"One day, I'll be big and strong." He said.
"Yes you will. Now lets get going." Thunderlane said.
The two took off...
...running from the grineer that chased them relentlessly. Excalibur and Loki had found their way around to where the evac point was. the door opened to find Volt and Ember aiming at them.
"We have to leave." Loki said.
"Lets." Ember added.
The four entered their exit holds. After fitting in, they held on tight and pressed their body up as much as they could as they felt the suction of air loss as they entered space. Lotus got on the radio.
"Nice work Tenno. We'll examine the Orikin artifact when you get there. Nice work."
The ships used to evac the team of tenno pulled into the hangar of their H.Q. The team dropped down and landed on their feet. They were greeted by a woman.
"Welcome back Tenno." she said. Loki stepped forward as the red pulse gave way on his hand. Out came the orikin artifact.
"Why thank you Loki. We needed this." The Orikin artifact floated by Lotus as she walked away. Ember walked over and thought out loud "How can she not ask if we're okay?"
"Because Ember, I know you're all okay." Lotus called back.
"So I assume that answers your question." Volt said. Ember simply shrugged him off.
Excalibur looked around. It seemed as though every Tenno serving right now had arrived from a mission. He could see Rhino and Trinity getting back from a mission. Frost and Ash were in a corner and Vauban finished training with Banshee while Nyx and Sayrn wrapped up a sparing match.
The bridge door opened to reveal Lotus standing there.
"I knew you would come Excalibur." She said. Excalibur was used to her predicting skills.
"Lotus, i'm confused. Why are we all here? There has to a mission we should be out handling." Excalibur said to his leader.
"Well, I consider it blind luck. turns out, that artifact your team brought in wasn't an artifact. It was coordinates to an unknown planet." Lotus exclaimed.
"Were you planning on sharing the news with the others?" Excalibur asked.
"They are being briefed in a moment. We have the route set."
Excalibur nodded his head. "Very good."
"Come on Rumble" Thunderlane called to his little brother, "We're almost there."
"You said that like an hour ago." Rumble complained. "Where are we even going?"
The two were were in a forest. Sweet Apple Acres could be seen behind them.
"You'll see." Thunderlane answered, followed by a chuckle.
Rumble only rolled his eyes at the answer. Thunderlane always gave him the answers he never wanted.
A branch hit Rumble in the face. He looked to see Thunderlane had passed them. Rumble ran through to see their destination. A pond that glimmered in the sunlight.
"We're here." Thunderlane announced happily to his little brother. Rumble breathed to say something before being tackled into a tight hug.
"Rumble!" A female voiced squealed as he felt something rub his cheek. He knew who it was
"Please stop Cloud Chaser."
"It's Flitter." she responded.
Rumble only groaned and said, "Still. Can you stop?"
"Aw, but I don't want to. You're to adorable." She said as she nuzzled him some more.
Cloud Chaser landed next to Thunderlane, who looked at the two with a smile on his face.
"Glad to see you two made it."
"And the first ones here." CC added.
"Good thing, Rumble would have blown a fuse if you two hugged him in front of everypony."
"Well Flitter can't help it. She loves Rumble way to much for that." Cloud Chaser said as she looked at her sister.
"Come on Flitter, quit it." Rumble asked weakly, as if hoping she wouldn't here.
"What do you say?" Flitter teased, knowing that he liked it.
"Ugh. Please." Rumble said under his breath.
"Good boy." Flitter finished with a big, wet kiss on his cheek and went back to her sister.
Rumble look at her hover over to them. Sighing he put a hoof out to her.
"Come back."
"Bastard Tenno took our map piece. Had barely just finished installing the coordinates." The captain of the Everest had bickered.
"So we can assume they're on their way their as well." A voice that sounded like the speaker breathed in when they talked said.
"Of course." Everest said. "I will meet them there."
"Or get there first." the voice said. "If you do your job, the planets inhabitants will assist you when you arrive."
"It will be done, General." Everest bowed before the transmission was cut off. The light flickered a little.
"Need to get that power source fixed." Everest complained. "If that idiot rookie hadn't done a lockdown, I wouldn't have cut the wires killing him."
The multi-color, flowing mane had given off warmth and light as Princess Celestia sat at her throne. The sun had rose and Luna slept peacfully. She had a "rare" relaxation day where she felt as if there wasn't a thing to worry about.
Wrong! Just as she was closing her eyes, a rumble shook the throne room. At first, she suspected it was her. But a guard lost his balance and fell over. That confirmed that Canterlot was being shook by something.
"What is that!?" Celestia used her royal voice.
"OUTSIDE!" A guard that burst in yelled at the top of his lungs. Celestia and the others ran out to the balcony to see a ship floating right in front of them. Princess Celestia saw it, and promptly fainted.
"Tenno, we're here." Lotus announced. all of them jumped up at the announcement. They all gathered at the docking bay without a word. Once all gathered, Lotus held up her hand.
"This planet seemed to have been off the map for quiet some time. It is unknown if they are aware of our battle so please avoid a confrontation."
"What if they're hostile?" Vauban asked.
"Simple, they may just be defending. Disarm them and pin them down." She said. "Any other questions?"
"What do we know about this world?" Banshee asked.
"Little next to it supports life. We're looking at a brand new planet."
One last voice asked, "Where are we currently?"
"In front of what appeared to be the Capital."
If Tenno could facepalm, they would have broken something at hard they'd hit their face.
"I know, not a good start, but we'll get there with peace."
Lotus then swung her hand down. The bay doors opened. It revealed several equine with spears trained at them. Ones with shields protected one that laid on the ground.
Excalibur led them in as he jumped off and onto the balcony. The ponies became more cautious as Frost and Ash jumped down. Followed by Loki.
The rest jumped and covered the balcony. Lotus stepped down and saw the look of fear, confusion but determination in the faces of the horses. Noticing the one they were protecting, Lotus spoke her first words on the new world.
"Is she dead?" She asked them.
Sweat rolled down their faces as they looked over at their leader. One young pony examined her to see that she was breathing.
"No, no she's not." He responded nervously.
Lotus nodded and said "Good, I'd hate to start off on the wrong foot." Clearly surprised but not showing it, she had never seen a race such as this.
"Who goes there?" A voice called out from within the castle.
Princess Luna ran out and saw the strange creatures standing in front of her, several guards, and-
"SISTER!" She yelled as she ran over and put herself between the aliens and her sister. Her horn pointed right at them. The action alone caused one guard to rush towards them with his spear raised.
"Disarm." Lotus ordered.
Ash tossed a shuriken into the air and quickly caught the spear and and proceeded to take it, twirled it and hit the guard with the hilt, before jabbing it into the ground.
The shuriken landed and stuck in the ground next to it.
Lotus did her best to not laugh at the look at the guards face. "I assure you, we're not here to be hostile."
Luna was getting nervous. "Who...who are you!?"
"I am Lotus, and these are the Tenno." Lotus waved her arm to present the current Warframes.
"Tenno? We've heard no such thing." Luna exclaimed.
"Then your world has been under the radar." Lotus said to herself quietly.
"Well, what are you here for?"
"We are simply here to see what this world is. Perhaps we can discuss this when miss..."
Luna stood up, She ordered the guards to lower their weapons and then, walked towards them slowly.
"I understand we were not the friendliest to greet you, so lets try this again. I'm Lotus."
Luna looked up at her, "I'm Princess Luna."
"Sergeant, you have my trust that nothing will go wrong this mission?" Captain Everest said.
"My word." He said back.
"Good, I know your team can do it. We haven't seen any Tenno on the ground yet. Stay alert."
"Will do." The transmission cut out as the shuttle rocked back and fourth. The leader of the team looked at the team of ten plus him.
"This operation is simple, see whats down here and recruit them to our cause of wiping out the Tenno." He growled at the end of his sentence.
The rocking ceased as they knew that had landed. "This is said to be heavily populated, try to not act hostile."
The doors opened, sunlight filled the shuttle as they stepped out to see the look of confused...ponies?
"What world is this?" One growled. They saw a pony with wings and a horn approach. It only made her stand since the other ponies had ran or hid.
Twilight was taken back by the sound of their voices, they sounded very inhumane. Like that of a monster. Still, she couldn't let the sound of ones voice take back from who they were.
"Well, we don't often have a new race show up." Twilight said with a chuckle.
"Hm... we wish to speak to the leader of this settlement." the one in the front said.
"I'm her." Twilight said.
"Well, perfect. We can set off our offer shortly."
"What offer?"
The team of Grineer hoped to actually talk first in hopes of breaking the ice so their recruitment isn't that of just coming in and taking.
"Lets talk in private first."
Princess Celestia opened her eyes to see Luna and a concerned guard standing over her.
"I'm alright." She said as she stood up and saw several strange figures before her.
"Greetings, I believe we haven't met. I'm Lotus." She stuck out her hand.
Celestia was taken back by the offer, and by the the strange creatures that stood around the throne room. but nonetheless, she took it with her hoof.
Princess Celestia could feel the fingers wrap around her hoof. It felt strange to have something that wasn't a hoof shake with hers.
"So what are you exactly Lotus?" Luna asked from behind them.
"Luna!" Celestia scolded.
"No no, It's alright. However, the answer is not important. What is, is that we give them their answers."
"Okay, first off. since we got out who you are Lotus, who are your friends?" Celestia asked, eyeing the faceless creature staring at her.
"Oh, of course. Where are my manners." Lotus stepped back to present Excalibur, "They are part of a race known as the Tenno. Ancient alien warriors and master of the Warframes."
"What are Warframes?" Luna asked.
"An exo-skeleton that grants them powerful abilities." Celestia winced slightly. She heard stories about the process of exo-skeletons and several mad scientists failed experiments.
"Can we see?" A guard asked.
"Not now, I'd rather much we demonstrate them in combat. Hopefully though, that will never come to be."
What amazed all of the ponies in the room was how quiet and still the Warframes were.
"Can they talk?" Lotus chuckled at that one.
"Yes. But their focus is else where."
The discussion was very brief. The excitement of these visitors was a lot to take in for some of the ponies.
"Wait! I just realized, I need to tell my student about you." Celestia pulled out a scroll and began writing a letter.
As she wrote, Luna explained about how Twilight Sparkle had been taken in by Celestia to be her personal student. She finished with how she recently earned her title of princess and became and alicorn.
"Quite the story. Where is she?" Lotus asked.
"In Ponyville. She wanted to stay with her friends." Celestia said as she walked over and using her magic,
A green flame appeared as a scroll materialized in front of Celestia. She opened the scroll just enough to read the beginning.
"Dear Princess Celestia, it's so strange that you mention an alien species. It appears another arrived in Ponyville an hour ago. Perhaps the two can meet. They call themselves the Grineer and-"
Instantly, all weapons from the Warframes were drawn. Swords were drawn and rifles were trained on all of the ponies.
"Explain. Why are the Grineer here?" Lotus said firmly.
"Wha?" Luna said. Dazed and confused by the sudden actions.
"It is a simple question. Why are the Grineer here?" Lotus said strictly.
"This is news to us as well." Celestia said. she hadn't been informed of a "Grineer" arriving.
Lotus stared at her for a while. She could tell that she was telling the truth. "Continue reading."
Celestia cleared her throat and continued. "and that they would like to meet in"
Celestia and unrolled the scroll all of the way to continue reading, only to see that a corner at the bottom had been ripped.
Excalibur walked up and grabbed the scroll and looked. That rip couldn't have been done with hooves. So he reached for the bottom corner that wasn't ripped and grabbed it and ripped it off in a very violent way.
He looked to see that two were almost identical. That gave him his answer.
"They're here." He said as he looked up.
"We're sorry for quiet the scare. I guess you all haven't heard of our race and our struggle?" The team leader said. He and Twilight sat around the library while the rest of the team was around the town.
"Struggle? No, what is it?"
"We are at war. A murderous race is in our way of our campaign to bring peace to our galaxy." He declared passionately.
If Twilight had known the history of the Grineer, she would have known that he was lying through his teeth. They were not in order of peace, they were in order of dominance.
"But I hope the murderers never reach this world, cause we need you help."
"How so?"
"We are looking for people to join our army so we-"
Twilight stopped him, "It's not in my power to do so, but I can send a letter to Princess Celestia as she does have an army of royal guards."
"Understood." The leader said with a nod. 'Damnit!, I need high trained killers, not guards of a stupid horse."
"Spike." Twilight called. Spike came out of his room nervously. He hoped the big, mean monster didn't hurt anypony yet.
"Take a-"
Spike belched and out come a note.
"note." Twilight finished her sentence.
"Dear Twilight Sparkle, a new friend has come from the world beyond ours. A women by the name of Lotus has arrived with a race of people she calls the Tenno. I would like for them to come to Ponyville as soon as they can."
"Wait, did she say "Tenno"?"
Twilight stopped reading and looked back at the word. "I believe so." and continued.
While she was focused, the team leader stepped away and got on the intercom.
"Tenno are present. Lock this town down and hold every civilian at the..."
"Excuse me ma'am, is there a place where we could hold a uh... meeting?"
"Town square I believe."
"Where is it?"
"Center of town. I'm writing to Celestia so she can meet us there." Twilight said as she continued with her note.
"Center of town." he said quietly. "All of them alive."
He only hoped that there wouldn't be loud enough gunfire.
"Spike sen-"
The Grineer ran and grabbed the note out of the little dragons hands.
"HEY!" Spike yelled as he grabbed the note and pulled on it, ripping a corner out along with a few words.
"No!" The Grineer yelled as he fired a bullet from his GRAKATA. the round startled Spike to which he breathed fire. The note was consumed in the green flames and burned up instantly.
"Ha! Good luck sending it to your Princess now!" He yelled.
"Come on Rumble, you can do it!" Flitter cheered as Rumble tried to successfully fly over the pond without falling in.
He breathed heavily and almost made it until he heard something loud came from Ponyville, causing him to lose his focus and fall in. He thrashed around until he was pulled out and into Flitters hold.
"I got you buddy." She said as he shivered. she held him with her wing.
"What was that?" Thunderlane wondered out loud.
"Lets check it out." Cloud Chaser said.
They all ran to Ponyyville. When they got there, they were greeted by a big monster in bulky armor that pointed a weapon of sorts at them.
"On the ground!" He roared.
Rarity finished the last stitch on her dress when she heard a lot of commotion outside.
"Now what is-"
The door was broken in as the Grineer burst in and grabbed Rarity and took out of her home.
Appleack ran in tears. They got Applebloom and Big Mac. She last saw Granny Smith have a weapon pointed at her head before she ran. Wionna ran away from the barn at a moments notice.
She ran to town to hopefully warn the rest. But a rope latched to her hind hoof and pulled her back. A machete wielding freak tied her down and dragged her to Town square.
All of Ponyville had been gathered in Town Square. Mayor Mare looked in horror at her town that had been in shambles before her eyes.
The leader of the team came out. Everyone kept quiet.
"I KNOW OF THE ALLY YOU HIDE FROM US!" He yelled loud enough for everypony to hear. though, they knew nothing of his words.
"You all are weak. Pathetic. We came here hoping for fighters, and team of twenty takes the whole town into lockdown." He taunted to the ponies.
"But we're getting what we want. More fighters in our war for galaxy domination." He saw fear in Twilights eyes and laughed.
"So all of you are going to be trained, to become the highest killers in the galaxy." He yelled.
Rumble look in horror. He had always wanted to be big and strong. But to force ponies to become what they didn't want, he would never do that.
"First lesson!" The Grineer reached down and plucked Rumble away from Flitter. The struggle was brief as Rumble was held to the audience as a cleaver was held out towards him.
"NO! LET HIM GO!" Flitter sobbed hysterically. Thunderlane lost for words and Cloud Chaser doing her best to hold her sister back.
"See this little pony?! He's small, weak. He'd never last a day in training. To him, he's nothing more than dead weight to the Grineer."
Rumble began to cry in fear and from the words that he called him.
"So I'll do the honors of taking care of dead weight." He said as he raised the cleaver.
The sound of flesh being sliced ripped through the air. Rumble fell to the ground.
He opened his eyes He felt pain, but it was from when he got pulled on the by the neck. Other than that, he was fine. He scurried back to Flitter, who held him and peppered his face with kisses.
So what was that slicing noise?
The Grineer stood there, his arms in the same position. But he was quietly grunting in severe pain.
"Sir," one marine called out, "are you okay?"
He only had one word to say.
"No."
His arm went flying off as he held the wound before a blade pierced his back and went through him. It slashed upwards to show a faceless figure had been behind him.
"TENNO!" The marines called before he was shot in the head.
In dropped Frost, who used his freeze abilities to halt a small group of Grineer. Using his sword, he sliced them in two as Nyx jumped over him and right next to a Grineer as the two fired at a marine together. He came back to his sense to realized he was controlled. He was stabbed the moment he made eye contact with her.
Mag came into the group to bring them together and crush them into dust. During which, one shot of a bullet that hit a pony in the hoof. Trinity stepped in and healed the wound with no trouble.
A Grineer Scorpion ran at the hostages before being stopped by an Telsa grenade from Vauban.
Sayrn leaped towards a Grineer in a very graceful fashion, she danced around her target and even brushed her fingers under his chin before jumping away. The Grineer clutched his throat in pain as he tried to spit at large amounts of venom. He wasn't successful.
Banshee put herself in front of the ponies and let out Sonic Boom. Knocking back five and killing a sixth just as he set off a smoke grenade.
"Hold fire." she said.
Volt, Loki, Ember and Excalibur had worked on freeing the hostages. But when the smoke cleared, the remaining five marines had grabbed a pony and held a gun or cleaver to their necks.
"We'll kill them!" He declared angrily while pressing the cleaver on Twilights neck, who had a look of pain and fear.
"Call front." Excalibur said quietly. Frost claimed the one who held Applejack. Ember would kill the one who held Cloud Chaser.
"GIVE UP NOW OR THEY DIE!" He yelled.
Ash had his sights on the one with Cherilee. Vauban had the last one who had Rainbow Dash.
"Shouldn't we have our guns out?" He asked.
They were all empty handed.
"SCREW IT!" The grineer yelled madly as he swung the cleaver.
In a split second, all sidearms were raised and rounds were fired at lightning fast speed at every Grineer. They all fell dead after being filled with bullets, leaving the ponies unharmed. They insantly hurried over to their friends, all in tears at the events.
"Nice work Tenno." Lotus said as they all looked over the dead Grineer. the blood, the parts. The ponies that hugged their loved ones in tears.
"Team 1, come in." Captain Everest tried. No response. Their call had been dead for an hour now. He knew the Grineer code, if a team didn't respond within an hour, they were dead.
"Damnit!" He yelled as he smashed his hand on the wall, leaving a dent.
He had to call for reinforcments, he quickly got on call to contact a nearby ship captain.
"Are there Grineer vessels out there. This is Captain Everest, come in!" He said as the message carried out.
"Everest, its Tyl Regor. What seems to be your problem?" A voice responded.
"It's the damn Tenno! First, they raided my ship, and then they wipe out my ground team." Everest complained.
"Someone had bad luck. Did you say ground team?"
Everest remembered he was trying to conquer a planet.
"Yes, we found a world, I was told they've never heard of us or the Tenno till now."
"Really, I'll have to come on by and check it out myself. Send those coordinates my way." Tyl said.
"Done." Everest laid back in his chair and kicked a button. "See ya in a few."
The transmission cut away.
"Mother..." Celesia gasped out the sight. The once peaceful town of Ponyville had suddenly turned to a prison for those who lived there. Ponies sobbed madly, foals shook in fear while others just looked at the horror. The Grineer all laid dead. Some in pieces. The Tenno disposed of them and their dead bodies rather quickly, but the image would remain in the ponies minds.
Rumble cried silently to a tearful Flitter and a quiet Thurnderlane. Cloud Chaser tried to get the feeling and fear of having a sharp blade on her neck. A cut was made by the wielder who tried to slit her throat at a moments notice. By the time realized that the group was going to kill their hostages, he was to late and was shot. As for the cut he made, that was healed by Trinity as soon as they saw it.
Twilight was immediately checked by guards. After confirming she was fine, one guard stayed near her while the rest went around the town.
Fluttershy sobbed as Pinkie tried to comfort her, but her flat mane didn't help. Rarity held Sweetie Belle, who cried into her chest. Rainbow Dash did her best to look strong, but the imprint of a gun to her head still lingered in her mind. Yet, she hid it as she hugged Scootaloo.
Applejack put her hat on Applebloom and held her close. Big Mac did his best to explain to Granny Smith what happened, who was just plain confused by the situation. Spike checked around to all of his friends and everypony to make sure that they were all okay, because he wasn't.
Celestia looked back to Lotus. the look of sorrow on the ponies faces matched hers as well.
"What do we do?" She pleaded to Lotus. Princess Celestia saw the brute force of how Grineer could easily overtake her land.
"We fight them." Lotus said. She turned to face the ponies. All of the warframes gathered behind her.
"They're coming. Knowing the Grineer, they won't let this one go. What ever they told you before they attacked was all lies. They want nothing more to be the supreme species in the galaxy. Taking this planet will be a big step in their mission on dominance."
Panic began to arise in the crowd of ponies. Lotus raised her hand up and silence fell upon the crowd.
"But be vigilante, for we share a common foe. The Grineer are responsible for their attempts to wipe out the Tenno. They will protect you." Each of the warframes nodded.
"What is our first plan of action?" Frost asked.
Suddenly, a voice rang in their ears.
"So you defeated my team, eh? Now get ready for the army!" Everest said as the communication was cut short with several shuttles flying over head. The panic had arisen again.
"Everypony get to cover, Twilight and uh..." Celestia forgot the guards name.
"Flash Sentry." (Did you hear that. People just unfavorited this story.)
"Stick with her." Celestia ordered. He saluted as he lead her away.
"Celestia, I'd advise you and I retreat as well." Lotus said as she began walking away.
Celestia delayed as she looked back. "What about the Tenno?"
Lotus smirked, "They have this one."
The Tenno looked to see Grineer ships landing and troops piling out in front of them, the numbers were at least 200 vs. 8.
Excalibur pulled out his Skana and twirled it in his fingers, Frost readied his Braton as Vauban loaded his shotgun. The three merely stood in front of the rest as they readied for the fight.
"Their campaign has expanded, sadly, to a world of peace."
The Grineer hopped out of their ships, landing on the very ground of Ponyville.
"They will be ruthless. Stopping at nothing until they can claim this world as theirs."
Guards ran at the failed fight against the monsters that were the marines. A lot were shot as the rest fled, Flash Sentry himself ran before he was shot in the leg and turned around to see a Grineer with a gun pointing at him.
"Luckily..."
A balde went through the Grineer, killing it right before he pulled the trigger. He fell to reveal Ash behind him, who helped Flash up.
"... we are here as well. The Tenno and you share a common enemy."
Frost froze the enemies in has path as Volt let out a wave of lighting to kill them.
"So you are going to help us, how?" Princess Celestia asked. Lotus turned to face her.
"By doing what they do, hunt them and kill them."
Excalibur jumped into the fray and swung his blades wildly, killing the foes around him.
"Tenno, you have a mission. Wipe out the units on that ship."
"You're wish is my command." Excalibur said he dropped from the ceiling.
Everest looked down at the pony, "My power against yours is no match. Give up pony."
The two met face to face as their blades clashed, emitting sparks that lit their faces.
"Never."
Rumble tried his best not to cry, Flitter screamed as she was dragged by her neck. The sight instead drove him to courage.
"I can be brave and strong." He thought as he ran after her, Leaving Volt.
"Don't." He said to him. He ran after him as Loki and Excalibur joined him.
"If their numbers keep growing, they'll all be here." Lotus said.
"Then what do we do?" Celestia pleaded.
Lotus turned to face her, "I have a plan."
Rhino swung his axe, pinning a grineer on it, he swung it over head, did a spin, and hit the ground, severing him in half.
He pulled out his Gorgon and fired round after round.
He held Flash by his helmet, cracking it. Twilight looked up at him to see him looking back from the very Edge of Canterlot to the ground.
"No." She sighed as a tear fell from her left eye.
"This is almost a lost cause," Celestia weaped, "How can we keep going?"
"Cause Tenno don't know the word surrender."
Excalibur swung and emited sparks from the other blade, making it the only light in the room as he kept swinging.
"It's ours. Soon, this planet will belong to us." Councilor Hek said as he looked out the bridge in the rather dark room.
"Perhaps," A dark, voice said, "But what of the rest?"
"We will deal with them like we dealt with the Tenno."
"I meant the Tenno." He said, showing a little emotion for once.
The Grineer hoped of their ships, landing on the very ground of Ponyville.
The Tenno stood their ground, not moving at all as they watched Grineer land and ready their weapons for the fight.
"Attention Tenno," Everest, "If you surrender now, we can promise that the death of all of the ponies will be quick."
"Tenno, what do you say to his offer?" Lotus asked, with a rather straight face. Princess Celestia looked at her with a face of shock.
"No deal, Everest." Frost said.
Lotus smirked, "I thought so." She turned away and walked off with Celestia, "Is there somewhere safe we can get the town?"
Celestia thought for a moment, "Twilight, do you think we can-"
Gunfire started, causing the others to run for cover.
"We can try!" Twilight exclaimed over the noise of the fight. Flash Sentry took the lead as Twilight told him the way.
As for the Tenno, they all ran for cover as well. The gunfire did a number on their shields. While waiting, they worked a plan.
"Can we split them up?" Ash asked.
"Only if we do." Banshee said.
"Tenno, some news, due to an overflow of ponies, all of the young ones are being sent to the school."
Lotus turned to see foals crying and being hugged by their parents in tears. She noticed the one saved from the Grineer team leader.
"Now Rumble, I promise you, you'll be okay." Thunderlane sweated nervously. Rumble was hugged by Flitter and Cloud Chaser. Flitter kissed his face non-stop.
"Okay, Thunderlane." Rumble said, clearly to shaken to respond properly.
"Oh...*sob* Rumble. I...I" Flitter sobbed. To much in hysterics to even talk.
"I assure you," they turned around to see Lotus standing above them, "that all of these ponies will be okay."
"How?" Cloud Chaser asked.
Lotus stepped away, and in one swift move, a holographic setup appeared in her very hands. It showed the a digital map of Ponyville with location of enemies and the Warframes.
"Woah." Thunderlane commented.
"Tenno, if one of you could escort the young ones to the school secretly."
"Is there an adult with them?" One asked.
"Yes." A pink mare answered. "I'm their teacher." She told Lotus.
"It is confirmed. Good luck Tenno. Stay out of sight."
Volt looked over, the others had taken cover in ally ways and were merely fireing back. Taking a chance, he jumped up the walls and on to the roof tops of Ponyville.
"Ma'am, you have an escort. Now go." Lotus said as Cherilee stepped out.
"But where is he?" Cherilee asked as she stepped outside.
"Relax ma'am. You'll be okay." Lotus assured her as the door was closed.
"THIS ISN'T HOW THINGS WORK!" She yelled, before silencing herself to avoid attracting attention.
"Come on children, keep calm and quiet, we'll be okay." Cherilee said as she herself tried to keep her cool.
She only had to simply walk down a long street to get to the school. But her nervousness was trying to get the best of her.
'No, need to stay calm for the kids.' She said in her mind.
She took every step she took with caution, the kids were almost quiet except for their breath. The gunfire in the distance sounded so far away.
"We're almost there, just stay quiet." She said, the slow walking soon turned into a run as they made it up the shcool yard as Cherilee opened the door. The children quickly ran in.
Just when Cherilee was about to close the door, when she saw the path she took, her jaw hit the ground.
She might as well have walked through a war. Dead bodies of Grineer marines laid all over the street. The teacher tried her best to not lose her lunch at the thought that death was so close to the children.
But who could kill them so quietly?
She shut the door and locked it.
Ember gunned down waves of enemies with her vipers as Excalibur shot at the others with his Braton. The two were back to back. Nyx kept tricking others into fighting each other, which would draw the areas attention for a short while.
While Warframes like Frost and Loki had the ground, Banshee was above them with support. Ash snuck around, killing any Grineer that tried to get away.
"Lotus," Excalibur said, "the Grineer is in full strength, and if Ash is correct, they are trying to find where the town is hiding. We may need to guard around town, as well as send in-"
"You can read minds, Excalibur, sending him in now. Guard fake locations to draw the Grineer away."
At the HQ, a dropship became active.
"Ha! They're falling back." A marine spat as he saw the Warframes run and jump away from the fight.
"Wait, we got one more to fight!" One yelled excitedly.
They saw a dropship fly in and dove to the ground, many would have thought it had crashed at the large amount of dust that rose and how fast it was flying. Yet, they saw it fly overhead and away.
When the dust cleared, a very bulky Warframe stood before them. His armor reflected the rays of the sun.
Without warning, he charged right at the group in front. Ignoring all of the shots fired at him, anyone in his path was gored and torn apart.
"It's Rhino!" The Grineer called as they fired. Instead of being stopped by his shields, the bullets reflected away, one even hit a marine.
Rhino wasted no time as he readied his axe and slammed it into the ground, which finished off the hurt marine.
"All units, fall out!" A panicked marine ordered before being cleaved in half.
The rest wasted no time in running. The marines fired back, only for Rhino to charge to them again, killing them and getting into the middle of a group.
"Fire!" They ordered.
Rhino used his axe to kill the closest marine. They all rushed at him in hopes of killing him with no avail. Rhino swung his axe, catching a marine on it. He swung it into the air, spun around slowly, and slammed it into the ground. The marine was severed in half, raising his hand in despair before it fell to the ground.
Rhino quickly pulled out his Gorgon and fired, the rounds tore the marines to shreds as they fell.
Rhino could see dropships for the marines landing. 'Cowards.' He thought as he rushed at them.
"We're getting out of here." A marines said as he ran the ship.
Rhino landed on him and let out a powerful stomp, slowing down time as the others floated in the air. He chopped a few down with his axe as Excalibur jumped in and stabbed one into the ground before jumping away.
Any marines left, carried each other into the few dropships that took off, leaving Rhino to look as they flew away.
"Lotus, what do you need me for?" His deep, crackly, yet emotionless voice asked.
"Rhino, you never cease to amaze me." Lotus responded.
A Grineer trooper tip toed up the path as quietly as he could. He was sure this was the place. He snuck up to the door and, as fast as he could, busted the front door in with his shoulder.
"HA! I was right!" He cheered happily. Though the screams only added to his success.
Cherilee had the foals in a corner as he walked in. The look of terror on their faces made him smile in accomplishment.
"Sorry I wasn't here sooner." He taunted. Raising his shotgun, he pumped a shell and aimed at them.
"NO!" cherilee screamed as she rushed at him, only to get a shotgun blast to the stomach. She fell, clutching her bleeding wounds.
"MS. CHERILEE!" Sweeite Belle yelled out.
Just when the he was ready to start firing, Volt jumped on to his back, knocking the shotgun away from him. The Trooper staggered over to the front desk.
"Oh, someone just made a BAD mistake." He said with a large amount of confidence as he flipped volt onto the desk, breaking it. He slammed his foot down to only meet the splinters as Volt got up quickly. Volt braced himself as the trooper tackled him through the wall.
Getting up, the trooper held on to Volt. Not expecting for the move he was about to make. Volt got out his dual Ethers, spun them so they faced him, and stabbed himself and the Trooper in the process.
The trooper fell backwards with Volt going down with him. He laid there in pain but knowing he would be okay.
"Lotus, send Trinity." He said.
"Who's hurt?" She asked.
"The teacher and me." He said as he blacked out, leaving the foals to look at him.
"Mr. Lightning Bolt, are you okay?" Apple Bloom asked as she poked him lightly with her hoof.
"Well I guess the operation was a success." Lotus clapped her hands.
"Really, a school teacher was shot." Celestia scolded.
"But did she die?" Lotus pointed out.
The Princess looked over to see her wounds fully healed by Trinity, Volt was being hugged and thanked by the foals.
"I stand corrected." She said flatly.
"You should learn to trust me more." Lotus said as she walked over to Waframes, who stood still as they were bombarded by 'thanks' from the ponies.
"I'm gonna need a team of four, we're cleaning out that ship."
"Lotus, perhaps I can handle the operation alone." Excalibur said.
"No, I think a team would be more suited for this one." Lotus knew Excalibur was known for carrying out solo missions. Though some didn't end that well for him.
"Understood." Excalibur said as he got the order.
"I will go." Vauban said as he stepped forward.
"As will I" Banshee agreed.
Nxy stepped forward as well.
"Okay, we now have a mission. You'll get it when you're on the ship."
As if on queue, four dropships appeared, the four stepped in without question. The hatches sealed as they took off, leaving a crowd that waved goodbye.
Twilight looked at the mysterious figures before. They stood without emotions, a face, and seemed to be aware of what was happening without showing it.
"Impressive, aren't they." Lotus said.
Frost and the others stood still as ponies examined them with curiosity. They attempted to ask them questions, none receiving a response.
Flash Sentry stood near Twilight, ready to defend her at a moments notice. Ash snapped his head in their direction, causing Flash to panic and stab at him with his spear. The very edge was caught in between the edge of Ash's fingers. Flash gasped at the sight, some of the heavy sweat on his brow flew off. Lotus walked up from behind and smirked.
"They are not here to harm you. Though, they understand the hostility and will look at that as training for oncoming attacks."
"How do you know all of this?" He asked.
"Simple, I have trained them, studied their very thoughts. Their skills may be a wonderful combat performance, but they have a high intelligence in doing so."
"So, why don't they talk."
"We posses the ability of speech. We, however, only find it necessary in certain situations. Such as, answering your question."
Flash took a second to register the fact that a Tenno talked to him.
"Well, where did those four go?" Twilight asked.
"To take the fight back to Captain Everest. Speaking of, I believe they are arriving there by now." Lotus walked into the classroom and started her setup.
"Tenno, can you hear me?" She asked.
Nyx responded with her silent call to avoid alerting enemies.
"Good, with you on Everest's ship undetected, we can easily take care of this." Lotus did the odds in her head, they could easily finish off the forces on that ship.
"Tenno, you have a mission. Wipe out the units on that ship."
"You're wish is my command." Excalibur said as he dropped from the ceiling.
Nyx fell down as well, the two nodded at each other with Vauban and Banshee behind them.
"Wipe out all life on this ship." Lotus said as they started to move.
"Keep going, nobody noes you're on this vessel."
Meanwhile, in the other room, a small team of Grineer went about their patrols.
"So anything?"
"No, not yet."
"Keep an eye out. Captain knows they're coming."
Banshee looked at her teammates. "They appear to be in high alert. How should we proceed?"
"We make sure none get loose," Vauban said. "I'll set traps at the doors." He said.
The team agreed and waited until they were for sure no one was looking. Soon, they snuck in, without hope that their targets wouldn't turn around.
In one, synchronized move, the Grineer fell dead without a sound.
"Simple, lets move." Excalibur commented.
Just as the four ran into the next room, they were seen by the Grineer, giving them away.
"You're on the sensors now. You've been detected." Lotus said to them.
"No matter." Banshee said as she charged the fray of marines.
Vauban stuck to his shotgun and gunned down oncoming Grineer. Nyx did her business of trickery while Excalibur attacked with his blade.
With the room cleared for the moment, the team moved rather quickly. But with the next room, they made a rather strange discovery.
The Grineer were already fighting. From the looks, they were losing.
"That isn't right." Vauban said.
"Tenno, change of plans. Find and kill Captain Everest." She said.
"If I know a ship, Everest will be at the bridge." Nyx said.
"Lets move then." Banshee said.
The team ran through the door to see not a grineer, but a robot walker that shot at them.
"I should have guessed, the Corpus is here." Banshee stated.
"Lotus, we have a problem The Corpus seem to have wanted their ship back." Excalibur said.
"Teams are in high alert, though I'd rather not announce it publicly and cause a scare." She said back.
"Roger."
"Lets move, unless they killed him, Everest should still be alive."
The team moved, though most of the fighting was with the Grineer and Corpus, making it easier for them to move with minimal engagement.
Though it appeared to easy for them as Nyx pointed out to the team.
"You're right." Excalibur agreed "Though one can assume that this fight between them is the cause."
"Perhaps, though we can find another reason. Everest should be on the other side of the door."
The four rushed in to find something that shocked all of them.
It wasn't that Everest was gone, it was what was outside the window.
A second Grineer ship was in a battle with a Corpus ship.
"Lotus, we have a problem."
"I see it. Everypony on the ground see's it. It's night, whole damn ground is getting light from the battle."
"What are our plans?"
"Is Everest there?"
"No. He clearly fled. From what we can see, he called for help. What about on the ground?"
"We are obviously in full defense. Celestia goes on about something called the "Elements of Harmony." Should ask her about. Right now, you need to focus on getting the hell out of there. It looks as though both sides are going in after you. Deployment wise, it looks like the odds of them running into each other are slim compared to finding you."
"It will be done." Excalibur looked to his team. "We're leaving."
"No, you're not." A deep, robotic voice said.
"Sgt. Nef Anyo. Responsible for taking cryopods with inactive Warframes." Vauban said.
"Thanks for the history update. Though, time for you to join your brothers."
Excalibur ran at him, jumping into the air and kicking him in the face.
"Not today, Sergeant." He said as the rest of the team ran, not paying attention to stomping on him as well.
"Nice one, Tenno," He taunted. "But we'll see each other again."
The team went as fast as they could. Bullets and plasma were dodged or cut in order to escape. Extraction wasn't hard to find. The team walked in and ignored the gunfire directed at them as they pulled away.
"Lotus, what are our plans to deal with the current situation?" Excalibur asked, surrounded by nothing but darkness in the hold of the ship.
"For now, we have a problem. While your team was busy, Tyl sent his force towards Canterlot." Lotus said. "The coordinates are being sent to the evac ships right... now."
A small beep was heard as they could feel the ships turn slowly.
"See you when you get here, Tenno." Lotus cut the transmission.
Lotus got off the transmitter in time to dodge a bullet from a Grineer before he was killed by Trinity. Rhino wasted no time in disposing teams of grineer. Lotus grinned as she retreated inside to a safe room. It was desigened for royalty in the events of a disaster such as this.
Inside showed Twilight with her six friends. A team of five guards for the princesses. Lotus simply sat down in the dark room.
"Princess Celestia, please let me go look for Flash and his team." Twilight pleaded. Celestia sighed while shaking her head.
"Twilight, you can't go out there. You are a target. I promise you, he will be okay." Celestia assured. Though, Twilight was still anxious.
"Where is the team you sent, Lotus?" Luna asked.
"They are on their way." Lotus answered as she looked out the small crack of the door.
The Tenno had a decent hold on the fight. Rhino was a primary threat that by the time they had the strength to take him down, he would wipe out the team as the next arrived and then kill the others.
Ash was all over. One moment he would appear to kill a small group with his Fang blades. Then disappear from that team to find another to kill.
Mag kept a tight grip on crown control. Ember wiped out a good amount of the teams with her heat abilities.
Volt laid quietly with the foals. Most of Ponyville was evacuated so they could be under the Tenno's watchful eye. Volts wounds restricted him to slow movements. the foals hugged him tightly as he kept them quiet.
"Mister Lightning Bolt, are we gonna be okay?" Sweetie Belle asked.
Volt didn't bother with the correction. 'A nickname made for my abilities. I enjoy that.'
"We will. I promise."
Rumble sat alone in the corner. He only wished that he could be with his brother and hugged by Flitter, while Cloud Chaser protected him from the monsters that were called Grineer.
The team of Corpus landed to see Frost simply sitting there.
"You're coming with us." One of the crewmen said.
"No i'm not."
"Yes, you won't stop us from advancing the systems. Even if it requires killing you and the Grineer."
"If you're gonna kill me, might want to check your gun first." Frost said.
"Huh?" The Corpus could only glance down for a second before being sliced down the middle by Frosts Gram. He swung around to cleave another crewman in half.
Sayrn jumped down to kill one with her throwing knives. She pulled out a dagger and danced around her target before killing him with a slice to the throat.
"Ambush! Fall back!" They called as they ran back to the drop ship. the doors closed and it took off.
"That was far to easy." Sayrn said.
"Indeed." Frost said. "Lotus, you were right. The Corpus landed in Ponyville. It was only a small team. Most likely recon."
"Understood Frost. Await orders." Lotus said as she went back to staring out the crease in the door.
From the looks, it was the last wave. Most of the Grineer were either dead or retreating.
"We have it!" A pony called as he galloped over with a box on his back. Flash entry was next to him, both covered in blood and dirt.
"Where are the others?" Lotus asked as she opened the door.
"Dead!" Flash called. The sound of his voice was so much relief for Twilight. She ran past Lotus, who tried to object, and straight towards Flash.
One moment, the guard that had the elements was running to the safe house, the next, he was gone. A black mark replaced his current position. Flash was blown away and into a wall, unconscious. Twilight was knocked down and the box opened to have the Elements of Harmony fly out an on to the ground.
"Nice try." Tyl Regor growled as he stepped into view. He looked over and picked up an element, Loyaty to be exact.
"Hey, that's mine, jerk." Rainbow Dash charged at Tyl and kicked him away. She caught her element and ran back before she was caught.
Spike saw Twilight on the ground and ran over. "Twilight, get up!" He pleaded.
"Poor, little creature. she's done for." Tyl taunted.
"Leave Spikey-wikey alone!" Rarity said as she charged at him.
Tyl smirked under his mask and threw out a glowing, blue orb. When it detonated, a blue rope lashed out and wrapped around Rarity, electrocuting her and stopping her in her tracks. She screamed in pain and thrashed around violently to free her fore-hooves and get out of her torture.
"Ah ah ah. You should play nice for once." He taunted as he ignored Spike and went over and picked Rarity up. A team of Grineer came in and kicked spike away and grabbed Twilight.
"Grab the elements." Tyl ordred as he pocketed Generosity, another team grabbed Magic while one more grabbed Kindness. The others were not seen.
"Tyl, I'd advice you put those down and free the ponies." Lotus said.
"Why don't you do it Lotus, instead of sicking the Warframes at us all the time." Tyl taunted as he walked over the dropship.
Twilight was boarded in with a team, Tyl was about to board before being grabbed from behind.
Excalibur spun him around and socked Regor in the face. Regor fell before struggling to get up. Vauban appeared and chased after the team with Rarity while Banshee and Nyx helped Excalibur.
"Captain Everest is in charge now!" He called as the doors closed.
"No, stop them." Celestia said with tears. Flash stumbled over and reached a hoof out as the ship pulled away with Twilight on it.
Vauban chased the team of Grineer as they went to another dropship. He could see it landing and realized that he had no chance of taking on the teams. We could only watch as the ship landed.
"We have a hostage and artifact. Get us out of here!" A marine called as the doors opened.
Immediately, the marine was shot in the face as the soon as the door opened. the others looked to be shot by plasma.
"Thanks you for the exchange." Sgt. Nef Anyo said as he walked out with a team of MOA and Corpus Crewmen.
Rarity had hoped that this group was a rescue, but the roughness of her being grabbed said otherwise.
"It appears this pony is of importance. Luckily, I too have one of those."
"One of what?" Rarity asked weakly.
"A remote to tazer ropes." Anyo said as he pushed a button.
Rarity screamed in pain before she couldn't handle it anymore and passed out.
"Well, you have me. Now what?" Tyl asked as he struggled a little in his chains.
"We're only hoping we can make a trade for your hostage with Everest."
Vauban walked in.
"Vabuan, report."
"The Corpus had arrived in a drophsip, and took Rarity and the artifact with them."
"HA! Looks like no trade." Tyl taunted, earning a smack from Excalibur.
"How so, we still have you. Everest can't possibly lead an invasion like this." Lotus said.
"And he won't. I called for the fleet when I landed."
"You WHAT!?" Celestia said.
"That's right. I'm bringing a party here." Tyl taunted before laughing happily.
It was official, all of the Grineer fleet were on its way. The thought nearly made Excalibur lose it. No, he won't. He had to do something.
Taking his Skana, Excalibur stuck the blade through Regors face, killing him.
The others recovered from their small panic to see the damage done.
"Excalibur, that won't go without punishment." Lotus said.
"How are we gonna get Twilight, Rarity, and the elements back now?" Celestia sobbed.
"Lotus, I will go for Rarity." Vauban said. "I failed at rescuing her the first time. I can't allow myself to fail a second time."
"It is granted, Vauban. I advise a team go for this one. You are being tasked with retrieving the Element."
"I will go with Vauban." Ash said.
"As will we." Trinity said with Ember.
"Well then, it is settled. We're going after Rarity and the stolen element."
Excalibur approached Lotus. "Lotus, permission for a solo operation for the rescue of Princess Twilight Sparkle."
"Granted, Excalibur."
"Wait, what? You're going alone to rescue my star pupil?"
"Yes, Celestia, I can promise that Excalibur can handle this operation."
"I refuse to allow this. Unless you took a pony with you."
Lotus grinned. "While no offence, I haven't seen a pony here that has a chance to match to the skills of a Tenno."
As much as Princess Celestia hated it, Lotus was right. she hadn't met a pony that could fight the Grineer.
"I uhm... know somepony who could." Fluttershy said quietly.
"Who? Where are they?" Celestia said suddenly, startling Fluttershy.
"Celestia, calm yourself. You don't need to frighten her." Lotus said softly as she went over.
"I can take you to him. If you want." She said.
"Please do. You would be of great help to us." Lotus said.
"Right, follow me." she said as she lead Celestia and Lotus out of the castle.
A thin blade made of nothing but pink colored magic floated around the room as a unicorn with a green mane and tail along a yellow coat sat in the middle.
A knock at the door caused him to slice at it, causing a small 'eep' to sound.
"Edge, are you there?"
His eye lids opened, revealing his blood red iris's. He used his magic to open the door.
"What do you want?"
"I am told you have skills that we need." Lotus said from behind him.
"Why is that?" He asked.
"Princess Twilight Sparkle was kidnapped. We need your help." Princess Celestia pleaded.
"Fine. I'll go save her." Sharp Edge said as he got up.
"It's not that simple. You are assisting someone in the rescue."
Edge turned towards Lotus, his blue eyes staring her down.
"Who?"
The heavy sound of engines whirling came from outside. They ran out to see the small Tenno H.Q. in front.
"You'll meet him. Get aboard." Lotus said as the bay doors opened.
Celestia turned towards her subject, "Fluttershy, go back to the castle. We'll be fine."
"Oh, okay." Fluttershy said. She turned to see Sharp Edge looking at her.
"Good to see you again, and that you're alright with all of... well, you know."
"Oh, uhm... you too." Fluttershy said shyly.
"Come on, Sharp Edge." Lotus called.
"Well, uh... stay safe." Fluttershy said.
"You too."
Sharp Edge ran off and jumped on to the ship, his blood red eyes slowly went back to blue as he walked into the hangar. He saw a humanoid creature, much to that of Lotus, standing with the rest.
"Excalibur, you two are splitting up. You will meet back at the holding area to safely escort the hostage off."
"I still don't understand, he's alone. He can't do something like this." Celestia argued.
"Oh, but he can." Lotus said as Excalibur, who had no weapons, walked over to the armory.
He went with long guns first, thought his Latron was very useful, he instead picked up a Paris hunting bow. For side arms, he swapped his Lex for Akimbo Latos. As for his blade, dual heat swords, one sword, one dagger were equipped.
"Fully loaded." Lotus commented.
"What about Sharp Edge? He may be fast, but he doesn't have protection." Celestia pointed out.
"Easy, we have an area where Tenno equip their warframes, during which, a process in which the armor is welded to their skin. The process could work for a pony."
"Will it hurt?" Sharp Edge asked.
"Advice, keep your lungs expanded." Lotus simply said.
"Okay, ready." Lotus asked to Sharp Edge, who was currently hanging above a pool of unknown substance.
"Pretty much." He said.
He was lowered in where the process began. At first, it felt like he was simply being hugged. However, he breathed outward as he felt it squeeze on his chest and parts of his face. His hooves felt numb as he tried to move them around.
"Remain calm. It's almost over."
Next came a very uncomfortable heating to the liquid. He was positive his skin was gonna start boiling soon. He saw the liquid began to boil before it quickly became cool.
"Done."
Edge was lifted out and placed and the ground. His tail was free as he moved his limbs around to adjust to the new armor that resembled the skin of Excalibur's warframe.
"Congrats, you now have the same protection as the Tenno." Lotus said.
"Alright, Excalibur and a pony have left for Princess Twilight Sparkle. It leaves us now." Ash said as the team went to the balcony. Four evac ships awaited them.
Vauban was ready to leave when a tiny purple dragon waved him over.
"What is it you require?" He asked.
"Hey, so you guys are going to save Rarity?"
"That is correct."
Spike breathed a small sigh of relief. "Can you promise me something?"
Promise, that word rang in Vauban's ears. He often held his end on them and knew the Tenno were known for keeping them.
"What is it?" He asked.
"Can you promise me to protect Rarity and bring her back safely, for me?"
"Why is this? The other ponies mourn her capture, yet you beg for her return. Why?"
"Okay, can you keep a secret?" Spike asked.
"A secret told to me is ordered to me kept quiet unless involving such matters as enemies of where-a-bouts of other Tenno. What is it?" Vauban asked.
"I...kinda...have a crush on Rarity." Spike said, not caring about the fact he just told a complete stranger.
"The secret will be kept. And I will hold my promise to you."
Spike had tears form in his eyes as he ran and hugged Vauban.
"Thank you." He said.
"I have to go." Vauban said, not jaded from the hug at all.
"Right, good luck." Spike said as he let go.
Vauban walked off with one thing on his mind, fulfill that promise.
"So, how does it feel?" Lotus asked to the unicorn, who was busy looking at his new skin. It had covered his hooves, all of his body except for the tail, his neck and covered parts of his cheeks.
"It feels really weird." He answered.
"The answer I thought you would say. Take your time."
Sharp Edge shook his hoofs and body as he tried to adjust to the new layer of skin. Then, he suddenly ran at top speed at a wall. He jumped to the side and ran along side it. He jumped off, doing a flip before landing.
"Damn, this thing doesn't hold me back." Sharp Edge commented while catching his breath.
"Impressive." Lotus told him. "But I'd like to see your combat skills before we enter battle."
"Lets do it." Edge said.
"Okay, follow me." Lotus lead him into a room that was pure white.
"This is the training area. The Tenno train here and so shall you. The enemies fire live rounds but I know that if you are skilled enough, you will come out on top." Lotus said as she left Sharp Edge in the room.
"Now, I will spawn an idle enemy. He won't move. Show me what you are capable of." Lotus said as a hologram of a Grineer soldier appeared in front of Edge.
"Take him down." Lotus ordered.
Edge spawned a blade from his magic and sliced at the target, killing it.
"Hold on, I need to give you something." The door opened and Lotus stepped in with a device in her hand. she walked over to the unicorn, examined him before holding his head still and putting the device on.
When Edge opened his eye, he noticed the right side was colored red.
"You are currently wearing an eyepiece that gives you the HUD of a Tenno. With this, you can see an enemy's health and shields. You can also check your own shields with this."
"What about health?" Edge asked.
"You merely have the protection and sight of a Tenno, I can not see your health since you aren't a Tenno." The voice went through the part of the piece on his ear.
"Got it." He confirmed.
"Now, you must prove yourself. Take out the wave of enemies. Be warned, they will fight back." Lotus instructed as a small amount of holographic Grineer spawned.
Edge took his blade and blocked the strike of a Grineer sawman. He countered with a slice that turned the sawman into two. It 'fizzled' away as Edge rushed towards the next target. The Lancer fired rounds at him that were deflected by the blade. Sharp Edge took off the hand that was on the trigger and stabbed the Grineer.
He turned to dodge a swing from a Scorpion unit. He dashed forward and slashed at him, dropping him dead. He looked over to see that last two rushing at him. He smirked as he flipped over one who swung his cleaver at him.
He slammed his blade into the ground that split his target in two. Without hesitation, he quickly killed the other marine.
"Impressive. They will most likely underestimate you for being a pony. Use that to show the Grineer what you're truly made of." Lotus said as the doors opened to show Excalibur.
"You're skills have been proven. Now be ready to use them." He said. "Our mission is simple." He said as the two walked to the hangar. "Rescue Princess Twilight, who is being held on the Grineer-taken Corpus ship." He explained.
"We are splitting up. The prison block will be heavily guarded. While I enter, you must keep the Grineer away. After the rescue, we will rendezvous at the top of the elevator." He said as they walked out to the hangar.
"Sounds like a plan." Edge said as he saw the drop ships.
"Good, we will not be in the same area upon entering. Stay alive." Excalibur ordered as he entered the drop ship.
Edge looked at the structure of the holding part of the dropship and ask, "How am I supposed to get in this?"
"You're armor is magnetic to the material of the holding. Just jump in." Lotus said.
Edge took a running start before jumping. Feeling his body get taken by the magnetic force, he spun around to feel himself slam into the holding.
"Good luck." Lotus said as the doors closed, sealing him in.
As he could feel himself lift from Equestria, his only thought was coming back.
Not for his home, but for her.
"Lotus, we have entered the Corpus vessel undetected. The operation will commence on your go."
"It's a go."
Vauban dropped from the ceiling, followed by Ash. Trinity and Ember stood behind the two as they nodded.
"Tenno, i'm currently monitoring two missions at once. Try not to have me busy between the two." Lotus said.
"Understood, with hopes, the Corpus are to distracted with the Grineer."
"One can and pray and tell. Keep your guard up. I'll check in with you later. Lotus out."
"Sharp Edge, do you read me?" Excalibur asked.
"Yeah, I have you." He said nervously.
"Do not be afraid. Use their under estimation as a weapon."
"Got it."
"Remember, make your way to the top of the elevator and wait for me." Excalibur instructed.
"Alright, I understand."
"I'm going in." Excalibur said as he dropped from the ceiling.
"Roger, see you when you got the job done." Sharp Edge said as he dropped the Grineer corpse he made down and followed it.
The metallic halls of the ship were unfamiliar to the pony.
"Sharp Edge, you should see a minimap within vision from the eyepiece. I have marked your objective for you." Lotus instructed him.
"Yeah, I see it." He confirmed as he started moving.
As for Excalibur. he patiently waited by a door. Waiting was a specialty in Tenno. They had waited for reawakening and the skill carried itself from there.
The door opened to show a single Grineer unit walking by. Taking his chance, Excalibur jumped on top to his shoulders and sliced his head off with his dual blades. He fell dead as Excalibur back flipped off.
Excalibur silently ran into the room and saw a security camera. Drawing an arrow, he took out the camera, only catching the of a few Grineer in the room. He snuck up behind them and stabbed one with the sworn and the other with the dagger.
"Huh?" The Marine in the center looked behind him and saw Exca-
The two blades ripped from the bodies and went through him. His body fell forward while his legs fell backwards.
"Simple." Excalibur commented as he drew his bow and ran off.
"Excalibur, it appears there are plans for Everest to move off of this ship as soon as General Sargas Ruk arrives." Lotus said.
"Is he an assassination target?"
"Negative. The mission still stands. Find Princess Twilight and get her out of here." Lotus commanded.
"Order received." Excalibur said as he ran to the next room.
"We're in." Vauban said.
"Split up. Ember and I will retrieve the artifact while you two rescue the hostage." Ash said.
"It is a plan." Trinity said as she and Vauban ran off.
"Lets move." Ember said.
Vauban and Trinity ran through and charged at the corpus forces, since they were in a full force of four, stealth wouldn't matter.
The alarm sounded that notified the ship, alerting all forces of their presence.
"This mission should go easy for us." Trinity said.
"You two," Ash contacted, "we have a problem."
The two looked over to see a lone Corbus crewman running. He turned around to shoot before stumbling and falling down. He was pulled back where blood sprayed the walls around the hall.
"I see." Vauban said as he pulled out his blade.
A creature rounded the corner, it looked as if a sickness had became alive and attacked someone.
"Lotus, it appears this ship is infested."
"More bad news, Sgt. Nef Anyo abandoned ship and let Rarity there with the Infestation. Orders stand. Find her and the artifact."
"Our problem, a Corpus vessel has appeared." Ash said.
"It is assumed that Anyo fled there. Whoever commands it must have came here to assist him."
"This mission remains." Trinity said as Vauban took care of the wave of infected.
"We need help. Reaming Corpus have found us." Ember said.
"Trinity, you can go. I will find Rarity." Vauban said. Ember nodded and ran off.
Using his telsa grenades, he covered a path and ran, nearly unscathed from the Infestation.
"This ship is rather small. Did Nef only plan a recon mission?" Lotus wondered.
"It seems so. A ship with such a small build is designed for such missions. the ship Anyo fled to most likely is the invasion frigate."
"Also, i'm reading what looks to be plans to blow up the ship you're on while it's guns are trained on the Grineer ship."
"I have to admire their plan." Vauban said as he reached the prison block. A rather strange sight was Rarity hanging from the bridge with a bright blue rope tide around her. Her eyes laid closed while hey face showed no emotion.
Vauban quickly jumped up and cut the rope. He caught her as he landed and got the tazer ropes off of her.
"Rarity, wake up." He shook as she opened her eyes.
"Am I... safe?" She asked.
"Yes, we are leaving." Vauban sad as he helped her up.
"We have the artifact. But the numbers are overwhelming. We have to leave now." Ash said over radio.
"Rarity, can you walk?" Vauban asked.
"Yes darling. Lead the way." She said.
The door opened to show several infected clawing their way towards the two. Rarity shrieked at the sight as Vauban gunned them all down.
"We must move. Quickly." He said as he ran off with Rarity following.
Most of the telsa grenades were still working and the path was mostly clear. The few that weren't were easily dealt with at the hands of Vauban.
They ran into a circular room. "It says that evac is on the other side of the next room. Hurry." He said as he ran to the end of the room.
Rarity was bout to get out when something wrapped around her hind hoof and pulled her back in. It let her go and she hit the wall. A swarm of infected surrounding her. She screamed as one leaped at her.
Vauban quickly stabbed it and tossed it back. He fought a few more before seeing he odds.
"You have to leave. I'll stay and fight them." He said.
"but you won't make it." Rarity said, tears forming in her eyes.
"You must. We came here for you." Vauban argued as he shot a leaper.
"But why, you don't know me. Why sacrifice yourself?" Rarity pleaded as tears fell.
Vauban looked at her said "Because... I made a promise to get you back safely from someone."
Rarity began to bombard hi with "who?"
"But I was also ordered to keep a secret. You must go."
"Who would want to keep a-" Rarity figured it out. "SPIKE!" She yelled out in anger. "It's that crush on me, isn't it."
"It appears you already knew the secret, a mistake on his part." Vauban said as he killed another Infested.
"No, you can't." She said as she ran over to the Warframe.
Vauban had enough and threw her out of the room. She begged him not to as he shot the control panel, preventing the door from being opened.
"Vauban! Vauban, please! VAUBAN!" She yelled as the gun fire and blade swinging ceased and was drowned out by the growls of the Infested.
"Rarity, we wish for this not to happen. But Vauban made his choice." Ash said from behind her.
Rarity only sobbed before she weakly walked to extraction.
"Hey, I see dropships!" Spike exclaimed happily.
They landed on the balcony. When they opened, Spikes smile went to a concerned look from Rarity's condition.
"Rarity, are you okay?" He asked. The other ponies were silent.
Rarity said no words, her messy mane and red eyes told a sad story.
She wanted to scream, blame him for the death of her rescuer. But she stopped when she remembered, what would Vauban had wanted.
She stepped off of the ship weakly and over to Spike. she pulled him into a very tight hug as she quietly sobbed.
"Tenno, I regret to inform you this. Vauban has sacrificed himself for the hostage." Lotus said with sympathy.
"Lotus, are you sure?" Excalibur asked.
"I am. I can no longer see any sings of life from his readings." She said sadly.
Excalibur only lowered his head. He could feel the pain of losing a brother.
"The mission will not be thwarted." Excalibur stated. "Vauban would have wanted the mission to carry on." He said as he continued running.
He quickly ran into a room and fired an arrow at the first Grineer he saw and slid to slash the next one. The alarm sounded the gave away his presence. A squad rushed in and were taken out by a slash dash as Excalibur went right through them and kept running.
Sharp Edge dropped down and snuck up behind a Grineer lance and silenced him. He moved and stopped when a lone trooper saw him.
"Hahahahahaha! A little pony was sent to rescue the prisoner. I almost fear for this planet" He taunted.
Edge simply smirked as he readied his blade and jumped at the Grineer.
"Yeah, i'm such a little pony who could do no harm." He growled as his red eyes looked down on the massacred body.
Edge clutched his head in pain and tried to block out the pain inside him. He opened his eyes to reveal them fading back to blue.
"Damnit." He said as he ran on.
He ran in the next room to see a wave of Grineer on the floor below him running into a room.
"That must be where Excalibur is." Edge commented. He looked over to see an elevator.
"Bingo." He said as he saw the waypoint leading there. Excalibur ran in and quickly hit the button.
"See you when you get back. I'll take care of them while you're gone." the unicorn said as he quickly ran down the stairs and attacked the marines.
"Kill the pony!" One ordered before Edge sliced through him.
"Yeah, kill me." He said as he ripped through another. Edges eyes flashed red as he gave a sinister laugh. A saw man swung but the attack was blocked without the pony even flinching.
"I think it's time to show you what a pony can really do." He growled as he magically grabbed the saw blade and jammed it in the Grineers face.
A swarm of bullets fired at Edge, none hit him as he threw his blade through a Grineer and jumped to pull it out with his hoof to slash the head off of the marine next to him. He noticed a few marines get frightened by his acts. That only caused him to evilly chuckle.
"What's wrong?" He said, his voice in a heavy rasp. "Never seen a pony fight before?" He said as he charged at the remaining.
Excalibur reached the bottom and shot two guards with his pistols.
"Huh, who's there?" A muffled voice came from a holding cell.
Excalibur said nothing and went over and unlocked it. Twilight looked and said, "Oh Excalibur, am I glad it's you." she said as she ran out.
"We need to get going." He said as he lead her to the elevator.
"Where are the others?" Twilight asked, concerned.
"Twilight, I promise my entire team in on this elevator." Excalibur told her. she looked around before realizing he was on his own.
The doors opened to show a panting Sharp Edge.
"Edge?" Twilight asked. "What are you... was Fluttershy taken too?" she asked.
"No, Princess refused to let Excalibur go it alone. She sent me for some reason." Several Grineer bodies laid around.
"We should move." Excalibur said. The light flickered as the wall near them exploded.
"The ship is under fire! You need to move quickly." Lotus told them.
"I know a shortcut to evac." Excalibur told them.
"Lead the way." Edge said.
The three ran down a hallway. Twilight grimaced at the sight of Grineer pinned to the wall with arrows or being sliced in half.
Excalibur noted an area by the stairwell that had the wall removed.
"It leads into a storage closet." He said the the two went through.
"There they are!" A marine called from above them. He lead a rather large amount.
"You two keep moving. I'll hold them here." Excalibur said. Edge nodded and lead Twilight through the next room.
Excalibur stood, waiting for the incoming squad. The came through and were greeted with radial javelins that pinned some to the wall or just went right through them.
"Bastard." One commented as he was shot by Excalibur.
"Far to easy for such a high trained army." Excalibur commented as he ran into the next room.
The light were flickering on and off. Twilight and Sharp Edge were no where to be found. the wires in a wall burst, creating a small fire.
"Twilight, Sharp Edge, are you here?" He asked.
Just as he turned, a metal blade pointing right at him lunged from the darkness. Excalibur blocked with his sword and tried to use his dagger to defeat the attacker. The blade moved quickly to block the dagger while it seemed a hand blocked the sword. Excalibur tried to strike the hand but was blocked with the blade again.
The two ponies ran quickly. They were both tired and panting as they rounded a corner to see a rather strange sight.
"Is that Captain Everest?" Lotus asked.
The Captain the ponies once knew was glowing a bright radiant aura. He turned and saw the two.
"Going somewhere." His voice sounded nothing more of sorrow.
"What happened to you?" Edge asked.
"I have power. General Sargus Ruk has arrived. Now, I feel more stronger then ever. As if I am a god itself." He declared as he showed his face. His eyes and mouth all glowed.
Excalibur ran up and saw.
"Lotus, Captain Everest appears to be nearly corrupted by Orikin technology."
"Ruk appeared to have simply gave it to him to stop you two without a concern about Everest's' own life." Lotus stated.
"You're not going anywhere." His voice echoed.
Excalibur drew his blades and charged at him, attacking him.
Edge watched him fight, almost so interested that he forgot about the voice whispering in the back of his head.
He groaned in pain loudly as he clutched his head, nearly smashing it into the floor.
"Damn it!" He yelled. Twilight saw the signs.
"Edge, no! Fight it!" She tried to encourage.
"I... can't." He yelled as a large wave of Grineer appeared.
Edge had all four hooves planted into the ground. His body lad low as he struggled to not give in.
His head snapped up to reveal his blood red eyes that glowed as he laughed evilly. He shook his head and looked at Twilight.
"Twilight, get Excalibur and go." He said.
"No, I can't leave you. what about Fluttershy?"
His blue eyes reverted back to glowing blood red. "That's why I want to stay." He said with sorrow. "So she'll never see me like this again." A tear fell from his left eye.
"No, you have to fight it." Twilight pleaded.
"It's to late. It's like I want to." He said, a small rasp in his voice.
"Go." He told her.
Twilight gave him a quick but big hug and ran towards Excalibur, who tried to get his strength to continue fighting.
"We have to go." Twilight tried to pull his hand.
"No, we have to help Sharp Edge."
"No, we have to."
"GO!" Edge said as his voice got it's full rasp. His sinister laugh echoed as he began to murder the Grineer units around him. Excalibur saw and realized that his friend was right to have them leave without him.
"Lets go." Excalibur said. Twilight almost thought she heard sorrow in his voice. But there was no emotion in his or any other Tennos voice.
The two made it to evac. Excalibur had a hard time convincing himself to leave. But nonetheless, he entered the pod and left the ship.
Edge slumped against the wall. It had been an hour since he last saw the two. He knew they had made it, evac was just around the corner for those two.
All he could do was wait until the squad found and killed him. Bits of the armor were missing. he had scratches on his face and his magic was running low.
The doors opened and in came the squad. they saw him and charged at him. One took his gun and smacked it across Edges's face, making him drop something.
The units began to claw at him, trying to grab him. Edge struggled for the picture but lost his grip.
Gun sounded, making the marines stop. General Sargus Ruk stood behind the troops.
"I, General Sargus Ruk, declare this pony, alive!" He said in native Grineer tongue.
Edge was grabbed by two marines and dragged away, leaving a picture of him and Fluttershy on the ground.
All of the ponies gathered on the balcony once more to see the arrival of their friend. Fluttershy awaited eagerly for her friends return. Spike looked while still being hugged by Rarity. Pinkie bounced up and down while Rainbow Dash flew out and met the drop ships as they once more, approached the balcony.
Excalibur and Twilight landed down safely. Flash Sentry ran up and hugged Twilight, who was taken back a little but returned the hug.
Flutteshy ran over, a happy smile that quickly went away when she noticed somepony was missing.
Twilight gave her a look of sympathy and sorrow that gave her the clear message while Excalibur only hung his head.
The butter colored Pegasus began to bawl as she realized that he wouldn't be coming back to her.
"How could you do that!?" Fluttershy exclaimed.
"He was attacking you, I had to protect you." Edge responded.
"But that pony was practically murdered. You did it again!" Fluttershy wailed.
"I know, I've been trying to control it. I just don't know why it keeps happening."
Fluttershy looked back at him with tears in her eyes. "Maybe you should take some time alone, to figure out why!" She said as she ran off
"No, come back!" Edge looked down and began to cry. Even if he didn't attack her, he still hurt her.
Edge looked up, his eyes ,for the first time, glowing blood red instead of a comforting blue.
"Don't go." He sobbed. "I lov-
A smack across the face from the butt of a gun awoke Sharp Edge from his slumber as he was dragged across the ground.
"Quit whining, she dumped your sorry ass cause how much of a freak you are." The marine taunted. Edge wasn't jaded by the least as he was used to comments like these. (Just like when you guys comment on my stories. Bazinga. That means JK)
"Now get ready. General Sargus Ruk has some words for you." The marine told him as the two threw him on the ground.
Edge looked up to see a rather large crowd of Grineer hooting and hollering. Ruk stood silent above them all. He raised a hand to signal the marines to quiet down.
"I'm sure you want to go back home." His voiced echoed. "I'm willing to let that happen for a weak pony." He semi-taunted.
"How?" Edge asked himself quietly.
"Of course, you have skills. We took care of your head piece. And the armor won't matter in a few moments." Ruk roared.
"You have to prove yourself worthy to escape. Kill Everest and you can leave."
A glowing Grineer flipped over the crowd and landed in the arena below them. The marines cheered as Everest donned his cleaver.
"You gotta be kidding me." Edge shook his head lightly as the Orikin corrupted Captain spun his cleaver around.
"You're lucky I didn't find you first on the ship. You would have been gone by now." He taunted as his echo-y voice began to grow more insane sounding.
"Great, he's nearly lost it." Edge said.
"Now let's fight." He said as he lunged at Edge, who quickly dodged the first strike and countered the second by forming a blade.
The fight was on, Everest began to fire projectiles that were made of burning light. Edge ran and reflected them with his sword. Edge quickly waited for him to stop then quickly charged at him, landing a few strikes. Everest made a shock wave from his energy that blew the pony away. Everest formed a bubble around him that blocked any attacks.
"I'm fucking invincible!" He yelled out. The shield faded away and Everest was met with Edge giving him a fury of sword strikes.
"My powers are no match for you. Give up Pony!" He swatted Edge away and walked over to him.
Edge coughed a little before looking back at him.
"Never."
He got up and tried to strike Everest, who only pushed Edge back down.
"Have to do better then that!" His voice fully insane now.
Edge got up and swung his blade down. Everest blocked it with his cleaver. The pony tried to counter but was blocked even more. Everest gave him a blast of energy that blew the pony back once more. Edge tried to get back up but couldn't find the strength.
"Down already. I thought so. Guess your friend will have to find a new boyfriend." He taunted.
"How... the hell... did you know?" Edge asked, panting from the battle.
"I know all. I found your picture of you two." He said he pulled it out and threw it on the ground. "She used to be your love. Now she's the source for your pain. The reason you go insane." He told him.
Edge had enough, his body began to glow. "No, she's not." He said as he stood up without a hitch.
"Wha..."
"You may be right, she can be a reason for why I lose control. But you're wrong when you say she's the source of all my pain." His body glowed even more.
"What are you doing? Go back to dying." Everest said madly.
"She's the reason i'm fighting you." Edge opened his eyes. "To make sure you never hurt her." he declared as the light fully engulfed him.
When it cleared, Edge's body was rather reflective and see through, kinda like a,
"Crystal... pony?" Everest stated, confused.
"Yes." Sharp Edge said as he charged forward. Two magic blades formed and slashed at Everest. they went right through him.
Everest fell to his knees. He looked up to see Sharp Edge, not the angry fighter, but the dedicated pony.
"You... I see why he was after you. You fight good." He cooed as he fell to the ground.
The Grineer marines above were silent. They were in awe at the fight that the pony gave. Ruk actually was shocked to see a pony kill a Captain. Nonetheless, he pointed his hand to the door out.
Edge ran off, his crystal form remaining.
'I did it.' He thought, he was bursting with joy. 'I get to see them again.' He thought happily.
Edge ran to the pods and got it. They took off and made their way to Canterlot, where Fluttershy moped in a forming puddle of her tears. She looked to the balcony. She wished to see Sharp Edge standing there. Open hooves to greet her.
"I'm so sorry." She sobbed. No one was around though. She was alone in the throne room.
Her ears perked up at the sound of a drop ship. She looked out, expecting to see them leaving. No, this one was coming for Canterlot. It stopped at the balcony like the rest.
"Who could that be?" Fluttershy wondered.
The doors opened to show a pony, exhausted, fall to the ground, his emerald mane covering his face.
He looked up to see the shy, yet kindest pony he had ever met, standing there. He smiled to himself.
Fluttershy looked to see the blue eyes she knew looking up at her.
"I made it." Sharp Edge said.
Fluttershy began to tear up happily. No words could express her happiness to see her friend return from what was his death. She began to sob madly as she nearly tackled him into a deep hug. The two shared the reunion, unaware of Lotus, the warframes, and the ponies running into the throne room.
Edge laid in the hospital bed, trying to sleep away his new scars.
"He practically began to use his very life force to fight and escape." Lotus explained as Fluttershy rubbed his mane.
"We are grateful, Everest was dealt with." Ash said.
"Yes, but unfortunately, they still have the missing elements. And if I know the Grineer, they're going to try and steal the remaining." Lotus stated.
"Then we must plan for the next attack." Celestia said as the two walked out.
Excalibur walked over to the hospital bed. He had seen his friend lose control whenever he fought, yet it seemed as though even his darker side was brought out by something else.
"Sharp Edge, do you know why you behaved the way you did when you fought?" He asked.
Edge looked up at him, Fluttershy still laid her head on his chest.
"I don't know. It's like someone else told me to give in." He said. Fluttershy cried a little and hugged him tighter.
"A voice?" Fluttershy asked.
"Yeah, not mine. A voice that spoke of nothing but Despair, Dread, and Hate." Edge said as he laid back down. He put a hoof on Fluttershy to comfort her.
Excalibur went into deep thought to think. "That is... interesting." He commented.
"Go Excalibur. " Edge said as he began to drift back to sleep. "They need you."
Excalibur nodded and walked out the door. Fluttershy stayed for a while.
"Get well soon." She said as she walked out. She saw Frost standing there.
"Oh... hi." She said quietly.
"Greetings." His voice had a chill to it aside with the emotionless tone. "I am only here to check on an ally." He told her.
"You consider Edge an... ally." She said, shocked that they had a bond.
"Of course. He and Excalibur fought together. He bravely sacrificed himself for him as well and killed Captain Everest. The Tenno are grateful to him."
Fluttershy could just jump for joy. She never knew one of her friends would have a high honor in the ranks of an alien warriors.
The two walked in and turned on the lights. Edge had fallen asleep quite fast. He laid, only his chest that rose up and down gave signs of natural life.
"You are a good fighter. You fight well on the battlefield and in the mind of your own. You have the respect of the Tenno. We wish you a well recovery."
Fluttershy bowed her head after she saw Frost do it. She began to whimper a little as tears fell.
Suddenly, she flinched when she felt something come into contact on her head. Frost petted her. It was that simple yet she never knew a Tenno would do such a kind act.
"I understand the pain you feel right now. But I know you can get through this." Frost said as he left the room.
Fluttershy thought heavily on those words as she walked out.
"Now what's the nest plan?" Celestia bickered as she and Lotus paced around the throne room.
"We clearly need to take down the leaders." Lotus said as the moon shined down on them.
"But we need the Elements of Harmony, they could stop all of this."
Lotus sighed and looked at Princess Celestia. She felt bad for the poor mare. She hadn't slept or rested since they all arrived.
"I'm not sure how these elements work but I don't think they will work. You're going to have to trust us to defeat them."
"YOU THINK I WANT TO THINK THAT!" Celestia shouted suddenly, evoking Banshee, who was on guard for the two.
The Princess began to sob madly on her throne.
"I know you're not used to all of this. And believe me, if I could make it go away, I would." Lotus told her friend. "But the ugly truth is out there."
"Oh why oh why!" Celestia sobbed.
"If their numbers keep growing, they'll all be here." Lotus said.
"Then what do we do?" Celestia pleaded.
Lotus turned to face her. "I have a plan."
"YOU PLAN TO WHAT!"
"I know it seems crazy, but it just might work."
Luna shook her head erratically. "There isn't any chance that it will happen."
Lotus only smirked. "Alright, be that way."
"Alright, we are simply going to recon the Corpus's warship." lotus instructed the team.
Frost, Loki, Rhino, Nyx walked into the pods on the balcony.
"Lotus, why not send Volt for once?" Rhino asked.
"He is stuck with guard duty with the young ones. They took a liking to him." Lotus said as the pods closed.
"One wonders to why the foals have grown attached to a Tenno?" Nyx said.
"He saved them. It seems logical." Ash said as the pods took off.
Volt stood guard as the foals stood sound asleep. They all slept in hopes that they would wake up to it all being over.
Volt knew the duties would require little to no rest. A Tenno never rested, only waited.
As for inside, little Rumble quietly climbed out of bed. He hoped to sneak back to where Thunderlane or Flitter was staying. All he wanted was to sleep win their warm embrace that made him feel safe.
He cracked the door open to see the coast was clear. He opened it a little, careful when it creaked, and slipped out and quietly closed it.
He looked up to see Volt watching the night sky. While he liked Volt, he felt safer with family. Rumble rounded the corner and yelped when he came face to face with Volt.
"Remain quiet." He instructed.
"Alright, I will." Rumble said nervously. Volt simply lead him back to the room.
"Can you not sleep?" Volt asked. Rumble was surprised. He expected to be told to go back to bed like normally.
"No, I can't." Rumble faked sounding restless, though it may not have worked.
"It is understandable." Volt said. The Tenno bent down and offered to carry Rumble.
The colt took the offer and felt himself lift from the ground. He clung to Volt but was told to let go after one second.
He was on the roof with him.
"Thanks."
"You are welcome. I predict the Grineer won't strike for a while. I just find the view enjoyable. Feel free to relax." Volt said as he looked up at the moon and stars.
Rumble made himself comfy and looked at the stars. For once, he felt relaxed. He looked over to Volt, who didn't move a muscle.
The view was actually peaceful enough to convince a pony that there wasn't an all out war going on.
"Are you afraid of the possibility of defeat?" Volt asked.
Rumble was a bit taken back by the question. "Yes. But I know you guys can do it." He said to boost morale.
"I am confident with our abilities to defeat them. I am merely troubled by the loss of Vauban." Volt said.
"That doesn't mean you guys will stop." Rumble said.
Volt looked at him and simply said "We know nothing of the word that means giving up."
The morning was greeted with four dropships returning. The four jumped off with four data units.
"Far to easy. Never knew we were there." Loki said. The four gave the units to Lotus. She formed her setup and went to work with them.
Celestia was impressed with their skills to remain undetected. She was about to as Lotus about it when she was stopped by her hand.
"We're going to have to use my plan." she said.
"Absolutely not." Celestia sighed. It was to early to deal with this.
"Yes, it says that they plan to ascend their ships to higher altitude to avoid damaging the surface of the planet." Lotus stated.
Celestia knew there was no other way.
"We can but, it will be ready in seven days." she said.
"Looks like we'll have to keep fighting." Lotus said as the setup went away.
"Lotus, if I may ask, what is the plan?"
"Simple Ash, if Celestia and Luna can raise the sun and moon, I want to use them to wipe out the forces while they're up there."
"And I want you to explain why it won't work ." Luna scolded.
"It's a sacrifice. I understand the the damage done to the planet but we don't have a choice." Lotus told her.
Celestia walked up from behind them. "Sister, I agreed with her. We have no choice." She told her sister.
Luna looked over to Louts, who only nodded her head. Celestia gave her a look that only told her the truth.
They had no choice.
Volt carried the sleeping colt in his arms as he watched over the children. They ran happily to their families, some parents in tears at the sight of their kids.
Volt felt an accomplishment at the sight of their smiles. It was as if something inside him was trying to get out. Could it had been a feeling of happiness. The cryo-sleep made him forget what it was to feel emotions. He and the others had struggled ever since they had finished training.
The priority was fighting for them, however.
Volt realized that he had to find Rumble's family as well. He had seen his brother and his friends. The two females adored the little foal. Volt felt another accomplishment coming if he returned the sleeping foal and have him wake up in their hooves.
So he took off, running along the rooftops on his tiptoes as he searched for them. He knew they wouldn't be far. If the families were to meet in one place for them to find their young ones, then they would be there as well.
Volt jumped from one roof and thought he saw the three walking over to the area. Volt was quite the ways away from them and took a running start to jump over to the next roof.
Rumble shook his head to wake himself up. He saw himself in an alley. Volt laid on the ground, trying to recover. Burn marks were on the walls near the roof of the houses.
What happened?
As Volt was jumping across, a grenade went off, knocking him down. He let go of Rumble for a moment before catching him and landing on the ground on his back so Rumble wouldn't be hurt.
"I think they found out we were there." Lotus said as she saw the amount of Corpus ships landing.
"What could have been on the data units?" Celestia asked.
"It appears the two were to meet in an hour here. Those units were info on us that the Corpus was willing to share. Now that we've stolen it, they''re here to take it back."
"To the safe room?"
"As always." Lotus said as Celestia and the two went back inside.
"Tenno, the Corpus are here. Stop them." She said.
Excalibur grabbed his Latron and his Lex and ran out with his Skana in hand to see a squad of Corpus. He quickly took them out and met up with Loki.
"What must we do?" Excalibur wondered out loud.
"They appear to only be in only small strength. Perhaps Anyo is here to lead them to get back the data units." Loki said as he shot one a crewman in the face.
"We must find him." Excalibur said.
The two ran off.
Rhino quickly tore through a walker and was blown away from a shockwave MOA. He got up and shot at it, the bullets tearing it to shreds.
Banshee blew them away with soundwaves as Ember burnt them to a crisp.
"Their numbers are quite small for this." Mag said as she finished off a crewman.
"Anyo always thought he could take us out with a small army." Nyx said.
The group looked over to see a team of crewmen retreating from a fight.
"There are no Tenno in that area." Ember said.
It was true, an infested leaped on top of a crewman and mauled him to death. The rest were swarmed on from rooftops and other paths. Most of them were killed.
"The Infested are here." Rhino said as he charged at them.
Frost quickly took out a crewman before jumping away, leaving Ash alone.
He simply looked at the group that surrounded him and quickly threw a shuriken at the first one that came to mind. That one fell dead as the others quickly opened fire.
In a burst of smoke, Ash was gone.
In a quick moment, he was behind a crew man as he stabbed him. He teleported to the next target and slashed him up with his dual fangs.
He turned and shot the next crewman, leaving them all dead.
Ash ran on the rooftops to find a squad of Grineer attacking a pony.
"Rainbow Dash." He said as he identified the pony.
"You're done for." The Commander taunted as he was ready to pull the trigger.
"No she's not." Ash said, catching his attention.
Ash teleported to the closest marine, he stabbed him and jumped off his chest in and disappeared.. He appeared crouching beneath a marine as he stabbed him upward with the first fang and downwards as he jumped above him with the other one. In another appearance, he stabbed the next marine. He teleported to the next one and sliced his head off.
The Commander only had ten seconds to run while Ash was killing his team.
Rainbow Dash was amazed by how fast the team was wiped out. Ash's speed was incredible. She ran over to him.
"Man, you were awesome!" She exclaimed.
"Are you okay?" Ash asked.
"Yeah yeah, i'm fine. but you gotta tell me your secret as to how you did that." Rainbow jumped up and down like an excited filly.
"It is not important, it is only my abilities within my Warframe." Ash told her as he instructed her to go to the safe house.
"Excalibur, Loki, the infestation, while small, is attacking ponies. We need you two to stop what's left of them." Lotus ordered.
"Understood." Loki said as they ran over to see them. An Ancient Disrupter held Twilight while trying to fight Flash Sentry.
"There it is."
"That's the one. Kill it." Lotus said.
Twilight struggled as she tried to breath in the grasp of the Disrupter. Flash could only do so much with a spear in his mouth.
Excalibur nodded at Loki as the two jumped down. The tentacle was sliced off as the two landed. Twilight fell down and was helped up by her guard.
The wounded creature roared in pain. Taking his spear and remembering the rage from earlier, Flash yelled a battle cry as he took his spear and ran it into the creatures head. Blood sprayed on the pony, who ignored it and drove the spear in even deeper.
The Ancient Disrupter fell down dead. Loki and Excalibur looked at each other before telling two to get to safety.
"We have more trouble. While the infested were dealt with, they were brought here by the Grineer." Lotus said.
"Why are they here?"
"They must believe the Corpus are turning on them, due to the missing data. The Corpus have decided to leave for now though, leaving the Grineer for us to deal with."
"What is our objective?" Excalibur asked.
"Regroup... hold on. something is coming for you two."
The two looked up to see a giant flying drone hover in front of them.
"It's Raptor." Excalibur said as he drew his blade.
"Targets found. Proceeding with given orders." It stated before opening fire on the two. They ran to cover quickly.
"Lotus, the Corpus sent Raptor."
"Yes, it's targeting the Tenno, it found you two first. Take it down." She said.
"Understood. Loki, distract it for me. I will take care of it."
"Got it." Loki said as he ran out of cover and quickly deployed the decoy.
Raptor saw it and went to the ground to shoot at it. It filled the decoy with bullets, hoping to obliterate it's target.
Excalibur jumped from the top of a building and landed on Raptor, he jammed his sword into where he had landed. A systems failure warning was said from the robot as it crashed into the ground.
"Systems... failing... unable to shutdown. Systems... failing." It said, shaking from the damage.
Loki put a single bullet in the robot, killing it.
A scream was heard as the sound of a dropship landed.
"A hostage, perhaps." Excalibur said as the two ran off. They followed the source to see Flitter being dragged onto a ship with rumble following. Volt chased after him.
The two jumped down to join Volt.
Volt stayed quiet. The fight was nearly over, another victory for them. Rumble bickered to get to his family.
"I understand your anxiousness. I, however, must keep you safe. We will be safe here." Volt told him.
"Rumble?" A female voice said.
"Flitter!" Rumble shouted excitedly. Volt knew he should have been quiet.
"Yes! It's me!" She exclaimed. She rounded the corner and stopped to see her favorite colt in the safe arms of a Tenno.
Flitter began to run before disappearing, being replaced with a Grineer Commander. Flitter was heard screaming as a dropship landed.
"Another one in the bag." He commented.
'Another one?' thought Volt.
There were more hostages then usual. Volt got up but Flitter appeared with a gun to her head.
"Not a thing from you, Tenno." He spat. "Or she dies."
Volt went back down. Sitting there, only being able to watch.
Rumble tried his best not to cry, Flitter screamed as she was dragged by her neck. The sight instead drove him to courage.
"I can be brave and strong." He thought, "Just like the Tenno." He said as he ran after her, Leaving Volt.
"Don't." He said to him. He ran after him as Loki and Excalibur joined him.
"Is he trying to rescue her?" Excalibur asked.
"Yes."
The bay doors opened to show Captain Vor there. Fluttershy was tied up, crying as he dragged her.
"Another hostage, good." He praised as the team brought on Flitter. He looked over to see Rumble jump aboard. Vor laughed at him before looking over to see the three Warframes running at them.
"Tenno." He pointed as the team retreated inside, save for the commander.
The Commander realized they made the mistake of leaving him alone to deal with the three while leaving Flitter out as well.
"I have you now." Loki said as he jumped above him and raised his blade.
"Excalibur," Lotus paced back and fourth in front of him. "You need to tell me what happened."
Excalibur jumped on the ship along with Volt.
"Loki's death is not on your hands. I just need to know what happened."
A shadow rose from the ground in front of the Grineer Commander. In one swift move, he swung his scythe upwards. Loki was stabbed through the chest as the blade went through the ceiling.
The dark figure turned towards Rumble. Any bravery the colt felt before was replaced with fear.
"You..." It's voice could whispered in his ear from a mile away. "show bravery. But it goes to waste."
Volt swung his dagger at him, being blocked and countered. The figure swung the hilt of the scythe to beat Volt before he kicked him off the ship.
Excalibur swung his blade. The dark figure never moved as he blocked that as well.
"Who are you?" Excalibur asked.
"You."
Excalibur remembered seeing the ship leave through an opening in the sky. He forgot how he ended up on the edge of Canterlot along with Volt.
"No! They're being taken to the Void!" It was Lotus's turn to panic.
"Where?"
Lotus turned to Celestia. "We''re gonna need a key.
Back on the ship, The Stalker turned to the Grineer Commander.
"Who are you?" He asked.
"The determiner of fate. The revenge you don't take." He said as he faded away.
"A key, to where?" Celestia said as Lotus paced around frantically.
"They took them to the Void. We need to save them." Lotus tried her best not to panic.
She looked down the balcony when she heard a pony. A particular hospital patient stumbled out weakly as the ship disappeared.
"Fluttershy!" He yelled out as he reached his hoof out to the sky.
"A shame." She said. "I will rally the Tenno. We will-"
Lotus stopped and put her hand to her head. She felt something missing.
"Loki." she whispered.
Lotus ran out to see Volt and Excalibur laying on the very edge of Canterlot. The two struggled to even stand up.
"What happened?"
Volt collapsed while Excalibur simply looked at her.
"Who was he, Lotus? They claimed to be one of us. Yet, he murdered Loki in cold blood."
Lotus sighed, she knew the day would come.
"He was right. The stalker is one of you." she said.
"What do you mean?" Excalibur asked.
Lotus closed her eyes and focused. "Tenno, while I know you are questioning what happened to Loki, I will answer your questions."
Ash stopped what he was doing and began to sit while hanging his head down. the ponies saw the rest of the Tenno do this as well.
"You are all being hunted. Not by the Grineer, but something much worse. A lone figure who takes vengeance upon those who eliminate such high ranking officials of all fractions. He has been around ever since the first Tenno, due to a disease driving him mad. His skills are the ones you inherit."
"If you encounter him, a good chance is, you're are lost. He will stop at nothing to take vengeance upon the fallen leaders. Fight him if you must, but he is no match for you."
"If we're going to rescue those ponies, how are we gonna get a key?" Celestia asked.
Lotus looked over to her. "It's simple, next time they attack, while a team of four stays here to defend, a second team will infiltrate the ship. Vor always keeps a second set of keys on any ship in case of emergency." (A/N I keep void keys stashed around my ships, in case of emergency. Had to)
"Are you sure about this?" Celestia asked.
"I always have a plan." She said as she walked away.
Rhino walked into the throne room with Loki's body. He placed it down gently as the other Tenno gathered.
"Tenno, today we lose a brother. The fight we continue will cost lives, and he is one of them we lost." Lotus said. Ponies such as the Princesses and guards gathered. Flash tried his best to comfort Twilight. Edge stood among the other Tenno.
"We may continue fighting, but this lose will only drive us more."
The Tenno said in perfect harmony. "Rest now, brother. We will use your strength." They all said. Sharp Edge stepped back as they all but their hands above Loki's body.
In a flash of red, Loki's form began to materialize into red chips. They all went into the hands and bodies of the Tenno.
Celestia walked out onto the balcony to see Lotus standing there.
"Are you okay?" She asked.
Celestia was taken back, she was about to ask Lotus the same thing.
"I'm fine. What about you, you lost another one." Celestia said.
"I have dealt with the lost of several Tenno. Those are not the only ones." Lotus told her.
"I see..." Celestia said. "Still, you seem to be awfully distant from the others."
"Because something is wrong." Lotus told her.
"How?"
"Where are the ships?"
"In front of Canterlot like they always are." Celestia told her without glancing.
"Well, let me be the first to tell you that they're not." Lotus said.
Celestia looked and gasped. No ships were seen.
"Where could they be?" she asked.
Celestia quickly flew up to the top of the castle and saw them all heading up north.
"Shining... Cadence..." She whispered softly. Celestia flew back down and told Lotus.
"Why North?"
"The crystal empire is there!" Celestia exclaimed.
Volt walked among the foals, guilt ridden over Rumble being taken away. His only thought was failure. Thunderlane and Cloud Chaser could only cry when they heard the news.
A young colt that wore a hat with a propeller sat on the ground with a puddle of his own tears forming. The dark brown coat around his eyes were damp and his light brown mane was in a mess.
"Young one, what is wrong?" Volt asked. All the other foals were with their parents. Some gathered around Volt in order to thank him.
"My... mom was... she was taken." The young colt stopped to sob some more. "By... those mean.... MONSTERS!" He yelled the last part before sobbing. Sweetie Belle went up and patted him on the back.
"I see. And, what is your name?" He asked the young colt. He kept crying. Sweetie Belle looked up at Volt and said "Button Mash."
Volt looked at Button Mash, "Button Mash, I promise you I will rescue your mother."
"Really... you will?" He said with a sniffle.
"Yes." Volt said.
Button smiled before running and hugging Volt. "Oh thank thank thank you!" He said as he squeezed the Warframe. Volt was unfazed.
"It is a promise." He told the colt.
"Okay, Volt, you're staying here. Ash, you, Ember, Banshee and Nyx will infiltrate the ship to steal a key. The rest will guard the Empire."
"Lotus, why am I staying?" Volt asked.
"In the events that this is a diversion, you will be here to fight off any forces." She said as she walked to the ship.
"But I must go to the Void with the team. I made a promise an-"
"You will keep it. But we don't have a key." Lotus hopped on board with Celestia and several guards.
"Good luck." He said as the doors closed.
Grineer ships flew all around the empire. Shining Armor did his best to blast any with magic.
"What are those things?" He yelled at as one fired a missile at the throne room. The hardened crystals showing no sign of damage.
Cadence hid along with several guards. the explosions and screams from outside brought tears to her eyes. She could hear voices that couldn't have belonged to a pony. They were getting closer. A shadow appeared above her.
"SHINING!"
The stallion turned around to see his wife being dragged by a creature. It had one long tentacle that held her with a tight grip. (go on, get it out o your system. I know.)
Shining was about to run when an explosion knocked him down. He got back up to see a tall figure with a mask standing over him.
"This one seems to be of importance. Take him." He said.
The creature that held Cadence charged at the figure. Lech Krill took his hammer and swung, the tentacle was smashed off of the creature. Krill slammed the hammer down on it's head, killing it while a squad detained Cadence.
The two were dragged to the center of the Empire where the ponies were gathered. The sight of them made Cadence burst into tears. She tried to bury her face into Shining's shoulder but the two were dragged away from each other.
"This settlement will make a nice base while we plan our assault on Canterlot."
"You're going to attack Canterlot!?" Shining shouted.
"Yes, again." Krill corrected. Another Grineer approached him. Shining guessed it was his second in command.
"Sir, the infestation are coming." He informed.
"Thank you for the news, Hek. It will be dealt with." He said. A squad of marines gathered while Hek stood over the ponies.
"Why are you doing this?" One yelled out.
Hek chuckled and said. "Simple, we need an army. You'll do just fine." He said, an evil chuckle coming from him as he saw the look of terror on the ponies faces.
A lone crystal pony stood up. "I won't." He said.
Vay Hek laughed at him. "You're bravery won't save you."
"I don't care." He said. "You're merely another evil figure."
Hek chuckled evilly. "You've never met someone like me."
The pony looked right at him. "We have. And there will be those who stop you."
Hek grinned evilly before reading his shotgun. He aimed it at the pony who showed no fear. He squeezed the trigger.
A puff of smoke revealed Ash to be in the crowd, who cut the bullets with has daggers or lets his shields take the hit. (yes. It is.)
"Councilor Vay Hek, the Lotus sensed your presence from afar." He said. Ash threw his Kestrel at Hek, but missed completely. Hek was ready to take aim when he saw Excalibur jump in. A sparkle appeared in the sky as Ash's Kestrel spun back down and hit Hek in the face.
"Tenno." He growled. Hek was ready to fire back when he had another idea.
"Tenno are present." He said, the other Tenno joining Ash. "Leave the rest to them." He said with a sly grin.
"Well Tenno, I admit defeat. If you allow me to step away and-"
A gun was pointed at his head from behind. "You're not going anywhere." Ember told him.
A drop ship flew over head, the bay doors opened to show Lotus looking down on the group. Guards jumped down and began freeing hostages. Flash was the one to free his Captain.
"Well then, looks like we all die." He said.
Shining looked at him. "What are you talking about?"
Another dropship flew by, Lieutenant Lech Krill did a shockwave that knocked away Ember from Hek, giving him time to jump onto the dropship as it flew away.
The team fired before hearing something, it sounded like...
"It's the Infestation." Nyx called out as she opened fire. The large numbers of infestation were suppressed for as long as the Tenno could as the guards escorted the the ponies away as quickly as possible.
The oncoming swarm began to get in range to strike the Tenno. One swung at Excalibur, only to be sliced in half. Rhino charged at a group while Ember set them ablaze.
Twilight saw the guards running and only hoped for Flash's safety. She hoped the Tenno would hold them off.
Ember quickly shot one down when she looked to see a problem.
"It's the Jackal." She said, quickly dodging that cleared the Infested.
"Target acquired: Tenno: eliminate on sight It spoke.
"Tenno, I can handle this. Go guard the pony's." Ember said.
They noticed a lack of Infested. Until they heard a scream.
A large Infested jumoed and swung at the Jackal, it swung on it's head before being tossed off.
"Are you sure you can handle it now?" Ash asked. The other Tenno retreating.
"I can attack the Phroid. The Jackal is all yours." Ember said.
Ash was happy with the offer and began to attack the Jackals legs.
Ember began to fire her Vipers at Phroid, catching it's attention. It turned towards her and charged at her. She quickly jumped out of the way and an idea came in her head.
Ash's blade storm skill damaged the Jackals legs severely. Just as one leg gave out, it let out a stomp that knocked Ash away. He got back up quickly and teleported to the robot to attack another leg.
The two jumped away to avoid an attack from their enemies, landing back to back.
"Shall we end this?" Ember asked.
"Lets."
The two jumped at their targets, their blades ready.
Both Warframes caught their breath, Phroid biograded away slowly while the two parts of the Jackal slowly had the power die from it.
"You do realize now that we are targets?" Ash said.
"Yes. Let him come. I want to avenge my fallen brother." Ember said.
Flash panted heavily as he looked around, only a few guards made it safely. The rest were torn apart by the infested.
"Bastard Tenno." He said out loud. Some help would have been nice. Instead of leaving them all to run for their lives, they just stayed behind and fought the ones that only attacked them.
"So are we good?" A guard yelled out.
"I think so." Flash called back.
"Good, I think Tenno cleared things up outside." Another called.
Flash looked from the safety of the throne room, no fighting was seen or heard. If anything, the dropship with the Princess and Lotus had arrived with a few Tenno.
"The empire has been cleared. I detect no further life forms." Lotus told the scared ponies.
"So what now?" A pony asked.
"You can return to your homes." Lotus told them. "It has become clear that they were only here to investigate. The V.I.P.'s made need to stay with us." She glanced towards the royal couple.
"Do we have to?" Cadence asked. lotus nodded her head sternly.
"It is for your safety." She told them.
Shining looked at his wife. They need what they had to.
"We have to go with them." She told her husband. But another dropship flew overhead.
"But relax for now. I am sending the Tenno on a mission. We're not leaving yet."
The four drop pods opened. Four Tenno took their usual places as they closed and left.
The ceiling tile fell as Nyx and Ember jumped through with Banshee and Rhino right behind them.
"You're mission is to take the void key on this ship. We need it i we're going to rescue the ponies taken to the void." Lotus explained.
"It is done." Nyx said as she and the others took off.
Stealh wasn't an option as Rhino ran into a room and tore apart any marine in his way. No alerts throughout the ship though, he was able to kill most of them while the others were taken care of by Banshee.
They moved on to the next room to see Hek in there with a patrol team.
"Well well well. I knew you couldn't stay away." He taunted.
"We need a void key. Where is one?" Nyx asked.
Hek started to tap on his chin like he was thinking. "Hm... nope." He said. "Kill them." He ordered the marines.
They all opened fire, Nyx absorbed the damage and created a shockwave that blew the forces away.
Hek drove his fist into the ground to force himself up. He looked up to see the Tenno busy fighting and took his leave.
"He's trying to leave." Ember pointed out. The four began to give chase to the next room.
The split upward path had two Tenno running up them as they gave chase. They could see Hek rushing past a wave of troops as he dove through the door. Rhino charged right through them and was stopped with the door closing.
"A lockdown." He stated as he slammed his fist into the door. The crackling laugh of Hek didn't affect him.
"And I don't think we can get out." Nyx said. A heavy gunner slowly creeping up by the access panel.
Banshee quickly ran over, ignoring her teammates objections and quickly began to hack the panel. The Grineer marine closing in on her.
All lines were connected just as he rounded the corner and pointed the gun to her head.
"Go." she said as a single bullet was fired at her head. It tore right through the shields as she fell dead.
Lotus clutched her head in sorrow.
The three went on, knowing the sacrifice made by their teammate. The doors opened to show no marines or Hek. They just kept running.
"The artifact is nearby. Keep searching." Lotus contacted. She ignored the obvious pain of losing yet another Tenno.
The team trudged through the rusty ship. They walked into the next room and were on high alert when they saw the void key under heavy guard. Though it was only one guard. He stood up and looked at the approaching Warframes.
"Stalker. I knew you'd come." Ember said.
"Yes. The death of Phroid won't go without the proper punishment." He said.
Ember looked over to Nyx and rhino and told them "you grab the key. I have to deal with the killer of our brother."
The two nodded and quickly went over to grab the key. The Stalker didn't even bother with attacking them, his sights were set on Ember.
Nyx quickly grabbed the key and ran off with Rhino to evac.
Ember drew her guns and began to fire at the Stalker, who cut the bullets and disappeared in a cloud of smoke. Ember heated the air to show a walking form in front of her. She backflipped back as the Hate was swung and nearly took her head off.
She landed on her feet and looked up to be cut with several throwing knives. She dodged a few before being kicked back. She drew her blade and quickly swung at the Stalker. He dodged the swings and jumped back and fired an arrow at her. Ember cartwheeled and caught it with her foot.
She landed to be knocked back by a hit from the hilt of the Hate. The Stalker then slashed at her, a deep gash appearing on her chest. Ember clutched the wound heavily, unable to move.
She looked up to see her foe standing above her.
"You really are one of us." she commented.
The Stalker looked at the reflection of the scythe. "Yeah. I am." And performed a slash dash.
The Tenno armed themselves for the journey into the void, Ash had grabbed a Hind off of a dead Grineer unit and found the weapon very effective. He also armed himself with the Glaive while Frost armed his Braton and his Bronco. Excalibur grabbed his Latron and a Lato while sharpening his Skana. Volt checked Boltor and Bolto, his Ether Sword on his back.
Twilight was nervous. She was tasked with going with them. Flash did his best to not let her go with them, Twilight knew he didn't like the Tenno all that much but she had to. For her friends.
"Tenno, I advise heavy caution when carrying out this mission. Captain Vor is most likely there waiting for you." Lotus told the team. Celestia nodded in agreement.
"Yes, please return my subjects to their homes." She pleaded softly.
"We will assure our lives or the very ponies there. We promise you a fight for them."
"Not without me you're not." A rasped voice called.
Sharp Edge trotted over. A new set of armor and a brand new eye piece, giving him his Tenno like appearance.
"Edge, are you feeling well enough to fight?" Volt asked.
"For Fluttershy, yeah I am." He said with a look of determination.
"Well then, I advise we hurry." Lotus said as the team got into the drop pods.
"Come back alive. All of you." She said as the doors closed.
The rumbling of the ship ceased for Twilight, she nearly fell over, yet she never recalled standing up. Or leaving the ship.
Where was she?
The whole area seemed to form around her as the beauty of the design of the Void met her eyes.
"The Void is filled with traps, be on your toes." Lotus cautioned.
"The mission proceeds." Excalibur said as the team ran off. Edge and Twilight running to catch up.
The four ran through the cylinder doors to instantly fire upon the corrupted.
"Any person who comes within have fallen to the corruption of the Orikin technology. They are all one." Lotus told the ponies.
Sharp Edge and Twilight looked and agreed, the appearance of Infestation, Corpus, and Grineer were mixed all into having similar appearances.
"Tenno, I advise you split up. The hostages seem to be spread throughout the temple." Lotus contacted.
"Do you know which way leads to which pony?" Sharp Edge asked.
"Negative. Do not worry for Fluttershy, I know she's alright." Lotus told him, though it wasn't enough.
Frost saw a door that lead to an objective and took his leave, Excalibur instructed Twilight to follow while Ash and Edge ran off, Volt saw the two markers on the mini-map and ran towards them.
Excalibur ran through the doors and slash dashed towards a small group of Corrupted and shot the rest, he nodded as Twilight moved in.
"The distance between them are relatively close. This mission could easily be over soon." He said.
"I hope so." Twilight told him.
They quickly ran off.
Ash and Edge slid into the room, magic bolts and bullets were fired at the corrupted, killing them.
"Think we can split up? It looks like there are two paths that have a hostage to each." Edge said as he studied the map from his eye piece.
"Perhaps." Ash said. "Can you hold your own?"
"You know it." Edge said as ran his own way. Ash looked at him running off before he turned and walked off as well.
Volt ran through the group of Corrupted with how swords out. He skidded through just as the wounds began to form from the swipes he had made on them.
Both were sheathed as he continued his progress to finding the ponies.
"Help!" A small voice called out. volt recognized it as he took off running. Sprinting as fast as he could as he saw Rumble being attacked by Corrupted.
He jumped and sliced down the middle of one as he landed on front of the small pony. Volt quickly dispatched the other two Corrupted and looked at Rumble.
"Volt!" He exclaimed as he threw his hooves around the Warframe.
"How did you get away?" He asked.
"They thought I was gonna die here." Rumble said. "But you're here. I know that won't happen now."
Volt picked up the colt and put him on his back before running off.
Frost cleaved a Corrupted in half as he ran through them. Dodging bullet as he ran trough the doors and stopped at the sight.
Fluttershy floated in the air with yellow, burning ropes holding her in place. Frost jumped and cut them with his sword and catching Fluttershy as he landed.
The pony's eyes fluttered open to see the Tenno holding her.
"Frost?" She said weakly.
"Yes." He confirmed. Quickly giving her energy, Fluttershy hopped up and looked around.
"Where are the others?" She asked.
"On separate ways. Sharp Edge also came along looking for you. But for now, we must hurry." He said.
Fluttershy nodded as the two took off.
Edge ran into the room to see a mare being held be ropes. He quickly cut them to free her.
"Ma'am, are you alright?" He asked. She looked at him and nodded.
"Yes, thank you."
"I need your name." Edge said.
"OH yes. I'm Milano Mash." She said, rather nervous about the situation.
"Got it." Edge got on his communicator. "I found a hostage." He reported.
"Good work. We're regrouping at this rally point." An orange marker appeared in Edge''s eye piece.
"Follow me." He said to Milano.
Volt and Rumble burst into a room to see a large gem floating at the top of the room. The room almost seemed peaceful as the gem glowed a vibrant violet. Rumble hopped off Volt's back and looked at the gem.
"She's so beautiful." He finally admitted.
The gem lowered to show Flitter inside of it. Rumble walked up to it slowly and put his hoof on it.
"Can you free her please." Rumble said. Lost for words almost.
The gem faded away as she fell down in front of Rumble.
The small colt quickly began to shake his friend awake. She stirred but wouldn't wake. Volt gave her energy that woke her up in an instant.
"Ru... Rumble?" She looked down to see the small colt looking up at her.
Rumble immediately burst into tears and hugged her hoof.
"I'm so sorry... I... ran onto that ship... I thought I could save you." He sobbed. Flitter was mostly confused.
"I just want to know why." She said.
"Be...because.... because I think you're so pretty. I get so excited to find out I'm going to see you and... I really like you a lot." Rumble sobbed so more. Flitter felt tears forming in her eyes as well.
"That's... why. I... didn't... want you... to go away. I wanted to be hugged... by you." Rumble said before bawling his eyes out.
"Awwww." Flitter found it so cute that Rumble admitted his crush and hugged him with her hooves and wings.
The two didn't want the moment to end. Sadly, the lights flickered.
Ash ran through to ind that it wasn't a hostage, it was Vor with a squad of marines, waiting for him.
Vor laughed evilly as he saw Ash enter the room. "Tenno, why do you fight when you know there is no hope. Just give up."
"People like you will always tell us this. The words are heard but we don't listen." Ash said.
"Well then, don't say I didn't warn you." Vor taunted as Corrupted jumped down next to Ash, who quickly killed them. the quickness shocked Vor.
Ash quickly ran and jumped off of the balcony and at Vor, he teleported to the marines one by one and killed them each before appearing above Vor and slashed his Glaive at him.
Vor quickly used the powers of the Void key to teleport away, leaving Ash alone to run off.
Excalibur and Twilight regrouped with Frost and Fluttershy, after the quick hug the two shared, they ran off quickly.
"What is that?" Excalibur asked.
In front of them was a statue of what appeared to be Lotus holding a staff. Fluttershy walked over and brushed her hoof across it, causing the tip of the staff to glow.
"What's it doing?" Twilight asked, panicing a little.
A beam shot from the staff at Fluttershy, but she was pushed out of the way.
"Frost!" She exclaimed as he was struck by the beam. Fear and guilt filled the mare as she ran off.
Frost felt a burn like no other as light filled his vision. He saw Excalibur and Twilight run off and knew they would make it.
"Good luck ally." He said as he faded away.
Fluttershy ran away, crying after seeing her friend go. Unaware she was being watched.
"Fluttershy!" A voice called to her. She looked to see Edge running towards her. It was almost a happy sight until he suddenly clutched his head in pain.
"NO!" She yelled out. Not being able to take it anymore, she began to run off.
"Fluttershy wait!" To late, just as she got past the door and turned around, a jagged, sharp blade landed in front of her as the doors closed.
Ash and Milano ran and regrouped with Volt and the others.
"Where are Excalibur and Frost?" Ash asked.
"Frost was said to have perished while Excalibur went off alone."
Twilight rounded the corner and quickly joined the two Warframes along with the ponies.
"I can't find them. Fluttershy ran off and Excalibur told me to find you guys." She told them.
"Well then, let's find them." Volt said.
Excalibur ran past the swarm of Corrupted and tried to reach the door. They chased after and fired several rounds at him. Excalibur ran to the door but it didn't open for him.
The Stalker swung the Hate and missed Excalibur and instead killed a Corrupted and then quickly killed the others near him.
"Greetings once more Hayden." The Stalker greeted.
"My title falls under Excalibur. Hayden is unknown to me."
The Stalker looked back at him. "In time." He said.
The two looked to see a large amount of Corrupted entering the room.
"Hayden, do you think you can handle this?"
"Yes." Excalibur responded.
The Stalker said nothing, but instead slash dashed a group of Corrupted and fired a bow from Dread.
Excalibur fired his Latron at the head of one before shooting another with his Lato. He used the Radial Javelins to pin a few to walls. He jumped out of the way as a big Corrupted tried to jump on him. He sliced it in half with his Skana before attacking yet another Corrupted.
The Stalker threw Despair at the Corrupted before slamming down the Hate to knock them to the ground. He finished them off and saw the room clear.
"Well Hayden, I see your skills haven't changed." The Stalker praised.
Sharp Edge tore through another team, laughing evilly as one was ripped by his blade.
He looked over to see Ash enter the room. He ran over quickly.
"We have a problem." He growled, his eyes glowing redder.
Fluttershy ran throughout the halls of the Temple, sobbing at how horrible it has been going.
A Corrupted swung and knocked her to the ground. It stood above her, ready to finish her off.
A blade of white silver sliced clean through it. An armor of black and gold stood above Fluttershy.
"Fluttershy." It said.
She knew that voice. It was cold as ice.
The moment Ash walked in the room, The Stalker dropped everything in order to try to kill him.
"Ash, run!" Flitter yelled out as The Stalker gave chase.
Ash ran and saw lasers that would hopefully kill him. He slid and jumped through them and saw the Stalker do the same. Ash cursed to himself and ran off some more.
Fluttershy and Frost ran into the room with the others.
"Frost? Is that you?" Excalibur asked.
"Yes." The voice echoed.
ASh burst into the room with the Stalker giving chase. Having enough, he turned and threw his Glaive at him, he reflected and jumped and swung his Hate downwards. Ash flipped and caught the blade between his toes and flew upwards and caught the Glaive to swing down at the Tenno.
Ash landed in front of the group, who were half distracted by Frost's new form and watching, to afraid to fight the Stalker.
The Stalker quickly pulled out Despair and threw it, Ash teleported away.
The knife tore at Excalibur's helmet just as he turned his head towards them. He put his hand over it yet there was no blood.
The Stalker knew what was coming. He had stopped fighting and saw the darkness in the slash mark across his enemies face.
In an instant, two glowing orbs shined their way through the blackness of the helmet, and looked straight at The Stalker.
"Tenno, while you were gone, a raid to place to steal back the remaining elements. The Grineer were not pleased." The Lotus explained.
Judging by the crash landing of Twilight and Excalibur, she was right.
"Twilight, are you alright?" He asked, the two glowing orbs inside his helmet shining through.
She got up and quickly wiped off any dirt on her and responded with "I'm fine."
"Don't worry you two. Celestia plans to send a carriage. But the fight up here will have to be finished first." Lotus told them.
"Understood." Excalibur said. He sat on his knee's and waited. Twilight joined him and could only listen to the explosions and gunfire from above.
Lech Krill marched his way through the streets, ordering Grineer to Tenno locations and attacking them himself.
Rhino saw the marines clear as the two met at the end of both roads.
"Well well, greetings Tenno." Krill said.
"Lech Krill, your time ends now." Rhino said.
Krill saw the rest of the marines clear and scoffed at Rhino. "Your blood will run deep." He threatened as he slammed his hammer down.
"I feel no fear when fighting you." Rhino said as he drew his Scindo.
The two stared down each other at both sides of the path. Suddenly, Krill charged down the path, Rhino did the same, reading his Axe.
Both weapons met with such fury, dust flew away from the two bodies as the they met. Krill swung down but had his attack dodged as Rhino swung his foot and knocked him down. Krill rolled to the side in time to avoid a Scindo being slammed on him.
He jumped and slammed his fist into the ground to gain ground as Rhino was knocked down. Lech Kirll attempted to slam his hammer down on him but was blocked by Rhino's grasp on the hilt. The Tenno got up and as it was wrenched away from his grip.
Krill spun around with his hammer and tried to hit Rhino, who jumped back with every turn. The bulky Grineer finished by slamming the hammer down and the ground.
A squad of Grineer chased down the Princess and her guards, who were trying to retreat to the safe room.
"Don't worry. I'm sending help your way. See you when you get here." Lotus told her, even though she couldn't hear her.
The guards yelled and pointed at the sky as a dropship flew overhead and between the Grineer and Celestia. The doors opened to show a mix of emerald green and the gray of a Tenno's armor drop down.
The Grineer looked with curiosity and confusion. "A... pony?"
His head raised as Sharp Edge counted the numbers of seven Grineer in front of him. He smirked then looked back at the V.I.P.'s. He nodded his head, signaling them to go.
He looked back to the assault team in front of him. He always hated guard duty.
"Let's get this over with." He said as his eye piece flipped down in front of his eye.
Sayrn took cover as an explosion shook the ground around her. She struggled to stand up as she got back up and fired back at the surrounding Grineer. She snapped out of cover and fired back at the slowly approaching Grineer. The Tenno ducked down in hopes of recharging her shields in the bullet storm that rained down on her.
She knew the odds.
"Sayrn, do you need help?"
"No Lotus. Sending others may risk themselves as well." She said.
"Understood." Lotus said, signing off from communications with her.
Ash landed down from the dropship and into a fray of marines. Most were killed before he hit the ground while the rest retreated, only to be gunned down from his Hind rifle.
He pulled out his dual Furis and fired them at his sides while quickly throwing his Glaive. He ran to a lone marine and jumped and swiped his hand down as the Glaive returned to him, decapitating the Grineer.
Ash landed and spun the Galive around him as a swarm of bullets were fired at him. Most were cut down while his shields handled the rest. He turned and threw it again and watched it slice down a few marines while running to dodge enemy fire while shooting back with his pistols.
The Glaive came back and Ash spun as he caught it. As he was on his knee's, he looked up to see a gun pointed at him. In a puff of smoke, Ash was gone and the sound of slicing was heard as they all fell dead.
Frost was ready to test his new form, all of his weapons were replaced with newer versions that looked like they were from the Orikin Void themselves.
He brandished his Reaper Prime as he dropped down and sliced a Grineer down the middle, only to look up and see a heavy gunner looking down at him.
In an instant, an Ice wave rippled across his path, freezing and shattering the enemies in their place.
Frost Quickly ran and saw another team round the corner. he tried to turn back and saw another team. He fired his Braton prime at the teams. But it wasn't enough, he was surrounded.
In another moment, he made an avalanche as nearly all of the marines were killed by the ice.
"Frost, when this is over, we need to discuss about this new form." Lotus told him.
"Yes we do Lotus." His voice echoed.
Rhino was charged through the wall of a building as Krill smashed the walls from swinging his hammer wildly.
"Die Rhino. Your blood will be seen soon, do not delay."
Rhino dropped all weapons and let out a roar as he charged Krill through several walls of the house and grabbed a tube on Lech Krills back, he bulled one loose and was met with another hammer swing. He grabbed the hammer and pulled it away and tore the other tube with both of his hands and slammed Lech Krill into the ground. The Tenno quickly raised his foot and Rhino stomped down onto the Grineers head.
Edge sliced through a marine and quickly defeated another.
"Edge, Fluttershy is safe now." Lotus told him.
"That's great." He said.
Edge began to let his mind wander, she was safe.
So why was something scratching at the back of his head.
"She would be fine if you bastards never came here in the first place." He yelled as he slashed up a Grineer.
"She should be right by me! She's be safe!" He yelled out loud. He eviscerated a marine before tearing another apart.
"Damnit, why is he here?" Edge thought out loud.
Flash had been separated from the rest of the guards. He ran as until he got to the very edge of Canterlot. Looking down, he saw Twilight and Excalibur and smiled at seeing his princess safe.
"You're done for." A deep voice said to him. Flash turned around to see a Grineer Trooper pointing a shotgun at him.
Flash edged back a bit and had his hoof slip from the cliff. Instead, he readied his spear.
"Do you think you can kill me?" The Grineer asked.
Flash looked down at Twilight and back. "With my dedication, yeah."
Knocking the shotgun aside, Flash stabbed the hands, then the torso as many times as he could. He screamed as he drove the spear through the body of the marine.
He did it. He successfully killed a Grineer.
"Screw you Tenno, I don't need your help!" He yelled.
He turned and got the worst shock as he saw Rhino charging at him.
Sayrn was running on what health she had left. It seemed as if she had every Grineer raining down on her.
Out of energy, ammo, and nearly her health, Sayrn leaned back and looked to the sky. It looked so peaceful from this point of view.
A Grineer unit jumped up from behind and put a bullet in her head.
Rhino ran throughout the battle, it seemed as if most Grineer were leaving. Yet he knew there was a major target to take care of.
"Screw you Tenno, I don't need your help!" A voice called.
Rhino looked over and saw the worst sight to his vision.
Flash was so caught up in his victory, he failed to notice the darkness of The Stalker approaching him, pulling out Hate and ready to kill the pony.
Rhino charged at full speed at Flash, knowing he would reach him first.
The guard looked and saw the angry looking Warframe charging at him.
"Crap! I'm sorry!" He yelled, panic filling his voice.
The Stalker swung the top of the Hate against the ground and towards Flash, who was still unaware.
"Move!" Rhino yelled as he knocked Flash away and onto the ground.
The blade went straight through Rhino as he was lifted up into the air.
"No!" Twilight yelled from the ground as he saw the limp body hanging over the edge of Canterlot.
The Stalker pulled the blade out and let the body fall over the edge. He turned his head to see Flash struggling to catch his breath.
"All how it should have went." He commented. "Speaking of."
A hand grasped the helmet on Flash with such strength as he was lifted up over the edge. Flash grunted in pain as he felt his guards helmet crack under The Stalkers hand.
Twilight looked up and lost her words. A tear began to fall from her eye as she saw the sight of Flash struggling with no hope of getting free.
Flash looked down and The Stalker could have sworn that he saw Twilight looking back in his eyes.
A black flame engulfed Flash's body before quickly being frozen. The hand tilted forward as Flash Sentry was let loose and to tumble down to the ground.
"NO!" Twilgiht yelled as she flew up and caught the body. She was pinned to the ground as the two landed very hard. Excalibur ran over and saw Twilight look at Flash's face. His stuck in one of fear while she felt nothing but sorrow.
The Stalker looked up to see more and more Grineer ships approaching. He could see the world burning, it almost made him feel happy.
I noticed an increase of Stalker attacks. One of which was on me last night. It's been going on ever since I've found the Glaive. Whether it's the Forma I used or an attachment to the weapon due to it's connection to Hayden is beyond me.
Celestia looked at the sky with tears in her eyes. How could they go in full force when the Tenno's numbers were slowly dwindling away.
The Lotus gave a stern look and saw a dropship land. Excalibur and Twilight walked out, the pony looking grief stricken as the frozen body of another pony was carried out.
"The Stalker did this." Lotus said. Twilight nodded before joining her friends. All giving hugs in hopes of comforting her.
"Well we have the elements together now." Celestia said, giving them to the belonging ponies. "We have to use them quick." She hurried.
Twilight looked and nodded at the girls as the gems on the necklaces began to glow. They looked to see the biggest of the ships heading towards them.
A ray of magic fired from the six elements and right at the ship. Light enveloped it and nearly blinded everypony watching.
Nothing.
Excalibur exited the room with a brand new helmet. The Avalon gave a more sleek design to him as he walked through out the castle.
He passed a room to show Rumble shaking in his sleep. Getting a closer look, it look as though I was having a horrible nightmare.
The Stalker stood above the tiny pony, tormenting him on the dumb mistake he made of jumping onto the ship. Looking down on the foal, making him feel nothing but fear.
Rumble shot up in bed and looked around to Excalibur standing in the doorway.
"Are you alright?" The Tenno asked.
Rumble checked his surroundings and sighed in relief. "Yeah, but you can get Flitter for me?"
Excalibur nodded his head and walked off. As for Rumble, he stilled kept telling himself it was just a dream.
Lotus walked around and examined Frost's new form. Sleek black armor with golden pieces.
"What happened? Did he get an upgrade?" Fluttershy asked.
"No, he's now a Prime form. His Warframe and weapons now have Orikin like abilities to them."
"Can this happen to any Warframe?"
Yes, but this the first time I've seen it." Lotus explained.
Excalibur joined them in the room. the small amount of ponies and and the number of Tenno left gave the mood of hopelessness. Flash's frozen form was being treated by several unicorns and Twilight herself. Celestia wept on her throne as the sound of explosions sounded outside.
The Warframe approached Flitter and told her "Rumble wishes to see you. It appears he had night terrors of The Stalker."
"Oh my." Flitter gasped as she quickly ran to the room that she remembered that he was left sleeping in.
Lotus had enough of the loud sobbing and walked over. "Get a hold of yourself."
"How?" Celestia asked through her tears. "This is almost a lost cause. How can we keep going?"
"Cause Tenno don't know the meaning of the word surrender." Lotus told her.
Princess Celestia got up and looked her in the eye. "This isn't your world. Why do you keep fighting?"
"Letting the Grineer win a battle is never good on the mind of a Tenno." Lotus turned around to see them all interacting with the ponies. "But we also fighting for the kindness we have gotten that is here."
"We greeted you with force." Luna said.
"Correct. But who wouldn't have? We are here to explore. Had we not arrived, the Grineer would have had a new army."
Celestia was about to speak before an explosion rocked the castle.
Lotus could see a ship heading for Canterlot. More ships appeared near the ship and fired at it.
"That's the one with the Infested." Lotus pointed out.
Pods shot down and let loose the Infestation upon Canterlot. The Tenno took action and jumped into the fray.
Volt led the young mare through the crowds of small foals and their parents. He came across the one he was looking for. All alone and crying to himself.
"There." He said. Milano looked and gasped with happiness at the sight.
"Button!" She exclaimed as she ran to her son.
The young colt looked up to see his mother. "Mom!" He yelled happily as he ran into her hooves.
As the two shared a very happy reunion, Volt felt a small ping in his chest. He had felt it the same time he had reunited Rumble with Flitter.
It felt like happiness.
Sadly, it didn't last long. The ground shook as pods struck down and released the Infested into the streets of Canterlot.
"Wonderbolts are being dispatched to assist with civilians." Celestia informed as Lotus began to monitor the situation.
"What good will they do?"
"They can fight. The Infested don't have guns like the rest."
Lotus saw the point and didn't respond.
A trail of lighting, smoke and fire streaked across the sky. They split up into two's with the exception of one who went alone.
Spitfire landed down and began to order people to safety as she was charged by a leaper. She kicked it away and kept near the ponies as they got to safety.
Suddenly, a runner jumped on top of her and raised a claw before getting kicked off by a rushing mix of red and orange.
"Nice one Rookie." Spitfire commented.
Blaze Streak looked around. Being in line for possible recruitment did mean accompanying the team to places that needed help from special forces. He just wished it wasn't the time of an invasion of aliens.
Spitfire called him over to help with the evacuations. Ponies were instructed to stay in their homes until it was all clear. As for the Infested, they seem to have thin numbers around the two ponies. They guarded the last of the ponies as they cleared the street.
"Don't think we'll be able to fly away from this one. I think the others handled their part." Spitfire said as they were surrounded by the few Infested.
"So what about us?" Blaze asked.
"You think you can handle them?" Spitfire asked with a smirk.
As much as the day had been stressful, Blaze responded with "Can you?"
"I can, except for that last one that will be left."
"Guess that's the one I get." Blaze commented.
"Oh, so you are fighting." Spitfire quipped.
Blaze gave a confident chuckle and readied his wings.
The two charged and kicked and punched the Infested away.
Ash threw his Glaive and jumped towards a Charger and caught the Glaive in time to slam it down into it's body. Mag ran by with her Jaw Sword out and swiped away a Leaper. She took out of Burston and fired a few rounds into an Ancient.
Frost sliced his way through the swarms with his Reaper Prime. He pulled out his Braton Prime and gunned down a few waves before using an Avalanche to clear the rest.
"We need a plan to stop all of this."
"But how?" Mag asked.
"Some way. For now, we should take care of the threat at hand." Ash said as he fired his Hind.
Excalibur joined Volt and the two held their ground against the large waves.
"Tenno, I have with me a Datamass that can send the Infested ship into the sun. We need a break to deliver it."
"The team?" Volt asked.
"Nyx, Trinity, and Mag have volunteered for the job. But we must make way for a drop ship pickup." She explained.
"Well this invasion should let up soon. We can take it from there." Excalibur said as he slash dashed off.
Volt used his lighting powers to clear the way and ran off.
Spitfire kicked a charger into the ground and flipped off onto a leaper and flipped kicked him in the same flip and landed down.
"Doing alright Rook?" She called.
"You know it." He called back as he punched a Leaper away.
The mare caught herself staring at the pony for so long, she was caught off guard when a Runner exploded near her. The wind of it blew her mask off and her mane down.
"Spitfire!" Blaze called as he saw her hit a wall. She stumbled back up.
"I'm fine." She breathed out as she charged back at the fray.
Blaze found the numbers for him increasing as he fought off more and more of the Infested.
"Spits, I need some help here!" He called out.
Spitfire heard his calls and turned around to help. She learned to never turn your back on the enemy as a tentacle from an Ancient wrapped around her pulled her away. The mare cried out as she got yanked away.
"Spitfire!" Blaze yelled as he saw her get taken. She struggled in it's grasp as it looked at him.
"You know it's the only way." A voice said in his mind.
"You talk?"
"Do not worry. She will be fine." It said as it began to carry her away, the pony calling for help.
"Let her go!" Blaze yelled as he charged after her and into an abandoned house.
Instantly, a Charger pounced on him. He was pinned to the ground and looked up to see a husk of a very big Infested.
"Now, with the life force of a pony, Golem can join us." The Ancient said. Blaze struggled with the weight of the Charger.
"What are you talking about?"
"We wish for all to be one. With one like Golem, we will all join together. Don't fear it, embrace it." The ancient said.
With that, another Ancient wrapped an arm on the husk to give it life. The chest cavity began to move and reach out towards Spitfire.
"Huh!" She gasped and began to scream in fear before a strip of flesh covered her mouth, muffling them. She kicked and screamed as more and more of the flesh wrapped around her to hold the pony in place. Her body was held in the flesh as needles of it stuck into her skin. Tears formed in her eyes as she feared for what would happen to her.
"No!" Blaze yelled and tried with all of his strength to get free and save her.
As for Spitfire, she lost all of her energy and felt like it was being sapped from her. The husk began to move around and become alive.
"Golem lives." The Ancient declared.
Golem looked around to observe his surroundings before breaking free from the house. The roof shattered as the massive beast broke free and roared.
Blaze knew his time was about to come. The charger was ready to kill.
A blade tore through it and left Blaze unharmed. He got up to see a dark figure standing above him. It looked like he would kill the pony instead.
It only faded away.
Golem was as tall as a house. He ran throughout the until it was stopped by Nyx in the middle of the road.
"Do not go any farther." She ordered.
"We will shall be one. Don't try to stop the inevitable." Golem said as he stepped over Nyx.
Golem found himself surrounded by the Tenno and Wonderbolts plus a very angry Rainbow Dash.
"Do you need me to repeat myself?" Nyx asked.
"Fine then, but once you are defeated, don't say you ignored my warnings." Golem said as tentacles burst from it's body. Spitfire looking in very much pain from the action.
"It's using the life force of that pony to be alive. But getting close to her would only cause you to be absorbed as well." Lotus explained to them.
Spitfire looked down in fear, wondering if she would make it out of this alive. She saw Blaze fly overhead and worried for him as well.
"How do we defeat it then?" Trinity asked.
"How we always do." Ash said as he readied his Glaive.
Golem looked down upon them and the surrounding ponies. Each with a look of determination to stop him. Excalibur held his Skana in a reverse grip form as he charged forward as tentacles tried to strike him. Frost froze them each when they touched the ground while Mag fired at the creature. The rest held off the Infested.
Mag fired bursts into it's head before a green projectile was flung in her direction. She dodged and saw the ground sizzling where she once stood.
"Acid projectiles." She confirmed as she went back to the fight.
Frost sliced through the tentacles and could only hear Spitfire grunt in pain as more grew. But suddenly, he had a plan.
"Excalibur, the removal of the head can easily stop this creature. It is wise for us to do so." He said.
"Understood." He said.
Excalibur waited for a tentacle to strike before taking his chance. As soon as Frost froze one, he ran up it and sliced any that tried to attack him. He jumped up to the face of Golem and sliced at it. While it wasn't decapitated, Golem stumbled back a great distance.
Excalibur landed and sliced away a tentacle.
Soarin kicked away a leaper and saw an ancient walking towards him. He wasn't quikc enough to get out of the way as it's appendage shot towards him.
A rainbow maned pony stepped in the way quickly and was grabbed. Instantly swung over the creature and slammed into the ground, Rainbow Dash didn't get up from the attack.
"Rainbow!" Soarin yelled as he kicked the Ancient to the ground and flew over to her. Scraps and bruises covered her body as she breathed quietly.
"She's hurt!" He yelled.
Trinity ran over to see. "She will be fine." She said as she began to heal her.
Soarin watched over her for the remainder.
Frost jumped out of the way in time to see an chance for Mag to run up the tentacle as he froze it. She ran up, dodging every strike and jumped up to empty her clip into Golems face, causing it to stumble back.
By now, the edge of Canterlot was in sight. Pushing Golem off was an option if they could free Spitfire.
"All in rush I say." Excalibur suggested as Ash landed near them and caught his Glaive.
"I agree." He said.
They each hopped around Golem and waited for Frost to freeze the Tentacles to the ground. Golem became frustrated and did just that as he slammed five to the ground only for them to be frozen in place as the three hoped on and ran along them to the top.
Ash ran up and threw his Glaive and let it knock Golem back as he jumped and sliced it at it's face before jumping away for Mag to slice away with her Jaw sword and hop away as Excalibur did a single slice in time for Frost to join and do the last slice with his Reaper.
Golem stumbled and began to lean back as the body began to fall away. The last leg fell away as he fell off. The chest cavity disintegrated as Spitfire fell through with Blaze flying right through it to catch her.
He landed with her in his hooves back to the group to have her open her eyes. Her suit had burned away from the flesh that sucked the life out of her. She had trouble with standing as well.
"Hey, guess what Rook? You're in." She said as she passed out.
Captain Vor looked down upon the mayhem of the fight. Ships exchanged shots that lit up the world from the Bridge of the ship. It was all in his grasp.
Counciler Vay Hek walked in. "Sir, it shows that a small amount of the Corpus have fallen back." He informed.
Vor grinned and turned around. He was instead met with a dark figure.
"Quit being a fool, Vor." The Stalker said. Vor merely laughed and turned back around.
"Look at the sight Stalker. Can't you see we've already won." He said as he lifted his arms up in awe.
"Vor, when there is no threat left, there will be a victory." The Stalker became agitated by his ally's foolishness.
"Well why wait. These foolish, weak ponies are done for."
"These foolish and weak ponies managed to kill Everest." The Stalker told Vor.
"Well then Everest was a fool. He wouldn't have been killed by some stupid unicorn tha-"
"That had the will and strength to defeat him."
"He was a psycho in phases. I read the report. His girlfriend dumped him and he got all mad." Vor said with a smug grin.
"He never wanted that pain. He was fueled by love and passion for his friends." The Stalker said.
"HA! You act as though you fought with him. Like he's your friend."
"As much as the ponies and my views of the world differ, I can respect them and their ways."
"Well then, why don't you go down there and tell me what they really are." Vor offered.
The Stalker only looked at him before his form broke away in dark clouds.
He dropped down and into the halls of the Castle. Weaponless, he snuck around to learn about the ponies.
His first stop was into Rumbles room. He could feel the colt have nightmares about their brief encounter. If teaching him the world is not an entirely safe place through that way, so be it.
But something made The Stalker feel a pang of guilt. The foal turned over and wrapped his hooves around a pony that was at first hidden in the darkness. The one he jumped on the ship after when she was taken to the Void. He had the knowledge that he had an emotional attachment to the mare. At a young age, it was viewed as "cute" and "adorable" to the older ones.
The Stalker let them be and moved on.
Next was the room of Princess Twilight Sparkle. Her rescue was the first mission he appeared as he battled Excalibur. she slept peacefully with a guard standing at her door. Unable to see him due to the darkness shrouding the Stalker.
He knew he had hurt her deeply when he froze the guard Rhino sacrificed himself to save. Despite their history, The Stalker applauded Rhino for the act. Yet, Flash had to still suffer in the end.
As for Flash, the moon reflected off the ice as he laid alone in a bed. The Stalker knew he was awake and aware and stayed out of sight. He knew he would be thawed out soon as shown by the shivering limbs.
He moved on to see the room of the other five ponies. The all slept in the same room for safety reason. the small Dragon disregarded his original guardian and slept in the hold of the one Vauban sacrificed himself to save. The rest, save for the one with the rainbow colors, slept soundly.
Rainbow Dash was bandaged for her recent injuries sustained during the Infested attack to save another pony. A male, The Stalker observed, 'A sure sign of attraction.' He thought
He also noted the yellow one was missing but moved on.
He slipped away and snuck right past a guard. They were a push over. Rhino could sneak by them if he wanted to.
He went to see both of the Princesses missing from the respective rooms. He found the royal couple from the Crystal kingdom sleeping in the grasp in a room.
The missing Princesses peaked The Stalkers mind as he ran about the Castle. Passing the room with the pony he saved and the mare that pony saved, The Stalker came to think that in the wake of tragedy, there will always be someone there for you.
He moved to the entrance of the castle and saw a meeting at the front door. There, all the Tenno stood with the Princesses. He could hear her voice.
"What is this exactly?" She spoke.
The Stalker began to follow her voice. But disappeared when Luna turned around quickly.
"An offering." Nef Anyo said. "The dogs have not met their end of the deal and we wish to punish them for doing so."
"What exactly is this offer?" Celestia asked.
"That we join forces for the remainder of this fight." Nef Anyo told her.
The Tenno said nothing, not even their weapons were drawn out. The Stalker felt no need to fight an unarmed foe and only watched.
"Take it." Celestia nodded.
"Fine. You have a deal. You do not interfere with our plans while we won't with yours. But we will not fire upon each other until we all leave."
"Deal." Anyo said as he shook her hand.
The Stalker cringed. He avenged the death the Jackal and this is how they repay him?
Having enough, The Stalker was about to take his leave when he passed a room. The armor of a Warframe clung to a body of a pony.
It was Sharp Edge and cuddled up to him was Fluttershy.
The Stalker took his time to examine the two. He noted how Edge wasn't affected by his presence. Perhaps it was the sleep he was in. The Stalker looked upon him and summoned the Hate. He had to, Everest must be avenged.
He raised the Hate and swung down, only to stop above him.
Fluttershy whimpered in her sleep and turned, facing towards Edge now. His hold tightened as he held her head against him. They looked so peaceful.
The Stalker had it all wrong. These ponies deserved nothing of what was coming to them at all. All they had to fear were creatures that they had all grown to know, not something from beyond the stars that would force them to fight a war that they had no part in.
The Stalker disappeared.
Vor turned around and saw The Stalker standing there.
"How was it?" He joked.
"You are a monster for this fight." The Tenno said.
"Why? I am only following the Queens' orders." Vor said as he turned around.
He spat out blood as a blade going through his chest and lifting him in the air.
"I warned you." The Stalker said as he pulled the blade out and let Vor's dead body fall.
Hek stepped back a little until the Stalker sheathed the Hate.
"Well I guess there will be no more of him."
"You are merely following orders. The reason you all live is that they are working with the Corpus."
"I figured." Hek said as he walked up.
"It's ours. Soon, this planet will belong to us." Councilor Vay Hek said as he looked out the bridge in the rather dark room.
"Perhaps," the dark voice said, "But what of the rest?"
"We will deal with them like we dealt with the Tenno."
"I meant the Tenno." He said, showing a little emotion for once.
The Lotus knew he was here last night. The reason being is that she could tell was the darkness she felt when the Corpus and them met. Yet, she knew he would be to much of a coward to approach her and her only.
She looked down upon the pod they had brought. Anyo had been known for taking dormant pods containing sleeping Tenno. In rested one Warframe that was yet to be awakened.
"Nova." She said as she ran her hand over the glass.
Nova would wake, but her time would not be until she was needed.
Fluttershy awoke to see herself alone in bed. She remembered this strange dream where she was about to be attacked. Though the pony woke up before her inner-dream self was hurt and turned over to hold Edge close.
She trotted out to see Mag, Nyx, Frost and Excalibur alined the balcony.
"You're mission will stand." She handed them a data unit. "This contains an override that will send the ship at high speeds into the sun. It will wake five minutes to activate once it is set."
Each nodded rhythmically.
"The mission stands. Good luck Tenno." Lotus said as the four dropships appeared behind them.
The small group of ponies waved goodbye as they took off towards the Infested ship, ready to eliminate the threat.
Spitfire laid in bed. she had come down with a bad fever as of the effect of being 'harvested' of her life force for such a massive creature.
"You show no signs of having the technocyte plague. Being sick is at best, the good part. Most people are usually struck with a fatal disease of sorts."
In the corner, Blaze felt his heart jump in his chest.
"Luckily, you are going to live." Trinity said as she looked over the pony.
"Yay." Spitfire said weakly as she tried to fall asleep, despite the Tenno addressing her.
"Now rest." The warframe told the pony as she walked out. She turned to Blaze.
"She's all yours."
"What's that supposed to mean?" He asked nervously. Spitfire giggled a little.
"Oh Blaze-y, can you get me some water?" She called to him, weakly batting her lashes at the pony.
"Might as well." He said as he trotted out.
The four dropped down in the infested ship. They looked and nodded as they ran. Mag carried the Data unit while the rest attacked any infested that advanced on them.
It wasn't long before wave after wave of them came down upon the Cell. Nyx used her shockwave to clear them at time while Frost and his Prme form powers cleared even more than what his original form could have hoped for. Mag would bring them all together while Excalibur would swing his sword to kill them.
Nyx blocked and countered an attack with her Cronus and saw their leave.
"Move." She said. The group follwed as they ran through a set of doors with a swarm of Chargers and Runners following.
'This act!' The Stalker thought. He merely sat on his knees in the middle of the room.
'They've done nothing! Yet, they must die!' He sat without movement.
'How could they go on! They brought all of this here with them!'
Mag inserted the data unit. The rest held off a Disruptor as a call was made.
"Tenno, Ash and Trinity need your help. the Grineer stole Corpus technology and are invading Canterlot." Lotus called.
"We will proceed." Mag told her.
Frost sliced the beast with his Reaper Prime just as the lights flickered.
"HAYDEN!" A mad voice yelled throughout the ship.
"Hurry. We will not interfere." Excalibur said as they ran to the Evac.
"DO NOT RUN! IT'S ENDING HERE!"
It was that voice, that didn't belong to any Tenno, but more of a human.
Excalibur's former self recognized it as he clutched his head. Mag stopped just as the Stalker appeared.
"Excalibur! Go!" She said as she readied her sword only to be cut down by the Stalker.
"You're dying now Hayden!" The Stalker, now calmed from his recent kill, said to his former ally.
Ice formed around his feet as Excalibur stumbled up and ran off.
The team made it to the pods only to see The Stalker run in.
"Take off." Frost said as the pods flew off.
The vacuum didn't affect the Stalker as he jumped out and onto the pods.
"Tenno, you are being directed back to Canterlot." Lotus told the team in their pods as they flew back.
The Stalker raised his Hate on as soon as he stood up on the pod.
He swung.
A pain ripped into Nyx's arm as the pod was torn by a jagged blade. The alert went of along with a 'Brace for Impact' warning. Nyx braced as the pod hit the ground.
Sharp Edge saw the pod hit the ground, only to dodge a hammer swing.
"Try better pony." The Grineer commander said from within the metal suit. It held it in both arms and looked down upon the unicorn.
Edge back flipped to avoid the attack the shattered the ground. It seemed to actually hide him.
"Where are you?" The soldier taunted.
Edge jumped on top and stabbed him through the suit with his blade. The suit fell with the soldier inside dead.
The pony got up and ran off.
Nyx dragged herself out of the wreckage. A fire burned around her from the destroyed pod.
He cut her arm off.
Nyx's right arm was taken off when the blade tore through her pod. She couldn't even stand up and let alone fight.
"Sweet Celestia." A pony called out.
The Warframe looked up to see Edge looking at her.
"I'll get help!" He said as he was about to run off.
"Don't." Nyx said. "All they'll do is watch me die." She claimed.
"Come." She called him over. Edge walked over by her and listened to what she was about to say.
"My life of fighting for what's right has been a long one. Most of which I cannot remember." She said. "To think my end would be fighting for those who have seen dangers from worlds that aren't there's is quite an honor."
Edge nodded.
"But you fight for them, so they don't have to fear it. Just like us." She began to sound weak. "Which is why..."
Using her arm, she reached onto her back and pulled her Cronus out. She held it forward to Edge.
"I wish for you to inherit my blade."
Edge was lost for words. He took it with his magic and attached it on his back.
"Now go fourth, honorary Tenno. Your fight awaits you."
Lotus looked at the sky with a look of horror as a Fomorian ship flew downwards.
"This is it." She said as she turned back to the remaining Tenno. "The final battle is here. We're gonna start it off by taking down that ship."
Excalibur, Frost, Trinity and Volt stood in line. A crowd of ponies gathered in the throne room, even the foals were there to watch their new-found guardian take on his final mission in this world.
"You all leave in three minutes." Lotus informed as she walked off.
The ponies attempted to talk to the Tenno, though they didn't do a good job at responding.
"So is this 'goodbye' Mr. Lightning Bolt?" Scootaloo asked Volt as he checked his weapons.
"Negative. We will return to finish this fight after. Then we part ways."
A few foals began to cry a little. The emotion-devoud Tenno knew why. They all grew close since he saved them from a Grineer trooper who shot their teacher. Though, he always knew what to say.
"Do not worry. No matter how far I am, I am with you as much as you will with me." He told them as the pods docked on the balcony.
"Well good luck Mr. Lightning Bolt." Sweetie Belle said as she hugged his leg, the other young ones did the same. They said they're goodbyes and waved as he walked to the pod.
"We love you." "You're the best." "I want to be like you when I grow up."
Just as he was about to board, he turned around and waved gently to them. They all waved back as he boarded and the doors sealed shut.
"Alad, you may begin your assault on all ships except the Fomorian. The Tenno plan to take it down." Lotus informed as the firing began. Ash and the ponies watched as the sky became a battlefield.
"Lotus, you must know that you can't simply take out a Fomorin with one team, right?" Alad asked over the comms.
"Well we don't have much." She said while trying to stay calm.
"Affirmed, good luck Lotus. Please take good care of our offer." Alad told her.
"Nova is in good hands." She told him.
She looked back to see the dormant Warframe in a deep slumber.
Excalibur and Volt lead the cell through the halls while blasting Grineer. They had boarded five minutes ago and the Grineer found them. Their forces were relentless as the team sliced and shot their way through the teams.
"The core is dead ahead. Keep moving." Lotus told the team.
"We appear to have such high attention. Perhaps a V.I.P. is here." Frost suspected as he shot a Grineer in the head with his Braton prime. Trinity jumped back to avoid a Scorpions swing and shot him dead. Volt sliced down a Lancer as Excalibur stopped a roller mine dead in it's tracks.
"We should move though." Volt suggested. He shot off one last magazine before pulling out his sword to slice away a Trooper.
"Lets." Excalibur said as he shot a Grineer in the head with his Lex.
They moved on to the next room to be greeted by more soldiers. Though, they were being lead by someone this time.
"TENNO!" He screamed at them as they opened fire.
"General Sargus Ruk, last seen by Sharp Edge when he was taken hostage." Excalibur informed while in cover.
"Tenno. Must you fight... along side... greedy Corpus.... They will... betray you." He tried to convince as he too fired at them.
"We must distract him." Frost said.
"I will." Trinity told him. "You will go. I will make my way to evac soon after you begin to destroy this ship."
"Then good luck." Excalibur said.
Trinity quickly gave them blessing as they charged through. Trinity fired at Sargus Ruk and got his attention long enough for the three to make their way to the fuel core.
She fired at him with her Burston and ducked down to avoid an exploding grenade and slid out of cover. The warframe poked her head out to dodge a bullet from the General. Using her sidearm, she suppressed his fire and ran from cover to cover.
Ruk decided that this Tenno will simply die and walked off and let his squad deal with her.
The team made their way to the fuel core. It's yellow glowing cell lit the room as the three approached it. Excalibur turned to Frost and nodded as he gave him a corrupter unit. They placed it in and waited as Lotus gave them a timer of one minute and thirty seconds.
Swarms of marines flooded the room as both sides opened fire. The Tenno ran to dodge enemy fire while eliminating them one by one. An Evisirator fired sawblades that were jumped and flipped over by Volt as he sliced the Grineer down. Frost slammed one blade down with his Reaper Prime and killed the marine without ease. Excalibur slash dashed his way into a group before using the radial javelin.
As soon as the time was up, all marine were dead. Yet the ship only felt as if it lost power.
"Tenno, the ship is only merely damaged from our corrupter unit." Lotus informed.
"How are we to bring down this ship now?" Excalibur asked.
"More power." Volt answered.
The electric Warframe put his hands on the unit and put electricity into it to charge it. It glowed to show it was working, thought Volt grew tired and let go, only to show that he seemed to power up the ship even more.
"Volt, you could have overloaded the ship. Fall out now." Lotus ordered.
"Would an overload destroy this ship?" he asked the question Lotus knew he had to ask.
"Yes." She said as she cut communications with him for good.
"Volt, doing so will cost your life." Frost said.
"So be it." He said as he turned around and put his hands on the Unit. "Brothers and sister, you are needed down there for our last fight on this planet. It saddens me that I will not join you." He said as he lowered his head. "But the Tenno know a fallen brother adds strength to ones will."
The two nodded at him. "Volt, what shall we tell the young ones?" Excalibur asked.
Volt lowered his head even more. "Tell them... that... Mr. Lighting Bolt will miss them very much and that... he had to go... and for them to remember that no matter how far I am, I am with them as much as they are with me."
"Good luck brother." Frost said as he and Excalibur ran off. Volt began to push all his strength into putting electricity into the unit and the core.
Light and parts of the wall began to blow out as explosions rocked the ship. Excalibur and Frost ran with the alarm sounding and saw Trinity up ahead. She lead them to the evac room as they hurried into the pods.
Ruk watched from the bridge of a Galleon as the Fomorian began to explode. He knew it was all or nothing from here on.
Volt ignored all explosions as he put more voltage into the fuel core.
All of them. From Rumble watching the stars with him to Apple Bloom asking if he was alright. the joy of Button being reunited with his mother. them giving him hugs goodbye.
All of the memories flooded through his mind at once. it wasn't fair to never be able to see them again after all he did for them. Yet, the Tenno knew he had to due this so they can go on.
Even if it was without him.
"Even though I'll never know what's up ahead, I'm never letting go." He said as he forced the last of his energy out.
It was time. No more of it. The Tenno planned to end this once and for all and go home.
Rumble sat on Flitters head as he watched the four remaining Tenno.
"We don't have much to work with and the Corpus are not taking orders from us." Lotus briefed as she paced back and forth. "So it is planned. Excalibur, General Sargus Ruk was shown to still be alive and escaped the Fomorian. Find him and kill him on the asteroid. After, you will meet with Frost who will be looking for Councilor Vay Hek on the Galleon ship. ASh, you will be on the ground in Ponyville while Trinity stays here in Canterlot."
Three pods awaited for the three leaving Tenno.
"Lets do this." Lotus said as they boarded and took off while Trinity jumped off the balcony to join the Corpus forces below.
"Let... Tenno come... to me... I will... kill ... him my... self." Ruk said as he loaded his Gorgon. The troops instead were loaded into ships and took off to Ponyville.
He could see the pod flying around as they left.
Excalibur ran in to the arena and looked up to see Sargus Ruk watching over him.
"Tenno... this ... has gone on .. for .. far to long." He pronounced as he jumped down. "You ... can't delay your deaths... any longer." He said as he readied his weapon.
Ecalibur Loaded his Latron and charged forward.
Ash equipped a heat sword, dual fang blades and a Glaive and armed himself with dual Latos and a Hind. He also wore a syndanna around his neck.
"Want some armor with those weapons?" Sharp Edge said sarcastically.
Ash looked at him. "I understand the sarcasm. Though I don't feel anything from it."
Edge shrugged. "Sorry, I get it from two friends I know."
The two saw the ships landing down.
"Well, you ready?" The pony asked as he formed a blade. He also looked on his back and used magic to pick up Nyx's Cronus and put it in his mouth.
"Always." Ash said as he drew his Hind.
The battle at Canterlot had taken a turn as the Corpus and Grineer exchanged shots. Trinity rushed forwarrd and slashed them apart with her Ether sword. The Corpus only merely supported her as she would attack the Grineer.
As for the ponies, they had ran out of the castle when a ship landed there.
A sick Spitfire and a hurt Rainbow Dash hid along with Blaze and Soarin. To injured and weak to run, they could only hide from the squad that patrolled the castle halls.
"What do we do?" Spitfire asked in a panic.
"Stay quiet." Soarin shushed.
"There they are!" The Grinner squad leader shouted.
"Run!" Blaze yelled as they took off.
They used they're wings to fly off. Yet, they only could make it to the end of the hall before Spitfire took a bullet in her wing that was meant for Blaze and hit the ground. Blaze landed down beside her.
"I'm fine." She grunted in pain. Soarin and Rainbow Dash were about to go back.
"No! Get out of here!" Blaze yelled.
They looked with sorrow before taking off.
Bullets hit the glass of the pod as the tow ducked behind it.
"Wait..." Spitfire said as she saw what they were hiding behind. It was the pod that had the dormant Warframe in it.
She examined it to see a switch on it. Blaze starred at her as he nodded his head.
"Lets get this party started." As she hit the switch.
The cover blew off she jumped out and at the closest Grinner and kicked him in the face before using Null stars to kill three of them while using Antimatter drop to deal damage to a few. They had opened fore only to see her use a worm hole she created to get behind them.
They were all primed as she ran off as she used a Grakata to kill one.
That caused the rest of the team to disintegrate.
Spitfire and Blaze stared back in awe at what they saw. Lotus rounded the corner as the Warframe got down on her knees.
"I am not your enemy. I am here to guide you. I am Lotus." She said.
"Your name is Nova." She told the Tenno.
Nova stood up.
"It... is... time..." She said.
Fluttershy ducked in cover as the Corpus team she was with was gunned down. The Grineer closed in on her before on arrow shot through the closest one. A Warframe jumped in and took care of the rest before stopping by Fluttershy to see if she was alright.
"I''m fine. Thank you Loki." She said as she got up.
"Wait! Loki!" She said as she looked up.
"Why are you surprised. Have we met before?" He asked.
An Excalibur frame jumped in and fought along side a Rhino as they and Loki fought the invading Grineer.
Fluttershy looked over to see a ship with an army of Tenno pouring out.
"An army." She realized.
Ash and Edge were pusheed to their limits. The pony jumped over marines and slashed them with the Cronus and his magic blade. His HUD showed his shields being taken out as he was knocked down.
A Rhino charged through the team in time for the unicorn to get up and see an army of Warframe clash with the Grineer.
Edge found Ash and said "You never said there were more of you!"
"We never claimed we were the only ones."
Frost sliced through a Grineer in his way so he could see the ships outside landing and Tenno jumping out. The speakers came on.
"The army has arrived. If you are still on this ship, I am leaving here in five minutes with a dropship. Hurry if you want in." Hek said.
"My time is limited, Excalibur. Hurry with Ruk cause Hek is leaving in five minutes."
"I'm busy." Excalibur said.
He dodged a swing from the Gorgon and fired the last clip of his Lex into Ruks head and dropped his shields. He threw it away and grabbed his Latron before running to avoid being shot down by the General.
"I... should have.. killed.. pony when I... had the chance... so you would ... have been... warned." Ruk taunted as he slammed the ground with his fist and knocked Excalibur down and his Latron out of his hands.
"I guess... you... are... my victim... now." He said as he pointed his Gorgon into the Warframes face.
The Tenno sprang up and sliced the gun into pieces before decapitating Ruk in a swift move.
"Bad luck, General." Excalibur said as he grabbed his Latron. "Better luck next time."
He quickly ran to his pod. "Frost, I'm coming to assist you with Vay Hek." He said.
"Roger that." Frost answered.
The pod shook from the air battle happening as shot between the fleets were exchanged. One sharp pierce shot hit the pod as the alarm sounded.
"Excalibur. Eject!" Lotus shouted.
He sliced his way out and watched his Latron fall as he fell down and towards the ship with Vay Hek on it. Grabbing his Skana, he stabbed the side and caught the ship before climbing up. But, someone was waiting for him.
The Stalker sat upon the top of the ship. "Greetings Hayden." He said.
"Stalker, you know that it is nearly over. We are just about to win this fight."
The dark Warframe stood up. "I see. The rest of the Tenno are here to fight." He turned back towards Excalibur. "But this is between you and me Hayden."
"I request that you explain why you refer to me as Hayden."
"You see Excalibur, before the time of us, Earth was falling apart from the Technocyte plague. A human named Hayden Tenno had himself infected. Yet, he used what it brought him for good instead. After some time, his legacy spread until eventually the Tenno was created. While we fight the Old War, we went away a slumber after a lot of us were wiped out. I wasn't. I stayed and watched as the world forgotten about how hard we fought to keep us safe. We were cast aside. When you all awakened, leaving me to watch the Galaxy rot was an act that required punishment."
He faced Excalibur, face to face.
"I am the hunter and you are my pray." He said as he readied an arrow and fired.
Excalibur jumped back and dodged the arrow and cut away the second one with his Skana.
"Frost, I won't make it." He informed.
"Understood."
"This is the last ship Hayden. We are going to go down." The Stalker said as the ship rumbled from explosions. A dropship could be seen leaving.
Excalibur rushed forward and slash dashed through The Stalker before jumping as the sky lit up from the ship exploding.
He plummeted to the ground with debris falling after him.
"Die Tenn-" A Grinner Lancer was silenced as he fell dead with the rest.
A flame unit killed a Mag before chasing after Twilight thought out Ponyville. she tried to use her wings to fly away, only to stumble back to the ground.
"No! Please!" She put her hooves up in hopes of defending herself.
"Hahahahaha!" He chuckled evily before getting ready to ignite the princess.
"OVER HERE!" Somepony yelled. The Flame unit turned around and blew flames. Yet, the pony managed to kill him.
Flash Sentry stood over the dead body. He, if anything, was fine despite being lit on fire for a short moment. Twilight ran over and nearly crushed him in a hug.
"I'm glad you're alright too, Princess." He said. The guard tried to get loose with no avail.
"I'm sorry, but you feel so warm." Twilight giggled, referring to him being lit on fire. "How were you not ignited?"
"The ice." He said. "From being frozen."
Edge was knocked to the ground by a Trooper.
"Say goodbye pon-"
An angry yell was heard as the Grineer was knocked into a rock and got his face smashed in it.
"YOU. DO NOT. HURT HIM!" Fluttershy yelled.
When she caught her breath, Edge gave her a hug. "That was awesome."
Her face was red, she expected him to think she was crazy. (MurdershyxCrazy Sharp Edge OTP)
Yet all he did was give her a comforting smile.
That was gone when he was a figure falling from the sky and into the Everfree forest.
"Excalbiur." He said before running off. Fluttershy calling at him, but was ignored.
Ash jumped up and threw his Glaive before using Blade storm with his Fangs and Heat Sword to clear out the last squad.
He caught the Glaive to see it.
The sight of dead Grineer and the mere sound of silence.
Victory was there's.
"Was that the last one?" A guard called out.
"Trinity. Report."
"We have won." She said.
Ash looked up and the awaiting ponies.
"It is over."
It was all much to take in at first. They were all silent. It was days since they had peace and now they didn't know what to do.
It was until Rumble stepped forward towards Ash. The Warframe looked down on him.
The colt cried as he hugged his leg. "Thank you."
Suddenly, cheers erupted as the crowd began to hug and celebrate their victory.
Blaze and Spitfire cheered happily and hugged each other tightly.
A little to tight in fact. They pulled away as their faces turned red.
Pinkie Pie pulled the two into a hug again. "Why did you stop hugging? We won! We won!" She hopped around excitedly.
Spitfire didn't mind. Blaze didn't care anymore.
Twilight and Flash jumped around happily. Rumble got a group hog from his brother, loud Chaser and Flitter who kept kissing his forehead.
Pony's gave hugs, some cried tears of joy. It was a sight to behold
Lotus looked upon the crowd before looking back at the Everfree forest. She called down a pod and entered before flying off towards the only wreckage on Equestria.
It was silence that slowly grew to sound as Excaliburs vision cleared. He could here a fire crackling as he stared straight at the sky.
He began to struggle to get up before someone stopped and held him down.
"Excalibur." Lotus appeared standing over him. "You are gravely wounded. I will get Trinity, do not worry." She said as she walked off.
Excalibur laid his head back and waited for Trinity. It was gonna be a long wait. So he pondered, did they win the fight? It was silent and Lotus had the time to get over to where he was and then go back for a medic.
He closed his eyes to rest when he felt himself being revived.
But, it wasn't by Trinity, it felt like a basic revive any Tenno could do.
"Arise Hayden."
Excalibur jumped up and reached for his sword, the only weapon he had left. His hand grabbed for nothing. The Stalker looked back at him. He too, had no weapons
"You are unarmed. Therefore, this would not be an uneven fight." He said as he readied his fists.
Excalibur wasn't in his strongest form right now, yet he managed to raise his fists along with The Stalker. He swung and missed the first and was grabbed and kneed in the face. He hit the Stalker in the stomach and elbowed his face only to be kicked in the ribs.
The Stalker swung, Excalbur ducked and uppercutted his enemy and tried to swing before his legs got kicked out from underneath him. The Waframe struggled to get up with no avail.
"It looks like I won." The Stalker said as he summoned the Hate.
"I'm ending you." He said as he got ready to swing.
"No you won't." A voice said and stopped the swing in it's tracks.
Sharp Edge stood a upon the roots of a fallen tree that overlooked the makeshift arena.
"I won't let you."
"So the honorary Tenno thinks he can defeat me?" The Stalker said as he looked up at the pony.
"I am not here to fight you. This is something between you two." Edge stated.
"Then how do you plan to stop me?"
Without saying a word, Edge used his magic to pick up the Cronus on his back.
"I was given this by an ally. I knew that I would use it to save someone. And now I know who it is."
The Stalker looked back at the struggling Tenno and back at the pony. "You are an assistant to this fight. When this one is over, I'm going to kill you next."
"I await the fight."
"Wait! How are you not mad as you were when I always appear?" The Stalker asked.
"I have come to terms with myself. Your words managed to break me, but I was at a weaker stage."
"What changed you?"
"The Tenno. After years of sorrow, someone gave me a chance to fight for something real. A new ally to stand by in what was the near end of Equestria."
"Then I guess in the end, we are all the same." The Stalker said.
"You might be right."
The Stalker put his Hate on his shoulders. "Well then."
He took off running before jumping up and readied to do a slash dash.
"You're first!" He said as he slash dashed towards the pony.
"Excalibur!" Edge yelled as he threw the sword with magic towards the frame. The Stalker slashed at the pony and knocked him to the arena and away from the two.
Excalibur felt the magic surge through him as he got the blade with his hand. The Stalker looked at the wounded pony and back at his adversary.
"We are ending what was between you and me, Stalker."
"Then let it end." He said as he jumped down.
Excalibur wasted no time as he charged forward and slashed at his opponent, landing a few hit before being knocked away and knocked again. He slid on his feet before running forward and slashing. It was blocked by the Stalker as he slammed the Hate on the ground and knocked the Warframe to the ground. He rolled out of the way to avoid being finished and spun around to get up while cutting away with his sword.
Excalibur jumped up and caught the blade in time to avoid a death swing. He held it off before pushing off and jumping over a swing and sliced at The Stalker, who jumped away to avoid it. He landed down and slash dashed at The Stalker, who blocked it and tried to counter with his own slash dash. Excalibur jumped out of the way to see they were on opposite ends of of the arena made of the wreckage.
"I'm ending this." Excalibur said as he readied a slash dash.
"Die!" The Stalker yelled as he too did a slash dash.
The two collided and an explosion of pure light was the only thing seen.
Excalibur stuck his sword into the ground to keep himself up. The Stalker dropped the Hate as he began to materialize away.
"No... this wasn't... supposed... to happen." He said.
The Stalker looked around to see Trinity and Fluttershy helping Sharp Edge while Ash and Frost Prime looked down on him. He turned back towards Excalibur.
"You of all will know Hayden, that we may share the same fate at the time to come."
Excalibur only stepped aside just as she appeared above and over his shoulder.
Her.
After all this time, he could finally see her. He stepped forward weakly and approached her.
Lotus had walked and looked down upon the arena to see The Stalker. She knew what she was to him.
"You..." He raised his hand up to her. "We... were..."
He began to convulse as materialized completely away. All was heard was his echoing screams that faded away.
Lotus looked down on the recovered pony and the tired Warframe.
"We're going home."
Rumble and among the others watched as the Tenno boarded the ship. Edge stepped out, stripped of his armor and eye piece and was greeted by Fluttershy. The two watched along with the ponies of Ponyville as the ship took off and back to the stars.
"So... what now?" Rumble asked.
"We... go back to normal lives I guess." Thunderlane shrugged.
"Sounds good to me." Cloud Chaser said.
Flitter picked up Rumble and held him as she hovered above the crowd to watch as the ship faded away completely.
Rumble slowly walked up to the top of the hill that overlooked Ponyville. He sighed in relaxation as he sat down and saw the sight for what was his home for nearly his whole life.
"Rumble!" A small voice called out from behind.
The Pegasus turned around to see a small unicorn with a pink and emerald green mane and a yellow coat running up to him in excitement.
"Hey there, Tidal." Rumble called to him.
The unicorn ran over and gave him a hug.
"What'cha doing Rumble?" He asked. Rumble picked him up and set him down on the ground.
"Just enjoying the view little buddy." He said as he looked back at the peaceful town. "And waiting for my mail? I here my letter from the Wonderbolts comes today." He said with excitement.
"Do you plan to be the new Captain? I keep hearing that the one they have is sick." Tidal said.
'Oh she's not sick... poor Blaze. He's probably stressed out over the pregnancy scandal.' rumble thought with a grin on his face.
"No, I plan to not be busy and visit family as often as I can."
"So, they care for you?" Tidal asked.
"Of course."
"Really? My parents always seem to say this day is special to them." Tidal said. "They always send me out. Is it because it's the anniversary of the second royal wedding?"
"That's a few months from now." Rumble told him.
"I always thought it was because my mom knew the Princess that got married."
"I did too. She helped test my wingpower once." Rumble looked back at the unicorn.
"But your parents love you very much. Trust me."
"But what's so special about today that I got sent out by my parents?" Tidal asked.
'Why would they-' Rumble had it all click in a few moments.
"Ohhhhh!" He said loudly.
"What is it?" The colt asked.
"It really has been ten years. I'm shocked we're not having a celebration." Rumble thought out loud.
"What!?" Tidal began to get frustrated.
"Come here, Tidal." Rumble said as he waved his hoof to call the young pony over. The colt trotted over and sat down as Rumble put a hoof around his shoulders.
"Ya see, ten years ago. We won."
"Won what? A game?"
"No, anything but." Rumble let the memories flow through. He turned towards the little unicorn.
"Your parents have the right idea to celebrate this day. Your father fought a dangerous enemy that attacked us."
"What!" Tidal's jaw dropped. "My dad's a hero?"
"I thought you knew that." Rumble chuckled.
"Wait! What I mean is that he saved the world?" Tidal asked.
"Not entirely. Yes, he helped save Equestria. But he wasn't the only one." Rumble told him.
"There's more of my dads?" Tidal asked, causing Rumble to laugh.
"No, but they were there to fight the enemy. Your dad helped them, though."
"Wow..." The colt let it sink in. "What were they like?"
"Who?"
"The heroes my dad helped. What kind of ponies were they? Were they ponies? I bet they were Griffon?"
"They were something Equestria had never seen before." Rumble told.
"They, along with the enemy were from a far away place. We still never found out where they were exactly from." Rumble smiled. "But they did nothing more then fight to protect all of us. Weapons and powers used with such a spectacular form and the strongest bond I'd ever seen. In fact, if it weren't for them, your dad would have never gotten back with your mother."
"What were they called?"
Rumble turned and looked at Tidal. "The Tenno. Nearly all of them were here to save us from the enemy."
"Wow, I bet they were cool."
"They were. And to this day, I'm still inspired but their will to stay strong at the hardest of times." Rumble said as he looked at the sky, only to have his thoughts interrupted by Scootaloo calling out to him.
"RUMBLE!"
He looked down to see her jumping up and down.
"WE GOT IN! WE GOT IN!"
She flew up at top speed and threw him into the tightest hug he had ever gotten. Thunderlane, Cloud Chaser and Flitter followed.
"We did?" He asked, shocked.
"Yep. We start tomorrow. Can you believe it?" Scootaloo squeaked in excitement.
"Not at all." Rumble said as he hugged her back.
Scootaloo shook with so much excitement that in the heat of the moment, she gave a quick peck on Rumbles cheek. He put his hoof to where she kissed and smiled to himself.
'This is the best day ever.' He thought as he looked up at the sky with the...
...sun that lit the room as the Excalibur, Trinity, Nova and Nekros sat around the solar map. None spoke a word as they sat and waited.
"Tenno." Lotus called to each. "Alad V is at it again." She said simply.
The call they waited for. They geared up and headed to the pods.
